European Labor Today

...Benelux: The labor movement is powerful and is leading the resistance to totalitarianism as well as the fight to improve the workers' economic standards...

...The trade unions are among the strongest in the world, with a membership averaging about 80 to 90 per cent of the working population...

...There are more than 23 million European workers in unions affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, with over 14 million concentrated in two countries??8 million in Great Britain and 6.3 million in West Germany...

...Communist strength has been steadily reduced since 1945 to a negligible percentage...

...Italy: The non-Communist unions, led by the CISL (Italian Confederation of Free Trade Unions), have made real progress...

...In the little Duchy of Luxembourg, they are represented in the Cabinet and are maintaining the Christian-Socialist political coalition in spite of economic differences...

...All this has been grist for the Communist mills and threatens the internal stability of a country which has shown great progress in recent years and is a key military bastion in the Mediterranean and Balkan area...

...Scandinavia: Despite Sweden's neutral foreign policy and certain reservations in Denmark and Norway concerning U.S...

...This has been paralleled on the political side by the growing inter-Scandinavian economic union...

...In Tunisia, I addressed the convention of the UGTT, the General Union of Tunisian Workers...

...Having achieved co-determination in the coal and steel industries and recent wage gains, the German unions are now preparing for a major battle to win the 40-hour week without reduction in pay...

...North Africa: The trade-union movement of North Africa??especially Tunisia and Morocco??remains a great hope of the free world...

...I visited this area in July, when terrorism and general tension were at their height...

...The unions of Sweden, Denmark and Norway have been moving toward increasingly greater unity in planning and policy-making...

...Violent acts were occurring every day, and most people were afraid to go out at night...

...Another factor in the Austrians' power to resist is the successful political coalition between the People's (Catholic) and Socialist parties...

...military bases, this area is strong in its moral and material readiness to defend a free society against totalitarianism...

...The moderate nationalists and trade-union leaders now look forward to a fundamental change in French policy...

...Under a collective-bargaining agreement negotiated with management, the highest national wage increase for any year since the war has been achieved...

...In Holland and Belgium, the trade unions are the backbone of the Government...

...A pattern of terror and counter-terror was developing between the French colonialists on the one hand and the extreme nationalists on the other...

...Austria continues to withstand the hardships of its role as pawn in Moscow's cold war...

...On the other hand, granting real independence to Tunisia and Morocco will go a long way toward re-establishing the credit of the Western democracies in the underdeveloped and colonial areas of the world...

...Since that time, great expectations have been aroused by the new French government's bold initiative in the direction of independence...

...Meanwhile, the free trade unions of Europe have held their ground and in many cases even increased their membership and influence...

...And our trade-union friends, who stand for democratic evolution, will be submerged in a tide of despair...

...This pact was signed only by the non-Communist trade-union federations, with the Communists excluded...

...I found at that time a growing disillusionment with the West, particularly the United States, from which so much had been expected in the fight for freedom...

...Over 500 delegates were present, representing close to 75,000 workers...

...Germany: The powerful non-Communist German Federation of Labor, with more than 6 million members, has grown swiftly, not only in size but in economic strength and in influence on the various sectors of German society: politics, banking, movies, newspapers, radio, etc...

...The new wage contract has greatly enhanced the prestige and position of the non-Communist unions and their leader, Giulio Pastore...

...What is more, a victory for free labor in North Africa will mean the beginning of the end for the WFTU-Com-inform drive to win over the Arab masses of the Middle East...

...The Government has been meddling in the internal affairs of the trade unions, and union leaders have accused the Minister of Labor of attempting to create a Government-controlled labor movement...

...That this appeal has fallen on deaf ears was demonstrated at the recent convention of the British Trades Union Congress...

...European Labor Today The Kremlin is trying to win workers over with its peaceful coexistence' campaign, but a survey indicates that Communist-dominated unions are losing ground By Irving Brown Through the World Federation of Trade Unions and other front organizations, the Kremlin is wooing the European labor movement with its new siren song of "peaceful coexistence...

...The latter retaliated by attempting to throw Italy into a general strike, but they failed miserably...

...Greece: The Confederation of Labor, which has been one of the main elements of resistance to Communism, has been experiencing grave difficulties in the past year...

...It is to be hoped that recent conversations between Greek Government and labor representatives, aided by international labor spokesmen, may lead to a compromise which will safeguard the free trade unions...

...If nothing comes of the present conversations between the nationalists and the French, however, Tunisia and perhaps all of North Africa will once again become an armed camp...

...With over 1.3 million workers organized in unions, the Austrian Federation of Labor has reduced CP strength to a small percentage except in the Soviet-owned economic units, where, through terrorism and bribery, the Communists maintain themselves as state "company union" leaders...

...In spite of police restrictions and the fact that some workers were still in prison or under house arrest, the delegates constituted a real cross-section of the Tunisian people...

...Here is a breakdown of the labor picture in free Europe: France: The non-Communist trade unions, especially the Force Ouvriere, have played a decisive role in preventing the CP from attaining its political objectives in France and thus in Western Europe...

...Decisions must be taken now in North Africa or we will have a repeat performance of the Indo-China debacle...

...Living dangerously on both sides of the Iron Curtain, the Austrian labor movement continues to be a major bulwark against Communism and Soviet exploitation...