Labor in the Hemisphere:
MONGE, LUIS ALBERTO
LABOR IN THE HEMISPHERE Free trade unions are leading the forces of democracy By Luis Alberto Monge THE FIRST trade-union ideas in Latin America were largely brought by European immigrants. Over...
...The Soviet agents are always active and ready to use whatever they can to further their ends...
...One cannot underestimate the ef?fects of the Mexican Revolution, or of the doctrines of the APRA, founded by Victor Raul Haya de la Torre of Peru...
...For a considerable period, anarcho-syndicalists con?trolled the principal organizations in many countries...
...The Latin American worker re?sents the anti-labor policies, the intervention in politics and the drain?ing of natural resources engaged in by some U.S...
...Democratic labor leaders, as a whole, feel that the concept of com?plete democracy necessitates agrarian reform to free the peasants and in?crease production, integration of indigenous peoples in the con?temporary cultural and productive process, and progressive industri?alization based on inter-American cooperation...
...com?panies but in creating hatred toward the United States generally...
...so does political oppression in some countries, and the errors of U.S...
...Young nations, whose development is being hampered by various eco?nomic and social forces, whose masses are illiterate and undernour?ished, often find it difficult to distin?guish between various ideological tendencies...
...They recommend diver?sification of the various national economies, so as to overcome the present fragility of these economies in the unstable international market...
...are carrying on a successful battle, despite great diffi?culties, against Communist penetra?tion...
...the Union General de Trabajadores of Uruguay...
...firms operating in Latin America...
...It is now forging an ideology suit?able to each nationality or region, which, once clearly and consistently developed, will lead the unions to consistent, positive action...
...firms and often the U.S...
...and a handful of unions in various other countries...
...Thus, it is only now that Latin American labor is discovering a philosophy which can give it unity and efficiency at home, and solidar?ity in the international field...
...In addition, democratic trade-union leaders give fervent sup?port to those democratic countries and governments which are trying to perfect their institutions...
...More recently, the experience of the Action Democratica party in Venezuela and the economic and social ideas of the young Na?tional Liberation movement in Costa Rica have been felt in the unions...
...The core of this ideology is labor's aspiration, sometimes intuitive, sometimes rea?soned, to achieve complete democ?racy...
...This makes him listen to the demagogic appeals of the Com?munists, who are not interested in solving the problem of the U.S...
...They realize that they live in a world which is tremendously inter?dependent...
...During the war years, it achieved considerable im?portance, because it then contained non-Communist organizations...
...labor movement??which private U.S...
...Recently, however, perhaps because of some new turn in peronista international policy, it has been announced that ATLAS will return to activity...
...But his attempt to create a peronista doctrine failed because what is called the peronista philosophy is in reality merely a recapitulation of the catch-phrases pronounced by Peron and his late wife Evita...
...They also understand that many problems which they face in their own countries can only be solved on an international plane...
...At other times, So?cialists were in the ascendant...
...Over the years and under the impact of economic and political changes, the Latin American trade-union movement was subject to many ideo?logical influences...
...It was established in 1938 and is called the Confederation de Trabajadores de America Latina (CTAL...
...Government...
...But this concept would be too abstract if it were not related to the daily problems of the worker, to the efforts toward national improvement of each people, and to the position of each nation in the world...
...Interpreting and applying the con?cept of all-around democracy, impor?tant sectors of Latin American labor are carrying on the struggle against local dictatorships...
...They seek social legislation and adequate systems of social security...
...Now the CTAL has only the little Confederation de Trabajadores del Ecuador, which has a Socialist majority in its Executive Committee...
...Nevertheless, both peronistmo and Communism are extraneous ideolo?gies in Latin America...
...Some sectors of Catholicism have been propagating their social ideas among organized workers...
...The Chilean knows that, if his copper is not sold or if it sells at a low price, the possibilities of im?proving the Chilean workers' condi?tions are limited...
...Finally, there is the peronismo or "justicial-ismo" of the Argentine dictator, an attempt to adapt to this hemisphere many of the concepts of European totalitarianism...
...Within the context of the struggle for political democracy and social and economic improvement, Latin American labor's alliance with North American workers acquires increas?ing significance...
...Peron has also attempted to or?ganize his own international labor movement...
...The great backbone of democracy in Latin America is the democratic labor movement, increasingly unified and led Latin America's infant labor move?ment is leading the hemisphere's struggle for democracy...
...The growing interrelationship be?tween the trade unions of the United States and those of Latin America is a relatively new factor in the ideo?logical picture...
...The Communists have a central labor organization in Latin America, directed by Vicente Lombardo Toledano of Mexico...
...firms and the U.S...
...neither really has much of a future...
...For this reason, the workers are very much concerned with the prob?lem of Latin American exports in the international market...
...In 1952, he succeeded in establishing the so-called ATLAS...
...The democratic labor movement of Latin America, on the other hand, seeks to revise contracts with the foreign firms so that these companies will contribute more justly to the national income of the various countries, cease to intervene in internal poli?tics, and show a more understanding attitude toward organized labor...
...These democratic trade-unionists also seek to modernize labor organi?zation to make the unions more effi?cient and useful to the workers...
...The great vision of the U.S...
...Despite the present weakness of the CTAL, the Communist danger can?not be underestimated, because of their very ample financial resources, their lack of scruple and their au?dacity...
...Government have not shared??has been to become as friendly as possible with the Latin American trade-union movement, in order to overcome gradually the mis?understanding of Latin American workers...
...the Communists also have been able at times to influence important parts of the working class...
...It is this democratic ideology to which the Inter-American Regional Organization of Workers (ORIT) is trying to give form and expression...
...After the recent rapprochement between Peron and the State Department, it seemed as if the Argentine dictator might liqui?date ATLAS, which had been singu?larly unsuccessful...
...They want to be sure that their products can be sold at fair prices...
...Many Latin American labor leaders are familiar with the AFL, the CIO, the United Mine Workers, the Canadian Congress of Labor, and the Trades and Labor Congress of Canada...
...and aim to liquidate the remnants of colonialism in our hemisphere...
...Its accom?plishments and problems are de?scribed here by Luis Alberto Monge, Secretary General of the Inter-American Regional Organization...
...Since 1920, movements of a pure?ly Latin American origin have gained increasing influence in the unions...
...the only national labor organization of any importance to join it had been Peron's own Argentine CGT...
...The same can be said of the Bolivian and his tin, the Central American, the Brazilian and the Colombian and their coffee, the Cuban and his sugar, and so on...
...At the same time, they seek to diversify their countries' economies, so as not to continue this semi-colonial dependence on a lim?ited range of products...
...The misery in which most Latin Americans live favors their work...
Vol. 37 • December 1954 • No. 52
