Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-2013
Keywords
ICFTU, Social Sciences
Abstract
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) emerged from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) in 1949 after Western trade union affiliates in the latter organization expressed major policy differences over the Marshall Plan. For its first 20 years, the ICFTU refused all forms of collaboration with the WFTU, contending that the Federation advocated a politically monolithic Communism with its primary function being the promotion of Soviet policy. The ICF-TU's position was disingenuous, given the WFTU's polycentric nature encompassing variants of Communist theory and practice dating back at least to October 1965. Moreover, even when the WFTU Secretariat condemned the August 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the ICFTU still refused cooperation. While a minor thaw between the ICFTU and the WFTU occurred during the early through the late 1970s, it was, at best, tentative, minimal and inconsequential.
Recommended Citation
Devinatz, Victor G., "A Cold War Thaw in the International Working Class Movement? The World Federation of Trade Unions and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, 1967-1977" (2013). Faculty Publications-- Management. 7.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/fpmqm/7
Comments
This article was originally published by Guilford Publications Inc. and can be found at www.guilfordjournals.com.