The International Transportworkers Federation 1914-1945. The Edo Fimmen era
"The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), founded 100 years ago in 1886, is the international trade secretariat for all transport workers: seafarers, dockers, inland navigation, railway, tramway, road an civil aviation workers. The legendary Dutchman Edo Fimmen (1881-1942) made the...
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| Institution: | ETUI-European Trade Union Institute |
| Format: | TEXT |
| Language: | English |
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Amsterdam
1997
Stichting Beheer IISG |
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| Online Access: | https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19293415124910116979-The-international-Transportwor.htm |
| Summary: | "The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), founded 100 years ago in 1886, is the international trade secretariat for all transport workers: seafarers, dockers, inland navigation, railway, tramway, road an civil aviation workers. The legendary Dutchman Edo Fimmen (1881-1942) made the ITF with its two million members the largest and most influential international trade secretariat of the inter-war period. This book tells the ITF story during the world wars and the inter-war period. As a defender of human and workers' rights Fimmen proved to be a source of inspiration for many. As a trade unionist he was not afraid to speak out politically and to try and change the international trade union movement fundamentally. He understood the necessity of fighting fascism and colonialism in an early phase and was one the first to speak out against white racism. During the Second World War the ITF succeeded in maintaining its international contacts all over Europe, even within Nazi Germany where it had supported an illegal network since 1933. Thanks to its co-operation with allied intelligence services (among them the Office of Strategic Services in Washington DC), the ITF was active in the front lines. This unknown history adds to our understanding of the courageous struggle against fascism by transport workers in Hungary, Italy, Germany and Spain, of international social regulations, of the weak and strong sides of global trade unionism, of racism as an obstacle in he effort to reach the non-European world, and of the functioning of trade unions under war-time conditions." |
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| Physical Description: | 301 p. Paper |