THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART XIX)

The last picture I made of Emilio Maspero, was in November 1991 during the general assembly of CLAT Netherlands. Second from left is Emilio Maspero. To his left is Leonie van Bladel, President of CLAT Netherlands. To his right CLAT deputy general secretary Enrique Marius. Standing in front of the painting of the Dutch Queen Beatrix, made in Haiti, Hedy d'Ancona, Minister of Culture.

Unlike the European trade unions, the unions on the American continent don't have a common project similar to the European Union. On the contrary, until recently CLAT was convinced that the North American labor movement defended interests opposed to those of Latin America. At the time of the Cold War the AFL-CIO even placed the interests of the U.S. above the struggle for democracy and social justice in Latin America by defending the foreign policy of the US sometimes together with military intervention (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Chile etc) and even supporting dictatorships (Paragua, Nicaragua) . Has this been changed since the end of the Cold War? Maybe nowadays the AFL-CIO feels more connected with the Latin American trade union struggle for democracy and social justice than before but the question remains which model the AFL-CIO sees as the most appropriate for Latin America? That of neo-liberal capitalism, which has indeed brought much prosperity for North American workers, or the European model with its social dialogue, its network of social and health services, protection of the labor market etc.?

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez identified himself strongly with the Great Liberator Simon Bolivar (digital photo composition by Petrus)

In this ongoing debate between the northern and southern part of the American continent, which was conducted by CLAT with a certain ferocity, the Twentieth-Century Socialism of Venezuelan President Chavez sowed once again confusion. Just then also died Emilio Maspero (2000), the man who had made CLAT great with his intellectual power and energy. And if that was not enough, shortly thereafter from Europe came the first rumours about a merger of the WCL with the ICFTU. For CLAT General Secretary Eduardo Garcia, who had become the successor of Emilio Maspero, it must have been difficult times. How CLAT was going to continue without the WCL because it became soon clear that particularly the Belgian ACV/CSC was serious about the merger (under pressure from the Walloon side ). Without WCL there would be no more international political and financial backing for CLAT. The merger of WCL with ICFTU would certainly lead to financial problems and that would be very bad at all for CLAT with its headquarters and training and education center UTAL in Venezuela, the very country of President Chavez.

The tragedy is, that despite the many millions of dollars in aid from Europe during the last decennia, the CLAT had not succeeded to become financially independent. There are many causes for this. First of all the overall lack of political stability in Latin America due to poverty , social injustice , undemocratic political leadership , unemployment , the place of the military in the political system ( in some Latin American countries the budget of the army is many times larger than for example of the ministry of education or social services programs ), and so on. The second cause is the inability of unions to develop a sound financial policy. Solidarity is a commonly used word in Latin America, but it appears very difficult to put it into practice. Besides, trade union members feel more like a victim without self-esteem than people with confidence in the future. Many trade unions promote this culture of "being victim", not realizing that this undermines the confidence of their own members. All this is reinforced by a widespread lack of trade union democracy and transparency, whereby many trade unionists distrust the trade union and do not see their own trade union as their own responsibility. The consequence is that the payment of trade union contribution is low and irregular.

Opening of the UTAL in 1975. From left to right: Victor Duran who became later Director of UTAL, José Merced Gonzalez who was also WCL Confederal Secretary and Rangel Parra, General Secretary of the Latin American Federation of small Farmers (FCL).

Of course, CLAT also looked for other financial sources than membership fees, to finance its budget. For an international organization this is not easy . Nevertheless, with foreign aid in the course of decades, many projects have been set up , designed to make possible self-financing of CLAT. Many of these projects failed, due to lack of entrepreneurial and management skills. To lead succesfully a business requires other skills than leading a union. For example, thanks to the support of the Dutch NOVIB , CLAT had in the seventies its own printing company in Caracas, Venezuela . Despite the support of two Dutch experts paid by the NOVIB, the company had to be sold after some years . CLAT has also tried to reduce the costs of UTAL by renting it to outsiders but also failed to a large extent and had to knock back on the doors of European donors.

On WCL Board Meetings Emilio Maspero talked about opportunities to present projects in the various bodies of the European Union to support the WCL and its regional organizations, including CLAT . He spoke at one point even about the golden mountains of the European Union. A misunderstanding that I would have liked to make clear to him, but I believed this was a matter of discussion to be led by WCL chairman Willy Peirens. As a member of the Steering Committee of the European Trade Union Confederation ETUC, he was well informed that the European Union was the domain par excellence of the ETUC. Since WCL unions are a minority in the ETUC it was hardly possible to make use of EU funds. In the framework of the Phare-Tacis program repeatedly it has been tried to present projects with the aim to build democratic unions in Ukraine and Belarus. But one way or another, those WCL projects never met all bureaucratic requirements . After being rejected two, three times, while others less well–founded projects were approved , there was no other choice but to give up.

Left we see Arie Hordijk (1927-2010), former Secretary General of CNV Netherlands. he is one of the speakers inuring a protest against cutting back aid for development before the Dutch Parliament. In the middle Gerrit Pruim, Secretary of CNV Aktie Kom Over (changed to CNV Internationaal). The Dutch confederation CNV organized  the protest. On the right you see as one of the speakers the Dutch politician Cor Kleisterlee.The other speaker was professor Jan Tinbergen, Nobelprize winner for his work on macro-economics.  Hordijk together with CNV chairman Lanser played an important role in the transformation of the International Christian Trade Union Confederation (ICTUC) into the World Confederation of Labour (WCL). Based on personal experiences and meetings with trade union leaders in the Third World, they came to the conclusion that a purely Christian international had no future while religiously inspired unions do have.

Indeed , the ACV/CSC was watching that even the possibility of a conflict between the ETUC and WCL on available European funds for the WCL or its regional members, should be avoided. Thus, the WCL was not allowed to become a member of the Christian Democratic oriented European Centre for Workers' Questions EZA (the work of EZA is supported financially by the European Union), despite the request of the then new chairman Arie Hordijk, former General Secretary of the CNV ( a key member of WCL) and EZA General Secretary Joachim Herudek. It was said that EZA was an unfair competitor of the European Trade Union Institute ETUI, the Research and Education Center of the ETUC. But to my great surprise the WCL became member of EZA inmediately after the arrival of General Secretary Willy Thys (former ACV/CSC Boardmember). I can only imagine that this was possible because of a certain kind of understanding with the ETUC on the future merger of WCL and ICFTU . The pieces on the European chessboard were slowly pushed in the direction of the merger between WCL and ICFTU while most WCL members stood outside the game.

Before his retirement Joachim Herudek was Secretary General of EZA. 

Curiously but appropriate in this setting, was the prohibition of Willy Peirens to lobby at the Christian- Democratic oriented European People 's Party EPP and other Christian-Democratic personalities at high political positions. Looking for financial support for the 23th WCL World Congress that would be held in Mauritius in 1993, Carlos Custer and myself had a conversation with Miet Smet, Christian-Democratic Minister of Employment and Social Affairs in Belgium . During that time Belgium had the Presidency of the European Union. Therefore Minister Miet Smet was also President of the European Council of Ministers of Labour. We believed she could give a financial hand to our international seminar prior to the Congress by delivering one or more speakers funded by the EU or some other kind of financial support. The WCL president rejected our efforts declaring that the Minister of Labor made life of ACV/CSC difficult. The argument that we spoke to her as the President of the European Council of Ministers of Labor and not as a Minister of Labor of Belgium, was not accepted.

The WCL Board Members at the 23 Congress 1993 in Mauritius. From left to right: Bogdan Hossu, President of Cartel alfa Rumania, Anton Westerlaken, President of CNV Netherlands, Emilo Maspero General Secretary CLAT, Willy Peirens President WCL and ACV/CSC Belgium, Akpemado General Secretary ODSTA, Michel Bovy, President International Trade Federation FIOST and Belgium Transport Trade Union. Re-elected General Secretary Carlos Custer just walks away.

In the same period I had a similar experience after a meeting with Leo Tindemans (1922-2013), former Belgian Prime Minister and former president of the Christian Democratic European People 's Party EPP . Although Leo Tindemans clearly demonstrated to be ready to establish contacts with the WCL , which he knew well from earlier times, WCL President Willy Peirens did not want to give a follow-up arguing that ACV/CSC had bad experiences with him on national policies. Again, the argument that Tindemans now is more a European than a Belgium politician was not accepted. Once again the WCL was blocked to develop contacts with one of the most powerful political parties in the European Parliament and the European Commission. I was wondering why this was happening because I was sure that ETUC and ICFTU officials maintained contacts with high ranking European Social-Democratic politicians. Also it was very frustrating that ACV/CSC representatives in the WCL Confederal Board insisted upon me as a confederal secretary for Europe, to lobby for more financial support for the WCL, but in practice I had no room for lobbying within the European Union. The result was that on European level the WCL became more and more a political orphan. How could the WCL survive in such conditions?

To be continued

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART 18)

Santiago Pereira, Secretary General of the Chilean Confederation CCT affiliated to CLAT in his office in 1991, one year after Pinochet left Government.

Left and right in Latin America continued to fight against each other, with or without weapons, but always with the involvement of the U.S.. In Chile, by domestic opponents, the army and with the help of the U.S. , the democratically elected leftist President Allende of the United People Coalition was overthrown (1973). The result was years of repression under the dictatorship of General Pinochet. The example of the Chilean putch was followed by generals in Brazil and Argentina. The unions in those countries were controlled by the dictatorship. Trade unionists were murdered. The supposed rise of the left crashed into violence and oppression of the Latin American armies. Restoration of the rule of law would then take decades.

After the Sandinist revolution the Nicaraguan Confederation of Workers CTN resited the severe attacks of the Sandinista Government. In 1988 he was together with 3 CTN members and other protestors arrested in Nandaime. Because of international pressure he was freed after a short time in prison. (Photo 1983)

CLAT tried to survive among all this violence as a democratic , humanistic, social – Christian oriented trade union movement, but it was not easy . Again that was the case in1979 after the victory of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua . Like in Cuba, after the victory of the revolution, Marxist oriented Sandinistas started to make life difficult for democratic trade unions. CLAT had not only to keep fighting against conservative, employer oriented regimes but also against left-wing regimes who believed in dictatorship as an answer to injustice, exploitation and poverty . Thanks to support from Europe including the WCL but also European NGO's , CLAT managed to survive, but always distrusted by both sides. 

The fall of Communism made a temporary end to the radical, revolutionary Marxism as a viable alternative to development and social justice, but it brought at the same time the victory of American neoliberalism . CLAT General Secretary Emilio Maspero did not hesitate and declared war to neoliberalism. He analyzed that neoliberalism together with the proposal to create an American Free Trade Zone, would degrade Latin America into a large supermarket in which the U.S. can buy what it needs and the workers will stay poor.

This photograph has been taken in 1982 during a visit to CLAT Netherlands (a solidarity organization with CLAT). From left to right: Kees van Kortenhof (coordinator of CLAT Netherlands), Carlos Custer (Confederal Secretary of WCL), Emilio Maspero (Secretary General of CLAT), Ernesto Molano (Secretary General of the World Federation of Industrial Workers WFIW/WCL) Wouter van Dam (President of CLAT Netherlands) and Juan Marcano, Secretary General of the Venzuelan CGT, affiliated to CLAT.

Also according to Maspero the answer to this challenge or provocation of the U.S. was a kind of Latin American Union along the lines of the European Union. Unfortunately, in every day Latin America this is more a dream than a practical possibility. A project of such magnitude requires at least a minimum of common understanding, political and financial stability, economic growth and governments that can assert its power to all corners of the country. Already only the lack of mutual trust makes it difficult to come to a common market, let alone into a Union with open borders and common directives like in the EU. And we're not even talking about the U.S., which from a hegemonic position can play with the political and economic interests of each and every country.

The result was that one cooperation pact - the Andean Pact in 1969 – was followed by another – Mercosur in 1991 - without the first pact having given a significant result. In 1994 another new attempt was made to create a common Latin American market with a common economic policy. The Andean Community and Mercosur merged into the Union of South American Nations, an organization modeled as the European Union. Unfortunately Emilio Maspero could not witness this anymore. He died on the 31 of May 2000. Was this what Emilio Maspero had dreamed of and finally Latin America give a common response to the challenges of the U.S.?

It was precisely the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who spoiled the game with his Bolivarian Socialism, a variation on the Marti Socialism of Fidel Castro. Balanced policy to achieve a common Latin American market and economy, was replaced by anti-American rhetoric. Chavez used his petrodollars to set up his own alliances. Once again the result was regional political instability and confusion. Again the Latin American institutions were not strong enough to resolve the disagreements in concert. As a true caudillo Chavez made his own one-man show. With his death in 2013 this all came to an end. Since then it has become calm in Latin America and little heard from a possible common Latin American policy, common market and directives.

Photograph taken at the UTAL, San Antonio de los Altos, Venezuela during a mission of three members of the Dutch parliament to Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Haïti organized by CLAT-Netherlands. From above left clockwise: Harry Aarts of the Christian Democratic Party, Aad Nuis of the Democrats 66, Harry van den Bergh of the Social Democratic Party, José Merced Gonzalez of CLAT and the translator.

The intellectual and organizational capacities of Maspero in this new Latin American political crisis were sorely missed . What should be the attitude of CLAT facing the Venezuelan government of Chavez ? For or against Chavez, in both cases it would become difficult. To be against Chavez and his supporters meant surely difficulties for CLAT, with its headquarters and training and educational center UTAL still in Venezuela . Supporting Chavez would mean CLAT to choose against its own principles in favor of an authoritarian Marxist nationalist leadership in which the trade union is subjected to state and government. Whatever the new leadership of CLAT would choose, difficulties would be there.

To make things even more difficult, in the meantime the merger between WCL and ICFTU was announced which meant CLAT would loose its international support. Was this the reason that CLAT decided so surprisingly quick to merge with the ORIT? But on what common ground they are standing? The European trade unions united in the ETUC have at least the European Union as a common project with the aim to defend and extend the welfare state in times of globalization. Will there be in the near future an Inter-American Union with the dollar as a common currency (you don't believe the US will change its dollar for an inter-american currency like the Germans changed the Deutsche Mark into the Euro)? Will there be an Inter-American Parliament and an Inter-American Government like the European Parliament and the European Commission? Will there be common borders (the Rio Grande will disappear), a common market (an inter-american supermarket), a common foreign policy, and finally a social Latin America?

As far as I know such a common interregional project does not yet exist in the Americas. On the contrary, the US is still exporting its neoliberal, free market model to Latin America and the rest of the world. It's true, this model has given wealth to a large middle class, which reaches to the skilled workers in the US. Do Latin Americans now think that this model can also be applied in their continent? But probably it is already very important that the Latin and North American trade unions together stand for democracy and the civil society as the only way to live together. It seems that these are very interesting topics for debates between the North American and the Latin American unions. But may be there have been also other reasons for CLAT to merge with ORIT?

To be continued

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (PART 17)

On the cover of the book a photo of his father August as a young man.On the backside we read the following: "My father was a great trade union man. From Europe he brought the Christian trade union movement to Africa, Asia and Latin America. My father was a great catholic.He was one of the first laymen who got access to the Second Vatican Council. And yet he pointed Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus towards his trade unions."

Geert van Istendael, son of the former secretary general of the International Christian Trade Union Confederation August Vanistendael (see previous blog), is a writer, poet and essayist. He wrote a book about his father, titled "Gesprekken met mijn dode god" (conversations with my dead god). It contains the following passage about his father's work in Latin America.

"Most he loved Latin America. There he had started with $ 300 and only one man. From Tijuana to Punta Arenas , from the pampas to the Popocatepetl he had to conjure out of nothing the trade union. The brave one has disappeared long ago into the past, the trade union federation even in this ultra- Catholic half- continent remained a minority , but fighting spirit it had, like no other one. They could tease him until his death, these Latinos , they conspired and intrigued as wild wood spiders. In a letter to his home, he calls the trade union there a pigsty . They like to live in disorder, they proclaim chaos as the fundamental principle of workers' struggle . But in 1954 the Confederacion Latinoamericana de Sindicalistas Cristianos (Latin American Confederation of Christian Trade Unionists CLASC) was founded, in 1968 it was renamed or should I say de-baptized into Central Latinoamericana de Trabajadores (Latin American Confederation of Workers CLAT) , which then again in 2008 has been absorbed by the broad social democratic trade union movement " ( Geert van Istendael, Amsterdam / Antwerp 2009 , p.158 )

Indeed, Latin America is chaos and disorder as a result of political instability, bureaucratic arbitrariness, corruption and poverty. You may become annoyed about this, but at the same time admire the talents of the common man to stay upright. Latin Americans are masters at improvising. Despite the political, economic and social chaos, they know to make the best of it. What a contrast with Europe, where enthusiasm and joy often perish between rules and bureaucracy.

It is very strange to see the image of Stalin in Mexico City on the 1 May Parade (1978) while former Soviet Leader Leon Trotsky during his exile in Mexico City was brutally murdered by  a secret agent of Stalin in 1940. 

But trade unions were not new in Latin America. Partly thanks to the European immigrants, trade unions have been around in Latin America since the 19th century, mostly anarchist or Marxist-oriented (see for example “Historia del Movimiento Obrero en America Latina” written by Victor Alba, Liberos Mexicanos Unidos 1964). New was the idea of a social-christian oriented trade union movement. The classic trade union movement preached class struggle and the dictatorship of the proletariat, some of them were political fundamentalists, or they were bribed by Government and political parties. It went so far that some trade unions had no problem to cooperate with a military or party-dictatorship in their country. The trade union was not so much a movement for the emancipation of workers as well an instrument of one or another political party. The gap between rich and poor stayed as it ever was. CLAT wanted to change this by giving back the trade union movement to the workers so they could decide for themselves about their destiny. That is why CLAT used the slogan “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo” (only the people can save the people).

The Cuban Revolution (1959) and the subsequent revolutionary movements in Colombia like the ERLN with the priest Camilo Torres and the communist FARC (still existing and nowadays negotiating a peace agreement with the Colombian government in Cuba), the Tupamaros in Uruguay, the Montoneros in Argentina, and much later, the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua (1979) brought no real change. The liberation theologians with their so-called grassroots groups and the labor movement generally proved powerless.

That the position of the new star trade union star CLASC would become difficult between the existing trade unions, governments and polictical parties including the leftist revoltionary, became already clear inmediately after the victory of the Cuban revolution (1959). CLASC secretary general Maspero went inmediately after the victory of the revolution to Cuba, where he gathered with young leaders from the Catholic Working Youth, an organisation to which he had belonged also. They had risked their lives by supporting the revolution in the cities. Together with these young men Maspero made a press statement in which the position of CLASC was explained (original text in Spanish).

José Gomez Cerda is a trade union leader from the Dominican Republic who has had also  some international positions like for example Secretary General of the World Federation of Agricultural and Food Workers (WFAFW) and nowadays he is Persident of the Latin American regional federation for retired workers CLATJUPAM. On his website "Accion del Movimiento de Trabajadores en Internet" ACMOTI you find a lot of data on the trade union movement in the Dominican Republic as well as Latin America and International. 

"We fully support all revolutionary intentions aimed to implement of agrarian reform, industrialization, economic development, tax reform, fair distribution of wealth, full employment, 
 economic independence, political sovereignty, provided that all these efforts will not be used to consolidate the revolution as an end in itself, but to allow more full and effective exercise of human freedom and the construction of a new and fair society.”

... We declare finally that the Social Doctrine of the Church, inspired by humanist and Christian values, human dignity, social justice, freedom and social solidarity, are strong and effective enough to serve as a foundation for all revolutionary efforts to
build a new and better economic, social and political order ... " (José Gomez Cerda, "Emilio Maspero:el dirigente syndical").

From left to right: Mercedes Barcha, Gabriel Marquez (Gabo), Teresita Gonzalez and Reinol Gonzalez Photograph taken during the visit of Gabo and his wife in Miami where Reinol and his wife Teresita live in exile.  Reinol wrote also a book on his time in jail on Cuba called "Y Fidel creo el Punto X, un testimonio revelador sobre el régimen de Castro",Saeta Ediciones, Miami-Caracas 1987.

But Castro had become communist. Democrats and former revolutionaries like Reinol Gonzalez were put aside and then eventually disappeared for years behind bars. Others, such as Jose de Jesus Plana and Eduardo Garcia Mouro, had fled the country. CLAT and August Vanistendael have worked a long time to get out of jail Reinol Gonzalez. With the help of the Colombian writer Gabriel Marquez (Gabo) he was released in 1977. He then had been in jail 16 of the 30 years for which he was convicted. Jesus Plana came to work at the UTAL, the workers' education and training centre of CLAT in Caracas. Eduardo Garcia was elected deputy general secretary of CLAT and became one of the main fellows and friends of Emilio Maspero.

Second from left Emilio Maspero during the opening of the UTAL in 1975. On his left Eduardo Garcia followed by Henry Molina, José Jesus Plana (first Director of UTAL) and Acacia Maspero.

Despite this setback in Cuba, Maspero continued following his own path for what he called the liberation of Latin America. He refused to accept the Cold War for Latin America and to stand at the side of the U.S. He did not succumb to the pressure of the North American State Department and the AFL-CIO. “In September 1960 Maspero was invited by the State Department of 
the United States and met with key leaders of the AFL-CIO, including George Meany (president of the AFL-CIO from 1955 until 1979), Rumualdi and Serafino. These meetings were conflictual and have not contributed anything positive to the relations between CLASC and the AFL-CIO." (idem José Gomez Cerda)

From left to right: Rangel Parra (Secretary General of the Federacion Campesino Latinoamericana FCL), Sjef Houthuys (President of the Belgium trade union confederation ACV, Emilio Maspero (Secretary General CLAT) and Eduardo Garcia (Deputy Secretary General of CLAT). UTAL was financed by European trade unions like the Belgium ACV and the Dutch CNV and for a large part also by the German Christian Democratic "Konrad Adenauer Stiftung" and the Dutch NGO "NOVIB". 

So Maspero was not the man to surrender whatever the situation may be. He refused to compromise or to moderate his positions even when this brought him a clash with August Vanistendael, the man who had stood also at the cradle of CLASC.

"Emilio Maspero had its own personality, and was always provocative, both with governments, employers, international organizations ... 
 as within his own organization, but always with his own positions and alternatives to problems. His first internal conflict, in early 1961, was with the President of CLASC (José Goldsack) and General secretary August Vanistendael of the International ChristianTrade Union Confederation ICTUC (predecessor of the WCL), about the positions of the Christian trade unions in Colombia. While Goldsack and the Secretary General of ICTUC advocated a prudent policy towards ORIT organizations in Colombia (
there existed already Christian trade unions before CLASC was born) Máspero faced the sectors with another trade union affiliation.” (idem José Gomez Cerda)

to be continued

THE DOWNFALL OF THE WCL (part 1)

Published in "CLAT Nieuws", july/august 1973. 

The following story is a personal testimony and not a historical record of what happened at the end of the last century and the beginning of the new millennium in the international trade union movement, in particular in CLAT and the WCL.

The formal merger in 1982 (in the years from 1976 until 1982 both confederations worked together very closely) of the Dutch Catholic Confederation NKV with the former social democratic NVV meant in a certain sense the beginning of the end of the international labour confederation WCL, the Christian-oriented World Confederation of Labour, the oldest world federation, founded in 1929 in Luxembourg by the NKV, the Dutch Christian trade union federation CNV and other European trade union confederations. During the merger between NKV and NVV it was agreed to join the international social democratic trade union confederation ICFTU, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. The departure of NKV meant a considerable financial loss for the WCL.

The NKV was not the first confederation to leave the WCL under the influence of the shift to the left brought by the sixties. That honor belongs to Christian French Trade Union Confederation CFTD, then headed by general secretary Edmond Maire. I happened to be at the WCL Congress in Evian (1973) where this was happening. It was my first appearance in the world of the international labour movement, in this case as an observer on behalf of CLAT Netherlands, a Dutch NGO linked to the former Latin American Workers' Confederation CLAT. In those years CLAT Netherlands was one of the larger and well organized NGO's in the Netherlands.

As an observer, I was not involved in the WCL internal debates on the decision of the French CFDT to leave but I noticed that there was a lot of hassle. European trade union leaders, but also Latin America represented by CLAT general secretary Emilio Maspero, attempted to convince CFDT secretary general Edmond Maire during nocturnal conversations to stay within the WCL. For Maspero the departure of the French CFTD was an extra blow now he had to present for the first time in history of the WCL a new strategic document called "Towards the Liberation of the workers by the Solidarity Struggle".

Maspero had written this strategic document for the WCL with the intention to give a place to the Third World unions in the international labour movement. The document was a mix of Social-Christian beliefs linked to a certain kind of class analysis with the goal 'to liberate' the poor by way of a social struggle. It was a mix of social-Christian and Marxist thought from what was then called Third World option against capitalism and especially the North American capitalist imperialism, against the multinational companies as the so-called vanguard of that imperialist capitalism and a class analysis that would would bring real worker's democracy and social justice instead of communist dictatorship. The kind of thinking we already knew from the Colombian guerrillero Camilo Torres (1929-1969) and what later has become known as the Catholic Liberation Theology.

Published in "CLAT Nieuws"; september/october 1973

I remember that some NKV leaders did not agree with what they called a crypto- communist manifesto, remember that the Cold War was still in full operation, while others from the same NKV embraced the manifesto as a new combative beginning that the WCL would give a new start and new members. Although the document was adopted by a majority (almost 70%), a lot of Dutch, Swiss and Austrian delegates saw little merit in the new course. The Belgian ACV welcomed the document but had made some reservations. However, for the French CFDT the document came too late. They left the WCL. Moreover, the shift to the left of the French federation CFTD led to a separation of a more conservative part of it - the CFTC, which stayed affiliated to the WCL.

After the French CFDT in 1973 had departed, it was now in the late 70's that the NKV left the WCL. A federation with about 400,000 members which as already observed, meant a considerable financial loss for the WCL. Despite the new Third World course the WCL, which is now graced with the title of World Confederation of the Poor, had not affiliated new financially strong members.

The NKV had stipulated during the merger with the NVV a transition period for international solidarity. Although now affiliated to the ICFTU, the new FNV would stay involved in WCL unions in the Third World under the flag of the former NKV solidarity organization "Us and Them". The story was that the Third World unions were not to be allowed to become victims of the new relations in the Netherlands. This agreement was not always warmly welcomed by everyone in the FNV. So it appeared that "Us and Them" and the new FNV had great difficulty in the 80's with the political choices of CLAT during the political conflicts in Latin America, mainly in Central America.

As a fundamentally democratic organization CLAT was against any kind of leftist dictatorship. She was only willing to go in armed conflict as there was broad public support for it but even then CLAT remained cautious, not to say suspicious. The lesson was learned in Cuba. Who has the weapons, has the power and when the new rulers are not clearly democrats this would ultimately lead to the loss of trade union independence and pluralism. Hence CLAT was very critical on the armed Sandinistas in Nicaragua and the leftist guerrilleros in El Salvador and Guatemala. Thanks to former contacts between NKV leaders within the FNV leadership and the Dutch NGO CLAT Netherlands it was possible to discuss the matter on the highest levels of CLAT and FNV. The result was that FNV and CLAT stayed on speaking terms.

To be continued