An international experiment of women workers: The international federation of working women, 1919-1924

Revue Belge de Philologie et de Histoire

Volumn 84, Issue 4, 2006, Pages 1025-1047

  Van Goethem, Geert ^a  

^a Amsab Institute of Social History   (Belgium)

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EID: 61149672212     PISSN: 00350818     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3406/rbph.2006.5059     Document Type: Review

References (80)

1. Quoted in Norbcrt C. SOLDON, The World of Women's Trade Unionism, Comparative Historical Essays, Westport, Greenwood Press, 1985, p. 4 (Contributions in Women's Studies, Number 52).
2. Eileen BORIS & Angélique JANSSENS, "Complicating Categories: Gender, Class, Race and Ethnicity", in International Review of Social History, 1999, Supplement 7, p. 6.
3. "We think a woman's place is at home, looking after the home, husband and family" (John Wadsworth, general secretary of the Mine Workers' Union of Yorkshire, "La place de la femme est au foyer et non à l'atelier" (French syndicalists, Calais Congress, 1890).
4. Jennifer CURTIN, Women and Trade Unions. A Comparative Perspective, Brookfield, Ashgate, 1999, p. 1.
5. Corrie VAN EIJL, Het werkzame verschil. vrouwen in de slag om de arbeid, 1898-1940, Hilversum, Verloren, 1994, p. 355.
6. Quoted in Françoise BATTAGLIOLA, Histoire du travail des femmes, Paris, Editions Découverte, 2000, p. 43.
7. Madeleine REBERIOUX, Le mouvement syndical et les femmes jusqu 'au Front Populaire, Paris, FEN, 1988, p. 74.
8. Regina BECKER-SCHMIDT, "Frauen und Deklassierung. Geschlecht und Klasse", in Ursula BEER, Klasse Geschlecht. Feministische Gesellschaftsanalyse und Wissenschaftskritik, Bielefeld, AJZ-Verlag, 1987, p. 228.
9. Bert KLANDERMANS, "Does Class Still Unite? Concluding Remarks", in Guy VAN GYES, Hans DE WITTE & Patrick PASTURE, eds., Can Class Still Unite? The differentiated work force, class solidarity and trade unions, Burlington, Ashgate, 2001, p. 326.
10. Leela FERNANDEZ, Producing Workers. The Politics of Gender, Class and Culture in the Calcutta Jute Mills, University Park, Penn State University, 1997, p. 160.
11. Elizabeth FAUE, "Gender and the Reconstruction of Labor History: An Introduction", in Labor History, vol. 34, 1993, nr. 2-3, p. 172.
12. Thea SINCLAIR, "Women, work and skill. Economic theories and feminist perspectives", in N. REDCLIFT & M. T. SINCLAIR, eds., Working Women. International Perspectives on Labour and Gender Ideology, London, Routledge, 1991.
13. Susan MILNER, The Dilemmas of Internationalism: French Syndicalism and the International Labour Movement, 1900-1914, Oxford, Berg, 1990, 260 p.
14. Léon Jouhaux (1879-1959): secretary general of the CGT (1909-1947), president of CGT-Force Ouvrière (1947-1954), vice-president of the International Federation of Trade Unions (1919-1945).
15. Gary BUSH, The Political Role of International Trade Unions, New York, St Martin's Press, 1983, 279 p.
16. Rebecca GRANT, "The Sources of Gender Bias in International Relations Theory", in R. GRANT & K. NEWLAND, eds., Gender and International Relations, Buckingham, Open University Press, 1991, p. 8-26.
17. Robin Miller JACOBY, The British and American Women's Trade Union Leagues, 1890-1925, Carlson, Brooklyn, 1994, 238 p.
18. Founded in 1916 as the Standing Joint Committee of Industrial Women's Organizations, with the following participant organizations: Women's Trade Union League, Women's Co-operative Guild, National Federation of Women Workers, Labour Party, Workers' Union, Postal andTelegraph Clerks' Association, National Union of General Workers, Railway Clerks' Association.
19. Mary Anderson (1872-1964): American trade unionist and labour expert. Organiser for the National Boot and Shoe Workers' Union and one of the founders of the National Women's Trade Union League. She became chief of the Women's Bureau of the US Department of Labor in 1919.
20. Mary Rose Schneiderman (1884-1972): American women trade unionist. Vice-president (1907) and president (1918) of the New York branch of the Women's Trade Union League. National president of the NWTUL (1928) and secretary of the New York state department of labor (1937-1944). She was an official of the National Recovery Administration in the 1930s and a member of the President F.D. Roosevelt brain trust.
21. Mary WINSLOW, Women at Work. The Autobiography of Mary Anderson, Minneapolis, 1951, p. 122.
22. There were official delegates from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Great Britain, India, Italy, Norway, Poland, Czechoslovakia, the United States and Sweden and guests from Cuba, Denmark, Japan, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland.
23. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, Working Women and the World, s.d.
24. In February 1919, national trade union federations from seventeen countries met in Berne to draw up a joint list of demands that was to serve as a guideline for their representatives at the peace talks. Although this conference was not an official congress of the International Federation of Trade Unions, the programme was subsequently adopted, with almost no changes, when the IFTU was reconstituted in July 1919 in Amsterdam. See footnote 42.
25. Report, Bern conference, IFTU, 1919, p. 10.
26. Margaret Bondfield (1873-1953): British Women trade union leader and labour politician. Secretary of the Women's Trade Union League (1908), Member of Parliament (1923), first woman to serve as president of the Trades Union Congress (1923). In 1929 she was appointed as Minister of Labour by Ramsay McDonald. She was the first woman to gain a place in the British Cabinet. In the financial crisis of 1931, she upset many members of the Labour Party when she supported the government policy of depriving some married women of their unemployment benefit. She lost her seat in 1931.
27. The Labour Women, May 1919, p. 51.
28. Quoted in Leila J. RUPP, The making of an International Women's Movement, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1997, p. 141.
29. The Labour Women, A Monthly Journal for Working Women, March 1919, p. 28.
30. Jeanne Bouvier (1865-1964): French trade unionist. Shirt-maker, active member of the Clothing Union from 1919 onwards. Secretary of the Paris Bourse du Travail from 1921 to 1922.
31. Mary MacArthur (1880-1921): British Trade Union Activist. Secretary of the Women's Trade Union League (1903).
32. Hélène Burniaux (1889-1950): Belgian trade unionist. Combined her trade union work with a full time occupation as a school inspector. Member of the Belgian Comité National d'Action Féminine, president of the International Federation of Working Women (1923-1924).
33. Betzy Kjelsberg (1886-1950): Norwegian politician and trade union activist. Vice-president of the International Council of Women (1926). Factory inspector and member of the Norwegian Parliament.
34. Margaret Dreier Robins (1868-1945): American women trade union leader. Daughter of an upper-class industrial, joined the Women's Municipal League in Brooklyn in 1902 and the Women's Trade Union League in 1904. President of the National Women's Trade Union League (1907-1922); president of the International Federation of Working Women (1921-1923). She moved to Florida in 1925 and remained active in progressive politics until her death.
35. Louisa Landova-Stychova: member of the Czechoslovak Anarchist Party.
36. Paris, Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Fonds Jeanne Bouvier, box 23, file 2, ICWW, Report 1920-1921.
37. According to the first ICWW report, the cost was $700.
38. The Pan-American Federation of Trade Unions was founded on 7 July 1919 on the initiative of the American Federation of Labor and had members in Argentine, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru and the USA.
39. Paris, Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Fonds Jeanne Bouvier box 23, file 2, ICWW, Report 1920-1921.
40. On the history of the IFTU, see Geert VAN GOETHEM, The Amsterdam International, Atdershot, Ashgate, 2006, 320 p. See footnote 26.
41. Jan Oudegeest (1870-1950): Dutch trade unionist and politician. President of the Dutch Nederlandsch Verbond van Vakvereenigingen (1908-1919), secretary general of the International Federation of Trade Unions (1919-1926), president of the Dutch socialist party SDAP (1927-1934).
42. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, The International Federation of Working Women, Constitution.
43. Marion Philips (1881 -1932): British feminist and labour activist. Secretary (1912) of the Women's Trade Union League, editor of Labour Woman. One of the founders (1916) and secretary (1917-1932) of the Standing Joint Committee of Industrial Women's Organisations. Chief Woman Officer of the Labour Party (1917-1932), secretary of the International Federation of Working Women (1921-1923), Member of Parliament for Labour (1929-1931).
44. There were vice-presidents from twelve countries: Hélène Burniaux (Belgium), Derry (Canada), Laura De Zayas Bazan (Cuba), Bozena Kubichova (Czechoslovakia), Jeanne Bouvier (France), Margaret Bondfield (Great Britain), Laura Casartelli (Italy), Betzy Kjelsberg (Norway), Sophie Dobrzanska (Poland), Mary Fitzgerald (South Africa), Angèle Monnier (Switzerland) and Maud Swartz (USA).
45. Samuel Gompcrs (1850-1924): American trade union leader. President of the American Federation of Labor (1886-1924).
46. First Yearbook of the International Federation of Trade Unions, The International Trade Union Movement, Supplement VII, 1922, p. 168.
47. Paris, Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Fonds Jeanne Bouvier, box 23, file 2, Marion Philips to Jeanne Bouvier, 10 January 1922.
48. Edo Fimmen (1881-1942): Dutch trade union leader, secretary general of the International Federation of Trade Unions (1919-1924) and of the International Transportworkers' Unions (1919-1942).
49. R. M. JACODY, The British and American Women's Trade Union Leagues, op. cit., p. 171.
50. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, Memorandum from the IFWW to the IFTU, s.d..
51. The Labour Woman, June 1923.
52. Carl Lcgien (1861-1920): German trade union leader. President of the Generalkommission der Freien Gewerkschaften (1890). First president of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, ADGB (1919).
53. J. H. Thomas (1874-1949): British trade union leader and politician. Secretary general of the National Union of Railwaymen (1918-1924), president of the Trades Union Congress (1920), president of the International Federation of Trade Unions (1920-1924).
54. Jeanne Chevenard (1876-1944): French union leader. An embroideress by profession, she became active in the CGT in 1913. Originally a syndicalist, she switched to the reformist movement of Léon Jouhaux in 1921. She became one of the major representatives of the Clothing Union and was generally acknowledged within the CGT as the specialist in 'women's issues'. Chevenard was a confirmed anti-communist and a faithful supporter of Jouhaux. However, under the Vichy regime, she was appointed a member of the Lyon town council and became involved in the collaboration. On 29 June 1944, she was executed by the resistance.
55. Gertrud Hanna (1876-1944): German feminist, politician and union leader. Started working at the age of 14 as a printer's aide and became involved in the socialist movement at an early age. In 1907, she became active in the German women's movement and started campaigning for the protection of pregnant women in companies. She represented the ADGB at the IFTU congresses and played an important role during the Women Workers' Congress of 1927 in Paris. Under the Weimar Republic, she was an MP for the SPD. When the Nazis came to power, she had to give up her political and union activities. She tried to survive by taking in mending, but came under increasing pressure from the Gestapo towards the end of the war. She committed suicide, together with her sister, on 26 February 1944.
56. Julia Varley (1871-1952): British feminist and union leader. Varley joined the labour movement as an activist in the suffragette movement. In 1909, she was asked to take charge of organising the women in the trade union in Birmingham. In 1912, she became an official of the Workers' Union, which wanted to organise the great mass of unskilled labourers. During Word War I, there was an acute labour shortage, forcing the munitions factories to employ large numbers of unskilled women. Membership of the Workers' Union grew spectacularly and the organisation became a major power factor within the TUC. In 1921, Varley became a member of the TUC's General Council and chairwoman of the TUC Women's Group. In this capacity, she attended several international meetings of both the IFTU and the ILO. When the Workers' Union merged with the TGWU, Varley became the chief women's officer of the new powerful union. She retired in March 1936.
57. Laura Casartelli Cabrini (1883-1932): Italian feminist and journalist. Memberofthe central committee of the Unione Agricole Femminile from 1919 onwards and editor-in-chief of the Almanacco della donna italiana (1920-1925).
58. Argentina Altobelli (1866-1942): Italian trade unionist. Around the turn of the century, she was active in the area of Bologna as an organiser of female farm workers and women. In 1906, she became the secretary of the farm workers' union, a position she was to keep for almost 20 years. Within the Italian socialist movement, she was also active in the National Women's Committee. She belonged to the reformist trend of Italian socialism. She dropped out of the public picture during the Fascist dictatorship and made her living as a library assistant.
59. This and next quotes : Report of the International Trade Union Conference, held at Rome, 1922, London, Foulger, s.d., p. 45
60. Tom Shaw ( 1872-1938): British trade union leader and politician. Secretary of the International Textileworkers' Federation (1911-1924). Minister of Labour (1924); Minister of War (1929-1931).
61. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, Note on the Federation of Working Women, s.d.
62. Report on the Activities of the International Federation of Trade Unions, 1922 and 1924, op.cit., p. 115.
63. International Federation of Working Women, Working Women in Many Countries. Report of Congress held at Vienna, August 1923, Amsterdam, IFTU, 1924, p. 7.
64. Fédération Syndicale Internationale, Rapport sur l'Activité en 1922 et 1923, Amsterdam, FSI, 1924, p. 111.
65. There was also a Romanian delegate, but she was not mentioned in the official reports and her speech was omitted from the congress report.
66. Argentine, Chile, Hungary, Japan and Romania.
67. Manchester, PHM, Labour Party Archives, Standing Joint Committee of Working Women's Organisations, Report, 1923.
68. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, Meeting of the Secretariat, minutes, 20 July 1923.
69. Coventry, Modern Records Centre, TUC Archives, Letter from Johannes Sassenbach to the members of the IFTU, 8 May 1923.
70. Coventry, Modern Records Centre, TUC Archives, Edith McDonald to Fred Bramley, 21 April 1924.
71. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, Memorandum from the IFWW to the 1FTU, s.d.
72. Report on the Activities of the International Federation of Trade Unions, 1922 and 1924, op. cit., p. 262.
73. Johannes Sassenbach (1866-1944): German trade-union leader. Secretary (1922-1927) and secretary general (1927-1931) of the International Federation of Trade Unions.
74. Coventry, Modern Records Centre, TUC Archives, IFTU, Management Committee, Minutes, 8 November 1923.
75. London, Metropolitan University, Margaret Bondfield Papers, IFWW, Final Report, August 1923 - December 1925.
76. The Activities of the International Federation of Trade Unions 1936-1938, Paris, IFTU [1939], p.67.
77. Not in the political sense, but as an expression of attachment to one's national culture.
78. Kevin CALLAHAN, '"Performing Inter-Nationalism' in Stuttgart in 1907: French and German Socialist Nationalism and the Political Culture of an International Socialist Congress", in International Review of Social History, vol. 45, 2000, nr. 1, p. 51-87;
79. G. VAN GOETHEM, The Amsterdam International, op. cit.
80. L. J. RUPP, The making of an International Women s Movement, op. cit., p. 117.