Red International of Labour Unions (RILU) 1920 - 1937

Reiner Tosstorff, Dr. phil. habil., teaches at the history department at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. He has published monographs and articles on Spanish history as well as on the international workers' movement in the twentieth century.

"Just as the Communist International found its historian in Pierre Broué, [...] the Red International of Labor Unions, commonly known as the Profintern [...] found its historian in Reiner Tosstorff... Fortunately for English readers, Reiner Tosstorff’s Profintern: Die rote Gewerkschaftsinternationale 1920–1937, originally published by Ferdinand Schoningh in 2004, has been translated from the German by Ben Fowkes." - Daniel Gaido, National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET, Argentina), in: Science & Society 85/1 (2021)

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSABBREVIATIONSINTRODUCTION1. FROM TRADE UNION INTERNATIONALISM TO THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS2. IN SEARCH OF A REVOLUTIONARY TRADE UNION INTERNATIONAL2.1 The International Politics of the All-Russian Central Council of Trade Unions 1917–202.2 The Communist International and the Trade-Union Question2.3 The Impact of the October Revolution on the Revolutionary Syndicalists2.4 The First Trade Union Contacts: The Question of the International Trade Secretariats and Shliapnikov’s Mission3. THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION COUNCIL (1920–1)3.1 Its Foundation3.2 The Sequel: The Second Comintern Congress and the Trade-Union Question3.3 The Organisation of the International Trade Union Council 3.4 The Foreign Delegations of the VTsSPS in Autumn 1920: Making Propaganda for the International Trade Union Council3.5 ‘Amsterdam’ or ‘Moscow’: The Course of the Argument within the IFTU after the Foundation of the International Trade Union Council 3.6 The Syndicalists En Route for Moscow3.7 The International Trade Union Council, 1920–1: Its Programme, Activities and Organisation3.8 Towards the Founding Congress: Discussions Between the ITUC and the Delegates3.9 The Russian Trade Unions and the International Trade Secretariats, 1920–14. THE FOUNDING CONGRESS OF THE RED INTERNATIONAL OF LABOUR UNIONS4.1 The Course of the Congress: The RILU is Established4.2 Relations Between the Comintern and the RILU4.3 The Tactics, Organisation and Statutes of the RILU4.4 The First RILU Congress Draws to a Conclusion4.5 The Syndicalist Opposition and the Question of the Anarchist Prisoners4.6 Excursus: The Trade Union Discussion at the Third Comintern Congress4.7 The Formation of the RILU Leadership: The First Session of the Central Council4.8 The Creation of the International Propaganda Committees5. FROM THE FIRST TO THE SECOND CONGRESS OF THE RILU5.1 Should the RILU Be Disbanded? Resignations and Demands for Liquidation5.2 The Syndicalists between Moscow and Berlin5.3 The Development of the RILU as an Organisation and a Political Entity: From the First to the Second Congress5.4 The International Trade Secretariats and the International Propaganda Committees, 1921–25.5 The Second Congress of the Red International of Labour Unions5.6 Excursus: Organisational Connections Grow Closer: The RILU becomes the Comintern’s International Trade Union Apparatus6. THE UNITED FRONT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN IN 1923: THE ROLE OF THE RILU6.1 From the Hague Congress to the Ruhr Crisis: Fimmen Breaks Ranks6.2 The Attempt to Achieve the United Front through the International Trade Secretariats6.3 The Third Session of the Central Council 6.4 A ‘German October’? The Lessons of Defeat6.5 The RILU as an Organisation at the Beginning of 1924: An Interim Summary7. THE RILU BETWEEN 1924 AND 1927: IN DANGER OF DISSOLUTION FOR THE SAKE OF INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION UNITY7.1 The Trades Union Congress Brings About a Turn to the Left in the IFTU7.2 Moscow Takes the Road to Unity: The Fifth Comintern Congress and the Third RILU Congress7.3 The Anglo-Russian Committee and the International Movement for Trade Union Unity7.4 The Fourth Session of the Central Council7.5 A Way to Gain New Influence? Initiatives Taken by the RILU Leadership in China and Other Countries8. THE RILU IN THE CONTEXT OF THE ‘ULTRA-LEFT’ POLICY OF INTERNATIONAL COMMUNISM 1928–348.1 Trotskyist Opposition in the RILU? The Nin Affair and the Rift with the Dutch Leftists8.2 The Radicalisation of the RILU’s Course by Lozovsky and the Sanctioning of the New Approach by the Fourth Congress8.3 The New Line is Applied Across the Board8.4 The Sixth Session of the Central Council, The Fifth RILU Congress and the Eighth Session of the Central Council8.5 Organisational Inflation as a Compensation for Political Decline9. THE END OF THE ROAD: THE RILU FROM 1934–79.1 Trade-Union Unity Under the Banner of the Turn to the Popular Front9.2 The Seventh Comintern Congress and the International Trade Union Discussion9.3 The Dissolution of the RILU9.4 The Sequel: The Russian Trade Unions Again Attempt to Enter the IFTUCONCLUSIONAPPENDICESAppendix 1: Lozovsky and the Bolsheviks before 1920: A Biographical SketchAppendix 2: Biographies of Other Leading FiguresBIBLIOGRAPHYINDICESIndex of NamesIndex of Trade Union Organisations