MIA: International Working-Class Organizations: Comintern Archive: Red International of Labor Unions

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Red International of Labor Unions
(Profintern)
1921 – 1937

 

 

“The word ‘Profintern’ is a contraction of the Russian term ‘Professionalye Soyuz Internationalnye’ or, literally, ‘Occupational Union International.’”
The World’s Trade Union Movement, Lecture 5.


Encyclopedia of Marxism entry

  Origins: The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions

1920: The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions, A. Losovsky, 1920

1920: Gompers and the Soviets, American Bureau, The International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions, 1920

1921: Two Months of Activity of the International Council of Trade and Industrial Unions, J.T, Murphy, The Toiler, February 12, 1921

1921: Theses: The Communist International and the International Organization of the Trade Unions (Struggle Against the Yellow Trade Union International of Amsterdam), G. Zinoviev, 1921

Congresses and Plenums

  First World Congress, July 1921

Fraternal Greetings:

First-Hand Accounts:

Program of Action of the Red International of Labor Unions, Solomon A. Lozovsky, November 1921
The Red Trade-Union Recruiting Week, Solomon A. Lozovsky
To the Workers of France, Solomon A. Lozovsky
The Basic Problems of the International Trade Union Movement, Solomon A. Lozovsky
The Red Trade Union International to the Congress of the Trade Union of Czecho-Slovakia, Solomon A. Lozovsky
For the United Front of the Proletariat, Joint Appeal by the Executive Committees of the Communist International and the RILU, International Press Correspondence, January 6, 1922
The Main Stages in the Evolution of the R.T.U.I., Solomon A. Lozovsky

  Second Plenary of the Executive Committee of the RILU, February-March 1922

Amsterdam’s Chicane and the French Labor Movement
To the Workers of the World! (Solomon A. Lozovsky, Tom Mann, Heinrich Brandler, G. Molnitchenski, Andrés Nin & L. Repossi)
Circular: On the Participation of Women In the Revolutionary Trade Union Movement, International Press Correspondence, April 28, 1922
The R.I.L.U. and the International Trade Unions Federation, Andrés Nin

  Second World Congress, November 1922

RILU Telegram to the I.W.W., International Press Correspondence, April 19, 1923
The R.I.L.U. and the U.M.W.A., by John Dorsey

  Third Plenary of the Executive Committee of the RILU, June 25-July 2, 1923

RILU: The Labor Movement in Palestine, International Press Correspondence, July 12, 1923
The Red International Committee
RILU: The Question of Strike Strategy, International Press Correspondence, September 13, 1923
RILU Resolution on the Sabotage of the United Front by the Amsterdam International, International Press Correspondence, September 20, 1923
The I.W.W. Convention Hears Representatives of Red International, The Worker, November 24, 1923
The I.W.W. and the Red International of Labor Unions, James P. Cannon, The Worker, December 1, 1923
International Organizational Problems, Solomon A. Lozovsky, Labor Herald, February 1924
Profintern Asks I.W.W. to Send Delegates to 3rd Congress, Daily Worker, June 2, 1924

  Third World Congress, July 1924

1924: Unity of the International Trade Union Movement, Solomon A. Lozovsky, Daily Worker, September 20, 1924
Cover 1924: Red International Appeals to I.W.W., Daily Worker, October 30, 1924
1924: Hands Off China!, Solomon A. Lozovsky, Daily Worker, October 30, 1924
1924: Is the Unity of the International Trade Union Movement Possible?, Solomon A. Lozovsky, International Press Correspondence, November 27, 1924
1924: Struggle for Unity in the World Labor Movement, Solomon A. Lozovsky, Workers Monthly, December 1924
1925: R.I.L.U. Hammers Dual Unionism on Solar Plexis, Daily Worker, June 6, 1925
1925: 'Build the Trade Unions for Struggle Against Capitalism, Says Communist International, [on the 5th anniversary of the formation of the RILU] Daily Worker, August 8, 1925
1925: Red International of Labor Unions Reviews 5 Years' Life: Calls for Unity in Struggle, Daily Worker, August 12, 1925
1925: Letter from the Comintern and Profintern to the Workers' Party, USA on Trade Union Work, Daily Worker, August 15, 1925
1925: Red International of Labor Unions and Soviet Russia, Harrison George, Daily Worker, November 7, 1925
1925: Red International Lauds French Section for Strike Against War in Northern Africa and Syria, Daily Worker, November 18, 1925
1925: Red International Calls on Amsterdam for Fight Against Fascism, Daily Worker, December 5, 1925
1925: Labor in the Far East (Japan), Part I; Part II; Part III, Tani [member RILU Executive Bureau] Daily Worker, December 15-17, 1925
1925: Labor in the Far East (Indonesia), Part I; Part II; Part III; Part IV, Semaoen [member RILU Executive Bureau] Daily Worker, December 22-24, 26, 1925

  Enlarged Plenum, March 1926

Letter to the Amsterdam International requesting unity in support of the British miners
The Trade Union Conference of the Countries of the Pacific Ocean, Solomon A. Lozovsky, International Press Correspondence, May 13, 1926
Lozovsky Points Out Solidarity of the Ruling Class in Great Britain, John Pepper, The Daily Worker, May 14, 1926
R.I.L.U. Calls for Support to British Miners, The Daily Worker, June 11, 1926
The British Coal Miners Are Holding Out!, [on the British General Strike] Solomon A. Lozovsky, Daily Worker, June 24, 1926
Report to R.I.L.U. Shows the Communists and Sympathizers in I.W.W. Fighting Splitters, The Daily Worker, August 17, 1926
Declaration of the Executive Bureau of the Red International of Labour Unions on the British Miners' Strike, International Press Correspondence, August 26, 1926
On the Way to Trade Union Unity in the Countries of the Pacific, Solomon A. Lozovsky, International Press Correspondence, October 28, 1926

  Fourth World Congress, March 1928

 


Statements and letters

1922: Joint Appeal of the Comintern and Profintern on the United Front

1922: Joint Appeal of the Comintern and Profintern for a the United Proletarian Front

1923: To the Workers of the World - Joint Appeal of the Comintern and Profintern

1926: Letter to the Amsterdam International calling for unity with the British miners

 


Pamphlets

1921: Program of Action of the Red International of Labour Unions, A. Lozovsky

1925: The Movement for World Trade Union Unity, Tom Bell

1927: What is the Red International of Labour Unions?, A. Lozovsky

1929: The Problems of Strike Strategy: Decisions of the International Conference on Strike Strategy

1930: A Report of Proceedings and Decisions of the First International Conference of Negro Workers

 

Periodicals

The Negro Worker (1928-1937)

 


Profintern Affiliates

Britain:
National Minority Movement (1924-1933)

United States:
Trade Union Education League (1920-1928)

Rules [Constitution] for the Trade Union Educational League, 1922

Labor Herald Library No. 1 (1921): The Railroaders’ Next Step, Wm Z. Foster
Labor Herald Library No. 4 (1922): Bankruptcy of the American Labor Movement , Wm Z. Foster
Labor Herald Library No. 10 (1924): The World’s Trade Union Movement, A. Lozovsky
Labor Herald Library No. 11 (1924): Russia in 1924, Wm Z. Foster
Labor Herald Library No. 13 (1924): Lenin: The Great Strategist of Class War, A. Lozovsky
Labor Herald Library No. 14 (1924): Lenin and the Trade Union Movement, A. Lozovsky
Labor Herald Library No. 18 (1926): Strike Strategy, Wm Z. Foster

Trade Union Unity League (1929-1935)

 


R.I.L.U. Figures

 


Last updated on 10 May 2025