Shifting dynamics in international trade unionism: Agitation, organisation, bureaucracy, diplomacy

Abstract

This article compares and contrasts international trade unionism in its formative stages with patterns today. It identifies a continuing tension between an ‘agitator’ model (internationalism from below) and a bureaucratic model (internationalism from above). With the construction of an architecture of international institutions, notably the International Labour Organisation, another variant emerged: the labour diplomat. It is argued that none of these models on its own is adequate: the future of effective internationalism requires a synthesis of these often contradictory elements.

Acknowledgments

An earlier version of this paper was prepared for the conference ‘The International Labour Movement on the Threshold of Two Centuries,’ organised in Stockholm in October 2002 to celebrate the centenary of the Arbetarrörelsens Arkiv och Bibliotek (Labour Movement Archive and Library). It was subsequently published as ‘Agitation, organisation, byråkrati, diplomati. Motsägelsefulla strategier i den internationella arbetarrörelsen,’ Arbetarhistoria 1 (2004). I am grateful to participants in the conference, and to the anonymous referees for this journal, for helpful comments on my text.

Notes

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