Pambis Kyritsis- General Secretary Of WFTU
Tonight, we are all here to fulfil a debt of honour to a rich and proud historical journey. To properly honour the 80 years of life and action of the World Federation of Trade Unions, which with unity, solidarity, and international class camaraderie, has united under its banner millions of workers from all corners of the earth in a tough but wonderful struggle for a better world.
Allow me to extend a special welcome to the more than 300 trade union leaders who have travelled from all over the world, overcoming many difficulties and problems, to honour this event with their presence. I am sure that they will take the militant message of this event back to their countries.
There is no doubt that today this international delegation would be much larger if the French authorities had shown more respect for this event and had not refused to issue visas to hundreds of trade unionists who expressed a willingness to participate.
Allow me to especially note the presence of a delegation from the Chinese trade unions. WFTU has a long-standing relationship with the ACFTU, based on shared principles and values, built on our sincere cooperation and joint action.
It is with pleasure and pride that I also welcome the presence of a large group of French trade unionists representing the affiliates of WFTU in France. Their presence and this event here in Paris today constitute a clear statement that WFTU has never left France, and its roots here in this country are deep and strong because they are nourished by the heroic tradition of the relentless class struggles of this country.
Dear colleagues,
The founding of WFTU did not occur out of the blue. On the contrary, the preceding decades were one of the most turbulent periods in human history, marked by significant economic and social processes and world-historical events.
Undoubtedly, the most important of these was the Great October Revolution of 1917, which changed the course of history and brought the working class to the forefront of history.
The Great Depression that broke out in 1929 highlighted the economic limits and inherent constraints of capitalism, creating unprecedented misery and poverty among workers and the popular strata. The rise of fascism and Nazism in the 1930s revealed the most brutal version of this system, and World War II highlighted its dead ends in the most inhumane and destructive way.
This year, in addition to the 80th anniversary of WFTU, we also celebrated 80 years since the great victory of the peoples against the fascist-Nazi horror. We paid tribute, as we should, to the decisive and leading role of the Soviet Union and the heroic Red Army in this great and historic victory.
It is certainly no coincidence that these two glorious anniversaries coincide.
From the ashes of the most destructive war in human history, the fresh air of the great anti-fascist victory brought with it hope and the demand for a new world of peace, democracy, and social justice.
This fresh wind blew strongly through the global trade union movement. It brought to the surface the demand for a new type of united, class-oriented global trade union movement. A movement that is independent of the dominant circles of global capitalism and serves only the interests of workers.
Thus, on October 3, 1945, the World Trade Union Conference in Paris, which had been prepared by the London Conference the previous February, was turned into a World Trade Union Congress, and decided to establish the World Federation of Trade Unions.
The elected French General Secretary, Louis Saillant, one of the emblematic historical leaders of the global working class, during his closing speech, summed up as follows:
“WFTU is a child of unity for unified struggles of the workers against fascism, against exploitation by the monopolies, for the liberation of all the colonies and for better living conditions for the working class”.
The new World Federation sets as its main priorities the organization of workers into unions, the fight against fascism, the fight against war and its causes, the promotion of economic and social rights and the democratic and trade union freedoms of workers, the education and class consciousness of unionised workers, and the representation of the interests of the international labour movement within the international organizations in which it participates, particularly those under the umbrella of the then newly formed United Nations.
There is no doubt that life itself has fully vindicated that historic decision of October 3, 1945.
Since then, WFTU has travelled a long, rich, and glorious historical path full of action, struggles, and contributions to the conquest of many important rights and historical achievements of the global working class.
The momentum with which the founding of WFTU armed the global trade union movement, and especially its ideological and political direction and class orientation, as expected, seriously alarmed the ruling circles of global capitalism. Especially in the circumstances at the time, a united and class-oriented global trade union movement was one of their worst nightmares.
Initially, they tried methodically, through unions and trade unionists under their influence, to manipulate WFTU at its creation, using pressure and blackmail. However, the firm stance of the vast majority of consistent class-based organizations and the strong anti-fascist and anti-imperialist sentiment of the time forced them to back down.
However, they did not give up their efforts.
Having failed to manipulate the new global trade union movement of workers around the world, they very soon began to prepare for its split under various pretexts and accusations. It was clear that the Cold War was now the obvious choice of the reactionary forces and the dominant circles of the Western imperialist world.
Thus, in 1949, with the active role of the CIA, the Intelligence Service, and other, extreme anti-communist reactionary centres working to intensify the Cold War, with the willing participation of European Social Democracy, which had already adopted an opportunistic and compromising line and had plead absolute allegiance to the then emerging transatlantic imperialist giant, they proceeded to split WFTU. Under the pretext of the refusal of most members to applaud and support the well-known Marshall Plan, some organisations led by the American CIO and the British TUC withdrew from WFTU and, together with the well-known AFL of America, proceeded to create a new yellow trade union body, the International of so-called “Free” Trade Unions, ICFTU. Of course, they were only free from their commitment to the working class and its struggles, but there is no doubt that they were completely dependent on the multinational monopolies and imperialist centres of the time.
The withdrawal and split were followed by attacks, pressure, blackmail, and buyouts. Nevertheless, WFTU continued its militant action, successfully serving the aims and objectives of the global class-oriented labour movement.
The founding Congress in Paris was followed by 17 other global trade union congresses held in all corners of the Earth, setting the priorities for the labour and social struggles of their time, always with the vision of a world without wars and imperialist interventions, without colonizers and neo-colonizers, without exploiters and exploited.
Under its banner, huge global campaigns of solidarity were developed with peoples fighting for national and social independence. It stood alongside the people of China, Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, and South Africa, strongly supporting their struggle against colonialism and actively participating in the struggles for peace, democracy, and social justice. It played a decisive role in the establishment of class-based trade unions in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It contributed decisively to the creation and action of important regional trade union federations such as OATTU in Africa, ICATU in the Arab world, and CPUSTAL in Latin America, and organized many international trade unions under its umbrella. It declared the Charter of Trade Union Rights, and on its initiative, trade union schools, educational institutions, solidarity, and support committees for persecuted trade union leaders were established and realised, as well as campaigns for the release of imprisoned activists.
It has left an indelible mark on all the important ILO Conventions that still form the basis for labour relations today. Convention 87 of 1948 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise and Convention 98 of 1949 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining remain the cornerstone of the trade union movement’s achievements of the trade union movement in terms of the right to organise, collective bargaining, and the right to strike. Convention 95 of 1949 is the basis for all subsequent legislation on the protection of wages, and Convention 100 of 1951 is the basis for all subsequent legislation on the principle of equal pay for men and women for work of equal value.
The creative contribution of WFTU to other international organizations to which it is accredited, such as UNESCO, FAO, and various UN committees, is historically documented.
Dear colleagues,
Unfortunately, the upheavals and reshuffles that brought about the terrible reversals of the late 1980s and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp in Europe could not fail to affect WFTU.
The 1990s were a very difficult decade for the class-oriented trade union movement and WFTU. Its main pillars, the trade unions of the former socialist countries, no longer existed.
The attack by reactionary forces was harsh, all-out, and multi-levelled.
The initial confusion caused by the tragic outcome of the well-known “perestroika” evolved into a scenario of deep political and ideological confusion. Many movements with a history of struggle and class roots, were led to fatalism and defeatism, and ultimately to historical revisionism and ideological and political surrender.
Some organisations that chose to leave WFTU and aligned themselves with yellow unions, attempted to argue that WFTU should abolish and dissolve itself, apparently believing that this would justify their choice. Under these circumstances, WFTU was in danger of becoming inactive and dissolve.
However, despite the difficulties and the severity of the attack, the unions that considered that their duty was to defend and strengthen the class pole within the global trade union movement stood their ground. For these unions, there was only one choice. WFTU had to reorganise itself, modernise its forms of action and operation, and, with clear positions and orientation, move on the counterattack, relying on its history and its long-standing presence and contribution.
With historical optimism and faith in the criterion and class instincts of the working class, a new cycle of militant presence and creative intervention by WFTU began after the historic congress in Havana in December 2005. With new methods of operation, adapted to the new conditions that have been created, with new leadership and a new General Secretary, comrade George Mavrikos. With clear positions and uncompromising insistence on its anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist character and class orientation. A cycle that continues to this day.
It develops internationalist solidarity among workers and mobilises class-based trade unions that defend workers’ rights and achievements. It actively participates, with positions and interventions, in global institutions with which it is accredited, the most important of which is, of course, the ILO. An ILO that, unfortunately, is increasingly distancing itself from the demands and expectations of workers, since for decades it has also been manipulated by the dominant circles of the “new world order.” Continuing the anti-democratic and politically unethical monopoly of worker representation by the ITUC.
We know that employers and governments are satisfied and comfortable with the complete monopolization of workers’ representation in the ILO by the ITUC. They thus avoid annoying voices defending the class interests of the workers and opposing the double-standard policy and the selective targeting of countries for the convenience of the dominant circles.
That is why we will continue to demand the democratisation of ILO and denounce the ITUC’s unacceptable and undemocratic monopoly on worker representation consistently and determinedly.
From the Havana Congress until today, the progress in organisational development and, above all, in the role and presence of WFTU in developments concerning the global trade union movement is, I believe, more than evident.
WFTU now has member organisations representing approximately 110 million workers. It is active and represented in 134 countries in all corners of the globe.
Its structure includes five regional offices and 11 international sectoral federations, as well as committees on women workers, young workers, Trade Union and Democratic Freedoms, Migrants, and Occupational Safety and Health. It also supports and works closely with the International Workers’ Institute to promote education and trade union training among trade unionists.
Dear colleagues,
80 years after the defeat of Hitlerism, 80 years after the founding of WFTU, despite the harsh lessons of human history, imperialist wars, interventions, sanctions, and blockades continue and intensify. Fascism is on the rise and threatens humanity once again, the capitalist crisis is deepening and spreading, accompanied by new attacks on workers’ rights and achievements. There is a dramatic widening of social inequalities, even greater degradation of the environment, and reckless overexploitation of our planet’s natural resources.
Today, once again, the hypocrisy, cynicism, and inhuman behaviour of imperialism are being revealed before the eyes of humanity. The massacre and genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza continue unabated, and some are attempting to present this heinous crime as Israel’s right to self-defence; a right to self-defence of a state that has illegally occupied Palestinian and other Arab territories for decades by force of arms, that has uprooted and displaced millions of people from their homes and land, that denies Palestinians the right to have their own independent state and continues its settlements, killings, and arrests, effectively establishing an apartheid regime.
The operation aimed at the complete occupation of Gaza and the completion of the systematic ethnic cleansing that continues against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is underway.
There is a deliberate and organised plan to displace and exterminate the Palestinians from their land, with the aim of expanding Israeli occupation and settlements in Palestinian territories, thus nullifying the UN resolutions providing for the creation of a Palestinian state. It is part of the broader plan of Israel and the US for a violent restructuring of the entire Middle East according to their own terms.
WFTU has every right to be proud because it has stood by the Palestinian people from the very beginning. Millions of workers in dozens of countries around the world are mobilising under its banner, demanding freedom and justice for Palestine. But not everyone in the International Trade Union Movement has the right to feel proud. Some—and I am referring, of course, to the ITUC—have lost their voice at a time of genocide and ethnic cleansing and remain silent in the face of this crime. Even worse, they maintain a position of equal distance, equating the perpetrators with the victims.
Today, the priority for the ruling circles of capitalism is the war economy, which, in addition to threatening world peace and security, also means even harsher austerity policies and greater social inequality.
In order to secure and increase the profitability of monopolies, attacks on the political, social, and trade union rights of workers are becoming increasingly harsh.
Temporary, precarious, and uninsured work is expanding and becoming entrenched, the authoritarianism of employers and governments is increasing, and democratic and trade union freedoms are being systematically curtailed.
Major social achievements such as social security and public health are being privatised, while the authoritarian and arbitrary raising of retirement ages continues methodically.
The encouraging and hopeful aspect within this otherwise depressing picture of today’s world is the fact that workers are not passively accepting the anti-popular and anti-labour offensive. Under the leadership of class-based trade unions, millions of workers around the world are choosing to fight to defend their trade union, social, and political rights.
WFTU members or friends are always at the forefront of all struggles, big or small, and thanks to these struggles, our Federation has gained even greater prestige and respect in recent years.
However, it is not only employers and governments that are mobilising to curtail rights and undermine workers’ struggles. In many cases, they find themselves facing not only employers and the state, but also unions that follow the path of class collaboration and integration into the system of exploitation. A path that, as was recently proven once again in the case of the arrest of the former Secretary of the ITUC and ETUC, Luca Visentini, is the path that reproduces careerism, bureaucracy, and corruption within the ranks of the trade union movement.
Dear colleagues,
The reason we are here today, gathered from every corner of the earth, to honour the glorious and heroic past of our movement, is because that is where we draw our strength, our faith, and our vision for the future.
During the march we took a short while ago through the streets of Paris, with so many colours and so many flags, with so many banners and clenched fists, generations upon generations of pioneering popular fighters who dedicated their lives and existence to the ideals and values represented by our Federation walked with us in spirit. We were also joined by the Sudanese Vice-President of WFTU, Ahmed Shafie El Sheikh, who was assassinated by the Nimeiry regime in Sudan in 1972.
The General Secretary of the heroic CGTP Peru and cadre of WFTU, Pedro Huillca Tesce, who was assassinated in Peru in 1992. The heroic young Vietnamese electrical worker Nguyen Van Troi, who faced the firing squad in 1964, shortly before the 6th Congress of WFTU in Warsaw, in whose memory all the delegates observed a minute’s silence. It was Mitsos Paparigas, member of WFTU General Council and Secretary General of the GSEE, who was assassinated by the Greek state in 1949. The Tunisian Ferhat Hached, a WFTU cadre, who was assassinated by the French colonialists in 1952.
They were all here. Everyone was present.
80 years is only the beginning. WFTU is a child of necessity. Workers everywhere need it because wars and interventions continue to exist. Imperialists and neo-colonialists continue to exist, exploitation and social injustice continue to exist.
Because alone, we are weak and vulnerable. But together, we are a powerful force that can not only protect the achievements that have been won through hard struggle, but also move forward, on the counter-offensive, to claim what is rightfully below to the workers, which is nothing less than the satisfaction of their contemporary needs.
Solidarity and internationalism are our weapons. Political, social, and trade union struggles are our choice. This is our path, and on this path, the path of class struggle, we will continue to march forward with the unshakeable conviction that the future of humanity cannot be capitalist barbarism and that another world is possible.
A world as envisioned by the pioneering trade unionists who gathered here in Paris on October 3, 1945, from every corner of the earth, rising from the ashes of war, without imperialist wars and interventions, without economic and trade wars, without exclusion, discrimination, and inequality, without the exploitation of humans by humans.
For such a world, it is worth giving all our strength.
– Long live the 80 years of life and action of WFTU!
– Long live the unity and struggles of the workers!
– Long live solidarity and internationalism!
(Speech of the World Federation of Trade Unions-WFTU General Secretary, Pambis Kyritsis, at the WFTU 80-year Anniversary Event in Paris , France 3rd october ,2025)
