For only four years, between 1945 and 1949, the World Federation existed as a united movement of social democratic and communist trade unions. This period has been studied in detail by Anthony Carew, who relied on British and U.S. materials and was mainly interested in the reasons for organization’s split into two camps.5 This approach, which foregrounds emerging Cold War division, not only creates an imbalance in perspectives but also reproduces certain narratives and interpretations. Thus, the wftu of the 1940s is viewed only through the lens of ideological conflict (between communists and anticommunists), and the communists’ dominant position in the organization is blamed for the failure of the organization. This narrative then reappears—mostly unquestioned—in the work of other scholars, such as in Eileen Boris’s
There are of course authors who approach trade union internationalism differently. In Imagining Internationalism in American and British Labor, Victor Silverman writes that there is much to be learned about the ambitions of the wftu in the 1940s. It was not actually impacted by the nascent Cold War until the late 1940s. Before that, it was a very ambitious movement attempting to address many pressing issues and find a position in the emerging postwar world order.7 Following Silverman, I argue that the World Federation played a major role in the debate on equal pay for equal work in the international community.8 In this chapter, I analyze the discussions about the wftu’s call for equal pay for equal work that took place in the Economic and Social Council (ecosoc) of the UN in 1948. I approach these discussions from the perspective of the wftu and reconstruct the resistance of certain members of the ecosoc to the wftu. I will then analyze the discussions on women’s employment and equal pay that took place within the wftu during a meeting of the wftu Executive Committee in Rome in May 1948. It is not surprising that this debate was already affected by the Cold War. It is interesting, however, that in the 1940s, the “Western” trade union movement, which was generally seen as progressive, struggled with the idea of equal pay for equal work for women and vigorously argued against the Soviet claim that economic equality for women had been established with the victory of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union (su).
The debates on the issue during the Rome meeting can be read as a condensed version of wider discussions about women’s employment taking place worldwide at the time, and as such, this analysis demonstrates how different political interests overlapped on substantive issues and shows how difficult it was for participants to critically reflect on their ideological perspective. As Francisca de Haan writes, the Cold War was more than an argument about the arms race and space race; it was a conflict over living standards in which there was a strong ideological clash over the question of what defined a good
The readjustment of the global trade union international also entailed the inclusion of new members. The attention to political and trade union conditions in colonial and politically independent countries in the post-1945 period went far beyond the scope of issues taken up by the international trade union movement during the interwar period.10 The main criticism of the International Federation of Trade Unions (iftu) had always been its lack of global representation, and a few Afro-Asian unions had joined the organization in the 1930s.11 This lack of global representation was not only due to a lack of contacts; rather, the decolonizing world did not see the iftu as willing or able to address its concerns. While the communist Red International of Labour Unions (also known as Profintern) did explicitly support anticolonial and anti-imperial struggles, “the iftu was much more cautious, avoiding any clear statements on the issue.”12 Carolien Stolte notes that this legacy of the interwar period lived on after World War Two and was reflected in the discussions on equal pay that took place at the Executive Committee meeting. Delegates from the Global South used the forum to address the labour situation and issue of fair wages in their countries, pointing out that this issue was not just a matter of gender but also race. The fact that some delegates were still deeply entangled in the colonial system of their countries rendered them incapable of responding.
This study is based on sources held in the wftu Archives at the International Institute of Social History (iish) in Amsterdam,13 especially the “Report on the Activity of the wftu Concerning the Principles of Equality of Wages for Equal Work between Male and Female Labour,”14 which included a “Declaration of
Returning to the introduction, whereas researchers have examined the role of women in the trade union movement, the specific role of women in the World Federation has not yet been researched—neither during the period between 1945 and 1949 nor after the split in 1949, when the wftu continued to exist but with only communist and state-socialist trade unions as members.18 I pay special attention to the work of a woman activist who not only advocated for women’s issues in the wftu but was active in many international (women’s) organizations: Nina Vasil’evna Popova (1908–1994). She was one of the founders of the Antifascist Committee of Soviet Women in 1941, a vice-president of the Women’s International Democratic Federation (widf) starting in 1945, and a secretary of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (acctu, Всесоюзный центральный совет профессиональных союзов) between 1945 and 1957. She played a crucial role in the debate on the gender pay gap that took place at the wftu Executive Committee meeting in Rome in May 1948.
I will start this analysis by briefly presenting the history of the wftu. In the second section, I will discuss its position in ecosoc and the memorandum on equal pay for equal work. In the third section, I examine the internal debate on
1 The World Federation of Trade Unions in the Late 1940s
The idea for a common and unified international trade union movement emerged during World War Two. The British Trades Union Congress (tuc) and the Soviet acctu had established contact with each other in 1941; they agreed that there was a need for world peace and that civil society would need to be reconstructed in fascist countries.19 In cooperation with the U.S. Congress of Industrial Organizations (cio), the grassroots desire for unity was fulfilled and, after an exploratory conference in London, the wftu was founded in Paris in the autumn of 1945.20 Although political, economic, and social programs had been sidelined during the war to promote broad-based cooperation among all trade unions, these questions were now up for debate and quickly led to disputes. Many trade unionists who had been active in the iftu worked to overcome politicization within the movement, integrate various forms of organization—e.g., national trade union federations as well as international trade secretariats—and geographically extend the organization beyond Europe.21
Due to a lack Soviet source material, or rather due to the fact that it has not yet been analyzed, one can only speculate about the Soviet trade union’s ambitions for membership in the wftu. However, the Soviet resolution, introduced during negotiations on a trade union international in 1943, makes it clear that the dissolution of the Communist International (Comintern) in May 1943 had left the Soviet trade union with the task of filling a gap in the Soviet Union’s foreign policy propaganda.22 Yet, during the establishment of the trade union international, East and West did not initially confront each other as might be assumed. The main tension related to political affiliation, which crossed geographic boundaries. During the preparations for the conference in London, a communist-progressive grouping had formed in opposition to the British bloc; in addition to the Soviet trade union, this grouping included the communist minority of the cio, the French General Confederation of
When the Marshall Plan was announced in the summer of 1947, the split in the wftu began, though the dispute over the American aid program merely deepened pre-existing cleavages and intensified antagonisms within the organization.25 For this reason, the wftu’s split must be understood within the context of the overall development of the East–West conflict that affected the European Left as a whole.26 In January 1949, the wftu finally fractured when the British, U.S., and Dutch delegates left the Executive Bureau. The social democrats merged into the icftu, along with the afl, while the state-socialist unions remained in the wftu together with the communist unions of Western Europe and those of the Global South.
2 wftu and Equal Pay Discussions in the ecosoc and csw
As an important organ of the UN, the ecosoc became the main structure used for implementing global trade union policy.27 Representatives of both political blocs valued having a voice here. The council was composed of eighteen member states. Various regional and functional commissions were affiliated with it, including the csw. After persistent and lengthy negotiations, the wftu, as a non-governmental organization, achieved so-called Category A consultative status in the ecosoc, which allowed it to participate in discussions and granted it the right to submit items directly to the UN agenda. After an initial submission concerning the free exercise of trade union rights in 1947, the wftu put the issue of equal pay on the agenda of the ecosoc in February 1948.28 Preparations for this had been underway since 1946. The wftu, with
Almost simultaneously, similar debates had been going on in the csw. As Boris documents, at the first session of the csw in February 1947, a Russian lawyer and trade unionist30 had pushed for a questionnaire on the economic rights of women.31 This demand triggered a dispute over who was responsible for carrying out such a study, the ecosoc or the ilo. As Boris explains, behind this institutional question was a political one: delegates from the Western European and U.S. context considered the ilo responsible for carrying out such a survey, whereas delegates from state-socialist countries hoped that the ecosoc would be able to exert greater influence on the content of the study. There was, however, also a practical reason behind the latter’s reliance on the ecosoc: the Soviet Union had no influence in the ilo because they had left the organization in 1940.32
In January 1948, not much happened to advance the issue of equal pay in the csw. The members declared their support and invited the ilo as well as non-governmental organizations “to compile memoranda setting out what action they are taking to provide equal pay for men and women.”33 And it was agreed that the topic would be discussed further at the next meeting. The wftu, too, was allowed to submit proposals. Against the background of these decisions, Boris’ conclusion is somewhat misleading. She states that the Byelorussian delegate attempted to get the wftu involved, but the wftu “lacked the capacity to provide such information and only pledged its cooperation.”34 According to the records, no representative of the wftu was present at that meeting, and as we have seen, the wftu submitted its proposal to the ecosoc only a month later. So, the wftu’s proposal concerning equal pay must have been in preparation but was intended for the ecosoc. At the next meeting of the csw
As a result of the extension of large scale industry and mechanisation, the improvement of implements, the emancipation of women, two world wars, and the ever more extensive industrialization of backward countries, the number of women wage earners has increased considerably during the XXth century. […] Without seeking to pass judgment of any kind on the development we have just mentioned, we feel obliged to state that it appears to us impossible to reverse this development and that, consequently, women wage earners must be guaranteed, in their own interests as well as in those of workers in general and in the interests of economic and social progress, wages equal to those paid to male workers for an equal quantity and quality of work.37
It is clear what form of work the wftu had in mind here. It was about women in industry, a field trade unions originally allocated to the white, male worker. In this sector, the text added in point two, “female labour is paid less than the rate fixed for male labour”38 in most countries. In piecework, the difference was even more pronounced. But the “lessons of industrial psychology” had shown that a woman can, “by reasons of her natural talents, such as skill, dexterity, etc. furnish an excellent output, in no way inferior to the output provided by male labour.”39 The report called for a “re-grade” of women’s wages “on the basis of the quantity and quality of the work performed, so as to eliminate present
The declaration, thus, covered both the potential problems associated with calculating fair wages and the general support of women in the labour market. It was influenced by socialist concepts in that it did not question women’s employment in general, and it addressed the concern of possible competition from women workers as well contradicted the idea that women were responsible only for domestic work, a prevailing view in some Western countries—like the Netherlands or Great Britain—as will be seen in the discussion at the wftu Executive Committee meeting. The socialist line was also obvious in the demand for public support for childcare facilities and women’s education and in the declaration of support for trade unionism in colonial countries, which will be addressed later as well.
The sources document the opposition delegates of the wftu faced at the ecosoc meeting and the arguments it had prepared to allay the concerns of some state representatives about possible inflation or competition in the labour market from an increase in women’s employment. While all the members of the council agreed in principle, representatives of New Zealand and Great Britain balked at the immediate implementation of these proposals, claiming that these reforms would lead to an increase in inflation. wftu delegates sought to counter this concern arguing that “measures should lead, in practice, to rationalisation in the use of women’s labour and consequently should serve to reduce the disequilibrium between methods of payment and
3 The wftu Executive Committee Meeting in Rome, May 1948
The discussions in the World Federation continued three months later, in May 1948, at the wftu Executive Committee meeting held in Rome. The committee was confident it could put its own resolutions into action and, with its twenty-six members, was geographically broad-based. Most delegates came from the Soviet Union, which held five seats, followed by the United States and Canada, which sent a total of four delegates. France had three seats, and Great Britain two. The remaining delegates mostly represented larger regions such as Latin America, India, and what was then Ceylon, Africa, Scandinavia, and Western, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe. China, Australia, and New Zealand were also represented. In addition to the core leaders of the wftu—including President Arthur Deakin, General Secretary Louis Saillant, and two of Saillant’s three deputies Walter Schevenels and Rombert Chambeiron—the head of the Economic and Social Department G. Fischer, who was responsible for the paper in cooperation with Saillant, was also present. Shortly before, a meeting of the Executive Bureau, the central organ of the wftu, had taken place. This meeting was already dominated by the dispute over Marshall Plan aid, and this conflict affected the overall mood of the Executive Committee meeting, which was further exacerbated by the presence of Saillant, who had
Whenever a woman replaces a man and performs the same work, she should receive the same wage. […] The woman must be capable of working and carrying on production under the same conditions as a man she has replaced, without any additional supervision or assistance.49
In the very next sentence, the text admitted that this situation was rare. But when the work of the woman is very similar, a method should be developed whereby the woman is paid “according to the true values of her work and not
Finally, the text made clear that the implementation of this re-evaluated work would have to be implemented by governments, trade unions, and by society. The ilo had begun taking steps on this issue in 1944, but “we must not lose sight of the immediate reality and content ourselves with mere paper reforms.”53 The wftu Executive Committee meeting was now focused on discussing the proposal, sharing experiences, and planning further actions. After General Secretary Saillant had talked about the results at the ecosoc meeting, he invited discussion.
Nina Popova was the first to speak. Before delving into an analysis of the position she took in the discussion, I want to briefly introduce her. Popova played a dual role here. She was invited as a delegate of the acctu, but as vice-president of the widf, she also spoke as an activist of a women’s organization. Like many international organizations, the widf was established after World War Two to give institutional expression to the euphoria around the end of the war and the successful fight against fascism. As Francisca de Haan writes, many of the actors had suffered trauma as well as personal losses during the war, as had Popova, who had been involved in the defense of Moscow54 and had lost her husband “in the fight for Berlin.”55 The wftu and widf were similar in that they both aimed their activism at the working class. The widf explicitly distinguished itself from conservative and liberal women’s associations and
The principle of equal pay for equal work was one of the most long-standing claims of the working class, one of the conditions of true democracy and a guarantee for the vital interests of the workers. In the ussr, complete equality had long existed in fact for women; from the earliest days of the Revolution in 1917, the principle of equal pay for equal work had been effectively applied. […] If one wished to be objective, it was clear that the liberation of women presupposed, as an essential condition, their employment in productive work, and their freeing from the drudgery of the kitchen and the nursery and from economic dependence and household slavery.61
Popova was quite clear on how this could be achieved: women’s liberation was possible through the abolition of private ownership of the means and instruments of production, as had been achieved in the Soviet Union. A year later, she summarized her ideology concerning a discrimination-free Soviet Union and voiced her commitment to socialism in Women in the Land of Socialism, in which she saw Soviet women as the “vanguard of the struggle of women all over the world.” In the context of the international women’s movement, she wrote: “They take the lead in the efforts to strengthen cooperation among women of all freedom-loving nations.”62
But what was the situation like in the Soviet Union? What was the employment ratio of women? Did women’s wages really correspond to those of men, as Popova proclaimed? First, women’s participation in the labour force was regarded as a key dimension of the industrialization drive and the achievement of Soviet economic goals dating from the late 1920s.63 The Soviet constitution of 1936 explicitly granted men and women the equal right to work and equal pay for equal work—one of the earliest examples of gender equality legislation.64 Beyond legislation, there had been a marked increase in women’s
However, the relatively small difference in women’s labour force participation in the Soviet Union did not equate to a small gender wage gap. Soviet women earned between 60 percent and 65 percent of the average salary of men and about 70 percent of men’s hourly wages,68 which was not much different or was even lower than women’s wages in Western countries. For example, Swedish women earned 72 percent of men’s earnings in 1960; Italian women, 73 percent; and British women, at least 61percent.69 So, in terms of Soviet women’s employment, there was a foundation on which Popova could launch her campaign, but this foundation was far shakier than her arguments for equal pay suggested.
A point that is still disputed today is the consequence(s) of the unequal distribution of unpaid (care) work within the household. Some argue that the main responsibility for care work continued to fall on women. This double burden was one of the reasons women entered into more flexible employment relationships in white-collar occupations, which were relatively low-paid in the Soviet wage structure.70 The question of whether the distribution of domestic work is the primary reason women were over-represented in low-paid jobs cannot be clearly answered. However, the measures taken by the Soviet state show that officials tried to counteract this situation. They provided support
In addition to propagandizing the Soviet model, Popova also made a statement regarding international discussions about the issue and the wftu’s declaration on equal pay. Therefore, she used the knowledge she obtained from her network and included her reflections on the negotiations at the ecosoc and csw meetings in her wftu speech. Although she had not been present at either meeting, she was able to refer to the discussion. She complained about Britain’s and New Zealand’s resistance to the proposal of the wftu during the ecosoc meeting in February 1948. To convince British trade unionists, she condemned the speech of Mary Sutherland, who as a British csw Commission member in January 1948 had not insisted on the introduction of equal pay for women. It was up to British women to decide whether this statement was an accurate reflection of their opinion, Popova said, but this statement was certainly not in the interest of the tuc, which had defended women’s labour on many occasions.72
Popova’s critical attitude toward the liberal feminist movement was obvious. Sutherland was the Chief Woman Officer of the British Labour Party since 1932 and, as a Western feminist, was definitely in favor of gender equality but was restrained on the issue of female employment. Even during the war, when many women had to work to survive, Sutherland expressed the view that married women should not be obliged to work outside the home: “the priority remained the ‘living wage’ for men, and only those married women who were free should volunteer for work.”73 Sutherland also represented this position during the csw’s international discussions. Here, she explained that collective bargaining would be the only “democratic method” and “factor that entered into any international regulation on equal pay.”74
Miss Sutherland was right when she said that the principle [equality of wages, JW] had not been abandoned, but that it had been decided to restrict its application. An acceptance in principle had been obtained from the Government in regard to equality of men’s and women’s wages but it was impossible to obtain its full application for the time being.75
When one told a woman where to go, she went as a rule in the opposite direction; it was therefore difficult to impose direction of women’s labour. The discussion had strayed too far from the facts, and at certain times, it had even become ridiculous and undignified. One should not try to turn the question of equal wages into a political which would completely distort the problem.80
Deakin’s comment was not the only disparaging remark made by male colleagues about women’s gainful employment. Dutch delegate Evert Kupers claimed that Dutch women could not work (for wages outside the home)
Equal pay for equal work was a yardstick of social progress. Whoever was opposed to this principle was opposed at the same time to social justice in the world. Absence of such legislation was the result of capitalist exploitation. Russian women had worked during the war and contributed to the victory over fascism. This was perhaps the reason why comrade Kupers was still alive.85
Even if Witaszewski was on the “side of the women” here, it was clear that trade unionists held misogynistic attitudes in addition to ideological convictions, and this tendency was not criticized because women were absent from the leadership of trade union bodies at both the national and international levels. Thus, the only woman present on the Executive Committee was Nina Popova, who addressed the problem of women’s lack of representation: She hoped that the time would come when, in the wftu, the Executive Committee, and the delegations of the cio, the tuc, the French cgt, and in the organizations of still other National Centres, women would be given suitable representation.88
It was not only a question of protecting women, which was already a high and noble task, and obligatory for all, trade-unionists or not, but of protecting them in their work. The question went much further and on to a higher plane, for in protecting women in this way one prevented their labour from being used in competition with the work of men. The Italian trade unions had fought against that for 30 or 35 years. At the same time, they had succeeded in preventing women from being employed in work that was too heavy for them.92
This statement supports Betti’s analysis. Even in left-wing organizations, the model of the male breadwinner prevailed, and women’s wages were seen as secondary and complementary to those of their male counterparts. In the cgil, the equal-pay principle existed only on the level of discourse until the second half of the 1950s.93
It was not their aim to establish slavery for women. [He] had, himself, seen in the Soviet Union women do certain types of work which they would not be allowed to do in England. […] If it was necessary in Poland and in the ussr for the carrying out of the Five-Year Plan, to put women on to work they would not be given to do in Britain, this was the concern of comrades in those countries, but they should not give this as a model to be copied by every country.95
President Deakin’s support for Kupers was certainly not only related to the issue of women’s employment but was also of a more general nature. Kupers was on the side of those who welcomed the Marshall Plan.
The Rhodesian trade unions insisted that the work done should be paid for in the same way as they demanded the same wages for men and for women irrespective of colour when they did the same work. The tuc should bring pressure to bear on the British Government in order that this principle be accepted in colonial administration.100
That there was no discussion following this emphatic statement was mainly because there was no unity within the wftu regarding (anti)colonial policies at the time.101 The fact that substantive colonial issues were swept under the rug, however, was due to the avoidance tactics used by union delegates from states that still maintained colonial empires. President Deakin ended the speeches of Wickremasinghe and Goodwin without any debate and only mentioned that there were plans for a conference in Asia where these issues could be discussed.102
The last speaker of the wftu Executive Committee meeting on equal pay was Nina Popova. She attacked President Deakin and Western trade unionists, summarizing her position: “Why is the president submitting the issue of wage equality to the ecosoc if capitalism is paradise for working men and women?” she asked, highlighting what she regarded as a contradiction.103 To calm Popova down and put an end to the discussion, Deakin blamed the disagreement between delegates on poor translation. He emphasized that there was agreement on the report as well as the resolution. Since the latter required
4 The Aftermath of the wftu Executive Committee Meeting
In Beirut in March 1949, equal pay was discussed again at the csw. This time, the now-divided wftu submitted a declaration. Marie Couette, a trade unionist from the French cgt, represented the wftu. In France, Couette had been known for her struggle for equal pay since the 1920s, and she had supported the formation of a women’s commission in the cgt.105 In addition to the wftu declaration, proposals were submitted by the delegates of China, the Soviet Union, and the United States. They were discussed and partly included in the csw resolution. Regarding the wftu proposal, the records states: “The proposal of the World Federation of Trade Unions was rejected paragraph by paragraph.”106 The reasons for this were matters related to protocol and content. For example, it was not appropriate to accept the proposal of one non-governmental organization and exclude others. The material distributed by the wftu also contained serious inaccuracies about some countries.107 Couette reported afterward that only the Soviets supported the resolution of the wftu, and that the negative attitude of the others had been evident even before the meeting.108
Finally, the resolution adopted by the cws affirmed “the principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women workers” and wanted to continue the process of implementation. This responsibility was attributed primarily to the ilo, which was asked to prepare a study on this issue. ecosoc was requested to promote this project to member states and called on them to act.109 This development shows that by 1949, any cooperation between the Cold War blocs
5 Conclusion
This chapter has shown that the wftu played a significant role in debates on equal pay for men and women in the late 1940s. They took up the issue, which was omnipresent in many countries at the time, and attempted to put the question at the forefront of the agenda related to the improvement of working women lives. The aim of the wftu was, on the one hand, to make their voice heard internationally as the first globally active trade union movement and, on the other hand, to address a subject that was being debated in national women’s and trade union’s movements and offer a transnational solution to an omnipresent problem. The higher rates of female employment during World War Two generated the question of their remaining in the labour force after the end of the conflict.
Looking at the declaration prepared by the general secretary and the Economic and Social Department, it was not difficult to see that the wftu Secretariat was primarily following the (state) socialist model. Women’s employment was assumed to be essential, and the male breadwinner model was not addressed or given preference in any way. The wftu’s conceptualization of the issue attempted to bring together the debates on women’s employment and equal pay that had taken place at the national context and at the international level. The demand for equal pay for equal work was considered self-evident; regarding the problem of evaluating genuinely female occupations, a method was to be developed that did not discriminate against women. In order to support women in their gainful employment, the wftu demanded the improvement of training and support for women in their care work.
The failure of this program at the ecosoc—where the wftu had placed the issue on the agenda in 1948—is clear from the later discussion that took place at the wftu Executive Committee meeting. What made this meeting special was, first, that it was the last time West, East, and South met to
The topic would probably not have received such attention if Nina Popova had not appeared as a representative of the acctu. She was both a socialist as well as a women’s activist, who, through her membership in other international women’s organizations, attached special importance to the discussion. Popova, however, did not use the forum only to advocate women’s occupation but also transformed her speeches into propaganda in which the Soviet solution appeared as the only real choice for women. One can only speculate about whether the debate could have been different had it involved other women who knew more about the topic than their male colleagues. But as indicated by Sutherland and the discussion in the csw, the debates among women’s movements reflected similar lines of confrontation.
The economic situation was precarious in both Eastern and Western European countries in the postwar period. However, the models proposed to address it differed considerably with regard to women’s employment. While the double-earner model was introduced in the Eastern bloc, in Western Europe, the tried-and-true model of the male breadwinner had to be protected; changing it would call the entire social structure of states into question, especially in connection with the allocation of responsibility for care and housework. This debate took place primarily within a European context. Non-European issues, such as pay inequality in relation to race, were marginalized, as the example of Wickremasinghe and Goodwin reveals. That the wftu came to an end with this discussion is shown by what happened next in the negotiations at the csw in Beirut in 1949. The wftu contribution never make it into the final resolution. A discussion on the issue seemed obsolete because of the conflicts taking place out in the open.
This article is the revised version of the article: Johanna Wolf, “‘Women as Workers.’ Diskussionen über die Berufstätigkeit von Frauen und Lohngleichheit in der internationalen Gewerkschaftsbewegung der späten 1940er Jahre.” In Gender Pay Gap, Vom Wert und Unwert von Arbeit in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by Rainer Fattmann, Johanna Wolf, and Wiebke Wiede (Bonn: Dietz, forthcoming). Zimmermann 2021; Zimmermann 2020, 95–117. “Women as Workers” was a section title in the brochure wftu [1957].
Neunsinger 2018, 121–148.
Boris 2018, 97–120.
This is not only the case for trade union research; Francisca de Haan has confirmed this for international women’s organizations as well. See De Haan 2010, 547–573.
Carew 2000, 167–185; Carew 2018.
Boris 2018, 106.
In her most recent work, Zimmermann shows that these discussions began much earlier. See Zimmermann 2021, 34–49.
Pohrt 2000, 254.
Stolte 2019, 333.
Stolte 2019, 333.
I would like to thank Research Director Karin Hofmeester and all the staff of the library for supporting my stay at the International Institute of Social History during the pandemic. I would also like to thank the German Research Foundation, which made this research financially possible.
“Report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labour,” Folder 79, wftu Archives, International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam (hereafter iish).
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” In Appendix “Statement of principle and examination of the question of the remuneration of female labour of the report on the activity of the W.F.T.U. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labor,” Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
“Survey on the question of the retribution of female labour,” In Appendix “Statement of principle and examination of the question of the remuneration of female labour of the report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labor,” Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Olga Gnydiuk is running a project: “A Story of Women’s International Endeavor: The Politics of Women’s Paid and Unpaid Work in and beyond the World Federation of Trade Unions, 1940s to 1980” as part of the zarah project. See
Carew 2000, 167; Schevenels 1956, 303–304.
Cooperative discussions with the second most important U.S. union, the American Federation of Labor (afl), failed and it did not join the wftu in 1945. Pohrt 2000, 29–41.
Lewis and Stolte 2019, 1–19.
Pohrt 2000, 52.
Windmuller 1954, 40.
Pohrt 2000, 112.
Pohrt 2000, 314.
Weiler 1988, 125.
Dessau 1956, 6.
Pohrt 2000, 301. Other issues in 1947 and 1948 included the abolition of national and racial discrimination, full employment and the fight against unemployment, and immigration policy.
“Report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labour,” p. 1, Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
Her name was Elizavieta Alekseevna Popova. In the scholarship on the csw, she is mentioned as a founding member of the commission. So far, I have not found any further biographical details. Since she has the same surname as Nina v. Popova and I do not want to cause confusion, I do not mention her by name in the text. See Adami 2019, 78; Lambertz 2012.
Boris 2018, 105.
Boris 2018, 100.
“Draft resolution submitted by the Resolution Committee on equal pay,” 14 January 1948, e/cn.6/70, csw.
Boris 2018, 106.
Dessau 1956, 26.
“Report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labour,” p. 1, Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 1, wftu Archives, iish.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 1.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 2.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 2.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 3.
“Declaration of principle on the retribution of female labour,” Folder 79, p. 4.
“Report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labour,” p. 2–3, Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
“Report on the activity of the w.f.t.u. concerning the principles of equality of wages for equal work between male and female labour,” p. 5, Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish. On the adjustments, see also “Principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women workers,” 6th session, 1948, Lake Success, N.Y., e/res/121(vi), ecosoc,
Saillant belonged to the communist-progressive bloc. Even during his appointment, Saillant was criticized by many Western trade unionists for his lack of neutrality—although he was never officially a communist party member and despite the support of the non-communist French cgt leader Léon Jouhaux. McIlroy 2013; Pohrt 2000, 118.
“Survey on the question of the retribution of female labour,” p. 1, Folder 79, wftu Archives, iish.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 6, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 19, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 19, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 20, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 20, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 21, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
“Survey on the question...,” p. 22, Folder 79, WFTU Archives, IISH.
In 1941, Popova became head of the Krasnopresneskiy district in Moscow and started to mobilize all material and human resources against the war. She “especially encouraged and cherished women’s mobilization, which in her eyes was a central part of the district’s defense program. […] She not only encouraged and mobilized others, but was herself planning and preparing to go underground in 1942, in case Moscow fell to Nazi occupation.” Archivnaia sparavka [Archival note] 18/07/65, Party Archive of the Institute of Party History, cited in Borisova 2005, quoted in Knopova 2011, 60.
De Haan 2009, 243. Knopova-Ziferblat, in reference to Borisova, refers to the letters between Nina Popova and her husband Vladimir Orlov from 1942 to 1945, Borisova 2005, 206–208, quoted in Knopova 2011, 60.
De Haan 2009, 244. A comparison of as well as the connections between these two international organizations has not been researched so far, but it would be interesting not only in terms of their members—who, as in the case of Popova, were members of both organizations or used both networks for their political activities—but also in terms of their historical development and political goals.
Borisova 2005, 22–23, quoted in Knopova 2011, 58.
She served as the chairwoman of the Presidium of the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (1958–1975) and was also member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (1961–1976). See Knopova 2011, 58.
Knopova 2011, 57. For insight into her personal life with some photos, see the website of the museum in the city she was born:
Talaver 2023. I thank Alexandra Talaver for making her manuscript available to me before publication.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 91–92, 94, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Ofer and Vinokur 1985, S330. For references to literature in this paragraph, I would like to thank Marcel van der Linden. As Olga Gnydiuk has rightly pointed out, the following figures come from studies conducted in the 1980s. Unfortunately, I have not found any current statistics. If one follows Katarina Katz’s statement, these statistics were rarely compiled in the ussr. In her 1997 article, she writes that “official data on the gender wage gap were published only once in the history of the ussr, in 1989 (Goskomstat [sssr] 1989. [Narodnoe Khoziaistvo sssr v 1989 g., Moscow, Finansy I statistika]) and not at all so far in the Russian Federation.” Katz 1997, 431.
Ofer and Vinokur 1985, S330.
Mincer 1985, S2. If one looks at the figures from a more comparative perspective, even more concrete statements emerge. Ofer and Vinokur recorded the numbers of working women who were actually of working age (16–55 years). Here, the figure for 1959 was 87.4 percent. And they also stated that already in 1950, the “participation rates of women between the ages of 15 and 54 […] were around 70%.” Ofer and Vinokur 1985, S333; S335.
Mincer 1985, S2.
As indicated by various scholars, there were statistics on wages in the Soviet Union, but they not differentiated by sex. The figures given here come from Ofer and Vinokur, but the figures are not very concrete, as the Ofer and Vinokur also write that the wage gap was narrower within occupational groups. Ofer and Vinokur 1985, S337.
Gunderson 1989, 47.
Ofer and Vinokur 1985, S337.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 93, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Boris 2018, 108.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 105–106, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
The trade unions were also restrained. They blocked women’s claim to apprenticeships, accepted the increase of women in the union, but excluded them from positions of responsibility. Pugh 1992, 274.
Silverman 2000, 108.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 105–106, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 100, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish. Kupers, like most of those present, had been a trade unionist on the international stage for many years. The tailor, born in 1885, who organized himself in the textile industry, was a member of both the Social Democratic Labour Party and of several trade unions. He was, first and foremost, the first secretary of the Dutch Confederation of Trade Unions (Nederlands Verbond van Vakverenigingen). He had been involved in founding the International Garment Workers’ Federation at the beginning of the twentieth century and had been delegate of the ilo since 1922. Reinalda 2001.
De Groot 2021, 764.
Witaszewski, who in the early postwar years was a communist rank-and-file trade unionist, was involved in drafting the February Decree in 1947, which would guarantee works councils certain rights of participation beyond the communist party and union, Burek 2021, 47–48; 53; 75. I thank Jan A. Burek for making his manuscript available to me before publication.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 102, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session..., p. 102, Folder 83, WFTU Archives, IISH.
Reports on the Session..., p. 102, Folder 83, WFTU Archives, IISH.
Fidelis 2010, 22–23.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 99, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session..., p. 110, Folder 83, WFTU Archives, IISH.
According to Betti, the most important women’s organizations were the Women’s Defense Group and the Union of Italian Women (udi). It was they, together with some women trade unionists, who called for equal pay in those years. See Betti 2018, 278–279.
Betti 2018, 276. For instance, at its first congress in 1945, the Union of Italian Women (udi), which was close to the Italian Communist Party (pci), raised the demand for equal pay for equal work. In contrast, Italian trade unions did not mention the issue at that time. “Until the late 1950s, women workers were not a priority in the political strategy of the Italian cgil, or the pci, even though leaders like Giuseppe Di Vittorio […] thought of themselves as enlightened” (Betti 2018, 281).
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 110–111, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Betti 2018, 281. Betti also mentions a woman who was present at the international level and could easily have been sent as a delegate for wftu instead of di Vittorio. Terese Noce was general secretary of the Italian Federation of Textile Workers and President of the International Union of Textile and Clothing Workers between 1949 and 1958. At the Second Congress of the widf in 1948, she represented the Italian trade unions. Betti 2018, 284.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 104, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session..., p. 104, Folder 83, WFTU Archives, IISH.
At the congress in Paris in 1945, Kupers criticized possible interference by the wftu in the Indonesian revolution. Despite that, when the Dutch military became active in Indonesia in July 1947, the wftu supported the admission of Central All-Indonesian Workers Organization (Sentral Organisasi Buruh Seluruh Indonesia). See Pohrt 2000, 273; Hearman 2016.
Wickremasinghe belonged to the Ceylon Trade Union Federation (ctuf) and was an official delegate to the wftu in 1948. The ctuf was formed in 1941 and was the trade union arm of the Communist Party of Ceylon. See Office of International Labor Affairs 1958.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 115, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 114, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
The Colonial Department, which was in the hands of the cio, was directed by Elmer Cope since the end of 1947. Cope had a decidedly anticommunist stance and tried to push back communist influence on the wftu’s anticolonial activities. See Pohrt 2000, 260–261. There is a lack of research on the wftu’s anti-colonial policies and its role in the Global South. I am currently working with Immanuel R. Harisch on communist trade unionists from the Global South within the wftu.
This conference did not take place during the period when the wftu was unified but only after the split in Beijing in 1949. See Pohrt 2000, 266–272, 276–277.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 118, Folder 83, wftu Archives, iish.
Reports on the Session of the Executive Committee, Rome, 4 May to 10 May 1948, p. 118.
Report of the 3rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, 21 March to 4 April 1949, pp. 12–13, e/1316, e/cn.6/124, csw,
Summary record of the 52nd meeting held at Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, 29 March 1949, p. 2, e/cn.6/sr.52, csw,
Couette 1949, 16–17.
Summary record of the 52nd meeting held at Beirut, Lebanon, on Tuesday, 29 March 1949, p. 8, e/cn.6/sr.52, csw,
On the development of the Recommendation 100 at the ilo, see Boris 2018, 108–111.
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