Guide to the World Federation of Trade Unions. Reports and Minutes, 1945-1949.

The foundation of the World Federation of Trade Unions was laid at the World Labor Conference which met in London in February 1945. During the war period a spirit of cooperation had developed among world trade unions which could not find expression in the International Federation of trade Unions since the IFTU would not admit either the CIO or the Russians. The World Labor Conference proposed a reorganization of the IFTU to included these two groups, but the IFTU rejected it.

The Conference ended with the setting up of a Committee of Forty and a temporary Secretariat in Paris. A second conference was held in Paris in September and October of 1945 which set up a permanent body representing all affiliated national union centers, and created an Executive Committee, a small Executive Bureau and a General Secretary.

Trouble arose immediately when the WFTU then attempted to bring the International Trade Secretariats into its orbit, which was opposed by the AFL. The collection consists of minutes of meetings and documents issued during the period 1945-1949 when the Communist unions were attempting to take over control of the WFTU. This eventually resulted in the formation of the ICFTU.

Records consist of the microfilmed minutes, proceedings and reports of WFTU Executive Bureaus and Executive Committees, produced and presented at WFTU conferences held in Paris (1945, 1947, 1949); Moscow (1946); Prague (1947); Rome (1948); San Francisco and Washington (1973).

Governance records (1945-1973) include minutes, resolutions and proceedings of the WFTU Executive Bureau, General Councils, and committees (1945- 1973) and of joint meetings of the WFTU and International Trade Secretariats (1948); also financial statements of the WFTU (1945-1949).

Reports and publications (1946-1949) consist mainly of unpublished reports and some pamphlets produced and presented at the annual sessions of the Executive Bureau and General Councils of the WFTU; also reports pertaining to special policies and activities of the WFTU. Materials pertaining to the WFTU's internal organization discuss or document the creation of WFTU international trade departments and negotiations between WFTU and International Trade Secretariats (1948). Also include documents regarding relations between the WFTU and the United Nations, International Labour Organization, Congress of Industrial Organizations, American Federation of Labor, and Allied Commission (Berlin); and various conferences, including the Pan Asiatic Trade Union Conference, and the World Trade Union Congress (1948-1949).

Also, WFTU policy statements regarding union activity and socioeconomic conditions in Occupied Germany; Mexico and Latin America (1948); activities in Japan, and Portugal (1948).