TRADE UNIONISM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21962, 5 March 1946, Page 3

TRADE UNIONISM

GERMAN PROBLEMS PEOPLE NOT YET READY BRITONS’ IMPRESSIONS LONDON, March 3. The free trade union movement as understood in Britain, with full rights of trade unionism, is not practical politics in Germany and is unlikely to become so during the military occupation, says the report of the Trade Union Congress delegation. consisting of Messrs. H. L. Bullock, Will Lawther and .Tack Tanner, which visited a number of European countries recently. The report adds that conditions in Europe are so fantastic that a real and effective democracy depends more upon the spirit and virility of the people than upon the national structure. The delegation condemns the proposals for centralised trade unionism in Germany. It says that the urge for centralisation must be replaced by a live and active movement so organised as to give rank-and-file members a real voice in the government of their union. Communist leaders in Germany have criticised the British. French and United States policy in the western zones, reports Reuter's correspondent ill Berlin. They complained of the appearance of traces of separatism and federalism at the Communist Party Congress in Berlin to-day. This is the first session since 1933.

Walter Ulbright. deputy chairman, said there had been no land reform in the western zones. Large estates remained in the hands of warmongering landowners while a Fascist monopoly was regaining control of industry. The Russians in the eastern zone were planning a new and democratic life while in the west there was only a feeble attempt to return to the conditions of 1933.