Resolution emerging from the Fourth R.I.L.U. Congress in 1928, the first for four years, on the tasks of the Workers Union of Ireland, founded by James Larkin. A leader of the Union, Jack Carney, was a founder of U.S. Communism before his return to Ireland, and delegate to the 1928 R.I.L.U. Congress.

‘On the Irish Left Wing and Immediate Tasks of the Workers’ Union of Ireland’ from Report of the Fourth Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions, 1928.  

1. It is understood that the Workers’ Union of Ireland, as a revolutionary trade union organisation, is the original union affiliated to the R.I.L.U. It therefore becomes the task of the Workers’ Union of Ireland to strengthen its organisational hold upon the mass of the Irish working class, broaden its sphere of activity and its ideological influence, with the ultimate aim of establishing one united revolutionary trade union movement of Ireland based on the principles and doctrines of the R.I.L.U.

2. To achieve this, the Workers’ Union of Ireland must proceed in the following two ways: (a) by strengthening the Workers’ Union of Ireland itself, organisationally and otherwise (b) to win the masses of workers organised in the trade unions and labour bodies to the principles of the class struggle through the development of an all-inclusive Left Wing trade union movement in Ireland.

3. The Workers Union of Ireland shall carry on a campaign to expose the class collaboration character of the reformist unions in Ireland, English as well as Irish. The campaign must be carried on both outside as well as within these unions. The W.U.I. shall form revolutionary groups within the existing reformist unions in order to fight within them for the freeing of the workers from reformist influence, for the final ousting of the treacherous reformist leaders from their official positions, and for the withdrawal of the English unions from Ireland.

4. These groups must work in close touch with each other and form the basis for a Left Wing.

5. A concrete programme of immediate demands for each industry and branch of industry must be worked out. This will facilitate the work of mobilising the organised as well as un- organised workers against the traitorous reformist leaders, and for the formation of a Left Wing trade union organisation. This Left Wing trade union organisation must be developed and given organisational form at the earliest possible date.

6. Such an organised Left Wing in the trade unions and labour bodies must be broad enough to embrace all revolutionary workers in the Irish trade unions organised in the Irish Trades Union Congress sections of the British unions now in Ireland, and the Workers’ Union of Ireland.

7. To facilitate the work and obtain a correct perspective for the development of the Left Wing movement, close attention must be given by the R.I.L.U. adherents for the purpose of obtaining further trade union information, forming a correct estimate of all available forces for revolutionary work in all the trade unions and labour bodies.

8. After having obtained a correct estimate of all the available forces for forming a Left Wing trade union movement, an informal conference should be called of all our. class-conscious contacts, to discuss conditions then operating in the trade union movement. This conference should elect a committee to draft a provisional programme to be submitted for its further con- sideration, paying special attention to the organisation of the unorganised.

9. Having agreed upon a provisional programme, the provisional committee must take steps to summon an all-inclusive trade union conference, consisting of delegates elected by the rank and file from all existing trade unions and labour bodies, co-operative guilds and unemployed organisations, etc., in Ireland, the purpose of this conference being to establish a Left Wing organisation of revolutionary trade unionists who accept the principles and platform of the R.I.L.U.

10. It must be understood that the Workers’ Union of Ireland and the Left Wing organisation must carry out an intensive campaign for the complete independence of the Irish trade union movement. This campaign must be carried on in the press, through the trade union branches, labour bodies, trades councils. It must become a part of the programme and platform of all organisations affiliated to the Left Wing.

11. In line with this policy of independence of the Irish trade union movement, the Workers’ Union of Ireland as well as the newly formed Left Wing shall maintain direct connections with the Minority Movement in England. A conference of representatives of the two bodies shall be called in the near future to work out a common plan of action for the withdrawal of the English unions from Ireland, and transference of the members to other trade unions.

12. Having worked out such a plan, the Minority Movement of England shall work in the British unions for the withdrawal of the British unions from Ireland. The Minority Movement, utilising its advantages in Northern Ireland, shall, in collaboration with the Irish section of the R.I.L.U., help to establish the Irish Left Wing in Northern Ireland.

13. One of the most important and immediate tasks of the Left Wing organisations, more particularly the task of the Workers’ Union of Ireland, is:

(a) The intensification of the work and agitation for the closer alliance between the agricultural and industrial workers. This agitation to be based upon the mutual economic interests of the agricultural and industrial workers with a view of organising them into the unions, and particularly, through strengthening the agricultural workers’ organisations, for the joint class struggle against British imperialism and the overthrow of capitalism.

To fight against all attempts to form Catholic or other religious unions.

(b) An intensification of the struggle for the immediate economic demands of the workers, such as the struggle against offensive of the employers, reduction of wages, lengthening of hours, worsening of conditions of labour, etc.

(c) Commence an agitation for the organisation of the unemployed, formation of factory committees, reorganisation of the trades councils, trades union congress and the re-organisation of the trade unions into industrial unions with one national centre, inclusive of the Free State and the Northern Government.

(d) To carry out the united front tactics as laid down in the resolutions of the R.I.L.U. The question as to the tactics of the Irish Workers’ Union in regard to the movement towards the amalgamation of the two unions at Dublin, should be considered separately, after an investigation by the R.I.L.U. representative into the condition of the trade union movement and of its Left Wing in Ireland.

14. The newly established Left Wing must be based on individual as well as collective membership. It must carry on campaigns to enlist into its ranks the most active and militant workers as individual members; it must aim at securing the affiliation of unions which are still controlled by the reformists And by building up effective and militant groups in all the existing unions, by participating most actively in all the economic as well as political campaigns of the working class, by continually providing from the ranks of the workers a new and revolutionary leadership able to carry on the every-day work of the unions-the Left Wing shall proceed in ousting the reformist leaders from the unions and transform the trade union movement of Ireland into a United Revolutionary Trade Union Movement.

15. It shall be one of the immediate tasks of the Workers’ Union of Ireland and of the Left Wing to issue a weekly trade union paper, which must become the organ of all militant workers of Ireland.

16. The day-to-day struggles of the Irish Workers’ Union must be conducted in accord with the policy and programme laid down by the R.I.L.U. Furthermore, in order to break down the insularity of the Irish labour movement, the following steps must be taken:

(1) That continuous and regular contact be maintained with the R.I.L.U. through monthly reports, forwarding of literature, manifestoes, etc.

(2) The Workers’ Union of Ireland as well as the Left Wing organisations must establish close contact with the revolutionary organisations in all other countries affiliated to the R.I.L.U., especially with Minority Movement in Britain.

(3) The various industrial sections must establish close contact with the respective International Propaganda Committees through the regular exchange of information, etc.

(4) Closer contact must be established with the British Minority Movement with the trade unions and labour bodies of British colonies and dominions with a view to establishing a united front against British imperialism.

17. The Irish revolutionary labour movement to be autonomous and responsible only to the R.I.L.U.

Report of the Fourth Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions, 1928.  

PDF of original book: https://books.google.com/books/download/Report.pdf?id=pfBaAAAAYAAJ&output=pdf&sig=ACfU3U2IOegkwdTMugHLQx-AB1bggAacmg