With ships crewed by sailors from every country crossing international boundaries as a matter of course, there was, and is, not a section of the working class where the reality of its international dependencies and relations makes solidarity across ‘race’ and ‘nation’ a need more than with marine workers.

‘International Solidarity and International Demands’ by George Hardy from International Press Correspondence. Vol. 4 No. 27. May 1, 1924.

The greatest need of the moment is an all-in world congress of seamen. Representatives should meet from every union that organise men afloat. We have arrived at a stage in capitalism when there are so many conflicting elements that render the seamen’s lot constantly more oppressing. Every time the conditions and wages of seamen of one country are made worse, the shipowners of all countries where standards remain higher immediately use these worse conditions as an excuse for a further attack.

There is need for an international wage standard. And the highest wage prevailing should be the minimum rate. This rate should not be allowed to vary with the fluctuating exchanges: It must be upon a gold basis fixed upon a stable currency.

German seamen are not the only mariners who are bordering the oriental wage line. The Belgian seamen’s wages are fixed at the same rate as the British. But sailors are paid-off in France at so many to the pound. The number of francs to the pound is fixed by agreement. So when the Belgian franc fell to 120 to the pound the wages of seamen were only 3 pounds. This condition applies equally to the French and Italian seamen.

Shorter Hours and Better Conditions.

The hours of labour on ship board must be universal. Today they vary from 4 watches (42 hours weekly) in the stoke-hold of ships flying the Russian flag to 2 watches (84 hours weekly) in British vessels. West-African Negroes and Lascars work as many hours as can be endured. There is need for immediate introduction of at least, the 3 watch system in all deck and steward departments with 4 watches below. More and more men are being eliminated by the introduction of oil burners. Trimmers or coal passers are going. And Lloyd’s Register of shipping shows that fireman, who are valve-tenders now, will soon be gone from a large proportion of shipping: 1831 vessels were fitted with oil engines during the year ending June 30, 1923. Diesel engines were fitted on 232 vessels of upwards of a 1000 tons each. Some of the big steamship companies, such as the Union Castle and the Royal Mail Lines are constructing new liners around 20,000 tons which will be fitted with internal combustion engines. This means the end of the firemen who must become unemployed if we don’t reduce the hours of labour and get some of the benefits of improved methods of propulsion, etc.

The standardisation of conditions on board should be a simple thing to introduce. We are stuffed into fo’c’sles no self-respecting human being should tolerate. All the increased space accruing by the elimination of boilers motors are needed, and the reduction of bunkers space in oil burning ships go to make increase profits for the shipowners while we remain in uninhabitable hell-holes. With the seamen organised internationally enforcing standardised manning scales, hours of labour and wages we will eliminate the ship owners cry of “international competition”.

Profits must go to Seamen.

This will demand the remodeling of the existent quarters More cubic feet of space must be given to each sailor as well as the enlarging of quarters due to extra hands because of shorter hours. There should be no excuse. All over the world shipowners increased their profits during 1923. Let the P and O Line use some of the 1,013,241 pounds for the benefit of the sailors, and also the 1,351 steamship companies that made 122,584,380 pounds should spend some of this money to give conditions required by human decency. Let us organise to see that the Plimsoll Line is lowered. Some years ago Lloyd George, while president of the Board of Trade agreed with the shipowners and raised it. We also must have international regulation of safety appliances and stop the loading of ships with deck cargoes until they cannot be distinguished from a timber yard.

We are also constantly victims of their damnable laws the maritime laws. We are bound like chattel slaves to whipping posts. We cannot leave a ship without risk of imprisonment. Even when to refuse work means loyalty to our class engaged in a strike we are bound to continue or run the risk of punishment. These laws must go. And to refuse to pay us when we desire to leave ships in other than home-ports will cease when we are internationally organised. Free passage home with full pay to all patients left in foreign port until they arrived at the port of shipment must be a feature of our international advance.

Seamen’s Life International.

From the point of view of similarity of conditions, which justifies every contention of the International Seamen’s Section of the Transport Workers of the R.I.L.U., I cannot do better than give an extract of the speech of A. Rivelli of the French Seamen’s Union. It justifies international organization and action immediately because conditions are everywhere the same. After pointing to the perils of the sea in addition to fog, fire, explosion, stranding and leaks etc. etc. which all seamen must face, he says:

“And amidst all these lurking perils the seamen from the captain to the cabin-boy, the engineers, the firemen and the stewards live everywhere the same kind of life; they have everywhere the same purposes and the same duties; contribute in the same way to the smooth working and safety of the vessel; take the same part in the fight against the elements and in the salvaging of life and property; following the same immutable international laws which make the intelligence, the initiative and the courage of the individual the sole arbiters of the situation. A helmsman on an English ship steers in exactly the same way as the man in the wheel-house of a Japanese vessel. A South American fireman stokes his furnace just as a Greek fireman. A Danish steward waits at the table, like a Frenchman. The seamen on look-out duty in the merchant marines of the whole world watch and call out their observations in exactly the same way. The captains all use the same methods to find the ships position or to give their orders.”

Long ago the shipowners were able to meet and demand international regulation for navigators. This, of course, for the safety of the vessels and not for the crews. The sailors must organise to protect themselves just as the ship owners do to protect their property; because conditions and the elements we must face are the same the world over; therefore it can only be done by the seamen of the world meeting in common with each other. Any attempt to create an international that does not include even the Eastern seamen will be an abortive attempt at international unity. Although we are all opposed to cheap labour we cannot differentiate because of race, colour or creed. Oriental wages have been introduced into Europe already. Only by showing our sympathy and active support to all oppressed seamen and joining hands with them against the sharks of International Commerce the shipowners, can we hope to emancipate ourselves, our wives and children, from starvation, misery and death.

Demand that your Union discuss their participation in a world congress of seamen. Be prepared to send a delegate. Let us have a United International of all Transport Workers.

International Press Correspondence, widely known as”Inprecorr” was published by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) regularly in German and English, occasionally in many other languages, beginning in 1921 and lasting in English until 1938. Inprecorr’s role was to supply translated articles to the English-speaking press of the International from the Comintern’s different sections, as well as news and statements from the ECCI. Many ‘Daily Worker’ and ‘Communist’ articles originated in Inprecorr, and it also published articles by American comrades for use in other countries. It was published at least weekly, and often thrice weekly.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/inprecor/1924/v04n27-may-01-1924-inprecor.pdf