IBWW
THE
4x
Fes ar sch
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUILDING AND WOODWORKERS
DURING
THE YEARS
1934 1935
AMSTERDAM JUNE 1936

THE
IBWW
INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUILDING AND WOODWORKERS
DURING
THE YEARS
1934 1935
AMSTERDAM JUNE 1936

1834
280
Friedrich
*
EbertBonn
Bibliothe
25997
Stiftung
*
MOODM
ВЛІГРІЙС VID СЕДЕБУШОИ ОН
ЦАЙОТАЙЯЗТИ!
HE

Contents.
Our Dead
First Part Report on Activities of the I.B.W.W., 1934-1935: II
Introduction
Economic and Political Conditions:
Planned Economy or Chaos?
Economic Planning real and sham
-
General Economic Development
Table I: The Labour Market, 1930-1935
The Tension Grows
Political Developments
Outlook
The Building Industry
Table II: Building Activity, 1926-1935
Page
7
... 13
15
15
17
18
20
21
23
25
27
28*
The Timber and Wood Industry
33
Table IIIa: The World Timber Trade by Classes, 1934
37
Table IIIb: World Exports of Sawn and Planed Softwood, 1933-1934 37 Table IVa: Unemployment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-35
40*
Table IVb: Index Figures of Employment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-35
40**
Foundation of the I.B.W.W.
41
Governing Bodies of the I.B.W.W.:
43
General Executive Council
Management Committee
Secretariat
43
44
44
Representation at Conferences
46
Affiliated Organisations
48
Table Va Memberships and Local Branches of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1934 and 1935
52*
Table Vb: Memberships of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1936( provisional figures)
52**
Table VI: Memberships of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W., Classified by Trades( Position on 1 January 1935)
52***
Bulletin
" Fascism"
Amalgamations
Propaganda
Information Service:
Report on Activities for 1933
Information supplied to individual Unions
Reference Files
51
53
61
61
62
62
63
63
3

Miscellaneous
Special Activities of the I.B.W.W.:
Reduction of Hours of Work
Accident Prevention
Occupational Diseases
The Fight against Fascism and Reaction
Other Activities
Relations with other Organisations:
Page
64
65
65
68
69
70
71
73
73
74
of
75
76
International Federation of Trade Unions
Painters' and Stoneworkers' Internationals
Woodworkers' and Bricklayers' Federations Scandinavia
International Labour Organisation
Second Part: Financial Report for the Period from 1 April 1934
to 31 December 1935:
Auditor's Statement
Balance- sheet at 1 April 1934
79
81
82
Profit and Loss Account( I April- 31 December 1934).. 83 Balance- sheet at 31 December 1934
84
Profit and Loss Account, 1935
85
Balance- sheet at 31 December 1935
86
Specification of Affiliation Fees Received from I April 1934 to 31 December 1935( Appendix)
.. 87
Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty.. 88 Explanatory Notes
.. 89
Specification of Affiliation Fees, etc., Received for 1933, 1934 and 1935
. 92*
Third Part: Survey of Countries, 1934-1935:
. 93
Introductory Note
95
Australia
. 96
Austria
Belgium
Czechoslovakia
97
99
4
Denmark
Estonia
102
104
Finland
106
France
107
Great Britain and Ireland Hungary
109
II2

Page
Italy
114
Luxemburg
115
Netherlands
116
New Zealand
II7
Norway
118
Palestine
120
Poland
121
Roumania
122
Spain
124
Sweden
126
Switzerland
131
Trinidad
132
Yugoslavia
132
Tables:
I The Labour Market, 1930-1935
:
II
Building Activity, 1926-1935( cf. Erratum) IIIa: The World Timber Trade by Classes, 1934 IIIb: World Exports of Sawn and Planed Softwood,
20
28*
37
1933-1934
.. 37
IVa: Unemployment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-1935
IVb: Index Figures of Employment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-1935
40*
40**
Va: Memberships and Local Branches of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1934 and 1935 52* Vb: Memberships of Organisations affiliated with
I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1936( provisional figures) 52** VI Memberships of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W., Classified by Trades( Position on 1 January 1935)
VII Exchange- Rates of Various Currencies( Averages during the Month ending 15 January 1936) VIIIa: Income, Expenditure and Net Worth of Affiliated. Organisations in 1934
IXa: Expenditure on Benefits of Affiliated Organisations in 1934
VIIIb: Income, Expenditure and Net Worth of Affiliated. Organisations in 1935
52***
134
1341
1342
.. 1343
IXb: Expenditure on Benefits of Affiliated Organisations
in 1935
1344
X: Wage Movements of Affiliated Organisations in 1934 and 1935
1305
5

Page
Illustrations:
The Eighth Congress of the International Union of Woodworkers, Brussels, August 1933
42
The Tenth Conference of the International Federation of Building Workers, Brussels, July 1933
42
The General Executive Council of the I.B.W.W. in Copenhagen, August 1935..
44
Appendices:
I. Guiding Principles for the Amalgamation of the International Union of Woodworkers and the International Federation of Building Workers
II. Directory of the Organisations affiliated with the I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1936( Name, Address, Telegraphic Address, Phone Number, Official Journal, Names of President and Secretary)
135
139
Abbreviations.
I.U.W. I.F.B.W. I.B.W.W.
-
International Union of Woodworkers.
-
-
I.F.T.U.
-
I.T.S.
-
I.L.O.
-
L.S.I.
-
International Federation of Building Workers. International Federation of Building and Wood Workers.
International Federation of Trade Unions.
International Trade Secretariats.
International Labour Office.
Labour and Socialist International.
Erratum.
Table II( Building Activity)- General Explanation: Insert:
Switzerland: 28 towns; number of dwellings: a) according to building permits issued; b) in buildings completed.
6

OUR DEAD

During the period under
review death has taken innumerable
comrades
OUR DEAD
KOLOMAN WALLISCH bricklayer, Member of Parliament, prior to his death Secretary of Labour Party in Graz. In February 1934 he led the defensive struggle of the workers in Styria. Pursued right up into the alps, he was captured after a heroic resistance and condemned to death by hanging, by court- martial. He died on 19 February. In her book" A hero dies" his wife, Paula, has given him a memorial.
JOHANN HOIS builder's labourer of St. Polten, and
VINZENS RAUCHENBERGER bricklayer, also of St. Polten, were likewise sentenced to death by courtmartial in connection with the February events.
MATTHIAS THEISSEN Secretary of the Brunswick section of the German Building Workers' Union. Tortured to death in a bestial manner. Died on 22 May 1933.
PAUL SIEBERT Youth secretary of the German Woodworkers' Union at Halle. Arrested by the Gestapo at the end of 1935 and tortured to death. The official version was that he had" hanged" himself in his cell.
from the ranks of our Building and Wood Workers' Movement. The names of most of these are unknown beyond the boundaries of their own country or locality. Yet, often at difficult posts, frequently at the risk of their job and their livelihood, they loyally served that cause for which we all strive. Here it is only possible to make a personal reference to the few who were among the leaders in their own country and who were, moreover, prominent in the international movement. In the pages which follow give a brief outline of their lives and of their work for the working class. Death is inexorable. He spares none. We must acknowledge his might. Yet it is with clenched fists and intense grief that we call to mind those of our comrades who have been murdered by Fascism for their activity for our cause. Some of them died on the scaffold, many were tortured to
WE
we
SHALL
death, others fell in open combat with the too powerful foe. Here, too, we
do not know them all by name. We do not
even
know the names of the building and wood workers who must certainly have been among them in large numbers. It is the unknown fighter who also remains the unknown victim in the fight for his convictions. But in paying homage to the few comrades whose names we are able to give here, we pay homage also to the many other heroes who fought and died for us. Their simple and true spirit of self- sacrifice will inspire us in the fight which must go on. They have reminded us that freedom is no inalienable hereditary right, but that it was born of struggle and sacrifice and that by struggle and sacrifice it must be kept holy. In the storm of time their names may be effaced. But what they did will remain unforgotten. It will grow and grow until one day it will break all chains asunder.
WILLI MUTH
woodworker, arrested by the Gestapo in Cologne on 17 January 1935. Six days later he was dead.' Cause officially given: suicide. On his body there were many burns. His feet had been pierced through with hot irons.
AGUSTIN RODRIGUEZ President of the Asturias District of the Spanish Building Workers' Union. Sacrificed his life for the workers' cause in the revolt of October 1934.
NEVER FORGET THEM

C
KOLOMAN WALLISCH

FRITZ PAEPLOW
The death of Mr. Fritz Paeplow on 19 January 1934 at the age of 74 deprives the building workers of the world of one of their most prominent leaders. First as Secretary of the German Union of Bricklayers and of the Building Workers' Union founded in 1910, and then, from 1913 to 1927, as the President of the Building Workers' Union, he achieved truly great things for the workers in the industry in Germany. He it was who, after the war, created what became known as the building guilds, so closely linked up with the trade union movement of the workers in the industry, and which spread in so excellent a manner both in sphere of operations and in numbers. Primarily to his efforts the international building workers' movement owes the founding of the old International Federation of Building Workers, which he served from 1903 to 1919 as Secretary and then till 1927 as President. Finally, it may be mentioned that, but a few months before the destruction of the German trade union movement by National- Socialism Mr. Paeplow's great book on the history of the German building workers' movement was published.
ANTON MASCHEK
Anton Maschek, President and Secretary of the Czechoslovak Woodworkers' Union, died in Prague on 1 June 1934 at the age of 58. Mr. Maschek had been active at the head of the Czech Woodworkers' movement since 1911. He was among the founders of their former" autonomist" organisation which was founded in opposition to the old Central Union at Vienna before the war when most of Czechoslovakia was still a part of Austria. When, after the war, this organisation affiliated with the Red International of Labour Unions and a new free trade union of woodworkers had to be founded, Anton Maschek became its Secretary. Under his leadership the membership of the new Union increased from 3,000 to 10,000. The membership of the Communist Union, on the other hand, fell from 15,000 to less than 4,000. On 1 January 1932 it proved possible to bring this conflict to a happy issue by means of a re- union of the two organisations. Yet
again Maschek showed himself to be the right man to lead the new organisation, until a heart affection put a sudden stop to this life so rich in service to the workers' cause.
2
FRIEDRICH ROTH
Friedrich Roth, Vice- President of the Austrian Union of Woodworkers, died at Vienna on 15 January 1935 at the age of 61. Tragically enough, he had lived long enough to have been obliged to witness the dissolution of his Union a little under a year earlier. It was thanks to the untiring efforts of Mr. Roth among the turners in the old Austrian Empire that the various branches of this trade gradually united to form the Turners' Union. When, in 1919, this amalgamated with the Woodworkers' Union, Friedrich Roth became a member of the Executive of the new Union. After the war, under the most unfavourable of conditions, he secured those important agreements which, for the first time, contained provisions for payment for general holidays and for payment for absence for work owing to no fault of the workers' own. In later years Mr. Roth occupied the full- time post of Secretary to the Insurance Fund for Bank and Savings Bank Employees in Vienna.

JENS JENSEN
Mr. Jens Jensen died at Copenhagen on 7 April 1935 at the age of 77. After first acting as chairman of the Aarhus branch of the bricklayers' union and chairman of the local trades council, Jens Jensen occupied from 1907 to 1929 the responsible post of Treasurer to the Danish Bricklayers' Union. Shortly after taking office he built up with great ability the newly founded Union unemployment fund, which, through many years of changing fortune, has remained in existence to this day. When he retired in 1929 he was made an honorary member of the Organisation to which he had devoted his life. Mr. Jensen was never particularly prominent in the international movement but his quiet, friendly manner will doubtless still be well remembered by many of our comrades, particularly the older among them. His zeal and cordiality will ensure his being held in affectionate memory by all those who knew him.
FELICE QUAGLINO
With Felice Quaglino, who died in Paris on 13 July 1935 at the age of 65 from a lingering malady, the Italian building workers still true to our flag lost their zealous and honoured leader. When, in 1899, the Italian National Union of Building Workers was founded, Felice Quaglino, despite his youth, was made Secretary. In 1909 he was, in addition, elected to Parliament, and subsequently regularly re- elected. He was the life and soul of the once very important building guild movement in Italy. When, however, Fascism seized power Mr. Quaglino saw his life's work destroyed within a very short space of time. In 1924 Union headquarters had to be transferred abroad to save what it was still possible to save. In France Quaglino continued his work. Not only did he found new building guilds which provided a means of livelihood for numerous Italian refugees, but he also carried on propaganda among his compatriots for the trade unions of
their second home. He took an active part in the organisation of the fight against Italian Fascism. His ashes repose in Paris, near those of other Italians who died in exile.
KAZIMIERZ LAPINSKI
Mr. Kazimierz Lapinski, who, until illness forced him to retire at the end of 1934, was the President of the Polish Building Workers' Union, died at Cracow on 12 October 1935 at the age of 60. Even as a very young journeyman bricklayer Mr. Lapinski was active in the trade union movement in Galicia, which then still belonged to Austria. From 1906 to 1910 he served as district secretary of the Austrian Bricklayers' Union in what are to- day the southern provinces of Poland. After the war he founded the Building Workers' Union for Galicia and Silesia. Later he succeeded in uniting the organisations existing in the various parts of the country, and the last Congress, which took place in 1934 and at which he yet presided, saw the amalgamation of the Building Workers and the Woodworkers. Then, however, his illness forced him to withdraw from that public life with which he was so actively bound up. The end came all too soon. Thousands of workers mourned at his bier, and when he was laid to rest, the cementary was thronged with people.

REPO
FIRST PART
ORT ON ACTIVITIES
1934 AND 1935

FIRST PART
REPORT ON ACTIVITIES
OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF BUILDING AND WOOD WORKERS
FOR THE YEARS
1934 AND 1935

тя
BEBOKI ОЙ УСЛІЛІШЕГ
ИОПАЯЗОВА ЈАЙОТАИЯЗТИ ЗНТ ЧО
MOITA
29
EOK THE AEVK2
ОЕ ВПІГРИС VID MOOD MOBKEK?
OE B
Eet an AEON

Introduction.
When, at the end of August 1934, we wrote the preface to the Report for the year 1933, during which the International Union of Woodworkers and the International Federation of Building Workers were still carrying on their activities separately, our International Federation of Building and Wood Workers had only been in existence as such for a bare five months. Even then we were able to point to a considerable increase in output of work, an increase mainly due to the more efficient arrangement and utilisation of the existing administrative machinery made possible by the amalgamation.
Since then over a year and a half has gone by. It has corroborated the experiences of the first months. In spite of the fact that the re- arrangement and organisation of the administration of the International, on the one hand, and the activity involved by the developments in connection with the question of the reduction of working hours, on the other, took up a great deal of time, the publication, through the medium of the Bulletin, of reports on matters of interest and importance taking place in the building and wood workers' world has continued to receive careful attention. The correspondence even underwent a considerable expansion owing to no small extent to the interchange of ideas and data which has taken place with numbers of unions outside Europe on the subject of the reduction of working hours in the building and woodworking trades. The correspondence on this subject has certainly contributed to increase among our overseas comrades interest in the I.B.W.W. and in the international collaboration going on within its framework. Particularly with Australia and New Zealand, where the furniture workers already belong to the International, but also with the United States and Canada, and with Argentina, it proved possible to establish new relations or to strengthen and render more fruitful existing ties.
The first tangible results of our propaganda have appeared. On I January 1935 we registered the affiliation of the Building Workers of Palestine, on 1 June 1935 that of the Danish Carpenters and on I January 1936 that of the Building and Wood Workers of Trinidad ( British West Indies), and the Luxemburg Plasterers. The retrogade movement has stopped, we are going forward once more!
The fight against Fascism by means of giving moral and material support to our comrades who are working underground in the countries concerned has continued to be an important object of our attention. In this connection the Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty, to which a number of affiliated unions have contributed and in some cases very substantially, has rendered excellent service. In Austria this work is making good headway; the illegal groups of building trades workers and woodworkers united to form a single group at a secret conference in April 1935 at which a representative of the I.B.W.W. was present, and simultaneously effected their re- affiliation to the International.
-
13

-
There are signs indicating a probability that the trade union movement as a whole has passed the low ebb point. This is the case with the building trades workers and the woodworkers as well. From many countries we are now receiving news of greater or lesser increases of membership, above all and this is particularly significant from such countries as Finland, Estonia, Yugoslavia and Rumania, where the trade union movement was for a long period completely submerged. In Spain, which appeared to be seriously threatened by Fascism, the February election victory of the parties of the Left has already resulted in a fresh march forward by our trade unions there. In a number of countries also in which they are not yet affiliated to the I.B.W.W. the building and wood workers' organisations have received a new impetus, and it is to be hoped that the revival in the particular countries will in the near future be accompanied by a strengthening of the will to international collaboration, i.e. by a consolidation of the trade union forces all over the world.
All things considered we believe we may at any rate venture to assert that during the two years of its existence our International Federation of Building and Wood Workers has given forcible proof of its vitality and practical importance. The only source of anxiety is its present financial situation. Since the organisational and financial basis of our amalgamated International was established in December 1933, much has occurred which at that time could not have been foreseen. As a result of the loss of affiliation fees from Austria, and to some extent from Spain countries which together represented over 100,000 members our budget, already severely restricted as it was, was bound to be thrown out of balance; only by means of a special levy was it possible to restore its equilibrium for the time being.
-
-
-
We are confident, however, that with the continued help of the affiliated unions among which, it is hoped, some unions at present still detached may soon be counted, we shall succeed in surmounting these difficulties too, and that we shall be able not only to keep up our activities in an undiminished degree, but also where possible to extend them.
Amsterdam, End of May 1936.
14

Economic and Political Conditions.
Planned Economy or Chaos?
In any particular period the development of the social struggle is conditioned by the race between economic changes and the capacity of mankind to perceive and judge of these changes and to adapt itself accordingly. Economic development is always ahead in this race; mankind follows in the rear. The greater the distance separating them the greater the cause for conflict and the severer the struggle. The times we live in are as topsy- turvy as they are because people are quite dazed by the headlong rush of the seemingly chaotic events.
They have a dim notion that the inadequacy of the present system of Mankind dazed by finance and economy is at the root of the evil. But they are timid speed of events. and full of fainthearted objections and hesitations. Instead of making up their minds to settle their troubles they take refuge in slogans without number and without sense. Instead of tearing out the rotten root they raise lamentations about the sickly growth and are content to prune away its worst offshoots from time to time. Instead of uniting in action to establish the world on a basis which would enable the fruits of the labours of all to be enjoyed by all, everyone is watching the others individuals and nations alike care that they shall not do any better than himself.
-
-
and taking
Big Capital, the narrow, proud clique of the rulers of the world, the financiers and the" captains of industry", has got world economy into a thorough mess. But yet it refuses all the more obstinately to yield so much as an inch of ground. It fears that a retreat might bring on a collapse.
The capitalists must be credited, however, with having managed very cleverly, on the old principle of divide and conquer, to separate their victims into opposing camps. From the working class, already The middle class so much divided, they have enlisted the foolish and the corruptible. helps to dig its But their masterpiece has been, not only to divert from the own grave. front of their opponents the middle class elements which have been roused to action by the crisis and should be the natural allies of the workers, but actually to convert these in many cases into willing fighters for their own evil cause. This middle class was at one time very pleased with itself; it had no need to bother much about politics. The concentration of capital into increasingly fewer hands, however, has reduced a growing proportion of the middle class to a position of dependence, with all the social disadvantages attaching to such a position, and the mass unemployment of recent years, leading to the destruction of the purchasing power of the broad masses, has narrowed down another part of the middle class basis of existence considerably. It has thus every reason to range itself on the side of the workers; but its lack of political and economic training causes it to see everything in a false light. Big capital has availed itself of the lack of insight and of the social self- assertiveness of the middle class
-
15

-
which causes it to loathe a descent into the ranks of the proletariat Big Capital reaps and has converted its anti- capitalist feelings into a hate- inspired the benefit of animosity against the upward- striving workers. In this way it has Fascism, secured in the Fascist countries the destruction of the workers' organisations together with the reinforcement of its own position for the time being.
-
It is only the Labour Movement, however, that can provide any real remedy for the distress which burdens not only the proletariat but also the middle class. The mere existence of the remedy, however, is not sufficient. It must be spread among the masses of the people and among those classes, also, which have hitherto been devoid of any understanding of the Labour Movement and are therefore mostly antagonistic to it. For this reason and although we by no means The" Labour overlook the fact that, in the last resort, only the transfer of the Plans" seek the means of production to common ownership can bring about the welfare of the salvation of mankind we welcome the stimulation which the whole community. Labour Movement has experienced through the" Labour Plans" in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Holland, Norway, Czechoslovakia and even as far afield as Argentina, which Plans are more or less based on the" Demands for Economic Planning" drawn up by the I.F.T.U. For the same reasons, too, we welcome the increasing interest being shown by our movement in modern methods of propaganda based on mass psychology, and finding lively expression in broadcasting, the film, illustrations, etc.
-
That a positive agitation by our movement, directed towards tangible objects, is gradually penetrating in spite of all conscious and unconscious resistance, into the sphere of social thought, is shown by the years covered by this report. In the most divergent circles it is being more clearly realised that the solution of the social problem is only possible from the economic angle, and that any form of action against the social malady, and in particular against unemployment, must necessarily extend its intervention to the wide fields of finance The break with and economy. The break with the old laissez faire of liberalism, with economic the" free play of economic forces" is a fact. The demand for planned Liberalism. economy, i.e. for planned intervention of the community as represented
by the State in economic construction and development, is gaining ground; the fatalistic doctrine that economic fluctuations are beyond the power of mankind to influence is losing more and more of its adherents. The Director of the International Labour Office quite rightly observed in his Report for 1934/35:" The argument that where plenty exists its proper distribution to the best general advantage can and should be effected by human forethought and organisation is really irresistible. That it should be left to the caprice of some obscure law, which apparently does not function, does not seem tolerable, particularly in the light of the spectacular triumphs achieved by science and methods in other spheres of human activity. It therefore now seems reasonable to expect governments to devote the same energy, ingenuity and attention to the provision
16

of the elementary needs of feeding, clothing and shelter on a civilised scale as to the provision of air communications, wireless services and elaborate systems of national defence."
Economic Planning- real and sham.
In actual fact there is economic planning by the State in practically every country to- day. Admittedly to a very varying degree, with widely differing purposes in view and with widely differing success. Planning The dictatorial attempt in Soviet Russia to build up a Socialist everywhere. economy based on needs rather than on profits is a very different thing from the dictatorial" planning" in Fascist Germany or Italy, the aim of which is to save big capital from collapse. Again, the democratic Labour method in the Scandinavian countries, which, even though it may to- day appear to be the less radical, aims in the last resort at a gradual transformation of the system of private capitalist economy based on profit into a collectivist system of economy based on needs, is something very different from the capitalistdemocratic experiment of President Roosevelt, already rendered largely abortive, unfortunately, by the onslaught of ruthless employers and reactionary justice. The measures resorted to in other democratic countries are only too often unorganic, patchy and makeshift in character.
Measures which are quite correct in principle, such as State provision of work, the direction of credit resources, the direction Right and wrong of production and marketing in agriculture, guiding principles of methods. all kinds for wholesale and retail trade, are mixed up almost everywhere with measures which are fundamentally wrong, such as currency dodges, tariffs, and restriction of imports, and, indeed, the entire complex of State measures directed towards autarchy. But all these things, whether right or wrong, are just so many proofs, just so many acknowledgments that the once much vaunted" private initiative" and the no less vaunted" free play of economic forces" have failed. Does this imply that private capitalism has played its last card? Fascism proves the contrary. But in the democratic countries, too, Capital has often used the State as a tool by means of which difficulties arising out of the crisis might be surmounted. This time, too, the capitalist governments are only too ready to regard their" economic planning" as an emergency measure by means" Planning" as a of which the social structure which is on the verge of collapse shall makeshift for be propped up until private capitalism has once again been put on capitalism.
its feet, not to mention the circumstance that the operation of their influence to no small extent takes the form of preparation for new
militarist entanglements.
Will private capitalism pull itself together again or is it at its
wits' end? In other words: is the present crisis one of those cyclical The Great crises which recur from time to time, though in an increasingly Question. severe form and at increasingly shorter intervals, or is it the
17

" permanent" crisis, the last, decisive phase of capitalist development from which there is no way out for capitalism and for humanity but one: Socialism!?
-
Will the terrific tensions which are growing increasingly numerous in the world inevitably discharge themselves in an attempt at a solution by force, through the medium of a new world war, and as in that case we can only hope in a social revolution to follow it? Or does there exist, in spite of everything, the possibility, by means of a gradual transformation of private capitalist economy along the lines of the" Labour Plans", with the introduction of public ownership of the means of production as its final goal, of putting an end to these tensions and ensuring the happiness and welfare of humanity in a more peaceful manner?
Within our Labour Movement views are widely divergent on these momentous questions. The rapid strides made by Fascism during 1933 and 1934 would seem to speak for the pessimistic point of view, the new strengthening of democracy which has taken place since then for the other, even though the recent reinforcements of democracy are still precarious. One thing appears certain, however: the capitalist " manipulated" economy, this substitute for a planned economy as understood by Labour, can bring no solution. Nevertheless it brings grist to our mill. The demand for economic planning and efficiency is sinking deeper and deeper into the consciousness of the peoples and it will prove impossible to eradicate it.
General Economic Development.
The economic year 1935, the sixth year of the depression, came to a close without the hopes of an all- round, lasting recovery having been fulfilled. Admittedly, if one only takes account of the neatly and carefully calculated curve of world production, one is tempted to rejoice at the fact that this to- day is once again above the level of June 1929, the peak point hitherto. But this satisfaction is considerably tempered when one reads that the Second Committee of the League, which certainly cannot be suspected of Marxian leanings, The economic expressed in September 1935 the view that in many cases the revival revival doubtful in economic activity was connected directly with the manufacture and psychologically of war materials and the organising of the armies and that it was disheartening. superfluous to draw attention to the economically doubtful and
psychologically disheartening character of such a revival.
Rearmament cannot be continued eternally, not even as a mere measure of State provision of work. It must inevitably lead to bankruptcy or.... to war!
The modest assuagement of the crisis already witnessed in 1933 continued at first during 1934, mainly on account of a distinct improvement in America. But as early as the first summer months the economic curve bent downwards again and continued in that direction during the entire summer. It was not until the last quarter
18

that a certain recovery set in, which, apart from a few setbacks at the beginning of 1935, particularly in the United States, has continued, in spite of political disturbances and a new wave of national currency crises.
According to the index figures of the Berlin" Institut für Konjunkturforschung"( Institute for Economic Research), world industrial production reached, as already stated, its apex in June 1929 with an index of 110.3( 1928
=
100). From that time onwards it The curve of world fell away very rapidly to 68.1 in July 1932, and then with minor production has interruptions gradually rose again. The average for 1931 was 83.1, risen. for 1932 it was 73.3, and for 1933 83.2. According to a new series of figures calculated on a modified basis, the averages for 1932 and 1933 were 76.8 and 86.6 respectively, and that for 1934 95.2. During 1934 world production increased from 91.5 in January to 96.9 in April, fell away again to 91.8 in August to rise once more to 102.3 by the end of the year. This upward movement continued during 1935, very slowly and with minor fluctuations until September ( 106.2), and then fairly rapidly so that in November the index figure, then at 113.2, was higher even than the level for June 1929. That on the whole an improvement has taken place even though a problematical one is borne out by the decrease in world stocks
-
of raw materials and the rise in world wholesale prices. Of great The" price- scissignificance is certainly the further fact that in 1935 the" price- sors" begins to scissors" began to close, i.e. the prices of agricultural products rose close. more rapidly than those of finished industrial goods. Thus agriculture, which was one of the chief sources of the crisis, was able in consequence to improve its situation considerably, a fact which is apparent in the striking progress made by the agricultural countries
overseas.
The international commodity and money markets, however, experienced no appreciable revival, despite the boom in armaments. If
world foreign trade in 1929 be taken as 100, it was equal in volume International trade in 1933 to 74.9, in 1934 to 77.2 and during the third quarter of 1935 is still paralysed. to 76.5( compared with 75.6 during the same period of the previous year); expressed in gold the corresponding figures were actually only equal to 35.2 and 34.I respectively, and 33.6( compared with 32.9), in which connection, however, account must be taken not only of the fall in prices but of currency depreciation as well. These figures show that the economic recovery was due almost exclusively to the improvement of internal markets, unfortunately due in most cases to a very questionable change of structure based on the concept of economic self- sufficiency. The international exchange of commodities, without which no genuine world revival is possible, at any rate continues to remain paralysed by a strangling network of serious barriers to trade, such as tariffs, restriction of imports, currency conflicts, clearing procedure, etc.
Especially disquieting, however, and that not merely from the standpoint of the working class, is the fact that the social crisis
19

Table I
Country
The Labour Market, 1930-1935
Indexes( 1929
= 100)
1930
1931
1932
1933
1934
1935
I. Unemployment
Australia( IV)
174
247
261
226
185
149
Austria( I)
127
162
209
232
210
187
Belgium( II)
277
838
1.462
1.308
1.462
I.373
Canada( IV)
195
295
386
391
319
270
Czechoslovakia( II)
205
377
614
768
791
722
Denmark( II)
88
115
205
186
143
128
France( V)
138
748
3.065
3.063
3.744
4.633
Germany( V)
164
2392
303
260
146
117
Great Britain( I)
154
205
213
191
162
149
Italy( VIII)
141
244
335
3392
320
Japan( IX)
133
153
170
140
125
116
Netherlands( II)
121
229
374
393
399
454
Norway( III)
108
145
200
217
199
164
Poland( V)
180
257
241
243
3222
341
Sweden( IV)
I14
161
213
221
177
151
Switzerland( II)
292
500
592
536
442
493
United States( IV)
177
233
290
296
255
226
II. Employment to
Canada( VI)
95
85
73
71
81
84
Czechoslovakia( VIII)
98
92
83
75
75
77
France( VII)
IOO
93
81
79
77
74
Germany( X)
93
81
71
74
85
91
Great Britain( I)
96
92
92
95
99
102
Hungary( VIII)
94
89
82
81
87
91
Italy( VI)
93
81
71
Japan( VI)
90
82
Poland( VI)
87
74
Sweden( VI)
100
91
Switzerland( VI)
97
89
United States( VI)
87
74
61
Yugoslavia( VIII)
104
IOI
RESORES
71
72
82
90
100
IIO
63
63
68
71
86
85
92
76
73
73
70
66
75
78.
89
86
90
93
( I) Compulsory Unemployment Insurance;( II) Voluntary Unemployment Insurance;( III) Trade Union Unemployment Funds;( IV) Trade Unions; ( V) Employment Exchanges;( VI) Employers;( VII) Labour Inspectorate; ( VIII) Social Insurance Funds;( IX) Official Estimates;( X) Sickness Insurance Funds.
1) Figure calculated by the I.L.O. 2) Modified series.
-
Source: Statistics communicated by the International Labour Office, Geneva.

is not diminishing in intensity anything like so rapidly as the crisis
in production. Pressure on the labour market is not being relieved The social crisis anything like so quickly as production is increasing. It is, of course, continues. true that the taking on of additional workers is being held up for the time being by the process of gradually abolishing short- time. But the shattering fact remains that, in spite of the fact that industrial production is above the level for the peak year 1929 again, the number of unemployed, as a consequence of the unceasing technical progress to which the crisis has merely served to give an impetus, is nearly three times as great as it was then. In Great Britain, for example, industrial production during the first half of 1935 showed an increase of 21% compared with the figure for the corresponding period of the previous year. Yet for the same period employment only showed an increase of 7%.
At the close of 1935 and the beginning of 1936 there still existed in the world a" visible" army of unemployed of 21 tot 22 millions. Since the lowest ebb of the depression, when 30 million men and women were unemployed, the strength of this army has only decreased by a third.
In spite of the fact that the provision of employment by public authorities has made enormous strides in all parts of the world, a really appreciable relief of the labour market has been achieved in
t
but few countries. This is in itself no proof of the unsuitability of Public provision of public provision of employment as a method of combating unem- work alone is not ployment. The initial ignition of the economic motor was bound to enough. remain ineffective in only too many cases because the fuel was lacking. It was bound to remain ineffective because the capitalist governments failed to realise that the mere expenditure of vast sums on public works was not enough, but that this must go hand in hand with a raising of the level of wages and a reduction of the hours of work if economy as a whole is not merely to be given a fillip but to be set going in such fashion that, once started, it will continue to function of its own volition.
The Tension Grows.
If the picture presented by world economy is grey enough in all conscience looked at as a whole, looked at in detail it is much darker still and in certain patches the outlook is indeed definitely black. One or two other patches, to be sure, stand out right cheerfully against these in welcome relief. blog
-
On the dark side as both the curve of industrial production ( for figures see Survey of Countries) and the development of the labour market as shown in Table I show are those countries which
-
have held fast to gold. The" gold bloc" which, at the beginning of The" gold bloc", 1934, still included Belgium, France, Holland, Poland, Switzerland or:
and Czechoslovakia, was already the poorer by Czechoslovakia in the fiasco of
February 1934 and by Belgium in March 1935, with the result that deflation.
21

in these two countries also an improvement, even though for the present a slight one, has taken place. The classical policy of deflation, however, which to- day prevails most strongly in Holland and in Switzerland and which seeks salvation in wage- cuts and pricesinking, has failed, or has at least proved itself to be the longer calvary.
Considerably better has been the fate of those countries commonly The" Sterling bloc" termed the" Sterling bloc". This consists, apart from Great Britain fares considerably and its Dominions, of those countries which pegged their currencies better. more or less closely to the Pound Sterling when this was depreciated in September 1931. In this connection we may mention first of all
-
-
the Scandinavian countries and Finland, then South America and Japan, and- at a certain distance the U.S.A. as well. Nevertheless there are great divergences between the individual countries within this group. Signs of a" genuine" trade revival are shown in particular Scandinavia, by the three Scandinavian countries, which are governed wholly or in the main by Labour. Their policy, which is directed towards the maintenance of the purchasing power of the masses and Sweden especially
-
-
in
towards the provision of employment for
the unemployed on a bold scale and along planned lines, has brought the former crushing burden of unemployment almost to Great Britain. vanishing point. In Great Britain too, a considerable improvement is undeniable. This finds expression in an improvement in the production of consumers' goods and, above all, in a strong upward movement in building. More problematical is the development in the United States. There State orders running into billions of dollars have, it is true, finally given a new impetus to private initiative, but a boom. U.S.A. on the Stock Exchange, of an extremely speculative nature, gives rise to fears of fatal unsound investment again. This quite apart from the fact that the employers, now that their ship is a float again, are industriously at work breaking down stone by stone the, within its capitalist limits undoubtedly forceful, Roosevelt edifice of law. Japan's situation, too, must be considered in a class of its own. A currency depreciation of 60%, combined with a highly developed Japan. capitalist method of production under almost feudal social conditions has, it is true, enabled this country to flood the world market with the cheapest of substitute wares, yet it is almost threatened with suffocation under the burden of its sword- clanking military.
-
Apart from the great overseas agricultural countries South The agricultural America, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa( here a boom in countries. gold, into the bargain!) the countries of south- east Europe, also hard hit by the crisis, have benefited by the improvement in the agricultural situation.
-
592 2971
In a class of its own is Soviet Russia, which, having begun by The Soviet- Union. building up the manufacture of producers' goods only, has now also set about extending its industries for the production of consumers' goods, and apparently with success.
And finally, entirely on the dark side this time, are the two
22

definitely Fascist countries, Germany and Italy, which have brought
about, by means of credit- inflationary measures, a boom in trade
based on war preparation, the durability of which is becoming Germany and Italy: increasingly doubtful. Both in Germany and Italy, in the latter a sham boom with particularly since the outbreak of its colonial war, the signs are increasing misery increasing that credit resources, in spite of all the rigorous measures of the masses. in connection with them, are becoming low. The feverish activity
in the sphere of armaments is taking place wholly at the expense of the production of consumers' goods a clear sign of the
-
-
increasing misery of the masses and when the moment comes when the ruin of State finances, in spite of ingenious devices to conceal it, becomes apparent, and the enormous State orders cease, a setback of simply catastrophic dimensions is bound to set in in both countries.
Political Developments.
Let us round off our survey with a brief glance backwards at the course taken by political events which, as we know, determine in the last resort the success of trade union activity and, above all, the duration of its achievements.
If, looked at from an economic angle, 1935 was in the main a continuation of the previous year, politically it was in undeniable contrast to it.
1934 was the year of the rapid spread of Fascist reaction in its various degrees of strength. In February Austria fell a victim to 1934:
its robber- barons, in May Latvia, in October Spain to all intents The Fascist flood and purposes. Terror and death reaped a rich harvest. It was the rises.
year of the bloody resistance and defeat of a working- class ground down and provoked to the utmost, a working- class of a mind to defend its holiest rights at the risk of its life. And then the fight for the Saar, with which the terrible year 1934 ended and 1935 was ushered in, and which, rightly or wrongly, was felt to be a test and a trial of strength, ended, in no small measure owing to causes originating in sentiment and not reason, in a crushing defeat of the anti- Fascist forces. On 13 January 1935 Hitler gained his " victory". On March 1st, with the final re- incorporation of the Saar Territory, there took place the destruction of the last remnants of liberty.
thing on
1935 set in gloomily. But as it went on it brought, even though by no means the decisive change for the better, yet in important 1935:
countries a revival, a confirmation or even a further strengthening An advance for
of democracy a trend of development which in February 1936 Democracy.
-
found its almost sensational continuation in the election victory of the Left in Spain. This election victory drove Fascist reaction, which thought its prey already within its grasp, back to its hiding- place, at any rate for the time being.( Incidentally Fascism had suffered a severe setback in France two years earlier, when the trade union
To
23

movement, by means of a mighty demonstration, erected a dam against the flood of reaction which on 6 February had reached its high water mark with the attempt to storm the Chamber).
in October 1935
-
The Labour election victories in Scandinavia the Labour Government in Denmark was even strengthened( as it had also been in Sweden a year previously), in March 1935 a Labour Government was formed in Norway have given encouraging proof that an energetic and positive economic policy on the part of democratic workers' governments is capable of exercising a great attraction for sections of the population not belonging to the working- class proper as well. In Belgium, where the deflationary governments of the bourgeois bloc had failed utterly, the Van Zeeland Cabinet, in which the Labour Movement plays an authoritative part, was formed at the end of March. At the elections in November the British Labour Party made tremendous progress Nevertheless it failed to obtain the majority because the Conservative " National" Government succeeded in taking advantage, in a manner more cunning than honest, of the situation resulting from the war in Africa and the state of popular feeling at the time. What a Pyrrhic victory this victory of the Government's was, was shown, moreover, scarcely a month later by the humiliating interlude of the Hoare- Laval" peace proposals" in the Italo- Abyssinian conflict. So strong is democracy in England that, under the pressure of public opinion, the Cabinet found itself obliged to disavow and get rid of its Foreign Secretary as speedily as might be. Of interest also is the fact that after a splendid election victory won at the end of November a purely Labour Government has taken office in far- away New Zealand which seems determined to do the job thoroughly. And finally mention shall be made here of Czechoslovakia, wedged in between Fascist and semi- Fascist countries, and in which, it is true, in the German part of the country the Fascist Henlein Party nearly swallowed up the bourgeois centre parties at the May elections, but where, not least as a result of the election of Benes to the Presidency in succession to Masaryk, democracy appears to be ensured for the future also.
-
-
In the Free City of Danzig, in which on account of the albeit very feeble supervision of the League, Nazi terrorism, in spite of many excesses, is unable to develop to quite so furious a degree as in Germany itself, the Nazis suffered a great moral defeat when at the elections which, encouraged by the outcome of the Saar Plebiscite, they sprang on the City in April, they did not succeed in getting the two- thirds majority necessary for the amendment of the Constitution. golavob lo bist
10
An event of the first importance was the Soviet- Union's entry The Soviet- Union of the League in September 1934. This reflects in an ominous enters the League fashion the stormy course of events on the world political fronts
-
of Nations. the threat of Japan in the east, the threat of Hitler Germany in the west. Apart from important repercussions on European policies of 24

alliances, this entry to the League has raised once again for the working- class the question of the" united front" with the Communists, who, at the behest of Moscow, have now everywhere suddenly discovered the value of bourgeois democracy. In France where the Communists had brought about the split in the trade union movement in 1921, it has now proved possible to restore unity.
Of very great significance for the international trade union movement was further the fact that in 1934 the United States, if it
did not come into the League, at any rate came into the International The United States Labour Office, as a result of which, via the Workers' Group, new comes to Geneva. and favourable possibilities will doubtless be given for a closer contact and co- operation with the American trade unions.
All the events during the period under review are overshadowed, however, by the ever more threatening dangers of war, the chief originators of which are the countries hungry for space, Germany,
Italy and Japan, and the most important centres of which, apart War threatens. from Abyssinia where war has already been waged, are Austria and Northern China. In October 1933 Germany left the League and the Disarmament Conference with a loud flourish of trumpets. The signal for a new and intensified race in arms had been given. The Disarmament Conference only continued to exist officially. The Naval Conference was actually already dead when its delegates solemnly met in London in December 1935.
How events have followed one another thick and fast! In February 1934 the civil war in Austria which ended with the demolition of the strongest bulwark of national independence: the Labour Movement; in July the Nazi putsch in Austria and the murder of Dollfuss; in October the Marseilles assassination which once again focussed attention on the smouldering fires in Central Europe; in December the termination of the Washington Naval agreement by Japan; in January 1935 Japan's fresh attack on China; in March the announcement of an air fleet and the proclamation of general military service by Germany; in May the answer: the Franco- Russian Pact; then, in October, the outbreak of the Italian war against Abyssinia; 1936: the military putsch in Japan, the tearing up of the Locarno Treaty, the re- occupation of the Rhineland by Hitler Germany and the annexation of Abyssinia by Fascist Italy these are only the most visible signs of the catastrophe that is inevitably approaching. Inevitably? Will the world really fall a victim to the madness of scientifically organised mass murder again? The answer to this
-
anxious question lies in the choice of the peoples between Fascism Humanity must and Democracy, between Capitalist anarchy and Labour's planned decide. economy, in short:, between inevitable war and peace as a matter
of course.
Outlook.
Developments during 1934 and 1935 have only increased world
25

hom linamu H
ablosb
-
-
-
-
tension. True, we appear to have emerged from the trough of the depression but plant, capital and human labour are still lying barren in vast quantities. Differences within the world economic sphere have become more acute. And with them political differences. The struggle for the since 1914 severely shrunken world market, threatens to break out again with full violence. The most dangerous war- mongering nations are the Fascist States Germany, Italy, Japan hungry for space and power. But the imperialist cliques of the other capitalist countries bear their full share of blame. Face to face with these dynamic forces of open or disguised dictatorships, democracy only too often remains in a state of static tolerance, which it even goes so far as to credit itself with as" inward strength". To shake it out of this disastrous lethargy and to set it in motion as a vital force against Fascism and Imperialism, i.e. in the last resort for the replacement of private capitalist economy based on profit by an economy based on the common need, is the task of the Labour Movement. It can, however, only carry out this imperative task if it is itself honestly prepared to join hands, and, on the basis of a sound policy in the national sphere, create a ring of sound international policy encircling the entire earth.
The eleventh hour has struck!
bisow
26
stiveni

The Building Industry.
Building activity during 1934 and 1935 differed greatly from country to country. This was not only due to the lack of uniformity in economic conditions as a whole, which improved in most countries, became worse in some, and in yet others remained more or less unchanged. It was due perhaps to an even greater extent to the special economic and financial conditions prevailing, and to the degree and manner of the exertion of State influence in each individual country.
On the whole, the groupings made in the general economic survey
( see page 18) can be applied to the development of the building Building activity market also( cf. Table II dealing with Building Activity, and the in 1934 and 1935. surveys of the individual countries). In the countries belonging to the Sterling bloc, thus in general in those countries in which, as a result of currency devalution, an expansion and a cheapening of credit became possible, building activity has increased in a more or less considerable degree. In the countries belonging to the gold bloc, where the crippling and fatal effects of the policy of deflation have spread their circle wider and wider still, building activity has decreased to an almost catastrophic extent.
If the countries be examined individually the thing which strikes
one immediately is the truly magnificent recovery in Great Britain.
The index of the value of permits issued, which between 1929(= 100) Building soars high and 1931 had fallen, on a monthly average, to 86.2, was equal in in Great Britain. 1934 to 130.7 and in 1935 to 156.4. The increase was greatest in the sphere of residential buildings( 1931: 91.5; 1934: 157.2; 1935: 177.2), above all in private building. Nevertheless, of late a more rapid improvement in building activity in public and in industrial and commercial building appears to be taking place, which is of the greatest significance for the continuance of the boom in building. South Africa, too, shows a tremendous improvement. As the most important gold extracting country it has experienced an extra boom as a result of the increase in the value of this" raw material". The index of the value of buildings completed( 1932= 100) was equal here in 1934, on a monthly average, to 143.8, in September 1934 to 145.2 and in September 1935 to 257.8. For residential buildings alone the corresponding figures were 213.0, 221.7 and 405.3. The fantastic increase in the number of permits issued make it possible to conclude that the boom will continue for some time.
In the United States, thanks to the enormous, even if only partially expended, sums which the Government has allocated for the purpose
A building boom in South Africa.
of giving a fresh impetus to public and private building, the longed A building boom for revival in the building market at last took place at the beginning in U.S.A.?
of 1935. If these good beginnings are not set at naught by a new Juomavoiqni Stock Exchange crisis everything seems to point to the fact that the U.S.A. is on the threshhold of a regular boom in building, which will probably take effect not in the last place in private residential
27

building also. During the period under review the building trade was, it is true, still in a very depressed state. The index of the value of contracts awarded( 1929= 100) which, by 1933, had dropped to 15.2, was equal in 1934 to 18.4 and even in 1935 only to 26.9. The biggest improvement was in the sphere of public buildings, i.e. from 19.6 in 1933 to 30.5 in 1934 and 44.6 in 1935. It is a satisfaction that private residential building which, with an index of 13.0 in 1934, showed no improvement on the low level of the previous year, had at least risen in 1935 to 25.0, on a monthly average.
-
The situation also became a favourable one in the Scandinavian countries and in Finland. In Sweden the index of buildings completed Improvement( 1929 100) rose from 79.4 in 1933 to 92.4 in 1934 and 148.5 in in Scandinavia. 1935. The large- scale policy of public provision of work of the Government, acting under Labour leadership, has had a highly beneficial effect here. In Norway, too, where a perceptible setback occurred in 1933, business in the building trade is good. Nevertheless, the 1935 figures for residential buildings are once again considerably below those for the previous year( July- September 1934: 180.1; July- September 1935: 114.3). In Finland the number of buildings. completed had, taking 1929 as 100, fallen by 1934 to 15.6, although they did increase again in 1935 to 47.5. We have no figures for Denmark, which, like Sweden and Norway, is governed by Labour, but for some years now building activity in that country has been very brisk.
Further decline in the" gold bloc"
In Czechoslovakia and Belgium, which left the gold bloc at the beginning of 1934 and 1935 respectively, building activity was still very unsatisfactory during the period under review. Nevertheless, in these countries, too, and this is particularly the case in Belgium- a certain improvement appears to be setting in, which finds expression in an increase in the number of permits issued.
-
-
Sorry indeed is the position in the few countries which to- day still make up the gold bloc, i.e. in France, Holland and Switzerland. In France the index of permits issued reached its highest point in 1930 with 111.4( 1929 100), but then slumped to 66.7 in 1934 and to countries. 55.7 in 1935. For the Netherlands index figures are only available for residential buildings. Here, not least as a result of the heavy speculation in house- building, it has proved possible to maintain the index at a relatively good level. On the other hand, in so bad a plight is industrial and commercial building and public building activity that of all the more important industries the building industry as a whole shows the largest percentage of unemployment. In Switzerland the decline did not set in until 1931. The index of permits issued for residential buildings, equal at that time to 133.1( 1929= 100), fell to 79.8 in 1934 and as low as 44.9 in 1935.
wood buibind
Improvement in
The development in the great agricultural countries, which have the agricultural benefited by the improvement in the prices of agricultural products countries. and raw materials, is an interesting one. In Australia, for instance, building activity is once again quite brisk. The index of building
28

apartments and b) commercial and industrial buildings according to permits issued;
U. S. A.: 37 States East of the Rocky Mountians( about 91% of the total volume of construction in the country); F. W. Dodge Corporation( data taken from U. S. Survey of Current Business); floor space and value of buildings under contracts awarded;
-
Finland: Helsinki; Nordiska Föreningsbanken Pohjoismaiden Yhdyspankki; cubic space of: a) buildings for which plans have been approved; b) buildings completed and approved;
France: principal towns; weighted index of the" Statistique générale" based on building permits issued or demands for permits ( number of buildings and, in certain cases, number of floors);
Hungary: Budapest; a) number of buildings according to permits issued; b) number of buildings completed; c) number of rooms in dwelling houses completed;
Italy: 17 principal towns; index of the Ministerio delle Corporazioni based on the number of rooms under building permits issued; Norway: all communes of more than 2,000 inhab.; number of apartments completed( net increase, number of new apartments less apartments demolished);
New Zealand: 58 towns; value and number of buildings for which permits have been issued;
Netherlands: Whole country; number of apartments a) begun; b) completed;
Poland: towns of more than 20,000 inhab.; cubic space of a) buildings begun; b) buildings completed;
Roumania: Bucarest; Institutul Romanesc de Conjuncturà; floor space of buildings for which permits have been issued;
United Kingdom: 146 towns; estimated cost and number of plans approved;
Sweden: II towns; number of rooms in: a) building for which permits issued; b) in buildings completed;
Czechoslovakia: 90 towns; cubic space and number of buildings for which permits have been issued.
In all cases where the number of towns from which returns are received has changed, the indices have been linked up as far as possible on the basis of comparable data.
acks
ses
and
1035100]

Table II( General Explanation):
The statistical series measuring building activity vary widely from country to country in scope, nature and significance.
The scope of the statistics chosen for the table has been confined to the construction of buildings erected above the ground for the purpose of sheltering men, animals or goods. Data relating to such " public works" as the construction of roads, bridges, railways, subways, ports, airports, waterways, dams, telegraph lines, etc., have therefore been excluded in all cases.
Statistics are generally collected with reference to several of the following stages of building:
a) Building permits issued( Plans submitted to local Authorities
b)
and approved by them);
Construction contracts awarded;
c) Buildings begun;
d) Buildings in course of construction;
e)
Buildings completed.
As it was not possible, owing to lack of space, to take into account the statistics relating to all these stages, the choice has been confined
to series illustrating, for each country, as far as possible:
a) the immediate prospects of the building industry, as evidenced either by building permits issued, contracts awarded or buildings begun;
b) the past activity of the industry according to statistics of buildings completed.
Although it would have been desirable to take into account also the present state of activity on the basis of data on buildings under construction, it has proved impossible to do so as such data are available only for two of the countries considered..
In the case of indices based on building permits, it must be remembered that there is a longer or shorter lapse of time between the date of issue of the permits and the moment when building is actually begun. This also applies to some extent to indices based on contracts awarded. When comparing series relating to different stages, account must be taken of the fact that part of the permits delivered may not be utilized at all. The length of the delay and the number of nonutilized permits are largely dependent on general economic and finanBuilding Activity
cial conditions, which usually influence less the statistics based on permits delivered than the series relating to later stages of building Build activity.
[ 1030100]
As to the geographical scope, statistics representing the widest area covered have been chosen as far as possible for each country; in several cases, however, data refer only to the principal towns or to the capital alone, and their movement, while reflecting often a large part of building activity, is affected in some cases by the rapid development of such centers and by special local conditions, and does not always give an accurate picture of the building activity in the country as a whole.
With regard to the system of measurement adopted for establishing the basic data, some difficulties arise from the fact that buildings vary widely in size, materials employed, value of work involved, etc. If there is a choice between different quantitative units of measures, the cubic volume of the buildings, or the floor space have been considered as the most satisfactory measure. Where such data were not available, statistics based either on the number of rooms, the number of apartments, the ground area covered, or even on the number of buildings, disregarding their size, have been used.
In several cases, statistics are based on the value of buildings. This system has the advantage that it permits the taking into account of the large differences in the value of the various parts and various kinds of buildings as well as repairs and alterations. When satisfactory quantitative data were not available, series relating to values have been given in the table. The main drawback of value series is that their movement is affected by changes in prices and wages which again depend upon changes in the currency and general social conditions. It has not proved possible to eliminate the effects of these fluctuations by means of appropriate indices of the cost of construction showing only changes in the" quantum" of building.
In order to give a picture of the movements in the industry according to the different purposes which the buildings are intended to serve and which are of significance for economic analysis, the following three groups have been given separately as far as possible: 1. Buildings mainly for dwelling purposes;
2. Buildings mainly for industry, trade( including hotels) and agriculture;
3. Other buildings( mainly public buildings, but also private and institutional buildings for schools, hospitals, churches, etc.).
The basic series selected for the various countries are as follows ( Unless otherwise stated, basic data are compiled by Government authorities):
Union of South Africa: 10 districts; value of: a) buildings in plans passed, total including extensions; b) buildings completed, total including extensions;
Germany: 1926-27: 93 towns; 1928-33: 96; 1934: 100; 1935: 102 towns;
a) number of apartments covered by building permits issued, excluding transformations;
b) cubic space of industrial, commercial and public buildings. according to permits issued;
c) number of apartments in new buildings completed;
d) total number of apartments completed, including transformations;
e) cubic space of new industrial, commercial and public buildings completed;
Argentine: Buenos- Ayres; ground area and value of: a) buildings for which permits have been issued; b) buildings completed; Australia: 6 capital cities and suburbs; value and number of new buildings according to permits delivered, totals including repairs and alterations;
Belgium: 53 urban areas including 115 communes; number of building permits, including rebuilding and alterations; from 1929 to 1931, index calculated on data relating to Brussels and suburbs only; Canada: 61 towns; index of the Dominion Bureau of Statistics based on the value of buildings according to plans approved;
Chile: 9 towns; ground area of buildings in plans approved; China: 1929-1931: 4 towns: Shanghai, Hankow, Tientsin, Tsingtao; 1931-1933: 5 towns(+ Nanking); 1933-1935: 6 towns(+ Canton); ground area covered and value of buildings according to permits issued;
Colombia: 18 towns; Banco de la Republica; ground area of buildings completed;
Spain: towns of more than 10,000 inhabitants in Catalonia; a)
apartments and b) commercial and industrial buildings according to permits issued;
U. S. A.: 37 States East of the Rocky Mountians( about 91% of the total volume of construction in the country); F. W. Dodge Corporation( data taken from U. S. Survey of Current Business); floor space and value of buildings under contracts awarded;
-
Finland: Helsinki; Nordiska Föreningsbanken Pohjoismaiden Yhdyspankki; cubic space of: a) buildings for which plans have been approved; b) buildings completed and approved;
France: principal towns; weighted index of the" Statistique générale" based on building permits issued or demands for permits ( number of buildings and, in certain cases, number of floors); Hungary: Budapest; a) number of buildings according to permits issued; b) number of buildings completed; c) number of rooms in dwelling houses completed;
Italy: 17 principal towns; index of the Ministerio delle Corporazioni based on the number of rooms under building permits issued;
Norway: all communes of more than 2,000 inhab.; number of apartments completed( net increase, number of new apartments less apartments demolished);
New Zealand: 58 towns; value and number of buildings for which permits have been issued;
Netherlands: Whole country; number of apartments a) begun; b) completed;
Poland: towns of more than 20,000 inhab.; cubic space of a) buildings begun; b) buildings completed;
Roumania: Bucarest; Institutul Romanesc de Conjuncturà; floor space of buildings for which permits have been issued;
United Kingdom: 146 towns; estimated cost and number of plans approved;
Sweden: II towns; number of rooms in: a) building for which permits issued; b) in buildings completed;
Czechoslovakia: 90 towns; cubic space and number of buildings for which permits have been issued.
In all cases where the number of towns from which returns are received has changed, the indices have been linked up as far as possible on the basis of comparable data.
1035= 100]
combr

Table II
Building Activity
1929= 100
A: Residential Buildings.
1
B: Buildings for Industry, Commerce, etc.
-
C: Other Buildings.
Stage of
Construction
Country.
Towns or Regions
Permits
Union of South Africa Io districts
Argentine Buenos Ayres
6
Buildings completed
Permits
Buildings completed
Permits
Australia Belgium 115 Permits
China 6
Colombia 18
Spain
Permits
B. compl.
Permits
U. S. A. 8
37 States East of the Rocky Mountains Contracts awarded
France
9
Norway ( 12)
Netherlands ( 13)
Poland ( 14)
Roumania
Permits B. compl.
Const. begun
B. compl.
Construction begun
Buildings completed
Permits
Cub.
System
DwelValue
Value
of measure
Purpose
1926
1927
1928
1929
A
B+ C Total 1
A
[ 1932= 100]
B+ C Total 1 Total [ 1932= 100]
Area Total
Value Total
Area Total
Number
Value
Total 1 Total 1
Number Value Total
Area
Area
Total
Total
Total
Dwellings A
Buildings B
Value
Floor space
Number
lings 11)
Dwellings
Cubic space
space
A
B
C
Total
A
B
Total
Total
A
A
A
[ 1933= 100]
[ 1931= 100]
A( 1) B+ C()| Total 1 [ 1931= 100]
A( 1) B+ C( 1) Total 1 [ 1931= 100]
Total
80.0
87.7
139.4
94.4
108.5
117.4
134.4
85.5
98.5
III.9
92.7
61.4
IOI.3
77.8
85.3
134.3
88.7
115.3
I 14.7
127.6
78.7
106.8
107.5
65.0
56.8 IOO.2
103.1 106.1
82.8
1930 1931
1932
1933
2( 182.7) 2( 172.5)
91.2
145.6
94.5
109.0
120.3
146.6
94.5
108.8
122.7
78.9
75.3
104.1
100.0
4 100.0
6 100.0
6 100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0
100.0
2( 143.1)
4 87.3
6 119.2
6 99.5
39.3
132.2
81.5
57.5
59.2
98.2
66.6
59.3
54.2
95.9
63.5
III.4
105.4
110.6
108.8
76.5
152.7
148.1
100.0
100.0
4
100.0
100.0
93.4
100.0
100.0
6 144.1
6
120.9
28.8
131.0
79.7
42.4
29.0
75.8
44.8
49.1
26.3
77.7
45.9
IOI.6
108.6
103.3
106.8.
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.7
104.4
236.2
1934
519.2
78.2 205.1
144.7
137.0
153.4
106.0
93.2
336. I
213.0
74.5 77.9
93.6
6 84.3
6
86.3
27.6
78.5
66.4
14.6
II.3
34.9
17.7
19.0
12.3
36.9
19.6
81.3
154.8
71.5
87.3
99.8
58.7
100.0 92.9
100.0
100.0
100.0
90.5
92.2
76.0
89.4
116.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
166.7
205.7
92.6
6 139.1
6 III.8
48.7
68.2
70.9
13.0
15.4
19.6
15.2
18.8
15.6
23.0
18.4
74.0
143.8
105.6
II7.1
93.8
114.6
63.0
106.0
89.7
99.3
91.3
132.7
112.6
129.6
63.5
80.1
241.7
333.8
77.0
120.5
105.4
62.8
77.8
73.7
13.0
18.1
30.5
18.4
16.6
17.2
31.6
19.2
66.7
145.0
IOO. I
III. I
119.9
84.2
113.9
123.0
73.0
114.5
156.3
1934 I
344.3
117.9
239.6 138.2
85.5 109.5 123.8
181.2
II
176.7 222.2
255.1
56.7
86.3
77.6
123.9
86.7
232.2
103.4
9.5
16.4
49.9
20.3
12.2
II.7
28.6
14.7
69.9
99.0
80.3
6.9
252.0
179.5
72.7
117.4
130.1
132.4
III
58.4
65.7
342.3 588.0
425.6
166.9
208.4 283.6
241.4
69.7 102.4
62.7
37.3
85.3
46.6
9.1
9.6
22.9
12.2
II.2
8.8
22.2
12.2
70.7
139.4
113.3
97.5
43.1
21. I
39.4
62.4
48.9
60.1
18.9
201.1
108.5
118.3
IV
476.0
248.9 308.0
179.2
312.4
216.1
103.2
93.4
89.7
49.5
110.9
119.0
17.6
23.5
37.9
23.9
21.5
18.0
34.3
22.4
71.5
124.7
109.3
132.7
74.0
141.1
140.5
143.5
226.2
V
646.9
264.6
94.1
212.4
372.6
130.6
114.8
73.2
89.7
149.4
36.3
100.9
14.2
16.5
24.4
17.1
18.4
19.7
34.5
21.4
70.7
107.2
144.7
249.5
92.0
94.4
105.0
62.2
84.8
VI
570.4
157.6
335.8
251.8
342.1
86.6
138.3
63.3
187.3
164.3
65.7
88.9
75.0
15.6
26.7
26.4
21.7
19.1
21.9
30.8
21.9
68.3
106.2
118.7
98.1 96.9
116.3
165.1
95.4
153.4
92.6
42.1
84.1
215.6
138.9
VII
614.3
204. I
358.7 264.6
238.5 371.0
96.5
160.1
109.0
48.5
90.3
67.2
16.6
16.8
29.9
19.5
20.4
15.2
35.9
21.I
65.9
100.3
119.4
253.0
37.7
143.5
83.8
96.1
VIII
546.1
267.3 334.3
81.5
150.7
125.7
IX
648.2
109.0
X
739.2
306.4 241.5 353-3 173.8 429.9
133.0
60.7
83.6
64.6
12.4
31.4
29.5
22.5
14.8
23.6
29.0
20. I
65.9
92.1
126.8
242.4
47.9
141.0
103.7
123.4
60.0
80.6
290.0
394.4
74.4
221.7 279.5
84.2 145.2
91.1
75.9
69.7
73.3
67.2
II 7
19.1
35.8
19.3
15.6
17.7
47.6
21.5
65.9
162.2
93.2
127.3
168.0
J34.7
162.4
152.3
72.3
138.8
361.1
122.4
141.8
261.8
85.1 169.5
377.6
75.0
103.3
151.9
79.8
65.8
56.9
II.2
15.6
30.8
16.8
15.0
16.8
36.2
19.0
65.0
I12.7
IOO.2
183.6
108.4
119.6
XI
577.7
XII
469.1
300.9
199.6 346.3 272.7 161.8
279.9
413.5
76.4
120.4
107.6
47.8
57.4
64.6
16.5
17.9
28.9
19.6
21.7
22.0
28.6
22.9
62.6
IOI.8
138.8
113.0
53.4 187.8
103.3
120.7
73.6
90.8
257.3 326.4
59.2
130.6
110.8
50.9
51.0
90.5
12.5
12.7
31.8
16.6
16.4
17.0
33.3
19.3
61.0
180.1
287.0
87.3
92.5
103.3
85.6 100.4 184.8
128.6
175.2
73.0
54.0
170.9
124.1
134.6
194.5 367.3
50.5
89.9
67.7
46.3
49.9
51.7
9.1
10.8
19.7
II.9
12.5
13.6
18.4
13.8
61.0
72.6
79.8
26.3
1935 I
486.6 268.9
383.2
334.5
97.6
210.3
II
561.9 163.4
135.4
145.5
154.0
174.0 284.8 402.2
59.6
89.9
69.2
57.5
60.8
119.0
14.0
332.0
359.3
137 1
236.4 109.7
123.7
86.4
III
IV
544.3 487.5
209.8
336.8
318.1
88.8
194.9
92.4
106.9
57.1
68.0
98.4 301.9
14.5
20.1
15.5
17.1
15.3
21.3
17.2
61.8
89.8
85.3
20.1
369.8
67.5
57.3
47.5
53.9
52.4
93.1
10.4
13.8
18 2
13.2
14.1
12.4
21.4
14.7
61.8
127.I
106.3
68.0
45.9
26.6
42.7
91.0
60.3
85.8
321.7
513.6
IOI. I
VI
636.2 217.8 455.9
203.2 318.4 357.2
86.9
98.8
53.2 189.8
53.4
61.0
106.0
20.2
15.2
34.4
21.4
27.3
14.6
35.9
24.3
60.2
93.3
87.1
51.0 194.6
124.0
134.5
55.9
89.0 307.8
433. I
139.4
103.7
105.9
61.6
82.8
103.4
26.4
17.5
26.4
23.4
36.9
20.5
30.9
30.3
56.9
87.7
101.6
319.3
393.9 399.7
219.4 328.9
109.0 77.5
157-7 184.7
95 9
III.O
72.5
85.5 369.6
637.5
137.5
112.8
93.6
83.8
96.1
175.9
28.1
19.3
35.6
26.7
40.7
24.7
34.3
34.2
52.8
191.9
88.3
156.3 124.9
70.6
142.0
85.4
60.3
81.1
VII
565.6 206.0 366.8
92.0
113.4
89.4
VIII
IX
X
448.5 117.8 254.4 585.0 483.0 487.5 392.2 136.5 243.1 792.0 367.6 523.6 405.3 166.3 257.8 558.4 223.7 381.8 365.6
IOI.4
355.0
472.5
122.5
113.3
83.2
96.2
56.4 156.9 134.5
31.2
19.9
45.9
30.4
42.4
22.3
34.5
35.I
52.0
77.4
116.1
97.7
131.1
419.1
622.8
106.7 126.5
117.9
107.2
86.7
75.8
128.2
119.0
30.3
24.7
35.4
29.5
40.6
24.7
26.8
32.9
52.8
92.1
92.5 II3.3
96.5 129.9
408.1
503.8
IOI.I
92.8
74.4
74.8
79.0
217.1
||
* 97.9
79.4
* 102.6
51.2
||]
25.4
22.8
40.6
27.7
36.4
23.4
42.5
32.9
53.7
I 14.3
74.1
88.4
220.5
I12.7
202.5 145.6
12.5
123.0
26.2
15.9
39.8
25.5
37.6
19.9
39.9
31.9
55.3
34.5
23.3
40.7
32.0
51.9
28.7
42.5
42.5
53.7
78.4 69.7
99.9 III.8
Country.
Towns or Regions
Germany
Canada
Chile
1025
Finland 10
61
Hungary
Italy
New Zealand
United Kingdom
Sweden
Switzerland
9
17
Stage of
Construction
Permits
Buildings completed
Permits
Permits
Permits B. compl.
Permits
System
Apartof measure
ments
Cubic space
Apartments
Cubic space
Value
Area
Cubic space
Buildings
Buildings completed Buildings
Permits
58 Permits
146 Permits
II
28
Czechoslovakia 90
Permits
B. compl.
B.
Permits
Permits
compl.
Rooms Buildings
Purpose
A
B
C
B+ C
new
Total 1
A
B
B+ C
Total
A
BC Total
Total
Total
A
Total 1
A
Total 1
A
Total
A
Buildings BC Total 1
Value
Value
Buildings
Build- Cub.
Rooms
Dwellings
ings space
A
BC Total 1
A
B
C()
Total 1
A
A
A
A
A
Total 1 Total
[ 1930= 100]
[ 1932= 100]
1926
1927
36.6
52.9
1928
1929
1930
79.0
||
III
52.8
73.7
||
||
66.6
204.7
63.3
58.2
63.7
36.1
51.9
25.9
128.0
151.0
IIO.2
-
108.8
104.4
72.8
75.4
92.5
104.4
98.2
69.1
65.2
78.6
261.7
77.5
86.1
91.4
70.0
69.0
90.3
108.4
152.5
104.4
105.1
III.5
100.8
90. I
87.8
89.7
82.3 87.9 89.4
102.9
82.3
77.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
93.3 100.0
357.9
106.5 120.5
IOI.O
107.1
IOI.I
98.5
68.9
92.7
130.0
95.6
91.5
II7.5
95.9
90.7
99.5
91.3
92.3 91.3
78.6 103.2
98.0
91.1
78.9
126.3
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0 100.0
100.0
100.0
75.7
73.2
75.2
113.8
II3.5
96.3 172.5
III.9
70.2
100.0
100.0
100.0
1931
36.2
59.8
44.9
86.6
89.4
84.2
88.0
54.2
87.3
66.6
78.0
82.2
67.6
61.1
67.2
105.7
83.0
106.4
102.1 II3.2 107.4 134.2
117.9
I 10.3
37.5
42.0
38.4
82.1
84.1
54.9
78.7
59.8
47.2
51.1
34.4
1932
24.8
44.0
113.4
28.9
II2.9
92.6
98.1
90.8
53.4
52.8
23.7
84.0
21.0
18.2
55.1
20. I
35.9
28.3
91.5
65.6
86.2 87.2
99.1 85.9 132.2
133.1
135.9
20.4
29.4
37.6
28.3
40.9
30.9
16.8
74.2
31.4
56.0
36.0
38.1
119.3
1933
29.6
98.2 120.5
96.5
73.8
45. I
20.4
63.2
49.8
14.9
29.7
22.3
105.9
64.5
69.1
22.9
22.1
22.7
29.6
50.9
18.4
90.6 128.1 76.8 118.9
85.2
141.8
100.0
ICO.O
24.3
19.6
9.2
93.8
46.4
1934
40.5
49.3
42.4
79.2
-
31.4
II.4
174.9
69.8 130.3
73.7
44.8
18.0
115.3
110.6
113.7
93.1
62.2
53.I
35.0
46.6
50.8
24.7
34.7
29.2
140.8
66.6
114.5 79.6
167.9
47.9
79.4
115.4
IOI. I
66.2
102.0
15.6
60.5
109.1
100.0
97.4
73.3
88.6
40.5
52.0
53.4
32.4
49.8
39.5
157.2
91.5
89. I
130.7
193.2
102.0
92.3
79.8
118.0
66.8
55.0 48.3
1934 I
29.6
19.2
9.9
17.3
29.5
56.3
25.1
49.3
30.1
3.5
II
151.0
34.8
IOI.7
24.3
22.9
6.2
35.5
2.7
27.5
51.8
76.7
82.5
45.9
56.4
45.5
44.4
46.8
35.5
43.4
35.5 134.8
97.3
86.0
117.5
69.3
30.7
27.8
25.8
19.5
19.0
46.8
15.2
12.2
14.6
III
4.5
120.9
61.1
32.2
38.2
95.5
52.3
-
18.3
48.5
49.5
23.3
35.2
21.1
61.3
53.8
35.6
67.7
39.2
38.3
45.9
29.0
108.8
54.5
163.2
63.2
89.9 129.9 185.2
72.3
56.1
78.4
46.4
33.5
26.3
19.0
8.0
16.8
IV
5.6 183.6
43.1
124.0
43.4
72.6
87.2
0.4
44.7
77.9
32.2
34.7
14.6
81.1
32.9
62.8
51.I
22.0
200.8
82.5
108.6 165.7
47.2
67.4
33.6
89.9
19.0
26.3
20.5
V
II.5
99.7
39.3
46.2
74.1
57.2
16.5
177.6
71.1
143.9
81.7
75.4
37.6
87.0
25.9
42.9
44.2
18.3
17.0
19.7 161.5
57.1
88.2 99.6 130.0
138.5
132.8
216.5
81.4
53.6
99.8 119.5
97.1
60.6
48.9
32.9
88.8
36.5
VI
5.7
30.2
15.1
76.7
25.4
46.8
44.6
76.4
54.9
83.0
10.4
68.8
135.7
151.0
IOO. I
112.8
92.5
27.4
39.8
57.2
23.4
48.1
36.6
169.2
81.0
119.0 143.1
210. I
104.6 24.0
92.1 129.8 91.5
63.1
51. I
43.2
95.8
24.8
34.6
26.8
12.I
VII
54.8
40.8
52.7
43.3
41.9
89.9
98.5 120.6
107.9
170.3
13.6
120.3
151.3
160.9
117.6
157.I
100.4
23.5
42.9
49.6
18.2
14.0
20.3
190.3
121.6
80.3
153.7
67.3 169.3
84.8
82.1
20.4
16.0
VIII
IX
X
19.5
16.4
98.8
30.9
70.0
65.1
15.2
71.1
45.2
48.5
58.6
50.6
37.0
67.7
17.4
30.6
20. I
45.5
43.0
53.8
42.0
51.4
56.5
85.2
16.7 226.4
144.6
108.9
IOI.I
95.0
104.8
19.1
70.5
46.6
13.3
17.2
23.0
167.0
134.5
86.4
143.2
71.1
85.3
79.5
63.1
III.3
177.6
310.1
O. I
66.5
127.1
108.9
IOI. I
60.9
96.3
36.1
52.1
61.9
29.0
14.7
28.5
107.2
56.5
75.7
91.6 174.6
89.2
176.1
82.9
45.4
81.6
53.6
33.8
76.2
42.5
II.7
260.1
73.7
181.0
9.2
42.0
72.2
123.7
113.9
112.6
71.6
96.4
59.8
50.6
58.3
49.2
25.6
40.0
139.3
114.8
76.3
120.9
70.8
254.8
68.9
52.5
IX
78.1
71.9
IOI. I
41.2
XII
65.1
52.0
79.6
34.0
63.5 68.9
87.1
||
|||
48.9
13.3
190.3
84.2
145.3
180.6
61.9
77.9
136.8
76.7
116.1
60.7
95.8
73.4
78.2
71.4
58.9
40.0
52.7
154.6
91.0
95.2 130.5
82.6
168.4
64.9
41.8
43.4
13.4
265.0 119.6 203.3
19.5
29.2
44.7
86.1
104.0
122.7
102.I
94.7
59.6
58.2
61.2
59.3
24.9
44.0 183.1
75.5
90.7 142.5 202.9 141.7 II3.I
38.3
77.7
57.1
38.3
63.0
12.9 328.0
93.7
228.6
33.2
12.5
42.4
82.0 136.1
151.3
85.7
90.3
43.4
42.9
46.0
32.2
42.5
36.8
117.5
81.6
65.1 99.6
49.6
51.6
33.0
19.1
1935 I
35.4
II
56.1
41.9
62.5
46.8
28 4
4.0
321.5
III
60.1
57.4
209.5
48.1
51.3
21.8
66.0
102.7 146.3
93.2
97.5
56.4
32.2
50.8
48.1
17.2
34.6
150.0
II7.3
107.1
134.8
28.8
22.6
50.8
46.4
25.4
46.3
33.4
18.4
IV
38.0
41.0
199.9
60.7
85.7
151.5
212.4
28.8
28.7
54.4
40.8
94.5
41.7
106.8
47.2
69.0
54.7
44.4
II.O
34.9
169.1
93.7
122.6
146.0
216.0
169.6
103.6
29.2
52.9
39.6
26.0
33.3
54.4
44.8
20.5
231.2
10.7
137.7
I13.0
18.4
69.9
86.5
35.9
51.8
16.5
121.0
54.5
78.2
68.7
44.5
39.1
44.7
182.1
131.2
118.2
159.1
70.0
204. I
68.0
51.3
V
94.8
60.4
35.4
55.2
26.1
32.1
142.3
128.4 136.4
70.5
2.6
89.4
109.6
53.2
71.9
28.0
132.0
49.4
53.6
68.3
36.6
149.2
72.2
195.2
116.3 104.1
162.0
73.9
65.1
80.0
67.5
VI
72.7
65.4
35.2
53.0
28.3
24.6
102.I
63.7
85.8 218.1
32.0
97.4
137.9
74.3
82.0
33.5
131.3
57.9
61.3
70.4
50.1
37.1
46.6 202.2
160.2
156.2
184.7 232.2
142.0
43.4
59.4
57.4
92.4
85.9
VII
93.C
44.8
60.5
VIII
74.4
33.5
26.1
139.5
15.9
87.1
91.6
16.3
107.3
52.5
72.1
67.1
75.6
98.0
53.2
88.5
31.5
128.3
51.6
42.9
57.9
40.4
21.5
37.9
145.7
85.8
ICO.O
125.3
49.8
94.5
73.2
57.8
48.3
21.8
131.8
44.7
IX
69.2
85.4
94.9
160.3
110.9
131.8
134.2
60.6
123.2
35.7
124.4
54.8
64.4
70.2
51.4
48.0
52.6
194.0
142.2
120.2
168.5
50.3
61.3
51.2
21.9 165.1
338.9
238.8
101.3
102.5
III.2
123.7
III.4
118.7
78.7
107.0
71.2
72.0
71.9
61.4
24.8
52.6
134.0
III.8
82.2
118.4 204.5 84.1 274.4
55.5 38.3
65.3
28.0
X
82.9
74.7
65.6
77.8
133.4
108.5
84.2
97.5
72.2
17.0 20.5
108.7
251.4
29.9 139.7
75.3
148.4
55.1
177.7
146.1
134.9
136.2
53.1
75.6
49.0
72.8
65.8
23.0
55.9
169.6 170.8
152.5 165.9
204.0
110.6
47.8
107.7
106.6
102.7
134.2
80. I
77.8
87.4
80.0
66.1
36.3
53.7
191.6 II2.5
123.7
165.7 236.5 15 III.815 172.715
44.4 39.5
140.6
72.4
|||
The series available have been classed, as far as possible, according to the chief purpose of the buildings to which they relate: A. Residential buildings; B. Buildings for industry, commerce and agriculture; C. other buildings( mainly public buildings, but also private
schools and hospitals, churches, etc.). Unless otherwise stated, the indices are calculated on figures compiled by government authorities. The figures in the headings of the columns indicate the number of towns included in the statistics. For general explanation and notes on the
different series, see back of Table.
*) Provisional figures. 1) Including alterations and repairs. 2) Whole country: years ending June 30th.-
3) National Bank. 4) From 1929 to 1931, index calculated on data for Brussels and suburbs. 5) 1926-1927: 93 towns; 1928-1933: 96 towns; 1934: 6) Indices calculated on data for 4 towns from 1929 to 1931, and for 5 towns from 1931 to 1933.-
100 towns.-
7) Banco de la República. 8) F. W. Dodge Corporation ( Survey of Current Business).- 9) Principal towns. 10) Nordiska Föreningsbanken Pohjoismaiden Yhdyspankki. 11) Net increase. 12) Communes of more than 2,000 inhabitants. 13) Whole country.
-
-
14) Towns having a population over 20,000 inhabitants. 15) Last quarter of 1935.
Source: Monthly Bulletin of Statistics of the League of Nations.
Image

permits issued has shown a continuous rise since 1931(= 100), and was equal in 1934 to 241.7 for the year as a whole, in August 1934 to 290 and in August 1935 actually to 408.1. In New Zealand, on the other hand, progress was hesitant only. If 1929 be taken as 100, the index fell from 110.2 in 1926 to 49.8 in 1932, to rise again in 1934 to 53.4 and in 1935 to circa 70.0. Thanks, however, to the purposeful policy of the Labour Government which has just taken the helm in this little, far- off island, a rapid rise may now be reckoned with. In Canada the building trade is still in the throes of a severe crisis. The index of the value of permits issued dropped here from the peak year 1929(= 100) to 9.2 in 1933, and then rose to 11.4 in 1934 and 19.7 in 1935. That the agricultural countries in south- eastern Europe, too, have been able to improve their situation, is shown by the example of Rumania, where the index of building permits issued( 1929= 100), after a decline in 1930 and 1931 had risen by 1934 to 156.3, and where building activity has continued since then at a good level.
-
Conditions and figures, too,
-
-
in the Fascist countries must
be judged in a class of their own. In this connection the example
-
of Germany is instructive. Though the official propaganda bureaux Military barracks and the press, which may print what they tell it and nothing else, instead of houses may trumpet forth unremittingly the" victories" on the" labour for Germany and fronts", from the calm observer the fact cannot remain concealed Italy. that, where the alleged boom in building is concerned, it is a question of an extremely dubious momentary boom, due, for the most part, to the gigantic expenditure of the Government on armaments( building of roads for military purposes, of aerodromes, barracks, etc.) and, for the rest, to the erection of buildings for the puffing up and the glorification of the National- Socialist regime which latter process, thanks to the increasing tightness of money, has meanwhile already come to a standstill again. In 1935, of the total value of building production, public buildings accounted for 66%, residential buildings for 22% and industrial and commercial buildings for only 12%. As cannons are dearer to the Third Reich than good houses, the building of houses had to be severely restricted as early as 1935. Public monies for the building of small- holdings in the outer suburbs, for the building of houses for sale on easy terms, and for the transformation of existing dwellings, had already been expended for the most part in 1934, with the result that in 1935, in 102 large and medium- sized municipalities, only 96,382 new and transformed apartments were completed, i.e. 17,333, or 15%, less than in 1934. During the three years of the Hitler regime the shortage of apartments has, according to official ascertainments, increased very considerably, and the general rise in prices has now spread to the sphere of rents also. The standard of housing has fallen shockingly. The dwellings newly built are for the most part small- holdings on the edge of the town, of a primitive character, the average cost per dwelling of which, for the whole Reich, is quite 3-3,500 Marks! Anyone
29

who is capable of reading between the lines sees, too, that behind this so pompously displayed certainty of victory a profound anxiety as to the future of the building industry is concealed.
At the beginning of this survey it was stated that the course of development in building corresponded in the main with the general The function of movement of the trade cycle in the individual countries. But this building in has not always been so. Before the war the building industry, in general economic which house building was still by far the factor of greatest weight, life. showed, on the contrary, an anti- cyclical tendency of its own, which exercised an important equalising influence in the upward and downward movements of trade. This peculiar position of building activity within the framework of economy as a whole, was due to the fact that, having regard to the length of time which must elapse before money invested in house- building is realised, the level of the rate of interest is of paramount importance. And since, before the war, when the credit machinery of private capitalism functioned with relatively little friction, money not only became cheaper in periods of general economic decline, but and this was in the last resort decisive- available in abundance, house- building( the profitability of which was relatively little adversely affected by the crisis) was stimulated rather than paralysed by a depression. On the other hand, building activity in commercial and industrial buildings and in public buildings usually moved more or less parallel with the fluctuations in trade as a whole.d
-
-
in
After the war this relation between building for dwelling purposes and the downward movement of the trade cycle changed fundamenThe structural tally. In the first place, the share of building for dwelling purposes a whole, has declined relatively change of in building proper as building, highly industrialised countries it has fallen to about one- third. But in the sphere of house building itself a change of great importance has taken place. The incapacity of the private building industry to cope with the enormous dearth of houses left behind by the war, and, above all, its incapacity to build decent dwellings for the working class at reasonable rents, rendered imperative everywhere, at least in Central and Western Europe, intervention by the public authorities on a large scale. The State and the municipalities built on their own account, often on a very generous scale, or else they granted, in the most varied of forms, important financial aid towards such building. To- day there is doubtless little serious difference of opinion any more as to the great social advantages of such public influencing of the building market. Economically, too, this has certainly had a stimulating effect in numerous instances. On the other hand, however, we must not conceal from ourselves the fact, that house- building has thus been made dependent directly and in a very large measure upon the state of national finances at any particular time, which state, The" anti- cyclic" though perhaps with a certain time lag, follows the fluctuations in equalising function economy as a whole, and that, as a result, the" anti- cyclic" equalising of house building function of house building in the trade cycle has been in a very impaired, large measure impaired. 30

-
-
-
-
In very fact, statistics show that, since the war, activity in housebuilding is, during times of good trade, in general even a trifle above the general curve of trade, whilst during periods of depression it lies not inconsiderably below it. Those who, in spite of the grim lessons of the present crisis, still unswervingly await all salvation from the " free play of economic forces" may be tempted to interpret this as a proof of the correctness of their theory, in other words, to the detriment of public intervention in housing. Them we would merely remind of the fact that in the United States, until 1933 the classic land of economic liberalism, house building there not" hampered" by any State or municipal interference was plunged in 1930 into a crisis far more acute a crisis of almost unparalleled dimensions than that of industry as a whole! Only since 1935 and then by no means least thanks to a considerable pumping in of public money is house building finding it possible gradually to overcome this terrible depression, the immediate cause of which was the Wall Street collapse, brought about by capitalist anarchy and speculation, and the " crisis in confidence" which followed. Similar examples might be given for other countries also. Here, however, we will only touch upon the fact that speculation in building, which, in many countries, resulted in such wild excesses, and to some extent still continues to do so, has disorganized the housing and mortgage market to such an extent that the banks frequently found themselves obliged( and not always without justification) to bar credit to the building industry, despite the fact that cheap money was available in more than sufficient quantity.
-
Not by the liquidation of public influencing of building can the crisis- mitigating function exercised by house- building( and thus by building activity as a whole) before the war, be restored. On the contrary, what is needed is the increasing of this influence. But its reform, too. The mistake has been that hitherto the furtherance of activity in house- building has always been looked upon by State and municipality as a social duty only. Its co- existent economico- political potentialities have not been recognised. Public expenditure for this purpose has always been greatest at times of good trade; it has been cut down when the yield of taxation became less, i.e. at times of depression, in other words, precisely at those times when intervention by the public bodies, and in particular by the State, capable of giving a strong impetus towards a revival in trade would have been most necessary. Incidentally, the same applies to the policy governing public provision of work, which everywhere largely failed to be effective where it remained directly dependent on the yield of taxation, and thus of necessity remained very restricted, instead of being financed by means of special loans and carried through on a big scale.
In the general economic survey we have already drawn attention to the fact that the realisation is everywhere being come to, that progress towards the solution of the social problem can only be made
Building now parallel to the general trade
cycle.
Increase and
reform of public influence on building are
imperative.
31

by a planning of economy directed by the State. This shows itselt
most clearly with regard to the building industry in which, moreover, Furtherance of the social and the economic aspects overlap very considerably in any building both case. Building and civil engineering form one of the most important social and key industries, and to- day there can be little doubt that, with a economic task. constructive economic policy, the giving of an impetus to building activity, in particular to house- building and other branches of building proper, with its big demand for building materials and labour, can definitely prove decisive for the setting in motion again of economy as a whole.
To- day it must be said that interest is confined all too one- sidedly to public works as such, which chiefly come within the category of civil engineering. This is due to the fact that the State has a direct interest in making the money, which it must spend for the unemployed in any case, productive, at any rate in part, in the form of relief work. In the rarest of cases only, have the Governments, as is demanded by the" Labour Plans", combined with this the furthergoing and only true constructive purpose of consciously giving an impetus to trade as a whole. In most countries the Governments have remained on the defensive, not daring to venture forth to the attack. Attempts have been made to" mitigate the effects" of the crisis instead of, by means of intervention on a vast scale, overcoming it. So strong are the resistances of traditional thinking that even the repeated suggestions and recommendations of the International Labour Office and the League, which have been set down in highly instructive studies, have thus far achieved partial successes only. In this connection, however, it is of considerable significance that the question of public works as a means of combating the crisis will come up for discussion at the 1937 International Labour Conference, Geneva 1937: as a special item. It is to be hoped that on that occasion the attention Public works as a which they deserve, will be paid, not only to civil engineering but to means of combating public building proper, and to the furtherance of building for unemployment. dwelling purposes.
One encouraging sign at any rate is the fact that the fight against the slum has become, in an ever- increasing number of countries, a matter of keen public interest, and that not only in Europe but in War on the slums! the United States, in Canada, Australia and New Zealand also, where the State and the municipalities have been accustomed hitherto not to interfere in this kind of thing. This is not the place to go into further detail on the subject of this important step forward in the regarding of building from a social point of view. Nevertheless we would point out that both the 1935 conference of the International Housing Association, held from 24 to 26 June at Prague, and the 14th congress of the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning, held in London from 14 to 20 July 1935, dealt with the abolition of the slums and the equipment of working class dwellings.
32

The Timber and Wood Industry.
The timber industry and the wood industry have for long been the step- children of statistics and economic science. They have been treated as a branch of economy of inferior rank. And yet they form a very important part of the national economy of the individual countries, and of world economy as a whole. In the majority of countries the woodworkers form a fairly large percentage of the
-
-
-
-
are not
workers as a whole, and the wide variety of goods which they produce Wood in general by their labours are among the vital necessities of the civilised world. economic life. As a matter of fact, wood is still one of the most important raw materials for industry. From the point of view of value it occupied the fourth place in world trade in 1934 at 1,232 million Swiss francs and it coming after cotton, wool and coal but on a par with sugar has been estimated that 8% of world sea- borne commerce represents wood shippings. Yet the quantities of wood which come into international trade in 1934 circa 52.6 million cubic metres even considerable measured by normal world consumption as a whole, which is estimated at 1,200 million cubic metres( of which 700 million cubic metres are timber). The finished products of the wood industry, too, are shipped all over the world, from the smallest of them, such as wooden beads, buttons, pencils and toys, to furniture, doors and indeed of recent years, to mass- produced wooden houses. If the wood industry and, in consequence, the workers in it also do not always receive the attention to which their position in economy as a whole entitles them, this is doubtless due in a large measure to the fact that the industry is split up into innumerable branches, which, into the bargain, often take the form of a handicraft. Nevertheless, in the great timber exporting countries such as Sweden, Finland, the Soviet Union and North America, the large- scale business is characteristic for the saw- milling industry. In these countries a modern sawmill represents a highly peculiar conglomeration of the most various of trades, employing hundreds of workers and with an extensive plant of machinery, the whole in a large measure selfcontained. The same applies, incidentally, for the wood industry proper, the more important branches of which, in particular the cabinet- making and builders' joinery trades and the manufacture of packing cases, have numerous large- scale undertakings. with a high degree of technical perfection.
-
.
-
During recent years the timber industry has, however, at last come more to the fore. In order to make this clear we give here a brief outline of its development since the war.
As far back as the years 1924 to 1929, when the world as a whole was still enjoying a period of economic prosperity, the timber
industry, which in many countries is one of the chief sources of The causes of the national wealth, was, in Europe at any rate, caught in the grip of permanent crisis in a severe crisis. The responsibility for this has frequently been laid the European at the doors of the undeniable partial displacement of wood from timber trade.
33

many spheres of utilisation, despite the fact that this has probably been more than counterbalanced by the increased demand for wood for paper, artificial silk, etc. And, in fact, the real cause is to found elsewhere, namely, in the fact that Russia, before the Consequences of war Europe's chief source of supply, in later years almost completely Russia's temporary disappeared from the scene as a vendor. This induced other countries disappearance from in northern Europe, and in particular Finland, to increase their the timber market. production to a quite considerable extent. Added to this there was the fact that many States, on financial grounds, recklessly exploited their timber resources, i.e. cut far more than grew afresh. When, therefore, the Soviet Union, needing foreign currencies for its economic development, later appeared on the scene once again and threw increasingly large quantities of timber on to the market at low prices, the glut became tremendous. A big fall in prices took place which diminished profoundly the profit- earning capacity of the timber and sawmilling industry.
The world crisis which set in in 1930 merely served to accentuate this state of affairs. The average import price for sawn softwood in the British market had fallen by June 1933 to the incredibly low level of£ 2.89 per load( 1,416 m³), compared with£ 5.36 in 1934 and still£ 4.53 in 1929.
The European timber trade suffered a further blow in 1933 as a result of Canada's fairly sudden push in Europe. Canada, which Canada's sudden at the turn of the century was Great Britain's main supplier of push in Great timber, later found in its rapidly progressing neighbour, the United Britain. States, a far better customer. The result was that, a temporary increase during the war apart, its export to the Mother Country shrank to a very small amount. But under the pressure of the economic crisis, which nearly caused the collapse of its own timber industry, which until 1929 had flourished, the United States introduced in, 1932 a prohibitive tariff on the import of timber. Canada thereupon. bethought herself once more of the Mother Country( which incidentally, had just begun to recover from the depression), and thus it came about that in 1933, within the framework of the Ottawa Agreement for the entire British Empire, preferential treatment was accorded to Canadian timber in the British market. Between 1932 and 1934 Canada increased its sales in Great Britain four- fold, without, however, outstripping Finland, Sweden or Soviet Russia, whose shares decreased relatively, it is true, but increased as a whole. The European timber exporting countries were able to parry the blow because in the meantime Great Britain, in which there was a rapid recovery in residential building, had considerably increased her capacity for absorbing supplies. In the meantime the Canadian danger to Europe has abated again owing to the fact that the trade agreement between Canada and the United States, which was concluded in November 1935, provides for a reduction by 50% of the duty on timber.
It is not surprising that when, in 1932, the situation in the inter34

national timber trade threatened to become quite untenable, even in this branch with its strong spirit of tradition the need ripened to
do as other raw- material producing industries had done and to achieve,
by means of international unity, a certain control of the market. It The first efforts
is true that there had been rudiments of an international collaboration at market
even earlier. Conferences had been held at Bratislava in 1923 and regulation. 1929, at Lyon in 1924, at Rome in 1926 and in Paris and Warsaw in 1931, but these had been concerned primarily with forestry questions. In 1932, however, the Committee of the League of Nations for Economic Affairs decided to organise a conference with experts on the situation of the timber industry. From April 25 to April 27 1932 experts from 15 countries, among them the Soviet Union and Canada, met at Geneva. A further conference took place at Vienna 1932:
on June 9, and even though the result did not quite come up to A first discussion expectations it is nevertheless true that, by the setting up of the in the League of International Wood Committee, the nucleus of an international Nations.
organisation was there created. This body, which has become known
as the" Comité International du Bois"( C.I.B.), is, in essentials, a
working association of the Central European timber producing Founding of the countries( Austria, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia and Yugo- Vienna C.I.B. slavia), but to- day it also counts two important importing countries, France and Italy, among its members. Its tasks consist in the cultivation of international collaboration between exporters and importers, propaganda in favour of wood as an industrial raw material, and the compilation of internationally comparable statistics relating to wood, which latter had been so neglected in the past. It may be said here that its statistical and other periodical publications have obtained, during the few years of their existence, a great and deserved reputation.
After an unimportant interlude at the World Economic Conference of July 1933, at which a Sub- Committee for the Timber Question achieved no result, the first real Conference of the great European timber exporting countries, which, in addition to the C.I.B. States, was attended by Finland, Sweden and the U.S.S.R., took place in December of the same year at Berlin. It was agreed to restrict the export of sawn softwood in 1934. A second Conference took place and Vienna, 1934. in Vienna on October 25 and 26, 1934. On this occasion Canada, Great Britain and Estonia, too, were represented. The outcome of the Conference was a decision to reduce the import of sawn and planed softwood during 1935 by 10%.
But the agreements which were come to in 1933 and 1934 were in no way binding, and therefore in practice little more than recommendations. They failed very largely to bring about the desired results on the one hand, because an agreement between producers without the inclusion of the timber trade, which, as the possessor of stocks which are frequently very large, is in a very strong position, cannot achieve much in a short space, and on the other, because the small independent shippers in Finland, and in part the U.S.S.R. as well, did not respect them.
Berlin, 1933,
35

A binding agreement was not achieved until the Conference which
took place at Copenhagen from 13 to 15 November 1935, at which, November 1935: once again, Finland, Sweden, the U.S.S.R., Poland, Austria, YugoThe Copenhagen slavia, Rumania and Czechoslovakia were represented.
Soft Wood This convention, which provides for a restriction and a dividing Convention. up of the European export of sawn softwood( i.e. roughly speaking, of timber for building), and which has been officially christened the" European Timber Exporters' Convention", came into force as from I December 1935. The parties to the Convention are: the Swedish Timber Exporters' Association, the Finnish Sawmill Owners' Association, the Russian Export Centre," Exportles", the Councils for the Timber Industry of Poland, Austria, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, and the Rumanian Timber Industry Association. Of the European countries producing a surplus of timber only Norway and the Baltic States( Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) are not members of the cartel. However, their total share in the world's sawn softwood trade was equal in 1934 to only 6%. Of greater importance is the absence of the United States and of Canada, which, with 9.5% and 11.5% of the trade respectively, play a far more important part, even though, of the total of 1,183,576 Standards which the two countries together exported in 1934, only 45% went to Europe. Nevertheless, the fact that the countries forming the cartel, which together accounted for 73% of the trade, have entered into a binding agreement will doubtless not fail to have its effects, the more so as the amount offered by Canada in the British market is more likely to decrease than to increase. Canada has recently secured a reduction by 50% of the United States tariff on timber. This Canada obtains reduction, however, is limited for its two most important varieties a 50% reduction of timber, the Douglas Fir and Hemlock Spruce, to 250 million feet of the U.S.A.( 1,000 feet 2.36 m³), i.e. to about one- tenth of the normal timber
=
timber tariff. production of the Canadian province chiefly concerned, British Columbia, and hardly more than half the total export to the United Kingdom.
The main guarantee for the success of the new convention lies in the fact that the U.S.S.R., whose own consumption of wood has increased, and who, now that she can obtain credit everywhere, needs foreign currencies less urgently, has been able to change her selling policy radically. She is now aiming at an increase in price on the Radical change basis of a restricted offer, a fact which, on 24 January 1936, even in Russia's led to a sudden breaking off of relations with her British brokers, selling policy. the" Timber Distributors Ltd.". As far as the unorganised shippers in Finland are concerned, it looks as though the banks, by threatening to withhold credit, are going to see to it that no one plays a lone hand any more.
The new convention, which is hailed in the trade press as" a new era in the history of the timber trade", lays down for the 8 most important timber exporting countries of Europe as an unalterable maximum for 1936 a total quantity for export of 3,850,000 Standards
36

Table III a
Description
The World Timber Trade by Classes, 1934 ¹)
in% of total quantity( total value)
North America
Europe
World
Exports Imports Exports Imports Exports Imports
Sawn and planed timber
53( 74)
53( 71)
52( 73)
Pulpwood
54( 71)
55( 77)
21( 51)
18( 8)
20( 8)
17( 9)
Pitprops and pitwood
18( 7)
20
65( 37)
10( 4)
13( 5)
13( 5)
10( 5)
Logs
10( 6)
9( 11)
Other classes
9( 6)
13( 12)
15( 7)
7( 4)
9( 8)
5( 5)
9( 7)
.5( 5)
10( 9)
7( 8)
Total
....
Whereof Softwood
92( 84) 93( 85)
100( 100) 100( 100) 100( 100) 100( 100) 100( 100) 93( 90) 92( 85)
100( 100)
86( 72)
98( 78)
Table III b
World Exports of Sawn and Planed Softwood ¹)
1933
1934
Country of Export
in Standards
% in Standards
%
Sweden
Finland
U.S.S.R.
881.096 938.392 999.708
20
782
17
18
894.572 1.037.645
16
19
1.033.116
18
868
Total
2.819.196
55
2.965.333
53
337-757
337.701
Poland
Czechoslovakia
Austria
Yugoslavia.
Rumania
44.780
246.950
149.416
195.956
71534
97.933 247.192
171.276 270.201
62435
Total
973.958
20
1.124.303
20
E.T.E.C. countries, Total
3.793.055
75
4.089.636
73
Baltic States
( Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
229.047
5
262.700
5
Other European countries
79.842
I
68.022
I
Europe,
Total......
4.101.944
81
4 420.358
79
12
Canada
U.S.A.
477.469 498.395
9
IO
646.436 537.140
II.5 9.5
North America,
Total
975.864
19
1.183.576
21
World,
Total
5.077.808
100
5.603.934
IOO
1) Compiled from the" Yearbook of the International Timber Trade, 1935", published by the" Comité International du Bois"( C.I.B.) in Vienna.

The ups and downs in the timber trade since 1932.
=
( Standard 4,672 m³) sawn and planed softwoods. This, is divided up among the individual countries as follows: Finland 1,005,000; U.S.S.R. 950,000; Sweden 820,000; Poland 313,000; Austria 275,000; Rumania 223,000; Yugoslavia 168,000; and Czechoslovakia 96,000. Standards.
The timber cartel, which bears a great resemblance to the international cellulose agreement which was prolonged at the beginning of 1935 for a further three years, came into being at a time when the timber industry was, on the whole, on the up- grade again.
The revival which set in in 1932 but did not become more pronounced until the autumn of 1933, continued at the beginning of 1934. In the autumn of that year, however, a slump in prices took place owing to Finland's wildly excessive offer of supplies. In 1935, owing to the bad prices secured by the Russians in the British market this slump took on catastrophic dimensions. Swedish prices, for instance, which by June 1933 had fallen by 31%, but which by June 1934 had recovered by 19%, had again fallen by October 1935 by 18%. The slump in prices took place in spite of the fact that total European exports, which from 1933 to 1934 had increased by circa 12% and from 1932 to 1934 actually by about one- third( namely, by 10 million m³), had in 1935, as a result of the more or less systematically restricted offer of supplies, decreased by 5.5% again as compared with the previous year. World exports of non- and semi- manufactured wood increased from 1933 to 1934 by 6.5 million cubic metres, or by 14%( sawn wood by 10%, pulp- wood by 22.2%). The increase in the value of world exports, at 15.1%, was slightly greater than the increase in volume, which makes it possible to conclude that there has been a small increase in the average price, as the composition of the export, according to varieties of wood, remained practically unchanged( cf. Table III a). If the increase in the sawn wood trade, which is illustrated by Table IIIb, between 1932 and 1933 and so far as Europe is concerned, was caused by the extensive buying of the United Kingdom, by which the Scandinavian countries, Finland and Poland benefitted, it was certain Central European States which mainly profited in 1933/34 by the increase in Germany's and Italy's demand for wood, necessitated by the boom in armaments. The advantage of this to them was, however, doubtful, since it was only with difficulty that the exporters got their money, if they got it at all.
The setback at the beginning of 1935 was followed in the autumn by a further turn for the better. Stocks had diminished in the Improvement exporting as in the importing countries and prices began to rise along the line again, first in Great Britain, then in France, Belgium and Holland. This process has been accentuated by the Copenhagen sawn wood cartel and by the new orientation of Russian selling policy. The improvement was, however, confined to Northern Europe, whose export goes to the western democracies. The timber producers in Central and Southern Europe, on the other hand, whose chief markets
North Europe Western Europe.
38

are Italy, Germany and Hungary, and most of which enjoy at home also the" blessings" of an authoritarian or even dictatorial form
of government, can hardly find their way through the jungle of Stagnation in clearing and compensation procedure, quota systems, restrictions on Central and imports and other grave obstacles to trade. They are often obliged South Europe. to wait for months for payment for their wares and thus become, against their will, speculators in currency. Added to this there is the fact that the sanctions which the League was obliged to enforce against war- mongering Italy, on account of Abyssinia, and the political uncertainty in the Mediterranean, have had altogether very grave repercussions for the timber industry of Central Europe, and in particular for that of Yugoslavia.
If we have described the development of the international timber industry in some detail here, we have done so because it is of the greatest importance to the workers in the timber and sawmilling industry. Doubtless the restriction of production decided upon by the employers off their own bat has inherent in it the danger of a further decrease in employment. On the other hand, there is no denying that a stabilisation of market conditions which prevents a further slump in prices, or may even lead to a certain recovery, may result in considerable advantages for the workers also, in so far as they are in a position, through effective trade union organisation, to look after their own interests. In this connection it is worthy of note that, according to Swedish statistics, Sweden's exports of sawn wood dropped from 1,026,000 to 923,000 Standards between 1930 and 1934, whereas over the same period Finnish exports rose from 900,000 to 1,082,000 Standards. An essential factor in this was, without a doubt, the considerable difference in wages between the two countries. Obviously, it makes some difference when a worker in a Swedish sawmill earns about I kroner( slightly under I sh.) per hour, whereas his colleague in Finland only earns 4.20 Finnish marks( roughly 4d). In addition, there is the fact that in Finland the subsidiary work is frequently done by women who are far worse paid. In Finland earnings in the timber and sawmilling industry are so very low, even measured by purchasing power, that in 1934 a Government commission felt itself impelled to propose measures for the raising of the level of wages in this trade. Wretched indeed are the wages in the Baltic States, in Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, etc., also. Not only that, but in these countries the most elementary form of trade union organisation is frequently lacking, with the result that the workers, living under the most miserable of conditions, have no possibility whatever of defending themselves against their exploiters, to say nothing of the fact that even the smallest attempt at resistance is usually promptly replied to by police" punitive expeditions".
In the autumn of 1936 our International intends to undertake a comprehensive investigation into conditions in the timber and sawmilling industry. On the basis of this and within the limits of the possible it then intends to attempt, by means of a special campaign,
Consequences
for the timber
workers
39

to give energetic support in their fight for an existence worthy of a human being, to the men who, by their dangerous and exhausting labours, render available one of the most important of human necessities, wherever their just share in the general social progress is, and has for so long been, withheld from them.
On account of the absence of comparable statistics if for no other reason it is hardly possible within the scope of this general survey The position of to report on the wood industry proper, under which heading come the wood industry the joinery and cabinet- making trades, the packing case trade, and proper. many, many smaller branches. In so far as these work for export they have probably in the main benefitted a little by the improvement in world trade of recent years. Nevertheless, the fact must not be overlooked that the present striving of the individual countries for as great a measure of economic self- sufficiency as possible, which everywhere finds expression in rising tariff barriers and the establishment of industries of their own, has been particularly marked, apart from the leather and textile industries, in the wood industry. As a rule, however, the wood industry works for the home market and in this it follows, if perhaps usually at a certain interval of time, the general economic trend described in the section" Economic and Political Conditions".
So far as the joinery and cabinet- making trades are concerned, these, as known, stand in a more or less direct relationship to building activity and to house- building in particular. For a survey of this we refer readers to the section entitled" The Building Industry" in which, incidentally, attention is drawn to the large extent to which building activity has in general moved parallel to economic development as a whole.
In conclusion it may be asserted that the demand for a more energetic promotion of building activity by the public authorities, such building activity to have, besides social aims, the aim of giving a momentum to economy as a whole and of exerting a regulative influence on its upward and downward movements, is also in accordance with the interests of the timber and wood industries.
40

Rumania: These figures, which are compiled by the Ministry of Labour, refer to all categories of workers registered as unemployed at the public employment exchanges established in the main industrial centres. Trade unionists, however, are excluded as they do not register with the public employment exchanges. The figures relate to the first of each month.
Sweden: As unemployed are considered persons working for less than 24 working hours per week in their regular trade, and persons employed outside that trade who do not earn per week a sum corresponding to that paid for 24 hours' work in their own trade according to the collective agreement in force. Persons out of work owing to sickness, strikes, lock- outs, or military service are excluded. The figures relate to the end of each month.
Switzerland: The figures relate until 1929 to the end of each quarter and then to the end of each month. As partially unemployed are understood workers whose engagement ist not definitely terminated. Persons out of work owing to sickness, accidents, etc., are not counted as unemployed: persons who have not completed the" waiting period" or have exhausted their right to benefit are included.
Czechoslovakia: The figures give the number of unemployed in receipt of trade union benefit with and without State subsidies, excluding unemployed who have not completed the" waiting peirod" ( a period of 8 days prescribed for the receipt of State subsidies), or exhausted their right to benefit. Seasonal workers, persons out of work owing to sickness, accidents, or labour disputes, and persons who have lost their occupation through their own fault or left it without serious reason are not counted as unemployed. The percentages relate to the end of each month.
United States of America: The American Federation of Labor compiles monthly information on the number of unemployed members in certain affiliated unions. The methods by which the unemployment of the workers is recorded are fixed by the local unions and vary for different unions. The" weighted" percentage of unemployment is calculated for identical unions in the current and the preceding month by allowing for the importance of the building trade; thus two figures are calculated for each month and the final figure for the month is the simple arithmetic average of the two.
of LU.W. 934.
avian and

Table IVa( General Explanations):
Owing to the diversity in methods and scope in the compilation of the statistics( see references in bold type on reverse) they are only suitable in a limited degree for comparisons between countries. The term" unemployed", for instance, signifies in many cases only the wholly unemployed, while in other cases it includes both these and workers on short time, two groups which even in themselves are not by any means uniformly defined. Nor are the various statistics equally sensitive to changes on the labour market. Moreover, changes in legislation, in administrative usage, in registration systems, in the extent of" short time" and" normal" working time, often result in a decrease( or increase) in the recorded level of unemployment which does not correspond to the changes in actual employment. Nevertheless, the figures provide, generally speaking, valuable material for observing the fluctuations and extent of unemployment within individual countries, and also for comparing one country with another; meanwhile an international comparison is only possible between the fluctuations of, i.e. movements in, the level of unemployment as recorded by the different national series.
It should also be mentioned that the definition of the terms " Building Industry" and" Wood Industry" is not uniform, or is not always clearly made. In most of the statistics the term" Building Industry" may be taken to include both building and civil engineering ( including so- called public works contracting), but in some cases the term is manifestly confined to building proper. The production and manufacture of building materials in practically all countries comes under other industrial groups( e.g. quarrying under mining, brick and tile making under pottery and glass industry). The term" Wood Industry" may refer to both the production of timber( i.e. logging and lumbering) and woodworking proper( i.e. sawmilling, manufacture of joinery, furniture, etc., etc.); in the great majority of cases, however, it will not include the production of timber. Meanwhile the term " woodworking proper" is also differently applied, according as to whether it is limited to sawmilling, manufacture of joinery, furniture ( with or without upholstery), etc., or is extended to cover the very numerous minor branches more or less closely associated with the Wood Industry, such as coach- making, cooperage and brush- making.
Australia: Persons out of work owing to sickness or accidents ( but not to labour disputes) are counted as unemployed. The figures relate to workers who where unemployed for three days or more during the week ending Saturday which includes the middle day of the second month of the quarter.
Belgium: As wholly unemployed are considered workers who are without work because of the definite ending of their contract of employment( whether oral or written) with the employer. As partially unemployed are considered workers who are temporarily working less than" normal" working days per week or month. Persons in their" waiting period", or having exhausted their right to benefit, or receiving relief from the emergency relief funds, are considered as unemployed. The figures relate to the end of each month.
Denmark: The statistics cover trade unions paying unemployment benefit. The figures include persons in their" waiting period" and on ordinary and extended( i.e. emergency relief) benefit, but exclude persons out of work owing to strikes and lock- outs; they relate to the end of each month.
Germany: This series refers to the total number of unemployed persons registered with private and public employment exchanges, whether in receipt of benefit from unemployment insurance or public funds or not, but since July 1933 persons employed in the public " labour service"( Arbeitsdienst) are excluded. The figures relate to the end of each month.
Great Britain& Northern Ireland: The numbers of unemployed are calculated on the basis of the unemployment books" lodged" with the public employment exchanges. The figures relate to dates towards the end of each month. The number of insured persons is calculated each July in connection with the annual issue of new unemployment books. Insured persons directly involved in a trade dispute are not they are definitely maintaining counted as unemployed unless they are registration for other employment. The figures include both persons " wholly unemployed"( defined as persons" being definitely out of a job and waiting for new employment" and including" casuals", i.e. workers not in regular or continuous employment but engaged in separate jobs of short duration which have no connection one with another), and those out of work owing to" temporary stoppages". The later group consists of those who are on short time or otherwise stood off or suspended on the definite understanding that they may return to their former employment within a period of six weeks from the date of suspension.
Italy: Until July 1933 the statistics were compiled by the Fascist National Institute of Social Welfare, and since then by the Ministry
of Corporations on the basis of returns from employment exchanges and coordinated by the offices of the Municipal Councils of Corporative Economy. The scope of the statistics, and also the methods used in their compilation, have been modified several times, so that the series are not strictly comparable one with another. In Italy unemployed persons are obliged to register with the employment exchanges. The figures relate to the end of each month.
Canada: Persons who are engaged in work outside their own trades or who are idle owing to illness are not considered as unemployed; unions involved in industrial disputes are excluded from the statistics. The figures relate to the end of each month.
New Zealand: From 1931 to 1933 the statistics included practically all workers on short time or on relief work; since 1933, however, a large number of persons who were hitherto dependent on relief payments from the Unemployment Fund and are now re- established in industry with the assistance of the Fund are excluded from the statistics. Persons receiving part- time relief on scheme No. 5, or sustenance without work, are still included. The figures relate to the last week of each month.
Netherlands: The statistics are based mainly on returns from the voluntary unemployment funds( which are almost wholly composed of organised workers). Persons working past time, or who have not completed their" waiting period" or have exhausted their right to benefit in the insurance fund, are counted as unemployed; persons out of work owing to trade disputes, sickness, accidents, military service, etc., are excluded. The figures are weekly averages calculated for each month.
Norway: The figures relate to the end of each month.
Austria: The unemployment figures refer to persons in receipt of ordinary and extended( i.e. emergency relief) benefit, or occupied on public relief works; persons who have not completed their" waiting period" are excluded.
Poland: In the year 1927 the figures refer to the last week of each month; since 1928 they represent monthly averages.
Rumania: These figures, which are compiled by the Ministry of Labour, refer to all categories of workers registered as unemployed at the public employment exchanges established in the main industrial centres. Trade unionists, however, are excluded as they do not register with the public employment exchanges. The figures relate to the first of each month.
Sweden: As unemployed are considered persons working for less than 24 working hours per week in their regular trade, and persons employed outside that trade who do not earn per week a sum corresponding to that paid for 24 hours' work in their own trade according to the collective agreement in force. Persons out of work owing to sickness, strikes, lock- outs, or military service are excluded. The figures relate to the end of each month.
Switzerland: The figures relate until 1929 to the end of each quarter and then to the end of each month. As partially unemployed are understood workers whose engagement ist not definitely terminated. Persons out of work owing to sickness, accidents, etc., are not counted as unemployed: persons who have not completed the" waiting period" or have exhausted their right to benefit are included.
Czechoslovakia: The figures give the number of unemployed in receipt of trade union benefit with and without State subsidies, excluding unemployed who have not completed the" waiting peirod" ( a period of 8 days prescribed for the receipt of State subsidies), or exhausted their right to benefit. Seasonal workers, persons out of work owing to sickness, accidents, or labour disputes, and persons who have lost their occupation through their own fault or left it without serious reason are not counted as unemployed. The percentages relate to the end of each month.
United States of America: The American Federation of Labor compiles monthly information on the number of unemployed members in certain affiliated unions. The methods by which the unemployment of the workers is recorded are fixed by the local unions and vary for different unions. The" weighted" percentage of unemployment is calculated for identical unions in the current and the preceding month by allowing for the importance of the building trade; thus two figures are calculated for each month and the final figure for the month is the simple arithmetic average of the two.

Table IVa
Unemployment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-1935 1
Australia
Belgium
Denmark
Germany
Great Britain& Northern Ireland
Italy
Canada
New NetherZealand lands
Norway
Austria
Poland
Roumania
Sweden
Switzerland
Czecho- United slovakia States
IV
II
III
V
I
VIII 8, V 9
IV
V
II
IV
V
V
V
IV 13
I, II
V
IV
Industry
and Date 2
Wholly( Wh.) and
Partially( Ptl.)
Unemployed
Unemployed
UnemUnemWholly Unemployed, including Casuals and Unemployed owing to Temporary Stoppages
Wholly( Wh.) and
Unemployed
Unemployed
Unemployed
ployed
ployed
CabinetWh.
Ptl.
Bricklayers
Carpen- Painters
ters
Woodworkers
makers& Joiners
Registered
Building
Public Works Contracting, etc.
Furniture Making, Upholstering,
Wholly UnemBuilding Lumbering, ployed and Construction Logging
Unemployed ReWood Products gistered
Unemployed
Building
Bricklayers
Unem- Unem- Unemployed ployed ployed RePlaning Re- RegisterMills, gistered gistered etc. 16
Partially( Ptl.) Unemployed
Unemployed
Unemployed
ed 12
Carpenters
Bricklayers
Painters
WoodLumber Sawmill Workers Workers workers
Wh.
Ptl.
Registered
etc.
%
୪୧
%
%
%
%
%
%
୪୧
%
%
||
IIII
IIII
1
*
17.6
32.3
24.7
26.828
8.929
*
25.9
27.3
23.9
*
13.1
27.4
21.8
24.540
7.938
732
24.6
21.9
23.0
*
14.7
23.6
14.8
42.853
II.403
621
23.2
22.8
24.0
*
14.1
23.8
15.4
51.972
20.004
1.753
23.0
20.9
25.5
4.863 21.4
30.4
*
63.098
26.615
3.053
28.8
26.1
29.3
6.540
40.8
37.4
25.9
76.864
25.330
2.759 40.3
40.7
38.2
6.159
40.2
45.9
37.2
76.197 27.205
2.586
54.7
62.2
48.9
4.973
39.3
41.0
32.6
*
46.1
33.9
26.8
5.053
35.1
53.9
42.8
5.125
30.4
30.2
26.3
5.214
36 6
30.5
25.7
4.498
52.0
44.9
39.1
4.72311
47.8
45.0
37.1
4.743
36.3
26.3
26.5
4.719
41.7
23.7
II.5
3.853
62.9
39.2
24.8
|||||||||
65.661 23.241
I.324 33.5
28.2
35.0
61.332
21.451
900
25.9
20.2
24.4
79.596 54.357 17.315
33.748
2.212 53.8
46.1
63.1
670 23.0
12.1
18.1
50.004
13.997
531
21.4
20.3
24
80.312
26.885
1.362 43.4
45.0
51.6
*
*
*
37.7
*
42.4
46.208
19.970
490
营
13.5
3.3
9.2
40.137
9.213
321
13.3
12.2
0.9
81.810
25.497
I.442
42.6
39.3
39.1
79-742
*
*
*
|||||
|||
23.992
7.431 II.036
14
14
17
5.7
0.6
4.082
4.7
O.I
4.0
O. I
5.6
8.6
3.300 4.467 0.6 12.654 I.I 33.831
13.2
2.0
54.173
17.7
2. I
16.6
1.6
27.2
2.9
77.455 73.772 76.338
67
57
52
1* NONTEN
27
25
40
52
64
16.1
2. I
7.9
10.3
I. I
32.1
94.030 I.4 55.906 56.154 1.9 90.849
55
55
58
57
28.8
2.6
*
*
14.2 18. I
2. I
60.154
51
2.5
47.7
4.4
55.519 98.826
* 458
*
*
O. I
12.7
15
15
9.1
35.2
8.653
*
*
27.3
10.7
1.885
5.4
13.2
6.8
27.3
6.602
357
*
22.5
9.4
4.2
8.8
1.134
5.9
25.2
8.603
318
47.5
26.9
8.9
16.5
1.376
16.9
9.2
25.7
12.038
1.196
41. I
31.1
9.9
3.805
31.3
37.2
21.1
32.7
17.195
2.217
52.7
37.5
14.5
10.416
36.0
45.6
38.2
51.4
23 213
1.905
58.7
43.6
27.1
20.121
25.3
29.8
40.4
56.8
26.260
1.280
62.6
45.5
33.9
29.289
25.7
23.2
41.I
50.4
22.417
696
56.3
38.8
22.8
15.I
20.9
46.7
27.435
45.7
20.112
624
55.8
38.6
17.0
29.274
15.3
52.673
9.1
15.9
39.I
13.1
51.133
3.0
17.6
35.7
11.9 49.649
44.7
23.1
41.5
II.7
47.530
50.6
42.0
51.3
13.7
*
5.8
26.4
48 1
II.6
38.421
5.I
5.I
40.2
10.7 9.5
34.972 10
6.9
9.3
46.0
*
15.1
9.4
54.4
111!||
111|
54.6
35.384
I.103
62.0
49.4
29.4
38.6
20.795
405
49.9
21.6
21.7
41.5
19.045
378
57.2
31.7
15.5
56.4
23.600
848
76.0
78.7
27.1
49.6
*
*
*
46.1
*
38.1
17.951
417
58.7
20.4
16.8
33.7
16.214
353
59.7
33.7
10.5
52.6
22.661
621
66.3
74.0
21.6
111||
30.808
24.322
23.481
31.486
*
26.574
24.806
32.933
%
H
Building Industry
1927
7.4
5.2
2.6
26.64
35.3
29.0
*
IO.2
17.7
68.189
13.4
( mostly incl. Civil Engineering)
1928 II.1
2.6
I.4
19.5
24.3
25.0
*
12.4
20.5
91.921
10.9
1929
II.4
4.8
1.9
19.7
19.9
21.4
*
13.3
22.6
77.366
13.2
1930
23.6
6.2
1.8
13. I
13.1
18.2
319.164 16.4
27.0
110.363
30.5
1931
33.1
18.4
4.2
18.5
20.8
21.8
442.353
22.5
31.5
216.609
45.4
1932 40.5
26.3
6.0
48.5
47.1
38.6
500.9235 29.2
39.7
295.785
62.1
1933
35.7
25.0
6.5
31.1
34.2
34.5
396.949
24.I
44.9
275.690
66.7
1934
27.1
29.6
8.1
17.5
20.5
23.4
184.6736
18.7
45.7
302.018
61.2
1935
19.1
29.7
5.8
20.6
20.7
20.9
173.537
16.8
46.6
*
49.9
3
1934:
III
30.8
31.5
8.2
29.0
29.8
24.5
VI
28.2
23.6
7.6
2.2
5.8
7.7
IX
26.0
26.2
7.2
8.0
8.8
5.4
XII 23.4
37.7
9.0
34.9
36.6
56.1
3
1935:
III
22.9
40.3
*
19.4
22.9
19.5
VI 21.6
22.5
4.8
3.3
4.I
3.4
IX
17.5
23.3
4.8
13.3
12.2
2.5
XII 14.5
32.3
7.1
56.8
46.4
56.5
****
111 11│
1111 111]
20.3
45.9
14.9
43.6
16.8
45.6
21.0
47.4
IIII
338.414
69.6
276.415
57.8
274.168
295.210
53.9
58.6
**
17.3
46.9
*
95.962 13.6
43.0
78.161
14.7
46.5
316.596
18.2
47.6
IIII
59.2
205.047
44.5
177.651 10
41.5
*
45.I
Membership of Union or Fund or number of workers for which last data are given 18
49.207
119.204 19
9.715
9.110
7.407
*
976.790 277.380
20.494
( 1934)
Wood Industry
1927
4.4
3.3
1.3
( mostly Woodworking proper, incl.
1928
9.3
I. I
I.O
23.3
20.2
36.0
Furniture Making and Upholstering)
1929
12.4
I.2
0.5
***
1930
24.1
5.3
2.9
1931 33.3
16.8
7.0.
1932
38.5
25.3
9.9
1933
34.8
23.8
9.4
1934 30.2
26.6
II.5
1935
22.6
24.2
8.5
3
1934:
III
31.7
27.5
II.4
VI
31.1
23.3
10.9
IX
29.3
23.7
II.2
XII
28.8
30.8
14. I
3
1935:
III 27.4
30. I
*
VI
24.8
19.3
6.3
IX
22.3
19.8
7.9
XII
15.8
25.3
8.8
|||||||||
||||||||
5.4
27.8
5.4
16.4
20.9
6.1
14.4
14.7
167.355
10.8
16.5
18.7
248.358
18.0
32.4
43.8
289.5895
20.2
*
28.5
35.5
230.624
17.9
48.483
18.6
20.8
115.8826
13.6
51.117
17.7
18.1
91.5857
12.0
*
17.4
24.7
*
II.2
20.3
*
15.4
6.5
*
40.6
31.4
*
14.3
13.4
10.6
12.6
79.821
16.6
8.9
68.328
39.1
38.4
104.307
*****
1111||!
5.650
9.696
137.620
*
*
15.254
*
14.134 22.275 12.633
111||
I. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance Statistics.
II. Voluntary Unemployment Insurance Statistics.
III. Trade Union Unemployment Funds Returns.
IV. Trade Union Returns.
V. Unemployment Exchange Statistics.
VI. Employers' Returns.
VII. Labour Inspectorate's Returns.
VIII. Social Insurance Statistics.
cf.
cf. Remarks and
Explanatory Notes
at back of Table.
Tables IVb( Index Numbers
of Employment in the Building and
Wood Industries, 1927-1935) and I
( The Labour Market, 1930-1935).
*) No data available. Cf. corresponding table in Report on Activities of I.B.W.W. for 1933 and, in respect of the Wood Industry, also that in Report on Activities of I.U.W. for 1931( see I.U.W. Bulletin, No. 7/9/1932).- 2) The monthly figures for 1934 and 1935 relate in most cases to the end of each month; some figures are weekly or monthly averages. The yearly averages for 1927-1935 have been calculated from the monthly figures. 3) Figures relate in each case to the middle day of the preceding month.- 4) 9 months' average( January and May- December). 6) Since 31.VII.33, 5) Not including persons on emergency relief work.
-
7) Since III.35, including the not including persons in labour camps. Saar Territory.. 8) Until July 1933.- 9) Since July 1933. 10) Series temporarily discontinued. 11) Modified series; not including persons on 12) As there is no State Unemployment Insurance emergency relief work. in Roumania, very few unemployed workers register at the public employment 13) Official figures; exchanges; the data are, therefore, very incomplete.
1
based on returns from local branches of corresponding Trade Unions; as not all local branches report, the data are less complete than those compiled by the Trade Unions themselves and may differ considerably from these.
-
14) Including wood industry. 15) Included in building industry. 16) Sawmills, planing mills, brushmaking factories, etc. 17) Not including 18) Unless unemployed occupied on public and civil( relief) works. otherwise stated, the figures relate to March 1936.- 19) December 1935. 20) July 1935.
Sources: The I.L.O. Yearbook, 1934-35( Vol. II: Labour Statistics) and Year- book of Labour Statistics, 1935-36, both published by the International Labour Office, Geneva; Statistical Year- book of the League of Nations, 1935-36.
Membership of Union or Fund or
number of workers for which last data are given
18
18.755 ( 1934)
41.852 19

Foundation of the I.B.W.W.
The Guiding Principles for the amalgamation of the International ederation of Building Workers( I.F.B.W.) and the International
Table IVb
Index Numbers of Employment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-1935 1
Table IVb( General Explanations):
In the great majority of cases the figures relate to workers recorded as in employment at a certain date, irrespective of the number of hours worked per day and per worker. In some cases, however, the statistics relate to the number of hours worked during a certain period of time, and they do in this case record the fluctuations in the volume of employment. With only two exceptions- Great Britain and France these statistics are based on employers' returns and indicate the changes in the number of workers employed or hours worked in a selected sample of establishments. These statistics do not furnish information on the absolute extent of employment.
-
Owing, however, to the different scope of the various series and the different methods used in their compilation and classification, international comparisons of the absolute level of employment and its fluctuations are rarely possible. The chief value of the statistics, therefore, is in indicating the trend of short- time fluctuations in employment in each individual country.
Canada: The Dominion Bureau of Statistics receives reports as to the number of workers employed from most of the larger employers of labour throughout Canada, the returns being from firms employing 15 workers or more. The figures relate to the first of each month. The original base is the average number employed in 1926.
Denmark: The figures for each branch are increased in proportion to the total figures of employment, allowance being made for the
small non- reporting establishments. The figures represent the total number of hours worked per working day on an average during the month. The index numbers have been calculated by the I.L.O. on the basis of 1931(= 100).
Finland: These statistics are based on the returns from a large number of industrial establishments employing more than 10 workers. Two series are reproduced here:( a) indexes showing the number of workers employed at a given date in each quarter;( b) indexes showing the total number of hours worked during the month. In each case the original base is the average for 1926.
France:
These statistics are based on enquiries into the number of workers employed by establishments under the supervision of labour inspectors and employing at least 100 workers. As the number of establishments covered by the enquiry is slightly changing from month to month, the indexes for each month are first based on the number of workers employed in the same establishments in the same month of the preceding year; this index is then linked up with that of the corresponding month of the year 1930= 100. The figures relate to the first of each month.
Germany: The statistics are based on returns from a great number of establishments. Two series of data are reproduced here:( a) The average number of workers employed during each month expressed as a percentage of the number of workers who could be employed if the factory was working at full capacity;( b) the actual number
of hours worked during each month expressed as a percentage of the number of hours which could be worked during normal hours on the assumption that all the available places are filled.
-
Great Britain: These indexes which refer to Great Britain only- are based on the number of insured persons not recorded
-
as unemployed, with a deduction of 3% per cent. to represent those absent from work owing to sickness, accident, and other forms of unrecorded non- employment other than" recognised" holidays. The series includes persons directly involved in trade disputes. The original base is the average number employed in 1924.
Italy: The statistics are based on returns from a large number of establishments. The figures relate to the last week of each month. The original base is the average number of persons employed in the first week of September 1926.
Sweden: The series has been computed by the Social Board from returns from a large number of establishments; it gives the number of employed persons each quarter as a percentage of the average number employed in the same establishments during the period 1926-1930.
United States of America: These estimates are obtained by multiplying the weighting factor of the several groups of industries( number employed in the base period of the index number, 1923-1925) by the index numbers of employment of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and dividing the product by 100.

Foundation of the I.B.W.W.
he Guiding Principles for the amalgamation of the International eration of Building Workers( I.F.B.W.) and the International
Table IVb
Denmark
Germany
VI
VI
Index Numbers of Employment in the Building and Wood Industries, 1927-1935 1
Finland
France
Great Britain
Italy
Japan
VI
VII
I
VI
VI
Industry and
Date
possible number of
Monthly average of total
numbers
Employment compared with
b) total number of hours worked during each quarter( 1926= 100)
a) workers employed
Estimated number of insured persons
Workers
Workers
employed
( Number
( 16-64) in employment in June of each year
( 1924= 100)
employed
( Sept 1926
=
100)
of hours worked per day ( 1931-100)
employed
workers 3
hours of work 4
hours of
workers 3
a
b
in same month of 1930= 100)
Workers employed ( 1926= 100)
work 4
Building
Public Furniture works and contracting upholstery
Cement
United
Canada
Sweden
States
VI
VI
VI
Workers employed ( 1926= 100) 5
Construction Lumber and and mainteproducts
( incl.
8
nance
furniture)
Workers employed
( 1926-30= 100)
Workers employed ( 1923-25= 100)
Logging
Quarrying, stonecutting
Brickmaking
Building
Sawmills
Lumber and products
[ building and civil engineering]
[ building materials]
15
9
Building Industry
1927
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
126.5
140.8
95.3
109.5
( mostly incl. Civil Engineering)
1928
*
*
*
*
*
123.5
132.8
91.5
*
*
*
*
91.7
119.5
90.1
*
1929
53.8
*
65.4
61.0
*
*
126.8
136.0
104.9
96.1
91.7
130. I
*
*
*
1930
*
35.6
*
50.8
46.1
*
*
*
121.8
146.7
93.9
*
*
*
82.4
131.3
79.7
9
75.2
1931
100.0
21.4
*
35.9
31.6
*
*
97.6
117.9
213.5
68.3
69.9
130.9
*
*
*
*
1932
70.5
13.4
28.2
24.4
*
*
94.2
106.2
188.0
70.9
*
66.1
82.1
55.9
75.5
73.3
64.2
1933
89.7
21.4
41.9
36.8
*
*
94.8
118.8
159.6
63.5
62.6
72.4
77.I
43.6
66.1
61.3
*
1934
109.0
48.9
57.1
52.4
*
*
78.3
132.5
154.7
80.7
109.3
47.8
85.6
83.0
1935
II5.2
60.0
59.6
53.5
*
*
66.8
141.5
159.7
*
85.9
96.7
47.2
96.4
92.6
1934:
III
75.6
*
VI
135.9
*
IX
125.6
*
XII
91.0
*
****
*
*
*
*
****
*
*
75.6
*
*
*
*
81.7
*
*
76.8
*
*
68.9
*
****
1935:
III
85.9
47.7
VI
143.6
68.4
IX
134.6
71.5
XII
IOI. 3
54.3
****
51.7
44.2
66.0
60.1
66.2
60.8
58.4
52.8
62.4
69.4
66.0
*
*
63 2
*
****
||||
||||
62.7
79.0
95.8
*
*
68.6
81.2
140.6
42.4
116.1
* 93.9
71.3
82.1
*
*
*
117.0
72.8
82.5
87.9
53.0
68.9
80.9
78.57
84.3
80.2
*
85.3
IOI.I
**
87.1
II7.4
88.7
74.8
||||
49.3
72.0
79.7
48.9
123.7
104.6
41.0
II2.3
II2.8
49.4
77.5
73.4
||||
****
Absolute figure serving as basis for calculation of last index figure 10
17 11
*
*
*
2
Wood Industry
1927
1928
||
M
*
**
*
59.440
843.576 12
158.194 12
9.584 13
41.201 14
84.265
*
*
*
*
-
*
**
*
*
125.3
90.5
III.5
99.0
94.1
*
130.4
88.8
115.2
103.4
92.4
1929
*
63.2
61.2
90.9
92.7
*
135.2
89.4
128.2
106.2
*
95.4
1930
*
55.0
50.0
73.8
72.3
*
134.2
83.2
*
IOO.2
91.9
76.1
1931
100.0
43.7
39.3
65.3
62.4
87.5
130.8
75.7
56.9
73.1
*
56.3
1932
84.3
35.2
30.9
63.6
61.0
74.1
126.9
73.1
43.1
57.5
74.7
41. I
1933
98.0
37.5
33.8
69.6
65.9
71.5
130.6
*
74.6
74.4
56.2
74.6
44.2
1934
119.1
48.3
45.2
76.8
73.4
68.4
140.9
*
75.9
125.8
66.4
81.0
48.7
1935
120.3
50.5
45.9
78.1
76.9
65.1
145.1
*
79.8
127.0
71.8
77.3
52.6
5
CT
5
1934:
III
109.8
VI
129.4
IX
129.4
XII
109.8
****
*
63.8
59.6
67.2
*
*
67.8
63.4
68.1
*
*
89.9
88.1
67.8
*
77.9
71.8
69.0
****
75.0
104.9
60.3
*
48.5
76.2
86.3
74.7
93.9
50.0
75.9
113.4
71.8
*
49.3
77.9
181.3
57.1
78.5
47.8
1935:
III
129.4
48.6
41.6
VI
129.4
50.6
46.0
IX
115.7
51.9
48.8
XII
103.9
50.3
46.4
|||[
73.3
70.I
65.9
*
*
78.0
104.3
63.0
61.9
50.6
89.9
89.7
64.7
*
80.5
82.2
80.8
90.2
48.9
76.9
75.0
64.7
*
80.0
115.8
79.9
83.7
57.0
72.4
72.9
64.4
*
80.5
183.4
63.3
73.4
54.5
Absolute figure serving as basis for
calculation of last index figure 10
22 11
*
*
29.556
121.683 12
*
15.880 14
29.071
35.580
*
501.400
I. Compulsory Unemployment Insurance Statistics.
VI. Employers' Returns.
VIII. Labour Inspectors' Returns.
cf. Remarks and Explanatory Notes
at back of Table
cf. Tables IVa( Unemployment in
the Building and Wood Industries) and I( The Labour Market, 1930-1935)
-
-
*) No figures available. 1) Cf. also corresponding table in Report on Activities of I.B.W.W. for 1933. 2) Excl. furniture industry. 3) Average number of workers employed expressed as a percentage of the number of workers who could be employed if the factory was working at full capacity. 4) Actual number of hours worked expressed as a percentage of the number of hours which could be worked during normal hours on the assumption that all the available places are filled. 5) Figures relating in each case to the Ist of the following month. 6) Navvying and stone construction only. 7) Discontinued since June 1935. 8) Incl. maintenance. 9) Ceramics, glass, and building materials. 10) Unless
-
-
-
-
-
-
otherwise stated, the figures relate to March 1936. 11) In thousands; figures influenced by general dispute in spring of 1936.12) June 1935. 13) March 1935. 14) February 1936. 15) In each case June and December respectively.
Sources:
The I.L.O. Year- book, 1934-35( Vol. II: Labour Statistics) and Year- book of Labour Statistics, 1935-36, both published by the International Labour Office, Geneva; Statistical Year- book of the League of Nations, 1935-36.

Foundation of the I.B.W.W.
The Guiding Principles for the amalgamation of the International Federation of Building Workers( I.F.B.W.) and the International Union of Woodworkers( I.U.W.) into the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers( I.B.W.W.), as reproduced in Appendix I, were drawn up by the Executive Committees of the two Federations at a joint session in Paris on 16 December 1933 and circulated to the affiliated organisations for a written decision at the beginning of 1934. According to the results established on
I March 1934 they were almost unanimously accepted by the building Amalgamation of workers' unions( only the Bricklayers' Unions in Sweden and I.F.B.W. and L.U.W. Norway voted against them), and gained the majority of two thirds, on 1 April 1934. fixed as requisite, with the Woodworkers. The Management Committee provisionally set up at Paris was consequently able on 24 March to take the necessary steps for carrying out the amalgamation on I April 1934.
The unions of woodworkers in Scandinavia affiliated to the I.U.W., with only three exceptions-the Swedish Carpenters and Joiners,
the Norwegian Building Workers( Woodworkers' Section) and the The Scandinavian Norwegian Woodworkers voted against the amalgamation. At a Woodworkers and session of their Scandinavian Woodworkers' Secretariat held on the fusion.
18 February 1934 at Copenhagen they had passed a resolution according to which the proposal for amalgamation submitted to them to be voted on was in contravention with the decision of the I.U.W. Brussels Congress of 1933. This attitude on the part of the Scandinavian Woodworkers led the Executive Committee of the I.U.W. to entrust its Secretary, Mr. Hauwaert, at a session held on 24 March, with the task of further elucidating, at the meeting of the Scandinavian Woodworkers' Secretariat due to be held on 2 and 3 July at Gefle, the necessity and organisational form of the amalgamation. This meeting led to a committee being set up consisting of Messrs. Oscar Karlén( Swedish Woodworkers), Hans Eriksen( Norwegian Sawmill Workers), and Jens Jensen( Danish Woodworkers), to investigate the question of the international relationships of the woodworkers in all its aspects. The chairman of the Committee, Mr. Karlén, was present at the session of the General Council held at Weymouth in August 1934 and there set forth in brief the standpoint of the Scandinavian Woodworkers which had led to the setting up of the Committee.
This Committee issued a circular to 33 organisations of the wood industry outside Scandinavia but confined to Europe, requesting, in addition to the answering of some questions concerning organisational conditions of the woodworkers in the particular countries, to know their attitude towards the possibility of the foundation of a new International, confined to the wood industry proper.
The Committee reported on 19 May 1935 and it appeared that only eight of the 33 unions interrogated had replied to the circular
41

-
-
and that of these only one the National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association of Great Britain, which was disaffiliated from the I.U.W. at the end of 1929 had declared in favour of a new International for the woodworkers. In view of this result the Scandinavian Woodworkers' Secretariat decided at a meeting held at Oslo on 15 and 16 June 1935 to give up the idea of founding such an International Federation, but to aim, by means of a suitable reconstruction of the International Trade Union Movement, at the incorporation of the various International Trade Secretariats in the International Federation of Trade Unions as sub- sections of the various trade groups.
On the occasion of the meeting of the Executive Council of the I.B.W.W. at Copenhagen, a further thorough exchange of views with representatives of the Scandinavian Woodworkers' Unions took place on 20 August. This talk was animated by an excellent spirit of comradeship and doubtless contributed in a very large measure to remove misapprehensions and to bridge over differences. The Scandinavian friends received, in the form of a resolution, the assurance that the interests of the workers in the wood industry proper( i.e. in the timber and sawmilling industry, the furniture industry, etc., as distinct from the woodworkers employed in the building trade) are not to be impaired in any way by the amalgamation, and that the Executive Council would do its utmost to find a solution of the difficulties still existing which would be satisfactory to all parties.
At the meeting of their Secretariat at Copenhagen on 20 October the Scandinavian unions took note of the outcome of these talks and drafted a number of motions of amendment to the Guiding Principles which had been adopted for the amalgamation, for submission to the London Congress of the I.B.W.W.
42

The Eighth Congress of the International Union of Woodworkers, Brussels, August 1933.
1.31

CHAPEAU
B
The Tenth Conference of the International Federation of Building Workers, Brussels, July 1933,

Governing Bodies of the I.B.W.W.
General Executive Council,
In accordance with the Guiding Principles for the amalgamation of the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W.*) the two Executives were, on I April 1934, combined for the period up to the next International Congress into the General Executive Council of the I.B.W.W. During the period under review an alteration in the composition of this Council occurred, Mr. Böhm( Vienna), who, owing to the February Changes in events in Austria, was no longer able to carry out the duties of his membership. officership, being replaced by his deputy, Mr. Vuattolo( Zurich). For the same reason, Mr. Danek( Vienna), ceased to be a deputy for Mr. Reichmann. Mr. Haakestad( Oslo), deputy for Mr. Björkmann, had already ceased to fill this post in November 1933 after he had failed to be re- elected in his own union.
At the close of 1935 the composition of the General Council was as follows:
Members:
R. Coppock, London, President. W. Hauwaert, Brussels, VicePresident.
F. Wolstencroft, Manchester, Vice- President.
J. W. van Achterbergh, Amsterdam, Secretary.
V. Björkman, Stockholm. E. Gryson, Brussels. C. Lammers, Amsterdam. F. Müller, Prague.
M. Petersen, Copenhagen. F. Reichmann, Zurich. A. Vuattolo, Zurich.
A. H. van Deth, Amsterdam,
Treasurer, without vote.
Deputies:
Th. Barron, Glasgow. L. Chiron, Paris.
Th. Barron, Glasgow.
L. van der Wal, Amsterdam.
H. Cordier, Paris.
J. Spaltman, Amsterdam. W. Slach, Prague.
N. Linde, Stockholm.
The seat of the American representative, Mr. Wm. L. Hutcheson, was left vacant in the hope that the union concerned, viz., the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, might soon fully resume its relationships with the International Federation, relationships which had been rendered less close by the depression.
The General Executive Council met twice during the period under review, viz., at Weymouth( England) on 30 and 31 August 1934 and at Copenhagen from 20 to 22 August 1935. Reports of these meetings were published in Bulletins 7/1934 and 4/1935 respectively.
*) See Appendix I.
Members and deputy- members.
Meetings.
43

Meetings.
Management Committee.
The Management Committee, made up, as known, of two representatives from each of the two Internationals and consisting of the President, the two Vice- Presidents, and the Secretary, met four times during the period under review: at Amsterdam on 24 March 1934( Bulletin 1/1934), at Blackpool( England) on 17 June 1934 ( Bulletin 4/1934), at Amsterdam on 9 March 1935( Bulletin 1/1935), and in Paris on 22 December 1935( Bulletin 6/1935).
Apart from these meetings the Secretary was in constant touch with the members of the Management Committee. In many instances the assent of the members was secured by letter in connection with the taking of special steps.
Secretariat.
Mr. J. W. van Achterbergh has acted as Secretary on half- pay since I April 1934. In addition, Mr. Jan Schuil( who was on the staff of the I.U.W. from I January 1925 until the fusion) is in the service of the Secretariat as chief of staff. The remaining member of the staff is a young female clerk.
Detailed information on the various branches of the activity of the Secretariat is given in the various sections of this Report. Nevertheless, it will perhaps not be out of place to mention here what a stiff task falls to the portion of the Secretariat.
To begin with, the setting- up of the office, the unification and re- arrangement of the archives, library, etc., occupied a great deal of time and this task is not quite finished even yet. Then a multitude of items of daily routine work has to be got through, for which there is very little to show outwardly and which, for this reason, might often be underestimated. There is for instance the perusal of The day to day the newspapers and periodicals regularly taken in to the number of work. about 200( trade union journals, official and semi- official gazettes, newsletters, trade periodicals, Labour newspapers, etc.) as well as other items such as reports, pamphlets, books, newspaper cuttings, etc.; the sifting and arrangement of data; the filing of correspondence; the indispensable correction of translations partly done outside the office by translators unacquainted with trade and trade union matters; the work involved by money matters which, owing to technical difficulties connected with different currencies and other causes, often takes up so much time; the keeping up of the mailing list containing 600 names and still being added to almost daily, etc.
The amount of work involved in the publication of the Bulletin from the purely technical point of view may be judged by the fact that for the 17 numbers of 127 pages in each language which appeared during the 134 years under review altogether 635 stencils had to be cut, checked and run off. The sheets had to be sorted, fastened together, folded and despatched in wrappers addressed in advance, it being borne in mind that the total impression per number
44

L
The General Executive Council of the I.B.W.W. in Copenhagen, August 1935,
From left to right: Messrs Martin Petersen, Franz Reichmann, Emile Gryson, A. H. van Deth( Treasurer), Thomas Barron ( deputy for Mr. F. Wolstencroft), Richard Coppock( President), J. W. van Achterbergh( Secretary), Jan Schuil( Chief of Staff; interpreter), C. Lammers, W. Hauwaert( Vice- President), A. Vuattolo, V. Björkman, A. Kocik( interpreter). Two members, viz. Messrs. F. Wolstencroft( Vice- President) and Franz Müller, were prevented from attending the meeting,

is equal to nearly 600. Similar figures might be quoted for other publications, such as the Report on Activities for 1933( English edition comprising 49 pages), the Financial Report for 1933/34 ( comprising 16 pages in each language), and so on.
The correspondence, with 682 items inwards and 735 outwards during the nine months of 1934, and 749 items inwards and 826 outwards during 1935, has increased considerably compared with former years. Among the items despatched were 15 general circulars
during 1934 and 26 during 1935, these being additional to such The corresponcirculars as were sent out for propaganda purposes to special groups dence. only. These general circulars were each got out in anything from 3 to 5 languages, some of them were 3, 4 or even 10 pages long and of some of them over 200 copies were prepared. Particularly exacting as to time and trouble was the correspondence carried on to restore order in money and contribution matters deranged by the irregular state of affairs prior to the amalgamation.
Finally, it may be mentioned that at the New Year, New Year's greetings have been sent on each occasion to all affiliated and kindred organisations.
doin U
45

Representation at Conferences.
Conferences
Representative
1934:
Delegate Conference of the Netherlands Union of Furniture Workers, Utrecht, 5-6 May
Delegate Conference of the Netherlands Union of Building Workers, Nijmegen,
7-9 May
Delegate Conference of Swedish Bricklayers' Union, Gefle, 19-22 May...... Delegate Conference of the Hungarian Building Workers' Union, Budapest, 13 May
Delegate Conference of the Finnish Woodworkers' Union, Helsingfors, 11-12 May Annual Conference of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives of Great Britain& Ireland, Blackpool, 19-22 May Delegate Conference of the Swedish Lumber Workers' Union, Gefle, 27 June- 1 July Meeting of the Scandinavian Woodworkers' Secretariat, Gefle, 2-3 July
Delegate Conference of the Belgian Union of Woodworkers and Building Operatives, Brussels. 21-22 July
Meeting of the I.F.T.U. General Council, Weymouth, 27-29 August
Conference of the I.F.T.U. Executive with the International Trade Secretariats, Weymouth, 29 August
Eighth Conference of the International Painters' Federation, Copenhagen, 17-18 September
Delegate Conference of the Czechoslovak Building Workers' Union, Prague, 28-30 September
Delegate Conference of the Finnish Bricklayers' Union, Helsingfors, 30 September -2 October
1935:
Delegate Conference of the Norwegian
W. Hauwaert
R. Coppock moto
J. W. van Achterbergh
W. Slach
O. Karlén
J. W. van Achterbergh
W. Hauwaert
R. Coppock J. W. van Achterbergh
W. Hauwaert
J. W. van Achterbergh
J. W. van Achterbergh
J. W. van Achterbergh
V. Björkman
Woodworkers' Union, Oslo, 18-22 April M. Petersen
46

Conferences
Representative
Delegate Conference of the Czechoslovak Woodworkers' Union, Prague, 21-22 April
Meeting of the I.F.T.U. General Council,
Copenhagen, 21-23 May
Delegate Conference of the French Building and Wood Workers' Union, Paris, 3-5 June
International Labour Conference, Geneva, June...
Annual Conference of the National Federation of Building Trades Operatives of Great Britain& Ireland, Ayr, 18-21 June Delegate Conference of the Norwegian
Bricklayers' Union, Oslo, 23-27 June.. Delegate Conference of the Scandinavian Upholsterers' Union, Stockholm, 28 June and following days.
Delegate Conference of the Danish Bricklayers' Union, Roskilde, 9-13 July... Delegate Conference of the Danish Cabinetmakers' and Joiners' Union, Copenhagen, 21-26 August
Joint Meeting of the I.F.T.U. and the L.S.I. on Italian- Abessynian conflict, Geneva, 6 September...
Delegate Conference of the Swiss Union. of Building and Wood Workers, Basle, 26-29 September
Joint Meeting of the I.F.T.U. and the L.S.I. on Italian- Abessynian conflict, Brussels, 12 October
W. Hauwaert
J. W. van Achterbergh M. Petersen
J. W. van Achterbergh W. Hauwaert
R. Coppock
J. W. van Achterberg'i
W. Hauwaert
V. Björkman
J. Jensen
J. W. van Achterbergh General Council
( while in Copenhagen for their annual meeting)
J. W. van Achterbergh
J. W. van Achterbergh
J. W. van Achterbergh W. Hauwaert
In a number of cases where invitations to attend a Union's Delegate Conference were received, we had to confine ourselves, owing to lack of time or similar reasons, to sending fraternal greetings.
Apart from those in connection with the meetings listed above, a number of journeys were made on business of the I.B.W.W. for the purpose of enquiry and similar objects.
47

Affiliated Organizations.
We may affirm with satisfaction that relations with the affiliated organisations continued to be of the most friendly nature. We are
Relations with the glad to say that this is equally true of those with the Scandinavian affiliated unions. Woodworkers' organisations in spite of the very grave doubts which they had at the outset as to the expediency and the form of the amalgamation, doubts which are not entirely allayed even yet.
With most of the organisations the Secretariat was in more or less regular touch. If, in spite of this, we nevertheless express here the wish that such intercourse may become even more intensive, we do not do so as a criticism or even as a reproach but out of the fervent desire to serve the interests of the I.B.W.W. and hence of the affiliated organisations themselves. We know that with our circulars, our questionnaires and our occasional other requests for information we make more demands on the responsible colleagues in the individual unions than are always agreeable to them. Many colleagues even seem to think that we take up too much of their time. This is doubtless the reason why the response to our circulars, etc., is not always as brisk as we might have wished and as would certainly have been in the interest of our work. This work is not an end in itself. In some fashion and sooner or later, whether directly or indirectly, it benefits the workers in our trades. Nothing, however, has so paralysing an effect on the efforts to build up, even within the framework of our own limited circumstances, a well- functioning international working association, as constant worry and trouble in procuring the material which is, there is no getting away from it, indispensable for any worthwhile activity. We feel certain, moreover, that if our organisations bear this in mind, they will willingly go to the trouble not only of replying to our enquiries but also, on their own initiative, of keeping us constantly informed of all the more important events occurring in their circles.
With a small number of organisations relations must unfortunately be described as less close. This is very much to be regretted, the more so as the organisations in question here are chiefly of the weaker type, which should in their own interests make a point of maintaining close contact with the International.
We may also add that, at the cost of much time and effort, it proved The payment of possible to restore order again as regards the payment of affiliation affiliation fees. fees which, as a result of the irregular state of affairs prior to the
fusion, had become deranged. To- day it may be asserted that, with few exceptions, all affiliated organisations due to pay affiliation fees not only regularly fulfil their financial obligations but have also paid up any arrears outstanding from former years.
In its endeavour to keep in regular and personal touch with the Delegations. affiliated unions the I.B.W.W. took care to be represented whenever possible at their congresses. A list of delegations effected will be found on page 46.
48

Finally, mention may be made of the fact that the relations between the affiliated unions themselves were also animated by a friendly spirit. This found expression, among other things, in the exchange of trade union journals, etc., as well as in the sending of fraternal delegates to each other's congresses, although the crisis has rather restricted this latter.
The progress, composition and membership of the International Union of Woodworkers( I.U.W.) and the International Federation of Building Workers( I.F.B.W.) during 1933 is shown in the Report on Activities for that year. Nevertheless, for the sake of completeness, we give it again in rough outline below.
At the beginning of 1933 the Czech Upholsterers and the Timber Workers' Section of the Norwegian Timber and Landworkers' The I.U.W. in Union affiliated to the I.U.W. At the beginning of 1934 the Timber 1933. Workers in the Serbian part of Yugoslavia also affiliated. On the other hand, in addition to the German Woodworkers' and Upholsterers' Unions( with 232,844 and 7,450 members respectively) the Sawmill Workers' Section of the Yugoslavian General Workers' Union, the Woodworkers' Unions in Bulgaria, Cuba, and Luxemburg and the Danish Ship Carpenters had to be crossed off the registers. Mainly as a result of these changes the membership of the I.U.W. decreased from 823,182 in 53 unions and 27 countries on 1 January 1933 to 574,960 in 47 unions and 23 countries on 1 January 1934, i.e. by 248.222 or 30.1%.
In 1933 the I.F.B.W. lost the German Building Workers' Union and the German Carpenters' Union with( according to the figures
at the end of 1931) 390,306 and 94,408 members respectively. At The LF.B.W. in the end of 1933 the Estonian Building Workers affiliated. It also 1933. secured a further affiliation indirect through the re- affiliation of the National Association of Operative Plasterers to the British N.F.B.T.O. The membership of the I.F.B.W. fell from 859,456 on I January 1933 to 381,179 on 1 January 1934, i.e. by 478,277 or 55.6%; the number of countries remained unchanged at 19 and the number of unions affiliated 34.( In comparisons with earlier reports it should be noted that the unions making up the British N.F.B.T.Q. in so far as they were affiliated to the I.F.B.W. are counted separately and that the Irish Free State is also reckoned as a separate affiliated country.)
Thus, with a minor modification on account of overlapping, the
decrease in membership for the united Internationals was from The position on 1,678,902 to 952,839, i.e. by 726,063 or 43.2%. The number of 1 January 1934. affiliated countries decreased from 29 to 26, that of the unions.
affiliated from 81 to 77.
The I.B.W.W. itself registered on 1 January 1935 the affiliation
of the Building Workers' Union at Tel- Aviv in Palestine with 4,775 The I.BW.W. members, on I June 1935 that of the Danish Carpenters with 9,000 gains new members and on 1 January 1936 that of the Building and Wood affiliations.
49

Workers' Union in Trinidad( British West Indies) with 300 members.*) Indirectly it secured new affiliations through the affiliation of the Wood- Cutting Machinists in October 1934 and the Asphalte Workers on I January 1936 to the British N.F.B.T.O., and by the transfer on 1 January 1936 of the Operative Painters, who are also affiliated to the N.F.B.T.O., from the International Secretariat of Painters to the I.B.W.W.
The two Unions in Austria( with a total membership of 42,140) which were dissolved by the Government in February 1934 had also to be struck off. They were soon revived, however, in the shape of underground movements, united in April 1935 and rejoined the I.B.W.W. on 1 May 1935.
On the other hand, the small organisation of Czech Upholsterers Dis- affiliations( 541 members) withdrew as from 1 January 1935 owing to financial and expulsions. difficulties, having been affiliated for barely two years. The Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers of South Africa( 2,544 members) which had been affiliated since 1925, also dis- affiliated on I January 1934. In addition to this the Bricklayers' Union in Memel, numbering only 127, has had to be struck off as from I January 1935, not having been heard from since the beginning of 1932.
A further 35,970 members had to be struck off owing to the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers of Great Britain stating that it no longer desired membership of the I.B.W.W. on behalf of its ship carpenters. A matter for great regret, too, was the fact that the big United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which on 1 January 1934 was still on the register with 222,722 WT members, and whose further membership had already become very problematical, had finally to be struck off during 1934.
Finally, the number of unions affiliated decreased by three as a Amalgamations. result of the amalgamation of the Building and Wood Workers' Unions in France and Poland on 1 January 1935, and the amalgamation of the" Altogether" Builders' Labourers' Society with the British Transport and General Workers' Union which is also affiliated; hence these changes did not result in any loss of membership for the I.B.W.W.
The I.B.W.W. on
As a result of these re- organisations, affiliations and dis- affiliations the I.B.W.W.( which on 1 April 1934 had begun, so to speak, with 1 January 1935 and circa 650,000 members in 72 unions and 21 countries) comprised 1 January 1936. on 1 January 1935 71 unions in 21 countries with 670,279 members, dabibog stand on 1 January 1936 76 unions and 23 countries with 745,766 stel isinal. Imembers( provisional figure)*).
I
A comparison between the beginning of 1934 and the beginning of 1935( see Table V a) shows a decrease in membership of 282,560 or 29.7%. Leaving out of account Austria, the United States, the
*) This section was already in the hands of the printers when the Luxemburg Plasterers and Stucco- Workers and the New Zealand Painters and Decorators affiliated to the I.B.W.W., their affiliation taking effect as from 1 January 1936.
50

British ship carpenters and the small addition of 1,563 resulting from the affiliation of the Building Workers in Palestine after deduction of the withdrawals and the unions struck off the register in 1934, the I.B.W.W. actually registered a gain in membership of 22,667, accounted for by the fact that 42 unions( including the 14 of the British N.F.B.T.O.) managed to increase their membership from 340,936 to 371,154, i.e. by 30,218 or 8.9%, while 15 suffered a decrease from 215,469 to 207,918, i.e. of 7,551 or 3.5%.*)
Particularly pleasing are the very substantial increases in membership in 1934 in Estonia( 52.7%), of the Finnish Building Workers Gains and losses of ( 44.7%), Bricklayers( 21.4%), and Woodworkers( 74.2%), of the individual Unions Woodworkers in Croatia and Slavonia( 73.4%), and in Bosnia and during 1934. Herzegovina( 622.5% spread, however, over several years), of
the Norwegian Building Workers( 16.5%) and of the Woodworkers in Palestine( 28.9%). Losses, though mostly small, were suffered above all by the" gold bloc countries" of 1934, viz., Belgium( 2.2%), France( 18.2%), the Netherlands( Building Workers 4.5%, Plasterers 4.4%, Furniture Workers 4.9%), and also Switzerland ( the slight increase of 0.8% shown in Table V a is due to a re- grouping which does not affect the actual membership), and Czechoslovakia. ( Building Workers 4.1%).
Amalgamations.
During the years 1934 and 1935 efforts at concentration, begun some time ago or more recently, bore fruit in several countries. In France and Poland the amalgamation of the Building Workers and France. Woodworkers was carried out on 1 January 1935. In Estonia the Poland. Woodworkers in Tallinn united with the Building Workers, after the Estonia. military authorities had vetoed a regular amalgamation with a corresponding change of name. In Great Britain the" Altogether" Builders' Labourers' Society joined the big Transport and General Workers'
Union which belongs to the N.F.B.T.O. and consequently to the Great Britain. I.B.W.W.; in addition, the Wood- Cutting Machinists and the
Asphalte Workers joined the N.F.B.T.O. At a conference on
15 December 1935 the four provincial Woodworkers' Unions in Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia united to form a Federation which began its activities
on 1 January 1936.
It may further be mentioned that by the end of 1935 the project for the reorganisation of the federation of the Building Workers' Unions into an industrial union in Sweden had so far matured that Sweden. its realisation would seem to be a matter of time. In Denmark, where the Woodworkers' organisations have formed a federation for many years past, the Bricklayers and the Painters, at their last congresses,
*) In making comparisons with the Report for 1933 is should be taken into account that in that Report a small gain of 1,055 members was erroneously mentioned; in reality there was a loss of this number.
51

expressed themselves in favour of a closer collaboration with the other unions in the building trade.
The Woodworkers' Union for the German- speaking part of Czechoslovakia( Headquarters at Reichenberg) modified its name in August 1935 to suit the amalgamation which it intends to effect later with the Land and Forestry Workers' Union. In Norway, the Congress of the Woodworkers' Union held in April 1935 rejected a proposal emanating from the Executive to amalgamate with the Building Workers' Union. The fusion between the Sawmill Workers' and the to cool bus Land and Forestry Workers' Unions, which had been contemplated in this country, was put off indefinitely because the National Trade Union Centre did not look with favour upon the scheme.
Finally, it may be mentioned that in one case a national trade union centre requested the I.B.W.W. to recommend the Woodworkers affiliated with it to amalgamate with the Building Workers. The Management Committee declined to do this but authorised the Secretary to collaborate in amalgamation moves on being requested to do so by the Unions in question.
52

Table V, a
No.
Country
No.
Organisation
Memberships and Local Branches of Organisations affiliated with I.B.W.W.
1st January, 1934 Membership( I.B.W.W. only)
3
1st January, 1935 Membership( I.B.W.W. only)
Local Branches
Total
Women
Total
Juveniles
Girls
Apprentices
Local Branches
Total
Women
Total
Juveniles
4
Girls
3
Apprentices
Increase(+)
or decrease(-)
of total
membership
from 1934
to 1935
Number
%
9
+1
1.658
-
2,2
+233+ 3.7
(+ 1.009)(+ 5,6)
七七 七+ 1++ 11+ 11+ 1+ 千
-
326 3.5
I
0.5
36+9,6
61
I, I
9
5,0
579
12,4
5
2,3
38
3.3
182 12,9
31
15
-
29.5
6.5
262 52,7
878 44.7
150 21,4
1.191 74,2
2.0006 18,26
+17.869+10,4 (-35.970)
6
7
I
Australia
I
Furniture Workers
*
9.000 1
2
Belgium
2
Building and Wood Workers
3
Denmark
3
Bricklayers
4
Carpenters
8
5
Plasterers
( 6/14) Woodworkers' Secretariat: 10
Cabinet- makers and Joiners
Wood- turners
528
867 76.866 7 115
-
6.317
I IO
**
*
*
/*
*
83
9.000 1 75.208
115
6.550
2
( 17.950)
IIO
( 18.959)
89
9.207
54
I I
205
8
Brushmakers
12
374
145
9
Coopers
19
529
IO
Picture- frame Makers
7
181
7
*
I I
Woodworking Machinists
84 4.665
52
12
Wood- carvers
13
Vehicle- builders
27
14
Upholsterers 11
57*
222
2
5
1.160
1.407
*
*
*
*
216646*
15
Wicker Workers
16
Cork Workers
4
5
45
Estonia
17
Building and Wood Workers
Finland
18
Building Workers
19
Bricklayers
27***
*
105
232
136
12
2
12
12
2
12
497 5
78 5
24*
1.966
7 1
20
Woodworkers
73
France
Building Workers 13
*
3*
700
1.606
-
115
89
9.533
76
I I
204
410
168
17
468
*
5
-
86
5
5
5.244 217
74
I.122
1.589
5 I
74
136
4
7
217
123
759
123
108
2.844
75
25
850
83
2.797
172
**||||**+22
* 5
*
|*|
5
**|
*
74
*
219
8.000
-
Woodworkers 13
*
3.000
*
21
Building and Wood Workers 13
-
22
Coopers
*
1.000
*
7
( including
Irish Free State)
Great Britain
Ireland[ Ulster] and
23
3/38 N.F.B.T.O. 14
*
106.005 15
-
Northern
( 23) Woodworkers 17
1.177 101.342 18
39
Brushmakers
60
2.300
500
40
Packing Case Makers
*
*
4.14819
2.450
860
Irish Free State
188
9.000
*
1.000
1
*
*
*
189.246 16
4.14819
57
2.300
500
*
2.450
**||
*
( see Great Britain)
-
-
Italy
Yugoslavia
4 I
Building Workers
i
42
Building Workers
*
500 1.865
500
*
*
1.994
18
43
Woodworkers( Slovenia)
44 Woodworkers( Croatia- Slavonia)..
I I
==
I I
*
399
259
32
*
**
*
399
1
*
*
*
*
16
449
41
ΙΟ
*
45
Woodworkers( Bosnia and Hercegovina)
*
102 1
*
46
Woodworkers( Serbia)
*
500
*
**
I I
|=
Memel Territory Netherlands
Bricklayers 20
*
1
127
47
Building Workers
440
29.212
48
Plasterers
*
2.054
49
Furniture Workers
62
7.198
13
23
New Zealand
50
Furniture Workers
*
Norway
51
Building Workers
I 14
52
Bricklayers
*
53
Sawmill Workers
73
462 1
12.081 23
2.300
3.845
83
154
21
131 22
45
**
54
Woodworkers
45
2.154
55
Lumber Workers
*
8.000 1
14
Austria
Building Workers 25
Woodworkers 25
56
Building and Wood Workers 26
15
Palestine
57
Building Workers( Tel- Aviv) 27
58
Woodworkers( Tel- Aviv)
16
Poland
Building Workers 29
Woodworkers 29
59
Building and Wood Workers 29
17
Rumania
60
Building Workers
1 I
61
Woodworkers
I5
***** 15
1
31.499
711
10.641
1
I
1.234
6.969 207
5.201
-
308
819
18
Sweden
62
Bricklayers
140
8.302
-
63
Sawmill Workers
292 27.458
I I
64
Woodworkers
267
16.171
|||*||*|| ¦**
62
463
24
62
-
*
560 1
**||||*|||**
**
I
3*
737
4
500 1
*
439
27.907
*
1.964
8
62
6.845
65
*
462 1
117
14.078
III
*
P
2.300
75
3.928
275
5**
45
2.410
63
376
9.232
-
7
I
4.775
150
50
28
I
1.591
34
I 20
*
1
17
17
12
489
489
141
12.170 700 852 8.515
35
293
27.359
*
272 16.688
270
65
Carpenters and Joiners
237
20.862
*
22.166
66
Lumber Workers
*
23.037
*
590
23.373
-
Upholsterers 11
*
1.279
*
*
*
1.356
19
Switzerland
67
Building and Wood Workers
174
32.976
*
*
174
33.245
81
**|||*|**
3*
118 21
-
22
91
562
400 24
63
3*||^|*||||||
*
28
5
55
796
1.61634
39
39
*
20
Spain
68
Building Workers
450
47.000
450¹
1
47.000
69
Woodworkers
-
South Africa
**
8.146¹
*
8.146 1
1
Carpenters and Joiners 33
2.544
21
Trinidad
70
Building and Wood Workers 37
-
22
Czechoslovakia
7 1
Building Workers
859
43.132
922
*
285
*
72
Woodworkers( Prague)
254 13.709
*
*
*
* 266
41.351 13.646
772
590
73
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
I22
6.928
435
92
32
32
129
7.329
232
-
23
Hungary
74
75
76
Upholsterers 30
Building Workers
Woodworkers Wood- carvers
**
541
-
48
I
2.311 2.493 95
76
I5
5 I
*||
58
2.238
48
-
I
2.553 95
1
|*|| 28|*|
852 31
32
765
35
32
191
70
151
-
* 5*|*||
233
130
*
*
||
I.I.34 24
I.I.35
Countries 1.1.36 23
21
I.I.34 7736
I.I.35
Organisations 1.1.36 76
71
-
724.159
35
-
-
670.279
|
-
+11
+1
+++ 1+++++
+
+++
129 6,9
190 73.4
635 622,5
I.305
-
4.5
90 353
4,4
4.9
++++
+1.997+16,5
83 2,2
256
1.232
11,9 15,4
|||
357 28,9
392 12,7
33
213
4,0 2,6
99
0,4
517
3,2
1.304
6,3
336
1.5
77+6,0 269
0,8
1.781 63
4,1
0,5
401 5.8
73
-
3,2
60 2.4
53.880
7.4
The numbering in this Table corresponds with that in the Directory ( Appendix II), which contains the exact names and addresses of the affiliated unions. Cf. also Table V, b.
-
*) Not specified.) Not eligible or not separately classified. 2) Mainly ship carpenters and joiners
1) Figure for previous year.
-
-
-
for whom the Union no longer desires affiliation with the I.B.W.W. 3) For total membership figure of unions affiliated to other International Trade Secretariats besides the I.B.W.W., see Table VI ( Classification by Trades). 4) As a rule only given where young workers and/ or apprentices form a special section and are therefore separately classified. 5) Building workers only. 6) Woodworkers only. 7) 1.X.33. 8) Affiliated since 1.VI.35. 9) In final year of apprenticeship; 19-20 years of age. 10) This Secretariat consists of the craft unions Nos. 6 to 14. 11) The Danish Upholsterers and the Swedish Upholsterers, together with the Saddlers of both countries, form one single union; but only the Danish Upholsterers belong to the Danish Woodworkers' Secretariat. 12) 17 years of age and under. 13) The Wood Workers amalgamated with the Building Workers on 1.I.35. 14) On 1.I.34 and 1.I.35 there were 14 unions, and on 1.I.36 15 unions, affiliated to the N.F.B.T.O., which also includes a„, Composite Section' which
-
-
-
"
accepts members of any of the different trades in localities where there is no branch of the craft union in question. One organisation, the ,, Altogether" Builders' Labourers' Society, amalgamated on I.VII.34 with the Transport and General Workers' Union, which is also affiliated to the N.F.B.T.O.; the Wood- cutting Machinists affiliated on 1.X.34. The membership figures for the Painters, who, until 1.I.36 were affiliated to the Painters' International, and for the Asphalte Workers, who affiliated with the N.F.B.T.O. on 1.I.36, are not included in the figures for the N.F.B.T.O. given here. The individual organisations of which the N.F.B.T.O. is made up are: Woodworkers( 23), Building Trade Workers( Bricklayers, etc.) ( 24), Painters and Decorators( 25), Plumbers, Glaziers and Domestic Engineers( 26), Slaters and Tilers( 27), Street Masons, Paviors and Roadmakers( 28), Builders' Labourers and Constructional Workers ( 29), Slaters, Scotland( 30), Building and Monumental Workers, Scotland( 31), General and Municipal Workers( 32), Transport and General Workers( 33), Constructional Engineerers( 34), Plasterers ( 35), Wood- cutting Machinists( 36), Asphalte Workers( 37), Composite Section( 38). 15) Not including Woodworkers; see footnote 17.- 16) Including carpenters and builders' joiners, but not including ship carpenters and joiners; see footnotes 2 and 17. 17) Until the I.B.W.W. was founded the Woodworkers were affiliated
to the I.U.W. N.F.B.T.O.
-
18) Of these, 65,372 were affiliated to the
19) Under 21 years of age. 20) Crossed off the
register on 1.I.35.
in the 1933 Report.
-
21) From 15-17 years of age. 22) 14-18
-
years of age. 23) Without the 1,440 Painters who were included 25) Officially - 24) Under 19 years of age. dissolved in February 1934; see footnote 26. 26) The ,, illegal" groups of Building and Wood Workers merged in April, 1935, and affiliated to the I.B.W.W. on 1.V.35. 27) Affliliated since 1.I.35. 28) 16-18 years of age. 1.I.35. under.
30) Disaffiliated on 1.I.35.
-
-
29) Amalgamated since
31) 18 years of age and
32) 20 years of age and under. 33) Disaffiliated at the - 34) 20 years of age and under. 35) As beginning of 1934. compared with the 1933 Report there is a small difference here of 5,985 members. This results from the changes in the membership of the Scandinavian Upholsterers, the British Packing Case Makers, the Woodworkers in Croatia- Slavonia( Yugoslavia), the Norwegian Building Workers( see footnote 23), Sawmill and Lumber Workers, the Polish Building Workers, the Rumanian Building and Wood Workers, and the Czech Woodworkers( Prague), which have since become known. 36) Inclusive of the Altogether" Builders' Labourers' Society which was not included in the previous report; see footnote 14. 37) Affiliated since 1.I.36.
-
-

Table V, b
Memberships of Organisations affiliated with L.B.W.W. on 1st January 1936.
No. No.
I
Australia:
2
2
Country and
Organisation
Furniture Workers
Belgium:
Building and Wood Workers
Membership ( I.B.W.W.
Increase(+) or
decrease(-) from
1.I.1935 to 1.1.1936.
only)
Number
%
9.0001
80.572*
+ 5.364*
+ 7.1*
+593
+ 9.1
-
2041
(+ 1.071)*(+ 5.6)*
+ 315
+3.3
-
3
Denmark:
4
( 6/14)
a utw
3
Bricklayers
7.143
Carpenters
2
5
Plasterers
Woodworkers' Secretariat:
3
9.000* IIO¹ ( 20.030)*
6
Cabinet- makers and Joiners
9.848
ΙΟ
I I
7890123456
Wood- turners
Brushmakers
Coopers
416 4681
Picture- frame Makers
173
Woodworking Machinists
5.816
Wood- carvers
218
Vehicle- builders
1.113
Upholsterers
4
1.774
Wicker Workers
1361
Cork Workers
2171
Estonia:
17
Building and Wood Workers
7591
5
Finland:
18
Building Workers
3.5co*
19
Bricklayers
1.500
20
Woodworkers
3.145
6
21
22
7
( 23/38)
39
40
8
9
4 I
France:
Building and Wood Workers Coopers
Great Britain and Ireland:
N.F.B.T.O.
Brushmakers
Packing Case Makers
Irish Free State:
( see Great Britain)
Italy:
Building Workers
9.000 1 1.0001
++++-+
+++
6
+1.4
I
572
+ 0.5 +10.9
I
185
0.8
+11.6
656* 650
+ 23.1*
348
+76.4 +12.4
||
228.480
+39.2349
+20.79
2.300 2.450¹
500
ΙΟ
( 43/46)
243444
Yugoslavia:
Building Workers
1.944¹
Woodworkers: 5
( 2.517)*
Slovenia
831
Croatia- Slavonia
4491
45
46
Bosnia and Hercegovina
7371
Serbia
5001
Luxemburg:
Plasterers
( 100)
±+
432)*
432
|||
(+ 20.7)* +108.3
I I
Netherlands:
47
4849
Building Workers
26.193
1.714
6.1
Plasterers
1.910
54
2.7
Furniture Workers
6.359
486
7.I
12
New Zealand:
50
Furniture Workers
4621
13
Norway:
12345
Building Workers
17.964
Bricklayers
Sawmill Workers
Woodworkers
2.563
3.9281
2.549
+++
9.2321
|| w
+ 3.886
+27.6
263
II.4
139
+ 5.4
55
Lumber Workers
14
Austria:
56
Building and Wood Workers
7
15
Palestine:
மம்
57
58
84
Building Workers( Tel- Aviv)
Woodworkers( Tel- Aviv)
4.805 1.5911
+
-
30
+ 0.6
16
Poland:
59
Building and Wood Workers
40.000*
17
Rumania:
61
99
60
Building Workers
Woodworkers
+27.830
+228.7
I.500*
+
800
8521
18
Sweden:
120080
62
Bricklayers
9.212
63
Sawmill Workers
27.412
64
Woodworkers
17.214
Carpenters and Joiners
25.426
Lumber Workers
26.549
Upholsterers
4
1.448
++++++
697
53
526
3.260
+3 176
92
++++++
8.2
0.2
3.2
14.7
13.6
6.8
19
Switzerland:
49
67
Building and Wood Workers
33.389
+ 144
+ 0.4
20
Spain:
68
889
Building Workers
25.000
-22.000
-
- 46.8
69
Woodworkers
8.1461
-
21
21
Trinidad:
70
70
Building and Wood Workers 8
300*
22
Czechoslovakia:
73
722
71
Building Workers
72
Woodworkers( Prague)
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
23
23
74
75
76
10
Hungary:
Building Workers
Woodworkers
Wood- carvers
42.405 13.6461 7.472
+1.054
+ 2.6
+
143
+ 2.0
2.2381 2.553' 95
1
-
23 Countries
-
76 Organisations.
745.766
( 100)
+75.485
+ II. I
The numbering in this Table corresponds with that in the Directory( Appendix II), which contains the exact names and addresses of the affiliated unions. Cf. also Table V, a.
*) Provisional figure.
-
1) Returns not yet received; therefore figure for previous year.- 2) Affiliated since 1.VI.35-3) This Secretariat consists of the craft unions Nos. 6 to 14. 4) See footnote II to Table V, a. 5) Since 1.I.36 the four district organisations
-
are united in a federation. 6) Affiliated as from 1.I.36, but after the report had been sent to the printers.-7) See footnotes 25 and 26 to Table V, a; the membership cannot be disclosed. 8) Affiliated since 1.I.36. 9) Including the approximately 30,000 members of
-
-
the Painters' Society, which transferred to the I.B.W.W. on 1st January 1936, and the 1,100 Asphalte Workers who joined the N.F.B.T.O. on 1.I.36.

8
Table VI
No.
Country
No.
Organisation
Total membership, including sections not affiliated with I.B.W.W.
Bricklayers
Concrete workers
Plasterers, etc.
Tile, terrazzo layers,
etc.
Labourers, excavators,
etc.
Glaziers
Fire- place builders,
Stove- mounters
Plumbers, isolators
Painters, etc.
Memberships of Organisations Affiliated with I.B.W.W., Classified by Trades.
( Position on 1st January, 1935)
Stone- workers,
stone- carvers, etc.
Pavers, road- builders,
asphalt- workers
Quarry- workers
Brick and clay workers
Workers engaged in
mortar and cement
making
Roof- makers
Foremen, etc.
Carpenters
123
Australia
Belgium
Denmark
123
Furniture Workers
9.000
8.5001 5001
Building and Wood Workers
119.883
Bricklayers
6.550
6.550
4
Carpenters 3
( 9.000)
5
Plasterers
I IO
IIO
6/14
Woodworkers
18.959
15
Wicker Workers
136
16
Cork Workers
217
4
Estonia
17
Building and Wood Workers
759
125
5
Finland
18
Building Workers
2.844
16
76
26
735
451
25
176
687
19
Bricklayers
850
700
150
20
Woodworkers
2.797
6
France
399
21
Building and Wood Workers
9.000
3.500
6
22
Coopers
1.000
||
( 9.000)
|||||
|||||
Building
45.581
Woodwrkg 29.627
44.675 2
3.130
5.824 1.589 1.790
I.779 410
I. 122
468
830
2.0174
( 738) 5
136
217
458
828
26
174
40 1.349
809
Building
4,500
Woodwrkg 1.000 S
7
Great Britain
23
།
I.000
38
Building Trades Operatives
( including Northern
( N.F.B.T.O.)
Ireland[ Ulster] and
39
Brushmakers
215.28410 2.300
40.500
II.266
45.575
500
11.500 26.038(*) 20 4.546 7
I.000
8
2.288
Irish Free State)
40
Packing Case Makers
2.450
860
Irish Free State
Italy
Yugoslavia
( see Great Britain)
41
Building Workers
500
42
Building Workers
1.994
843
48
186
132
43
Woodworkers( Slovenia)
83 510
2
73
399
44
Woodworkers( Croatia- Slavonia)..
449
|||||||
67.150
||||
2.000
2.300
25
45
Woodworkers( Bosnia and Hercegovina)
737
46
Woodworkers( Serbia)
500
||
||
I I
Netherlands
47
Building Workers
28.184
4.420 1.017
48
Plasterers
1.964
148 I.75 I
522 9.886
268
277(*)
108
213
49
Furniture Workers
6.845
|||||
ΙΟΡ
1201
187
1 20
20
88
IO
18
-
|
64¹
138
3
180
531
28
II.439
13
23
New Zealand
50
urniture Workers
Norway
51
Building Workers
462 15.774
6.922
1.861 1.696(*)
144
1.186
1
4.198 1.858 446
2.446
1.14
||||
433 16
||||||||
|||||
2.9219
2.450
500
500
71
52
Bricklayers
2.300
2.300
424
356 22 460
53
Sawmill Workers
3.928
54
Woodworkers
2.410
55
Lumber Workers
10.232
15
16
17
18
45 65 8
14
Austria
56
Building and Wood Workers 12
Palestine
57
Building Workers
4.775
500
800
350 1.000
30
600
20
30
15 30
58
Woodworkers
1.591
Poland
900 650
59
Building and Wood Workers
12.170
Rumania
60
Building Workers
700
61
Woodworkers
852
Sweden
62
Bricklayers
8.515
7.200
35
62
422
63
Sawmill Workers
27.359
64
Woodworkers
16.688
32
36
46
227
65
Carpenters and Joiners
3
22.166
66
Lumber Workers
23.373
Upholsterers
I.356
21
22
92 22
19
Switzerland
67
Building and Wood Workers
41.933
6.284
20
Spain
1.976
418 10.201
375 126
Building Workers
90 4.757(*) 2.530(*)
47.000
69
Woodworkers
8.146
Trinidad
70 Building and Wood Workers 21
( 300)
|||
|||
Czechoslovakia
71
Building Workers
44.327
20.306
324
72
Woodworkers( Prague)
13.646
73
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
7.329
39
23
Hungary
74
Building Workers
2.238
I.OII
75
Woodworkers
I
2
15
27
85
335
2
2.553
76
Wood- carvers
95
-
-
|||
||||| │
I I
457
23
599
6.319
70 3.100
22.166
1.356
472
338
2.049
6.075
513
172
646
223 11.021
6 205
509(*)
1.134(*)
671(*) 662(*)
2.314
175
387 314
4.066
-
2.800 6.302
17 366
82 570 18
16
38
13
142
984 2.343
36
82 6
6
205
131
II2
1.678
137
|| །། ། མི །| ཚི །།། ཚི །||| ཙི །|#|
Building
6.969
Woodwrkg 5.201
700
22
25
194
796 14
4.000 23.359
5 331
169
38
I IO
5.444
159
23.373
( 724) 15
882
228
150
I 2
117
56
I. I 10
3.002 47.000
8.146
( 300)
135
I.229
1.881
150
369
39
1.005
16
717
721
882
28
4 I
32
48
1.050
829 17
III
58
88
.95
-
|||
1701
19
1.269 300
100
3.7981 300
130
50
9.232
391
I.000 11
43°
320
35
28
76
450 23
52 13
Total
755.629 ( 9.300)
24
90.794 2.252 16.172 1.994 78.083 1.108 6.922
331
13.523 35.614 25
26
9.137
2.045 3.500.
26
844 26
4.202 1.053 2.892 945
89.492 4
<-
22.574 8.201 36.353 6.599 6.826 37.804 36.855 446 64 ( 9.000)
7.753
<-
3.310 1.783 1.676 838 9.863
168.106 27 ( 300)
45.675
The numbering in this Table corresponds with that in Tables V, a and V. b, and in the Directory( Appendix II).
(*) Belonged to the Painters' International on 1.1.35.(*) Belonged to the Stone Workers' International on 1.1.35.. 1) I.B.W.W. estimate. 2) Of these, 5.931 were affiliated to the Glass Workers' International, and 38,744( among them pottery, brick, chalk and cement workers) to the Factory Workers' International. 3) Affiliated since 1.VI.35. 4) 970 pattern- makers, 172 picture- frame makers, 875 subsidiary workers in wood- cutting and mechanised woodworking factories. 5) Saddlers; belong to the Leather- workers' International and are not included in the final total; see footnote II to Table V, a. 6) Also affiliated to the Stone Workers' International. 7) Also included under ,, Bricklayers". 8) Included under Bricklayers" and ,, Labourers, excavators, etc.". 9) 1,321 constructional engineers and 1,600 members of the composite section
-
11)
of the N.F.B.T.O.; cf. footnote 14 to Table V, a.- 10) Not counting the circa 1,000 asphalte workers who affiliated on 1.I.36. Affiliated to the Land Workers' International.- 12) Affiliated since 1.V.35.13) 30 looking- glass makers, 22 refrigerator- cabinet makers. - 14) Apprentices. 15) Cf. footnote 5. 16) Among them 635 wood- turners and 4 piano workers. 17) Among them 334 musical instrument, and 298 button- workers. 18) Also affiliated to the Painters' International. 19) 143 stage carpenters, 27 subsidiary
-
-
workers.
-
20) Affiliated to the I.B.W.W. since 1.I.36. 21) Affiliated since 11.36. 22) Coopers, timber loaders. 23) Among them 200 iron benders.- 24) Of these, 670,279 were affiliated to the I.B.W.W., 33.570 to the Painters' International( and of this number, 570 were also affiliated to the I.B.W.W.), 9,061 were affiliated to the Stone Workers' International( and of this number, 3,787 were also affiliated to the I.B.W.W.), 38,744 to the Factory Workers' International, 5,931 to the Glass Workers' International, 1,000 to the
Land Workers' International, and 1,401 to no International Trade Secretariat at all. 25) Of these, 33,570 were affiliated to the Painters' International, and 570 of them to the I.B.W.W. as well; the British Painters( numbering 26,038 on 1.I.35) have been affiliated to the I.B.W.W. since 1.I.36. 26) Of the total 15,526 stone- trade workers in these three columns, 9,061 were affiliated to the Stone Workers' International, and of this number 3.787 were also affiliated to the I.B.W.W.--27) 115,465 building and 52,641 wood workers.
Joiners
Furniture workers etc.
Workers in woodenware
and miscellaneous
woodworking factories
Other or unspecified building or
woodworking trades
Membership not belonging to
I.B.W.W.

Propaganda.
After the main tasks in connection with the re- organisation and putting in order of the administration of the International had been completed, propaganda among the Unions in the building and wood trades which may be looked upon as belonging to the category of " free" trade unions but which are not yet affiliated, was taken in hand with vigour. The Table overleaf illustrates the extent of the correspondence involved by this. As this did not, to some extent, begin to I have its full effect until 1936 we give the figures for the period from I January to 15 May 1936 also, for purposes of comparison.
It may be mentioned that, in addition to the 200 individual letters shown in the Table, we also sent out on various occasions
circulars of a general propaganda character. For instance, at the Manner and extent beginning of 1935 a circular, pointing out in great detail the of propaganda. importance of affiliation, was sent out to organisations in North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. In the middle of 1935 a circular was sent out to about 100 local and district groups in Mexico, and in April 1936 a similar circular was despatched to all building and wood workers' organisations in South and Central America known to us. We send the Bulletin and the other publications of the I.B.W.W. regularly to those organisations which entered into correspondence with us. In addition, we generally send copies of those of our circulars which deal with trade questions of a general character( such as reduction of hours of work, occupational diseases in the building and wood trades, the protection of building workers, etc.) to the non- affiliated organisations also, for their information and consideration, in the consciousness that it is only thus, uttle by little, that we can get them interested in our work.
As a matter of fact these questions provided a welcome opportunity for getting into special communication with the more important Unions overseas. But as the result also of an attentive following of the problems of, and events in, the building and wood workers' movement in the countries in question, made possible for us by the wealth of material coming to us from the most varied of sources, we have often obtained valuable hints and ideas for the paving of the way to relationships.
If the fact be borne in mind that, as a result of the usually very great distances involved to reach Australia a letter requires a good four weeks if sent by ordinary post, and about two weeks by air mail even! a single letter and a reply sometimes involve a passage of time of two or three months, and that, in addition, the seeds of propaganda but rarely take root at once, then the results of our efforts thus far, even though they may in themselves be right meagre, may nevertheless be described as on the whole not unsatisfactory.
For all that, we will not conceal the fact that our attempts to extend the scope of our collaboration beyond the confines of Europe
53

Correspondence for Propaganda Purposes.
Outgoing letters
( exclusive of
circulars, etc.)
Country
1934
1.IV- 31.XII
1935
1936 1.I- 15.V
Total
Incoming letters
( exclusive of
circulars, etc.)
1934
1.IV- 31.XII
1935
1936
1.I- 15.V
America:
U.S.A. and Canada 1
Argentina 2
British Guiana
Cuba
Mexico 3
Trinidad
Total
I
7
2
17( 7) 6( 2)
3
341 34
42211
31211
-
32
12
I
I I
3
45( 12) 12( 3)
I
I
I
I
2
Affil. as fr. 1.1.36
3113
I
I
I
I
Australasia:
Australia 1
I I
New Zealand
1
= 0
333
30
Asia:
British India Palestine
13
I
3
I
Africa:
Egypt
South Africa 1
Europe:
Bulgaria
Denmark
7
| 7
18
56
41( 5) 23( 6)
Affil. as
I
14
4
fr. 1.1.35
25
12
Affil. as
fr. 1.I.36
24
33
13
I
3135
15( 2)
8( 4)
Affil. as
fr. 1.I.35
13
-
I
6
15( 6)
3
6
2
9( 2)
13
Affil, as
-
3
I
fr. 1.I.35
Estonia 4
I
France
I
Greece
3
Great Britain
4
Latvia
I
Lithuania
141134II
I
I
2
I
Luxemburg
I
I( I)
Affil. on 1.I.36
Total
I
Affil. as
2
fr. 1.I.35
112
I
( I)
Affil. on 1.I.36
99
66
ΙΟΙ
33
167( 33)
29
48
18
77( 18)
1) In addition to the few shorter circulars also sent out, a four- page long circular was sent out in connection with our campaign on behalf of the Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty, which was designed at the same time as general propaganda for the I.B.W.W.2) As part of a general propaganda campaign for the South American countries a manifesto in Spanish was, in addition, sent out in April 1936. 3) In addition, during 1935, we addressed a detailed circular to all local and district Building and Woodworkers' Associations in Mexico, about 100 in number, in order to establish a preliminary contact. 4) The Woodworkers at Tallinn amalgamated with the Building Workers' Union at the end of 1934.
हट
-

encounter great obstacles, obstacles arising not only out of material Obstacles both causes but also out of mental outlook. On the one hand, the distances material and which render intercourse by letter, but more particularly personal mental, intercourse, difficult, hamper mutual understanding. They are thus the cause of much lack of knowledge and hence, in turn, often of much indifference. Then again there is the economic crisis and the political ferment in the world, which, although they more than anything urgently call for the standing together of the workers of all countries, in practice often unfortunately have the reverse effect. This is due firstly to the fact that the activity- which is becoming increasingly complicated in their own countries, as a rule hardly leaves the comrades at the head of the trade union movement time for the cultivation of international collaboration, so essential nonetheless. In addition, it is understandable, even though by no means less regrettable and in the last resort erroneous, that, at a period when retrenchments are everywhere having to be made, the Unions feel little desire to enter into additional financial obligations, even when it is a question of so small an outlay and one in the long run so well worthwhile as is demanded by affiliation to our International.
-
Nevertheless, only too often it is the factor of outlook which appears to be of even greater weight than the material factors. Perhaps it is just as well to say here quite openly for once that we cannot avoid the impression that our fellow- workers in certain countries overseas have, admittedly, the fullest sympathy with cur efforts, but that they fight shy of entering into an organisational bond with their fellowunions in Europe because they fear that by so doing they may, in certain circumstances, be laying up for themselves disastrous moral and material consequences in short, because they do not want to burn their fingers on that" witches' cauldron", Europe.
-
Here we will not go into the question as to whether it really is possible to protect oneself against political catastrophes of such epidemic violence as Fascism and war by" isolating" oneself, or whether, in the long run, it is not more expedient to come to the assistance of those who, directly on the scene of the outbreak, are at pains to stamp out the smouldering fire before it flares up and sets not Europe alone but the whole world ablaze. The question is of primary importance so far as the fate of the organised workers of the world is concerned, but for our more limited purpose it is nevertheless of subordinate importance. For it is not the task of our International Federation of Building and Wood Workers to dabble in those big questions of policy which are, properly speaking, the preserve of the wider Labour Movement, just as little, incidentally, as it is the province of the individual unions in the building and wood trades to do this in their own countries. As a Trade International our prime concern is, for the furtherance of the trade interests common to all building workers and all woodworkers throughout the world, to unite all the organisations for both these groups coming
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-
International within the category of" free" trade unions for the achievement of collaboration a real international collaboration a collaboration which can only demands efficient be suitably fostered within the strong, well- founded framework of an machinery. organisation possessing the indispensable technical equipment for
The first successes to the account of our propaganda.
The limits observed in our propaganda.
this. This naturally by no means signifies that our International does not, in its own field and with its own weapons, carry on the fight against Fascism and war. On the contrary, we look upon this fight as one of our most important tasks, and we carry it on ourselves in the small things, just as in the large we support the campaigns of the I.F.T.U. When we call upon the Unions thus far not affiliated for aid and co- operation in this fight this does not mean, however, that we wish to impose upon them thereby obligations which cannot be fulfilled. For the collaboration within the I.B.W.W. is voluntary from beginning to end; the Rules of our International guarantee complete independence to every affiliated Union as a matter of principle.
Thus the fear that by affiliating to our I.B.W.W. they might expose themselves to unpleasant consequences is every bit as groundless as the fear that one might burn oneself with cold water. Moreover, so far as the purely financial side of the question is concerned, this will doubtless become of considerably less importance with the progress of the economic recovery which is taking place in most overseas countries, and by which the trade unions are benefiting also. This is the more the case as our I.B.W.W. is ready, in view of their special circumstances, to accommodate Unions outside Europe in a large measure in this respect. In the end, therefore, only the incontestable geographical obstacle remains. But it is certain that this can be overcome in a manner satisfactory to all if the necessary goodwill is there. Added to this there is the fact that, as a result of the rapid strides in the technique of transport, the world is, so to speak, becoming visibly smaller, and it is only commonsense that the Labour Movement should keep pace with this development, rather than find itself, as a result of the march of events, forced to limp in the rear. That even thus far our propaganda has not been without success is proved by the affiliation of the Building Workers of Palestine, the Carpenters of Denmark, the Building and Wood Workers of Trinidad and the Plasterers and Stucco Workers of Luxemburg, without, moreover, taking into account the indirect affiliations of the British Painters, Woodcutting Machinists and Asphalte Workers, and of the Estonian Woodworkers.
-
-
It is doubtless unnecessary to stress here the fact that our propaganda was concerned and still is solely with those organisations which come into question for affiliation to our International, i.e. Unions coming within the category of" free" trade unions. By this is meant those Unions having as their basis free self- administration, independent of church, political party, employer or State, and acting as the representatives of the economic interests of the workers united within them.
Incidentally, it may be mentioned that the denominational Unions.
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have Trade Internationals of their own within the framework of the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions. There is, for instance, the International Federation of Christian Building Workers' Unions with headquarters in Holland, which, at the beginning of 1936, had affiliated to it 8 Unions in Belgium, the Netherlands, AlsaceLorraine, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, with an aggregate membership of slightly over 80,000. Mention might further be made of the International Federation of Christian Woodworkers' Unions with headquarters in Switzerland, which, however, as a result of the events in Germany and Austria appears to have discontinued its work to all intents and purposes. Further, so far as the so- called International Committees for the Building and for the Wood Workers are concerned, brought into being many years back by the Moscow Red International of Labour Unions under the name of International Propaganda Committees of the Revolutionary Building Workers or Woodworkers as the case might be, as bodies for the disruption of our" free" trade union movement, these to- day function for lack of anything else to do solely as departments of the Russian Building and Wood Workers' Unions for propaganda abroad.
--
For reasons which are also obvious but of quite a different nature, our I.B.W.W. has imposed a further restriction on itself so far as a number of unions and sections of unions are concerned, which would, it is true, in every way come into question for affiliation but which already form a part of other Trade Internationals of a" free" trade union orientation. This applies in particular to those organisations which are affiliated to the International Secretariat of Painters or to the International Secretariat of Stone Workers. As known, these two Internationals have thus far declined to participate in the merger proposed by the I.B.W.W.( see page 74). We are confident however, that, with time, they will find their way to us en bloc. The Painters' International, whose headquarters are also in Amsterdam, comprises at the present time about 30,000 members in the purely craft organisations of Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia, as well as the appropriate sections of the general building workers' unions in Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The Stone Workers' International, with headquarters in Zurich, has about 50,000 members, of which, however, Belgium alone accounts for 30,000. It comprises the craft unions in Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands( Paviors), Norway and Czechoslovakia, and the appropriate sections of the building workers' unions in France, the Netherlands, Norway, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.( On this subject see Table VI: Membership of the I.B.W.W. classified by Trades).
On the subject of the relation of the I.B.W.W. to the more important of the non- affiliated organisations the following information may be given:
57

North America.
The extraordinarily complicated nature of the organisational relationships of the building workers in North America, i.e. in the United States and Canada, have been described in detail in Bulletin 3/1935 of the I.B.W.W. Happily it has proved possible to compose the differences referred to there during the course of the period under review. Unity was sealed in March 1936 at a special conference of the Building Trades Department which exists within the framework of the American Federation of Labor. This Department now comprises 19 craft unions with an aggregate membership of 14 million. The largest contingent is represented by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, which from 1926 to 1932 was an important and full member of the I.U.W., but which later doubtless not least as a result of the devastating effects of the crisis withdrew. The withdrawal of this large and strong Organisation from the work of international collaboration is the more regrettable in that, since I April 1935, it also includes the many trade union groups of lumber and sawmill workers, plywood and veneer workers, packing- case makers, etc., which came into being in 1933/1934 under the influence of the N.R.A.( again see Bulletin 3/1935).
-
It is clear that the difficulties within their own ranks, which called for a clearing up first, have so far not left the American comrades time seriously to consider organisational relationship with the I.B.W.W. But the increasingly intensive correspondence with the Building Trades Department, and the fact that in the course of it no divergences of opinion whatever of any importance have shown themselves with regard to the practical questions which are our preoccupation, make it possible to hope that an organisational bond will now soon be arrived at. Of special importance in this connection is the personal contact which it proved possible, on the occasion of the Geneva Labour Conference in June 1935, to establish with Mr. D. W. Tracy, the President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and one of the Vice- Presidents of the Building Trades Department. At the annual convention of the Department which took place in October 1935, Mr. Tracy advocated the support of the efforts of our I.B.W.W., with the work and methods of which he had become personally acquainted but a short time before. Thereupon the Executive was instructed to examine the question, and we are sincerely hopeful that now that the American comrades have overcome their own internal difficulties with regard to organisation the question of the relations between their central organisation and the I.B.W.W. will soon find a favourable solution.
Australia.
As known, in Australia the Furniture Workers have been affiliated to the I.U.W. and, later, to the I.B.W.W. since 1929. Their Organisation is an industrial one, embracing practically the whole of the continent, but it is, however, purely federal in character and is made
58

up of largely independent unions for the individual federal States- New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.
For the building industry, on the other hand, in which about 54,000 workers are reported to be organised, there are numerous separate craft unions in each individual State, e.g. for bricklayers, carpenters and joiners, painters, plasterers, stone workers, etc. Only in New South Wales, the most important State, has there existed, since 1934, an amalgamated union for carpenters and bricklayers. True, the unions in the individual federal States are usually linked up in an inter- State craft federation, but these relationships, always rather loose in any case, appear to have been rendered looser still by the long depression. On the other hand, however, an effort to bring about greater unity among the various craft unions is apparent to- day within almost all States. In several of the individual States very active cartels are at work, which will doubtless sooner or later become transformed into proper industrial unions for the building industry as a whole. Our I.B.W.W. is in fairly close contact with these groups and, in addition, with a number of separate craft unions.
With the timber workers, who form a union of their own, it proved possible to establish contact for the first time in 1935. Separate craft unions also exist for the coopers and the brushmakers but unfortunately we have not been successful, in spite of repeated efforts, in establishing contact with these. According to official figures the group" Furniture and Wood Industry" included in 1934 about 26,000 organised workers, and of this number about 9,000 are to- day affiliated to our International.
New Zealand.
The form of organisation in the building and wood workers' movement in the far- away island of New Zealand is very similar to that on the neighbouring continent of Australia. The Furniture Workers have been affiliated to the International since 1929. Thus far neither the I.U.W. nor, later, the I.B.W.W. have succeeded in establishing contact with the timber workers. The building workers are organised throughout on a basis of separate craft unions. A more or less loose national federation exists for every trade, which is made up of district organisations autonomous in a large degree. We established personal contact with the Secretary of the Painters' and Decorators' Union, Mr. F. D. Cornwell, at Geneva in 1935, and the contact thus established is being continued to- day in the form of a regular correspondence. By means of a donation the New Zealand Painters have already expressed to our I.B.W.W. their recognition of its activity, and we hope in the near future to be able to report their affiliation. With the Carpenters and Joiners, who likewise sent a donation as a token of recognition, our relations are also good and such as to give rise to the best of hopes.
59

60
South Africa.
One or two smaller and very tiny organisations apart, there are two main Trade Unions for the building trade in South Africa: the Building Workers' Industrial Union and the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers. This latter, which caters for carpenters and joiners only, was affiliated to the I.U.W. from 1926 to the end of 1933, but then, quite surprisingly, it disaffiliated.
Thus far we have not succeeded in getting the comrades of the Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers to reverse their decision. Nevertheless, our relations with them, now as in the past, are friendly, and we are not giving up hope that sooner or later a reaffiliation will nevertheless be effected. With the Building Workers Industrial Union aforementioned we are also on a very friendly footing. It enquired a little while ago for more detailed information with regard to affiliation to the I.B.W.W., but apparently the decision on the subject has still not been taken.
The Furniture Workers, whose national union, founded but a little earlier, went to pieces at the end of 1929 when the Cape Town branch left it in order to be able to conclude a local agreement with the employers, once again have a co- ordinating body to- day. The most important union is the one in the Transvaal with which, however, we have only recently re- established contact.
Argentina.
Our relations with the building and with the woodworkers in Argentina have recently taken on a very favourable form and one which holds out excellent prospects. During 1935 both groups conducted in Buenos Aires, the capital with its two million inhabitants, a general strike lasting many months for the conquest of the 40- hour week. In this fight they strained every nerve and were given the help of the entire trade union movement of the Argentine. The successful outcome of these movements appears to have strengthened the organisations considerably. The Woodworkers, who in the capital had already realised organisational unity in 1934, are planning a conference for the beginning of June 1936 at which it is to be attempted to form a union embracing the whole country at last. The Building Workers too, who appear to have a really strong federation of the various craft unions in Buenos Aires, are making preparations for the establishment of a national union at the earliest possible moment. Of great importance is the fact that both the Building Workers and the Woodworkers at least so far as their more important local are now affiliated to the Argentinian trade union centre. As known, the trade union centre at last decided in March 1936 in favour of immediate affiliation to the I.F.T.U.
-
Organisations are concerned
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Information Service.
Bulletin.
During the nine months of 1934 II numbers of the Bulletin with
a total of 67 pages in each language, and during 1935 6 numbers,
with a total of 60 pages in each language, appeared. At the end of Size and edition 1935 the total edition of the Bulletin per issue was 595, of which published.
number 150 were in German, 185 in English, 85 in French, 100 in Danish and 75 in Spanish. It should be noted that the Bulletin is despatched not only to affiliated organisations but also to many building and woodworkers' unions not as yet affiliated, as well as to practically all national trade union centres and other International Trade Secretariats, the leading Labour newspapers and periodicals, and many government departments, libraries, scientific institutes, etc.
With most of these we have an exchange agreement, with the result Exchange of that we receive regularly 200 newspapers and periodicals from all journals. parts of the world.
The Bulletin is our most effective recruiting medium. It enables
us to draw into our circle organisations as yet widely removed from
us and gradually make them a part of us. We keep strictly within Bulletin kept
the compass of a trade information paper. It does not fall within within the compass the scope of our task, indeed, to deal with the numerous general of a trade informatters affecting the Labour Movement. The publications of the mation paper. I.F.T.U., the I.L.O., and the various national trade union centres, contain information in abundance on these matters; moreover, it would require a far bigger machinery than our I.B.W.W. will ever be able to maintain even to touch on these matters. On the other hand, it has been our endeavour by careful sifting of the material and by brief, incisive wording, not only to report on everything of importance affecting the trade union life of the building workers and wood workers of the world, but, in addition, to do justice to matters affecting our trade. As is shown by the table of contents for each year's series( which gives the Bulletin an additional value as a work of reference) reports were given on 28 countries during 1934 and on 25 countries during 1935, while it should be borne in mind that the actual annual reviews for the various countries and unions affiliated were published, not in the Bulletin but in the Report on Activities for the year 1933, and in the present Report.
The reprinting of our reports is not yet altogether satisfactory. We have noticed that the Bulletin is often more promptly and aptly made use of outside the I.B.W.W. than within our own ranks.
Although there are many trade union journals regularly reprinting to Re- printing from a greater or lesser degree, others are taking over nothing at all. This Bulletin not yet
is much to be regretted, seeing that continuous reports on conditions satisfactory.
in other countries, especially in these times of rampant nationalism,
are calculated to keep up the interest of members in the international movement and to keep them acquainted with its activities. Let it by
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Collaboration by the Unions on their own
initiative necessary.
no means be denied that at present in all countries the national questions are decidedly in the foreground and absorb the interest of the trade union press, but it should nevertheless be possible for all affiliated unions possessing a journal of their own to provide regular reports on conditions affecting their own trades in other countries, whether by simply taking over our communications as they stand or, better still, by suitably adapting the material contained in them to the conditions prevailing in their own countries.
The collaboration of the affiliated unions in the Bulletin also leaves room for improvement. It very often happens that we learn very tardily from the trade union or Labour press, often just on completion of a new Bulletin, that something has taken place in some country- an important strike, a wage movement, an agreement,
-
-
an event in the political, social, or economic field. that would have been of immediate interest for our news service. Moreover, we do not ask in such cases for lengthy articles ready for publication but only for short reports, accurate and to the point, setting forth the salient features of the occurrence. We hope that ways and means may soon be found to bring about an alteration in this respect.
Report on Activities for 1933.
Owing to other and more urgent demands on us the Report on Activities for 1933 could not be completed and despatched until towards the end of 1934. Its value as a work of reference on the international building workers and wood workers' movement remains undiminished, however, owing to no small extent to the review, compressed into the smallest possible space and linking up with former reports of the I.F.B.W. and the I.U.W., of the main points in connection with the situation and activities of the affiliated organisations in the year 1933. The report, comprising 47 pages appeared in four languages( German, English, French and Danish); the edition being the same as for the Bulletin.
" Fascism".
The provision of information as to the nature and activities of Fascism in its various forms is an important part of the task of international trade union bodies. This object is served( besides by the Press Reports of the I.F.T.U., which are received direct by each individual union) by the fortnightly publication" Fascism" of the International Transport Workers' Federation. In order to make the abundance of excellently worked- up material contained therein accessible to the organisations of the I.B.W.W., the Management Committee decided in May 1934 to enable every affiliated union to be regularly supplied with a copy by taking out a collective subscription. From May to the end of 1934, 17 numbers, containing in all III pages in each language( German, English, French, Swedish and Spanish), were despatched, bearing, up to 1 July 1934,
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the title" Germany Under the Swastika", and thenceforward the more general title of" Fascism". The reprinting from it has in part been very brisk. Unfortunately, however, the unfavourable development of our financial situation obliged us in May 1935 to discontinue its supply; several unions now order this publication direct from the I.T.F. at a nominal charge. We would express our sincere thanks to the I.T.F. for the accommodating spirit they have shown us in connection with this matter.
The material in" Fascism" was supplemented as far as was possible and needful by trade communications in our own Bulletin.
Information supplied to individual Unions.
It is perhaps not sufficiently realised that the I.B.W.W. is willing and able to furnish either from the material at its own disposal or
by application to the appropriate bodies, any special information as
far as such is obtainable. In this way the collection of data relating Ask us!
to the brush- making trade, begun as far back as 1933 on behalf of We shall be delightthe British Brushmakers' Society has been proceeded with. For the ed to supply the Stone Masons' Union in New South Wales( Australia) we procured, information. together with the Stone Workers' International, very comprehensive data on the dust disease of the lungs among granite workers. For the British Woodworkers' Society we have repeatedly obtained information concerning particular undertakings, in connection with the agreement of this Union with the employers in the building trade according to which imported joinery is only to be handled by its members provided it can be proved to have been manufactured under conditions of labour regulated by collective agreement. In addition, information was obtained for the British N.F.B.T.O. on the slate industry in Norway, and for the British Woodcutting Machinists on the subject of the alleged employment of convicts in Estonian woodcutting shops.
We may further mention here that we have, on frequent occasions, helped fellow- craftsmen eager to emigrate to some other country with advice when they have applied to us for it. Unfortunately we have been obliged to advise them against such a step in almost every instance. In this connection a correspondence took place with, among other bodies, the Building Workers' Industrial Union in South Africa.
Reference Files.
The extensive if by no means complete collection of data accummulated in our offices and daily being added to, requires arrangement for convenient reference. As far as the time occasionally available for this purpose permits, this arrangement is to be carried out in stages. Besides the library and the collection of newspapers and Under five periodicals which have already been gathered together, we have an heads. archive of newspaper cuttings, an index of articles of interest in the periodicals, etc. regularly kept, and a collection of illustrations
63

Financial Report for 1933 and
1934
( possibly with an index of lantern slides and films) all, of course, according to an unified system. As regards the collection of illustrations, we may add that we contemplate supplying unions interested with illustrative material for their journals from time to time, as has, incidentally, already been done on three occasions during the period under review by means of special illustration supplements to the Bulletin.
Miscellaneous.
In 1935 a Financial Report for the period from 1 May 1933 to 31 March 1934 and from I April 1934 to 31 December 1934 was also issued. This was 16 pages long and appeared in German, English and French. It was circulated to the affiliated unions only. Mention must further be made here of the Memorandum with statistical supplement which the I.B.W.W. adressed to the Governing Body of the I.L.O. in January 1935 on the question of the reduction of hours of work in the building trade. This was 16 pages long and appeared in 4 languages and in the same edition as the Bulletin.
vil seb
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Special Activities of the I.B.W.W.
In addition to its ordinary activity in the domains of organisation: administration, cultivation of relations with affiliated and non- affiliated unions, the information service, the collection of material bound up with this, and so on, the I.B.W.W. has, during the period under review, had to give particular attention to various special questions. These were, on the one hand, the problems of reduction of hours, prevention of accidents and occupational diseases, and, on the other, that of the fight against Fascism and reaction.
-
-
Taking the long
If, in dealing with these questions, it did not always prove possible to achieve those immediate results for which we had earnestly hoped, this is due firstly to political circumstances, over which the international trade union movement has only a limited control and our Trade International as such naturally none at all. A further factor view. is what is usually termed the unpropitiousness of the times. Declining trade and the widespread and lasting unemployment resulting from this, naturally impair the driving force of the trade union movement in the national, and hence in the international, sphere. It would, however, be both unjustifiable and fatal to conclude from this as has unfortunately been done in one or two quarters that international co- operation is useless and serves no practical purpose. On the contrary, during a period in which the trade union movement is on the defensive and is seeking to hold its ground, such as we are passing through at present, it is almost more necessary to strengthen our international union for fighting purposes than during a period of victory and progress. Because the great problems by which the building and wood workers find themselves confronted are not confined to nations, but are international in character, international co- operation is the logical corollary of trade union activity in the national sphere. Moreover, even if the results do not in practice come up to our expectations, this is no reason to reduce international activity to a minimum or even to abandon it altogether. Rather is it a proof that we are still not doing enough. When judging the work of the international trade union movement, and thus of our I.B.W.W., too, the long view must be taken. Only thus does one realise its real purpose and value.
Reduction of Hours of Work.
The Stockholm International Trade Union Congress of 1930 made the 44- hour week a basic demand of the organised workers. Scarcely nine months later, at the meeting of the General Council of the I.F.T.U. in Madrid in April 1931, this demand had to be replaced, as being out of date already, by the farther- reaching demand of the 40- hour week.
The woeful story of how the international reduction of hours then dragged on at Geneva from one session of the Governing Body to another, from one International Labour Conference to the next( with
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Geneva 1934: The reduction in working hours is postponed again,
a special Tripartite Conference in January 1933 thrown in) is tola in detail in the Reports on Activities of the I.F.T.U. For this reason we confine ourselves here to that part of it in which the building and wood workers played a special part.
At the International Labour Conference of June 1934 the Employers' Group succeeded by almost united and deliberate sabotage, in which they were aided by most of the Government representatives, who also refrained from voting, in preventing the requisite quorum being obtained, and in this way they incapacitated the Conference for arriving at a decision and so defeated the 40- Hour Convention. For the second time the Conference decided to adjourn this pressing matter of the so needful reduction in working hours. In September, however, the Governing Body, at the proposal of nine Governments and supported by the votes of the Workers' Group, decided to propose at the 1935 Conference the adoption of a short general Convention embodying the principle of a reduction in hours, within the scope of which separate conventions for particular industries might The problem is gradually be adopted. In January 1935 the Governing Body would split up according then indicate the industries or trades in respect of which such to trades. separate conventions would in the same year be considered.
Building and Civil Engineering; Public Works.
In its report to the September meeting of the Governing Body the I.L.O. had indicated the building industry and public works as being especially suitable together with the iron and steel industry, the glass bottle industry and coal- mining. As it was to be expected that the strongest opposition would be raised against the inclusion of the building industry, the I.B.W.W. decided to embark upon an extensive propagandist movement. On 30 October we accordingly sent out to all affiliated and non- affiliated unions in the building trades a well documented circular reporting on the situation in this connection and requesting the filling in of a questionnaire. At the same time we began working up independently the material already at our disposal. This proved indeed to be needful, for notwithstanding the fact that many unions furnished us with material, in some respects quite extensive, it appeared that on the very items of our questionnaire to which the greatest importance attached, viz., those concerned with the practical effects of rationalisation in the building trade on the state of employment and the situation with regard to the share of wages in building costs, only very scanty particulars were given. In January 1935 the I.B.W.W. addressed to the Governing Body The L.B.W.W.'s an exhaustive memorandum backed by an abundance of data, which memorandum. was widely circulated and attracted much attention. The Governing Body decided to put the trade groups proposed by the I.L.O. including, therefore, the building and civil engineering and public works on the agenda of the Conference of June 1935.
-
-
The I.B.W.W. delegated its President and Secretary to Geneva in order to represent so far as possible the special interests of the
The I.B.W.W. at building and wood workers. Naturally, they worked in closest possible Geneva. agreement with the Workers' Group as a whole. Above all, however,
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they made a special point of establishing close personal contact with the representatives of building workers' organisations present in Geneva as workers' delegates or technical advisers, in order to achieve, by means of joint discussions, as uniform an attitude as possible. Such representatives were present from the United States, New Zealand, Belgium, Great Britain and Sweden. Of special importance in this connection was the contact which it proved possible to establish with Mr. D. W. Tracy, President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Vice- President of the Building Trades Department of the A.F. of L., and with Mr. F. D. Cornwell, Secretary of the New Zealand Painters and Decorators' Union.
-
but some
Returning to our actual subject we would recall the fact that, even though the atmosphere as a whole was a better one in June 1935 Geneva 1935: than during the two previous years, the Geneva Conference failed Disappointment for the third time in its most vital task. The" 40- Hour Convention again ( 1935)", which was adopted by 79 votes to 30, is devoid for the time progress at being of any practical significance whatever. Of the five draft least. conventions which were to bring about the actual realisation of the principle of the reduction of hours of work set forth in this general Convention, only the one for the glass bottle industry secured the two- thirds majority necessary for its adoption; the four others were postponed until 1936.
The proposed conventions for building and civil engineering and for
public works undertaken or subsidised by Governments were, unfortu- Building
nately, among those which suffered this latter fate. It is true that at and Public Works the vote in the plenary session these received 57 votes in favour to postponed until
40 against and 67 votes in favour to 38 against respectively, but 1936.
they did not obtain the necessary two- thirds majority. After this the Conference did, however, decide by 83 votes to 26 and by 84 votes to 31 respectively, to place the two questions on the agenda for 1936, and, at the same time, the Office was instructed to send out questionnaires to the governments in the usual manner in order to obtain the utmost clarity on the debatable issues.
This truly meagre result made it seem without prospect to conduct, at that juncture, a special campaign on behalf of the demand contained in the I.B.W.W.'s memorandum that the wood industry, i.e. the sawmilling industry, the furniture trade and the smaller branches of the wood industry, should be dealt with in 1936. Incidentally, in this connection, we ought not to pass over in silence the fact that the unions concerned, with but few exceptions, failed to procure for us the necessary data for a strong argument, for which we had asked them through the medium of questionnaires.
For the sake of completeness it should be added that between October 1934 and the close of 1935 the I.B.W.W. sent out five circulars on reduction of working hours, some of which were very extensive. Of these, two were sent out in duplicate, i.e. separately for the unions in the building trade and for the unions in the wood trade. All circulars and documentation were sent out in a total
The Wood Industry?
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The building
workers call on
Geneva to act.
The I.L.O. has enquiries made.
edition of nearly 300 copies, not only to the affiliated, but to practically all non- affiliated, unions in the building and wood trades known to us. In addition, articles and notes were published in the Bulletin at regular intervals on the development of the question.
Accident Prevention.
Following upon a resolution adopted by its Executive Council at a meeting held in August 1932, the International Federation of Building Workers( I.F.B.W.) requested the International Labour Office by letter of 12 October 1932 to have a special enquiry undertaken into all questions connected with the safety of building workers, with the object of arriving at an international convention. As early as December the Correspondence Committee for Accident Prevention occupied itself with this request, and in February 1933 the Governing Body of the I.L.O. instructed the Office to proceed with the collection of material. Urged by the I.F.B.W. and by several of its affiliated unions the I.L.O. decided in October to appoint an expert to undertake enquiries on the spot in a number of countries into the practical measures for the prevention of accidents on building sites, with special reference to scaffolding and hoisting apparatus. In consultation with the I.F.B.W. a Netherlands factory inspector, Mr. Winkel, was entrusted with this task and his program of work was discussed in December 1933 with the Executive Council of the I.F.B.W. at a meeting held in Paris. Mr. Winkel accordingly carried on his investigations in Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Rumania and Hungary, the last two countries mentioned having been included at the request of the I.F.B.W.
In April 1934 the Governing Body of the I.L.O. envisaged the question of the safety of workers in the building industry with a view to its possible inclusion in the agenda of the 1936 International Labour Conference, and after the Correspondence Committee for Accident Prevention had in November 1934 recommended that the The question of question be included, the Governing Body definitely decided at its scaffolding and meeting in January 1935 that the question of the protection of the hoisting apparatus building workers( confined to scaffolding and building hoists) to be dealt with should be included, as the only additional subject to be dealt with, in 1936. in the agenda of the 1936 Conference.
The Correspondence Committee of the I.L.O. for Accident Prevention thereupon adopted in October 1935 a draft for a Model Safety Code which, together with the report prepared earlier( of which a limited number of copies were placed at the disposal of the I.B.W.W. for distribution among the principal unions interested), is to be laid before the Conference as a so- called Grey Report.
Of importance to the woodworkers is the fact that, at the beginning The Wood of 1935, in accordance with a recommendation of the Correspondence Industry. Committee for Accident Prevention of November 1934 the Governing Body invited the governments to arrange for special attention to be given by their factory and trade inspectorates to accident pre68

vention in the timber extracting and wood working industries in 1936. The I.B.W.W. immediately sent out a circular to all unions affected, informing them of this decision, in order that they may see to it that their governments do in fact act in accordance with this. The I.B.W.W. is continuing to keep an eye on this matter in order that it may, as soon as a suitable occasion offers, take steps to secure that the question of the prevention of accidents in the wood industry is also dealt with internationally, with the aim of securing an international convention. Further, we would call to mind the fact that this question was the subject of a report and a resolution as far back as the International Woodworkers' Congress at Heidelberg in 1929.
Occupational Diseases.
The Correspondence Committee on Industrial Hygiene of the I.L.O. dealt in October 1935 with a number of questions of special importance to the workers in the building and wood trades.
As known, the 1925 International Labour Conference adopted a convention on the subject of compensation in the case of occupational The Geneva Condiseases, restricted in the first instance to lead and mercury poisoning vention.
and anthrax, but extended in 1934 to cover silicosis and diseases
caused by phosphorus, arsenic, benzole, certain hydrocarbons, radioactive matters, and certain skin diseases caused by tar, etc. The
Committee has now proposed a further extension. This is, in so far Further extension
as our trades come into question, to cover fibrosis of the lungs proposed.
caused by asbestos dust, skin diseases caused by cement, mineral oils,
turpentine, varnishes and lacquers, alkalis, poisonous varieties of
wood, and chromium.
In addition, the Committee has recommended to the Governing
Body the preparation of a draft for a convention to be adopted later
with regard to safety in caisson work( the danger of compressed A convention with air). Further, a resolution in favour of the compulsory labelling of regard to caisson poisonous materials used for industrial purposes deserves mention, work?
as does the discussion of a suggestion by the Danish Government concerning the setting up of a permanent international committee on the silicosis question.
As far as occupational diseases in the wood trade are concerned,
we would recall the fact that, during 1931/32, the I.U.W. compiled
a series of articles consisting of seven separate treatises, published The Wood in the Bulletin, which contained not only the demands of the organised Industry. woodworkers, but also, above all, an instructive survey of the entire problem of the occupational diseases which threaten the woodworker and of the compensation of them. This survey has repeatedly been made use of in the socio- medical press, particularly of recent times. The I.B.W.W. has not neglected to give, by means of circulars and through the medium of the Bulletin, information on the progress of the question of occupational diseases in the building and wood trades. A memorandum to the I.L.O. is contemplated.
69

An appeal for
support.
Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty.
The Fight against Fascism and Reaction.
For the purpose of providing our comrades in the Fascist and semi- Fascist countries with material means, the Secretary was authorised at the session of the General Executive Council held in August 1934 to address an appeal to the unions of building workers and wood workers throughout the world. At the end of October a detailed circular to the affiliated organisations was sent out, and this was followed by a special and closely reasoned appeal to the nonaffiliated unions in America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. This was intended to serve at the same time as a general canvass for the I.B.W.W.
Though a number of affiliated unions, especially in Scandinavia and the Netherlands, forwarded donations, and in some cases on quite a handsome scale, the result was unfortunately neither adequate to the purpose nor up to our expectations. This is due to the fact that many affiliated organisations are themselves involved in great difficulties owing to the protracted crisis or are occupied in the relief of refugees who have fled to their particular countries( this applying especially to Czechoslovakia and Switzerland). A further cause was that a number of unions made their participation conditional upon the imposition by the International of an obligatory instead of a voluntary contribution, a condition which, having regard to prevailing circumstances, it was unfortunately impossible to fulfil. But the main reason for the poor result was that most unions have sent the lion's share of what they can spare for combating Fascism and aiding its victims to their national trade union centres, i.e. to the I.F.T.U. For a criticism of the inconveniences which have thus arisen readers are referred to the section on the I.F.T.U. in the chapter on" Relations with other Organisations".
The donations received, amounting to about 6,500 guilders, were Fund against put into the Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty founded by the I.F.B.W. in 1933 and subsequently taken over by the I.B.W.W. From this Fund support was extended to Germany, Austria, Danzig, the Saar Territory and Poland. Notwithstanding the fact that the sums given in aid were only very modest indeed, it may be said that they proved practically helpful. This was Austria, particularly true of Austria, where the woodworkers need financial assistance from the I.B.W.W. for the purpose of clandestinely reconstructing their organisation. Finally, it may be added that at a secret conference held in April 1935 the Austrian woodworkers united with the building workers to form a new union," Freie Gewerkschaft der österreichischen Bau- und Holzarbeiter", which thereupon affiliated to the I.B.W.W. A press report entitled" Die Bau- und Holzindustrie", printed on small sheets of thin paper in miniature type, is being passed from hand to hand on jobs and in the shops; in November 1935 this had a circulation of 3,500 copies.
In Germany the situation is less favorable. There the Fascist Germany. terrorism is undeniably far harsher than in Austria and illegal
70

activity is more directly associated with risk of life. Yet we are in more or less regular touch with a number of comrades who have stood staunchly by the old cause. For obvious reasons no details can be furnished in this report regarding such relations and the illegal work itself. Suffice it to say( and this applies to Austria as well to some extent) that the camouflaged communications often carried on via devious routes, have involved great expenditure of time and pains for the I.B.W.W.
As regards the Saar Territory the building workers and woodworkers there, who on I April 1934, together with the carpenters The Saar Territory. and painters had amalgamated into an united organisation, was given a lump sum in aid. The I.B.W.W. contributed in addition nearly 500 guilders to the special fund set up by the I.F.T.U. out of which the unfortunately futile struggle against the reversion at that juncture of the Saar Teritory to Germany was financed.
The financial assistance extended to Poland was on behalf of the Poland. wood workers, who had got into acute financial difficulties, and the Danzig. sum given to Danzig was to meet a case of personal need.
Finally it may be mentioned that the Spanish friends renounced
the help which was offered them after the events of October 1934 Spain. for the purpose of maintaining their Organisation; the giving of aid to the numerous victims was effected centrally by the I.F.T.U.
Other Activities.
When, in 1924, the headquarters of the Italian Building Workers' Union had to be transferred abroad, it proved possible, as known, to salvage a considerable part of the money that the Organisation had invested in the workmen's co- operative productive societies for civil engineering, set up under its auspices. The" Unione delle Co- operative per Lavori Pubblici all' Estero" was founded, with headquarters in Paris and a capital of 1 million Lire, the main aim of which was to provide work for the members who had emigrated from Italy. By notarial document the Building Workers' International( and later the I.B.W.W.) was appointed trustee. As a result, the Secretary of the I.B.W.W. sits on the Executive of both the Italian Union and the" Unione", and he has, in fact, regularly attended the more important meetings of these bodies.
In 1932 the Executive Council of the Building Workers' International elected a second representative, namely, Mr. August Vuattolo, Secretary of the Swiss Building and Wood Workers' Union. At the end of 1934 Mr. Vuattolo, who is of Italian nationality, was appointed deputy secretary of the Italian Organisation by Secretary Quaglino and the Secretary of the I.B.W.W., acting in accordance with the power of attorney conferred upon them by the notarial deed aforementioned. After the death of Mr. Quaglino on 13 July 1935 Mr. Vuattolo took over the post of Secretary, in addition to his other regular post. These dispositions received the assent of the Management Committee.
The Italian
Building Guilds in France.
71

As a result of the economic crisis and of the failure of the Cooperative Bank in France the" Unione", which for a long time had made excellent progress, got into difficulties which it has not proved possible to surmount to this day. With the agreement of the representative of the I.B.W.W. certain organisational changes were made as early as 1934, and drastic economies of up to 50%.
During the period under review the Secretary of the I.B.W.W. has, jointly with the I.F.T.U., the French Building Workers' Union, the Italian Building Guilds in Paris, and the French Co- operative The Paris branch Societies, continued his efforts to save the considerable assets in of the German cash and kind of the Paris branch of the German" Bauhütte G.m.b.H., Building Guild Ltd., Pommern"( Building Guild Ltd., Pomerania) from being grabbed Pomerania. by the newly appointed Nazi representative. As far back as 1933 a
committee was appointed to study the position and present a report. But, not least as a result of the far- reaching ramifications and interlacing of the undertaking, the material and personal aspects of the affair turned out to be of the most complicated, and in consequence it has not been possible to bring matters to a successful conclusion to this day.
As regards other activities of the I.B.W.W. it may be mentioned British Guiana, that the British Guiana Labour Union, a small Labour and trade union centre in the British colony of Guiana on the north- east coast of South America, informed us in October 1934 that the Governor of the colony had in August 1933 placed a ban on meetings and demonstrations. At the instance of the I.B.W.W. and the N.F.B.T.O. Mr. George Hicks adressed a question on the subject to the Colonial Minister in the House of Commons at the beginning of 1935. Though the reply was unsatisfactory we were informed some time afterwards that the new Governor had in March removed the ban.
From 26 August to 2 September 1934 and from 2 to 7 September
The L.F.T.U. 1935, the I.F.T.U. held its fifth and sixth International Conference Summer Schools. of Young Trade Unionists, the former at Dorchester, England, the
latter at the Abbey of Pontigny, France. Being entitled to put forward two or three candidates the I.B.W.W. suggested to its affiliated organisations that they should send delegates through its mediation but at their own expense. As far as we are aware, however, only one delegate, a building worker from Holland, took part, and that in the Dorchester Conference.
Finally we would record the fact that the I.B.W.W. was represented The Tolpuddle by its General Executive Council, which was holding a meeting in celebrations. England at this time, at the centenary celebrations organised by the British Trades Union Congress at the end of August 1934 in honour of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, those six farm labourers who, a hundred years ago, were sentenced to seven years deportation to Australia with hard labour for their pioneering trade union activities. In Bulletin No. 2/1934 we published an illustrated article on this episode out of the early days of the British trade union movement.
72

Relations with other Organisations.
International Federation of Trade Unions.
The friendly relations with the I.F.T.U. which had always been maintained by the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W. have continued to exist, since the founding of the I.B.W.W. We have endeavoured as usual, within the compass of the guiding principles regulating the organisational relationship between the I.F.T.U. and the International Trade Secretariats( I.T.S.), to do our allotted, usually very modest part in the work of the former. The efforts of the I.F.T.U. in the sphere of social and economic policy, and in particular those in The activity of the connection with the reduction of hours, the provision of employment, economic planning, the fight against war and reaction( we would call to mind here its anti- Fascist activities, its fund- raising campaigns on behalf of the German, Austrian, Latvian and Spanish workers, its efforts in connection with the Italo- Abyssinian conflict), its youth and educational work, etc., provide many points of contact with our own activity.
I.F.T.U.
At the meeting of the General Council of the I.F.T.U. at Weymouth in England from 27 to 29 August 1934, with which the annual joint conference with the I.T.S. linked up, our I.B.W.W. was represented by Messrs. Hauwaert and van Achterbergh. After a paper on the concentration of the international trade union movement proposed by the I.F.T.U. had been discussed, the meeting signified the adherence of the representatives of the I.T.S. to the principle of the maintenance and the autonomy of the I.T.S., but at the same time expressed a desire for closer collaboration with the I.F.T.U. This Setting up of the led to the setting up of a Co- ordination Committee consisting of Co- ordination three representatives of the I.F.T.U. and five of the I.T.S.; for the Committee of the latter the following were elected: Fimmen( Transport Workers); L.F.T.U. and the Shaw( Textile Workers); Spiekman( Salaried Employees); Van L.T.S. der Heeg( Clothing Workers); and De Jonge( Factory Workers). This Committee occupied itself at several sessions with the fight against Fascism in Germany, Austria and the Saar Territory, and it was endeavoured to secure the co- ordination of efforts in both moral and material respects.
Co- ordination, accurate demarcation of spheres of work and competences between the I.F.T.U. and the I.T.S. is an urgent necessity, and indeed an essential condition for really effective activity. This is evident from the fact already mentioned in the
section on" The Fight against Fascism and Reaction" that the I.T.S. The fight against ( including our I.B.W.W.) in carrying out the collections necessary Fascism and its for the support of their fellow- craftsmen in the countries affected financial precontinually met with the objection that all the money that could be requisites. spared had already been contributed via the various national centres
to the I.F.T.U., leaving little or nothing for the I.T.S. concerned. But on the other hand the I.F.T.U. under the pressure, it is true,
-
73

of the abnormal conditions
-
has repeatedly requested the I.T.S. to contribute jointly with the national centres to its various aid funds notwithstanding the fact that the guiding principles for organisational collaboration between the I.F.T.U. and I.T.S. as last laid down in the year 1933 specify that the collections for general purposes instituted by the I.F.T.U. shall be organised solely via the national centres. After all the I.F.T.U. and the I.T.S. are built up in the main from the same organisational units and the I.T.S. are placed in an impossible situation if money is to be required of them which they have to collect from the unions to which the I.F.T.U. also applies directly, i.e. via the national centres affiliated to that body. If it is not desired that the I.T.S. put a stop entirely to their activities against Fascism in connection with their particular trades and there are many reasons making this appear undesirable then the necessary means must be put at their disposal. This could be managed if the various unions were to contribute out of what they could spare for anti- Fascist action half via their national centres to the I.F.T.U. and the other half to their Trade Secretariats, or if the money were collected solely through the national centres and subsequently divided in a fixed proportion between the I.F.T.U. and the I.T.S. The only other way would be to have the contributions sent into one central fund to be administered by the I.F.T.U. and the I.T.S. jointly.
-
At the meeting of the Co- ordination Committee which took place on 29 November 1935 the Secretary of the I.B.W.W. had an opportunity of personally elucidating a series of suggestions put forward a little earlier in writing. The exchange of views at that meeting has doubtless contributed to bring about a considerable clarification.
In addition the I.B.W.W. was represented at the Council meeting of the I.F.T.U. in Copenhagen at the end of May 1935( which this time was not followed by a conference of the I.T.S.) as well as at the special joint meetings of the I.F.T.U. and the Labour and Socialist International at Geneva on 6 September and at Brussels on 12 October 1935, for the discussion of the Italo- Abyssinian conflict. Painters' and Stoneworkers' Internationals.
In accordance with the scheme drawn up by the I.F.T.U. for the unification of kindred Trade Secretariats, rendered urgently necessary by the events in Germany and Austria, the I.B.W.W. is known to The question of be occupied in making moves for amalgamation with the International amalgamation Federation of Painters and the International Stoneworkers' Secreacute. tariat. This possibility was in fact taken into account in fixing upon the guiding principles for the amalgamation of the I.F.B.W. and the I.U.W.; moreover, the I.B.W.W. had postponed drawing up the Rules until such time as the two Internationals should have defined their attitude towards the amalgamation question.
The Painters and
The International Federation of Painters held its eighth conference the question of at Copenhagen on 17 and 18 September 1934 and our I.B.W.W. was a fusion. represented there by its Secretary. A motion of the Norwegian
74

Building Workers' Union( Painters' Section) urging that negotiations for amalgamation with the I.B.W.W. should be entered upon was rejected by five votes to three. The motion was supported by the Norwegian and British Painters totalling over 30,000 members, while the Unions in Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and Czechoslovakia
with about 25,000 members altogether voted against it. Later the The British British Painters' Union dis- affiliated as from 1 January 1936; as it Painters transfer belongs to the British N.F.B.T.O. it thus automatically became a to the I.B.W.W. member of the I.B.W.W.
The International Stoneworkers' Secretariat held its ninth ordinary
congress at Brussels on 31 August 1935. The Secretary of the
I.B.W.W. was present at this as a guest. Amalgamation, which was The Stone- workers supported in particular by the Netherlands and France, was rejected and the question of by 23 votes to II; the 23 votes represented 44,553 members and a fusion.
the eleven, 8,794. At the same time a considerable increase in the affiliation fee was decided upon.
Whatever attitude the two Internationals may adopt towards our well- intended amalgamation moves, it will remain our endeavour to keep up a good and friendly collaboration with them. It was in this spirit that during the period dealt with here we put forward the proposal to carry on the movement for the reduction of working hours jointly. In agreement with the two International Federations we thereupon sent out our questionnaire on the subject to their affiliated unions. Unfortunately the results did not come up to our expectations, so that the idea of submitting to the I.L.O. a joint memorandum on behalf of the three Internationals had to be abandoned.
Finally, we may mention that an agreement was come to with the Stoneworkers' International whereby the publications and other material of interest issued by either International should be made available to the other's affiliated unions also.
Woodworkers' and Bricklayers' Federations of Scandinavia.
Despite the existing divergence of views as to the utility and form of the amalgamation between the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W. the Woodworkers. relations between the I.B.W.W. and the" Skandinavisk TræarbejderSekretariat", which has a membership of about 125,000 and is the Federation of the Woodworkers' Unions in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, have continued to be quite friendly and loyal. Vice- President Hauwaert attended by special invitation the meeting held by the Federation at Gefle, Sweden, in July 1934, at which amalgamation was the subject of earnest discussion and resolutions. ( See also the section on the Founding of the I.B.W.W.).
A like spirit of loyalty animated our relations with the" Murarnas Skandinaviska Fonds", which is the name of the Federation of Bricklayers. Bricklayers' Unions in Scandinavia. This body being mainly in the nature of a fund for mutual financial aid, however, we have hardly any direct points of contact with it.
75

In conclusion, mention may be made of the fact that on 1 October Painters. 1935 a similar Federation was brought into being, consisting of the Painters' Unions in Denmark and Sweden and the corresponding groups of the Building Workers' Unions in Norway and Finland. This represents a continuation of the agreements for mutual aid which already existed from 1914 to 1923 and from 1924 to 1928. In addition, collaboration between the Danish Plumbers, the Danish Smiths, Plumbers. the Swedish Plumbers and the corresponding trade groups of the Norwegian Building Workers' Union was initiated in- 1934.
The I.B.W.W. and the I.L.O.
International Labour Organisation.
-
-
Our relationships with the International Labour Organisation in Geneva which, as known, consists of two sections, namely the International Labour Office and the International Labour Conference held annually under its auspices continued to be very close and important during the period under consideration. They are concerned, primarily, with the questions of safety and shorter hours in the building and allied industries, questions which are receiving the attention of the Organisation and are dealt with more fully in the relevant sections of this report( see pages 65 and 68). Of the further questions which at present are on the agenda or in course of preparation in Geneva we may mention here those of paid annual holidays, industrial diseases in the building and wood working trades( see page 69) and labour recruitment in colonies and territories with similar conditions of employment. The latter question is also of interest to our International, seeing that it affects, among others, the workers employed in certain tropical forest regions, whose often very hard lot has repeatedly received attention in the publications of the I.U.W. and later the I.B.W.W.*). For a full review of the activities of the International Labour Organisation in the years 1933-1935 we refer to the Report on Activities of the I.F.T.U.
The International Labour Office, which since the sudden death of Mr. Albert Thomas on 8 May 1932 has been under the able guidance of Director Harold Butler, and in which Mr. Adolf Staal occupies the responsible post of chief of the Workers' Organisations Service, has during the period under review frequently assisted us with information of the most various kinds, for which we should like to express our warm thanks here.
By the affiliation of the United States of America and the Union
-
*) International Union of Woodworkers: Labour Sufferings in Dark Tropical Forests. The Plight of the Lumber Workers in Argentine, Brazil and the Dutch East Indies ( Bulletin No. 2/3/1928; illustrated). Report on Activities, 1925-1928; Section: Lumber Workers in the Tropics( p. 45). Labour and Capital in Tropical Forests: I. Potentialities of Tropics for Future of World Timber Industry; II. Timber and Wood Industries in Tropical Asia; III. Timber and Wood Industries of the Dark Continent ( Bulletin Nos. 1/2; 3; 4/5/1930; ill.). Gleanings from the Wood Industry of the East ( Bulletin No. 1/2/1931; ill.). International Federation of Building and Wood Workers: Help for the Lumber Workers in the Tropics( Bulletin No. 5/1935).
76

of Socialist Soviet Republics the I.L.O. registered a gain which
indeed does not make the loss of Germany less regrettable but never- The I.L.O. extends theless more than offsets it. This extension of the I.L.O.'s range is of both range and
great importance to the international trade union movement. The scope. growing interlacements of social and economic policy within recent times confront the I.L.O. continually with new and increasingly comprehensive tasks for the accomplishment of which the cooperation of the United States and the U.S.S.R. is of the highest importance. Though the tangible results secured by the International Labour Organisation may at times be disappointing, the working class is nevertheless not blind to its threefold value as an international coordination agency for social and economic experiences, as an instrument for the promotion of national social legislation, in backward countries more especially, and as a forum and centre of international communications for the workers' movement. We should like in this connection to associate ourselves with what the I.F.T.U. wrote in its report to the Brussels Congress of 1933:
" There are no differences of opinion in our Trade Union Movement as to the necessity for participating in the work of the International Labour Office. This is not to say that the I.F.T.U. and its affiliated organisations expect salvation from Geneva, but only that the trade unions, internationally and nationally, make use of all means which may help to promote the social demands of the working class. The activities of the I.L.O. and their results must not be judged from the narrow standpoint of whether this or that regulation of an international convention may not have long been in force in this or that country and in a form more favourable to the workers; the question to be asked is what it has done for the International Working Class as a whole and what it has done to stimulate or promote national social legislation. The work at Geneva must be judged on a long- term basis: this is the only way of realising its true meaning and value.... The I.L.O. and the International Labour Conferences are one of the many means to be taken to enable the international working class to attain its goal."
77

SECOND PART
FINANCIAL REPORT
FOR THE PERIOD FROM
1 APRIL 1934 TO 31 DECEMBER 1935

vbBIг 1834 10 34 DECEWBEK JJ32:
МОЯ
ТИМИСТ УГ БЕЬОВІ
2EC
ТЯАЧ

H. J. WEGERIF
ACCOUNTANT- AMSTERDAM( Z.)
Gabriël Metsustraat 6
-
Tel. 23830
Auditor's Statement
The undersigned, H. J. Wegerif, Chartered Accountant resident at Amsterdam, hereby declares to have been charged by the Management Committee of the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers to check the attached Balance- Sheets and Income and Expenditure Accounts, together with the books and vouchers, for the periods I April to 31 December 1934 and 1 January to 31 December 1935. The results of the enquiry have been embodied in two reports dated 14 May 1935 and 6 May 1936. He came to the conclusion that no full clarity was attainable as regards the financial position arising since and as a result of the seizure of part of the books and vouchers by the authorities in Berlin. For the rest the said books and accounts were found to be in order.
( sgd.) H. J. Wegerif,
AMSTERDAM, 4 December 1936.
Chartered Accountant.
81

see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
82
Balance Sheet at 1 April 1934 ¹.
Assets
Liabilities
Available Means:
Florins
Florins
Debts:
Florins
Florins
Incasso- Bank, Amsterdam
36,310.27
Deposit
40,241.86
Netherlands Furniture Workers' Union Netherlands Building Workers' Union
2,126.11
5,406.76
Postage, Office Requirements Translations
83.33
440.26
43,843.14
40,765.45
Received in Advance:
Sundry Debtors:
Contributions
Czech Building Workers' Union for
Pension Fund
Loan
5,095.76
Affiliation Fees, Arrears
for 1933
Fl. 1,351.29
;, 1934
" 2,297.50
3,648.79
Pension, Paid in Advance
250.Fees to Pension Fund, Arrears
244.19
Salaries, Paid in Advance
315.90
Loan, Personal
200.Postage, Paid in Advance
25.Office Requirements, Paid in Advance
17.50
Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty
Capital
4,217.40
73.50
378.29
4,669.19 8,876.64
9,797.14
671.Pro Memoria:
To Various Unions for Guaranteed Loans to Czech Building Workers' Union
To Netherlands Furniture Workers' Union for Guaranteed Loan to Hungarian Woodworkers' Union... To Netherlands Building Workers' Union for Guaranteed Loan to Hungarian Building Workers' Union Interest
6,276.02€
6
10,000.7
5,927.- 7
Office Fittings, Furniture, etc.
Pro Memoria:
Stock, Nominal Value
German Labour Bank, Berlin ( I.U.W.)
Cooperative Bank, Hamburg ( I.F.B.W.)
R.M. 25,000.R.M.
8
5,192.24 R.M. 88,414.695 6,276.026
Czech Building Workers' Union for Loans Guaranteed by I.B.W.W. Fl. Hungarian Building and Wood Workers' Unions for Loans Guaranteed by I.B.W.W.
Interest
Total
54,311.28
Total
54,311.28

see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
Profit and Loss Account 1 April 31 December 1934 2.
Debit:
Florins
Florins
Salaries, Insurance, etc.
Salary( After- payment on behalf of I.F.B.W.)
Translations
5,651.11
297.98
5,949.09
1,381.26
Meetings of Management Committee and General Executive
3,264.47
Delegations, Other Travelling Expenses
2,078.76
Travelling Expenses( After- payment for 1933 on behalf of I.F.B.W. and I.U.W.)
464.72
2,543.48
Office Requirements, Other Administrative Expenses.. Depreciation of Office Fittings, Furniture, etc. Library, Subscriptions, including Collective Subscription to ,, Fascism"
2,766.55
79.47
248.85
Postage, Telegrams, Telephone
Legal Charges
Grants not chargeable to Pension Fund
Pension Fund:
Payments
Contributions
Annual Report, 1932( I.F.B.W.)
Other Expenses
429.87
470.80
250.750.697.53.1,353.95
57.53
18,848.32
Credit:
Affiliation Fees for 1933 Affiliation Fees for 1934
Congress Expenditure( I.U.W.) Refunded
Interest
Deficit
Florins
3
572.07 10,601.71 3
Florins
II, 173.78 18.81.22
7,575.32
18,848.32
H
W.U.I)
A tri bikestel.2
OTHCS
83

84
Available Means:
Incasso- Bank, Amsterdam
Sundry Debtors:
Czech Building Workers' Union for
Loan
2,248.68
Affiliation Fees, Arrears
670.64
Pension, Paid in Advance
250.Fees to Pension Fund, Arrears
140.Salaries, Paid in Advance
see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
Balance Sheet at 31 December 1934.
Assets
Liabilities
Florins
Florins
Debts:
Florins
Florins
43,188.97
Deposit....
39,360.71
Netherlands Building Workers' Union Office and Administration Expenses Translations
3,600.65
371.02
71.72
Postage
13.36
Annual Report, 1932( I.F.B.W.)
Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty:
213.20
43,630.66
315.90
Loan, Personal
215.Office Requirements, Paid in Advance
33.56
Balance as at I.IV.34 Receipts from
378.29
1.IV- 31.XII.34 4,298.78
3,873.78
Expenditure from
Stock, Nominal Value
R.M. 25,000.8
Office Fittings, Furniture, etc.
Pro Memoria:
German Labour Bank, Berlin ( I.U.W.)
Cooperative Bank, Hamburg ( I.F.B.W.)
R.M. 5,192.24 R.M. 88,414.69 5 4,919.106
Czech Building Workers' Union for Loans Guaranteed by I.B.W.W. Fl. Hungarian Building and Wood Workers' Unions for Loans Guaranteed by I.B.W.W. Interest
Total
==
48,036.75
Pro Memoria:
To various Unions for Guaranteed Loans to Czech Building Workers' Union
To Netherlands Furniture Workers' Union for Guaranteed Loan to Hungarian Woodworkers' Union To Netherlands Building Workers' Union for Guaranteed Loan to Hungarian Building Workers' Union Interest
Total
4,919.10
6
10,000.- 7
5,927.- 7
1.IV- 31.XII.34 1,572.30
974.2,726.48
3,104.77
Capital:
Balance as at 1.IV.34
Deficit, I.IV- 31.XII.34
8,876.64 7,575.32
1,301.32
48,036.75

see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
Profit and Loss Account, 1935.
Debit:
Florins
Salaries, Insurance, etc.
7,331.48
Translations
990.76
Meetings of Management Committee and General Executive
3,179.71
Delegations, other Travelling Expenses
3,188.41
Office Requirements, other Administrative Expenses Depreciation of Office Fittings, Furniture, etc.
1,638.93
158.40
Printing
419.22
Library, Subscriptions, including Collective Subscription to" Fascism"
277.64
Postage, Telegrams, Telephone
670.36
Grants not chargeable to Pension Fund
72.50
Miscellaneous
73.17
Excess of Income. over Expenditure
1,193.04
19,193.62
Credit:
Florins
Florins
Affiliation fees for 1934 and previous years
900.68 9
Affiliation fees for 1935
15,103.519
Extra levy for 1935
2,979.63 4
19,010.82
Interest
Profits on Exchange
154.69
85
28.11
19,193.62

see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
86
Balance- Sheet at 31 December 1935.
Assets
Available Means:
Florins
Florins
Debts:
Florins
Liabilities Florins
Incasso- Bank, Amsterdam
4,813.76
Deposit
678.82
Cooperative Wholesale Society Ltd., London(£ 2,503.148.8d.)
18,170.84
Netherlands Building Workers' Union, Amsterdam
6,519.94
22,984.60 Netherlands Furniture Workers'
Sundry Debtors:
Union, Amsterdam
5,000.Affiliation Fees, Arrears
Postage, Office Expenses
384.36
2,068.18
Printing
17.94
Extra Levy for 1935
2,979.63
Translations
100.52
Fees to Pension Fund, Arrears
Salaries, Paid in Advance
Loan, Personal
Outstanding Balance to the Credit of
the I.F.B.W. in Germany: 4,658.70 Marks valued at
Office Fittings, Furniture, etc.
.
67.50
Affiliation Fees, Paid in Advance
38.50
277.12,740.08
125.Pension Fund:
Fees Received
1,000.- 5
Payments
6,517.31
1,000.1,016.45
1,000.16.45
Pro Memoria:
Stock, Nominal Value
R.M. 25,000.German Labour Bank, Berlin
( I.U.W.)
R.M. 5,192.248
Interest
Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty:
Balance at 1.I.35
Received
30,501.91
3,104.77
2,505.03
5,609.80
1,474.41
4,135.39
Expended
Capital:
Balance at 1.I.35
1,301.32
From Funds of I.B.F.W.
in Germany
11,115.63
Excess of Income over
Expenditure in 1935. 1,193.04
13,609.99
17,761.83
30,501.91

Appendix
Affiliation Fees Received during the Period 1.IV.34 to 31.XII.35 10.
Country
Organisation
1933
1934
1935
Florins
Florins
Florins
Australia
Furniture Workers
59.90
14.97
Belgium
Building& Wood Workers
209.64
1,880.20
Denmark
Bricklayers
67.165.Carpenters
112.50
Plasterers
5.5.Woodworkers' Secretariat
Upholsterers
425.
81.-
Wicker- workers
Cork- cutters
Finland
Building Workers
Bricklayers
Woodworkers
France
Building Workers
5.
7.50
62.50
72.50
21.
17.50
37.50
52.50
234.-
225.Ireland
Yugoslavia
Woodworkers
Great Britain and Building Workers( N.F.B.T.O.)
Brushmakers
40.
4,284.42 4.591.41
57.10
56.47
Packing- case Makers
37.50
62.50
Building Workers
50.
47.50
Woodworkers, Slovenia
"
Bosnia- Herzegovina.
60.43
Serbia
IO.―
"
Netherlands
Building Workers
291.44
702.50
Plasterers
61.62
50.
Furniture Workers
170.Norway
Building Workers
Bricklayers
203.50
350.54.
65.55.Sawmill Workers
95.
97.50
Woodworkers
65.Lumber Workers
257.50
Palestine Poland Sweden
Building Workers
43.65
Building& Wood Workers
13.85
Bricklayers
253.32
215.Sawmill Workers
683-75
303.75
Woodworkers
417.50
II2.
Carpenters& Joiners
555.Lumber Workers
72.80
585.Upholsterers
Switzerland Spain
Building& Wood Workers
Building Workers
574.67
-
552.50
300.
40.50
-
Czechoslovakia
Building Workers
946.29 1,080.Hungary
Woodworkers( Prague). Building Workers
Receipts I.IV- 31.XII.34 Receipts 1.I.- 31.XII.35.
1,923.36 8,011.17
1,571.32 13,062.33
-
765.50
1,035.342.50
100.
87

see Explanatory Notes, pp. 89-91
Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty 11.
Receipts
1933
Denmark........ Bricklayers
Florins
Florins
378.29
1934
Denmark
Bricklayers
328.14
Woodworkers' Secretariat
559.48
Netherlands
Building Workers
1,500.Norway
Building Workers
547.94
Bricklayers
443.40
Woodworkers
92.II
Sweden
Bricklayers
434.08
Spain
Building Workers
318.05
Czechoslovakia
Woodworkers( Prague)
30.58
Hungary
Woodworkers
45.4,298.78
1935
Norway.
Sawmill Workers
145.60
Sweden
Carpenters and Joiners.
931.96
Sawmill Workers
1,116.Czechoslovakia.. Building Workers
311.47
2,505.03
7,182.10
Expenditure
1934
1935
1,572.30
1,474.41
3.046.71
Receipts
Fl.
1933 378.29
1934
1935
4,298.78
2,505.03
Expenditure
"
1,572.30
1,474.41
Excess of Receipts over Expenditure
Fl.
378.29
2,726.48
1,030.62
Balance at 31.XII
Fl.
378.29
3,104.77
4,135.39
( 1.IV.34)
88

Explanatory Notes
1) As the amalgamation of the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W. took place on I April 1934, that part of the affiliation fees for 1934 ( including those outstanding on 1 April 1934) which was payable in respect of the period 1 January to 31 March 1934 is covered by the Profit and Loss Accounts of the two separate Internationals. These have been included in the Financial Report for the period 1 May 1933 to 31 December 1934, the circulation of which has been confined to affiliated organisations. The remainder of the fees for 1934 is to be found in the initial Balance- Sheet of the I.B.W.W. at 1 April 1934 under the item" Affiliation Fees, Paid in Advance" in so for as paid before the amalgamation ( the sum in question being Fl. 4,217.40), and in so far as not yet paid, together with the contributions outstanding for 1933 and earlier years, under the item" Affiliation Fees, Arrears", the total sum of which was Fl. 3,648.79. A similar procedure was adopted in respect of the extra contribution levied upon Unions formerly affiliated to the I.F.B.W. for the Pension Fund.
2)
The Profit and Loss Account for the period I April to 31 December 1934 for the most part only contains income received and payments made in respect of the period covered, excluding receipts and payments in respect of preceding or later periods. There had to be included, however, certain items for the period when the two Internationals still had their headquarters in Berlin, owing to the fact that the management of the funds from I January to 31 April 1933 was not exactly ascertainable, so that no account can be rendered for that period. It has further to be taken into consideration that after the closure of the Profit and Loss Accounts of the separate Internationals the I.B.W.W. still met a number of claims on the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W., which items could consequently not be included in the accounts of the latter two bodies.
3)
Received for 1933 and earlier years during the period 1.IV- 31.XII.34( see Appendix).... Less: Arrears of Affiliation Fees as per BalanceSheet at 1.IV.34
Contributions for 1933 carried forward
Fl. 1,923.36
"
1,351.29
Fl.
572.07
89

Received for 1934 during the period 1.IV- 31.XII.34 ( see Appendix)...
Part corresponding to I.B.W.W. of Fees received prior to 1.IV.34, as per Balance- Sheet at I.IV.34 Arrears of Affiliation Fees at 31.XII.35.
Less: Arrears of Affiliation Fees as per BalanceSheet at 1.IV.34
Fl. 8,011.17
"
4,217.40
"
670.64
Fl. 12,899.21
2,297.50
و,
Contributions for 1934 carried forward.. Fl. 10,601.71
4) Exercising the powers conferred upon it in August 1934 by the General Executive, the Management Committee decided in December 1935 to impose an extra levy of Fl. 5 per 1,000 members to meet the expected deficit. This levy, from which the affiliated Unions outside Europe have been exempted, still had to be paid by all the affiliated unions on the date of the Balance- Sheet.
5) The item of 88,414.69 marks derived from the former I.F.B.W. in Berlin( which through the accretion of interest had in the meantime risen to 93,753.65 marks and which is shown in the Balance- Sheet at 31 December 1934 under the heading" Pro Memoria") was in 1935 converted into cash by an accredited representative of the I.B.W.W. With it£ 2,500, the equivalent of 89,094.95 marks, was purchased and deposited in the Cooperative Wholesale Society Bank, London. As no complete settlement was to hand regarding this transaction on the date of the BalanceSheet, the balance of 4,658.70 marks, valued at 1,000 guilders, has been included in the Balance- Sheet of 1935.
6)
As the Czech Building Workers' Union fully repaid in the course of 1934 and 1935 the loans contracted in 1921 for which the I.B.W.W. stood security, the corresponding credit and debit pro memoria items of the 1934 Balance- Sheet have disappeared.
7) The Netherlands Building and Furniture Workers' Unions, by accepting( subject to certain reservations) payment of about 50% of their claims, have relieved the I.B.W.W. of its obligations as guarantor, so that these pro memoria items have also disappeared. The amounts paid to the two Unions( Building Workers, Fl. 3,000; Furniture Workers, Fl. 5,000) appear on the Balance- Sheet at 31 December 1935 as liabilities.
Blocked by the Secret State Police.
8)
90

9)
Received for 1934 and earlier years( see Appendix) Fl. 1,571.32
Less: Arrears as per Balance- Sheet at 31.XII. 34
Contributions for 1934 and earlier years carried forward
Received for 1935( see Appendix)
Arrears of Affiliation Fees at 31.XII.35
"
670.64
Fl. 900.68
Fl. 13,062.33
دو
2,068.18
Fl. 15,130.51
10) This statement only includes ordinary affiliation fees actually received during the period 1.IV.34 to 31.XII.35. It is obvious, therefore, that the total amounts shown separately for the periods 1.IV- 31.XII.34 and 1.I- 31.XII.35 merely reflect the entries in our books( see Notes 3 and 9). A detailed specification of affiliation fees actually paid for 1933, 1934 and 1935, irrespective of the date on which they were paid in, will be found in the Table facing page 92. This Table was closed at I October 1936.
11) The Fund against Fascism and for Democracy and Liberty was founded in 1933 by the International Federation of Building Workers and subsequently continued by the I.B.W.W. in virtue of a decision of August 1934 of its General Executive. For obvious reasons no specification of the expenditure can be given here.
91

bulani
The Specification of Contributions for 1933-1935 on page 92* must not be considered as a part of the preceding Financial Report for the period 1 April 1934 to 31 December 1935.

Celno W.8.
Specification of Contributions for 1933-35( Explanatory Notes):
The present specification of the contributions paid by affiliated unions for the years 1933, 1934 and 1935 is a continuation, as far as concerns the unions formerly affiliated to the I.U.W., of that given in the Report on Activities for 1929-32 of the I.U.W. It should be noted, however, that even for the period in which the I.U.W. and the I.F.B.W. still existed separately the contributions from the unions which belonged to both Internationals have been added together.
The numbering of the unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. on I January 1936 corresponds to that of the Directory( Appendix II). The statement shows the sums actually paid for the year in question irrespective of the date of receipt. With a view to clarity and completeness, we have also included those sums which were paid either to the I.F.B.W. or the I.U.W., i.e. prior to the formation of the I.B.W.W. on 1 April 1934, or not until 1936( before 1 October). No account is given of these latter sums in the Financial Report on pp. 79-91, for the reason that it only relates to the period 1 April 1934 to 31 December 1935. The totals of contributions received shown in the Profit and Loss Accounts for 1934( last three quarters) and 1935 do not agree with the above statement of sums actually paid for the further reason that the former include contributions due but outstanding in respect of the period in question( with the exception, however, of sums for which respite was granted or whose collection is doubtful).
-) Due but not paid.+) Not due. 1) New South Wales only;
--
ET

see Explanatory Notes at the back
Specification of Contributions for 1933-35
( closed at 1 October 1936)
1933
117.50
113.95
+
+
From Ordinary DuesNo.
No.
Country and Organisation
Extra Levy. for 1935
Congress
Expenditure
Pension Fund ( I.F.B.W. only)
Refunded
1933
1934
1935
( I.U.W. only)
1934
1935
I
Australia:
I
Furniture Workers
+
+
+
+
0.50
15. +
2.50
6/13
14
Upholsterers Basket- ware Makers
25
16
Cork- cutters
4
17
Building Workers 6
5
Finland:
18
19
Building Workers
Bricklayers
20
Woodworkers
Ship- carpenters
Germany:
Building Workers 5
Carpenters 5
Woodworkers 5
Upholsterers 5
Estonia:
14
59.901
14.971
2
Belgium:
2
Building& Wood Workers
1.707.80
1.922.50
1.880.20
402.86
142.Bulgaria:
Woodworkers
2
3
Denmark:
34566456Bricklayers
Carpenters
3
Plasterers
+++
Woodworkers 25
+
+
+
172.79 + 3.30
160.165.
36.15.
+
112.50
45.
5.
5.
I.
231.420.45.81.425.94.50
79.13.2.50
5.9.
not
5.
5.7.50
+
3.480.
++++
++++
TA+
++++
0.50
1.50
1.50
tottttt
+
++++
+
12.50
12.50
53.
62.50
72.50
17.50
21.
17.50
30.45.37.50 52.50
7.50 15.+
++ oo
8.50
++++
+
SURVI VE
255.25.
234.25.
225.
21
35:-
+
15.
14:34
++++
+.
5.I.75 +
5.
+
7.50
int
20.20.+
3.031.42
I.575.32.34 37.50
4.284.42 57.10 62.50
4.730.56.47
1.150.73
+
428.50
536.50
472.50
+
58.18
17.50
++
6
21
France:
Building Workers
Woodworkers
7
22
Coopers
Great Britain:
23/38
Building Workers( N.F.B.T.O.)
Woodworkers
39
Brushmakers
8
40
Packing Case Makers
8
Ireland:
see Great Britain
9
Italy:
41
Building Workers ⁹
ΙΟ
Yugoslavia:
42
Building Workers
( 43/46)
Woodworkers
43
44
45
46
-
++++
50.47.50
48.75
9.78
35.4311
12.50
-
_ 11
+1
1+
+
++
12.50
IO.+
+
+
+
+1|| 1
++
++
Slovenia
Croatia- Slavonia 10
Bosnia- Herzegovina Serbia 12
Sawmill Workers 13
Cuba:
Woodworkers 2
Luxemburg:
Building& Wood Workers 14 Plasterers 20
Memel Territory:
Bricklayers 15
=
I I
Netherlands:
47
4849
Building Workers
Plasterers
Furniture Workers
12
New Zealand:
50
Furniture Workers
16
Painters
20
+
++
2.50
4.87
+++
+++++
+
+++
++++
+
+
+
878.82 64.727.50 61.62
702.50
140.108.44
215.94
50.170.9.50
31.50
++
キ
72.50
70.
5.
5.
36.50
+
+
T+
1+
1+
++
++
++
++
13
Norway:
51
Building Workers
52
Bricklayers
53
Sawmill Workers
54
Woodworkers
55
Lumber Workers
14
56
15
Austria:
Building Workers 17
Woodworkers 17
Palestine:
452.70
302.50
350.87.54
17.50
22.50
25.54.55.59.45
95.65.97.50
+
7.50
7.50
35.60.—
65.—
12.50
19.50 10.50
I 20.257.50
9
40.2.436.25 171.72
18
319.16
9
+
53.50
57
Building Workers 19
+
58
Woodworkers
tà
9.74
to
+
43.65
9.74
++
16
Poland:
59
Building Workers ⁹
13.8521
Woodworkers
9
།།
}
17
Rumania:
61
95
60
Building Workers
9
Woodworkers
9
18
62
129999
Sweden:
Bricklayers
244.18
253.32
215.46.50
++
+1
+1
+
キ
++
++
++
bittt
_ 9
++
1+
1+
ཀ
1+
20.20.63
Sawmill Workers
593.25
690.―
683.75
135.50
197.64
Woodworkers
253.II
415.75
417.50
86.12
83.50
65
Carpenters& Joiners
327.564.—
555127.50
109.66
Lumber Workers
210.
612.80
585.131.61
66.Upholsterers
25
+
+
40.50
7.50
+
19
Switzerland:
67
Building& Wood Workers
725.83
764.13
832.50
167.50
56.50
50.50.20
Spain:
68
Building Workers
1.515.50
1.065.50
653.50
_ 9
69
Woodworkers
120.99
+1
I 14.
62.50
+
+
I
South Africa:
Woodworkers 22
31.26
+
+
+
+
+
+
21
Trinidad:
70
70
Building& Wood Workers 20
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
22
Czechoslovakia:
7 1
72
22
Building Workers
1.168.29
1.080.1.035.212.50
+
107.50
105.Woodworkers( Prague)
73
Woodworkers( Reichenberg) Upholsterers 23
225.100.420.342.50
68.50
75.
210.185.—
37.32.50
15.
+
+
+++
23
25
Hungary:
74
75
730
Building Workers
Woodworkers
9
50.50.
76
Carvers 9
United States& Canada:
Carpenters& Joiners 24
911
+
+11
++ b6
9++
+
+
+

THIRD PART
SURVEY OF COUNTRIES
1934-1935

ЯНТ
1839 1832
ГОБЛЕЛОН СОПИЛЫЕ?

The following very brief surveys describe the outstanding features of the situation and activities of the affiliated Unions during 1934 and 1935. To a large extent these surveys have been compiled from reports actually received from the countries in question. In some cases, however, much, or even the whole, of the information had to be gleaned from other sources. These surveys go on from the point at which the duplicated Report on Activities for 1933 left off. This Report, which, in so far as copies are available, may be obtained from the Secretariat of the I.B.W.W. free of charge, will serve as a basis for comparison. The same is true of the more specialised articles dealing with events and Union activities in the various countries which have appeared in the Bulletin of the I.B.W.W. during 1934, 1935 and, in a few instances, 1936. Reference to the number of the Bulletin in question is made in each instance in the actual surveys.
The statistical material which becomes available each year speaks for itself as a rule. In order to avoid wearisome repetition this material has been put together along uniform lines in the various Tables, a fact to be borne in mind when considering the present surveys. This applies both to the details furnished by the Unions as to Membership ( Tables V a, b; VI), Income, Expenditure and Net Worth( VIII a, b) Benefits( IX a, b) and Wage Movements( X), and to the data taken from other sources as to the Labour Market( I, IV), Building Activity( II) and the World Timber Trade( III a, b). In connection with the surveys we would also expressly draw attention to the first three sections of the present Report:" Economic and Political Conditions"," The Building Industry", and" The Timber and Wood Industry". A complete Directory giving the names of the chief officials, the addresses of Union headquarters and particulars of Union journals will be found at the close of the Report.
It should be noted that the large numerals in heavy type in the brackets immediately following the name of each country indicate the number which the country in question has been given for the purpose of all the Tables. The smaller numerals in ordinary type represent the numbers which have been used throughout for the different Unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. in the particular country.
The interested reader will find more detailed information on many of the general occurrences and problems which it has only been possible to touch upon in the present Report in handy form in the following: the Report of the Director of the International Labour Office( I.L.O.) to the 19th and 20th International Labour Conferences at Geneva in 1935 and 1936 respectively; the International Labour Office Year Book for 1934-35( Vols. I and II), and for 1935-36; the Year Book of Labour Statistics for 1935-36, also published by the I.L.O.; and, further, the Report on Activities for 1933-35 of the International Federation of Trade Unions. The Appendix to this contains, among other things, the reports of the affiliated National Trade Union Centres.
95

Australia( 1, 1)
Owing to its agrarian character the state of Australian economy is dependent, for better or for worse, on the state of the world market. The economic recovery which began in that country in 1933 continued without interruption during the period under review. The improvement is due in the main to the stiffening in wool prices and to a recovery in wheat and butter prices, though a lesser one than in the case of wool. As a consequence of the general improvement there has been a very considerable increase in building activity. If 1931 be taken as 100 the index of building permits issued had risen by July 1934 to 267.3 and by July 1935 actually to 419.1. This favourable development in building was not without its repercussions on the wood industry, which, apart from the export of certain hardwoods and special woods, virtually works for the home market only.
As a consequence of the improvement both the building and the wood workers were able to secure certain improvements in wages and working conditions. In the furnishing trades wage increases of from 2/- to 3/6 per week were secured. Of special importance would appear to be the fact that the 40- hour week was introduced in the building industry in Queensland on I July 1935, although without wage compensation( see Bulletin 3/1935). In addition, in December of that year the working week in the furnishing trades in the States of Victoria, South Australia( here not until January 1938) and Tasmania, was reduced from 48 to 44 hours and thus brought into line with that in the other States New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. Hours of work in the timber industry, i.e. in the sawmills, the packing case works, door and sash factories, etc., were reduced from 48 to 46( see Bulletin 2/1936).
-
In this connection it is worthy of mention that at the Congress of the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1934 a motion in favour of the abolition of compulsory arbitration and its replacement by direct negotiations with the employers was rejected by 72 to 48 votes.
From the point of view of organisation the economic improvement has not only resulted in a general increase in membership but also in the re- strengthening of the contact between the Unions of the individual Federal States, which had been loosened by the chaotic effects of the crisis. At a conference which took place in Melbourne at the beginning of 1935 a new impulse was given to the Federated Furnishing Trade Society. In this connection it is special cause for satisfaction that the conference confirmed its affiliation to the I.B.W.W.( see Bulletin 1/1935). The Building Workers' movement is still very much split up according to crafts, but of recent years there has been apparent a striving for greater unity, which finds expression in the formation, or revival, of cartels covering the whole industry in the individual States. As, however, the building trade organisations are so far not affiliated with the I.B.W.W. these developments are outside the scope of the present Report.
96

In conclusion it may be stated that the, albeit considerable, increase in the Labour poll at the Federal elections of 1934 was not sufficient to turn out of office the Conservative Federal Government, which has tried all along to transfer the burdens of the depression to the shoulders of the workers. In three of the six Federal States, however, viz. in Queensland, Western Australia and Tasmania, a Labour Government has already been at the helm for a shorter or a longer period.
Austria( 14, 56)
The courageous but hopeless fight put up in February 1934 by the vanguard of the Austrian workers, who had been provoked beyond all limits, against the insolent, whole- hogging Fascism of " Dollfuss, Fey and Starhemberg, has been dealt with at length in the section entitled" The Struggle in Austria" of the 1933 Report on Activities.
When Fascist reaction had bloodily beaten down the working class it also dissolved the organisations representing the workers' industrial interests and replaced them by the yellow" Einheitsgewerkschaft" ( Fascist Trade Union Confederation) which is under Government control and whose officials are appointed by the Government.
The Vienna building workers were the first to learn what the loss of" free" trade unions meant. While the guns were still firing at the dwellings built by Socialist Vienna, the Christian Building Workers' Union, the forerunner of the" E.G.", concluded a new agreement entailing a loss of wages of from 14 to 20%. Even worse was the fate of the little group of builders foremen, who, for fear they might lose their jobs, went over to the" E.G." en bloc. As a mark of gratitude for this they received, on 22 November 1934, a new agreement which cut down their weekly wages from 96 to 85 Austrian shillings, their site bonus from 12 to 10 shillings, and their additional rate for night and Sunday work from 100% to 50% and that for ordinary overtime from 50% to 25%. And in this manner one branch after the other had to go through the mill. It was from a notice in the newspaper(!) that the Vienna painters, decorators and varnishers learnt that they had been presented with a new agreement which, apart from other worsening of conditions, involved for them an out and out wage cut of 12% for skilled operatives who had finished their apprenticeship more than three years before a decrease of from 1.62 to 1.42 shillings. The worst treated of all, however, were the Vienna woodworkers. They had an agreement which was valid until I March 1935. Without any apparent reason whatsoever the" EG" concluded a fresh agreement for them on 21 March 1934(!) which involved a wage cut of 7%! So great was the indignation, however, that the Labour Chamber intervened and the" EG" was obliged, willy- nilly, to conclude, on 15 June, a fresh agreement, a slight improvement, it is true, on the existing agreement but nowhere near
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as favourable as the old one.. This last agreement, incidentally, was prolonged for a further year on I March 1935.
In the other parts of Austria too, a number of agreements had their provisions worsened or were not renewed in the two groups in question, and as a result the workers were placed completely at the mercy of the employers who made no bones about taking full advantage of the terrible unemployment which prevailed. These examples showed the building and wood workers that the Fascist" EG" was no substitute for the" free" trade unions. Their rejection of this tool of the reactionary employers was therefore unmistakable. More, in both groups an" illegal" organisation came into being as the continuation of the dissolved" free" Unions. Hardly had the great blow fallen in Vienna when the" illegal" machinery was at work. Already in March the first leaflets were being got out and at the end of April contributions were actually being collected again. The income from these contributions, which have been reduced to the lowest possible level, is, however, very small, and bears no relation to the heavy costs entailed by the secret propaganda. Having regard to the spy danger the illegal organisation can only accept as members persons who are absolutely reliable. This means that actual membership is small but each member is virtually a shop steward covering a group of from 5 to 10 persons and crying on propaganda among them.
Apart from the anti- Fascist trade union activity, the campaign for the relief of comrades who have been arrested involves much time and labour. Of the building workers 3 comrades were executed and hundreds of courageous building and woodworkers have languished and some of them still languish in dungeons or concentration camps. In Styria in particular many former Union officials have suffered.
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Building and Wood Workers had had separate Unions in the past, but the long desired fusion soon came about under the stress of existing circumstances. This fusion was solemnly confirmed at a secret National Conference of the Austrian Building and Wood Workers not far from Vienna in April 1935. The Conference laid down the methods for the future campaign among the workers in our trades, and carried a resolution declaring war to the knife on Fascism. This war is to be fought for" the restoration to the workers of complete freedom of association; against the attack on wages and social achievements furthered by the" Einheitsgewerkschaft"; and, finally, for the complete destruction of Fascism and the restoration of the" free" trade unions and all workers' rights". Apart from the numerous leaflets, the" Bau- und Holzindustrie", the monthly paper which appears in small format on thin paper, does splendid service in this campaign. This goes from hand to hand in the workshops and on the building sites and has already achieved a circulation of 3,500.
Comprehensive data on the situation of the building and wood
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workers in Fascist Austria will be found in Bulletins 3/1935, 2/1936, and, in particular, in Supplement I to Bulletin 3/1936. See also the section entitled" The Fight against Fascism and Reaction" of the present Report.
Belgium( 2, 2)
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Until March 1935 Belgium was the companion in misfortune of Holland, France and Switzerland. Belgium was particularly hard hit by the outbreak of the world crisis in 1929 because of the complicated and far- reaching ramifications of its foreign trade and transport. The Governments of the bourgeois bloc which followed one another in rapid succession obedient servants of big capital pursued a severely deflationary policy. Between 1929 and 1934 wholesale prices fell by approximately 45%, and retail prices by approximately 20%, whilst wages were reduced successively by from 15% to 25%, and in some cases by a greater amount still. Falling production, rising unemployment, and shrinkage in trade disorganised economic life to an ever increasing extent and made the Belgian people, never very wealthy in any case, poorer still. A bank crisis, growing shortage of capital and the disorganisation of the finances of the State followed. Lack of confidence grew visibly at home and abroad. The control of foreign exchange which became necessary resulted in practice in a depreciation of the Belgian franc even before devaluation was carried out officially. When, in March 1935, the second fall in sterling made a further wave of reductions imminent, the Theunis Government was obliged, in the face of the adverse opinion mobilised by the enormously successful propaganda for the" Labour Plan", to give way it resigned.
By means of an official decrease in the exchange value of the franc the new Van Zeeland Government, in which the working class plays a leading part, brought deflation to an end. At the same time, however, it attacked the crisis by constructive methods. In less than a year unemployment was reduced by 110,000, or 40%, in spite of the fact that the comprehensive program for the provision of work, which itself was to mean employment for 85,000 persons, did not really get under way until 1936. Among other points this program includes an energetic slum clearance campaign.
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At the beginning there was, however, one drawback. In spite of the fact that the Government did its best to keep the inevitable indeed intentional, rise in price under control, wages in general rose more slowly than prices. Since the successful wholesale attack of the Belgian working class in June 1936, however, it may be taken that this discrepancy will soon be abolished and that it will even be possible to bring about an increase in the always very low level of real wages.
In the building and wood trades, which only after the change in policy had taken place were able gradually to recover from the
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appalling state of depression into which they had fallen, the strike movement in 1934 and 1935 was of necessity very modest in dimensions. By far of most importance was the strike of the 2,285 brick workers in the Rupel district, which lasted from 18 November 1935 to 9 March 1936 and ended with complete success( see Bulletin 1/1936). Of the few strikes that took place during 1934 special mention may be made of that of the brushmakers at Iseghem. This lasted from 2 to 9 June, involved 763 workers and ended with a success. The many wage movements not involving a laying down of tools had, until March 1935, more of a defensive character: afterwards the reverse was the case. Of great importance was the raising of wages on public works( sèe Bulletin 3/1935), which also had favourable effects on conditions in private building..
The decree of 16 July 1932, which replaced the decree of 26 June 1923, and which permits a making up for hours of work lost owing to bad weather during the good times of the year, was prolonged for a year in October 1934 and 1935 respectively( see Bulletin 11/1934) for building and public works. The same was done on 10 April 1935 for the open stone quarries, to be in force provisionally until I November 1936( see Bulletin 3/1935), and on 3 July 1935 for the mechanised brick works.
The Building, Wood and General Workers' Union affiliated to the I.B.W.W. held its Congress in July 1934( see Bulletin 8/1934). This occasion was the 25th anniversary of the merging of the local building workers' organisations to form a National Union. Finally, mention may be made of the fact that on 1 January 1936 the little Walloon Paviors' Union merged with the Building and Wood Workers' Union( see Bulletin 2/1936).
Czechoslovakia( 22, 71-73)
The immediate result of the devaluation of the Czech crown in February 1934 was a certain revival in trade. But in spite of the change in currency policy it did not prove possible to relieve unemployment to any considerable extent, although it may have helped to prevent matters from becoming worse in this respect. The artificial closing of access to the important German market made any increase in exports impossible. Added to this there is the fact that, of recent years, the machinery of production has been modernised to a high degree, and that the measures of rationalisation taken made possible an increase in production even with the employment of fewer workers. Between January 1934 and December 1935 the index of production increased by circa 35% whilst during the same period unemployment fell by only 5%. Industrial concentration with its corollary, the closing down of works, continued. At the same time yet other works were closed down in increasing numbers for lack of orders. In June 1935 the Government found itself obliged to introduce protective measures against mass dismissals. These have proved very satisfactory
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in practice but have nevertheless not been capable of having any profound effect on the situation. The example of Czechoslovakia shows that the increasing of production with the existing economic machine is pointless without an increase in the number of persons employed. This is why the Czechoslovakian trade unions lay special stress on the all- round introduction of the 40- hour week.
The two chief features of things political in Czechoslovakia during the two past years have been, on the one hand, the attempts of German Fascism to force developments in Czechoslovakia into line with those in Germany, and, on the other, the fight to ward off such a development by the elements loyal to the Constitution. The disbanding in November 1934 of the Fascist organisations has not sufficed, in the Germanspeaking areas at any rate, to halt the Fascist wave, which, coming from Germany, threatens to engulf the last truly democratic island in a Central Europe ruled over by dictators. The Parliamentary elections of May 1935, at which Nazi propaganda was carried on in the most unscrupulous manner and with limitless funds, brought a big victory for Fascism in the German frontier area, which has been particularly hard hit by the crisis. Nevertheless, the Government of the country has remained democratic and republican, and Benesch's election as President of the Republic in succession to Masaryk is an important confirmation of the fact that this course will continue to be pursued.
The slight general revival did not affect building. If 1934 was a trifle better than 1933 there was actually a severe setback in 1935. The loan for the carrying out of public works launched by the Government in 1933 did not lead to the desired result. Nor have the various measures of tax relief given any marked impetus to the building trade because, as a result of the scarcity of capital, private building activity grew less and less. In house repairing only was there a slight improvement in 1935. The public works carried out or aided by the State- roads, waterways, improvements, etc., provide employment mainly for unskilled workers. Of importance in this connection was the introduction in 1934 of the 40- hour week without maintenance of wages.
In the wood trade the money pumped in by the State had no effect at all. The joinery, cabinet- making trades and most of the smaller branches of the wood industry are in a state of acute depression and the same is true of the sawmilling industry, which is of such importance to the country from an economic point of view, and which, as a result of the closing to it of the German market, finds practically no outlet for its products at all. At the end of 1935 the Woodworkers' Unions approached the Government with a request for measures in the sphere of commercial policy and for a national wage agreement, by means of which it was sought to improve the situation.
Although, as a result of Government intervention, all agreements and wage awards in force in 1934 were prolonged until March 1936 and the worst thus staved off, considerable cuts in wages took place
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nevertheless almost everywhere, as a result of the employers' efforts to force wages down. The cost of living, on the other hand, fell to an inconsiderable extent only, in fact in 1935 it even rose again. The workers were obliged to accept these cuts without protest otherwise they would have forfeited their places to members of the" yellow" unions.
The Building, Stone and Pottery Workers' Union held its Congress in September 1934( see Bulletin 10/1934), the Czechoslovak Woodworkers' Union in April 1935( see Bulletin 3/1935). Mention may further be made of the fact that, with a view to its contemplated fusion with the Land and Forestry Workers' Union, the Woodworkers' Union in the German- speaking part of the country changed its name in December 1934.
Denmark( 3, 3-16)
Thanks to the economic and social policy of the Labour Government which is as purposive as it is prudent( in office since 1929 its power was only strengthened by the elections of October 1935) little Denmark is rapidly becoming a country without poverty. A constructive crisis policy, effectively aided by the 1931 devaluation of the kroner and by a management of foreign exchanges conducive to the industrialisation of a country hitherto too one- sidedly agricultural, has succeeded, in spite of certain setbacks due to international factors, in keeping the economic position a satisfactory one during 1934 and 1935. Right up to the second half of 1935 building activity, particularly in the towns, remained at a very good level. This was due not only to the State aid granted since 1933 in the form of third mortgages at 4%-5% for new constructions but also to the great liquidity of the money market. During the summer of 1934 unemployment in the bricklaying trade was only 1%%-2%. But in the summer of 1935 the percentage was once again from 3%-4%, and as the year went on the downward trend became even more clearly marked. The dropping- off in the boom in building, which was due, on the one hand, to the exhaustion of State subsidies, and on the other to a certain conscious putting on of the brakes by the banks, and which also affected sections of the wood trade, was, however, confined to the towns. In the countryside there was even a certain improvement in building as a result of the improvement in agriculture, which cancelled out to some extent the decline in the towns.
Most branches of the wood industry continued to benefit by the artificial restrictions on import connected with the foreign exchange policy. For instance, where Denmark in the past used to import all its timber for building, numerous small sawmilling enterprises have come into being in the wooded parts of the country of recent years which are in a position to supply a considerable amount of the home demand with Danish timber. The same is true, by the way, for other wooden articles, e.g. boards for parquet flooring and ply woods from
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native beechwood, the latter for packing purposes in particular. Of the smaller branches there was a decided improvement in brushmaking in particular. Others, such as the wicker- work, gilding, and coopering trades, in spite of a relative improvement, remained, for reasons which doubtless apply in other countries also, in a state of acute depression. In fact, a phenomenon which gives food for thought is the fact that, in spite of the good economic position the unemployment figure in Denmark, even in the summer, was still high 13% which would seem to indicate the need for an energetic campaign for the reduction of working hours.
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The many fresh workers who have come from agriculture into the building and wood trades have led to a not inconsiderable increase in membership in most Unions.
Both in 1934 and 1935 the employers, true to a habit which has almost become a tradition with them, came forward with a demand for an all- round wage cut of circa 20%. On both occasions, however, all collective agreements were once again prolonged, without any worsening of conditions at all. In a number of instances the workers were even able to secure minor improvements in 1935. Further progress was made as regards paid holidays whilst for a number of trades the minimum wages, which, actually, are of small practical importance, were increased by a few per cent. Worthy of mention is the fact that in 1934 a provision was included in a number of agreements according to which during the period of validity of the agreement higher wages might be demanded for certain establishments if circumstances justified this. In accordance with this about 700 members of the Woodcutting Machinists' Union received an increase of from 3-4 Oere per hour during 1934-1935.
The renewal of the agreements in the spring of 1935 is specially worthy of note. It was the outcome of the combined results of the ballots which had taken place simutaneously in the organisations. of the workers and the employers, on the 86 proposals for a settlement in the individual trades which had been put forward by the State conciliation office. In this connection mention may be made of the fact that this coupling together of the ballot results for the various trades, which makes it impossible for the smaller trades in particular to decide independently on the fixing of their wages and working conditions, met with severe criticism at the subsequent Congresses of a number of organisations.
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Besides the affiliation of the Carpenters to the I.B.W.W. on I June 1935 it is worthy of mention that during 1934/35 quite a number of Unions celebrated anniversaries. In 1934 the Cork- workers and the Danish Upholsterers were able to look back on sixty years existence, whilst the amalgamation of the latter with the Swedish Upholsterers was then of 40 years' duration. The Woodcutting Machinists' Union celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1935, the Pictureframe Makers their 40th anniversary in 1934, and in 1935 both the
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Cabinet- makers and Joiners and the Coopers celebrated their 50th anniversary.
During 1934 the Plasterers held their Congress in May, the Wood Carvers in July, and the Picture- frame Makers in August( see Bulletin 8/1934). During 1935 the Bricklayers, the Brushmakers, the Coopers and the Scandinavian Upholsterers held their Congresses in July( see Bulletin 6/1935), the Cabinet- makers and Joiners in August( see Bulletin 6/1935), and the Wicker Workers in October ( see Bulletin 1/1936). At the Joiners' Congress Martin Petersen said farewell to the Union of which he had been President for 26 years. At their Congress the Bricklayers expressed themselves in favour of closer collaboration with the other craft Unions in the building trade.
On 1 November 1935 the Bricklayers' Union re- affiliated to the National Trade Union Centre from which it had disaffiliated 23 years previously owing to a disagreement( see Bulletin 4/1935). The attitude of the Copenhagen Bricklayers' Association, however, was disappointing. It refused by a large majority to revoke its 1919 disaffiliation from the National Union of Bricklayers( see Bulletin 1/1936).
An important innovation is the fact that, since 1934, the Woodcutting Machinists' Union caters for apprentices in the final year of their apprenticeship and for young unskilled workers between 16 and 18( see Bulletin 11/1934). In 1935 the working conditions of the latter were regulated by agreement. This is exceptional for the Danish trade union movement so far, even though, thanks to trade union effort, the apprentice question was settled on suitable lines at a very early date.
Esthonia( 4, 17)
Like Lithuania and Latvia, Esthonia has an" authoritarian" regime. Little good does it do the workers that this regime is supposed to have been introduced" for the sake of democracy", i.e. ostensibly to ward off the danger of National Socialism which threatens from Germany. The Päts Government is the organ of the dictatorship of the reactionary large landed proprietors which harasses the working class and its organisations whenever and wherever it can. This it invariably does under cover of a" legal" state of martial law. Moreover, step by step it is preparing the way for a transformation of the State on a" corporative" basis.
The economic situation of the country was, and continues to be, bad. The people live in the greatest poverty. Although in their reports the Labour Exchanges try to create the impression that there is no unemployment in the country, the actual number of unemployed is by no means small. Only those applying for relief work forestry work in winter and land, etc., improvement in summer are registered. The working conditions in employment of such kind are
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so bad, however, that the unemployed prefer to try and solve their problem themselves.
In May 1934 of the roughly 10,000 persons employed in the building and wood trades only about 1,000 were organised. Of this number 400 belonged to the Esthonian Building Workers' Union, which affiliated to the Builders' International at the end of 1933. A further 350 were distributed among the local Unions in Tallinn, Tartu, Narva, and Järvakandi. The remaining 200-250 were organised in local organisations but these were not affiliated to the National Trade Union Centre. The Government prevented the attempt to bring about a fusion of all building and wood workers' organisations. Thus, for the time being, it has only been possible( in May 1934) to effect the fusion of the Tallinn Woodworkers' Union with the Building Workers' Union, the name of which was then suitably altered. At the end of 1935 the new amalgamated Union had about 800 members, whilst the total number of organised building and woodworkers in the country at that time was about 2,000.
During the period under review our affiliated Union conducted a number of successful wage disputes. In this connection particular attention must be drawn to the Tallinn pottery workers' strike in April 1934 in which, under the leadership of our Union, it proved possible to get 98% of all the workers employed in the trade organised in a special Union. As the outcome of this it proved possible to secure an agreement and wage increases of from 60% to 70%. Furthermore, as the result of a strike of stone quarry workers in May of the same year it also proved possible to secure for the first time an agreement and a wage increase of 30%. A number of building workers' strikes on a smaller scale suffered by the fact that the numerous travelling workmen, most of whom come from the neighbourhood of the Russian frontier, fail to appreciate the value of trade unionism and of a collective agreement. With the aid of the I.B.W.W. an attempt is now to be made to carry on intensive propaganda among these itinerant workers.
The situation of the workers in the building and wood trades is also made more difficult by the fact that piece work is in operation throughout, and that the piece rates paid are so low that from II to 14 hours work are necessary to earn anything approaching a decent daily wage. And when all these hours have been worked there are only 2 or 3 crowns to show for it. The National Trade Union Centre has ascertained that for food, no clothing worth mentioning, and a oneroomed dwelling, the minimum amount necessary for 3 persons is 89 crowns per month. In actual fact, average earnings are only from 45 to 50 crowns! That in a country where such a sorry state of social affairs is tolerated, nay, even furthered, by the Government, the legal regulation of holidays introduced at the end of 1934 is a farce, is obvious.
The Union has continued unremittingly its efforts to achieve a
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fusion of all building and wood workers' groups. A conference for the whole country had been planned for the autumn of 1936 but recent developments in Esthonia would seem to have upset everything again. O
Finland( 5, 18-20)
During 1934 the economic improvement which had already been evident in 1933 actually assumed, in some cases, the character of a boom. During 1935 trade remained at roughly the same level. The timber industry, which is the decisive factor in Finnish economy, was able to find excellent markets abroad, in particular in the United Kingdom, and the entire economic life of the country benefitted by this. Industrial production was actually at a somewhat higher level than during the last boom period.
Politically, too, things were more satisfactory in Finland. The outcome of the Parliamentary elections of July 1933, which brought a weakening of the extreme Right and a strengthening of the Left, had favourable results. The Fascist Lappo Movement which has re- christened itself the" Patriotic People's Movement" is suffering one defeat after the other. In spite of the improvement in matters political, conditions still prevail which would be incredible in the old democracies. The Labour Movement is harassed by every conceivable means; the legislative machine is used mainly against the working class, and of social reforms there can be no question.
After a long period of stagnation the building trade was at last able to benefit by the general improvement. Nevertheless, it was not until 1935, and then mainly in Helsinki, that there was any appreciable recovery in house building. There was, however, an all- round increase in building for industrial purposes. Most of the structures erected were cellulose factories. In 1934 the Building Workers' Union still had 52.8% of its members unemployed as against 60% in the previous year. Nevertheless, it proved possible considerably to improve wages, which had fallen between 1928 and 1933 by 40% to 50% whilst the cost of living had only fallen by circa 20%. For a long time past now it has again been possible to conclude collective agreements. For instance, at the beginning of 1934. there were only 4 agreements in force in the industry, but at the end of the year the number of these was 28, covering circa 8,000 workers. The stone workers and painters in particular, though in some instances only after protracted strikes, were able to secure agreements in a number of areas. The Bricklayers, who have a separate Union of their own in Finland, conducted a successful strike in Helsinki lasting from May to August 1934. The result of all these efforts has been that the arbitrary action of the employers as regards wages has been largely curtailed and that wage increases of from 15% to 25% have been won.
The economic position in the timber and wood industry was much more favourable. The export of sawn and planed softwood, of joinery
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and wooden articles of every kind, was greater by 33% in 1934 than in 1933, and even the 1933 figures were an advance of 37% on the year before that. During 1935 exports remained at roughly the same level as 1934. As a result in 1934 the Woodworkers' Union only had 8.6% of its members unemployed( 1933: 14.8%). Unfortunately, however, in spite of this favourable state of affairs the Union was unable to improve working conditions to the extent that was to be desired. The resistance of the powerful and brutal timber lords of Finland was too strong and the number of trade union members scarcely 10% of the woodworker are organised too small for
this to have been possible. In the furniture and joinery trades only did it prove possible to secure a few agreements: at the end of 1934 there were 4 local agreements covering 400 workers, at the end of 1935, II covering 1,500 workers. In the sawmilling industry the workers continue to be completely at the mercy of the employers, who reply to every attempt at organisation with savage reprisals. To such a degree had wages fallen during the depression that even the Conservative Government felt itself obliged to make an investigation and, through the factory inspectors, to bring pressure to bear in favour of a rise in wages. Nevertheless, nothing much seems to have come of this.
The energetic work of our Finnish Unions, in which they have been given the maximum of support by the Scandinavian Unions, has resulted in a very considerable increase in membership. From 1933 to 1934 the number of organised woodworkers increased by 74% and from 1934 to 1935 by a further 12%. For the building workers the increase was 44.7% and 23.1% respectively, and for the bricklayers 21.4% and 76.4% respectively. The Woodworkers held their Congress in May, the Bricklayers in October, 1934( see Bulletins 4 and 6/1934, respectively).
France( 6, 21, 22)
During 1934 and 1935 political development in France was determined, on the one hand, by the attempted Fascist putsch of 6 February 1934 and by the gradual concentration of the forces of the Left resulting from it, and, on the other, by the social consequences of the purely deflationist currency policy.
The February risings, to the pressure of which it looked at first as though the Government and the Chamber would succumb, had shed a glaring light on the danger of Fascism. Six days later, however, the workers answered with a powerful one- day general strike. The country took an unmistakable turn to the left, in which process the united front of the two big workers' parties( which after many negotiations all through 1935 was followed in March 1936 by trade union unity) played a big part. If, in spite of this fact, a Government of the Left was not achieved during the period under review, this was due for the most part to the lack of consistency of the bourgeois
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Radicals, who, politically, lean a good deal to the left, but who, under Herriot's leadership, have sought time and again to work with the right on social and economic questions.( The Popular Front Government under the leadership of a Socialist, Léon Blum, formed in June 1936 after the elections to the Chamber in April/ May, did not become possible until Herriot's resignation of the presidency of his Party after internal differences). The Laval Government, formed on 7 June 1935, equipped with far- reaching plenary powers made a last attempt to master the crisis by means of a rigorous policy of deflation. By the end of October over 300 decrees, for the purpose of cutting down the expenditure of the State by 10% throughout and of lowering prices, taxes and wages, had been proclaimed. The attempt was a hopeless failure. It merely intensified the existing social tension, already almost unbearable, without giving any impetus whatever to economic life.
In 1935 building activity, which, since 1930 had constantly declined, was only equal to half that in 1930. As a result trade was very poor in stone- quarrying( see Bulletin 2/1936) and in the wood industry( though this last is largely dependent on export also). Nor did the active propaganda carried on by our French Building Workers' Federation in favour of a far- reaching policy of provision of work meet with any real success.( The plan of the former Minister of Labour, Marquet, for the expenditure of many millions of francs already provided a legal handle for this, but it was, unfortunately, never put into effect). On 16 June 1935 a special congress on public works was even organised in Paris under the auspices of the" free" Trade Union Centre as a part of the campaign for its Plan of Action( see Bulletin 3/1935). Times without number, too, the representatives of the Union waited on the authorities to put forward the rights and claims of those employed on public works. It is worthy of note that they succeeded in obtaining an almost complete ban on the working of overtime in the building trade( see Bulletin 11/1934) and later, in March 1935, in the wood industries as well. Further, within the limited possibilities which its, at that time, still very small membership and inadequate financial basis left open to it, the Union did all it could by purely trade union methods also. A number of strikes took place but these did not always have the hoped for success. The radical change in policy in 1936, however, completely changed matters in favour of our colleagues.
The" free" National Federations of Building and of Wood Workers in France amalgamated on 1 January 1935. The new amalgamated Union held its Congress in June 1935( see Bulletin 3/1935). In addition, the Congress of the little Coopers' Union, which is affiliated to the I.B.W.W., took place in September 1935( see Bulletin 6/1935).
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Great Britain and Ireland( 7/8, 23-38, 39, 40)
The policy of" cheap money" which was inaugurated in September 1931 by the abandonment of gold, made for the continued improvement of the economic position during the two years under review. At the end of 1935 the number of persons in employment was greater than ever before and was 1,300,000 in excess of the figure at the trough of the depression in 1932. If, in spite of this, the percentage unemployment was still considerably greater than before the world crisis, this is the expression, on the one hand, of the intensive rationalisation, the effects of which can only be remedied by a reduction of hours, and on the other, of the permanent depression in certain of the older export industries, which affects the North and Northwest in particular.
The very considerable economic improvement took place in the home market in particular and especially in building, where it was so great as to be really surprising. The improvement was greatest in the domain of residential building. If 1929 be taken as 100 the index of the value of building permits for residential building reached its lowest point in 1931 at 91.5 to rise in 1934 to 157.2 and in 1935 to 177.2. Between March 1934 and March 1935 alone circa 330.500 houses were built, 286,000 by private enterprise and 44,500 with State or municipal aid. The very speculative nature of private house- building has inherent in it the danger of a glut in the open market for houses and thus a sudden stoppage in what is to- day preponderantly private building. It is therefore of great moment for the continuance of the boom in building that during 1935 there was a shifting of emphasis and a more rapid increase in industrial and public building activity, which had till then lagged behind. For industrial and commercial buildings the lowest point reached was 64.5 in 1932. The index figure then rose slowly to 91.5 in 1934 to shoot up to 128.5 in 1935. Nor was there any considerable improvement in public building activity until 1935, there having actually been a decrease in this in 1934 compared with the year before that. If to public building proper be added privately built churches, schools, hospitals, theatres, etc., and all renovations and alterations, the index stood at 69.1 in 1932, 89.1 in 1934, and 121.5 in 1935. Public works contracting did very badly during the period under review. Of its 277,400 insured workers 125.200 were still unemployed in July 1935. An improvement worthy of the name did not take place until 1936 and then, unfortunately, not least as a result of rearmament. The figures for building proper- 976,800 and 139,600 respectively are considerably more favourable but unemployment nevertheless continued to be heavy here also. True, the figure of 837,200 workers employed in building reached in the middle of 1935 was, absolutely, a record. Nevertheless, for the year as a whole the percentage of unemployment was still 16.8%( 1934: 18.7%). The temporary shortage of skilled men experienced here and there and about which certain sections of the bourgeois press made such a fuss only for the purpose of zealously working up opinion against a
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shortening of hours, of course, was in fact usually due to purely local factors, although the smallness of the new generation of skilled workers, which is due to the crisis and observable in almost all countries, naturally played a part as well.
Mention must be made of the fact that in 1934 State aid for the building of houses at low rents was confined to such as were to rehouse the occupants of slum- clearance areas. The building plans adopted in 1933 provide for the construction of houses for this purpose to the value of£ 115,000,000 in five years. In 1935 the extent of this task of re- housing was widened considerably by the inclusion in the new Housing Act of that year of a new and very important principle: namely that residential areas may be cleared even if they are not definitely unhealthy or requiring demolition if considerations of town- planning and of health make re- development of them necessary. In 1934, according to official estimates, 300,000 dwellings were still required to abolish the slums and overcrowding( see IBWW- Survey 1/1936).
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The industries engaged in the manufacture of constructional materials and also many other subsidiary trades benefitted by the improvement in building. The increase in the number of persons employed was particularly great in the rapidly developing brickmaking industry ( from 69,400 in 1932 to 91,200 in 1935, if tile, pipe, etc., making be included). This increase was considerably less in sawmilling and machined woodwork, where the number of persons employed doubtless as a result of the very considerable degree of rationalisation only increased from 46,800 to 53,200 over the same period. The position in the furniture making industry, where the number of persons employed increased from 104,800 to 120,900, was very satisfactory. According to reliable observers nearly 2/3 of the total increase in employment in Great Britain and Northern Ireland may be placed to the credit of building and constructional activity and the industries directly or indirectly dependent on, or affected. by it. The gradual fall in wages which began at the beginning of 1929 came to a halt in 1934 and in 1935 wages began to move in the opposite direction. On the other hand, minor fluctuations apart, the cost of living has scarcely increased since the abandonment of the gold standard. During 1935 wages for the country as a whole increased on an average by 1 1/2% and so far as increases are concerned the building workers are well to the fore. In February 1934, by the transference of 170 localities to a higher wage grade, 11,000 building workers had already secured an increase. On I July 1935, in spite of the fact that the officially ascertained increase in the cost of living was too slight to render an automatic increase in wages applicable in accordance with the sliding scale, an increase of 1/ 2d per hour was obtained for all craftsmen in England and Wales as the result of a general review of wages; and this increase was followed by a second increase of the same amount on 1 January 1936. The labourers who,
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in all grade classifications, receive 75% of the craftsmen's rate, received a proportional increase. A similar ruling came into force for the entire Scottish building trade, with the exception of the Scottish painters and plasterers who do not belong to the N.F.B.T.O. These latter increases, however, became payable as from I August 1935 and 1 February 1936( see Bulletin 3/1935). For Liverpool and district an agreement operative until 1938 brought an increase of 1 1/ 2d for craftsmen and Id for labourers. This increase is payable in 3 instalments, the first on I July 1935 and the two others during 1936. It also proved possible in Belfast( Ireland) to gain an increase of 1/ 2d per hour for craftsmen, and of 1/ 4d per hour for labourers on 1 July 1935, and a similar increase was secured during 1936. As a result of these wage settlements about 800,000 building operatives received a total of from£ 7,000,000 to£ 8,000,000 a year in wage increases. Added to this there is the fact that, as the result of a re- grading in Greater London and the counties north- east of London, a further increase of from ½d to Id per hour came into force here as from I February 1936( see Bulletin 2/1936).
In the sphere of organisation it is worthy of mention that almost every Union in the building trades was able to report a considerable increase in membership. The National Federation of Building Trade Operatives which is affiliated to the I.B.W.W., had its ranks further strengthened by the affiliation of the Operative Plasterers on I January 1934, the Woodcutting Machinists on 1 October 1934 and the Asphalt Workers on 1 January 1936. On 1 July 1934 the" Altogether" Builders Labourers' Society merged with the big Transport and General Workers' Union which is likewise affiliated to the N.F.B.T.O. The 30,000 Painters, who have always been affiliated to the N.F.B.T.O., transferred on 1 January 1936 from the Painters' International to the I.B.W.W.( see Bulletin 5/1935).
Comprehensive reports of the 1934 and 1935 Annual Conferences of the N.F.B.T.O. have been published in Bulletins 4/1934 and 3/1935. The excellent results of the all- round wage movements under its auspices, conducted through negotiations in the Joint Council for the Building Industry, is yet a further proof of the utility of the collaboration between the Building Workers' Unions of Great Britain and Ireland which goes on within its framework. In addition, the N.F.B.T.O. took an active part in the propaganda in favour of a comprehensive program of housing by the authorities, and of the re- organisation of the building trade along planned lines, which has been carried on with great zeal by the Building Industries National Council, a co- ordinating body for a number of organisations connected with building which was founded in 1933. Finally, it may be mentioned that at the beginning of 1935 a conference was held in Dublin at which the state of organisation in Ireland was discussed and a Regional Council set up.
There is nothing of special importance to report on the small
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Brushmakers' Society and the Packing Case Makers' Society, both of them affiliated to the I.B.W.W. The Brushmakers, whose claim to be the oldest existing Union in the world( there is proof that the Society dates back to 1806, but it is probable that it actually goes back as far as 1747 even!) secured two increases each of 2%%, in January and December 1935 respectively, in accordance with the sliding scale. To round off the picture we may mention that at the Parliamentary elections in November 1935 the Labour Party won a large number of votes and also of seats but unfortunately the increase was not sufficient to turn the Conservative" National" Government out of office. On the other hand, the excellent results of the municipal elections of November 1934 only served to reinforce the Labour majority on the London County Council secured in March 1934.
At the end of August 1934 the Centenary of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle was celebrated. A large number of representatives of the trade union movements of many countries were present at these celebrations, among them the members of the Executive Council of the I.B.W.W., at that time in England for their annual meeting( see Supplement to Bulletin 2/1934).
Hungary( 23, 74-76)
Although industrial production rose by 15% in 1934 as compared with the previous year and by a further 10% in 1935, this had no decisive influence on the position as a whole. The bad harvest of 1934 resulted in a great impoverishment of the rural population and big increases in prices throughout the country. During that year the standard of life of the Hungarian workers was lower by II% than in 1913 a fact which demonstrates the political and social impuissance of the Hungarian workers.
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In 1934 political developments were largely influenced by events in Austria. The position of the anti- working- class Gömbös Government was strengthened. Giving itself out as a people's government, the Government pursued a policy of keen opposition to the political and industrial labour movement. Nothing but the lack of unity in the Right camp has thus far prevented the tearing away of the mask of parliamentary legality and recourse to dictatorship pure and simple. As a first step towards the" totalitarian" State the program of the Government includes the creation of corporations and of trade unions under State direction.
The building trade is in a state of almost complete depression. Compared with 1927 building activity had decreased in 1934 by 61.2%. The number of building workers employed had actually fallen by 72%. Apart from the general effects of the crisis speculation in land, the wrong taxation policy of the Government, and the fatal price policy of the building cartels, were to blame for this. If it be realised that neither the State nor the munipicalities provide unemployment benefit and that the Union has come to the end of its resources, the
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frightful distress among the unemployed can be imagined. Incidentally, those who are in work are not much better off. As a result of the big building workers' strike in Budapest in the autumn of 1933 it did prove possible to increase wages by some 25%, but as early as the spring of 1934 these began to fall again. The reason was that the unorganised workers who flocked into the towns from the countryside undercut the organised workers by a large margin. In many cases these were small contractors who sought to save themselves from starvation by this means. During the course of 1934 wages fell by 33% with the result that they were even below the level of the previous year. During 1935 unemployment increased still further in the building trade. Conditions became worse and worse. In the end only from 0.40 to 0.45 pengö per hour were being paid in Budapest and from 0.20 to 0.25 pengö per hour in the provinces and even in the capital hours of work were from 12 to 14 hours per day. Thus it was that on 24 July a struggle, born of despair, started among the Budapest building workers, which quickly spread to all the allied trades and to other towns. Thanks to the unremitting work of enlightenment carried on by the Union Executive public sympathy was won for the many thousands of strikers. In spite of the fact that the dispute resulted in many bloody clashes with the police it was brought to a highly successful conclusion on 19 August, after having lasted 4 weeks. The decisive factor was that not only were the wage rates agreed at the end of 1933 won back, but, above all, the Government was forced to introduce minimum wages by decree. This was first done in Budapest where rates of from 0.54 to 0.72 pengö for skilled workers and from 0.30 to 0.32 pengö for unskilled men were laid down, and later in 15 other towns. The wage increase secured was often equal to 30%, 40% and even 50%. It is also noteworthy that a wages committee now exists for each district. Hours of work were fixed at 9 but there is the possibility of an introduction of the 48- hour week.
The wood industry, too, has had a hard time. In 1935 the number of persons employed was only 32.4% of what it had been 10 years previously. As the outcome of a tremendously large supply of labour in proportion to the effective demand wages fell and went on falling. In the spring of 1934 the Budapest woodworkers carried on a fight lasting II weeks against their exploiters, but unfortunately without its outcome being a lasting success. Their strike in June 1935 had more favourable results. It led the Government to introduce the legal 48- hour week for the building, furnishing and pattern- making trades ( see Bulletin 4/1935). Later, in March 1936, this was made applicable to the upholstering trade also. Up to that point no less than 70 hours had frequently been worked. In addition, a joint committee was set up for Budapest and its environs which fixed minimum wages for cabinet- makers, joiners and upholsterers of from 0.36 to 0.70 pengö. In the provinces rates are lower by 10%.
The Building Workers held their Congress in May, the Wood113

workers in December, 1934( see Bulletins 4/1934 and 1/1935). At their Congress the Woodworkers were able to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Mention may be made of the fact that the Building Workers in May 1934 found themselves forced to hold a special Congress at which accounts were settled in no uncertain fashion with the Communist opposition, which had long carried on disruptive activities unchecked.
The" free" trade unions won a striking success at the elections to the National Workers' Sickness Fund in 1934. In Budapest the " National Block", which had the support of the Government, obtained 14,000 votes compared with the 112,000 obtained by the" free" trade unions. For the country as a whole the" yellow" organisations polled 45,000 votes whilst the" free" trade unions polled 152,000. When the circumstances in which these elections took place is borne in mind, and the means by which the results were manipulated by the other side as well, the full significance of these results become apparent.
Italy( 9, 14)
During 1933/34 the seizure of power by Fascism in Germany and Austria diverted public attention somewhat from the position and development inside Italy. Not until the Italo- Abyssinian conflict became more acute, actually assuming in October 1935 the character of an open war( which, at the outset, even threatened to cause a new world conflagration), did public attention abroad become centred again, via the question of Italy's foreign affairs, on conditions within the country itself.
Even the most skilful self- adulation of the regime embodied by the swashbuckling figure of the Duce has been unable to conceal the unhealthy character of the sham boom which has been observable in Italy throughout the period under review, a boom explicable in terms of a combination of deflationary social policy and concealed inflationary currency and financial policy such as is only possible in a country under a dictatorship. A tacit admission that there is something to hide is provided, by the way, by the fact that since the autumn of 1935 no further economic indices have been published. The statistics last available indicate a big increase in the note circulation and a rise in prices. If they also seemed to show a rapid fall in the number of registered unemployed this was due, on the one hand, to the fact that more and more men were called to the colours, and, on the other, to the boom in the armament industry caused by the war and only made possible by inflationary methods.
In 1934 there was a big increase in building activity in Italy. This was not, however, as many bourgeois admirers of Mussolini would
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have it a sign of the recovery of Italian economy, but, on the contrary, the flight of capital into real values caused by fear of inflation. Moreover, the fact that the granting of exemption from taxation for 25 years for new buildings was limited to those
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constructed by the end of 1935 was also not without its influence. In addition, building activity during 1935 was determined to an increasing extent by utterly unproductive rearmament, which will doubtless only hasten Italy's headlong course towards economic ruin.
Naturally, it was the working class which had to shoulder the burden of the inflationary financing of the war. Since the middle of 1936 the price of the most important foodstuffs has risen by from 20 to 25% without any increase in wages being conceded. In October 1935 a skilled man in the building industry earned hardly more than from 2.50 to 3 lire per hour in the biggest towns( at that time roughly 10d- 1s). In the big towns furnishing trade workers earned up to 2.30 to 3.20 lire, whilst average earnings in the wood industry were actually only equal to 1.60 lire.
Between June 1927, when the lira was stabilised, and the middle of 1935, nominal wages were lowered in Italian industry by from 40 to 50%, whilst the cost of living only followed hesitantly and with a considerable time- lag, until finally this was 27% below the 1927 figure. A large section of the workers also suffered a further drop in earnings when hours were reduced from 48 to 40 at the end of 1934 without any increase in the hourly rates, already so severely cut. Only workers with large families receive a certain compensation in the form of family allowances, paid to them out of a fund half the contributions to which come from their fellow- workers with no children or less richly blessed with children than themselves, to enable them and their families to procure at last the bare necessities of life ( see IBWW- Survey 1/1936). In spite of this considerable fall in real wages no increase was granted when prices began to rise, although it was notorious that the employers were pocketing big profits from the huge orders placed by the State.
On 13 July the Italian Building Workers' Union, which has its headquarters in Paris, suffered a severe loss by the death at the age of 65 of Felice Quaglino, who had been its Secretary for many years. Quaglino died in exile of a lingering malady( see Bulletin 4/1935, and" Our Dead", and page 69 of the present Report).
Luxemburg(
Whilst little Luxemburg, sandwiched in between Germany, France and Belgium, has a highly developed heavy industry, its building and wood industry are definitely small- scale in character. Skilled men are constantly trying to make themselves independent and to set up in business for themselves. In the building trade there is the added fact that many foreign workers are employed, some of whom are still very backward. These circumstances are not very conducive to trade union organisation and it is not surprising, therefore, that, in spite of repeated efforts, there is so far nothing approaching a strong building and wood workers' movement. In the middle of 1931 the little group of organised building and wood workers was incorporated in the
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Miners, Metal Workers and Factory Workers' Union, within which, however, doubtless on account of the rapid spread of the crisis, it had for long not carried on any separate activity.
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When the general economic situation did begin to improve a separate Union of Plasterers and Stucco Workers was formed which shortly afterwards affiliated to the I.B.W.W. The Building Workers' Section of the Union afore- mentioned also became active again. It is to be hoped that by the combined efforts of all concerned it will become possible to build up among our fellow- workers in Luxemburg a movement that is really active and alive.
Netherlands( 11, 47-49)
As one of the main supporters of the Gold Bloc, Holland, during the whole period under review, received the full impact of the crisis. The peculiar nature of its economy, which is based on shipping, commerce and the export of garden produce, made the situation more difficult still. The closing to it of foreign markets, and of the German market in particular, brought about a catastrophic crisis in agriculture in this small country. The areas under cultivation decreased rapidly, the ports are empty, the warehouses deserted. The value of imports and exports has fallen to about one- third of the 1929 level. The attempt of the bourgeois Colijn Government to overcome the difficulties by a drastic policy of deflation has failed utterly. The Government did not, however, draw from this the obvious conclusion of a change in policy but instead only tried to put into effect with the greater obstinacy its methods of adaptation. Those who suffer most as a result of this are the workers and then the lower middle classes. This once so prosperous nation is rapidly becoming impoverished. Apart from its other social effects, the shortsighted policy of the Government has resulted in a strengthening of the Fascist movement. This polled 8% of the votes at the elections to the provincial councils in April 1935, though these votes were obtained solely at the expense of the bourgeois parties. The Labour Movement held its ground.
The building trade was one of those to feel the economic decline most acutely. In 1934, at a figure of circa 93 million guilders, the value of tenders in the building industry was only 50% of that in 1930. Average unemployment among the building workers was 37.5% ( compared with 37.4% in the previous year and 11.4% in 1930). In 1934, as a result of the pressure of the Left, the Government was forced to introduce a program for the provision of work for the unemployed. It soon became apparent, however, that the Government was not particularly disposed really to pump even the, in itself inadequate, 60 million guilders envisaged, into economy. The project certainly did result in increased work for the representatives of the Unions, who, at meetings without number with the authorities, did their utmost to get the grants agreed to actually expended. At the same time, at negotiations which were often protracted they had to
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see to it that the wages for the schemes in question, which as a rule were from 10 to 15% below local agreement rates, were regulated along decent lines. Side by side with this productive provision of work the public works paid for out of the Road Fund and which are usually carried out at normal wages, have been speeded up and are being carried out. In addition, there is relief work proper which is done at relief rates only very slightly higher than unemployment benefit. In connection with this latter it is chiefly necessary to be on the lookout to see that projects that would normally be carried out in any case should not be built as relief work, a thing which happens only too often, in spite of all the Union's vigilance.
If, despite the very bad situation, both the Building Workers' Union and the Plasterers' Union have succeeded( apart from a cut of 5% in the peak rates for building workers), in maintaining wage agreements during 1934 and 1935 and even in getting them improved in some respects, this is certainly a proof of the strength of these Organisations. The Plasterers even gained the 40- hour week with partial maintenance of wages in The Hague and its environs at the close of 1935( see Bulletin 1/1936).
At the end of 1934 44.5% of the Union members in the furnishing and upholstering trades were unemployed and at the end of 1935, 50%. In these circumstances Union activity was very difficult indeed. If it proved possible to ward off wage cuts, etc., in the spring of 1934( see Bulletin 2/1934), a year later there was nothing for it but to accept a wage cut of 6%. Compared with other trades, however, the furnishing trades got off pretty lightly.
In May 1934 both the Building Workers and the Furniture Workers held their Congresses( see Bulletin 2/1934). Of chief importance was the decision come to at the Congress of the first of these to enlarge the General Council of the Union and to empower it to conclude collective agreements.
At the present time the Dutch trade unions are concentrating their main energies on the" Plan of Action", drafted by them jointly with the Social- Democratic Labour Party. This Plan puts forward a practical program for reviving and ordering economy which would require the expenditure of 600 million guilders to be put into effect.
New Zealand( 12,50)
On an area nearly as large as Great Britain and Ireland together the far off island of New Zealand has a population of barely 1½ million. The country is primarily agricultural, and, as a result, suffered particularly severely from the general depression. Its Conservative farmers' cabinet pursued a policy which placed the full burden of the difficult economic situation on the shoulders of the working- class. Instead of trying to get the economic machine going again by means of a positive crisis policy, the most important part of which should have been the carrying out of extensive public
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works at normal wages, this Government took advantage of the bad situation to get public works done as far as possible as relief work, at correspondingly low wage rates. No wonder, then, that in spite of the mildness of the climate, which allows of building work of every description even in winter, in the trough of the depression 75% of the building workers were unemployed. Nor were things better in the various branches of the wood trade.
Even though, as a result of the reorganisation of currency and financial policy and under the influence of the generally improved world situation, a slight improvement in trade did take place in 1934, the position of New Zealand remained bad enough during the whole of the period under review. As early as 1934 business was somewhat brisker in the furnishing trades but it was not until 1935 that things livened up to any extent in building.
The slight improvement in trade made it possible for the Carpenters and Joiners and also for the Furnishing Trade Workers( which latter are affiliated to the I.B.W.W.), the former in March and the latter in August, 1935, to secure, by recourse to the State Arbitration Board, an increase of Id in their hourly rates. In this connection, however, it must not be forgotten that the furniture workers, for example, had their agreement rates cut in the middle of 1933 by 2% 2d, or just 10%, and that the cost of living showed a rising tendency. Mention may be made of the fact that, after compulsory arbitration had been abolished, thanks to the employers a whole series of agreements became void during the years of the depression. The reason for this was that as a result of the exaggerated demands for reductions no agreement could be arrived at on the wage question. This is true of the Plasterers' agreement, among others, with the result that these found themselves in a difficult position.
The great and general dissatisfaction with the negative policy of the Conservatives led to the brilliant success of the Labour Party at the elections of November 1935. It obtained 54 seats whilst the Opposition only obtained 26. As a result the Agrarian Cabinet shortly afterwards made place for a 100% Labour Government, which immediately embarked on a radically different policy. The satisfactory results of this, however, fall outside the scope of the present report.
Norway( 13, 51-55)
Thanks to the positive social policy of the Labour Government, formed in March 1935 with the Peasant Party participating, the not inconsiderable economic improvement which had already taken place in Norway in 1934 was made greater still. A considerable impetus was given to building by State spending. If, in spite of this, on an average 30.2% of the organised building operatives were still unemployed in 1935( compared with 41.7% in the previous year), this is a proof that some additional method must be found of relieving the labour market, the only possible one being a reduction in hours of
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work. The same is true for various branches of the wood trade in which, in spite of an appreciable decrease, unemployment still remained fairly great. Nevertheless, both the furnishing trades and the sawmilling industry benefitted considerably by the briskness in building. So far as the timber and sawmilling industries are concerned the improvement was heightened by the generally observable recovery in world trade in timber, though the big slump in export prices during 1935 had a very adverse effect on trading results.
The Norwegian workers, who had succeeded well in maintaining their wages and working conditions during the depression, took advantage, during 1934 and 1935, of the economic improvement to secure certain improvements as the more important of the agreements concluded in 1931, after the big dispute which lasted 22 weeks, expired.
There was special activity with regard to agreements in the sawmilling industry during 1934. The Union in question, which also organises the woodcutting machinists and the brushmakers, gave notice of termination of all agreements and, after innumerable negotiations with the individual employers, achieved a general wage increase of circa 4%, which, however, included the restoration of the 3% lost in 1933 owing to the fall in the price index. On I August 1934 there was a general revision of wages for the loggers and timber floaters based on the price index. This brought them an increase of 0.7% in trade union rates and took place in accordance with their national agreement with the organised employers, operative until 1935 and covering about 16,000 workers. In the building trade and the wood industry proper wage campaigns were confined during 1935 to individual districts and establishments. Nevertheless, here too, it did prove possible to achieve important results, especially where there had hitherto been no agreements.
In 1935 a general offensive by the workers, in which most trades, almost the whole of the builders and a section of the woodworkers included, took part, took place. The sawmill workers and planers, most of whose agreements had been prolonged in 1934 until 1936 and who, incidentally, have no central employers' organisation to serve as a party to agreements, were not involved. Nor were the loggers and timber floaters whose agreement, signed in 1933, was operative until 31 July 1935. The big movement in connection with collective agreements in the spring of 1935 was virtually fought out between the National Trade Union Centre and the central employers' association. These two central organisations concluded an agreement which dealt with the arbitration of disputes arising out of agreements, procedure in the case of ballots and other general questions connected with agreements. The movement ended with the adoption of a proposal for settlement made by the State arbitrator in which all the trades are coupled together a fact which, in the building trade in particular, caused no small dissatisfaction. The new agreements, all of which are operative until March 1937, resulted in
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some cases in minor increases, in particular in piece rates, and, in addition, certain improvements as regards holidays with pay. In the building trade the holiday stamp system that has worked so satisfactorily in Holland and Austria for instance, was introduced. The demand for an all- round reduction of hours remained, however, unfulfilled.
The Woodworkers' Union held its Congress in April 1935. A motion by the outgoing Executive in favour of a fusion with the Building Workers' Union was rejected by a large majority( see Bulletin 3/1935). The Bricklayers held their Congress in June 1935 ( see Bulletin 6/1935). All the Organisations affiliated to the I.B.W.W., five in number, showed a considerable increase in membership, the Building Workers in particular.
Although it is not a majority Government, the formation of the Labour Government in March 1935 had one important result for the trade union movement. The so violently combatted Penal Act, which threatened any person trying, by word or writing, to influence strikebreakers in any way with fines of up to 25,000 Kroner and imprisonment up to one year, was repealed. On the other hand, the Boycott Law referred to in the Report for 1933 still remains in force. Mention shall also be made of the fact that the Norwegian National Trade Union Centre which disaffiliated from the I.F.T.U. in 1922 in order not to take sides in the internal conflict of views on international affiliation( I.F.T.U. or Red International of Labour Unions) re- affiliated to the I.F.T.U. on I January 1936( see Bulletin 1/1936).
Palestine( 15, 57, 58)
Whilst in all the countries around the crisis was still in full force, Palestine continued the upward path begun in 1929. Since 1933, when Palestine became to an increasing extent the asylum of hunted and oppressed Jewry, this upward movement has only been accelerated, by reason of the number of immigrants and the inflow of GermanJewish and other capital. As a result building activity was very brisk during the period under review, and this briskness was bound to have its effects on the subsidiary trades. While there were 400 building workers at work in Tel- Aviv in March 1931 there were over 6,000 at the beginning of 1935, without counting the subsidiary trades. In Haifa the increase was from 250 to 4,000, and the same thing happened throughout the country. In 1935 there were roughly 15,000 Jewish building workers for Palestine as a whole, 80% of whom were organised. In addition, in the Arab sector, which did not remain unaffected by the general prosperity, there was a large number of non- Jewish building workers. Added to this there are several thousand workers employed in the various branches of he wood trade. A number of large works for the manufacture of building materials such as cement and bricks Iwere opened, as were
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big joinery works with modern equipment, and all of them had plenty to do.
In these circumstances the General Federation of Jewish Labour, which, with a total membership for the country of 75,000, includes circa 12,000 building workers and 3,000 woodworkers, had a big increase in membership to show. The Federation has performed admirably the task of integrating the immigrants flocking into the country.( Between July 1933 and July 1935 Palestine absorbed 90.000 persons). Without much in the way of strikes it proved possible to increase wages by a total of from 50 to 70% in 1933/34, and to get conditions laid down in agreements. In this the fact that unemployment is trifling and that there was a perceptible shortage of good skilled men naturally played a big part, for the employers in Palestine are no better than the employers elsewhere and are even trying to set up a" national" i.e., yellow, blackleg organisation.
On 1 January the Building Workers of Tel- Aviv, the most important town in the country, affiliated to the I.B.W.W. As known, the Tel- Aviv Woodworkers had been affiliated since I July 1931.
Of particular interest are the big achievements of our comrades in the sphere of the Building Guilds. In Tel- Aviv alone the Building Guild did work during 1934 to the value of£ 270,000, and 500 workers were employed on this. Almost invariably the Guild is asked to carry out the biggest projects in the town, whether these are public or private.
Whilst, during the period under review, relations between Jewish and Arab workers improved in many respects, the general state of feeling between Jews and Arabs, which latter had been goaded on by the big landowners, became tragically more acute, and during 1936 even resulted in numerous bloody attacks on Jewish settlements. As long as this crucial problem of Jew and Arab remains unsolved the future of Palestine and the fate of its industrious Jewish population, whose unremitting work of developing the country evokes admiration, remains in the balance.
Poland( 16, 59)
Politically the organised working class of Poland are fighting on two fronts: against the bureaucratised dictatorship of the colonels, Pilsudski's successors, and against the Fascist movement of the middle classes( see Bulletin I.U.W. 1/1934). At the same time it is obliged to carry on, day in day out, a hard struggle for its very existence. The dominant factor in Polish economic life throughout recent years has been the currency conflict. The policy of deflation, still rigorously pursued by Pilsudski himself, became more and more untenable as the years went by. The tremendous burden imposed by the disproportionate development of the military side has brought the country to the verge of ruin. If the amounts devoted to armaments in a disguised form be added to those officially admitted, 45% of
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the whole of Poland's expenditure is for military purposes! Even in ruling circles doubts are beginning to be felt as to whether expenditure along these lines can continue and the currency standard be maintained. In spite of this, the attempt goes on to solve the problem at the expense of the toiling masses. One wage cut after the other has been forced through and social legislation has become virtually a dead letter. And hand in hand with this the workers are being gagged to an ever- increasing extent. Their political organisations having already been fettered, the attempt is now being made to smash up also, with the aid of the yellow" national" imitation Unions and open or concealed terror, the bodies which look after their industrial interests.
The natural results have been, and still are, despairing struggles by the workers. Huge strikes affecting millions of people in 1935 alone 500,000 workers went on strike!
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are followed by disturbances among the unemployed; and, in view of the ruthlessly applied police terrorism, there is, again and again, a state of affairs resembling a civil war.
That in these circumstances our affiliated Union has a hard fight, is obvious. It may be recalled that our Union is the outcome of the fusion on 1 January 1935 of the, till then, independent, Woodworkers' and Building Workers' Unions. These had carried the requisite motions in favour of amalgamation at their Congresses in June( see Bulletin 8/1934) and September 1934, respectively. The new Amalgamated Union also caters for the workers in the trades subsidiary to the building industry, such as the pottery and stone workers. To- day it has 200 branches with about 40,000 members, of whom, however, a large number are unemployed and unable to pay contributions.
Business in the wood industry was bad in 1934 but in 1935 a marked recovery took place. The brickyards were also busy but building activity did not become brisker until 1936. Thanks to a foreign exchange control which virtually meant Poland's abandonment of the gold block, the State was able to grant subsidies for building to the tune of 45 million zloty. By a series of strikes the building workers succeeded in taking advantage of the improved position to get increases in wages.( During the depression wages had in many cases fallen to 50% of the rates paid in 1928!). The strikes conducted by the wood and timber workers, on the other hand, were more of a defensive character. These, too, were successful in some cases. The Union is doing its utmost to secure average hourly rates of 1.30 zloty for skilled men and I zloty for unskilled.
Rumania( 17, 60, 61)
Rumania, which was particularly hard hit by the crisis in agriculture, in 1934-35 shared for a time in the boom consequent on devaluation. There was a marked recovery in this country entirely dominated by
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foreign capital, and by the middle of 1935 the unemployment figure had dwindled. Unfortunately the workers were unable to derive from this state of affairs the benefits which might have been anticipated. Trade Unionism was far too weak and the terror of the other side far too great for this to have been possible. Behind a mask of Liberalism the political and economic rise of the working class is being prevented. Every effort on the part of the trade unions is systematically combatted by Parliament, by the authorities, and by the employers. The lower authorities, in particular in the small towns and the countryside, do not even shrink from open persecution. Another great danger is the progress which is being made by definitely Fascist groupings, which finds expression in, among other things, attacks on trade union and Party premises and individuals.
During 1935 there was an enormous increase in building activity, in Bucharest in particular. About 30,000 building workers, i.e. 60% of the building workers of the whole country, are employed in that decreased by from 50 to 70%; working hours ranged from 10 to 16; the building workers were still unemployed, by the middle of the year there was actually a shortage of skilled men. The Building Workers' Union immediately set to work to try and utilise the position to improve social conditions among the workers in the trade. As the crisis continued these had become worse and worse. Wages had decreased by from 50 to 70%; working hours ranged from 10 to 16; accidents became more and more frequent. So great was economic distress that many workers slept on the building site, their wives and children with them. All this notwithstanding, it was only where the Union was able to get a footing that these conditions could be improved. As the Union only has 15 branches and 1,500 members its successes were necessarily confined to the larger towns. True, the 16 wage campaigns undertaken during the period under review were relatively successful. Four strikes resulted in improvements in wages of from 30 to 70% and the eight- hour day. In Bucharest it proved possible to increase daily rates to from 13 to 20 lei by collective agreement. In Cluj( Transylvania), where the builders have been longest organised, daily rates were even increased to from 18 to 25 lei. Unfortunately, however, this tremendous revival in building activity did not continue during 1936.
In 1934 the number of persons employed in the wood trade was only equal to 26,375-37% less than in 1930. In the following year a small improvement did, it is true, take place, as the outcome of the boom in building. The increase in the demand for labour was not, however, sufficiently great to eliminate unemployment. The Union's efforts had to be concentrated solely on preventing further wage cuts. Of demands for increased wages there could be no question. In particular it is complained that in Bukovina, where the big sawmills are, all the authorities, from the prefect down to the most minor of officials, are financially interested in the undertakings,
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with the result that Union officials are exposed to the bitterest of reprisals. In the circumstances it is understandable that the Woodworkers' Union has only 13 branches with about 850 members, and that, even compared with the generally low level of wages in Rumania, the position of the woodworkers is particularly unfavourable. Their wages are roughly 6% below the average for Rumania.
Spain( 20, 68, 69)
Although events in Spain during the turbulent years 1934 and 1935, however much they may have been due to economic and social causes, nevertheless come mainly under the heading of the political, we will, just the same, touch briefly on them here, for clearly they exercised a decisive influence on the situation of the Building and Wood Workers and their Trade Unions.
Alas, the fear expressed in the Report on Activities for 1933 that Spain would probably soon find itself confronted again by momentous decisions has proved only too tragically true. Ever since, as a result of the almost sensational shift to the Left at the municipal elections, the decrepit Monarchy of the Bourbons had collapsed overnight in April 1931, the reaction had worked underground from its lair, had hatched its plots. The venal Radical Party, under the leadership of the adventurer Lerroux, soon became a traitor to the cause of the people; it went into opposition and sold itself to the Parties of the extreme Right. In February 1933 these last combined to form the C.E.D.A. Then, supported as always by an otherwise incompetent military, an obscurantist clergy, and a corrupt bureaucracy, this Organisation began to do the dirty work of the super- reactionary clique of nobles, i.e. of large landlords living in a state of almost inconceivable luxury.
Soon there was a regular crusade against the Socialists, who had three representatives in the democratic- Republican coalition Government, among them Caballero( Minister of Labour). When, in September 1933, the Government bowed before the storm and resigned, there was a rush to proclaim fresh elections. The hopes of the reaction were fulfilled: disappointed because the young Republic had not been able to fulfil all its wishes at one blow, the floating vote went over to the Right. An antipathy, based on sentiment and fostered by the lying Fascist propaganda, to the organised working- class, contributed to this, of that we may be sure. The Socialists were weakened, the left- bourgeois Parties virtually wiped out and the clerical and Fascist Parties behind Gil Robles enormously strengthened. For the time being, however, the C.E.D.A. remained behind the scenes. It left it to the frequently changing Right- bourgeois minority Cabinets, working on its instructions, to act as the grave- digger of democracy. The projected line was unmistakable: a break with the economic and social policy( labour legislation, agricultural reform) which began after the bloodless revolution of April 1931, the restoration of the Church to its
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medieval position of power a development in the direction of clerico- Fascism on Austrian lines.
Since September 1933 the working- class had been subjected to constant provocation. In a single year the Party journal" El Socialista" had been seized more than a hundred times. It became increasingly apparent that the reaction would soon go the whole hog. On 8 September 1934 the Government took advantage of a one- day protest strike against the undermining and delay in agrarian reform, which was conducted with model discipline, officially to close the Madrid People's House in which the Party and the Trade Unions had their headquarters. And, just as in Austria, the old yarn was spread that weapons and ammunition had been found at the People's House. The last straw came when, on 4 October, Lerroux formed a new Cabinet of which three members of the C.E.D.A. became members.
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News of this was the signal for the alarm. The workers saw the Republic being openly handed over to their mortal enemies. Their patience was exhausted. They did not wish to go under without a fight as in Germany. They feared to wait too long, as in Austria. In Madrid, in the mining area of the Asturias, in the industrial towns of Catalonia, revolt flared up. Unprepared, and hopeless. In Madrid and Catalonia this did not, in practice, go beyond a general strike, which soon had to be called off. In the Asturias, after a successful beginning and a heroic resistance, the movement was finally crushed in the most brutal of fashions by recourse to foreign legionaries, Moroccan military rabble, aeroplanes and even battle ships in great numbers. The atrocities committeed in the prisons, filled to overflowing, even after the suppression of the revolt, are beyond description. It was only thanks to the pressure of world public opinion, roused by the international Labour movement, that at least the carrying out of most of the innumerable death sentences was prevented.
So great, however, had indignation at the bestiality of the" liberators" became, even in bourgeouis circles in Spain, that even they themselves were not very happy about their victory. Little by little the Labour Movement won back a modicum of freedom of action. True, in May 1935 the number of C.E.D.A. representatives in the Government was actually increased but the pressure from the other side grew appreciably. In view of the constant threat of counterrevolution the" Left wing" had already gained the upper hand in the Party as far back as February 1934. Support for its policy now increased rapidly. In the middle of 1935 a United Front of all working- class parties and groupings was formed and this was followed at the end of the year by the formation of a People's Front of all the democratic and Republican Parties.
To round off our account we may recall the fact that at the Parliamentary Elections in February 1936 the People's Front won a smashing victory. After this a left- Republican bourgeois Government, having the support of the Labour Movement, was formed under the leadership of Azaña. But the tale of suffering of unfortunate Spain was not yet
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at an end. A new and tragic phase in its fight for freedom began in July when, with the aid of the Army and of the Fascist Powers of Europe, Spanish reaction embarked on that armed insurrection against the legal Government which has led to the gigantic struggle the final outcome of which it is impossible at the moment to predict.
It is obvious that during the period under review the political events quite overshadowed the economic and social developments that lay at the back of them. Mention may, however, be made of the fact that, under the incompetent minority Governments which succeeded one another at intervals of only a few months during 1934 and 1935, Spain's economic situation became worse and worse. There was a severe depression both in the building industry and in the woodworking industry which is entirely dependent on it. The law to give an impetus to building activity by exemption from taxation and by cash loans, passed in June 1935, resulted in a trifling improvement only. The strikes of the building workers during 1933/34 had wrung from the Government a decree reducing hours of work from 48 to 44 without reduction in wages for Madrid on 18 March 1934, and for the Asturias on 29 October 1934. But during the period which followed, all agreements and social legislation became virtually a dead letter whilst the joint wage committees practically ceased to function. The result of this was that during the summer of 1935 a number of bitter disputes had to be conducted( in the Asturias, for example) to force the employers to observe the agreements.
The Building Workers' and Woodworkers' Unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. were hard hit by the repressive measures taken before the October rising, and still more by those that followed it. True, central headquarters were transferred in time from the occupied People's House at Madrid, but in the provinces many branches were closed by the authorities and Trade Union activity rendered impossible. Dogged reconstruction alone made it possible for our affiliated Unions gradually to rally their forces anew. But hardly had they begun to function again with full force when there broke over Spain the storm of the civil war let loose by the Fascist generals, the changing fortunes in which are to- day being followed by the whole world with bated breath.
Sweden( 18, 62-66)
Sweden's Labour Government, which came to power in September 1932, was only strengthened by subsequent elections and Sweden is, without a doubt, one of the best examples of what can be achieved by a determined policy of economic re- organisation by the State and by a planned currency policy. Taking 1929 as 100 the index for the manufacture of producers' goods had already reached 100.9 by January 1935, and by November of the same year had risen by yet a further 12%. At first this recovery was confined mainly to the export industries but during the period under review it spread to an ever126

increasing extent to the branches of industry of importance to the home market also.
This latter development was most marked in the building industry. Thanks to the combined effects of cheap money, State aid for housing and the demand for better and more modern houses( a demand created by the general increase in purchasing power) the figures for residential building reached a peak never reached before. The same is true of industrial building and of public building. Actually, however, it was not until the middle of 1934, when the big dispute which had paralysed it for nearly II months was brought to a close in FebruaryMarch, that things really got going in the building industry.
There can be not the slightest doubt that the big program of public works to fight against unemployment was largely responsible for giving an impetus to trade generally and contributed largely to the general improvement. During the financial year 1933/34 the sum of 250,6 million kroner, and during the financial year 1934/35 320 million kroner, were raised for this purpose by loan. These sums represented nearly 25% of the entire budget. By that time, however, unemployment had been reduced to such an extent that for the financial year 1935/36 it was possible to decide to return to the former principle of finding the money for all non- productive public works( i.e. for actual relief work) out of ordinary income. Not only this, but it was, also possible to repay all the short term loans raised for this purpose in 1933 and 1934, which amounted to a total of circa 218 million kroner. Here is proof indeed of the utility of a financial policy the aim of which is not the doctrinaire one of balancing the Budget over the period of a single year but of balancing it over a period of years. Apparently no slowing down of building activity need yet be feared for the Government has now prepared a new and extensive program for the improvement of housing, which provides, among other things, for an energetic furtherance of homestead settlement. In addition, an official investigation is being made to discover those departments in the sphere of public works in which work could be put in hand if there were any sign of a slowing down in economic life, in order to counteract the effects of this.
During the period under review the timber industry, which is of such vital importance to Sweden, fared much less well. It is true that in 1934 both the volume and the value of exports of sawn and planed woods were somewhat in excess of the previous year, which had also been a favourable one, but the setback in 1935 was all the more marked. The fall in the volume of exports in that year was 16.6% and the fall in value actually 23.6%. One cause of this decisive worsening of the position was the big slump in prices which had already taken place during the second half of 1934. Then there was the considerable decrease in Swedish sales in the British market incidentally, as early as 1933 and 1934 Sweden had benefitted much less by the enormously increased British demand than had the Soviet Union or Finland, for instance, and the shrinkage in exports to
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Sweden's main markets on the Continent of Europe due to the continuance of the economic depression( France, Belgium, Holland), deadlock with regard to payments( Germany) and political uncertainty ( Spain). Moreover, the position in that section of the woodworking industry working for export( i.e. in joinery mills, box shook factories and other wooden articles exclusively for export) was not much better. It is only thanks to the favourable development of the export of cellulose, paper and cardboard- to- day by far the most important articles of Swedish export that the fall in the export value of the entire group under the heading of" Forest Industry" was not greater than 4.8% in 1935.
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As the population of Sweden itself is only a good six million it is quite obvious that the marked improvement in the home market helped to mitigate the unfavourable export results in the wood industry during 1935, but could not make up for them by a long chalk. As a result, in spite of an indisputable improvement as compared with the years of the depression, the unemployment figure remained pretty high. Here it must be added that the far- reaching rationalisation in the industry also bore its share of responsibility for this. During the two years under review over 50% of the membership of the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters' Union was unemployed. In the sawmilling industry, even though this is less seasonal in character, on an average 40% of the members of the corresponding Union were unemployed. Even in the woodworking trades proper, to which the improvement in the home market made a good deal more difference. than to the timber and sawmilling industries, 23.9% of the members of the Union were stille unemployed in 1935. Nevertheless, as compared with 1934 and 1933-32.9% and 44.6% unemployment respectively there was undeniable progress.
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In this connection it is worthy of mention that a( voluntary) system of unemployment insurance with State aid, at last came into operation on I January 1935. Of the Unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. only the Woodworkers and the Upholsterers have so far taken advantage of the possibility of establishing a" recognised" Unemployment Fund in accordance with the Act( see Bulletins 2/1936 and 6/1934). It may, however, be taken that, with the exception of the Timber Workers and Timbers Floaters who are excepted from the Act almost as a body, the remaining Unions will gradually follow suit, always provided that agreement can be arrived at with the Government on certain questions arising out of the seasonal character of the trades concerned.
Thanks to their strong trade union organisation the Swedish workers had succeeded in keeping the inevitable wage cuts during the depression within tolerable limits. In 1934 they succeeded in putting a stop to this downward trend, and, in most trades, 1935 saw an energetic and successful campaign to win back what had been lost.
The building trade was an exception, or, to be more accurate, the process of wage cutting really set in in this in 1933/34. As known,
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there was at that period a big dispute in the trade, started by the employers in order that they might give their desire for reductions full vent. This dispute, which lasted nearly 11 months, during which building activity was almost completely paralysed, and which affected industry as a whole( which at that period was just beginning to recover) had, under pressure of economic and political circumstances, to be brought to an end on 17 February 1934 by a settlement which meant an appreciable cut, particularly in piece rates. Nearly 15,000 members of the Bricklayers' and the Carpenters and Joiners' Unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. were involved in this dispute and a full report of the dispute and of its settlement was published at the time both by the International Federation of Building Workers and the International Union of Woodworkers. The new agreement, which covers roughly 50,000 workers, is valid until I April 1937. An interesting incidental effect of the dispute was that an official investigation of conditions in the building trade was instituted and our colleagues believe that this will result in the explosion of the myth that the" exorbitant wages" of the building workers are the cause of high rents.
In October 1935 the Sawmill Workers renewed their national agreement with the organised employers. Holidays were increased from 4 to 5 and 6 days and other improvements also were secured. These new provisions became operative as from I February 1936, to apply for twelve months. The agreement, although it only covers some 10,000 workers, is a guide for the entire trade, and had last been renewed in February 1932. The cut in agreement rates of from 6 to 8% effected at that time still holds good for the present. During 1934, but to a much larger extent still during 1935, a great number of individual movements were conducted in order to effect an improvement where wages and other working conditions were below the standard of the national agreement. On the whole the results of these movements were good. Actual strikes were rare and, where they did occur, small in extent. The results of the efforts of the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters with regard to agreements were similar, although these workers have no national agreement but only local agreements and agreements for individual establishments. The major part of these agreements were prolonged at the end of October 1933 and 1934 for a year in each case, without change. The actual strikes were larger in extent than was the case in the sawmilling industry. The big dispute of the some 10,000 timber workers and timber floaters with two big concerns in Northern Sweden( see Bulletin 2/1936) is worthy of special mention. This dispute, which was conducted jointly by the Union affiliated to the I.B.W.W. and by the Farmers' Association, met with considerable public support. It lasted from I November 1935 to 19 February 1936 and ended with the full success of the principle for which the workers stood, for an end was put to the arbitrary action of the employers as regards wages. The workers gave notice of termination, as from 31 December 1934,
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of the national agreement for the woodworking industry proper ( furniture- making, joinery, packing- case making, the manufacture of other wooden articles, boat- building, etc.). This agreement had been prolonged in October 1933 after a lock- out lasting two months, but with the imposition of a wage cut of from 3% to 5%. After protracted negotiations, during which yet another lock- out was avoided by a hair's breadth, it proved possible, at the beginning of 1935, to secure a new agreement valid until I January 1937. The length of paid holidays was increased from 4 to 5 days and important groups of workers secured an advance, in particular those working in establishments manufacturing standardised wooden houses and those in a number of establishments the owners of which had become members of the employers' association since 1933 but who had not felt themselves bound by the old agreement. The remaining efforts of the Woodworkers' Union in connection with agreements were, in the main, also successful. The same is true of the movements of the Upholsterers during 1934 and 1935 which resulted throughout in increases, although in some case only after recourse to strikes. In 1935 they succeeded in achieving an extension of paid holidays from 4 to 5 days.
During the period under review all the Swedish Unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. had minor increases in membership which made up for the losses during the depression and in some cases more than made up for these. Worthy of special mention is the fact that on I January 1934 the Sawmill Workers' Union surrendered nearly 11,000 timber workers, i.e. a good 25% of its membership, to the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters' Union.
The Bricklayers held their Congress in May( see Bulletin 3& 4/1934), the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters in June/ July, the Carpenters and Joiners in August/ September 1934( see Bulletin 8/1934). The only organisation to hold its Congress during 1935 was the Scandinavian Upholsterers' Union, and this took place in July ( see Bulletin 6/1935).
At the end of 1935 the transformation of the Federation of the Building Trades Workers' Unions( Samverkande Byggnadsfackförbunden) seemed to have become an immediate possibility. But the ballot of the memberships on the draft proposals for amalgamation, worked out at many sessions of intensive effort, have decided otherwise, at any rate for the time being. During the period under review the Federation was obliged to conduct a vigorous fight against the so- called" building guilds"( producers' co- operative societies in the building trade) promoted by Syndicalistic elements, as the fact that the working capital of these undertakings had to be raised by direct investment by the workers concerned and by a renunciation of the difference between time and piece rates, gravely threatened the whole body of agreements for the trade. Among other steps, the Federation published two pamphlets on the matter. By the end of 1935 it had proved possible to clear up the affair. It is significant that the main
130

protagonist of this unhealthy form of" co- operative" building activity later set up in business on his own account and joined the employers' association for the trade.
As far as the Federation of the Sawmill Workers', the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters' and the Paper Workers' Unions are concerned, the frequently discussed possibility of a fusion is no longer a matter of present moment. Since I January 1936, however, a joint monthly journal," Skogsindustriarbetaren", has appeared for all three Unions. Finally, we may mention the fact that on the official commission appointed in the middle of 1936 and which, during 1934/35, conducted a thorough investigation into all the questions connected with the sawmilling and cellulose industries, which are of such vital importance to Sweden, the workers were represented by the President of the Sawmill Workers' Union. The commission advised the Government on the question of the grant of a State subsidy for the re- opening and modernisation of idle sawmills in a number of places, in particular in the northern part of Sweden and in the Sundsvall area, where unemployment most urgently required relieving. In addition, it prepared proposals for a more rational organisation of the entire industry, having regard to the possibilities of the future, and all the other economic and social factors connected with the location, number of workers, etc.
Switzerland( 19, 67)
Whereas in Zurich and in the Cantons of Geneva and Basle the working class was able, between 1933 and 35, to capture the leadership, the Federal Government is still in the hands of the Conservative bourgeois parties. Their rigid policy of deflation has plunged the little country deeper and still deeper into the mire of the economic crisis. If, in spite of this, Switzerland is not in quite such bad case as France this is only thanks to the big financial reserves it had at its disposal when the depression started. These, for instance, made it possible for residential building actually to increase during the first years in the areas under observation the number of dwellings completed increased from 12,912 in 1929 to 17,260 in 1932- and thus helped to minimise unemployment. In 1933, however, there was already a falling off in residential building, which had been left almost entirely to private initiative. True, at the beginning of the following year there was some recovery but the second half of 1934 and even more the year 1935 brought a complete collapse. During 1935 both the number of dwellings completed and the number of building permits issued fell by comparison with the previous year by 40%.
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It is characteristic of the negative crisis policy of the Federal Government that during the depression it ceased almost completely to grant State aid for housing. Nor could its plan for the provision of work for 1935/36, adopted in December 1934, effect any considerable improvement. Its aim was not least to further rearmament and the civil engineering side was much too one- sidedly stressed.
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The spread of the depression made it impossible for the Building and Wood Workers' Union to keep wages wholly at their level up to that point. Both during 1934 and 1935 reductions had to be accepted. Nevertheless, the Union was successful in restricting these to bearable limits, in keeping with the fall in the cost of living. It even succeeded in achieving here and there an improvement in general working conditions, e.g. the woodworkers in Basle became entitled in 1934 to a nine days' holiday instead of a six day one( see Bulletin 6/1934). Our Swiss fellow- workers held their Congress in September 1935. The Congress gave its assent to the measures which had had to be taken on certain occasions to put the Unemployment Fund, which had got into difficulties, on its feet again. The Congress further expressed itself in favour of the" Plan of Action" sponsored jointly by the Party and the Unions. This Plan of Action not only envisages an extensive program of building but also the reorganisation of the building trade along planned lines( see Bulletin 6/1935).
Trinidad( 21, 70)
As the Building and Wood Workers' Union of Trinidad( British West Indies) did not affiliate to the I.B.W.W. until I January 1936, shortly after its foundation, we must refrain from giving a survey of its activities in the present report. Moreover, the Union is still only in process of being built up, with the result that it has so far been able to achieve little positive. We may say, however, that the organisation in Trinidad is taking an extremely active part in the work of the International, which is a very encouraging sign.
Trinidad is an island in the Lesser Antilles group, 1,863 square miles in area. It lies off the north east coast of South America and has a population of about 425,000. The relatively small white population consists mainly of British, French, Spaniards and Portugese. When it affiliated the membership of the Union was roughly 300. Yugoslavia( 10, 42-46)
The hopes cherished a year or two ago that public life in Yugoslavia would be democratised have not been fulfilled. The dictatorship was just on the point of making itself somewhat milder, in the interest of national unity, when the murder of King Alexander at Marseille in October 1934 removed its chief. The country soon fell a prey to an evil feud between factions. The nationalistic tension between the various races has only become more acute and political pacification seems further away than ever.
The economic situation of Yugoslavia was dreary enough in 1934, but in 1935 the effects of the sanctions against Italy resulted in a further and very severely felt worsening. A very large part of Yugoslavia's exports goes to Italy with the result that, by the falling away of this export, the economic crisis already existing was intensified beyond measure. Particularly hard hit was the timber industry in Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina in which at first a certain recovery had taken place as a result of Italy's increased demand for 132

timber. The effects of the thus increased unemployment were the more terrible in that the State takes no measures for the relief of the unemployed. The absence of anything in the nature of unemployment insurance or public relief results in the impoverished masses being forced to rely on private charity. Thus it comes about that the Unions, in spite of the fact that they are not numerically strong, are obliged to perform Herculean tasks so far as the provision of relief is concerned. Into the bargain the activity of the" free" trade unions is sabotaged by the authorities, which, almost without exception, lend a helping hand to the yellow" national" trade unions. The persecution of, and the bringing of charges against, the" free" trade unions is the order of the day.
The major part of Yugoslavia's 13 million inhabitants are small peasants, both in mode of life and outlook. This is true of the wage earning population also. Thus the building workers, and this applies to those who find jobs in the towns as well, are for the most part small peasants willing to work for any wage. It is very hard to get these workers into the Union and, as a result, the trade union movement, although it frequently has excellent personnel at its command and certainly has no lack of achievements to show, is still very undeveloped. It is estimated that there are about 60,000 workers employed in the building trade in Yugoslavia. Of this number, however, only 3,000 are organised in the" free" trade union movement, and of this number again on an average only about 1,000 can be regarded as paying members. The membership is a very unstable one. Between 1932 and 35 the Union enrolled no less than 16.000 persons but only 16% of them remained members.
The same is true of the wood industry in which considerably more than 60,000 workers are employed. Here, however, there is the added fact that the" free" trade union movement of the woodworkers is split along nationalist lines. True, it proved possible in December 1935 to effect a certain degree of contact, on federal lines, between the four provincial Unions for Serbia- Macedonia, Croatia- Slavonia, Slovenia and Bosnia- Herzegovina( see Bulletin 1/1936) but this degree of union is still very precarious.
All this notwithstanding, both the building and the wood workers have been very active, particularly in the capital, Belgrade. If strikes were impossible up to 1933 a regular wave of strikes set in in 1934 which merely became intensified in 1935/36. And very necessary this was too, for although on an average nominal wages were 400% higher than in 1914 their purchasing power had fallen considerably. As regards hours of work, too, the position is very bad. In the larger towns these range from 8 to 10, in the smaller towns actually from 10 to 16, whilst in the country work goes on from dawn till sunset. Protective legislation is utterly ignored. This being the case it is special cause for satisfaction that, by means of powerful strikes, the Belgrade Woodworkers in 1934, and the Building Workers in 1935, were able to gain agreements and other important improvements in their wages and working conditions.
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Table VII
Exchange Rates of Various Currencies ( Averages during the Month ending 15 January 1936)
The chart printed below provides a quick and simple method of finding the average rate of exchange current between any two of the countries included. For example, to find the rate between France and U.S.A. it is only necessary to( a) follow the line marked France till the U.S.A. column is reached. The figure given there is the value of the franc in cents, or ( b) follow the line marked U.S.A.
till the France
column is reached. The figure given there is the value of the dollar in francs.
England
France
Italy
Holland
Belgium
Spain
Portugal
Switzerland
Germany
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
India
£ I
England France
I Fr.
Pence Francs
Lire
-
3.2
--
Italy Holland
I Lire
I Fl.
Belgium
Spain
I Bel ¹) I Pes.
Portugal
Switzerland
Japan
I Esc.
Germany
Norway
Sweden
Denmark
India
I Fr. I Mark I Kr. I Kr. I Kr. I R.
I Yen
U.S.A.
$ 1
Argentine
I Peso
Brazil 2
Canada
I Milr. $ 1
Roumania 2
Czecho- Slovakia
Yugo- Slavia
I Leu I Kr. I Din.
Finland
Estonia
Poland
Austria
1)
I Belga= 5 Francs.
2)
Rate Nominal.
Florins Belga) Pesetas Escudos Francs Marks Kroners Kroners Kroners Rupees Yen Cents Pesos Milreis Cents Lei Crowns Dinar
-
0.81
-
-
74.72 61.35 7.27 29.28 36.05 110.13 15.18 12.26 19.91 19.40 22.40 13.23 17.11 493.6 15.00 56.47 496.1665.4 119.0216.8 0.82 0.10 0.39 0.48 I.47 C.20 0.16 0.27 0.26 0.30 0.18 3.9 1.22 0.23 6.6 0.20 0.76 6.6 0.12 0.48 0.59 8.91 1.59 2.90 0.28 1.80 0.25 0.20 0.32 0.32 0.37 0.22 33.0 10.28 8.44 8.0 0.24 0.92 4.03 4.96 15.15 2.09 1.69 2.74 2.67 3.08 1.82 8.1 10.85 1.94 3.53 8.2 2.55 2.10 0.25 2.35 67.9 2.06 7.77 68.2 91.53 16.37 29.82 1.23 3.76 0.52 0.42 0.68 0.66 0.76 0.45 6.7 2.07 1.70 0.20 0.58 16.9 0.51 1.93 16.9 22.73 4.06 7.40 3.05 0.42 0.34 0.55 0.54 0.62 0.37 0.47 13.7 0.42 1.57 13.8 18.46 3.30 6.01 0.14 0.11 0.18 0.18 0.20 0.12 0.16 4.5 0.14 0.51 4.5 6.04 1.08 1.97 0.81 1.31 1.28 1.48 0.87 1.13 32.5 0.99 3.72 32.7 43.83 7.84 14.28 1.62 1.58 1.83 1.08 1.40 40.3 1.22 4.61 40.5 54.27 9.71 17.68 0.97 1.13 0.66 0.86 24.8 0.75 2.84 24.9 33.42 5.98 10.89 0.88 25.4 0.77 2.91 25.6 34.30 6.13 11.18 0.76 22.0 0.67 2.52 22.1 29.71 5.31 9.68 1.29 37.3 1.13 4.27 37.5 50.29 8.99 16.37 28.8 0.88 3.30 29.0 38.88 6.95 12.67 3.04 11.44 100.5 134.81 24.11 43.92
2.2 0.68 0.56 0.07 0.27 0.33 15.8 4.92 4.04 0.48 1.93 2.37 19.6 6.09 5.00 0.59 2.39 2.94 12.1 3.75 3.08 0.37 1.47 1.81 12.4 3.85 3.16 0.37 1.51 1.86 10.7 3.34 2.74 0.32 1.31 1.61 18.1 5.65 4.64 0.55 2.21 2.72 14.0 4.37 3.59 0.42 1.71 2.11 48.6 15.14 12.43 1.47 5.93 7.30 16.0 4.98 4.09 0.48 1.95 2.40 4.2 1.32 1.09 0.13 0.52 0.64 48.4 15.06 12.37 1.46 5.90 7.26 0.4 0.11 0.09 0.01 0.04 0.05 2.0 0.63 0.52 0.06 0.25 0.30 1.1 0.34 0.28 0.03 0.14 0.17
-
-
-
-
7.25 8.98 1.24 5.53 0.76 0.62 5.68 0.78 0.63 1.03 I.15 0.68 4.92 0.68 0.55 0.89 0.87 0.59 8.32 1.15 0.93 1.50 1.47 1.69 6.44 0.89 0.72 1.16 1.13 1.31 0.77 22.31 3.08 2.48 4.03 3.93 4.54 2.68 7.34 1.01 0.82 1.33 1.29 1.49 0.88 I.95 0.27 0.22 0.35 0.34 0.40 0.23 22.20 3.06 2.47 4.01 3.91 4.52 2.67 3.45 99.5 3.02 11.38 0.17 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.7 0.02 0.08 0.93 0.13 0.10 0.17 0.16 0.19 0.1II 0.14 4.1 0.13 0.47 0.51 0.07 0.06 0.09 0.09 0.10 0.06 0.08 2.3 0.07 0.26
-
3.47 1.14 32.9 0.30 8.7 0.27
The value of the£ sterling is given in unities of various other currencies:
Finn. Mk.
226.9
Kroners Zloty
18.25
26.15
Schillings
26.50
Hungary
Australia
South Africa
3.76 33.1 44.36 7.93 14.45
-
8.8 11.78 2.11 3.84
-
134.13 23.98 43.37
0.8
0.18 0.33
4.2
5.59
1.82
2.3
3.07 0.55
Pengös £( A.) £( S.A.)
16.50
1.250
1.009
( Adapted from the" Bulletin of the Federation of British Industries").
Japan
U.S.A.
Argentine
Brazil
Canada
Roumania
Czecho- Slovakia
Yugo- Slavia

Table X.
Wage Movements of Affiliated Organizations in 1934 and 1935.
16
1.383
21
755 4.912 2.477
*
*
*
*
**
*
|||*
2
*
**
**
||||*|
**
|*||||
A
74
14
*
*
*
**
*
*
I
2
2
*
*
25
25
5
||*|
***|| 1
24
I
I. 162
*
664 322
400
129
I I
67
||
44
36,
Movements without recourse to strikes
Total Number
Successful
Adjusted
Unsuccessful
Total Number
Strikes and Lock- outs
Successful
Adjusted
Unsuccessful
Country
No. No.
and Organisation
of
of of Move- Workers Members ments involved involved
Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number of of of of of of of of of Move- Workers Members Move- Workers Members Move- Workers Members ments involved involved ments involved involved ments involved involved
of of Move- Workers. involved ments
of Members involved
Number Number Number of of of Move- Workers Members ments involved involved
Number of Movements involved
Number Number Number Number Number of of of of of Members Workers Move- Workers Members involved ments involved involved
**
**
*
*
**
**
**
**
225
2.335 2.335
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**||***
I
**||***
2
Belgium:
2
Building& Wood Workers 1934
1935
Denmark:
3
9
Coopers
1934
II
Woodworking Machinists.. 1934
1935
**
* 3+
**
*
*
*
*
35
42
12
3.500
3.500
2.335
2.335
13
Vehicle- builders
*
1934
4
300
1935
3
14
Upholsterers
1934
*
1935
*
***
450
*
*
42
**
*
250
I
*
*
*
*
***
*
*
I
ΙΟ
523
IO
380
125
*
*
**
**
**
**|****
******
*
*
*
*
6.075
*
800
3.945
600
891
181
4 1
1103
621
320
-
I IO
64
520
152
I.200
5
Estonia:
17 Building Workers
1935
*
*
Finland:
18
19
8200
Building Workers
1934
I I
Bricklayers
1934
Woodworkers
1934
1935
= 140
6.075
*
I
800
600
4.555
996
IO
1.179
575
*
10
10
Yugoslavia:
774
43
Woodworkers( Slovenia).. 1935
44
Woodwork.( Croatia- Slav.) 1934
45
Woodwork.( Bosnia- Herz.) 1934
783
I.200
676
408
744
272
320
||-+
143
I I
=
Netherlands:
49
484
47 Building Workers
1934
1935
48
Plasterers
1935
***
*
*
*
*
*
*
Furniture Workers
1934
*
*
*
1935
31
I.200
I.200
**** E
I I
*****
ww| 1
75
75
**
||
I
II
2 211
IO
32
2
212
211
32
13
11
||**
*
3
600
474
[]
2
144
|~|
566
344
-
ΠΟ
40
*
*
*
*
*****
14
*****
13
Norway:
51
Building Workers
1934
52
1935 117
54
Woodworkers
1934
20
1935
28
1.892 10.669 1.800 391
1.809
36
1.521 I.455
2
10.052
67
8.106 7.640
4
1.800
20
1.800
1.800
366
28
391
366
*
*
****
50
48
388
386
||
||
95
154
29
74
**||+
400
400
I.162
*
3
881
486
703
448
400
1123
400
211
337
||
80
283
5142
135
64
I
800
200
-
121
86
I
800
200
# 8
44
I5
576
41
80
181
*****
*****
2758
22
37
237
15
485
152
16
1.687
427
32
*
137 185
69
62* 3
321
2.175
2.026
306
I I
||
7147
514
404
294
275
400
400
70
70
446--
**||**- 2
3
**||**
**|** 5
722
357
** w
48
58 45
I
19
1- 1
122
**
20
IN* W N
2
3
2
139 207
134
192
400
400
59
59
41
**
I
30
1-1
122
7 1
I I
=
4
**
20
I
* 2* 31
I
12
12
22
1-12
428
3
722
428
I I
II
87
**
8
66
19
**
29
1
2
375
270
2
75
71
*
16
*
I I
35**^
****
223
88
72
**
386
875
308
356
8460** N.
5.102
I
2
237
IO
322
*
*
*
2
112
86
36** 54
23
****
5.341
85 237
322
217
217
146
116
386
308
II.588
1.841
42698653
II4
I2
IO
18
I
15
I I
239
158
14
± 5
**
*
20
*
I I
I.944 255
1.890
255
6
70
*
150
**
*
*
*
*
10.601
1.2361
I
*
|*
2211
70 187
27
I
130
420
50
||
**
**
329
III
1.896
552
690
540
175
168
67
52
13
34
34222
47
4.900: 15.396
1.029
27
4.501
3.495
41
4
900
658
I
13.313 80
914 2.916
68
175
168
67
52
37722
||*||
15
270
*
65
*
116 269
I.442 1.770
326
89
690 229
I.124 1.530
1.270 560
27
38
8 28
65
*
4
318
180
195
56
115
2
460
*
бо
15
questionnaire, while many omitted to reply altogether. The latter circumstance was partly due to the fact that the unions concerned do not collect the data in question.
In appraising the above Table it accordingly has to be taken into consideration that it conveys only a very incomplete and otherwise also by no means perfect survey of the wage movements of the unions affiliated to the I.B.W.W. It is evident that probably all the unions not figuring in the Table have during the period reviewed also been involved in such movements, with or without strike action. In some cases, such as the general
wage movements without stoppages in Denmark, the British and Irish building trades and the Dutch building trades, they were even very considerable in scope. Concerning these matters, for the rest, further particulars are given in the surveys on the separate countries contained elsewhere in this Report.
(*) No information. 1) Some of these strikes, affecting approximately 10,000 workpeople, were brought to a partially successful conclusion in 1936.
17
Roumania:
61
Woodworkers
1934
2
57
43
2
57
43
43
18
Sweden:
62
Bricklayers
1934
*
*
*
*
1935
*
*
*
63
Sawmill Workers...
1934
*
74
5.892
*
1935
94
6.059
64
Woodworkers
1934 155
1935 139
65
Carpenters& Joiners
1935
66
Lumber Workers
1935
69 32
3.087 7.614 1.761 1.489 3.699 2.076 20
2.660
6.674
*||**
**||**
****
68
1.746 1.478
3.265
I.771
****** 19
74
94
******
*
*
5.892
6.059
*
*
ΙΟ
200
152
19
67
Switzerland:
Building& Wood Workers 1934
1935
8 in
82
27.050
55
3.128
12.537 1.892
ཅ་ྱ
30
16
**
**
38
24
**
**
||||
11266
26||
20
4.920
*
2.190
1.420
I.092
960
1.780
*
22
Czechoslovakia:
11
7 1
Building Worker's
1934
183 132.816 35.839
1935
194
23
A
72
Woodworkers( Prague) 1934
36
73
Woodworkers( Reichenb.). 1934
1935
20 16
141.030 43.000 8.763 7.900 6.692 4.260
183 194 14
132.816 141.030
35.839
43.000
3.693
*
14
4.502
2.840
I.092
960
23
33
Hungary:
75
27
74
Building Workers Woodworkers
1934
26
I.780
*
-
1934
20
466
138
20
1935
466
164
1.056
138
980
164
1.056
980
The numbering in this Table corresponds to that in the Directory ( Appendix II), which contains the full names of the organisations here indicated in brief.
To permit of as uniform, i.e. lucid, as possible a classification, the unions were asked to supply their data in accordance with a specified plan. As a more than superficial checking of the data given was for several reasons not practicable, no assurance can be given as to the accuracy of the contents of the Table. It should be taken into account that a number of unions had obviously replied incompletely or even erroneously to certain parts of the

Table VIIIb.
Country
No.
No.
and
Organisation
Currency
General Fund
Income, Expenditure and Net Worth of Affiliated Organisations in 1935.
Unemployment Fund
Other Funds separately
administered
Total Expenditure
Net Worth on 1 January 1936
Subsidies
Total Receipts
Total
Entrance
Receipts
Fees only
Membership Dues only
Total Receipts
Membership Dues only
from Public Funds only
Total Receipts
Membership Dues only
( All Funds)
All Funds
General Fund
Unemployment Fund
Other Funds
separately administered
All Funds
General Fund
Unemployment Fund
Other Funds
separately administered
"
"
Denmark:
3
Bricklayers
3
KF.
289.471
( 6/14)
Woodworkers' Secretariat:
6
8
Cabinet- makers& Joiners Brushmakers 3
دو
464.821
وو
21.818
IO
Picture- frame Makers*
I I
Woodcutting Machinists"
7.710
218.088
12
Carvers 3
13
3+
Vehicle- builders 3
83
14
Upholsterers
5
Finland:
120
19
Bricklayers
20
وو
Fmk.
246.905
6.750
352.016 5
15.921
189.991 241.420
60.198
། སོ
196
-
179.204 382.981 19.299 6.041 156.166
2.272.1152 1.160.747 2
1.019.337 2
90.540 4
85.044
4
2.652.126
2 the s 2.982 345
593.083
2.306.071 2
2.622.434 1.290.615
58.188 41.808 1.012.981
30.462
1.238.782 23.840
55.8786
-
16.569
23.511
3.6247
3.6247
14.574
51.712
181.309
82 160 1.080
8.928 36.807 138.722
75.067 233.588 510.307
536.334 40.044 109.480 263.254
454.145
33.239 119.144
203.988
-
37.379
19.919
||||
||
55.8786 3.143.133 80.006 53.142 I.231.069 89.641 285.300
2.070.726 54.885 34.600
311.653 18.555
5.616
755.780
83.100
1.713.273 36.330 26.005 672.680
83.1914 45.800 6 2.978 7
3.428.706 1.414.690 5 1.938.301 2
75.7144
4.295.168 181.415 90.989
I.190.419
3.104.749
*
76.676
104.739
14.926
59.466
24.315
691.616
210.675 595.209
31.905
194.660
35.151 178.770 400.549
1.448.692 132.441
954.971
23.974
438.932
161.119
977.364
150.254
75.325 493.721 108.467 277.813 827.110
738 7
246.905
159.381 459.798
159.381 404.854 5
-
198.969
198.969
54.944
(-) 198.139(-) 209.8659 11.726
|!
7
( 23/38)
25
30
31
Woodworkers
Great Britain& Ireland:
N.F.B.T.O.:
Painters 1
Slaters( Scotland)
Bldg.& Mon. Wrkrs.( Scotland)
35
Plasterers
39
Brushmakers
4 2 2 2 2
-
873 5
9.990
1.549
I.462
86
27.541 1.845
958 12
£
271.396 10
2.476
120 5
183
632
99.408 753 9.056 25.785
-
5
271.396
*
*
*
*
2.141
*
4.563 5
7.377
6
1.680
1.932
1.932
11
3.842 8.799 33.479 3.257
1.038 8.799 22.230
I.237
1.566
81.849 4.552
II.086
81.849 5 2.658 II.086
II.249
34.272
I.479
927
851 12
6.214
19.485 2.494
9.990
6.525
958 12
34.918 4.735
|||
907
987
2.837
14.787 883 12
IO
Yugoslavia:
43
43
Woodworkers( Slovenia)
Din.
146.211
2.888
143.323
40.516
40.516
186.727
729
729
-
I I
Netherlands:
49
7844
Building Workers 1
Fl.
Plasterers
"
Furniture Workers
دو
485.780 39.113 120.580
651 30 147
424.557 36.290 110.746
1.435.157 176.984 281.164
521.857 68.070 96.948
913.181 108.913 184.202
36.785 20 1.9046 10.894 13
28.696 20 1.679 6
20
7.545 13
1.957.722 218.002 412.638
1.720.631 195.144 409.674
494.886 46.215 126.927
1.208.258 148.299 281.164
17.487
2.173.338
1.700.032
226.899
246.407 20
630 6
*
*
*
*
223
13
Norway:
51
Building Workers 1
Kr.
1.071.881
II.540
953.908
1.071.881
624.608
624.608
1.583 13 383.408
I.350.505
306.631(-) 16.213
13
92.990
I.350.505
18
Sweden:
23389
62
Bricklayers
Kr.
63
Sawmill Workers
"
743.493 760.819
14 15
13.780
712.440 14
743.493
147.689
147.689
3.304
568.127
64
Woodworkers
"
564.311
7.724
475.279
415.776
65
Carpenters& Joiners
415.776
"
805.941
18.431
762.718
66
Lumber Workers
"
248.837
6.910
239.328
1.976 16 9.926 17
17
657 16 805.941 9.926 1 258.763
760.819
429.636
429.636
937.070 2.786.967
937.070 2.786.967
982.062
483.888
253.793
229.854
16
240
1.832.036
1.729.418
89.330
323.132
323.132
244.000
243.210
1.800 17
1.018.432 74.986
1.018.432 36.461
13.289 38.525 17
19
Switzerland:
67
49
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
1.610.021
5.776
I.347.909 II.024.727
2.720.815 8.283.356
643.8407
586.3727 13.278.588
13.864.887
1.091.619 12.096.219
7
677.049 1.660.890
1.527.659
153.241
7
20
Spain:
68
Building Workers
Pes.
28.618
27.968
28.618
20.177
20.177
39.654
39.654
22
Czechoslovakia:
71
Building Workers 1
Kr.
73
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
"
10.765.059 19 1.786.439
40.175 1.224
10.064.692 1.777.198
775.300
775.300 18
*
10.765.059 2.561.740
19
9.141.267 9.141.267 19 2 684.790
427.780 2.257.010
2.690.806 19 2 690.806 19 960.863 5.862.110(-) 4.901.247
23
Hungary:
75
Woodworkers
Pengö
89.852
765
61.396
89.852
92.594
92.594
8.576
8.576
For Rates of Exchange, see Table VII.
Cf. Table IXb and the general remarks( in italics) to Table VIIIa.
*) Not specified.
-
Does not exist. 1) Data concerning the whole Union; cf. Table VI. 2) Including approximately 3,000 Bricklayers in Copenhagen who, though not affiliated to the Union, belong to its Unemployment Fund. 3) 1.IV.35-31.III.36; Net Worth at 31.III.36.. 4) Accident Insurance. 5) Including Local Funds.
6) Funeral Fund. 7) Sickness Fund.
8) Including Upholsterers
in Sweden and Saddlers in both Denmark and Sweden; cf. Table VI.
9) Debt of General Fund Fmk. 281,746; Net Worth of Local Funds Fmk. 71,880.10) Including State subsidy to Unemployment Fund. 11) Union Unemployment Fund separate from State benefit system. 12) Sickness and Funeral Fund; Superannuation Fund. 13) Old Age Invalidity Pension Fund.- 14) Including extra levy( 20 weeks at 3 kronen) to strengthen financial position weakened by the big dispute of 1933/34 in the building industry.-15) Including 134,194
-
kronen for accident insurance premiums.- 16) Security deposits of treasurers.- 17) Tuberculosis Fund. 18) Including 184,043 kronen from extra levy on those receiving benefit, but excluding State subsidy. 19) Including Unemployment Fund, but excluding State 20) Superannuation Fund.
subsidy.

Table IXb.
No.
No.
and
Country
Organisation
Currency
Unemployment
All Benefits
Benefit
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Expenditure
Expenditure on Benefits of Affiliated Organisations in 1935.
Amount
in
National Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Strike& Victimisation
Sickness,
Accident& Death
Benefit
Superannuation Benefit
Invalidity
Court Assistance
Other Benefits
Benefit
Benefit
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
National Currency
Amount
Amount
in
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
£
202.980
"
43
Woodworkers( Slovenia)
Fl.
145.481
II
Netherlands:
47 Building Workers 1
Hfl.
48
Plasterers
" 3
49
Furniture Workers
وو
I.303.436 75.8 151.031 77.4 307.085 74.9
123
51
54
18
Norway:
Building Workers
Woodworkers
Sweden:
Kr.
وو
62
Bricklayers
Kr.
63
Sawmill Workers
"
64
Woodworkers
وو
65
Carpenters& Joiners
"
66
Lumber Workers
"
19
Switzerland:
67
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
12.599.155
22
Czechoslovakia:
71 Building Workers
Kč
73
23
Woodworkers( Reichenberg) Hungary:
"
75
Woodworkers
Pengö
5.566 410 60.9 2.191.771 81.6 36.602 39 5
3
Denmark:
3
Bricklayers
2
Kr.
2.667.759 89.4 2. 185.615 81.9
399.109 15.0
82.7324 3.1
( 6/14) Woodworkers' Secretariat:
-
6
8
Cabinet- makers& Joiners Brushmakers 2
Kr.
1.463.170 70.7
1.416.521
33.840 61.6
IO
12
Picture- frame Makers 2 Carvers 2
وو
25.898 74.6
"
45.378 76.3
13
Vehicle- builders
"
176.820 83.4
14
Upholsterers
2
دو
213.597 36.9
96.8 32.055 94.7 22.760 87.9 30.794 67.9 170.859 96.6 208.652 97.7
849
I.235 77 13.259
O. I 3.7
45.800
3. I
400
I.2
0.3 29.2
2.978
11.5
810
1.8
1.020 0.5
5
Finland:
IO
W 2000 un the to wwwww 85
19
Bricklayers
Fmk.
20
Woodworkers
"
38.873 24.4 133.321 29.0
- 8
-
40.740 30.6
246 0.6 53.189 39.9
-
3.9253 1.8
38.4525 98.9 20.290 15.2
Great Britain& Ireland:
( 23/38) N.F.B.T.O.:
Painters 1
Slaters( Scotland)
35
Bldg.& Mon. Wrkrs.( Scotland)..
-
دو
Plasterers
Brushmakers
33
Yugoslavia:
303
1506 0.4
836 0.3
50
O.I
4656
5.961
I.O
3.4
||
-
175
0.5
-
2.785
2. I
15.911 11.9
4066 0.3
*
167.444 82.5
I.373
2.505 65.2 3.575 40.6 25.921 77 I 1.800
I.237 49.4
0.7 0.3
2.317 64.8
2.974 II.5
179
0.7
55.3
927 51.5
*
97.566 67.1 1.208.258 92.7 148.299 98.2. 281.881 91.8
31.914 2.102
106.764 17.1 99.519
_ 8
-
*
66.671 67.0
2.4 I.4 765 0.3 56.348 52.8 24.363 24.5
11.9935 5.9 1.181 47.1 1.258 35.2 II.255 43.4 540 30.0 1.139 0.8 44.5405 3.4 630 0.4 22.466
17.989
8.9
2.945 80
I.4
375 0.2
861 0.4
3.2
10.945 42.2 311 17.3
568 2.2
6
-
22
I.2
12.075
8.3
2.480 1.7
32.2217
22.1
17.487
1.4
7.3
1.580
0.5
50.456 34.2 26.071 6.1 235.770 4.9 32.196 10.0
8
16.333 32.4
50.4163 47.2 7.9503 8.0 33.200 65.8
||
8
196.234 83.2
39.918 16.4
8 8
9.1 11.860.894 94.2
5.285.095 95.0 2.170.737 99.0
26.071 100.0 39.536 16.8 25.130 78.0 38.118 95.5 65.109 0.5 122.706 395
1.800
4.5
III
||
|||||
IIIII
1.237
O. I
393
0.1
535
0.5
923
I.8
2.2
-
660.172 33.610 0.6 6.207 0.3
5.2
9.530 26.0
2.701
7.4
9 2833 25.4
6.469 20.1
5976
I.9
12.514
O. I
4666
107.433 1.9 10.247 0.5
12.533 34.2
2.424 6.6
17.5666 0.3 4.1856 1316 0.4
0.2
For Rates of Exchange, see Table VII.
The numbering in this Table corresponds to that in the Directory ( Appendix II). Cf. also Table VIIIb and the general remarks in italics to Table IXa.
1) Data concering whole Union; cf. Table VI. 2) 1.IV.34-31.III.35.
3) Death Benefit only. 4) Accident Benefit only.- 5) Sickness and Death Benefit only.- 6) Travelling Benefit. 7) Including Din. 527 for Travelling Benefit. 8) No Unemployment Fund.

Table VIIIa
Country
No.
No.
and
Organisation
Currency
General Fund
Income, Expenditure and Net Worth of Affiliated Organisations in 1934.
Unemployment Fund
Other Funds separately administered
Total Expenditure
Net Worth on 1 January 1935
Total
Receipts
Entrance Fees only
Membership Dues only
Total Receipts
Membership Dues only
Subsidies from Public Funds only
Total Receipts
Membership Dues only
Total Receipts ( All Funds)
Other
All Funds
General Fund
Unemployment Fund
Other Funds
separately administered
All Funds
General Fund
Unemployment Fund
Funds
separately
administered
2
Belgium:
2
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
10.724.296
2.571
9.108.512 154.715.209
3
Denmark:
( 6/14)
IO
35768901346
Bricklayers 3
Kr.
Plasterers 3
249.472 2.844
3.232
33
Woodworkers' Secretariat:
Cabinet- makers& Joiners Brushmakers 3
459.808
"
19.918
Coopers
3
18.145
160 171
Picture- frame Makers 3
7.079
Wood- cutting Machinists
218.088
*
*
Vehicle- builders 3
Cork- workers 3
58.934
114
Upholsterers 9 3
141.493
934
14.552
45
35.820 125.003 II.484
190.892 2.431.4146 2.709 48.849 361.163 3.119.493 61.193 16.172 13.863 221.336 5.742 56.421 800.292 315.630 589.196 34.586
10.084.513 144.557.706 1.105.2456 23.534
847.5066 81.7144 24.425
79.8264
1.258.879 28.948 78.158
21.979 *
1.187.546 30.793 138.893 33.601
*
53.9477 7.697 1.7408 212.689
53.9477 7.383 I.7408
165.439.505 2.762.600 51.693 3.633.248 81.III 247.179
1.839.004
23.502
24.225.5272 9.916.503 14.309.0232 1.656.5236 20.977
*
*
*
-
114.317 2.525
68.1654 3.986.142 61.961
13
I.594.195 4.742
2.319.2936 57.219
72.6544
-
2.355.721 39.998
332.061 10.142
1.977.060
46.6007
2.659.995
161.663
17.009
*
64.241 1.331.069
32.241
4.028
29.856 131.502 26.258
156.320
1.326.442 73.813
I.333 552 82.506
*
13.151
370.420
775.780
83.100
577.683
I 955 94.997
74.306
108.750 13.770
242.500
19.170
122.805 249.999 14.019
189.534 250.463
374.564
284.695
40.212
244.483
1.448.692 383.401
954.971
141.312
730.689
633.573
19.669
2.34111
2.30811
51.478
35.938
105.877 13.197
527.690 20.821
829.640
214.450
60.444 158.798 242.090 615.190
928
334.923
1.92011
147.820
IOI.838
44.656
1.39811
4
Estonia:
17
Building& Wood Workers
Kr.
427
331
96
-
427
424
424
774
747
-
5
Finland:
18
Building Workers
Fmk.
220.658
14.349
19
Bricklayers
302.05212
"
20
Woodworkers
205.281 13
8.845 14.301
202.566 59.309 146.457
98.958
42.133
5I 573
319.617 302.052
331.640
44.269
27.466
13.741
249.550
924.739 452.526
"
Great Britain& Ireland:
39
Brushmakers
48
£
1.807
1.650
16
1.904
1.904
110
959 15
*
4.670
3.255
233.484 924.739 415.26213 1.487
98.156 37.264
888
88015
4.736
313.668 49.791 (-) 112.225(--) 118.69814 1.926
174.306 49.791
139.361
6.473
1.977
83315
ΙΟ
Yugoslavia:
42
Building Workers
Din.
44
Woodworkers( Croatia- Slavonia)
240.683 89.801 13
II.852 5.211
200.484
-
"
68.372
240.683 89.801
224.254 99.966
224.254 99.96613
*
*
36.579
36.57913
45
Woodworkers( Bosnia- Herzegovina)
108.028
1.978
59.829
"
72.12517
72.12517
180.154
114.164
104.691
9.47317
331.013
268.361
I I
Netherlands:
13
17
: 60
61
18
19
67
282 445 66 66756 6
47
Building Workers 1
Fl.
48
Plasterers
49
Furniture Workers
::
565.712 56.376 147.2.3
712
25 164
505.618 55.033 137.000
1.683.850 191.215 301.933
565.340 73.447
100.641
1.036.135 117.516 201.282
43.16918 2.0057 12.12920
*
19
2.257.806
1.8227 8.665 20
249.596
2.190.540 239.419
493.527 1.683.850
53.736
461.355
474.557
164.878
185.264 308.519
13.163 18 420 I.16020
1.930.228
1.703.120
62.65217 227.10918
*
*
*
*
380.444
312 978(-) 16.212
83.679 20
Norway:
51
Building Workers 1
Kr.
995.783
6.902
817.931
Woodworkers
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
""
55
Lumber Workers 1
311.665
4.209
62.001
8.641
|**
995.783
656.896
656.896
-
179.557
150.000
*
*
*
903.232 *
903.232
*
29.557
320.306
324.346
1**
321.046
3.300
Roumania:
Building Workers
Lei
173.075
Woodworkers
10.722 *
153.998
217.313
*
Sweden:
62
Bricklayers
Kr.
63
Sawmill Workers
64
Woodworkers
"
Carpenters& Joiners
Lumber Workers
11
556.312 10.943 772.37222 3.186 8.084 554.547 1.640.405 13.464 294.449 7.115
252.179 575.787 414.402 1.523.598 271.201
||
||
173.075
173 075
I.732 2.678
I.732
2.678
217.313
120.288
I 20.288
97.025
97.025
556.312
388 528
388.428
1.99924
1.65824
772.371 945.073
1.640.405 294.449
I.423.240 460.202 568.843 1.128.423 253.943
1.423.240 460.202
280.586
679.272
288.091
166
1.128.423
679.27221 2.455.784 2.455.784
1.326.028 1.314.475
507.447
I II
II.553
253 943
-
30.834
507.447
30.834
-
Switzerland:
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
22
Czechoslovakia:
71
72
73
123
Building Workers 1
Kc
Woodworkers( Prague)
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
1.357.678 II.470.0605 32.380 4.422.293 2.340.088
7.199
4.425 I.525
1.088.893 9.873.254 10.783.647 4.362.752 11.571.862 2.227.052 5.274.358
2.689.602
7.153.394 643.04023 588.64923
II.873.980
10.788.518
1.082.039
9.042.648
663.83123
1.440.305 I.253.854
II.470.060
20.809.5855 20.809.585
-
1.467.498 556.603
10.104.364 4.627.678
15.994.155 7.614.446
16.169.557
8.388.304
799.056 1.134.078
15.370.501 7.254.236
23
Hungary:
74
75
45
Building Workers
Pengö
Woodworkers
15.092 168.65410
890 384
10.156
15.092
15.150
60 317
168.654
III.528
15.150 III.528
186.45123
1.067.013
1.067.013
1.130.226
*
834.740 295.486 1.100.360(-) 3.404.992
*
*
21.489
21.489
For Rates of Exchange, see Table VII
-
The numbering in this Table corresponds to that in the Directory( Appendix II). Cf. also Table IXa. The structure of, and methods used in, the financial administration often vary a good deal for different Unions. To permit of as uniform, i.e. lucid, as possible a classification, the Unions were asked to supply their data in accordance with a specified plan. As a more than superficial checking
of the data given was for several reasons not practicable, no assurance can be given as to the accuracy of the contents of the Table. It should also be remembered that the Table only includes data concerning the Unions which have sent in returns.
Table VI.
-
*) Not specified.-_-) Does not exist. 1) Data concerning the whole Union; cf. 3) I.IV.34.2) Not including unemployment benefit subsidies from public funds. - 5) Including Unemployment Fund. 31.XII.35; Net Worth at 31.III.35. 4) Accident Insurance. 6) Including approximately 3,000 Copenhagen Bricklayers who, though not members of the National - 8) Last three quarters; Sickness Union, belong to its Unemployment Fund. 7) Funeral Fund.-
-
Fund.
-
-
9) Including Upholsterers in Sweden and Saddlers in both Sweden and Denmark; cf. 11) Christmas Benefit Table VI. 10) Including 97,503 pengö from sale of Union house. 13) Including Local Fund.- 12) Including assistance from Scandinavian Bricklayers' Unions. Funds.- 14) Debt of General Fund Fmk. 181,342; Neth Worth of Local Funds Fmk. 62,644. 15) Sickness and Funeral Fund; Superannuation Fund.-16) Union Unemployment Fund separate 19) Fl. 34,924 18) Superannuation Fund. from State benefit system. 17) Invalidity Fund. from General Fund. 20) Old Age Invalidity Benefit Fund. 21) Including Kr. 346,771 in Local Funds. 22) Including 346,771 kronen for accident insurance premiums. 23) Sickness Fund. 24) Security deposits of treasurers.
-
-
1
-

Table IXa
Country
No.
No.
and
Organisation
Currency
Unemployment
All Benefits
Benefit
Amount.
in National Currency
% of Total
Expenditure
Expenditure on Benefits of Affiliated Organisations in 1934.
Amount
in
National
Currency
Benefits
% of Total
Strike& Victimisation
Sickness, Accident& Death
Superannuation Benefit
Invalidity Benefit
Court Assistance
Other Benefits
Benefit
Benefit
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
Benefits
% of Total
Amount
in
National
Currency
Benefits
% of Total
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
Amount
in
National
Currency
% of Total
Benefits
2
Belgium:
2
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
16.051.7022 66.2 12.720.6562 79.2
1.332.223
8.3
3
Denmark:
3
Bricklayers 3
Kr.
Plasterers 3
1.642.266 19.678 83.7
89.3 1.547.017 18.678
94.2 94.9
18.150
I. I
319.3524 67.303
2.0
1
4. I
120.185
0.8
732
I.559.28611 9.064
9.7
0.6
1.0005
5. I
Coopers 3
ΙΟ
I I
( 6/14) Woodworkers' Secretariat:
Cabinet- makers& Joiners 3 Brushmakers 3
Picture- frame Makers 3
Wood- cutting Machinists 3
-
13
Vehicle- builders 3
"
14
Upholsterers 1 3
""
16
Cork- workers 3
""
1.772.308 75.2 25.861 64.7 135.525 83.7 28.213 87.5 665.458 85.8 239.714 84.2 261.152 41.2 20.815 57.9
5
Finland:
18
Building Workers
Fmk.
19
Bricklayers
"
20
Woodworkers
105.212 31.7 411.394 193.283
"
* 42.7
8
31.095
I.723.532 97.2 25.108 97.1 124.234 91.8 26.258 93.0 631.855 94.9 236.815 98.8 246.496 94.4 16.540 79.5 80.056 76.1 16.1
2.176
0.2
46.600
2.6
525
2.0
228 10
1.820
I.3
-
24.603
3.7
2.507
I.O
-
9.471 1.9556
9.000
3.3505 2.355
7.0
I.4
I.3
II.3
6.9
--
4.960 396.924 144.298
4.7 96.5 74.7
20.0967 19.1 14.070 14.204
3.4
7
Great Britain& Ireland:
7.3
|||
13
-
2.050
I. I
400 I.472
0.1 0.8
39
Brushmakers
48
£
I.794
55. I
888
49.5
0.3
578
32.2
303
ΙΟ
Yugoslavia:
17.0
2
42
Building Workers
Din.
44
Woodworkers( Croatia- Slavonia)
"
17.244 7.9 33.297 33.3
10.043 58.2 18.001 54.I
45
Woodworkers( Bosnia- Herzegovina)
"
47.779
41.9
13.004
27.2
I I
Netherlands:
49
484
47
Building Workers 1
Fl.
1.752.750
Plasterers
97
80.0 188.585 78.8
Furniture Workers
"
344.413 72.6
1.685.878 96.2 185.264 98.2 309.417 89.8
13
Norway:
51
Building Workers 1
Kr.
153.749 23.4
_ 8
54
Woodworkers
"
130.000 86.7
76.070
58.5
55
Lumber Workers 1
"
150.018 46.3
8
17
Roumania:
302 12.836 38.5 22.827 47.8 8.537 0.5 2.901 I.5 6.379 1.9 102.837 66.9 30.000 23.1 147.018 98.0
1.8
I.230
7. I
960
2.9
-
-
43.619
2.5
13.163
0.6
420 26.846
0.3
7.8
I. 118
0.3
653 0.2
IOO 680
0.6
5.569
2.0
10.893 22.7
1.055 10
2.3
I.553 0.2
|||
2.899 12 8.799 10
I.2
3.3
1.920 12 9.2
100 10
164 10
18 10
O. I
-
O. I
I.O
32.3
820 10 2.5
50.9127 33.I
12.732 3.0005
9.8
2.0
60
Building Workers
Lei
61.337 35.4
61
Woodworkers
"
21.597 18.0
18
Sweden:
62
Bricklayers
Kr.
751.432
52.8
63
Sawmill Workers
"
34.697
64
Woodworkers
365.675
"
65
Carpenters& Joiners
97
770.330
Lumber Workers
"
19
Switzerland:
7.5 64.3 288.091 68.3 45.605 18.0
10 11
- 8
10.650
49.3
6.000
27.8
||
|||
|||
|||
|[
||
|||
II. 198
8.6
-
-
-
4.147
19.2
800
3.7
8
716.326 95.3
35.106
4.7
8
34.244 98.7
78.8
76.627 21.0
8
- 8
757.061 98.3 43.780 96.0
-
1.8004
4.0
|||||
67
Building& Wood Workers 1
Fr.
9.807.538 90.9 8.845.051 90.2
IIO.125
I. I
649.246 6.6
22
Czechoslovakia:
71
1
Building Workers 1
Kc.
72
Woodworkers( Prague)
"
73
Woodworkers( Reichenberg)
333
23
Hungary:
8.482.103 40.7 8.264.4069 97.4 3.947.233* 3.798.6399 96.2 1.767.772 21.7 1.727.3289 97.7
119.776 9.202 4.356
I.4 0.2 0.2
28.570 0.3
116.013 2.9
25.306 I.4
74
75
+5
Building Workers
Pengö
Woodworkers
4.990 32.9 37.983 34.1
8
-
9.640 25.4
2.391
6.3
1.736 34.8 10.129 26.7
|||
||
453
I.3
3.368 25
0.4
9.901 10
I.3
-
IO.502 O. I
192.614
2.0
65.220 15.525 6.350 0.4
0.8
4.131 10
O.I
0.4
7.854 10
0.3
10 4.432
0.3
3.134 62.8 11.569 30.5
10
I 20
2.4
2.409
6.3
1.845
4.8
||
957 10
0.2
For Rates of Exchange, see Table VII
The numbering in this Table corresponds to that in the Directory ( Appendix II). Cf. also Table VIIIa.
The structure of, and methods used in, the financial administration often vary a good deal for different Unions. To permit of as uniform, i.e. lucid, as possible a classification, the Unions were asked to supply their data in
accordance with a specified plan. As a more than superficial checking of the data given was for several reasons not practicable, no assurance can be given as to the accuracy of the contents of the Table. It should also be remembered that the Table only includes data concerning the Unions which have sent in returns.
1) Data concerning the whole Union; cf. Table VI..
2) Not including Fr. 154,034,471 from the National Emergency Relief Fund and Fr. 394,962 for payments which were later objected to by the public administrations
and had to be refunded by the Union. 3) 1.IV.34-31.III.35.- 4) Sickness Benefit only.- 5) Death Benefit only. 6) Last three quarters; Sickness Benefit only. 7) Accident and Death Benefit only.-8) No Unemployment Fund. 9) Union Benefit only.- 10) Travelling Benefit.- 11) Including
-
Fr. 394,962 for payments which were later objected to by the public administrations and had to be refunded by the Union; Fr. 6,591 Travelling Benefit; Fr. 1,066,503 for assistance to other Unions; and Fr. 91,230 for miscellaneous benefits. 12) Christmas Benefit. 13) Fmk. 115,724 for strike loan to Swedish Bricklayers' Union under reciprocity agreement.

Appendix I
Guiding Principles
for the Amalgamation of the International Union of Woodworkers and the International Federation of Building Workers.
Introduction:
In accordance with the instructions given at their Congresses held in Brussels in July and August, 1933, respectively, the Executive Committees of the International Federation of Building Workers ( I.F.B.W.) and the International Union of Woodworkers( I.U.W.) have, at a combined meeting held in Paris on 16th December, 1933, carefully considered the question of the amalgamation of these two Internationals in the light of the results of the preliminary discussion which took place in London on 10th November, 1933, and with full regard to prevailing conditions.
Industrial conditions vary from country to country, and it is only natural that within each country they determine the organisational structure and the tasks of the trade unions. The diversity of the national forms of organisation, however, need not be a hindrance to amalgamation on the international plane; rather has it to be said that the existence side by side of different forms of national organisation within the existing international bodies has proved possible without any detriment to either national or international activities.
Associating themselves with the recommendation in favour of amalgamation of kindred Trade Internationals as formulated at the last conference of the International Trade Secretariats with the Executive of the International Federation of Trade Unions( Brussels, July, 1933), and in view of the advantages which would result from amalgamation alike in respect of a more economical handling and using of the existing possibilities of work and in respect of securing the adherence of important organisations which at present still stand aloof the Executive Committees consider amalgamation of the International Federation of Building Workers and the International Union of Woodworkers practicable and desirable.
-
They express the conviction that the interests of the workers in the building and wood trades would be very greatly served by carrying international amalgamation into practice at the earliest possible date. In order not to forestall the Congresses( due to be held in 1934) of the Internationals of the Painters and the Stone- workers( who are expected to participate in the amalgamation), and recognising that it is desirable first to gain experience as to how the cooperation works in practice, the Executive Committees refrain from formulating at this stage proposals relating to the details, tantamount to Rules, of the definite form of the amalgamation. They feel the safer in refraining from such proposals for the present seeing that a critical comparison of the Rules of the two Internationals reveals no substantial discrepancies not provided for in the general guiding principles
135

given below. The Executive Committees have in agreeing on these guiding principles made full allowance for the interests on both sides, in the conviction that they constitute a suitable basis for frictionless and loyal cooperation until the form of organisation is finally laid down at the next International Congress to be held not later than in three years' time, and recommend the unions affiliated to the respective Internationals to decide in favour of the amalgamation of the International Federation of Building Workers and the International Union of Woodworkers on the basis proposed.
1. Name:
*
International Federation of Building and Wood Workers ( I.B.W.W.).
2. Congresses:
The ordinary General Congress will be held every three years. Special congresses shall be convened if a proposal to that effect made through the Executive Committee is supported by at least one quarter of the votes represented in the I.B.W.W.
Immediately preceding the General Congress, and at the same place, Trade Conferences of the Building Workers and the Woodworkers will be held, if necessary, to discuss all appropriate trade questions referred to them by the Executive Council or submitted by affiliated organisations. The decisions taken at such Trade Conferences shall be submitted to the General Congress for ratification. Special Trade Conferences may be convened if in the opinion of the Executive Council such are necessary, the decisions arrived at to be submitted to the Executive Council for ratification. A written vote may be taken on such occasions.
Both at the General Congress and the Trade Conferences voting powers will depend on the membership for which last due affiliation fees were paid, according to the following scale:
5,000 members or less
10,000 20,000 50,000
"
"
"
"
93
" 9
"
"
"
I vote;
2 votes;
3 votes;
4 votes;
every further 50,000 members, or fraction thereof, I vote more. If in one country more than one organisation of the same trade group( building or wood trades) are individually affiliated to the International, these are only entitled to vote separately if their membership amounts to at least 2,000. Unions not attaining this minimum membership must agree among themselves as to the way they are to vote, their combined membership determining the number of their votes.
136

3. Executive Council:
Until the next International Congress the Executive Committees of the I.F.B.W. and the I.U.W., both of which consist of six voting members, will constitute the Executive Council of the Amalgamated International. The Executive Council will meet at least once a year, or whenever at least one third of the members support a proposal to that effect submitted through the Management Committee( see below). A detailed report on the proceedings of its meetings shall be supplied to the Executives of the affiliated organisations at the earliest possible moment.
At the next International Congress, to be held within three years' time, the Executive Council shall put forward proposals for adequate future representation on a country and trade basis, it being understood that the principle of parity shall be maintained and provision made for trade interests. The number of members of the Executive Council shall if possible not exceed 12 in number.
4. Management Committee:
For the purpose of business which must be dealt with in the periods between meetings of the Executive Council a Management Committee is appointed, consisting of a President, two Vice- Presidents, and the Secretary, who shall be elected by the Executive Council from its midst, with the proviso that two of the members must belong to the I.U.W. and two to the I.F.B.W. The Executive Committee as a rule will meet not more than twice a year. A detailed report on the proceedings of its meetings shall be supplied to all the members and substitute members of the Executive Council at the earliest possible
moment.
5. Secretariat:
The Secretariat shall be sufficiently and efficiently staffed in order to be able to deal with all relevant business. All staff shall be appointed and their salaries fixed by the Management Committee.
The Secretary shall be a member of the Executive Council and an elected representative of the national union( or one of the national unions) of the country where the Amalgamated International has its headquarters. The Secretary is responsible to the Executive Council for all matters affecting the Secretariat. He will be partly salaried by the International, the salary or allowance to be fixed by the Executive Council.
6. Affiliation Fees:
The affiliation fees payable by affiliated organisations to the Amalgamated International are at the rate of 2.50 Dutch guilders per year per hundred members or fraction thereof. They are payable in advance for six or twelve months on the basis of membership at the end of the preceding year in respect of all members from whom the
137

union collects contributions( including so- called administrative or nominal fees). The new fee is payable as from 1st January, 1934; it will be due as soon as amalgamation has been effected.
For unions outside Europe or unions involved in especially serious financial difficulties exceptional provisions may be made by the Executive Council.
7. Representation:
The Management Committee is authorised on the proposal of any of its members( the Secretary in particular) to delegate one of its members, or a member of the Executive Council, or on important occasions more than one, to represent the I.B.W.W. at its own costs at meetings of interest( e.g. national congresses of affiliated unions, international trade union conferences, etc.).
8. Drafting of Provisional Rules:
The Executive Committees of the I.F.B.W. and the I.U.W. note with satisfaction that the International Federation of Painters and the International Secretariat of Stone- workers intend to consider the question of amalgamation at their next congresses, which are to be held in the course of 1934. They confidently hope that these two Internationals will likewise decide to take part in the amalgamation, in which case allowance can be made for their wishes and interests when the final form of organisation is elaborated.
After the Congresses of the Painters' and Stone Workers' Internationals have defined their position towards the question, the Management Committee has to draw up, with due regard for the Rules of the Internationals to be embraced by the amalgamation, a set of new Rules, which will have to be submitted to the Executive Council for approval and will be operative until the next Congress of the Amalgamated International. The next Congress will consider these provisional Rules and lay down final Rules.
9. Ballot of Affiliated Unions on Joint Proposal:
To avoid the high costs of a special Congress the Executive Committees have decided that the foregoing general guiding principles should be submitted to a written ballot of the affiliated organisations on both sides.
The headquarters of affiliated unions are accordingly requested to inform the Secretariat of their respective Internationals not later than Ist March, 1934, whether they agree to the amalgamation of the International Federation of Building Workers and the International Union of Woodworkers being carried into effect on the basis set forth above.
138

Appendix II
Directory
of the Organisations affiliated with the I.B.W.W. on 1 January 1936.
=
( Tg) Telegraphic Address
-
Phone Number ( Tf)
( 0)
Official Journal
The numbers correspond to those in the List of Memberships( Tables Va, b), which briefly indicates the trades catered for by the individual Unions.
Name, address, telegraphic address,
No.
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
I Australia
2 Belgium
I
President§
Secretary*
Federated Furnishing Trade Society M. Grealy§
of Australasia, Trades Hall, Mel- R. Boyce* bourne.( Tf) F 1932( O) The Furnishing Worker( Sydney).
( a)
New South Wales Branch, Trades O. Schreiber* Hall, Goulburn Street, Sydney.
( Tf) MA 4580( O) The Furnishing Worker.
( b)
Victoria Branch, Trades Hall, R. Boyce Melbourne.( Tf) F 1932.
*
( c)
Queensland Branch, Trades Hall, W. Rogers* Brisbane.
( d)
South Australia Branch, Trades F. Goring* Hall, Adelaide.( Tf) 8451.
( e)
Tasmania Branch, Elizabeth Street, V. J. Shaw* Launceston.
( f)
United Furniture Trades' Indus- W. Hodsdon* trial Union of Workers, 4 Trades
Hall, Beaufort Street, Perth.( Tf)
B 2695.
2 Centrale Générale du Bâtiment, de E. Gryson§ l'Ameublement et des Industries diverses, 6, Rue Watteeu, Brussels. ( Tg) Centrale Bâtiment, Rue Watteeu( Tf) 11.47.08 11.00.68( 0) L'Emancipation( French) Ontvoogding( Flemish). 1
4
5
-
-
Murerforbundet i Danmark, Dosse- M. Madsen§
ringen 36, Copenhagen N.( Tf)
Central 8054( 0) Murernes Fagblad.
Dansk Tømrer- Forbund, Tagensvej J. C. E. Sörensen§ 96, Copenhagen N.( Tf) Taga 193
( 0) Medlemsblad.
Stukkatørernes Forbund, Vester- C. Larsen§
gaardsvej 26 A¹, Copenhagen N.
( Tf) Taga 1817.
3 Denmark
3
139

Name, address, telegraphic address,
President§
No.
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
Secretary*
6-14 Dansk
Træarbejder- Sekretariat, C. M. Carlsen§
H. C. Ørstedsvej 28 C, Copenhagen V.
( Tf) Eva 2713.
( 6)
( 7)
( 8)
189
( 9)
( 10)
( 11)
( 12)
( 13)
( 14)
15
16
Snedker forbundet, Rømersgade 24', N. Madsen§ Copenhagen K.( Tf) Central
12753( O) Snedkeren
Drejer forbundet, Colbjørnsensgade M. Arns felt§ 20, St., Copenhagen V.( Tf)
Vester 8175( 0) Fagblad.
Børsteindustriarbejdernes Forbund, E. Knudsen§
Bangersgade 10, Copenhagen.
Bødker forbundet, Rosenørns Allé R. Rude§
12, Copenhagen V.( Tf) Nora.
5318( O) Bødkernes Fagblad.
Forgylder forbundet, Degnestavilen L. Overby§
II2, Copenhagen N.( Tf) Taga
4969v.
Træindustriarbejder forbundet, Ro- J. Jensen§
senørns Allé 12', Copenhagen V.
( Tf) Nora 7306.( O) Fagblad.
Billedskærer- og Dekorationsbilled- Knud V. Jensen§
hugger forbundet, Rømersgade 22,
Copenhagen K.( Tf) Nora 6440
( O) Fagblad.
Dansk Karetmager forbund, H.C. C. M. Carlsen§
Ørstedsvej 28 C, Copenhagen V.
( Tf) Eva 2713( O) Fagblad.
Skandinavisk Sadelmager- og Ta- Th. Clausen§
petserer forbund, Meinungsgade 16,
Copenhagen N.( Tf) Nora 7341.
( 0) Medlemsblad.
Kurvemager forbundet, Istedgade 118, E. Johansen§ Copenhagen V.
Korkskærernes- og Sortererskernes V. Nilsson§ Forbund, Fiskergade 18, Copenhagen
N.( Tf) Nora 3520y.
4 Estonia
17
Eesti Ehitus- ja Puutööliste Ametiü- J. Ollis§ hing, V. Parnu Mnt. 31, Tallinn. A. Piht*
5 Finland
18
140
19
20
Suomen Rakennustyöläisten liitto, T. Bryggari§ Sirkuskatu 5, Helsinki.( Tf) 71.138. U. Nurminen* Suomen Muurarien liitto, Sirkus- E. Härmä* katu 5, Helsinki.( Tf) 73.286.
Suomen Puutyöväen liitto, Sirkus- J. Virtanen§ katu 5, Helsinki.( Tf) 71.897.
A. Heinonen*

Name, address, telegraphic address,
President§
No.
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
Secretary*
6 France
7 Great Britain
21
22
Fédération Nationale des Travailleurs M. Brout§
du Bâtiment, des Travaux Publics R. Arrachard*
et des Matériaux de Construction de
France et des Colonies, 40, Rue de
Paradis, Paris( Xe).( Tf) Provence 26-88, 26-89( 0) L'Ouvrier du Bâtiment. 2
Fédération Nationale des Travail- C. Nicolas* leurs du Tonneau, Parties Similaires
et Assimilés, 5 Rue du Carré du Roi, Montpellier( Hérault).( Tf) 36-98.
23-38 National Federation of Building G. Hicks§ Trades Operatives, Federal House, R. Coppock* Cedars Road, Clapham, London
( 23)
( 24)
SW 4.( Tg) Enefbeteo, Clapcom,
London.( Tf) Macaulay 4584/5( 0) Building Operative Bulletin.
Amalgamated Society of Wood- F. Wolstencroft* workers, 131, Wilmslow Road,
Withington, Manchester.( Tg)
Cohesive, Withington, Lancs.( Tf)
Didsbury 3103( O) Monthly Journal.
Amalgamated Union of Building G. Hicks*
Trade Workers, Crescent Lane,
Clapham, London S.W. 4.( Tg)
Buildcres, Clapcom, London.( Tf)
( 25)
( 26)
( 27)
Macaulay 2442/44( 0) Trade
Circular& General Reporter.
National Amalgamated Society of J. A. Gibson* Operative House and Ship Painters and Decorators, 4, Camp Street, Lower Broughton, Salford, 7, Lancs.( Tg) Natsopaint, Manchester( Tf) Blackfriars 9095( 0) Monthly Journal.
Plumbers, Glaziers& Domestic J. W. Stephenson*
Engineers' Union, 15, Abbeville
Road, Clapham, London S.W. 4.
( Tg) Unioplumb, Clapcom, London
( Tf) Tulse Hill 2598( 0) Quarterly Report.
Amalgamated Slaters'& Tilers' J. Patterson* Provident Society, 19, Oswald
Terrace, Gateshead- on- Tyne.( Tf)
71.528.
141

No.
Name, address, telegraphic address,
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
( 28)
Street Masons, Paviors& Road142
President§
Secretary*
( 29)
( 30)
( 31)
( 32)
National Amalgamated Operative| A. Gill*
makers' Society, 1, Kingston Grove,
Woodhouse Lane, Leeds 2.( Tf)
27.217( 0) Quarterly Report.
National Builders' Labourers& G. Elmer* Constructional Workers' Society,
84, Blackfriars Road, London
S.E. 1.( Tf) Waterloo 6762.
Amalgamated Slaters' Society of W. Cross*
Scotland, 15, Earlbank Avenue,
Scotstoun, Glasgow W 4.( Tf)
Scotstoun 2692.
Building& Monumental Workers' H. M'Pherson* Association of Scotland, 65, West
Regent Street, Glasgow C 2, Scotland.( Tf) Douglas 1752( O) The
Building and Monumental Workers' Journal.
National Union of General and Chas. Dukes*
Municipal Workers, 5 Endsleigh
Gardens. London W.C. I.( Tg)
Unitude, Westcent, London( Tf)
Museum 2887( 0) The N.U.G. M.W. Journal.
( 33)
Union, Transport House, Smith
( 34)
Transport& General Workers' E. Bevin*
Square, London S.W. I.( Tg)
Transunion, Parl, London( Tf)
Victoria 7671-5( O) The Record.
Constructional Engineering Union, Geo. House*
9, Clapham Park Road, Clapham,
London S.W. 4.( Tf) Macaulay
5280( O) The Journal.
National Association of Operative A. H. Telling*
Plasterers, 37, Albert Street, Mor( 35)
( 0)
( Tf) Museum 5491( Tg) Plastell,
nington Crescent, London N.W. I
Norwest, London.( O) Quarterly Report.
Amalgamated Society of Woodcut- Jas. Lyno*
( 36)
ting Machinists, 32, Milton Street,
( 37)
Manchester 13.( Tg) Woodcut,
Manchester( Tf) Ardwick 4012.
Amalgamated Union of Asphalte F. W. Jenkin*
Workers, Clayson House, 88
Blackfriars Road, London S.E. I
( Tf) Waterloo 4088.

Name, address, telegraphic address,
President§
No.
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
Secretary*
8 Ireland
( 38)
Composite Section, Federal House, R. Coppock* Cedars Road, Clapham, London
S.W. 4.( Tg) Enefbeteo, Clapcom,
London( Tf) Macaulay 4584/5.
39
40
National Society of Brushmakers, 15, G. F. Mayes*
Hackney Road, London E. 2.( Tf)
Bishopsgate 1101( O) Monthly Report.
National Union of Packing Case R. James*
Makers, Box Makers, Sawyers and
Mill Workers, 95 Farringdon Road,
London E.C. I.( Tf) Clerkenwell 3018.( 0) Monthly Report.
see Great Britain.
Federazione Italiana Operai Edili, A. Vuattolo*
16, Rue de la Tour- d'Auvergne, Paris( Postfach Aussersihl, ( IXe).( Tf) Trudaine 93-91. Zurich 4, Switzerland)
Savez gradjevinskih radnika, Nje- A. Sandorov§ guseva 18, Belgrade( Tf) 21526 P. Brankr* ( 0) Gradjevinskih Radnika.
43-46 Unija saveza drvodjeljskih radnika
9 Italy
41
10 Yugoslavia
42
Luxemburg
Jugoslavye, Nemanjina 28, Belgrad.
( 43)
Zveza lesnih delavcev in sorodnih
strok Jugoslavye, Miklosičeva cesta
22, Ljubljana,( Tf) 3478.
( 44)
Savez drvodjelskih radnika, Ilica
55, Zagreb.
( 45)
Savez drvodjelskih radnika, Radnicki Dom, Sarajevo.( Tf) 501.
( 46
I I
Netherlands
47
Sindikat drvodjelskih radnika, Ne- V. N. Veličkovič§
manjina ul. 28, Belgrade.
Landesverband
J. Bosner*
der Gipser- und N. Hansen*
48
Stuckateurgesellen, Handelstrasse 25,
Esch s/ Alz. 4
Algemene Nederlandse Bouwarbei- G. Klein§ dersbond, Vondelstraat 40, Amster- E. Sinoo*
dam W.( Tf) 80591, 83791( O) De
Bouwer.
De Jonge Bouwer
( Youth journal).
Algemene Nederlandse Stukadoors- W. C. de Gans§ bond, Vondelstraat 52, The Hague. A. Poptie* ( Tf) 391739,( 0) De Stukadoor.
143

No.
Country
No.
Name, address, telegraphic address, phone number, official journal
President§
Secretary*
49
Algemene Nederlandse Bond van C. Lammers§ Meubelmakers, Behangers, Houtbe- J. Spaltman* werkers en aanverwante Vakgenoten,
Vondelstraat 170, Amsterdam IV.
( Tf) 81837( O) Ons Vakblad.
Ons Jeugdblad( Youth journal).
-
12 New Zealand
50
N.Z. Federated Furnishing Trades' J. Ferguson Association, 126 Vivian Street, Wel*
13 Norway
51
lington C. 2.
N.Z. Painters' and Decorators' F. D. Cornwell* Association, Trades Hall, Vivian
Street, Wellington C. 2
4
Norsk Bygningsarbeiderforbund, J. Tangen§ Storgaten 125, Oslo.( Tf) 13.757( 0) H. Guneriussen* Bygningsarbeideren.
52
Norsk Murerforbund, Storgaten 237, A. Schultz§ Oslo.( Tf) 11.771.( O) Fagblad.
53
Norsk Høvleriarbeider forbund, Fol- H. Eriksen§ kets Hus, Oslo.( Tg) Høvleri for14 Austria
56
15 Palestine
57
54
55
58
bund( Tf) 27.202( O) Høvleriarbeideren.
Norsk Treindustriarbeiderforbund, P. Ødegaard§ Storgaten 233, Oslo.( Tf) 11.574.
( 0) Treindustriarbeideren.
Norsk Skog- og Landarbeider for- P. H. Vestad§ bund, Folkets Hus V, Oslo.( Tg) J. Ødegård* Skogsarbeideren.( Tf) 11.255.( 0)
Skog- og Landarbeideren.
Freie Gewerkschaft der österreichischen Bau- und Holzarbeiter.( O) Die Bau- und Holzindustrie.
General Federation of Jewish Labour in Eretz- Israel( Building Workers' Section), P.O.B. 303, Tel- Aviv.( Tg) Ovdim( Tf) 250.
in
General Federation of Jewish Labour Eretz- Israel( Woodworkers' Section), P.O.B. 303, Tel- Aviv.( Tg) Ovdim( Tf) 250.
Centralny Zwiazek Robotników Z. Geliusky§ Przemyslu Budowlanego, Drzewnego, F. Socha*
Ceramicznego i Pokrewnych Zawodow w Polsce, ul. CzerwonegoKrzyza 20, p. 38, Warsaw.( O) Buletyn.
16 Poland
59
144

Name, address, telegraphic address,
President§
No.
Country
No.
phone number, official journal
Secretary*
17 Rumania
60
18 Sweden
19 Switzerland
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
Uniunea Muncitorilor din Industria P. Oltean§ Constructiei din România, Strada St. Wagner* Izvor 37, Bucharest VI.( Tg) Uniunea
Constructor, Izvor 37( Tf) 3-27-66.
Uniunea Muncitorilor din Industria I. Flueras§ Lemnului din România, Strada Izvor K. Bartha* 37, Bucharest VI.( Tg) Uniunea
Lemn, Izvor 37( Tf) 3-27-66.
Svenska Murare förbundet, Barnhus- V. Björkman§ gatan 16 I, Stockholm C.( Tf) 202789
( O) Kvartalsrapport.
Svenska Sägverksindustriarbetare- E. Nyström§ förbundet, Folkets Hus, Gefle.( Tg)
Sägverks( Tf) 1077( 0) Skogsindustriarbetaren ³.
Svenska Träindustriarbetare förbun- O. Karlén§ det, Barnhusgatan 18, Stockholm C. K. Larsson* ( Tg) Träindustri.( Tf) 103999( 0)
Träarbetaren.
Svenska Byggnadsträarbetareförbun- N. Linde§
det, Barnhusgatan 18, Stockholm C.
( Tg) Byggnadsträ.( Tf) 10.39.4610.39.47( O) Byggnadsträarbetaren.
Svenska Skogs- och Flottningsarbe- Adolf Englund§ tareförbundet, Folkets Hus, Gefle. H. Sten*
( Tg) Skogsförbundet( Tf) 3426.( 0)
Skogsindustriarbetaren 3.
Bau- und Holzarbeiterverband der F. Reichmann* Schweiz, Postfach Aussersihl, Zürich
4.( Tg) Bauholzverband, Volkshaus. ( Tf) 35.075.( 0) Bau- und Holzarbeiter- Zeitung( German)- L'Ouvrier du Bois et du Bâtiment ( French)
L'Edilizia
Svizzera
( Italian).
20 Spain
68
( Tf) 44.929( O) Edificación 5)
69
Federación de la Industria de la Edi- Edmundo Dominguez ficación, San Lucas II, 1°, Madrid.
Federación Nacional de Obreros en A. Génova*
Madera, Hortaleza 102, Madrid.
21 Trinidad( British West Indies)
70
Amalgamated Building and Wood Ch. Atkinson* Workers' Union, Unity House, San
Juan.
*
145

A2
No.
Country
No.
Name, address, telegraphic address, phone number, official journal
President§
Secretary*
22 Czechoslovakia
7 I
23 Hungary
72
73
74
4
75
15
Verband der Arbeiter in der Bau-, V. Zacharda§( I.) Stein- und Keramindustrie in der F. Müller§( II.) Tschechoslowakischen Republ., Hav- V. Slach* lickova ul. 8 I, Prague- Karlin.( Tg) Bauarbeiterverband, Havlickova 8, Prague- Karlin,( Tf) 240-11( O) Der Bund( German) Stavebnik ( Czech).
-
Einheitsverband der Holzarbeiter in Joh. Aleš§ der Tschechoslowakischen Republik, M. Smejkal* Hálkova ulice I, Prague II.( Tg) Holzarbeiter, Halkova 1.( Tf) 25271.( O) Drevodelnik( Czech).- Der internationale
( German).
Holzarbeiter
Verband der Holz- und Landarbei- A. Krause§ ter in der Tschechoslowakischen Re- F. Kleiner*
publik, Gutenbergstrasse 7, Reichenberg.( Tf) 4722( O) Verbandsrundschau.
Magyarországi Epitöipari Munkások A. Szakasits§ Országos Szövetsége, Arena- ut 68,
Budapest VII.( Tg) Mémosz Budapest.( Tf) 31.0.71.( O) Epitömunkás.
Magyarországi Famunkások Szövet- S. Propper§ sége, Magdolna- utca 5-7, Budapest G. Horovitz* VIII.( Tg) Holzarbeiter Magdolnautca( Tf) József 315-64.( O) Famunkások Szaklapja.
76 Budapesti Szobrászok Szakegylete, Nepszinház Utca 16, Budapest VIII.
-
-
1) In addition, the Antwerp branch publishes" De Strijdkreet"( Flemish only) and the Brussels branch " Le Travailleur"( French) and" De Arbeider"( Flemish). 2) In addition, several of the larger local branches publish journals of their own. 3) Published jointly for the Sawmill Workers, the Timber Workers and Timber Floaters and the Paper Industry Workers( this last not affiliated to the I.B.W.W.).- 4) Affiliated retrospectively as from 1 January 1936. Too late for inclusion in List of Memberships. 5) In addition, the Madrid Branch publishes" La Edificación".
-
146

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