The Profintern

New monograph

A new book on the Profintern, just published in Germany and therefore, unfortunately for many readers, in German. Nevertheless, the bibliographical data are as follows:

Reiner Tosstorff, Profintern. Die Rote Gewerkschaftsinternationale 1920-1937, Paderborn: Schoeningh, 2004, 791 pp, ISBN 3-506-71793-6.

This is a monographical study of the Profintern (or RILU), beginning with its formation in the early 1920s as a result of the Bolshevik and Syndicalist "encounter" and ending with the dissolution of the RILU as a concession during the Popular Front era. While the complicated communist relationship to the (revolutionary/anarcho-) syndicalists takes up the main part, emphasis is also given to the continuously shifting tactics within the socialdemocratic led trade union movement (i.e. the International Federation of Trade Unions - the "Amsterdam" international - with its national federations and the International Trade Secretariats).

Reiner Tosstorff