Page:Resolutions and Decisions of the Third Congress of the Red International of Labor Unions (1924).pdf/16

 the R. I. L. U. must not miss any opportunity for negotiations with the Amsterdam International and with its separate sections on the question of retalizing unity and a united front, this to be done under the condition of a consent in each individual case on the part of the R. I. L. U. and under its leadership.

7. The Congress is unanimous in its opinion that now as before, every decisive step of every organization affiliated with the R. I. L. U. which has an international significance, can be undertaken only with the sanction and under the leadership of the R. I. L. U.

8. The Congress expresses its conviction that the untiring propagandist enlightment work among the masses and the organizing of the masses under the slogan of the unity of the International movement, will create the necessary prerequisites for the realization in the near future and for the organizational consolidation of a united workers' front against international capital.

9. The Third Congress of the R. I. L. U. not thinking it possible to confine itself to a unity declaration only, decided to create a UNITY COMMISSION OF THE WORLD LABOR UNION MOVEMENT of 17 members to conduct, under the leadership of the Executive Bureau, energetic activities in the direction indicated above. The commission as a whole or individual members delegated by it must get into contact with the British trade unions which raised at the Congress of the Amsterdam International the question of unity, study the situation of the union movement in those countries where the movement in favor of unity is the strongest, and, in case of necessity, start negotiations with the Amsterdam International for the aims and within the limits indicated in the adopted resolutions.

Long live the unity of the International Labor Union movement!

HE struggle for the eight-hour day is in the final analysis a struggle for power between labor and capital. It is decided not by industrial statistics, but by the development of the real forces. If the interests of capital demand the lengthening of the working hours, the interests of the proletariat demand the greatest possible shortening of the hours. The struggle for the maximum eight-hour day can under no circumstances take into account the interests of the nation as a whole, which in capitalist states are tantamount to the interests of the capitalist class. The social and cultural interest of the proletariat dictates a determined fight to the end for the eight-hour day.

The reformist bureacracy, as well as representatives of capitalists, make reference to various difficulties preventing the introduction of the eight-hour day. Inasmuch as the reformists reveal no desire to conduct a struggle for the removal of these obstacles, it is quite comprehensible why they make no serious efforts to win the eight-hour