XVI. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS FILES OF PRESIDENT JAMES B. CAREY, 1939-1965

Grouped in two main sequences: international labor organizations and general reference on international affairs. Arranged alphabetically by organization and subject name and thereunder chronologically.

The International Affairs Files of President James B. Carey is an artificial series documenting the IUE's affiliation with international labor bodies and national organizations active in foreign affairs, international labor-industrial relations, and global issues. As IUE President and an AFL-CIO Vice President, Carey was appointed by George Meany and Walter Reuther to represent the AFL-CIO and lead federation delegations at numerous conferences and executive meetings of the following international labor bodies: The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF). The series traces the cooperative relationship among the IUE, AFL-CIO, U.S. Labor Department, and State Department in fostering free democratic trade unionism and labor education programs within the context of the emerging post-War global economy--particularly among the nascent labor movements of underdeveloped countries. Efforts by the AFL-CIO to combat the spread of communism among workers in Africa, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Latin America and Asia is amply documented. The series includes correspondence and reports pertaining to the Organization for Inter-American Trade Unions (ORIT), the ICFTU regional affiliate coordinating the activities of Latin American labor federations. An extension of the dynamics of the cold war to the international labor arena is a predominant theme within the series. Also, the rise of multinational corporations and their impact upon international labor standards in the global workplace is given much attention.

The core of the series consists of agendas, meeting minutes, proceedings, reports, resolutions, statements, correspondence, memorandums. and publications compiled by Carey and other IUE representatives (George L-P. Weaver and Howard Robinson) in conjunction with their attendance at ICFTU, ILO, and IMF conventions, conferences and executive committee meetings. These records reflect Carey's strong democratic internationalist proclivities, particularly with regard to the ICFTU. He had enlisted the resources of the CIO to establish this organization as a bulwark against the communist-dominated World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU). In concert with other democratic labor federations from North America, Europe, Latin American, Asia, and Australia, the ICFTU coordinated national efforts towards securing rising labor and living standards, collective bargaining rights, and democratic unionism on a global scale.

Carey's correspondence with George Meany, Walter Reuther, and Victor Reuther include memoranda and reports written by AFL-CIO international affairs specialists Irving Brown and George L-P. Weaver assessing the international labor environment and political maneuvering behind ICFTU, ILO, and IMF policies. The series further documents disagreement within the AFL-CIO leadership over financial contributions to these organizations and various reorganization efforts aimed at increasing American influence over the formation and implementation of policies abroad. Carey's and the Reuthers' support for increased funding of international affairs through the Industrial Union Department's International Solidarity Fund, met with significant opposition from Meany and the Brown/Lovestone axis that dominated the AFL-CIO's outlook on foreign labor affairs. This confrontation ultimately led Carey to resign his position on the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Committee. Other principal correspondents include ICFTU officers Arne Geijer (President), J.H. Oldenbroek and Omer Becu (General Secretary), and C.H. Millard (Director of Organization).

The IMF, an international organization composed of the trade and industrial unions of metalworkers of democratic countries, was established to secure international cooperation and solidarity in furthering security of employment and the raising of material, social, and educational standards for metal workers. The IUE (having machinery and metal workers under its jurisdiction), joined other international electrical and electrical engineering unions in affiliating with the IMF. The bulk of the IMF files (1955-1963) contains correspondence, reports, and minutes of IMF Central Committee meetings, documenting federation efforts to promote democratic trade unionism abroad, facilitate the gathering of wage and labor standards data, and study the impact of such global labor issues as automation, technological displacement, and plant decentralization programs of multinational corporations. In addition to the wealth of regional reports contained within the records of the IMF, there is much material relating to Carey's efforts to have the IMF establish a Electrical Workers Department to address outstanding issues experienced by other national bodies of electrical workers from around the world.

The remainder of the series consists of general reference and subject files pertaining to international affairs, diplomacy, and organizations active in promoting and lobbying for foreign policy objectives. Files of the AFL-CIO's International Affairs Committee constitute the most important segment of the series. Correspondence, memorandums, resolutions, and reports contained therein highlight the debate within the inner councils of the federation regarding financial support for ICFTU programs abroad and AFL-CIO influence over policy formulation. These files complement ICFTU files pertaining to funding of the International Solidarity Fund and various administrative reorganization proposals.

There are several files pertainng to Nikita Khrushchev's visit to the United States in 1959. Carey, as part of a blue-ribbon labor delegation, met with the Soviet leader on September 21, 1959 in San Francisco. The meeting was given extensive media coverage and Carey's international files include press clippings, releases, memorandums, and letters from the general public both supportive and critical of the parlay.

Carey attended and addressed numerous conventions and conferences of foreign electrical trade unions including: The All-Japan Federation of Electrical and Machine Workers, (Denki Roren), the Electrical Trades Union Council (England), and the Anglo-American Trade Union Conference of 1963. The IUE head also served on the advisory boards and committees of many national organizations active in international labor and foreign affairs. They included: the American Association for the United Nations; the American Institute for Free Labor Development; the International Rescue Committee; National Citizens Committee for International Cooperation; and the United World Federalists.

This series is complemented by the ICFTU and ILO subseries contained within the Personal Files of George Weaver, President's Office subgroup.