ABSTRACT
For a long time, both before and during the First World War, the Russian trade union movement was a great unknown to the trade unionists of Western Europe. A few months after the Rome congress, the International Federation of Trade Unions (iftu) held its large international anti-war congress in The Hague. Edo Fimmen saw the occupation of the Ruhr as a sign of the burgeoning reaction that was threatening to undermine the working class. Many British trade unionists looked with a certain admiration at the first results of the Soviet economy, and Trade Union Council demanded that the British government take steps to end the international isolation of the Soviet Union. A. A. Purcell suggested charging the General Council of the Trade Union Council with the task of urging the iftu to make international unity a priority. In Great Britain and other countries, a new doctrine was launched that was aimed at surrounding Germany with a federation of 'peace-seeking nations'.
