ABSTRACT
The international trade secretariats (ITSs) were originally created to meet functional needs, such as processing the transfer of membership and entailing rights when a worker migrated, and the prevention of international strike-breaking. The International Transportworkers Federation (itf) wanted to prepare for the 1939 ilo conference independently from the national federations. The agreements that had been made in November 1923 needed to be ratified at the 1924 congress in Vienna. The period after Vienna was a calm one in the relationship between the International Federation of Trade Unions (iftu) and the ITSs. The controversy was carried on by former colleagues Jan Oudegeest and Edo Fimmen, whose polemic was shot through with an unmistakable personal antagonism. The British backing of the ITSs had upset the balance and threatened to tip it in favour of the international trade secretariats. After the rift with Fimmen, a competitive and quarrelsome relationship developed between the iftu and the leading international trade secretariat.
