ABSTRACT
It is the task of the international trade union confederation and its affiliated organisations to convey to the workers of all countries that the contemporary trade union movement must pursue the same strategy internationally which it followed at national level some 20-25 years ago. At that time, we learned that a local struggle to improve working conditions not only had a very minor significance for, but often even a disadvantageous effect on, the struggles of workers in a given occupation in the same country. Workers have learned to put their own particular interests in the background-to the benefit of the general interests of all their colleagues in the same industry in their own country, and if necessary, of the entire workforce. It is now necessary to understand that, where necessary, the workers of one country must put their own interests-whether of a specific occupation or the workforce as a wholebehind those of the interests and struggles of all their fellow-workers in a given occupation or the working class as a whole, and develop corresponding trade union strategies.
