Speech by Pambis Kyritsis
General Secretary of WFTU
80th Anniversary Event
Hanoi, March 2025
Dear Comrades,
I would like to welcome you all to this very important celebration event hosted by our Vietnamese comrades.
Allow me first of all to express once again, on behalf of the million workers who struggle within the ranks of the international class-oriented trade union movement, our admiration and gratitude for the Vietnamese people and workers, who through tough and relentless struggles won their freedom and independence, supporting at the same time the struggles of other peoples all over the world; To express admiration and gratitude for the honored Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, a founding, stable and great member of our Federation with which the WFTU have been marching together for 8 decades, jointly paving the path of the class and trade union struggle in favor of the working class and the popular strata all over the globe.
For its irreplaceable role and its priceless contribution to the WFTU all these years; for always being there, from the very beginning and from the establishment of the WFTU in 1945 in Paris’ Palais de Chaillot when comrade Luu Duc Pho was elected to the executive committee and left its shinning mark during the first steps of the newly-born WFTU, up to Cu Thi Hau who served as vice-president of the WFTU from 2000 to 2017, crucially supporting our Federation and its reconstruction, during the tough years that many abandoned the fight and our principles.
We thank the VGCL and its current leadership, President Nguyen Dinh Khang and the other leading cadres, for their multifaceted and vital support nowadays.
Hence, we are happy and excited that today, here in Hanoi of heroic Vietnam, in the land of Ho Chi Ming and the other iconic leaders and commanders, in the land of the brave and unbowed people of Vietnam whose struggles have become a symbol in the history of humanity, we inaugurate the celebrations of the 80th Anniversary of our great class family, our militant federation which born from the ashes of the most destructive war in the history of humanity after the defeat of fascism, with the decisive contribution of the Soviet Union and the resisting peoples.
This anniversary is both a remembrance and a call to action. Today, the WFTU represents over 105 million members from 133 countries. Each year, membership grows in strength and unity, solidifying our role in the international trade union movement. We remain dedicated to the founding principles of the WFTU, engaging workers across sectors honoring 80 years of class struggles, we continue fighting for a future free from poverty, discrimination, and inequality, advocating for peace and against imperialist wars with internationalism and solidarity.
Brothers and sisters,
The WFTU (World Federation of Trade Unions) is the oldest international trade union federation. In its 80 years history, the flag of the WFTU has been raised in all the struggles, big and small, for national and social liberation, for peace and democracy. It defended the struggle of the Chinese people for national independence and socialism. It defended the people and the revolution of Cuba. It supported the people of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Korea in their right to follow their own independent path of development against colonialism and American imperialism. It supported the struggle of the South African people against apartheid, for freedom and independence. It supported the struggle for decolonization in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. It stood, and still stands today, alongside the people of Palestine for their right to live in peace and security on their ancestral land, in their own independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.
80 years of solidarity and internationalism. The WFTU defends anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-fascist values and principles. It rejects imperialist wars and interventions, blockades, sanctions, economic wars, and policies of double standards.
Dear comrades,
The geopolitical landscape of the world has dramatically changed over the last few decades, with a key turning point being the upheavals in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s. Upheavals which leaded the dominant capitalist circles to become more aggressive, and the most revanchist, prevailing the neoliberal version of capitalist development. The declarations of the end of the Cold War and the new world order were quickly revealed to be pompous, false slogans. The monopolization of global dominance by the U.S. and its NATO allies has brought us closer and not further, to nuclear destruction.
The world’s major problems remain unresolved and are worsening, International Organizations and collective security mechanisms are devaluated and manipulated and the rise of fascism is threatening again the achievements of the humanity in every field.
Despite the intensity of the imperialist effort to impose global economic, political, and military dominance by the U.S. and its allies, a multipolar scenario is emerging through competition and contradictions.
In the economic and social sphere the attack on labor and social rights is intensifying, as well as on democratic and trade union freedoms.
Workers everywhere are the victims of labor accidents as safety and health are seen by employers and their political representatives as undesirable costs that reduce their profits.
Despite the depressing state of the world today, there’s a hopeful element: workers don’t passively accept the neoliberal capitalist, anti-popular, and anti-labor offensive. Guided by class-oriented trade unions, millions of workers globally are choosing to struggle to defend their trade union, social, and political rights.
In the forefront of this struggles in all the length and breadth of the world always are the class-oriented trade unions, affiliated with the WFTU. In this militant and revolutionary spirit, in this Presidential Council, we officially declare 2025 as a year of celebrations for the 80th anniversary. Several activities, campaigns, and events will be organized by our bodies, structures, and affiliates. We call upon every worker of the world to join the World Federation of Trade Unions in this rich plan of action, in this rich plan of struggles! Our ambition with these celebrations is to highlight the history of the struggles and actions of the WFTU and to showcase its distinction from organizations of compromised trade unionists and yellow unions that promote class collaboration and integration into the system of exploitation.
It has now been proven in practice, beyond any doubt, that the split of the WFTU in 1949, which was prepared and implemented with the active involvement of the CIA and the US secret services, was not only intended to serve ideological and geopolitical purposes of the dominant imperialist powers of that time, but also to create the conditions for trade unions “friendly” to the interests of capital and the employers; Yellow unions that in the name of “communist threat” would be ready to promote in the ranks of the labour movement the employers’ interests.
The so-called “free trade unions” and their present successor, the ITUC, have not only historically failed to meet the demands and expectations of the workers they are supposed to represent, but, either by their actions and decisions, or by their absence and tolerance, they have contributed catalytically to the weakening of large parts of the workers’ movement, and their disorientation through theories of class collaboration and submission. They have systematically promoted the de-ideologisation of the workers’ movement and have compromised with careerism and corruption in its ranks.
Therefore, let’s all together further expand our role and intervention among workers and their unions on the path of class struggles in defense of their very own genuine class interests. Let’s intensify our organization and struggle, which are vital to overturning exploitation and social injustice.
This is the best way to commemorate the 80 years since the foundation of our federation, the 80 years of struggles and sacrifices under the banner of class struggle, waving high the flag of the WFTU. This is the best way to honour the pioneers, the veterans, those who, under tough and difficult conditions, paved the path for the class-oriented trade unionism, gained achievements and established rights through tough struggles and passed on to our generations the baton of this glorious relay race.
Let us, therefore do our best and work in a spirit of unity and collectivity so that we implement in practice what we have decided and take our respective responsibilities, enriching even more the great militant, and glorious 80-year historical journey of the WFTU.
Solidarity and Internationalism are our weapons.
Long live class struggles for peace, democracy and social justice.
Long live VGCL and WFTU.
