The ILO and the Seeds of International Development (1930-1945)

Abstract

6 | International Union Rights | 26/2 FOCUS | THE ILO AT 100 The ILO and the Seeds of International Development (1930-1945) The ILO is 100 years old. Born out of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, it survived the League of Nations, the Second World War and found a place in the new international configuration of the United Nations. Its centenary is an opportunity to review its contribution to the history of internationalism, of which it was both the witness, the actor and the heir. Here, I would like to highlight in particular the history of ILO’s early development discourse and experiences. For the vast majority, international development dates back to the post-World War II era. The historiography usually makes the beginning of the Cold War the trigger for it, referring in particular to the founding speech of US President Harry S. Truman on 20 January 1949, in which he announced, as the fourth principle of US foreign policy, the dissemination of technological know-how for the benefit of ‘underdeveloped’ nations. This American-centred vision has made invisible other traditions of development of the interwar period1, which, while closely linked in the case of the ILO to the American liberalism of the 1930s and 1940s, are not limited to a project of economic modernisation. That being said, the ILO has never considered its action as a development action in the interwar period, even though, following the Great Depression, it started to build a set of ideas and practices that attested to the emergence of a matrix thinking on development2. Development as part of the« esprit du temps » Development is a historical process and it is therefore difficult to reconstruct all its logics and origins. Regarding the ILO, development ideas were inspired by the civilising mission rhetoric and the 19th Century European social reform movements, which evolved with the idea that society can be organised and the negative effects of capitalism corrected and repaired, like a machine by an engineer. After the First World War, the diffusion of social justice in the world became the ILO’s fundamental objective and international labour conventions ratified by governments the main means to provide safeguards against the exploitation of workers. The war and European experiences of economic organisation at national and international levels have also had a lasting impact on the thinking and action of many ILO stakeholders. Albert Thomas, a French socialist and first Director of the International Labour Office, the Secretariat of the ILO, used his influence to defend the idea to reluctant employers and governments that economic organisation and social progress were two inseparable factors for prosperity and peace. Today, in the face of all-powerful liberalism, the ILO continues to reaffirm this idea and advocates an economic development policy that is socially acceptable and profitable. In the 1930s, development discourses and practices at the ILO were part of the ‘esprit du temps’, as they responded to new challenges reflecting the main concerns of the period: combating mass unemployment in Europe, saving capitalism, combating unfair competition, expanding the global consumer market, and raising the standard of workers in less developed countries, including those in Europe. The ILO became the principle place, if not the only one, where the idea of an international economic organisation was affirmed. This idea was however the subject of heated debates. Employer representatives were generally opposed to it and to trade union participation in national economic policy. Trade union representatives, who, although in favour of a national and international economic organisation, were above all concerned with unemployment, working hours and reduced wages. This opposition lines reflected the limits of tripartism in the 1930s when it came to national and international economic planing in Europe, but also everywhere else in the world. The appeal of planist ideas in the 1930s nevertheless caused a change in how the International Labour Office came to perceive the role of social policy. Social policy issues were then seen as part of national economic recovery and development strategies. The global economic crisis of the 1930s also guided the ILO on finding solutions to save the international economy. The British Harold Butler, the second Director of the International Labour Office, advocated adjusting...