Fighting the War or Preparing for Peace? The ILO during the Second World War

Abstract

Fighting the War or Preparing for Peace? The ILO during the Second World War

During the Second World War the ILO stood for an alternative, democratic internationalism in response to Nazi international/European plans. The ILO was able to serve as an international platform and was directly involved in the Allied war effort. Moreover, examining the ILO allows us to better understand the multi-layered processes and rationales that brought about a shift in the political and social balance of power during the Second World War. After the ILO moved to Montreal in May 1940, the handful of French functionaries guarding the organisation's deserted headquarters in Geneva could only look on helplessly as the reformist labour movement, together with the vision of a social Europe that it promoted, was defeated. Meanwhile, on the campus of McGill University in Montreal, the ILO underwent a twofold transformation in exile. Dependent on British and North American funding and staff, it became the champion of the pragmatic solutions to social issues implemented in those countries. Through its work for the United Nations alliance it expanded its activities in the fields of expertise and technical assistance, to the detriment of its work in setting international labour standards. While it had been founded in 1919 to protect workers and to provide an international platform for the reformist workers movement, the ILO emerged from the war as an organisation focusing increasingly on providing economic and social expertise.