Against dues checkoffs, in defense of the Trade Union!, 1967
Source: http://www.international-communist-party.org/English/REPORTS/UnionQue/67DuesCheckOff.htm
Archived: 2026-04-23 17:15
Against dues checkoffs, in defense of the Trade Union!, 1967
International Communist Party
The Union Question
Against dues checkoffs, in defense of the Trade Union!
from the
Spartaco
, supplement of
Il Programma Comunista
, issue n.21, 1967
WORKING COMRADES!
The union recruitment campaign is already underway. The piecards are
forcing you to sign the dues checkoff to the companies’ managements,
under the threat and blackmail of not considering yourselves organized
in the union and not benefiting from the organization’s assistance.
IT’S YOUR INTEREST AND PRECISE DUTY NOT TO GIVE A DUES CHECKOFF TO
THE BOSSES’ MANAGEMENTS, IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE UNION’S AUTONOMY AND
INDEPENDENCE FROM THE BOSSES. THIS REFUSAL DOESN’T MEAN ABANDONING THE
UNION, BUT RATHER STRENGTHENING YOUR CLASS ORGANIZATION, WHICH YOU MUST
JOIN IN THE GREATEST POSSIBLE NUMBERS, AND SUPPORT BY PAYING UNION DUES
DIRECTLY TO THE UNION IN CASH OR, BETTER YET, BY APPOINTING COLLECTORS
FROM AMONGST YOURSELVES IN THE FACTORY, DEPARTMENT OR AREA, CHOOSING
THEM FROM AMONG YOUR FELLOW WORKERS.
COMRADES!
It’s necessary to keep in mind that dues checkoffs give the bosses
direct power over your organization. It’s urgently necessary to prevent
this criminal act of your bosses by contrasting it with your own network
of workers loyal to your class interests, with collectors who, in
fulfilling the specific function as your trustees for collecting union
dues, link every comrade, every point in the class union movement into a
network for workers’ self-defense against the influences of the bosses
and their lackeys. The watchword must be: HANDS OFF WORKERS’ FUNDS!
Strengthening the class union is not achieved by demanding greater
monetary sacrifices from proletarians, but by giving class bodies a
revolutionary direction, defending the working class from capitalist
oppression, company exploitation, State coercion and violence. To the
extent that this classist orientation permeates the union, the workers
will recognize it as their natural association and, as always, will
never fail to devote all of their strength to it. It’s from this action
that the renewal of trade unions will begin.
International Communist Party
The Union Question
Against dues checkoffs, in defense of the Trade Union!
from the
Spartaco
, supplement of
Il Programma Comunista
, issue n.21, 1967
WORKING COMRADES!
The union recruitment campaign is already underway. The piecards are
forcing you to sign the dues checkoff to the companies’ managements,
under the threat and blackmail of not considering yourselves organized
in the union and not benefiting from the organization’s assistance.
IT’S YOUR INTEREST AND PRECISE DUTY NOT TO GIVE A DUES CHECKOFF TO
THE BOSSES’ MANAGEMENTS, IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE UNION’S AUTONOMY AND
INDEPENDENCE FROM THE BOSSES. THIS REFUSAL DOESN’T MEAN ABANDONING THE
UNION, BUT RATHER STRENGTHENING YOUR CLASS ORGANIZATION, WHICH YOU MUST
JOIN IN THE GREATEST POSSIBLE NUMBERS, AND SUPPORT BY PAYING UNION DUES
DIRECTLY TO THE UNION IN CASH OR, BETTER YET, BY APPOINTING COLLECTORS
FROM AMONGST YOURSELVES IN THE FACTORY, DEPARTMENT OR AREA, CHOOSING
THEM FROM AMONG YOUR FELLOW WORKERS.
COMRADES!
It’s necessary to keep in mind that dues checkoffs give the bosses
direct power over your organization. It’s urgently necessary to prevent
this criminal act of your bosses by contrasting it with your own network
of workers loyal to your class interests, with collectors who, in
fulfilling the specific function as your trustees for collecting union
dues, link every comrade, every point in the class union movement into a
network for workers’ self-defense against the influences of the bosses
and their lackeys. The watchword must be: HANDS OFF WORKERS’ FUNDS!
Strengthening the class union is not achieved by demanding greater
monetary sacrifices from proletarians, but by giving class bodies a
revolutionary direction, defending the working class from capitalist
oppression, company exploitation, State coercion and violence. To the
extent that this classist orientation permeates the union, the workers
will recognize it as their natural association and, as always, will
never fail to devote all of their strength to it. It’s from this action
that the renewal of trade unions will begin.