WLO Conference, New York 1941
Speech given by Richard Morawetz as the Czechoslovakian
employer's delegate
to the World Labor Organization conference in New York, 1941.
More than four years have passed since I had the honor to speak on behalf of the Czechoslavakian Textile
Manufacturers at the Conference in Washington. It was on this occasion when I emphasized the necessity of
removing the terribly tense atmosphere under which we were living in Europe. No conference, no Parliament,
no institution whatever could bring an improvement of the standard of life of the working people,
quite contrary to that we have to expect a steady worsening of the actual income of all classes of the
human society if these enormous expenses for Defense are going to last.
Terrible things have happened since. Czechoslavakia, where the burden of expenses for armaments were
not only raised by taxation, but to a remarkable extent by voluntary contributions which were
gladly given even from the smallest savings accounts.
This country was one day without any friend, betrayed by her ally, and surrounded by enemies.
The tragedy of my country has been mentioned with great sympathy by the delegates from Mexico, Yugoslavia
and other countries. May I express in the name of our delegation, our deepest gratitude for words which can
and will not be forgotten.
It is obvious that under the prevailing circumstances delegations of countries
which are occupied by the enemy will follow the discussions about war economy only with theoretical interest.
However, there are things which most probably will influence the situation after the war and I can consider as one
of the most important, the effort to avoid inflation. We people of Central Europe have seen what inflation means.
We saw how in countries like Germany or Austria, the money lost nearly all its value, and
how in other countries, 80, 90 and more per cent were lost.
It was entirely wrong when people thought that this problem should worry only
the capitalists -- just the contrary was true. The menace of inflation ruined,
first of all, the middle class and the worker. Of what use was it for him to get a higher pay on
Saturday when prices on Monday were again much higher? His small savings, his life insurance,
the result of many years of saving, were lost and his actual income was deteriorating in spite of the
higher payrolls.
But inflation brought still other and very serious social developments -- people lost all interest in
saving and as long as they had money to spend, they did it even in the most useless
way -- always being afraid that tomorrow again less could be bought
for the same amount. So, while it was and is now of the greatest interest for the state to see people
reducing their purchases to the utmost minimum, just the contrary happened. A book could be written
about all the economical and social destruction caused by inflation in Europe during and after the war.
The efforts which have been made against the menace
of inflation in Canada prohibiting advances of prices, as well as of wages
generally, and allowing an adjustment of the present figures only in cases which
are absolutely justified, are of the greatest interest and it is only to be hoped that they will be successful.
I just hear that Switzerland, the only remaining democracy of Europe, is also trying to prevent inflation
by similar steps.
The question whether and to what extent the government should influence the collaboration between the
workers and employers organizations is, of course, of the greatest interest for the future.
I think the mere fact of your presence is proof of your willingness to collaborate.
Let us speak about this problem quite frankly. We men who represent either side
in collective bargaining must have quite a lot of courage. You who represent the
workers will certainly more often hear blame than praise but, believe me, we
employers have just the same troubles. There will be always people with
very radical ideas on both sides and it will remain our difficult task to take upon our
shoulders the responsibility for a solution and to fight for it in our own homes.
Just remember the foolish idea of the German manufacturers who were told how everything will go according
to their wishes in the new Nazi order, and think of their disappointment.
Just read the book of Mr. Thyssen.
The extreme wings of the workers got the same lesson. You certainly know how the position of the
workers in Germany has developed and yet there were so many who were quite enthusiastic
about the promised new order.
I am happy to say that in Czechoslavakia the collaboration between workers and employers developed in a
very satisfactory way. There were unions in all big industries.
However, one day we faced the difficulty that some manufacturer thought it was so clever not to join the
organization. There were not many of them -- yet it was enough to cause troubles. They were happy to save the
fee for membership and at the same time to pay lower wages. This again made it possible to compete
successfully on the basis of lower cost of production.
It was therefore in full cooperation between both parties that a law was adopted which made an agreement
compulsory for all persons employed in a certain district if this agreement was made by organizations
representing more than a certain percentage of all workers. This eliminated the unfair competition of people
who were not members of an organization. The results were very satisfactory and strengthened the peace with
labor.
Of course -- just like all of you -- we had sometimes difficult negotiations, arguments against arguments,
but we never had strikes of far-reaching importance.
And still today I am proud to say that I was for years the Trustee of the
Manufacturers of one of our biggest industries and next to me are sitting the
former Minister of Social Welfare, the Secretaries of Trade Unions, and that we are negotiating not only
in full confidence but in friendship.
At last I want to draw your attention to a task which I consider as most important. It is the supply of Europe
with food and all kinds of commodities after the end of this terrible war.
Please remember our experience of the last war and let us do all we possibly can to avoid the mistakes
which happened then. It doesn't matter what the peace treaties
will be like but one thing is certain -- everything must be done to secure food and labor for the population
of Europe as quickly as possible.
After the last war we took a very, very long time until delivery started on a reasonable scale and a great
deal of starving and unemployment could have easily been avoided. That should not happen again as we
know what enormous social dangers are involved in such a situation.
I think it would be a great merit for the I.L.O. if within the shortest time a
permanent committee would be elected which could work out a detailed plan of all necessities of the
countries which are at war. This work should be done very exactly in collaboration
with the governments of the countries and with experts of the various branches of industry.
Do not lose time. Nobody knows when this war will end and as this organization is such a big one,
with members all over the world, an action like this must be prepared in time.
We hear often criticism that this war was not well prepared by the allied countries. This might be true but you
can find excuses that nobody wanted this war and that the governments hoped to the last moment to
settle things peacefully.
But today we know that there will be one day the end of this tragedy -- so let us do all we can to help
prepare the great work of reconstruction and to help with all possible speed the millions of people
who have suffered so much and will be anxiously waiting for better times.
