ROH, ( cs, Revoluční odborové hnutí, sk, Revolučné odborové hnutie, ''Revolutionary Trade Union Movement'' literally in English) was a communist

national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

1945-1990. In Communist Czechoslovakia (1948-1989) it was a monopolistic trade union, wherein the membership was often mandatory for employees of state industries.

Foundation

ROH was founded in the

Czech Lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic sin ...

in 1945, emerging out of the factory councils and workers militias that evolve out of the wake of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. After World War II, communists became dominant in the trade union movement once the war ended. They were however not the sole political force in the initial phase of ROH, the Trade Union Department of the Communist Party was wary of '

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

' tendencies in the factory councils.Campbell, Joan.
European Labor Unions
''

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

: Greenwood Press, 1992. p. 71-72, 84, 553Kaplan, Karel.
The Short March: The Communist Takeover in Czechoslovakia, 1945-1948
'.

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

: C. Hurst, 1987. p. 53 In April 1946 the Slovak trade unions merged into ROH. The Slovak unions merged with their Czech counterparts, adopting the slogan "One factory - one trade union organization". However, during 1947 ROH membership in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

dropped sharply for political and economical reason, ROH lost a third of its members in the area.

Antonín Zápotocký Antonín Zápotocký (19 December 1884 – 13 November 1957) was a Czech communist politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1953 and the president of Czechoslovakia from 1953 to 1957. Biography He ...

, a communist pre-war labour leader who had been imprisoned for six years during the war, became the chairman of ROH in June 1947. Evžen Erban, a left-wing Social Democrat, became the general secretary of ROH. In the leading body of ROH, the Central Trade Union Council (ÚRO), there were 94 communists, 18 Social Democrats, 6

National Socialists Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and 2 from the People's Party.

Prague Spring

During the

Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First ...

of 1968, ROH became somewhat more independent. However, developments in the trade union field were somewhat slower than in other organizations. In March 1968 hardline leaders were removed from their positions in ÚRO. In September 1968 ÚRO reaffirmed that the process of internal reforms and adoptions of new statues in the affiliated unions would continue. Between November 1968 and January 1969 some unions (like the Metal Workers' Union) threatened to launch strikes if the pro-reform leaders wouldn't be reinstated to their positions in the Communist Party.Ekiert, Grzegorz.
The State against Society: Political Crises and Their Aftermath in East Central Europe
'. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. p. 188 Ahead of the 7th ROH congress, held March 4–5 March 1969, 75% of the delegates were elected from the affiliated unions through secret ballots (for the first time). The congress did steer a moderate course, as the trade union movement was pressured from both pro-reform sectors as well as Communist Party hardliners. In the ROH leadership elected at the congress, different political strands were represented. Karel Poláček was the ROH chairman at the time. Gradually, however, ROH returned to following the line of the Communist Party.

Organization

ROH was organized along

democratic centralist Democratic centralism is a practice in which political decisions reached by voting processes are binding upon all members of the political party. It is mainly associated with Leninism, wherein the party's political vanguard of professional revol ...

lines. The national leadership was the Central Trade Union Council (ÚRO). The organ leading ROH between ÚRO meetings was its 14-member presidium. In the districts, there were the District Trade Union Council (KOR). The KORs had around 20 members each, elected at District Trade Union Conferences. ROH published the newspaper ''Práce''. As of August 1958 ROH had over 3 800 000 members.

International cooperation

ROH was a member of the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation o ...

. The WFTU had its headquarters in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Later period

In 1989, autonomous trade unions and strike committees surged in Czechoslovakia, which called for the dissolution of ROH. A parallel Trade Union Coordination Centre was formed. ROH tried to manage the situation by declaring its independence from the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of '' The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel ...

. The Slovak branch of ROH decided to subordinate itself to the Coordination Centre. The Czech ROH organization hesitated somewhat, but at a trade union conference held 2–3 March 1990 ROH dissolved itself. In its place a new trade union federation, ČSKOS was founded.Campbell, Joan.
European Labor Unions
''

: Greenwood Press, 1992. p. 75

References