ILO—THE FIRST FIFTY YEARS
| Author | C. D. Drake |
| Date | 01 November 1969 |
| Published date | 01 November 1969 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1969.tb01242.x |
ILO-THE
FIRST
FIFTY
YEARS
FORMED
in
1919
as an autonomous body associated with the League
of Nations and, since
1946,
recognised as
a
specialised agency by the
United Nations, the International Labour Organisation has evinced
a remarkable
gift
for survival
in
the face
of
catastrophes such as the
collapse of the League itself and, with
it,
the failure of collective
solidarity which in turn led
to
the Second World War.
It
is sober-
ing
to
recall that in
1941,
when civilisation hung in the balance, the
International Labour Code was introduced without any inkling
whether
it
would turn
out
to
be
“
the last will and testament of the
Organisation
”
or
“
an essential part of the title deeds
to
its
future
”
l;
fortunately, the latter turned out
to
be the case.
In
the
immediate post-war years the
ILO
saw global social and economic
responsibility pass to UN organs (although the
KO’s
prime interest
in
international labour matters was recognised), following which
the Organisation had to operate in the atmosphere
of
the Cold War
which still flared up after the return of the countries
in
the com-
munist
bloc
in
1954
and showed itself in matters such as the creden-
tials
of
employers’ representatives
or
in issues such as freedom of
association. In addition to this ideological struggle between East
and West, the Organisation has made hitherto modest attempts to
contain the widening rift between North and South
or
between the
older, European industrialised nations and the newer, under-
developed economies of Asia,< Africa and, to
a
lesser extent, of
South America.
Based from the outset
on
the inseparability
of
peace and social
justice, the aims and principles of the
ILO,
as affirmed twenty-five
years ago in the Declaration of Philadelphia, constitute a blend of
material and non-material values; on the one hand, material well-
being, full employment and
a
proper reward for labour, and,
on
the
other hand, recognition of rights (such as that of
‘‘
spiritual develop-
ment in conditions of freedom and dignity
”)
which are, in effect,
secular restatements of the truth that man does not live by bread
alone.
In
its role of
6c
World Industrial Parliament,” the ILO has given
to
mankind what Dr. Jenks has termed
‘‘
a
corpus
juris
of social
justice
’,
consisting
of
international labour standards embodied
either
in
Conventions which,
if
adopted and ratified, impose duties
of
compliance
on
ratifying states,
or
in Recommendations which
merely give guidance for lines of national action. The Conventions
so
far #adopted cover a wide range
of
labour standards such as
worker protection with regard to wages, hours of work, occupational
1
Interna.tiona1
Labour
Office,
The
International
Labour
Code
1951.
LXV.
664
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