500C.115 28th Conference/57: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)40
631. If you perceive no objection, it is requested that you communicate the following views to the Soviet Government. The subject matter is Embassy’s 762, March 8, relating to participation by the Soviet Government in the forthcoming ILO Conference.
The United States Government regrets that the Soviet Government is not planning to send representatives to participate in the International Labor Conference, and hopes that it may reconsider and that at the very least it will send an official observer to the Conference.
With reference to the Soviet Government’s criticism of the International Labor Organization, this Government has been giving consideration to measures designed to improve the effectiveness of the International Labor Organization as an organization of international collaboration in the field of labor and would be interested in learning the views of the Soviet Government in advance of the International Labor Conference.
It is the considered view of this Government that if possible the International Labor Organization should serve as the nucleus from which there may be evolved a body having the requisite authority and representative character to serve as an important United Nations forum for discussing economic and social matters related to the Organization’s activities and especially as a place in which popular movements in the field of labor and social development may find expression in an official international body. This Government considers that valuable time and effort would be lost were the ILO to be discarded and a new instrument created. It is recognized that the present constitution and powers of the Organization should be reconsidered. The Philadelphia Conference will be an appropriate occasion to commence exploration of these possibilities and the agenda of this Conference was chosen with this object in view. It would be most helpful if the Soviet Government would participate in such discussions.
Plainly different types of economic and social systems have some problems special to those systems, but it is equally clear that the great range of economic and social problems will be of common interest to all countries. The Government of the United States believes that it would be distinctly unfortunate if the cause of general social advance was segregated as between countries with different types of economic and social systems. It is because the United States Government believes that the ILO may be made an effective instrument for the solution [Page 1019] of these common problems that it reiterates its hope that the Soviet Government will participate in the Conference.
For the Ambassador
Since the Embassy has already reminded the Soviet Government that this Government is a member of the ILO without being a member of the League, no mention of that fact is made in the above message, but the Embassy may wish to repeat it in its conversations with the Soviet Government. The Soviet Government might also be informed that the present limited relation of the ILO to the League will be discussed at the Conference with a view to eliminating certain administrative connections which now exist.
- Paraphrase sent to London as telegram 2103, March 21, 3 p.m.↩