The International Teacher Movement in the Early 20th Century and the Struggle of the Educationists’ International for the Unity of the Socialist Teacher Movement

This article deals with the development of the international teacher movement in the early 20th century and the struggle of the Educationists’ International for a united front of all progressive teachers. After characterizing briefly individual attempts to promote international cooperation of teachers before the First World War, the author describes the rise of the first Socialist International of Teachers. He shows the complexity of the ideological problems within the unions, the efforts of the reformist Amsterdam International to break the political unity of progressive teacher organizations, the Educationists’ International and the International Propaganda Committee for Teachers and Allied Occupations. The problem facing socialist teachers was to deal with the ideas of pacifism and political impartiality of their international movement. The International was quick in overcoming these tendencies with the help of Soviet experience, too, and consistently adopted the ideas of class struggle and the proletariat as the only one of the international unions of teachers.
On the basis of the constitution of 1924 the author describes the structure and forms of work of the Educationists’ International.
The conclusion of the article is devoted to the methods of the International’s struggle for consistently preserving the unity of the progressive teachers movement and for its alliance with the working class in the fight to overthrow the capitalist rule.