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Forward to 14th Conference Preparations have already begun in Kannur, Kerala for the 14th All India Conference of CITU, to be held from 4th to 8th April 2013. On this occasion, let us have a brief look at all the previous conferences. Foundation Conference The All India Trade Union Conference was held from 28th to 30th May, as per the decision of a Convention of General Council members and State Committee members of AITUC, held at Goa on 9th and 10th April 1970. It was held at Lenin Nagar (Ranji Stadium) in Kolkata. A reception committee with Com. Jyoti Basu as Chairman and Com. Manoranjan Roy as General Secretary organized the conference. Reception Committee had enrolled 50,000 workers as members of the committee. The review made later noted that the enthusiasm among workers for this conference was such that, when a call was made for collection of Rs.2 lakhs, 3 lakhs was collected within a short period of 3 weeks! The Conference was attended by 4264 delegates representing 1759 unions with a membership of 8,04,637/- from 18 states. Fraternal unions sent 116 delegates and 1134 observers attended the conference, making a total of 5514 participants. The Conference was guided by a presidium consisting of Mohammed Ismail, Suhrid Mullick Chaudhury, Haridas Malakar, E. Balanandan, Bimalanada Mukherji, A Balasubramaniam and S.Y. Kolhatkar. P. Ramamurti presented the report, which was earlier circulated in English, Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam. There were brief translation of all speeches in all languages for the delegates. The resolution on formation of a new All India Trade Union Centre, to be named Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) was moved in the Conference on 30th May, by Com.Manoranjan Roy (West Bengal) and seconded by E. Balanandan (Kerala); which was passed unanimously among thunderous applause and shouting of slogans. The Conference elected B.T. Ranadive as President, P. Ramamurti as General Secretary and Kamal Sarkar as Treasurer. Mohammed Ismail, S.Y. Kolhatkar, E. Balanandan, Suhrid Mallick Chaudhari and Sudhin Kumar were elected Vice-Presidents and M.K. Pandhe, Manoranjan Roy and Niren Ghosh as Secretaries. The Conference elected 158 General Council members and 33 working committee members were elected by the General Council. The Working Committee included Coms. Jyoti Basu and Samar Mukherji. On 31st May, a massive rally of 10 lakh workers was held in the Brigade Parade Ground. Second Conference Second All India Conference was held in Ernakulam, in Kerala from 18th to 22nd April 1973. Meeting after 3 years of the foundation conference and at the time of serious political developments in the country, this was an important conference in our history. Com. B.T. Ranadive, in his presidential address referred to the massive arrests of comrades who were put behind bars under MISA and to the monstrous repression in West Bengal and also in other states. General Secretary’s report, presented by Com. P.Ramamurti gave details about all these attacks and the struggles being conducted by our unions, defending the rights of working people. The Conference reelected Com. BTR and PR as President and General Secretary. Com. Jyoti Basu was elected as one of the Seven Vice Presidents. Samar Mukherjee was elected Treasurer. The conference concluded with a massive rally on 22nd April. Third Conference at Mumbai Third Conference was held in Mumbai, from 21st to 25th May 1975. Com. B.T.R, began his Presidential address, greeting the people of Vietnam and Cambodia, for their epochal victories against US imperialism. He also referred to the continuous struggles conducted by the Indian working class. Among others, he noted that “on an average more than a million and half are engaged in strike action since 1966, a whole decade.” In his concluding address, Com. BTR, referred in detail to the points raised in the discussions, increasing attacks on working class and pointed out that more and more attacks, including those on our democratic rights are in the offing. He thundered, “We stand by class struggle, we have got a conception of class struggle, we have got a conception of worker-peasant alliance. Anything which deviates from this, will not take us to the goal of revolution”. He also pointed out that “inspite of immediate difficulties, we are entering a period of tremendous opportunities”. The Conference reelected Coms. BTR and PR as President and General Secretary and Manoranjan Roy was elected Treasurer. Coms. Samar Mukherjee and Nrisingha Chakraborty were among the six Secretaries. Chennai Conference The Fourth Conference was held at Chennai, from 11 to 15 April 1979. The period between the third and fourth Conference was a period of critical importance to the Indian democratic movement. Within a month of 3rd Conference, Emergency was declared and denial of democratic rights was complete. The authoritarian Govt., led by Indira Gandhi, violated all democratic norms but could not continue in power. 1977 elections to the Lok Sabha, brought to power a Janata Party Govt. the first non-Congress Govt. at centre. Later, in West Bengal Assembly elections, the first Left Govt. was voted to power and Com. Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister. In 1978, Tripura also voted for a left front government. The united struggle involving all Central Trade Unions against the Industrial Relations Bill in 1978 was a new phase of united trade union movement. It was just prior to this fourth conference that a separate all India convention of working women was held and the All India Co-ordination Committee of working women was formed with Comrade Vimala Ranadive as Convenor. Coms. BTR and PR were re-elected as President and General Secretary and Samar Mukherjee was elected Treasurer. Com. Sushila Gopalan was one of the nine Vice-Presidents and was the first woman in the CITU secretariat..... (to be continued - compiled by A K Padmanabhan)