Soviet Groups Challenge State-Run Unions
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MOSCOW — The first Soviet congress of independent trade unions, in a challenge to the state labor movement, has voted to form a council to unite the country’s unofficial workers’ groups, a spokesman said Wednesday.
“The aim is to unite all forces and to guarantee the rights of working people in this difficult economic situation,” a spokesman said in Novokuznetsk, Siberia, where the congress was held.
The congress passed resolutions supporting the breakaway republic of Lithuania and condemning the Soviet leadership for leading the economy to the brink of collapse. It also agreed to form an organization to defend the rights of rural workers.
The three-day congress, which ended Wednesday, drew 140 delegates representing workers’ clubs, strike committees and independent democratic groups from across the country.
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