From unity to crisis: The International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) and the decline of Pan-Arabism, 1963–1979

Paolini, D.; Biondi, M. (2025)

Article / Letter to editor

Established in 1956 by trade union organisations in Egypt, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, and Jor-dan, the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU) constituted the first pan-Arab  labour  organisation.  The  ICATU  aimed  to  develop  a  transnational  network  of  labour  cooperation  among  Arab  states  while  supporting  Nasserist  pan-Arab  ambitions  in  North Africa and the Middle East. Drawing on archival sources and trade union periodicals, this article provides an analysis of the activities of the ICATU from the early 1960s and dis-cusses the development of pan-Arab trade unionism in the light of the evolution of Nasser’s regional  leadership.  The  article  argues  that  the  expansion  of  its  membership  to  Maghreb  trade unions — in particular, in Morocco and Algeria — laid the foundations for a change in the organisation’s internal balance. This trend, fuelled by the 1967 war and Nasser’s death, led to the complete decline of Egyptian predominance in the organisation by the end of the 1970s.

• ICATU
• Pan-Arabism
• Trade Unionism
• Nasser
• Maghreb

• All authors: Paolini, D.; Biondi, M.
• Date: 2025-09-24
• Journal: Afriche e orienti
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 198 - 222
• Advanced Publication: Yes
• DOI: doi:10.23810/AEOXXVIII202519
• Link: https://www.africheorienti.com/journal/article/view/171