International Federation of Lithographers, Lithographic Printers and Kindred Trades


The International Federation of Lithographers, Lithographic Printers and Kindred Trades was a global union federation bringing together unions representing print workers.
The federation was established in 1896 at a conference in London, as the International Federation of Lithographers and Kindred Trades. It was based in London until 1907, when its headquarters moved to Berlin, then in 1920 they moved to Brussels, and by the mid-1930s, they were in Amstelveen in the Netherlands. By 1925, the federation had 22 affiliates with a total of 45,562 members, and by 1935, its affiliates were from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and Yugoslavia.
In 1939, the federation agreed to merge with the International Typographers' Secretariat and the International Federation of Bookbinders and Kindred Trades. However, due to World War II, no progress was made until 1946, when the British Printing and Kindred Trades Federation established a committee which drafted a constitution for a merged organisation. This was established in 1949, as the International Graphical Federation.

Affiliates

As of 1921, the following unions were members of the federation:
UnionCountry
Amalgamated Society of Lithographic PrintersUnited Kingdom
Austrian Senefelder UnionAustria
Central Union of Lithographic Workers and Kindred TradesBelgium
Danish Lithographers' UnionDenmark
Dutch Litho-, Photo- and Chemographic UnionNetherlands
Federation of Spanish Lithographers and Kindred TradesSpain
Finnish Printers' and Bookbinders' UnionFinland
French Federation of Book WorkersFrance
Graphical UnionCzechoslovakia
International Lithographic Union of SwedenSweden
Italian Lithographic FederationItaly
Norwegian Lithographers' and Lithographic Printers' UnionNorway
Society of Lithographic Artists, Designers, Engravers and Process WorkersUnited Kingdom
Swiss Lithographic UnionSwitzerland
Union of Lithographers and Lithographic PrintersGermany

General Secretaries