CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS, a federation of labour unions in the U.S.A., was formed as the Committee for Industrial Organization Nov. 9,1935, when John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers and representatives of seven other unions decided to launch an independent drive to unionize unorganized labour. The type of organization promoted was the vertical, or industrial union (including all branches of a single in dustry) as opposed to the horizontal, or craft union long favoured by the American Federation of Labor. In Sept. 1936, the C.I.O., as it came to be known, was suspended with its adherents from the A.F. of L. But it proceeded to organize such key industries as steel, rubber, and motor cars, and reached agreements with such large corporations as U.S. Steel and General Motors. In the following years the C.I.O. and the A.F. of L. engaged in a bitter struggle for leadership of American labour. The C.I.O. held its first convention at Pittsburgh Nov. 14-18,1938, adopted its new name and a constitution, and elected Mr. Lewis president.