Participating in its first convention were various occupation groups such as cigar makers, government employees, typographers, lithographers, bookbinders, journalists, sailors, clerks, mechanics, and lawyers.
[3] This affiliation exacerbated a growing division between revolutionary left and reformist right wings of the labor organization, with the radicals headed by Philippine Communist leader Crisanto Evangelista and the moderates by one Tejada of the Philippine Tobacco Workers Union.
[4] Factional battling on the Executive Committee of the COF preceded an all out battle at the 1929 convention of the organization, in which radicals charged that moderates attempted to pack the gathering, with 188 delegates instead of its assigned 54 appearing to represent the Tobacco Workers' Union and another 65 materializing from a tiny 250 member Stevedores' Union.
[4] The matter was referred to the convention's Credentials Committee, which expressed misgivings about the situation.
[4] These reassembled elsewhere in a "provisional conference" which launched a rival organization called the "Congreso Obrero de Filipinas (proletariat).