ORIGIN OF THE GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOR (1872-1895)
The vigorous suppression of the Commune and the political events which
followed it threw the French workingmen for some time into a state of
mental depression. Though trade-union meetings were not prohibited, the
workingmen avoided the places which had been centers of syndical
activity before the Commune. Full of suspicion and fear, they preferred
to remain in isolation rather than to risk the persecution of the
government.
Under these conditions, the initiative in reconstituting the syndicats
was taken by a republican journalist, Barberet.[41] Barberet was
prompted to undertake this "honorable task" by the desire to do away
with strikes. He had observed the strike movement for some years, and
had come to the conclusion that strikes were fatal to the workingmen and
dangerous to the political institutions of the country. His observations
had convinced him that the Second Empire had fallen largely in
consequence of the strike movement during 1868-70, and he was anxious to
preserve the Republic from similar troubles. As he expressed it, strikes
were "a crime of _lèse-democratie_"[42] which it was necessary to
prevent by all means.
[41] Barberet was afterwards appointed chief of the Bureau of Trade
Unions, which was constituted as part of the Dept. of the Interior.
[42] J. Barberet, _Monographies Professionelles_ (Paris, 1886), vol. i,
p. 16.
Barberet outlined the following program for the syndicats. They were to
watch over the loyal fulfilment of contracts of apprenticeship; to
organize employment bureaus; to create boards of conciliation composed
of an equal number of delegates from employers and from workingmen for
the peaceful solution of trade disputes; to found libraries and courses
in technical education; to utilize their funds not to "foment strikes",
but to buy raw materials and instruments of labor; and finally, "to
crown these various preparatory steps" by the creation of co-operative
workshops "which alone would give groups of workingmen the normal access
to industry and to commerce" and which would in time equalize
wealth.[43]
[43] Barberet, _op. cit._, pp. 20-25.
Under Barberet's influence and with his assistance syndicats were
reconstituted in a few trades in Paris during 1872. These syndicats felt
the necessity of uniting into a larger body, and in August of the same
year they founded the _Cercle de l'Union Ouvrière_, which was to form a
counter-balance to the employers' organization _L'Union Nationale du
Commerce et de l'Industrie_. The _Cercle_ insisted on its peaceful
intentions; it declared that its aim was "to realize concord and justice
through study" and to convince public opinion "of the moderation with
which the workingmen claim their rights."[44] The _Cercle_ was
nevertheless dissolved by the government.
[44] Fernand Pelloutier, _Histoire des Bourses du Travail_ (Paris,
1902), p. 35.
The syndicats, however, were left alone. They slowly increased in
numbers and spread to new trades. There were about 135 in Paris in 1875.
Following the example of the syndicats of the Second Empire, they
organized delegations of workingmen to the Exhibitions of Vienna in
1873 and of Philadelphia in 1876. But their supreme effort was the
organization of the first French Labor Congress in Paris in 1876.
The Congress was attended by 255 delegates from Paris and 105 from the
provincial towns. The delegates represented syndicats, co-operative
societies and mutual aid societies. The program of the Congress included
eight subjects: (1) The work of women; (2) syndical chambers; (3)
councils of _prud'hommes_; (4) apprenticeship and technical education;
(5) direct representation of the working class in Parliament; (6)
co-operative associations of production, of consumption and of credit;
(7) old-age pensions; (8) agricultural associations and the relations
between agricultural and industrial workers.
The proceedings of the Congress were calm and moderate. The organizers
of the Congress were anxious not to arouse the apprehension of the
government and not to compromise the republicans with whose help the
Congress was organized. The reports and the discussions of the Congress
showed that the syndical program outlined by Barberet was accepted by
almost all the delegates. They insisted upon the necessity of solving
peaceably all industrial difficulties, expressed antipathy for the
strike and above all affirmed their belief in the emancipating efficacy
of co-operation. At the same time they repudiated socialism, which one
of the delegates proclaimed "a bourgeois Utopia".[45]
[45] _Séances du Congrès Ouvrier de France_, Session de 1876, p. 43.
The syndicats held a second congress in 1876 in Lyons. The Congress of
Lyons considered the same questions as did that of Paris, and gave them
the same solutions. In general, the character of the second congress was
like that of the first.
The third Labor Congress held in Marseilles in 1879, was a new
departure in the history of the French labor movement. It marked the end
of the influence of Barberet and of the "co-operators" and the beginning
of socialist influence. The Congress of Marseilles accepted the title of
"Socialist Labor Congress", expressed itself in favor of the collective
appropriation of the means of production and adopted a resolution to
organize a workingmen's social political party.
This change in views was brought about by a concurrence of many
circumstances. The moderate character of the syndicats between 1872-1879
had been due in large measure to the political conditions of France. The
cause of the Republic was in danger and the workingmen were cautious not
to increase its difficulties. But after the elections of 1876 and 1877
and upon the election of Grevy to the Presidency, the Republic was more
or less securely established, and the workingmen thought that they
should now be more outspoken in their economic demands. The Committee
which had organized the Congress of Paris had formulated these
sentiments in the following terms: "From the moment that the republican
form of government was secured", wrote the Committee, "it was
indispensable for the working-class, who up to that time had gone hand
in hand with the republican bourgeoisie, to affirm their own interests
and to seek the means which would permit them to transform their
economic condition."[46] It was believed that the means to accomplish
this task was co-operation. The belief in co-operation was so intense
and general at that time that one of the delegates to the Congress of
Paris, M. Finance,[47] himself an opponent of co-operation, predicted a
large co-operative movement similar to the movements of 1848-50 and
1864-67. The prediction did not come true. Nothing important was
accomplished in this field, and the hopes in co-operation receded before
the impossibility of putting the idea into practice. The critics and
opponents of co-operation did the rest to discredit the idea. But when
the idea of co-operation lost its influence over the syndicats, the
ground was cleared for socialism. The Congress of Lyons had declared
that "the syndicats must not forget that the wage-system is but a
transitory stage from serfdom to an unnamed state."[48] When the hope
that this unnamed state would be brought about by co-operation was gone,
the "unnamed" state obtained a name, for the Socialists alone held out
to the workingmen the promise of a new state which would take the place
of the wage system.
[46] _Séances du Congrès Ouvrier_, 1876 (Paris, 1877), p. 9.
[47] Afterward one of the active members of the _Office du Travail_.
[48] _Assoc. Profess._, vol. i, p. 243.
On ground thus prepared the Socialists came to sow their seed. A group
of collectivists, inspired by the ideas of the "International", had
existed in Paris since 1873.[49] But this group began to attract
attention only in 1877 when it found a leader in Jules Guesde. Jules
Guesde is a remarkable figure in the history of French Socialism and has
played a great part in shaping the movement. He had edited a paper, _Les
Droits de l'Homme_, in Montpelier in 1870-1 and had expressed his
sympathy for the Commune. This cost him a sentence of five years in
prison. He preferred exile, went to Switzerland, there came into contact
with the "International" and was influenced by Marxian ideas.
[49] Terrail-Mermeix, _La France Socialiste_ (Paris, 1886), p. 51.
On his return to France, Jules Guesde became the spokesman and
propagandist of Marxian or "scientific socialism". Fanatical, vigorous,
domineering, he soon made himself the leader of the French
collectivists. Towards the end of 1877, he founded a weekly,
_L'Égalité_, the first number of which outlined the program which the
paper intended to defend. "We believe," wrote _L'Égalité_, "with the
collectivist school to which almost all serious minds of the
working-class of both hemispheres now belong, that the natural and
scientific evolution of mankind leads it irresistibly to the collective
appropriation of the soil and of the instruments of labor." In order to
achieve this end, _L'Égalité_ declared it necessary for the proletariat
to constitute itself a distinct political party which should pursue the
aim of conquering the political power of the State.[50]
[50] _L'Égalité_, 18 Nov., 1877.
The collectivists found a few adherents among the workingmen who
actively propagated the new ideas. In 1878, several syndicats of Paris:
those of the machinists, joiners, tailors, leather dressers and others,
accepted the collectivist program.
The collectivist ideas were given wider publicity and influence by the
persecution of the government. In 1878, an international congress of
workingmen was to be held in Paris during the International Exhibition.
The Congress of Lyons (1878) had appointed a special committee to
organize this international congress. Arrangements were being made for
the congress, when the government prohibited it.
The more moderate elements of the Committee gave way before the
prohibition of the government, but Guesde and his followers accepted the
challenge of the government and continued the preparations for the
Congress. The government dispersed the Congress at its very first
session and instituted legal proceedings against Guesde and other
delegates.
The trial made a sensation and widely circulated the ideas which Guesde
defended before the tribunal. From the prison where they were
incarcerated the collectivists launched an appeal "to the proletarians,
peasant proprietors and small masters" which contained an exposition of
collectivist principles and proposed the formation of a distinct
political party. The appeal gained many adherents from various parts of
France.[51]
[51] Terrail-Mermeix, _op. cit._, p. 98.
The idea of having workingmen's representatives in Parliament had
already come up at the Congress of Paris (1876). This Congress, as
indicated above, had on its program the question of the "Representation
of the Proletariat in Parliament." The reports on this question read at
the Congress were extremely interesting. The "moderate co-operators" and
"Barberetists", as they were nicknamed by the revolutionary
collectivists, insisted in these reports upon the separation which
existed between bourgeois and workingmen, upon the inability of the
former to understand the interests and the aspirations of the latter,
and upon the consequent necessity of having workingmen's representatives
in Parliament. These reports revealed the deep-seated sentiments of the
workingmen which made it possible for the ideas of class and class
struggle to spread among them.
The Congress of Lyons (1878) had advanced the question a step further.
It had adopted a resolution that journals should be created which should
support workingmen-candidates only.
With all this ground prepared, the triumph of the Socialists at the
Congress of Marseilles (1879) was not so sudden as some have thought it
to be. The influences which had brought about this change in sentiment
were clearly outlined by the Committee on Organization, as may be seen
from the following extract:
From the contact of workingmen-delegates from all civilized nations
that had appointed a rendezvous at the International Exhibition, a
clearly revolutionary idea disentangled itself.... When the
International Congress was brutally dispersed by the government,
one thing was proven: the working class had no longer to expect its
salvation from anybody but itself.... The suspicions of the
government with regard to the organizers of the Congress, the
iniquitous proceedings which it instituted against them, have led
to the revolutionary resolutions of the Congress which show that
the French proletariat is self-conscious and is worthy of
emancipation.[52]
[52] Leon Blum, _Les Congrès Ouvriers et Socialistes Français_ (Paris,
1901), pp. 33-4.
To a similar conclusion had come the Committee on Resolutions appointed
by the Congress of Lyons. In the intervals between the two Congresses,
it had a conference with the deputies of the Department of Rhone and
could report only failure. The deputies, one of whom belonged to the
Extreme Left, were against the limitation of hours of work in the name
of liberty, and against the liberty of association in the name of the
superior rights of the State. "The remedy to this state of affairs,"
concluded the Committee, "is to create in France a workingmen's party
such as exists already in several neighboring states."[53]
[53] _Ibid._, p. 36.
The Congress of Marseilles carried out the task which the collectivists
assigned to it. A resolution was adopted declaring that the co-operative
societies could by no means be considered a sufficiently powerful means
for accomplishing the emancipation of the proletariat. Another declared
the aim of the Congress to be: "The collectivity of soil and of subsoil,
of instruments of labor, of raw materials--to be given to all and to be
rendered inalienable by society to whom they must be returned."[54]
This resolution was adopted by 73 votes against 23.
[54] Leon de Seilhac, _Les Congrès Ouvriers en France_ (Paris, 1899), p.
47.
The Congress also constituted itself a distinct party under the name of
the "Federation of Socialist Workingmen of France". The party was
organized on a federalist principle. France was divided into six
regions: (1) Center or Paris; (2) East or Lyons; (3) Marseilles or
South; (4) Bordeaux or West; (5) North or Lille; (6) Algeria. Each
region was to have its regional committee and regional congress and be
autonomous in its administration. A general committee was to be
appointed by the Congress of the Federation, to be held annually in each
of the principal regional towns in turn.
After the Congress of Marseilles (1879) the leadership of the syndical
movement passed to the Socialists. This led to a split at the next
Congress held in Havre in 1880. The "moderates" and "co-operators"
separated from the revolutionary collectivists. The former grouped
themselves about _L'Union des Chambres Syndicales Ouvrières de France_.
They held two separate congresses of their own in 1881 and 1882, which
attracted little attention and were of no importance. The _Union des
Chambres Syndicales_ confined itself to obtaining a reform of the law on
syndicats.
The Collectivists themselves, however, were not long united. The
movement was soon disrupted by internal divisions and factions. At the
Congress of Marseilles (1879) the triumph of collectivism was assured by
elements which had the principles of collectivism in common, but which
differed in other points. In Havre (1880) these elements were still
united against the "moderate" elements. But after the Congress of Havre
they separated more and more into distinct and warring groups.
The first differentiation took place between the parliamentary
socialists on the one hand, and the communist-anarchists on the other.
Both divisions had a common aim; the collective appropriation of the
means of production. They did not differ much in their ideas on
distribution; there were communists among the parliamentary socialists.
What separated them most was difference in method. The anarchists
rejected the idea that the State, which in their view was and always had
been an instrument of exploitation, could ever become an instrument of
emancipation, even in the hands of a socialist government. The first act
in the Social Revolution, in their opinion, had to be the destruction of
the State. With this aim in view, the anarchists wished to have nothing
to do with parliamentary politics. They denounced parliamentary action
as a "pell-mell of compromise, of corruption, of charlatanism and of
absurdities, which does no constructive work, while it destroys
character and kills the revolutionary spirit by holding the masses under
a fatal illusion."[55] The anarchists saw only one way of bringing about
the emancipation of the working-class; namely, to carry on an active
propaganda and agitation, to organize groups, and at an opportune moment
to raise the people in revolt against the State and the propertied
classes; then destroy the State, expropriate the capitalist class and
reorganize society on communist and federalist principles. This was the
Social Revolution they preached.[56]
[55] _Pourquoi Guesde n'est-il pas anarchiste?_ p. 6.
[56] On the anarchist theory, the works of Bakounin, Kropotkin, Reclus
and J. Grave should be consulted; on anarchism in France see Dubois, _Le
Péril anarchiste_; Garin, _l'Anarchie_; also various periodicals,
particularly, _Le Révolte_ and _Les Temps Nouveaux_.
From 1883 onward the anarchist propaganda met with success in various
parts of France, particularly in Paris and in the South. There were
thousands of workingmen who professed the anarchist ideas, and the
success of the anarchists was quite disquieting to the socialists.[57]
[57] John Labusquière, _La Troisième République_ (Paris), p. 257.
The socialists, on the contrary, called upon the workingmen to
participate in the parliamentary life of the country. Political
abstention, they asserted, is neither helpful nor possible.[58] The
workingman believes in using his right to vote, and to ignore his
attitude of mind is of no avail. Besides, to bring about the
transformation of capitalist society into a collectivist society, the
political machinery of the State must be used. There is no other way of
accomplishing this task. The State will disappear after the socialist
society has been firmly established. But there is an inevitable
transitory period when the main economic reforms must be carried out and
during which the political power of the State must be in the hands of
the socialist party representing the working-class. The first act of the
Social Revolution, therefore, is to conquer the political power of the
State.[59]
[58] _L'Égalité_, 30 June, 1880.
[59] In socialist writings this transition period is always spoken of as
the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat."
Within the socialist ranks themselves further divisions soon took place.
In 1882, at the Congress of St. Etienne, the party was split into two
parts; one part followed Guesde, the other followed Paul Brousse. The
latter part took the name of _Parti ouvrier socialiste révolutionnaire
français_--it dropped the word "_révolutionnaire_" from its title in
1883--and continued to bear as sub-title, the name "Federation of
socialist workingmen of France." Guesde's party took the name of _Parti
Ouvrier Français_.
The _Parti Ouvrier Français_ claimed to represent the "revolutionary"
and "scientific" socialism of Marx. It accepted the familiar doctrines
of "orthodox" Marxism, which it popularized in France. It affirmed its
revolutionary character by denying the possibility of reforms in
capitalist society and by insisting upon the necessity of seizing the
political power of the State in a revolutionary way.
In 1886 J. Guesde wrote as follows:
In the capitalist régime, that is, as long as the means of
production and of existence are the exclusive property of a few who
work less and less, all rights which the constitutions and the
codes may grant to others, to those who concentrate within
themselves more and more all muscular and cerebral work, will
remain always and inevitably a dead letter. In multiplying reforms,
one only multiplies shams (_trompe-l'oeil_).[60]
[60] Jules Guesde, _Le Socialisme au jour le jour_ (Paris, 1899), p.
268.
Inability to carry out real reforms was ascribed to both national
legislative bodies and to the municipalities. Therefore,
if the party has entered into elections, it is not for the purpose
of carving out seats of councillors or deputies, which it leaves to
the hemorrhoids of bourgeois of every stamp, but because the
electoral period brings under our educational influence that part
of the masses which in ordinary times is most indifferent to our
meetings.[61]
[61] Jules Guesde and Paul Lafargue, _Le Programme du Parti Ouvrier_,
4th edition (Paris, 1897), p. 32.
The municipalities conquered were to become just so many centres of
recruiting and of struggle. The _Parti Ouvrier_ was to be a "kind of
recruiting and instructing sergeant preparing the masses for the final
assault upon the State which is the citadel of capitalist society."[62]
For only a revolution would permit the productive class to seize the
political power and to use it for the economic expropriation of
capitalistic France and for the nationalization or socialization of the
productive forces. Of course no man and no party can call forth a
revolution, but when the revolution which the nineteenth century carried
within itself arose as a result of national and international
complication, the _Parti Ouvrier_ would be the party to assume the rôle
of directing it.[63]
[62] _Le Programme du Parti Ouvrier_, p. 52.
[63] _Le Programme du Parti Ouvrier_, p. 30.
The _Parti Ouvrier_ adopted a centralized form of organization. It
became in time the strongest and best organized socialist party of
France. It was particularly strong in the _Department du Nord_ and among
the textile workers. It was also known as the "Guesdist" party, after
its leader Guesde.
The _Parti Ouvrier_ denounced the members of the _Parti Ouvrier
révolutionnaire socialiste_, or "Broussists," also thus named after
their leader Brousse, as "opportunists and possibilists" because they
believed in the possibility of reforms and had said that it was
necessary "to split up our program until we make it finally
possible."[64] The nickname, _possibilists_, has remained as another
designation of the _Broussists_.
[64] L. Blum, _op. cit._, p. 75.
The _Broussists_ cared little for the theories of Marx. They were
disposed to allow larger differences of doctrine within their ranks and
more local autonomy in their organization. They ascribed much importance
to municipal politics. They conceived the conquest of political power as
a more peaceful process of a gradual infiltration into the municipal,
departmental and national legislative bodies. But like the "Guesdists,"
they were collectivists and took the class struggle as their point of
departure.
From the very outset, the _Broussists_ concentrated their efforts upon
gaining an entrance into Parliament and into the municipalities. They
had a numerous following in Paris among the working population, and
among the lower strata of the middle class.
The split between _Guesdists_ and _Broussists_ was followed by another
in the ranks of the latter. In 1887 the _Broussists_ succeeded in
electing seven of their members to the municipal council of Paris. This
led to internal difficulties. A number of party members were
discontented with the organization which they claimed was entirely
"bossed" by its leaders. They grouped themselves in their turn about J.
Allemane and became known as "Allemanists." The Allemanists accused the
Broussists of being too much absorbed in politics and of neglecting the
propaganda and organization of the party. In 1890 they separated from
the Broussists and constituted a socialist party of their own. The
Allemanists absorbed the more revolutionary elements of the party and
were the leading spirits in some of the largest and strongest syndicats.
Two more socialist groups must be mentioned in order that the reader may
have a complete view of the socialist world in which the syndicats of
France were moving during this period. These two were the Blanquists and
the Independent Socialists.
The Blanquists--known also as the _Comité Révolutionnaire Central_--were
held together by a bond of common tradition, namely, by their loyalty to
the name of Blanqui, spoken of in the preceding chapter. The leaders of
the Blanquists were men who had taken a more or less prominent part in
the Commune and who had returned to France after amnesty was granted in
1880. They considered themselves the heirs of Blanqui and the
continuators of his ideas; but under the political conditions of the
Third Republic they brushed aside the secret practices of former times
and entered into politics as a distinct party with a communist program.
Their aim was also the conquest of political power for the purpose of
realizing a communistic society and they approved of all means that
would bring about the realization of this end.
The group of Independent Socialists grew out of the "Society for Social
Economy" founded in 1885 by Malon, once a member of the "International".
The "Society for Social Economy" was organized for the purpose of
elaborating legislative projects of a general socialist character which
were published in the monthly of the Society, _La Revue Socialiste_.[65]
But the Society soon gained adherents among advanced Republicans and
Radicals and entered into politics. It advocated the gradual
nationalization of public services, laws for the protection of labor,
self-government for the communes, etc. The party became an important
factor in the political life of France. Some of the best known
socialists of France have come from its ranks, as J. Jaurès, Millerand,
Viviani and others.
[65] On the socialist groups of this period see Leon de Seilhac, _Le
Monde Socialiste_ (Paris, 1896).
Amid these socialist factions, the syndicats were a coveted bit torn to
pieces because everybody wanted the larger part of it. At their Congress
of Paris (1883) the "Broussists" adopted a resolution that "the members
of the Party will be bound to enter their syndical chamber or respective
trade group and to promote the creation of syndical chambers and of
trade groups where none exist as yet."[66] The Guesdists in their turn
had adopted a similar resolution at their Congress in Roanne in 1882,
and at their succeeding Congress, in Roubaix (1884), they adopted a
resolution to promote "as soon as possible the formation of national
federations of trades which should rescue the isolated syndicats from
their fatal weakness."[67] When the Allemanists separated from the
Broussists, they, in their turn, made it obligatory for members of their
party to belong to their respective syndicats.
[66] Seilhac, _Les Congrès Ouvriers_, p. 124.
[67] Blum, _op. cit._, p. 93.
These acts, while promoting the organization of the syndicats, impressed
upon the latter a political character. The syndicats were utilized for
electoral purposes, were made to serve the interests of the socialist
group to which they adhered, and were drawn into the whirlpool of
political dissensions and rivalry. The effect was destructive for the
syndicats. The acrimonious and personal polemics of the socialist
leaders bred ill-feeling among their workingmen followers; the invective
and abuse filling the periodical literature of the socialist groups
found an echo in the assemblies of the workingmen; the mutual hatreds
separating politically Allemanists from Guesdists, Guesdists from
anarchists, were carried over into the syndicats which were hindered
thereby in their growth or entirely driven to disintegration. The
adherence of a syndicat to any one socialist group generally repelled
the non-socialists and enraged the adherents of other socialist groups,
and often led to the organization of rival syndicats in the same trade
and locality. The literature of the French labor movement is full of
instances of the disorganizing effect which these political dissensions
exerted upon the syndicats.
Economic conditions, however, were impelling the workingmen to union.
Since the Commune, the industrial development of France had gone on
without interruption, concentrating the economic powers of the employing
classes. In the face of the economic organizations of the employers,
the scattered and isolated syndicats were of little significance, and
the necessity of a larger combination made itself felt. Besides, in
1884, a new law on syndicats was passed. This law authorized the
formation of syndicats under certain conditions of which article 4 was
obnoxious to the workingmen. This article 4 of the new law made it
obligatory for every syndicat to send in the names and addresses of its
administrators to the municipal authorities. In Paris they had to be
sent to the Prefect of the Police. The workingmen thought that this
condition would subject them to the mercy of the police and of the
employers, and they wanted to manifest their attitude to the new law.
Under these conditions a general congress of syndicats was called in
Lyons in October, 1886. Organized workingmen of various political
opinions met here and at once the sentiments and needs which brought
them together found expression in the report of the Committee on
Organization from which the following lines may be quoted:
We are organized workingmen who have made a study of social
problems and who have recognized that the diversity of doctrines
contributes powerfully to divide us instead of uniting us.
Slaves of the same master, bearing the same claims, suffering from
the same evils, having the same aspirations, the same needs and the
same rights, we have decided to set aside our political and other
preferences, to march hand in hand, and to combine our forces
against the common enemy. The problems of labor have always the
power of uniting the workingmen.[68]
[68] _Séances du Congrès Ouvrier_, session de 1886, pp. 18-19.
The first question on the program of the Congress was the "prospect of a
Federation of all workingmen's syndicats." The discussion brought out
the fact that the delegates had different ideas on the future rôle of
the Federation. Still the majority united on the following resolution:
Considering that in face of the powerful bourgeois organization
made without and against the working-class, it not only behooves,
but it is the duty of the latter to create, by all means possible,
groupings and organizations of workingmen against those of the
bourgeois, for defense first, and we hope for offensive action soon
afterwards;
Considering that every organization of workingmen which is not
imbued with the distinction of classes, by the very fact of the
economic and political conditions of existing society, and which
exist only for the sake of giving assent to the will of the
government and of the bourgeoisie, or of presenting petty
observations of a respectful and therefore of a humiliating nature
for the dignity of the working-class, cannot be considered as part
of the workingmen's armies marching to the conquest of their
rights; for these reasons,
A National Federation is founded....[69]
[69] _Congrès National des Syndicats Ouvriers, Compte Rendu_, pp. 344-5.
The aim of the Federation was to help individual syndicats in their
struggles with employers.
"The National Federation of Syndicats," however, did not achieve its
end. It soon fell into the hands of the Guesdists who utilized the
organization for political and electoral purposes. The Congresses of the
"National Federation of Syndicats" were held in the same place and about
the same time as were those of the _Parti Ouvrier_, were composed of the
same men and passed the same resolutions. Besides, the "National
Federation of Syndicats" never succeeded in establishing connections
between the local syndicats and the central organization (the _Conseil
fédéral national_) and could, therefore, exert little economic
influence.
While the "National Federation of Syndicats" became a war-engine at the
service of the Guesdists,[70] another central organization was created
by the rivals of the Guesdists. This was the "Federation of Labor
Exchanges of France" (_Fédération des Bourses du Travail de France_).
The idea of the _Bourse du Travail_ may be traced back to the middle of
the nineteenth century and even further back to the Great
Revolution.[71] At first the idea was to erect a building where the
workingmen in need of work and the employers in need of workingmen could
meet. It was proposed that the prevailing rate of wages in each industry
be published there day by day and that the quotations of the _Bourse du
Travail_ then be inserted in the newspapers.... It was expected that the
workingmen of an entire country, even of an entire continent would be
enabled in this manner to know, day by day, the places where work might
be obtained under the most favorable conditions, and where they might
choose to go to demand it.[72] But after the law of 1884 which legalized
the syndicats, the _Bourse du Travail_ was conceived in a larger spirit,
as a center where all the syndicats of a locality could have their
headquarters, arrange meetings, give out information, serve as bureaus
of employment, organize educational courses, have their libraries and
bring the workingmen of all trades into contact with one another. The
municipalities were to promote their creation and to subsidize them.[73]
[70] Pelloutier, _op. cit._, p. 60.
[71] Charles Franck, _Les Bourses du Travail et la Confédération
Générale du Travail_ (Paris, 1910), p. 17.
[72] G. de Molinari, _Les Bourses du Travail_ (Paris, 1893), p. 257.
[73] Molinari, _op. cit._, p. 280.
The first _Bourse du Travail_ was opened in Paris in 1887. The example
of Paris was followed by other municipalities of France, and in a short
time many of the larger cities of France had their _Bourses du Travail_.
The Allemanists obtained the predominating influence in the _Bourses du
Travail_, and they conceived the idea of opposing to the "National
Federation of Syndicats"--which was an instrument in the hands of the
Guesdists--a "Federation of _Bourses du Travail_," in which they would
have the leading part.[74] The "Federation of _Bourses du Travail_" was
organized in 1892 with the following program: (1) To unify the demands
of the workingmen's syndicats and to bring about the realization of
these demands; (2) To extend and to propagate the action of the _Bourses
du Travail_, in the industrial and agricultural centers; (3) To nominate
delegates to the National Secretariat of Labor; (4) To collect
statistical data and to communicate them to the adhering Bourses, and at
the same time to generalize the gratuitous service of finding employment
for workers of both sexes and of all trades.[75]
[74] Pelloutier, _op. cit._, p. 64.
[75] Seilhac, _Les Congrès Ouvriers_, p. 230.
The "National Secretariat of Labor" mentioned was created after the
International Socialist Congress of Brussels in 1891. The Congress of
Brussels had proposed to create in all countries National Secretariats
in order to unify the labor and socialist movement of the world. In
France, the National Secretariat of Labor soon experienced the fate of
other organizations. In view of political differences, it was abandoned
by the Guesdists, Independents, and Broussists. It therefore could not
achieve the aim it had in view and lost all significance.
Into this situation there now entered another factor, which was to
determine the course of further groupings. This factor was the idea of
the general strike. The idea was not new in the history of the labor
movement and not original with France. It had been widely discussed in
England during the 30's[76] and afterwards at the Congresses of the
"International".[77] It reappeared in France in the second half of the
80's and seems to have been suggested by the wide strike movement in
America during 1886-7. Its first propagandist in France seems to have
been a French anarchist workingman, Tortelier, a member of the syndicat
of carpenters.[78]
[76] B. & S. Webb, _History of Trade Unionism_, pp. 118-122.
[77] Dr. E. Georgi, _Theorie und Praxis des Generalstreiks in der
modernen Arbeiterbewegung_ (Jena, 1908).
[78] H. Lagardelle, _La Grève Générale et le Socialisme_ (Paris, 1905),
p. 42.
The idea of the general strike was hailed enthusiastically by the French
syndicats. On the one hand it seemed to give the workingmen a new weapon
in their economic struggles. It was seen above how reluctant French
workingmen had been to use the strike during the 60's and 70's. Though
forced by economic conditions to use it, the French workingmen still
considered it a necessary evil which never fully rewarded the sacrifices
it involved. The general strike seemed to repair the defects of the
partial strike. It seemed to insure success by increasing the number of
strikers and by extending the field of disturbance. On the other hand,
the general strike suggested itself as a method of bringing about the
Social Revolution. This question was a vital one with the socialist
syndicats. It was much debated and discussed and divided deeply the
adherents of the various socialist and anarchist groups. "The conquest
of political power," the method advocated by Guesdists and others,
seemed vague and indefinitely remote; a general revolt, such as
advocated by the anarchists, seemed impossible in view of the new
armaments and of the new construction of cities which made barricades
and street fighting a thing of the past. These two methods eliminated,
the general strike seemed to present the only and proper weapon in the
hands of the workingmen for the realization of their final emancipation.
In this sense, the principle of the general strike was voted for the
first time in 1888 at the Congress of the "National Federation of
Syndicats" in Bordeaux. The idea spread rapidly. The Allemanists
declared in favor of it at their Congresses in 1891 and 1892.[79]
Fernand Pelloutier, of whom more will be said in the next chapter,
defended it successfully before a socialist congress in Tours in 1892.
The same year, Aristide Briand appeared as the eloquent champion of the
general strike before the Congress of the "National Federation of
Syndicats" in Marseilles.[80] The Blanquists admitted the general strike
as one of the possible revolutionary means. Only the Guesdists were
against the general strike and at their Congress in Lille (1890)
declared it impossible.
[79] L. Blum, _op. cit._, pp. 129, 137.
[80] _Le Congrès National des Syndicats, Compte Rendu_, pp. 45 _et seq._
The conception of the general strike that prevailed during this period
was that of a peaceful cessation of work. The strike, it was agreed, is
a right guaranteed by law. Even if a strike were to spread to many
industries and assume a general character, the workingmen would still be
exercising their rights and could not be lawfully prosecuted. The
general strike, therefore, would enable the workingmen to carry out a
Revolution by legal means and would make the revolution an easy matter.
The general strike must mean revolution because a complete cessation of
work would paralyze the life of the country and would reduce the ruling
classes to famine. Lasting a few days only, it would compel the
government to capitulate before the workingmen, and would carry the
workingmen's party into power. Thus, a "peaceful strike of folded arms"
(_grève des bras croisés_) would usher in the Social Revolution which
would bring about the transformation of society. The feeling prevailed
that the general strike could begin any moment and that it assured the
speedy realization of the socialist ideal. At first it was thought that
the general strike could be organized or decreed, but this idea was soon
given up, and the general strike came to be thought of as a spontaneous
movement which might be hastened only by propaganda and organization.
The conception of the general strike involved one more important point.
It implied the superior value of the economic method of organization and
struggle over the political. The general strike is a phenomenon of
economic life and must be based on an economic organization of the
working-class.
On this conception of the general strike the Guesdists threw themselves
with all the subtlety of their dialectics. They asserted that the
idyllic picture of the social revolution was too puerile to be taken
seriously; that before the capitalists felt the pangs of hunger, the
workingmen would already have starved.[81] They insisted that no such
peaceful general strike was possible: that either the workingmen would
lose their composure, or the government would provoke a collision. On
the other hand, they affirmed that a successful general strike
presupposes a degree of organization and solidarity among workingmen
which, if realized, would make the general strike itself unnecessary.
But, above all, they argued that the general strike could not be
successful, because in the economic field the workingmen are weaker than
the capitalists and cannot hope to win; that only in the political field
are the workingmen equal, and even superior to the employers, because
they are the greater number. The conclusion, therefore, was that "the
general strike is general nonsense" and that the only hope of the
workingmen lay in the conquest of political power. The syndicat could
only have a secondary and limited importance in the struggle for
emancipation.[82]
[81] To meet this criticism the Allemanists argued that the militant
workingmen could have "reserves" accumulated little by little which
would allow them to await for some time the results of the general
strike.
[82] G. Deville, _Principes Socialistes_ (Paris, 1896), pp. 191-201.
The attitude of the Guesdists towards the general strike brought them
into conflict with the "National Federation of Syndicats" which voted in
favor of the general strike at Marseilles in 1892. The conflict at first
was latent, but soon led to a split in the "National Federation of
Syndicats" and to a readjustment of the various elements of the
syndicats. This took place in the following way.
In 1893 the _Bourse du Travail_ of Paris was authorized by the Second
Congress of the "Federation of Bourses" to call a general trade-union
Congress in which all syndicats should take part. The Congress was to
convene the 18th of July, 1893. About ten days before this, the
government closed the _Bourse du Travail_ of Paris. The reason given was
that the syndicats adhering to the Bourse had not conformed to the law
of 1884. This act of the government provoked an agitation among the
workingmen, the Congress took on a character of protest, and a large
number of syndicats wished to be represented.
The Congress of Paris adopted the principle of the general strike by
vote, but in view of governmental persecution, the necessity of unifying
the forces of the workingmen was thought to be the most important
question. It was discussed at length, and the Congress adopted a
resolution, that all existing syndicats, within the shortest possible
time, should join the Federation of their trade or constitute such a
federation if none as yet existed; that they should form themselves into
local federations or _Bourses du Travail_ and that these Federations and
_Bourses du Travail_ should form a "National Federation," and the
Congress invited the "Federation of Bourses du Travail" and the
"National Federation of Syndicats" to merge into one organization.
The Congress of Paris also called a general Congress of syndicats for
the following year in Nantes and commissioned the _Bourse du Travail_ of
Nantes to arrange the Congress. The "Bourse" of Nantes had already
received a mandate from the "National Federation of Syndicats" to
arrange its Congress. It therefore decided to arrange both Congresses at
the same time and to make one Congress out of two. The National Council
of the "Federation of Syndicats", where the Guesdists presided,
protested, but with no result. A general Congress of syndicats was held
in Nantes in 1894.
By this time the number of syndicats in France had considerably
increased. According to the _Annuaire Statistique_, the growth of the
syndicats since 1884 was as follows:
_Year_ _Number of syndicats_ _Membership_
1884 68
1885 221
1886 280
1887 501
1888 725
1889 821
1890 1,006 139,692
1891 1,250 205,152
1892 1,589 288,770
1893 1,926 402,125
1894 2,178 403,440
Of these, 1,662 syndicats were represented at the Congress of Nantes.
This fact shows how keen was the interest felt in the idea of the
general strike which, it was known, was to be the main question at the
Congress.
The Congress of Nantes adopted a motion in favor of the general strike,
appointed a "Committee for the propaganda of the general strike" and
authorized this committee to collect 10 per cent of all subscriptions
for strikes. The Guesdist delegates after this vote left the Congress
and held a separate Congress by themselves.
The majority of the delegates remained and voted the creation of a
"National Council" which should form the central organization of all the
syndicats of France.
The "National Council" functioned unsatisfactorily. At the next general
Congress in Limoges (1895) the "National Council" was abolished and the
foundations of a new organization were laid. This new organization was
the "General Confederation of Labor".
The workingman had come to recognize that political divisions were
disastrous to the growth of the syndicats. The elimination of politics
from the syndicats was, therefore, adopted at Limoges as a condition of
admission to the "General Confederation". The first article of the
Statutes read:
Among the various syndicats and associations of syndicats of
workingmen and of employees of both sexes existing in France and in
its Colonies, there is hereby created a uniform and collective
organization with the name General Confederation of Labor.
The elements constituting the General Confederation of Labor will
remain independent of all political schools (_en dehors de toute
école politique_).
The aim of the Confederation was evidently formulated to satisfy all
conceptions. Its vague wording was as follows: "The General
Confederation of Labor has the exclusive purpose of uniting the
workingmen, in the economic domain and by bonds of close solidarity, in
the struggle for their integral emancipation."[83]
[83] Seilhac, _Les Congrès Ouvriers_, p. 286.
The "General Confederation of Labor" incorporated the general strike as
part of its program.
The creation of the "General Confederation of Labor" may be considered
the first important manifestation of the revolutionary tendency in the
syndical movement of France. As Mr. Leon de Seilhac justly remarks, "the
Congress of Limoges was a victory of the syndicalist revolutionary party
over the syndicalist party of politics (_Parti syndical politicien_)."
The victory was on the side of those who hailed the general strike, who
asserted the superiority of economic action over political and who
wanted to keep the syndicats independent of the political parties. These
ideas contained the germ of revolutionary syndicalism and the
Allemanists who emphasized them before others may thus be said to have
pointed out the lines along which revolutionary syndicalism was to
develop.
The "General Confederation of Labor", however, was not founded by
Allemanists alone. Its organization was advocated by Blanquists and
non-socialist workingmen. The Blanquists had always insisted upon the
necessity of an independent economic organization and had refused to
admit syndicats into their political organizations as constituent
elements. The non-socialist workingmen, on the other hand, contributed
to the foundation of the "General Confederation" because they felt the
economic importance of a central syndical organization.
The "General Confederation of Labor" took the place of the "National
Federation of Syndicats". The Guesdists that had split off at the
Congress of Nantes continued for some time to bear the title of
"National Federation of Syndicats", but their organization was of no
importance and was soon lost in the general organization of the _Parti
Ouvrier_.
The "National Secretariat of Labor" died a quiet death (in 1896), after
having expended the little energy it had. There were, therefore, now two
central organizations: (1) The General Confederation of Labor, and (2)
The Federation of Bourses du Travail. In these the further history of
syndicalism centers.