Syndicalism in FranceLorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
History
Syndicalism in France
Lorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
Labor unions -- France -- History; Syndicalism -- France
The report of the Bourse of Nimes starts out from the idea that no new
plan of a future society need be fabricated; that the _Bourses du
Travail_ show themselves already capable of directing the economic
activities of society and that with further growth they will become more
and more capable of so doing. The natural development of the Bourses, it
held, leads them to investigate the number of unemployed in each trade;
the causes of industrial perturbation, the cost of maintenance of each
individual in comparison with wages received; the number of trades and
of workingmen employed in them; the amount of the produce; the totality
of products necessary for the population of their region, etc., etc.
Now, it further set forth, with all this information at hand, and with
all this economic experience, each Bourse could, in case of a social
transformation, assume the direction of the industrial life of its
region. Each trade organized in a syndicat would elect a council of
labor; the syndicats of the same trade would be federated nationally and
internationally. The Bourses, knowing the quantity of products which
must be produced, would impart this information to the councils of labor
of each trade, which employ all members of the trade in the manufacture
of necessary products. By their statistics, the Bourses would know where
there is excess or want of production in their regions, and would
determine the exchange of products between the territories which by
nature are adapted for some special production only. The report
presupposed that property would become "social and inalienable"; and the
assumption was that the workingmen would be stimulated to develop the
industrial powers of their regions and to increase the material welfare
of the country. The report concluded:
This summary outline gives those who live in the syndical movement
an idea of the rôle which falls and will fall to the _Bourses du
Travail_. It would not do to hurry decisions; the methodical
pursuit of the development of our institutions is sufficient to
realize our aim, and to avoid many disappointments and
retrogressions. It is for us, who have inherited the thought and
the science of all those who have come before us, to bring it about
that so many riches and so much welfare due to their genius should
not serve to engender misery and injustice, but should establish
harmony of interests on equality of rights and on the solidarity of
all human beings.[100]
[100] F. Pelloutier, _op. cit._, p. 163.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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