Syndicalism in FranceLorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
History
Syndicalism in France
Lorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
Labor unions -- France -- History; Syndicalism -- France
All these ideas were briefly summarized in the conclusions of the
Committee appointed by the Congress to report on the question. This
Commission recommended leaving the "Committee for the propaganda of the
general strike" as free as possible in its action. The Congress merely
determined the syndicats which were to elect the members of the
Committee. The latter was now to obtain regular monthly dues for the
continuation of its work.
The revolutionary spirit which manifested itself in the conception of
the general strike expressed itself also in the resolution of the
Congress on the army. This resolution demanded the suppression of
permanent armies, and invited the syndicats to establish relations with
the workingmen in military service, to invite them to social gatherings
and to assist them financially (to establish the so-called _Sou du
Soldat_).
The same spirit characterized the report of the Committee which
formulated the ideas of the Congress on the "practical means of
realizing the international harmony of the workingmen." "Capital," read
the report, "in its various forms is international," and it is necessary
that labor should also be organized internationally. The slight
differences in conditions of life varying from country to country are
not important. "The predominating fact everywhere, in all countries, is
the division of society into two categories; the producer and the
non-producer, the wage-earner and the employer." The report went on to
say that the idea of "fatherland" (_patrie_) is a means of protecting
the strong against the weak, "an emblem of speculation, of
exploitation," "a synonym of property," "a fiction for the workingmen
who possess nothing."[119] The practical conclusion of the Committee
was to bring together the wage-earners of all countries in an
international organization which should be represented by an
international secretariat.
[119] _XI Congrès National Corporatif_ (Paris, 1900), p. 205.
During 1900-1 the Confederation displayed a little more activity than
before. The National Council employed a permanent employee to attend to
the business of the Confederation, at first for two, then for four hours
a day at a remuneration of 50 and then 100 francs a month. In December,
1900, the Confederation began also to publish its own weekly, _La Voix
du Peuple_. Since 1896 the question of a trade-journal had been on the
order of the day. It was discussed at every Congress and various plans
were recommended in order to obtain the financial means for a daily. The
Congress of Paris, in view of the financial impossibility of starting a
daily and recognizing that "it was more than ever necessary to create a
revolutionary syndicalist organ," decided to publish a weekly. One of
the Committees of the National Council was to attend to it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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