Syndicalism in France Part 14

Even the statement of M. Berth must be somewhat modified. The theorists of the _Mouvement Socialiste_ have never by any means been the authorized "spokesmen" of the revolutionary syndicalists of the General Confederation. They were no more than a group of writers who, watching the syndicalist movement from the outside, were stimulated by it to their reflections and ideas. They thought they found in the syndicalist movement "a truly original force capable of refreshing the socialist conception", and they formulated their ideas on the subject. They never took any part in the movement, and could not feel themselves its representatives.

What then was their influence? In general, the same as that of other socialist writers. They were and are read by the French workingmen just as Kropotkin, Jaures, Proudhon and other contemporary or former socialist and anarchist writers, and as many non-socialist writers are.

Naturally, some workingmen came more under their influence, than under that of others; and such workingmen may be disposed to look upon them as their theoretical guides and leaders.

But even the latter interpretation is by no means applicable to all the theories of M. Sorel, for the main ideas of Sorel seem fundamentally incapable of inspiring a movement of large ma.s.ses. The theory of the "social myth" may be original and attractive, but if accepted by the workingmen could not inspire them to action. If "images of battles" are important for the "rising cla.s.ses" as an impelling force, they can be so only so long as they are navely and fully believed in. The worm of reflection must not touch them. The "men longing for deliverance" must believe that the future will be just as they picture it, otherwise their enthusiasm for these pictures would find no nourishment. Should they come to realize the "utopian" and "mythical" character of their constructions they would abandon them.

The pessimistic basis of M. Sorel's _Weltanschauung_ may appeal to literary men, to students of philosophy and to individuals longing for a moral theory. It can not be a.s.similated by a ma.s.s "moving toward emanc.i.p.ation." When one reads the original doc.u.ments of the syndicalist movement, he is struck, on the contrary, by the powerful torrent of optimism by which the movement is carried along. Only a strong belief in a "speedy emanc.i.p.ation" created the enthusiasm for the idea of the general strike. There may be a subconscious pessimism back of this optimism, but its appearance in the field of clear consciousness would have been destructive for the movement.

It is, therefore, quite natural that the writers representing the General Confederation of Labor who address the workingmen directly do not reproduce these theories of M. Sorel. As has been indicated already, their writings bear a different stamp. And if among these writers some, as for instance M. Griffuelhes, seem to have come more under the influence of the group _Le Mouvement Socialiste_, the rest occupy an independent position even from the theoretical point of view.

How little M. Sorel could have been the "leader" of the revolutionary syndicalist movement may be ill.u.s.trated by the following comparison. At the Congress of Lyons in 1901 the secretary of the General Confederation of Labor, M. Guerard, wrote, as we have seen, that the Confederation is destined to transform society. In the same year, M. Sorel, in his preface to Pelloutier's _Histoire des Bourses du Travail_, wrote: "The Confederation of Labor appears to me to be destined to become an officious Council of Labor, and an academy of proletarian ideas, which will present its wishes to the government, as the large agricultural societies do." The history of the General Confederation of Labor since 1902, to be considered in the following chapter, will show that M. Sorel missed the point too far to be able to claim the t.i.tle of "leader" whose function, presumably, is to point out the way and not to acknowledge it, after it has once been taken.

It is necessary to bear all this in mind in order to grasp the real character of revolutionary syndicalism. M. Sorel has recently renounced his revolutionary syndicalist ideas. In December, 1910, he wrote to the Italian revolutionary syndicalists who invited him to their Congress at Boulogne:

It seems to the author [of the _Reflections on Violence_] that syndicalism has not realized what was expected from it. Many hope that the future will correct the evils of the present hour; but the author feels himself too old to live in distant hopes; and he has decided to employ the remaining years of his life in the deepening (_approfondir_) of other questions which keenly interest the cultivated youth of France.[178]

[178] _Le Mouvement Socialiste_ (March, 1911), pp. 184-5.

Previous to that, M. Sorel and M. Berth had both promised collaboration in a so-called neo-monarchist monthly, _La Cite Francaise_, which, however, did not see the light. This probably seemed to them natural in view of their opposition to democracy. But under the political conditions of France such an act could not but shock the workingmen who may criticise democracy but who are bitterly opposed to everything connected with the _ancien regime_. This act of M. Sorel and M. Berth weakened the group of _Le Mouvement Socialiste_ which, however, is still published by M. Lagardelle, though with less force and _eclat_ than before. The act of M. Sorel, however, could have no perceptible significance for the revolutionary syndicalist movement. The latter is led by other leaders and is determined in its march by other influences.

The revolutionary syndicalist ideas embodied in the movement represented by the General Confederation of Labor were evolved, as has been shown, in the syndicalist organizations of France. The Anarchists entering the syndicats largely contributed to the revolutionary turn which the syndicats took. Their influence, hailed by some, deplored by others, is recognized by all. The Anarchists themselves often speak as if they "created" the entire movement, though this is an exaggeration. The role of the Allemanists has been considerable, as was shown in the preceding chapters. And the more definite formulation of revolutionary syndicalist ideas in the period of "Millerandism" was the work of revolutionary socialist workingmen of all brands--Allemanists, Anarchists, Blanquists and others.

This clears up the question of the relation of revolutionary syndicalism to other social theories. The theorists of the _Mouvement Socialiste_ have proclaimed revolutionary syndicalism as a new social theory. They have been very persistent in trying to delimit their theoretical dominion from parliamentary socialism on the one hand, and from Anarchism on the other. From the latter particularly they wished to be separated, feeling as they did how dangerously close they came to it.

Many workingmen have accepted this view, proud to proclaim that they have evolved a theory of their own--the theory of the working-cla.s.s.

Others, however, have taken the correct point of view. They see that the main ideas of revolutionary syndicalism cannot be said to be new. They may all be found in the old "International a.s.sociation of Workingmen,"

and especially in the writings of the Bakounist or federalist wing of that a.s.sociation. If not the terms, the ideas on direct action, on the general strike, on the social role of the syndicat, and on the future "economic federalism" may all be found there more or less clearly stated.[179]

[179] J. Guillaume, _L'Internationale_, vols. i-iii; also Report of 7th Congress of "International" in Brussels in 1874.

Revolutionary syndicalism appears then, from this point of view not as a new theory, but as a return to the old theories of the "International"

in which the combined influence of Proudhon, Marx and Bakounin manifested itself. The formulation of revolutionary syndicalism, however, is not to any great degree a conscious return to old ideas, though this conscious factor had its part; Pelloutier, for instance, was expressly guided by the conceptions of Proudhon and Bakounin.

References to the "International" are also frequent in the discussions of the Congresses of the General Confederation. The more important factors, however, were the conditions of the French syndical movement itself. The workingmen of different socialist groups meeting on the common ground of the syndicat had to attenuate their differences and to emphasize their common points. Thus, by a process of elimination and of mutual influence a common stock of ideas was elaborated which, absorbing the quintessence of all socialist theories, became what is known as revolutionary syndicalism. Its similarity to the ideas of the "International" is partly due to the fact that in the "International"

similar conditions existed.

Mainly worked out in the practice of the syndicalist movement, the ideas of revolutionary syndicalism are also mainly determined in their further evolution by this practice. The ideas, therefore, must be judged in connection with the conditions in which they developed. These conditions will be further described in the following chapters.

CHAPTER VII

THE GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF LABOR SINCE 1902

Before taking up the history of the Confederation after 1902, a general outline of the const.i.tution adopted at Montpellier must be given. Pa.s.sim will be indicated the changes that have been made since.

The General Confederation of Labor consists of National Federations of industries and trades,[180] of National Syndicats, of isolated single syndicats (in that case only if there is no national or regional federation of the trade, or if the federation does not adhere to the Confederation), and of _Bourses du Travail_, considered as local, departmental or regional central unions.[181]

[180] In 1906 the statutes were so modified as to admit no new trade federations. This was a decided step in the direction of the industrial form of organization.

[181] At the last congress of the Confederation which was held in Havre in September, 1912, a resolution was pa.s.sed that the Bourses du Travail in each Department of France should form Departmental Unions (Unions Departmentales), and that on January 1, 1914, these Departmental Unions should take the place of the Bourses du Travail in the organization of the Confederation. The resolution has not yet been fully carried into effect, and the process of reorganization is still going on. When it is completed, the General Confederation of Labor will emerge with a more compact and centralized form of organization embracing Federations of industry, on the one hand, and Departmental Unions, on the other. The single Bourses will not disappear, and their functions will not be curtailed; but they will henceforth form the const.i.tuent elements of the more comprehensive Departmental Unions and will have no individual representation in the Confederal Committee. The reorganization was made necessary by the rapid growth of Bourses du Travail, the number of which far outstripped the number of Federations of industry and which thus controlled the policies of the Confederal Committee. The number of the Departmental Unions can not exceed eighty-seven (87), as there are but eighty-seven political subdivisions in France called Departments.

Every syndicat adhering to the Confederation must fulfil the condition of so-called "double adherence;" that is, it must belong to its national federation of industry or trade, and to the _Bourse du Travail_ of its locality. Besides, every federation must have at least one subscription to the _Voix du Peuple_, which is the official organ of the Confederation. These conditions, however, were, and still are disregarded by a considerable number of syndicats.[182]

[182] E. Pouget, _Le Confederation Generale du Travail_ (Paris, 1908), p. 16.

The General Confederation is represented by the Confederal Committee which is formed by delegates of the adhering organizations. Each organization is represented by one delegate in the Confederal Committee.

This point should be noticed as it is the cause of struggle within the Confederation. It means that a large Federation has only one delegate and one vote in the Confederal Committee, just as another smaller Federation. The number of delegates in the Confederal Committee, however, is not always equal to the number of adhering organizations, because one delegate may represent as many as three organizations. The delegates must be workingmen who have been members of their syndicat for at least a year.

The General Confederation has five central organs; two sections and three commissions. The first section is called: "The Section of Federations of trades and of industries and of isolated syndicats;" the second is "The Section of the Federation of _Bourses du Travail_."[183]

The three commissions are (1) the Commission of the journal; (2) the Commission of strikes and of the general strike, and (3) the Commission of Control.

[183] From Jan. 1, 1914, called the "Section of the Federation of Departmental Unions."

The two sections are autonomous in their internal affairs. The first section is formed by the delegates of the National Federations of trades and industries. They take the name of _Comite des Federations d'industries et de metiers_. This section appoints it own secretary, a.s.sistant secretary, treasurer, a.s.sistant treasurer, and archivist, who form the executive committee of the section. This section collects monthly from every adhering organization 40 centimes[184] for every hundred members, or for any fraction of a hundred; isolated syndicats pay five centimes monthly for each member.

[184] Increased in 1909 to 60 centimes. For further increase see page 195.

The Sections of Federations of industries and trades is convened by its secretary and meets whenever necessary. Its functions are to promote the organization of new federations and to maintain relations between the adhering federations. It takes "all measures necessary for the maintenance of syndical action in the field of economic struggle." It also tries to induce isolated syndicats to join their _Bourses du Travail_.

The "Section of the Federation of _Bourses du Travail_" is formed by the delegates of the local, departmental and regional central unions. The delegates take the t.i.tle of _Comite des Bourses du Travail_.[185] The section appoints its own secretary, a.s.sistant secretary, treasurer, a.s.sistant treasurer, and archivist, and these five members form the executive committee of the second section. It collects from the _Bourses du Travail_ 35 centimes monthly for each adhering syndicat.[186]

[185] When the reorganization is completed, this section will consist of one delegate from each Departmental Union, who will form the _Comite des Unions Departmentales_. See note 181 on page 162.

[186] Changed in 1909 to five centimes for each member per year.

The second section promotes the creation of new _Bourses du Travail_ and coordinates the activities of the adhering Bourses. Its functions embrace "everything that bears upon syndical administration and upon the moral education of the workingmen;" its task is to collect statistics of production, of consumption, of unemployment; to organize gratuitous employment bureaus, to watch the progress of labor legislation, etc. It also tries to induce single syndicats to join their national federations. This section also meets whenever necessary at the invitation of its secretary.

The Commission of the Journal is composed of twelve members, six from each section. It appoints its own secretary. The journal must be edited only by workingmen-members of the Confederation.

The Commission of strikes and of the general strike consists also of twelve members, six from each section, and appoints its own secretary.

The functions of this commission are: to study the strike movement in all countries, to send speakers and organizers to, and to collect subscriptions in favor of workingmen on strike, to make propaganda for the general strike, and to promote "the penetration of this idea into the minds of organized workingmen." For this purpose the commission creates wherever possible sub-committees of the general strike. This commission has its own resources which consist of 50 per cent of all money collected by the sub-committees, and of 50 per cent of the a.s.sessments collected by both sections of the Confederation.

The Commission of Control is also formed of twelve members, six from each section; it verifies the financial reports of both sections and of the other two commissions. It appoints its own secretary.

The Confederal Committee is formed by the delegates of both sections. It meets every three months, except in extraordinary cases. It executes the decisions of the Congresses, intervenes in all issues concerning the working-cla.s.s and decides upon all questions of a general character.

The Confederal Bureau[187] consists of thirteen members, of the ten members of the bureaus of both sections and of the three secretaries of the three commissions. The Confederal Bureau summons the Confederal Committee and executes the decisions of the latter. The secretary of the "Section of Federations" is the general secretary of the Confederation.

The Confederal Bureau is renewed after every Congress, that is every two years, but functionaries whose terms have expired may be re-elected.

[187] Executive Committee.

Article 37 of the statutes adopted read: "The General Confederation of Labor, based on the principles of federalism and of liberty, a.s.sures and respects the complete autonomy of the organizations which conform to the present statutes." The _Bourses du Travail_ and the Federations of industries and of trades were, therefore, to pursue independently the activities that concerned them alone. The _Bourses du Travail_ continued in the main the activities described in the third chapter. Their growth was steady both in number of organizations and in membership, as may be seen from the following table:

-----+-------------------+--------------------- Number of Bourses Number of Syndicats belonging to the in Bourses of Confederation Confederation.

of Labor. -----+-------------------+--------------------- 1902 83 1,112 1904 110 1,349 1906 135 1,609 1908 157 2,028 1910 154 1,826 1912 153 -----+-------------------+---------------------

After 1906 Bourses of the same region or Department began to form regional and Departmental Unions in order to coordinate their activities and to influence larger groups of the working population. This has led to the process described above, which is transforming the basis of representation in the General Confederation of Labor.