Syndicalism in France Part 6

Outside of Paris, the initiative of creating a _Bourse du Travail_ was generally taken by the workingmen themselves. The local syndicats would elect a committee to work out statutes and a table of probable expenses and income. The project of the committee would then be submitted to the general a.s.sembly of the syndicats. The a.s.sembly would also elect an administrative council, a secretary, treasurer and other officers. The statutes, the list of adhering syndicats, and the names of the administrative officers would then be presented to the munic.i.p.al authorities, and the _Bourse du Travail_, which in fact was a local federation of unions, would be formally const.i.tuted.

In many places, local federations existed before 1887. These simply had to a.s.sume the new t.i.tle to transform themselves into _Bourses du Travail_. The munic.i.p.alities would then intervene and grant a subvention. Up to 1902 inclusive, the munic.i.p.alities of France spent 3,166,159 francs in installing _Bourses du Travail_, besides giving the annual subventions. In 1902, the subvention received by all the _Bourses du Travail_ of France from the munic.i.p.alities amounted to 197,345 francs, and 48,550 francs besides were contributed to their budget by the Departments.[84] The readiness of the munic.i.p.al councils to subsidize the _Bourses du Travail_ was due mostly, if not always, to political considerations.

[84] _Annuaire Statistique_.

Though soliciting subventions from the munic.i.p.alities, the syndicats insisted on being absolutely independent in the administration of the Bourses. The first Congress of the _Bourses du Travail_ in 1892 declared that:

Whereas the _Bourses du Travail_ must be absolutely independent in order to render the services which are expected from them;

Whereas this inst.i.tution const.i.tutes the only reform which the workingmen have wrested from the ruling cla.s.s;

The Congress of _Bourses du Travail_ of 1892 declares that the workingmen must reject absolutely the meddling of the administrative and governmental authorities in the functioning of the Bourses,--an interference which was manifested in the declaration of public utility;

Invites the workingmen to make the most energetic efforts in order to guarantee the entire independence of the _Bourses du Travail_, and to refuse the munic.i.p.alities if they or the government desire to interfere with their functioning.[85]

[85] Seilhac, _Congres Ouvriers_, p. 231.

The munic.i.p.alities, on the contrary, wanted to have some control over the funds they furnished. The result was more or less friction. In 1894, the Congress of the _Bourses du Travail_ decided to demand that the Bourses be declared inst.i.tutions of public utility; this, it was thought, would put them under the protection of the law and make impossible any hostile act on the part of the administration. But the next year the fourth Congress of the _Bourses du Travail_ reversed the decision of the preceding Congress and declared for complete independence.

As the _Bourses du Travail_ became more aggressive, the difficulties with regard to the munic.i.p.alities increased. At the fifth congress of the _Bourses du Travail_ (1896) in Tours, a report was presented showing the Bourses how they could exist without the subvention of the munic.i.p.alities. The question of financial independence was brought up at later Congresses, but received no solution. The Bourses could not live on their own resources, while they continued the activities which brought them now and then into conflict with the munic.i.p.al authorities.

The program which the _Bourses du Travail_ gradually outlined for themselves has been cla.s.sified under four heads: (1) Benevolent Services, or as the French term it _Mutualite_; (2) _Instruction_; (3) _Propaganda_; and (4) _Resistance_.[86]

[86] On the _Bourses du Travail_ see, F. Pelloutier, _Histoire des Bourses du Travail_, 1902; Ch. Franck, _Les Bourses du Travail et la Confederation Generale du Travail_, 1910; P. Delesalle, _Les Bourses du Travail et la C. G. T._ (Paris, 1910).

The services of _Mutualite_ included finding employment for workingmen out of work (_Placement_), a.s.sistance to workmen who go from city to city in search of employment (_Viatic.u.m_), aid to other unemployed persons, sick benefit, etc. The Bourses paid particular attention to the service of _placement_. Pelloutier, the Secretary of the Federation of Bourses, wrote:

The Placement is in fact the first and greatest advantage which the federative grouping can offer to the workingmen, and it const.i.tutes a powerful instrument of recruiting. In consequence of the instability of employment, the use of private employment bureaus for whose services payment has to be made, soon becomes so onerous that many workingmen exasperated by the necessity of deducting from their future wages (which are more and more reduced) considerable t.i.thes for the services of employment bureaus, prefer often--though losing thereby--to spend their time in search of a place which will secure a livelihood. Besides, it is known--and the proceedings of Parliament have furnished decisive proof--that the habitual practice of the employment bureaus is to procure the most precarious employments so as to multiply the number of visits which the workingmen will have to pay them. It is therefore easy to understand the readiness with which the unfortunates go to the _Bourse du Travail_, which offers desired employment gratuitously.

In this manner men who would hold aloof from the syndicats out of ignorance or indifference, enter them under the pressure of need and find there instruction, the utility and importance of which escaped them before.[87]

[87] Pelloutier, _op. cit._, pp. 87-88.

The services of instruction comprised the founding of libraries, the organization of technical courses, the arrangement of lectures on general subjects (economic, literary, historical, etc.), workingmen's journals, bureaus of information, etc.

The propaganda of the Bourses had for its general aim the intellectual development of the workingman and the extension of the syndical movement. The Bourses were to support the syndicats in existence, organize new ones, promote the adherence of single syndicats to their national federations, carry on a propaganda among the agricultural laborers and perform other functions of a similar character.

The services of resistance consisted in lending material and moral aid to the workingmen in their economic struggles. The Bourses regarded themselves mainly as societies of resistance whose princ.i.p.al function was to support the workingmen in struggle. The other functions were considered subordinate to this main service.

Every Bourse carried out this program only in proportion to its means.

The Bourses differed a great deal in number of adherents, in financial resources, in command of organizers, etc. Some consisted of a few syndicats with a few dozen members only; others comprised tens of syndicats with thousands of organized workingmen and with a budget running into the thousands.

A few figures may help to form some idea of the extent of the services rendered by the _Bourses du Travail_ during the period considered in this chapter. The number of positions filled by the Bourses were as follows:

_Applications _Offers of _Placed at _Placed away _Year_ for employment_ employment_ residence_ from residence_ 1895 38,141 17,190 15,031 5,335 1898 83,648 45,461 47,237 38,159 1902 99,330 60,737 44,631 30,544[88]

[88] _Annuaire Statistique_.

The service of _viatic.u.m_ was organized differently by different Bourses. Some paid one franc a day, others one and one-half and two francs. In many Bourses the traveling workingmen received part only of the _viatic.u.m_ in money, the rest in kind (tickets to restaurants, lodging, etc.). The reports of the Bourses presented to their Congress at Paris in 1900, contain some information on the subject. The Bourse of Alger spent from 600 to 700 francs a year on the service of _viatic.u.m_.

The Bourse of Bordeaux distributed during certain months about 130 francs, during others, only 60; other Bourses spent much less. The following table presents the amounts spent in successive years by the Bourse of Rennes:

_a.s.sistance_ _Year_ _Pa.s.sing Workmen_ _Francs_ _Centimes_

1894 25 37 50 1895 22 33 1896 47 60 50 1897 41 81 1898 (till Sept.) 32 64

In organizing technical courses, the _Bourses du Travail_ pursued the aim of fighting "the dominant tendency in modern industry to make of the child a laborer, an unconscious accessory of the machine, instead of making him an intelligent collaborator."[89] Again in this respect the services of the Bourses varied. In the Bourse of Etienne, 597 courses of two hours each were attended by 426 pupils from October 1, 1899, to June 30, 1911. The Bourse of Ma.r.s.eilles had in 1900 courses in carpentry, metallurgy, typography and others. The Bourse of Toulouse organized 20 courses and had its own typographical shop.

[89] Pelloutier, _op. cit._, pp. 121-2.

Nearly all Bourses organized their own libraries, some of which consisted of several hundred volumes, while the library of the _Bourse du Travail_ of Paris contained over 2,000 volumes. Besides, every large Bourse had its periodical, weekly or monthly.[90]

[90] There were 23 in 1907. Franck, _op. cit._, pp. 127-8.

The _Federation des Bourses du Travail_ was formed in 1892 to systematize and to unify the activities of the Bourses. Though it owed its origin to political motives, the Federation soon devoted its main energies to the economic functions of the Bourses which it tried to extend and to strengthen. This turn in its policy the Federation owed chiefly to Fernand Pelloutier, who became secretary of the Federation in 1894 and who remained in this post till his death in 1901.

Fernand Pelloutier (1867-1901) came from a bourgeois family and was educated in a Catholic school.[91] He entered political life at an early age in a provincial town (St. Nazaire), as an advanced republican, but soon pa.s.sed into the socialist ranks. Though a member of the _Parti Ouvrier_ (Guesdists), he defended the general strike in 1892 before a socialist Congress in Tours. This caused his break with the _Parti Ouvrier_. In 1893 he came to Paris and here came under the influence of the Anarchist-Communists, whose ideas he fully accepted and professed to his last day.

[91] On the life of Pelloutier see Maurice Pelloutier, _F. Pelloutier.

Sa Vie, son Oeuvre_ (Paris, 1911).

Pelloutier was appointed secretary of the Federation of Bourses in order to a.s.sure the political neutrality of the organization. As indicated in the previous chapter, the Federation owed its birth largely to the political interests of the Allemanists. The Federation, however, soon found itself composed of various elements--Blanquists, Guesdists, etc.--but the economic interests which stimulated the growth of the Bourses were strong enough to create a desire on the part of the workingmen to avoid political dissensions and quarrels. An anarchist at the head of the Federation seemed to guarantee the necessary neutrality.

Fernand Pelloutier realized the expectations placed in him. He was disgusted with politics and his "dream was to oppose a strong, powerful economic action to political action."[92] The Federation of Bourses became his absorbing interest in life. To it he devoted most of his time and energy. He proved himself a man of steady purpose, of methodical procedure, and of high organizing abilities. He has been recognized as the most able organizer of the working cla.s.s that modern France has produced. His services to the development of the syndicalist movement have been recognized by men of various opinions and political convictions. M. Seilhac wrote of him in 1897, "a young man, intelligent, educated, sprung from the bourgeoisie, has just entered the Federation as Secretary; M. F. Pelloutier has led the Federation with a talent and a surety of judgment which his most implacable enemies must acknowledge.

Having pa.s.sed through the 'Guesdist' school, M. Pelloutier violently broke away from this intolerant and despotic party and was attracted by pure anarchism. The Federation owes its rapid success in great measure to him."[93]

[92] P. Delesalle, _Temps Nouveaux_, 23 Mars, 1901.

[93] Seilhac, _Congres Ouvriers_, p. 272.

In 1892 the Federation was formed by ten Bourses out of the fourteen then in existence. Its growth was as follows:

_Year_ _Bourses_ _Syndicats_ 1895 34 606 1896 46 862 1897 40 627 1898 51 947 1899 54 981 1900 57 1,061 1902 83 1,112

The Federation was represented by a Federal Committee in Paris. Each Bourse had the right to a delegate in the Committee, but a single delegate could represent several Bourses. As the Federal Committee was in Paris, the delegates were not members of the Bourses they represented. They were chosen by the Bourses from a list sent to them by the Secretary of the Federation and made up of men either personally known by him or recommended to him. This gave rise to dissatisfaction, and it was decided that the secretary should complete the list of candidates with remarks on their political attachments, so that the Bourses might choose representatives expressing exactly their opinions.

In this way the Federal Committee came to be composed of various political elements. In 1899 there were 48 Bourses in the Federation; of these three were represented in the Federal Committee by Blanquists, eleven by Allemanists, five by Guesdists. The last named soon left the Federation; the rest did not adhere to any party. "Within the group of their representatives particularly," wrote Pelloutier, "must one look for those convinced libertarians[94] whom the Bourses have maintained as delegates regardless of the reproaches of certain socialist schools, and who, without fuss, have done so much for some years to enhance the individual energy and the development of the syndicats."[95] The Committee had no executive officers, not even a chairman. The business was done by the secretary, an a.s.sistant secretary and a treasurer. The first received 1,200 francs a year. Each session began with the reading of the minutes of the preceding session, and of the correspondence; then the discussion of the questions raised by the correspondence, inscribed on the order of the day, or raised by the delegates, occurred. A vote took place only in cases, "extremely rare", when an irreconciliable divergence of views sprang up. The meetings took place twice a month.

[94] The anarchists in France call themselves _libertaires_.

[95] Pelloutier, _op. cit._, p. 151.

Pelloutier wrote:

The suppression of the chairmanship and of useless voting dates only from the entrance of the libertarians into the Committee, but experience soon convinced all members that between serious and disinterested men there is no necessity of a monitor because everyone considers it an honor to respect the freedom of discussion and even, (without wavering from his principles) to conduct the debate in a conversational tone.

The Federal Committee proceeded in a methodical way. Between 1894-1896 it devoted itself mainly to propaganda and to organization. It invited the local syndicats and unions of syndicats to const.i.tute themselves into _Bourses du Travail_. To guide them Pelloutier wrote a little pamphlet on _The method of organizing and maintaining Bourses du Travail_. After 1895 the Federal Committee thought the multiplication of Bourses too rapid. The Committee feared that the Bourses were const.i.tuting themselves without sufficient syndical strength and that they were putting themselves at the mercy of a dissolution or of an unsuccessful strike.

The Committee, therefore, thought it wise if not to moderate the organizing enthusiasm of the militant workingmen, at least to call their attention to the utility of extending to arrondiss.e.m.e.nts, sometimes even to an entire department, a propaganda which was till then limited to a local circle. Two or three Bourses per Department, wrote Pelloutier, would group the workingmen more rapidly and at the cost of less efforts than seven or eight insufficiently equipped and necessarily weak.[96]