YearNumberof CasesAccusedAcquittedCondemnedto Prisonfor OneYear orMoreCondemnedto Prisonfor Lessthan aYearCondemnedto Pay aFine Only1825921447216471826402446231364318272913651274918282817284..853182913682613921830402066921341183149396104..27913183251249851140231833905222187270271834554151557227261835322388411411218365533287..2261918375130064516764183844266861135441839644091163264261840130682139224764518416838379..237671842623718022632618434932173..240818445329848..2014918454829792377812418465329847..220311847554016623013218489456012423993518496534561124142185045329591418274185155267336199291852865731192396561853109718105153082185468315511319655185516811821172494398185673452834269961857553003711204481858582693412023218595828129..2232918605829734..2303318616340278..283411862443064411996218632913417..4374
There is other information to show that the strikes often assumed the character of a general movement, particularly under the influence of political disturbances. During the years that followed the Revolution of July (1830) the workingmen of France were at times in a state of agitation throughout the entire country, formulating everywhere particular demands, such as the regulation of industrial matters, collective contracts and the like.[13]
In many cases, the strikes were spontaneous outbursts of discontent among unorganized workingmen. Frequently, however, the strikes were either consciously called out or directed by organizations which existed by avoiding the law in various ways.
These organizations were of three different types: thecompagnonnages, the friendly societies (mutualités) and the “societies of resistance”.
Thecompagnonnagesoriginated under the guild-system and can be traced back as far as the fifteenth century. Their development was probably connected with thecustom of traveling which became prevalent among the journeymen of France about that time.[14]A journeyman (calledcompagnonin French) would usually spend some time in visiting the principal cities of France (make histour de France) to perfect himself in his trade. A travelingcompagnonwould be in need of assistance in many cases and thecompagnonnagesowed their development to the necessity of meeting this want.
Thecompagnonnagesconsisted of bachelor journeymen only. If a member married or established himself as master, he left thecompagnonnage. Besides, admission to thecompagnonnagewas dependent on tests of moral character and of technical skill. Thus, thecompagnonnagesalways embraced but a small part of the workingmen—the élite from the technical point of view. To attain the required technical standard, members had to pass some time as aspirants before they could becomecompagnons.
The organization of thecompagnonnageswas very simple. All thecompagnonsof the same trade lived together in one house, usually in an inn, kept by the so-calledmère(mother) orpère(father) of the trade. Thecompagnonswere generally the only boarders in the house. If not numerous enough to occupy the entire house, they had one hall for their exclusive occupation. Here they held their meetings, initiated new members, and kept their records and treasury. Here, also,compagnonsarriving from other towns made themselves “recognized” by special signs and symbols.
All thecompagnonsof France were divided among three “orders” calleddevoirs. Thedevoirshad strange names indicating the legends with which the origins ofthese organizations were connected. Thedevoir, “Sons of Master Jack” (Enfants de Maitre Jacques) was founded, according to the story, by one of the master-builders of King Solomon's Temple. The “Sons of Solomon” (Enfants de Solomon) were sure that their order was founded by King Solomon himself. The “Sons of Master Soubise” regarded another builder of Solomon's Temple as the founder of theirdevoir. Eachdevoirconsisted of a number of trades, and sometimes one and the same trade was divided between twodevoirs.
Ceremonies and rites constituted an inseparable part of thecompagnonnages. The initiation of a new member, the “recognition” of a newly arrivedcompagnon, the meeting of two travelingcompagnonson the road, etc., were occasions for strange and complicated ceremonies which had to be accurately performed. These ceremonies were due in a large measure to the secrecy in which thecompagnonnagesdeveloped under the ancient régime, persecuted as they were by the royal authorities, by the church, and by the master-craftsmen.
Within thecompagnonnagesthe feeling of corporate exclusiveness and the idea of hierarchical distinctions were strong. Emblems of distinction, such as ribbons, canes, etc., were worn on solemn occasions, and the way in which they were worn, or their number, or color, indicated the place of thecompagnonnagewithin the whole corporate body. Many riots and bloody encounters were occasioned betweendevoiranddevoirand between differentcompagnonnageswithin eachdevoirby disputes over “ribbons” and other emblems appropriate to each. For instance, the joiners were friends of the carpenters and of the stonecutters, but were enemies of the smiths whom the other two trades accepted. The smiths rejected the harness-makers. The blacksmiths accepted the wheelwrights on conditionthat the latter wear their colors in a low buttonhole; the wheelwrights promised but did not keep their promise; they wore their colors as high as the blacksmiths; hence hatred and quarrels. The carpenters wore their colors in their hats; the winnowers wanted to wear them in the same way; that was enough to make them sworn enemies.[15]Besides, thecompagnonnagesdid not strive to embrace all members of the same trade or all trades. On the contrary, they were averse to initiating a new trade and it sometimes took decades before a new trade was fully admitted into the organization.
While these features harked back to the past, the economic functions of thecompagnonnagesanticipated and really were a primitive form of the later syndicat. Thecompagnonnagesoffered effective protection to thecompagnonsin hard stresses of life as well as in their difficulties with their masters. “The ‘devoir’ of the compagnons” (read the statutes of one of these societies) “is a fraternal alliance which unites us all by the sacred ties of friendship, the foundations of which are: virtue, frankness, honesty, love of labor, courage, assistance and fidelity.”[16]These abstract terms translated themselves in life into concrete deeds of mutual aid and of assistance which were immensely valuable to the travelingcompagnons. A travelingcompagnon, on arriving at a city or town, would only have to make himself “recognized” and his fellow-compagnons would take care of him. He would be given lodging and food. Employment would be found for him. If sick or in distress, he would receive aid. If he wished to leave the town to continue histour de France, he would be assisted and would be accompanied some distance on the road.
With their simple organization, thecompagnonswere able to exert a strong economic influence. They served as bureaus of employment. Onecompagnon, electedrouleur, was charged with the duty of finding employment forcompagnonsand “aspirants”. He kept a list of those in need of work and placed them in the order of their inscription. Usually the masters themselves addressed therouleursfor workingmen, when in need of any.
This fact gave thecompagnonnagesa control over the supply of labor. They could withhold labor from a master who did not comply with their demands. They could direct their members into other towns of theTourif necessary, as everywhere thecompagnonswould find friends and protection. They could, therefore, organize strikes and boycott a master or workshop for long periods of time. In fact, by these methods thecompagnonnagesstruggled for higher wages and better conditions of employment as far back as the sixteenth century. During the Great Revolution thecompagnonnagesexisted in twenty-seven trades and directed the strike-movement described above. They attained the height of their development during the first quarter of the nineteenth century when they were the only effective workingmen's organizations exerting an influence in the economic struggles of the time.
Thecompagnonnagespersisted in several trades during the larger part of the nineteenth century. After 1830, however, their influence declined. The new industrial conditions reduced the significance of the personal skill of the workingmen, shifted the boundaries of the ancient trades, and entirely transformed most of them. The rapid development of the modern means of communication made thetour de Francein its old form an anachronism. The spread of democratic and secular ideas brought the medieval usages and ideas of thecompagnonnagesinto disrepute and ridicule.Several attempts to reform thecompagnonnagesand to bring them into harmony with the new conditions of life were made by members of the organization, but with no results.[17]
While thecompagnonnageswere reconstituting themselves during the Consulate and the First Empire, another form of organization began to develop among the workingmen. This was the friendly or benevolent society for mutual aid especially in cases of sickness, accident or death. Several such societies had existed before the Revolution and the law Le Chapelier was directed also against them. “It is the business of the nation,” was the opinion of Le Chapelier, accepted by the Constituent Assembly, “it is the business of the public officials in the name of the nation to furnish employment to those in need of it and assistance to the infirm”.[18]Friendly societies, however, continued to form themselves during the nineteenth century. They were formed generally along trade lines, embracing members of the same trade. In a general way the government did not hinder their development.
Mrs. Beatrice Webb and Mr. Sidney Webb have shown that a friendly society has often been the nucleus of a trade union in England. In France the friendly societies for a long time played the part of trade unions. The charge of promoting strikes and of interfering with industrial matters was often brought against them.[19]There were 132 such trade organizations in Paris in 1823 with 11,000 members, and their numbers increased during the following years.
The form of organization called into being by the neweconomic conditions was thesociété de résistance, an organization primarily designed for the purpose of exercising control over conditions of employment. These societies of resistance assumed various names. They usually had no benefit features or passed them over lightly in their statutes. They emphasized the purpose of obtaining collective contracts, scales of wages, and general improvements in conditions of employment. These societies were all secret, but free from the religious and ceremonial characteristics of thecompagnonnages.
One of the most famous of these societies in the history of the French working-class was theDevoir Mutuel, founded by the weavers of Lyons, in 1823. This society directed the famous strikes of the weavers in 1831 and 1834. Its aim, as formulated in its statutes, was: first, to practice the principles of equity; second, to unite the weavers' efforts in order to obtain a reasonable wage for their labor; third, to do away with the abuses of the factory, and to bring about other improvements in “the moral and physical condition” of its members. The society had 3,000 members in 1833.[20]
In 1833 the smelters of copper in Paris formed themselves into a society which was to help them in their resistance against employers. Two francs a day was to be paid to every member who lost employment because he did not consent to an unjust reduction in his wages or for any other reason which might be regarded as having in view the support of the trade; in other cases of unemployment, no benefit was allowed, in view of the fact that in ordinary times the smelters were seldom idle.[21]The society was open to all smelters, without any limitation of age; itwas administered by a council assisted by a commission of representatives from the shops, elected by the members of the society of each shop. The society was soon deprived, however, of its combative character by the government.[22]
A strong society of resistance was organized by the printers of Paris in 1839. Though secret, it gained the adherence of a large part of the trade. In 1848 it had 1,200 members—half of all the printers at that time in Paris. It was administered by a committee. Through its initiative a mixed commission of employers and workingmen was organized which adopted a general scale of wages. This commission also acted as a board of mediation and conciliation in disputes between employers and workingmen.[23]
Thecompagnonnages,mutualitésand resistance-societies aimed partly or exclusively to better conditions of employment by exerting pressure upon employers. These societies reveal the efforts that were being made by workingmen to adjust themselves to the economic conditions of the time. But after 1830, other ideas began to find adherents among the French workingmen; namely, the ideas of opposition to the entire economic régime based on private property and the idea of substituting for this system a new industrial organization.
The history of the socialist movement of France before 1848 can not here be entered into. It has been written and rewritten and is more or less known. For the purposes of this study, it is only necessary to point out that during this period, and particularly during the revolutionary period of 1848, the idea of co-operation, as a means ofabolishing the wage system, made a deep impression upon the minds of French workingmen.[24]
The idea of co-operation had been propagated before 1848 by the Saint-Simonists and Fourierists, and particularly by Buchez who had outlined a clear plan of co-operation in his paperL'Européenin 1831-2. Similar ideas were advanced during the forties by a group of workingmen who publishedL'Atelier. But only with the outbreak of the Revolution of 1848, and under the influence of Louis Blanc, did the co-operative idea really become popular with the workingmen. Between 1848 and 1850 the enthusiasm for co-operative societies was great, and a considerable number of them were formed. On July 6, 1848, the Constituent Assembly voted a loan of 3,000,000 francs for co-operative societies, and this sum was divided among 26 societies in Paris and 36 in the provinces.[25]But the number of those founded without assistance was much greater; about 300 in Paris and many more in the provinces. Of these societies most perished within a short time while the rest were dissolved by the administration of Napoleon III after thecoup-d'étatof 1851.[26]
The Revolution of 1848 was an important moment in the history of the French working-class. Though the socialist idea of the “Organization of Work” (L'Organisation du Travail) which was so prominent during the Revolution passed into history after the days of June, it left an impression upon the minds of French workingmen. The belief in a possible social transformation became a traditionwith them. Besides, the Revolution gave a strong impulse to purely trade organizations such as thesociétés de résistance. Before 1848 they had existed in a few trades only. The period of the Revolution witnessed the formation of a large number of them in various trades and strengthened the tendency towards organization which had manifested itself before.
During the first decade of the Second Empire all workingmen's organizations were persecuted; most of them perished; others went again into secrecy or disguised themselves as mutual aid societies.
With the advent of the second decade of the Empire the labor movement acquired an amplitude it had never had before. Its main characteristic during this period was a decided effort to break the legal barriers in its way and to come out into the open. The workingmen's chief demands were the abolition of the law on coalitions and the right to organize.
The workingmen were given an opportunity to express their views and sentiments on occasions of National and International Exhibitions. It had become a custom in France to send delegations of workingmen to such exhibitions. In 1849 the Chamber of Commerce of Lyons sent a delegation of workingmen to the National Exhibition in Paris. In 1851 the municipality of Paris sent some workingmen to the International Exhibition in London. A delegation was sent again to London in 1862 and to Paris in 1867.
The workingmen-delegates published reports in which they formulated their views on the condition of their respective trades and expressed their demands and aspirations. These reports have been called thecahiersof the working-class. The authors of the reports—workingmen themselves, elected by large numbers of workingmen—wererepresentatives in the true sense of the term and voiced the sentiments and ideas of a large part of the French workingmen of their time.
The reports published by the delegates of 1862 contain a persistent demand for freedom to combine and to organize. The refrain of all the reports is: “Isolation kills us”.[27]The trade unions of England made a deep impression on the French delegates and strengthened their conviction of the necessity of organization. “Of 53 reports emanating from 183 delegates of Paris, 38 by 145 delegates express the desire that syndical chambers be organized in their trades.”[27]
The government of the Empire, which hoped to interest the workingmen in its existence, gave way before their persistent demands. In 1864, in consequence of a strike of Parisian printers which attracted much public attention, the old law on coalitions was abolished and the right to strike granted.
The right to strike, however, was bound up with certain other rights which the French workingmen were still denied. Unless the latter had the right to assemble and to organize, they could profit but little by the new law on coalitions. Besides, the French workingmen were generally averse to strikes. The reports of 1862, though demanding the freedom of coalition, declared that it was not the intention of the workingmen to make strikes their habitual procedure. The delegates of 1867, who formed a commission which met in Paris for two years, discussing all the economic problems that interested the workingmen of the time, were of the same opinion. A special session of the Commission was devoted to the consideration of the means by which strikes might be avoided. All agreed that, as oneof the delegates expressed it, strikes were “the misery of the workingmen and the ruin of the employer”[28]and should be resorted to only in cases of absolute necessity. What the delegates demanded was the right to organize and to form “syndical chambers”. They hoped that with the help of these organizations, they would avoid strikes and improve their economic condition.
In the beginning of 1868, a number of delegates to the Exhibition of 1867 were received by the Minister of Agriculture, Commerce and Public Works to present their views and demands. The vice-president of the Commission, M. Parent, indicated clearly what the workingmen meant by “syndical chambers” in the following words:
We all agree to proceed by way of conciliation, but we all have also recognized the necessity of guaranteeing our rights by a serious organization which should give the workingmen the possibility of entering easily and without fear into agreement with the employers.... It is thus in order to avoid strikes, guaranteeing at the same time the wages of the workingmen, that the delegates of 1867 solicit the authorization to establish syndicats in each trade in order to counter-balance the formidable organization of the syndical chambers of the merchants and manufacturers.... The workingmen's syndical chambers, composed of syndics elected by the votes of the workingmen of their trade, would have an important rôle to fulfil. Besides the competent experts which they could always furnish for the cases subject to the jurisdiction of the prud'hommes, for justices of the peace and for the tribunals of Commerce, they could furnish arbiters for those conflicts which have not for their cause an increase in wages. Such are: the regulations of the workshops, the use of health-endangering materials, the bad conditions of the machinery andof the factory which affect the health of the workingmen and often endanger their lives, the protection of the inventions made by workingmen, the organization of mutual and professional education, which cannot be entirely instituted without the help of the men of the workshop, etc.[29]
We all agree to proceed by way of conciliation, but we all have also recognized the necessity of guaranteeing our rights by a serious organization which should give the workingmen the possibility of entering easily and without fear into agreement with the employers.... It is thus in order to avoid strikes, guaranteeing at the same time the wages of the workingmen, that the delegates of 1867 solicit the authorization to establish syndicats in each trade in order to counter-balance the formidable organization of the syndical chambers of the merchants and manufacturers.... The workingmen's syndical chambers, composed of syndics elected by the votes of the workingmen of their trade, would have an important rôle to fulfil. Besides the competent experts which they could always furnish for the cases subject to the jurisdiction of the prud'hommes, for justices of the peace and for the tribunals of Commerce, they could furnish arbiters for those conflicts which have not for their cause an increase in wages. Such are: the regulations of the workshops, the use of health-endangering materials, the bad conditions of the machinery andof the factory which affect the health of the workingmen and often endanger their lives, the protection of the inventions made by workingmen, the organization of mutual and professional education, which cannot be entirely instituted without the help of the men of the workshop, etc.[29]
On the 30th of March, 1868, the Minister of Commerce and Public Works announced that without modifying the law on coalitions, the government would henceforth tolerate workingmen's organizations on the same grounds on which it had heretofore tolerated the organizations of employers. With this act began the period of toleration which lasted down to 1884, when the workingmen's organizations were brought under the protection of a special law.
The declaration of toleration gave free scope to the workingmen to form their syndical chambers. Some syndicats had been openly formed before. In 1867, the shoemakers had formed a society—the first to bear the name of syndicat—which had openly declared that it would support members on strike and would try to defend and to raise wages. But only after the declaration of the government in 1868 did these societies begin to increase in numbers.
While organizing for resistance, the workingmen during this period, however, placed their main hopes in co-operation; the co-operative society of production was to them the only means of solving the labor question. As one of the delegates to the Workingmen's Commission of 1867 put it: “Salvation is in association” (Le salut c'est l'association).[30]The main function of the syndical chamber was to promote the organization of co-operative societies.
The revival of enthusiasm for co-operative societies beganin 1863. Men of different political and economic views helped the movement. It found supporters in liberal economists, like M. Say and M. Walras; it was seconded by Proudhon and his followers, while a number of communists took an active part in it. Profiting by the experience of 1848-50, the workingmen now adopted a new plan. The co-operative society of production was to be the crowning part of the work, resting upon a foundation of several other organizations. First the members of one and the same trade were to form a syndical chamber of their trade. The syndical chamber was to encourage the creation of a “society of credit and savings” which should have for its aim the collection of funds by regular dues paid by the members. Such “societies of credit and savings” began to develop after 1860, and they were considered very important; not only because they provided the funds, but also and mainly because they helped the members to become acquainted with one another and to eliminate the inefficient. With a society of credit in existence, it was deemed necessary to create a co-operative of consumption. The productive co-operative society was to complete this series of organizations which, supporting one another, were to give stability to the entire structure.
The plan was seldom carried out in full. Co-operatives of production were formed without any such elaborate preparation as outlined above. However, many “societies of credit and saving” were formed. In 1863 there were 200 of them in Paris; and in September, 1863, a central bank,La Société du Credit au Travailwas organized. Similar central banks were formed in Lyons, Marseilles, Lille and other large cities.
In Paris theCredit au Travailbecame the center of the co-operative movement between 1863 and 1868. It subsidized successivelyL'Association(Nov., 1864-July, 1866)andLa Co-opération(Sept., 1866-Feb., 1867)—magazines devoted to the spread of co-operative ideas. It gave advice and information for forming co-operatives. Most of the co-operative enterprises of the period were planned and first elaborated in the councils of this society. Finally it furnished the co-operatives with credit. Its business done in 1866 amounted to 10½ million francs.[31]
In 1868 the co-operative movement, after several years of development, suffered a terrible blow. On November 2nd, theCredit au Travailbecame bankrupt; it had immobilized its capital, and had given out loans for too long periods, while some of the other loans were not reimbursed. The bank had to suspend payment and was closed. The disaster for the co-operative movement was complete. TheCredit au Travailseemed to incarnate the co-operative movement; “and its failure made many think that the co-operative institution had no future”.[32]
The failure of the co-operative movement turned the efforts of the workingmen into other channels. They now began to join the “International Association of Workingmen” in increased numbers and to change their ideas and methods.
The “International”, as is well known, was formed in 1864 by French and English workingmen. The French section, during the first years of its existence, was composed mainly of the followers of Proudhon, known asmutuellistes. The program of themutuellisteswas a peaceful change in social relations by which the idea of justice—conceived as reciprocity or mutuality of services—would be realized. The means advocated were education and the organization of mutual aid societies, of mutual insurancecompanies, of syndicats, of co-operative societies and the like. Much importance was attached to the organization of mutual credit societies and of popular banks. It was hoped that with the help of cheap credit the means of production would be put at the disposal of all and that co-operative societies of production could then be organized in large numbers. TheMutuellistesemphasized the idea that the social emancipation of the workingmen must be the work of the workingmen themselves. They were opposed to state intervention. Their ideal was a decentralized economic society based upon a new principle of right—the principle of mutuality—which was “the idea of the working-class”.[33]Their spokesman and master was Proudhon who formulated the ideas ofmutuellismein his work,De la Capacité Politique des Classes Ouvrières.
Between 1864 and 1868, the “International” met with little success in France. The largest number of adherents obtained by it during this period was from five to eight hundred. Persecuted by the government after 1867, it was practically dead in France in 1868.[34]But in 1869 it reappeared with renewed strength under the leadership of men of collectivist and communist ideas, which were partly a revival and survival of the ideas of 1848, partly a new development in socialist thought.
One current of communist ideas was represented by the Blanquists. Blanqui, a life-long conspirator and an ardent republican who had been the leader of the secret revolutionary societies under the Monarchy of July, took up his revolutionary activity again during the latter part of the Second Empire. A republican and revolutionary above everything else, he had, however, gradually come to formulatein a more precise way a communistic program, to be realized by his party when by a revolutionary upheaval it would be carried into power. The Blanquists denounced the “co-operators” and the “mutuellistes” and called upon the workingmen to organize into secret societies ready, at a favorable moment, to seize political power. Towards the end of the Second Empire, the Blanquists numbered about 2,500 members in Paris, mainly among the Republican youth.[35]
The other current of communist ideas had its fountainhead in the “International” which Caesar de-Paepe, Marx and Bakounine succeeded in winning over to their collectivist ideas. The congresses of the “Association” in Brussels in 1868 and in Bâle in 1869 adopted resolutions of a collectivist character, and many members of the French section were won over to the new ideas.[36]
The success of the “International” in France in 1869 was the sudden result of the strike-movement which swept the country during the last years of the Second Empire. The members of the “International” succeeded in obtaining financial support for some strikers. This raised the prestige of the “Association”, and a number of syndicats sent in their collective adhesion. It is estimated that toward the end of 1869 the “International” had a membership of about 250,000 in France.
These facts had their influence on the French leaders of the “International”. They changed their attitude toward the strike, declaring it “the meanspar excellencefor the organization of the revolutionary forces of labor”.[37]The idea of the general strike suggested itself to others.[38]Atthe Congress of Bâle in 1869, one of the French delegates advocated the necessity of organizing syndicats for two reasons: first, because “they are the means of resisting the exploitation of capital in the present;” and second, because “the grouping of different trades in the city will form the commune of the future” ... and then ... “the government will be replaced by federated councils of syndicats and by a committee of their respective delegates regulating the relations of labor—this taking the place of politics.”[39]
Under the influence of the “International” the syndicats of Paris—there were about 70 during the years 1868-1870—founded a local federation under the name ofChambre Fédérale des sociétés ouvrières de Paris. This federation formulated its aim in the following terms:
This agreement has for its object to put into operation the means recognized as just by the workingmen of all trades for the purpose of making them the possessors of all the instruments of production and to lend them money, in order that they may free themselves from the arbitrariness of the employer and from the exigencies of capital.... The federation has also the aim of assuring to all adhering societies on strike the moral and material support of the other groups by means of loans at the risk of the loaning societies.[40]
This agreement has for its object to put into operation the means recognized as just by the workingmen of all trades for the purpose of making them the possessors of all the instruments of production and to lend them money, in order that they may free themselves from the arbitrariness of the employer and from the exigencies of capital.... The federation has also the aim of assuring to all adhering societies on strike the moral and material support of the other groups by means of loans at the risk of the loaning societies.[40]
These organizations were entirely swept away by the events of 1870-71: the Franco-Prussian War, the Proclamation of the Republic, and especially the Commune. After 1871 the workingmen had to begin the work of organization all over again. But the conquests of the previous period were not lost. The right to strike was recognized. The policy of tolerating workingmen's organizationswas continued, notwithstanding a few acts to the contrary. But, above all, the experience of the workingmen was preserved. The form of organization which they generally advocated after the Commune was the syndicat. The other forms (i. e., theCompagnonnagesand the secretSociété de résistance) either disappeared or developed independently along different lines, as the friendly societies.
In other respects, the continuity of the labor movement after the Commune with that of the preceding period was no less evident. As will be seen in the following chapter the problems raised and the solutions given to them by the French workingmen for some time after the Commune were directly related to the movement of the Second Empire. The idea of co-operation, themutuellismeof Proudhon, and the collectivism of the “International” reappeared in the labor movement under the Third Republic.
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 oflèse-democratie”[42]which it was necessary to prevent by all means.
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]
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 theCercle de l'Union Ouvrière, which was to form a counter-balance to the employers' organizationL'Union Nationale du Commerce et de l'Industrie. TheCercleinsisted 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]TheCerclewas nevertheless dissolved by the government.
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 supremeeffort 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 ofprud'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]
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, wasa 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 movementsof 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.
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.
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. Towardsthe 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,” wroteL'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'Égalitédeclared 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]
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 theideas 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]
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]
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]
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]
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 whomthey must be returned.”[54]This resolution was adopted by 73 votes against 23.
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 aboutL'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. TheUnion des Chambres Syndicalesconfined 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]
From 1883 onward the anarchist propaganda met with success in various parts of France, particularly in Parisand 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]
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]
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 ofParti 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 ofParti Ouvrier Français.
TheParti Ouvrier Françaisclaimed to represent the “revolutionary” and “scientific” socialism of Marx. Itaccepted 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]
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]
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]
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]
The municipalities conquered were to become just so many centres of recruiting and of struggle. TheParti Ouvrierwas 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 seizethe 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, theParti Ouvrierwould be the party to assume the rôle of directing it.[63]
TheParti Ouvrieradopted a centralized form of organization. It became in time the strongest and best organized socialist party of France. It was particularly strong in theDepartment du Nordand among the textile workers. It was also known as the “Guesdist” party, after its leader Guesde.
TheParti Ouvrierdenounced the members of theParti 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 theBroussists.
TheBroussistscared 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, theBroussistsconcentrated 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 betweenGuesdistsandBroussistswas followed by another in the ranks of the latter. In 1887 theBroussistssucceeded 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.