Syndicalism in France

f Bourses du Tra

re generally poor and could accomplish but little in their isolation. The Bourse du Travail furnish

e Municipal Council of Paris in 1887. In 1892 there were already

urses d

94

96

98

99

00

02

. The project of the committee would then be submitted to the general assembly of the syndicats. The assembly would also elect an administrative council, a secretary, treasurer and other officers. The statutes, the list of

e municipalities 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 municipalities amounted to 1

sisted on being absolutely independent in the administration of the Bou

solutely independent in order to render t

the only reform which the workingme

utely the meddling of the administrative and governmental authorities in the functioning

the entire independence of the Bourses du Travail, and to refuse the municipal

cided to demand that the Bourses be declared institutions of public utility; this, it was thought, would put them under the protection of the law and make impossible any hostile act on

t was presented showing the Bourses how they could exist without the subvention of the municipalities. The question of financial independence was brought up at later Congresses, but re

as been classified under four heads: (1) Benevolent Services, or as the Fren

go from city to city in search of employment (Viaticum), aid to other unemployed persons, sick benefit, etc. The Bours

ch are more and more reduced) considerable tithes 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 visi

of technical courses, the arrangement of lectures on general subjects (economic,

al movement. The Bourses were to support the syndicats in existence, organize new ones, promote the adherence of single syndicats to

struggles. The Bourses regarded themselves mainly as societies of resistance whose principal function was t

rents, in financial resources, in command of organizers, etc. Some consisted of a few syndicats with a few dozen members o

rendered by the Bourses du Travail during the period considered in this

Offers of employment Placed at re

1 17,190 1

8 45,461 4

60,737 44,63

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

ist

Workmen Fra

25

5 2

47

7 4

ill Sep

ead 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 Octo

hundred volumes, while the library of the Bourse du Travail of Paris contained over

otives, 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

anced republican, but soon passed 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. Thi

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

izing abilities. He has been recognized as the most able organizer of the working class 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 F

en Bourses out of the fourteen then in

urses S

5 3

6 4

7 4

8 5

9 5

57

83

s 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 r

r 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 assistant secretary and a treasurer. The fi

utier

ce soon convinced all members that between serious and disinterested men there is no necessity of a monitor because everyone considers it a

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

f extending to arrondissements, sometimes even to an entire department, a propaganda which was till then limited to a local circle. Two or three Bourses per Departm

eal a thorough study of the conditions in which these two classes of the population spend their lives, and contain indications how to attract them to syndical activity. Pelloutier recommended the Bourses

nda carried on by some Bourses among the wood-cutters, the wine-growers, the agricu

at a distance through correspondence. They wanted to generalize this by having the Federal Committee publish statistics of the fluctuations of employment in the various Bourses. On the other hand, the Bourses had difficulties with the service

al de statistique et de placement was organized. The "federal viaticum" was optional for members of the federation, and though p

ederal Committee had addressed the government for a subsidy of 10,000 francs to organize the Office national. In June, 1900, the Government granted 5,000 francs. The Office began to publish a weekly statistical bulletin containing the information on the fluctuation of employment sent to the Federal Committee by the Bourses. The Office, however,

arried out the decisions of the Congresses. It did not regard itself as a central organ with power to command. Constituted on a federalist basis, the Bourses expected from the Federal Committee merely the preliminary study of

ufficiency of means. The financial state of the Federation b

pts E

times Fran

893 24

94 573

5 1,342

6 2,380

2,310 75

6,158 75

4,297 85

5,541- 8

he Committee could not render all the services it was capable of and that it was necessa

y the Federation of Bourses, the leaders themselves felt e

al and co-operative organization which extends from day to day and embraces new categories of producers, the unification of all the proletarian forces into a close network of syndicats, of co-operative societies, of leagues of resistance; consider the constantly increasing intervention into the diverse manifestati

il were evolving from this time on the elements of a new society, that they were gradually constituting a veritable socialist (economic and anarchic) state within the bourgeois state,[99] and that they would, in time, substitute communistic forms of production and of distribution for those now in existence. Th

e amount of the produce; the totality of products necessary for the population of their region, etc., etc. Now, it further set forth, with all this information at hand, and with all this economic experience, each Bourse could, in case of a social transformation, assume the direction of the industrial life of its region. Each trade organized in a syndicat would elect a council of labor; the syndicats of the same trade would be federated nationally and internationally. The Bourses, knowing the quantity of products which must be produced, would impart this information to the councils of labor

our institutions is sufficient to realize our aim, and to avoid many disappointments and retrogressions. It is for us, who have inherited the thought and the science of all those who have come before us, to bring it about

tion is to free mankind not only from all authority (autorité), but also from every institution which has not for its essential purpose the development of production. Consequently, we can imagine the f

ce better, more and quicker; that he will be able, therefore, to devote long hours to his intellectual development, to accelerate in this way mechanical pr

tions which characterize existing society. He believed that the syndicalist life was the only means of stimulating the power and the initiative of the workingmen and of developing their administrative abilities. His report, quoted above, concluded: "And this is the future in s

later became revolutionary syndicalism. The "Federation of Bourses" also made the first step in the propaganda of anti-militarism and in outlining a policy of opposition to the State.

cal organization in France. Pelloutier claimed 250,000 members for it, but the

ation could admit not only National Federations of Syndicats, but single syndicats and single Bourses. This was obnoxious to the Federation of Bourses. The latter wished that the General Confederation should be composed exclusively of two federal committees; one representing the

rmony between the two organizations could be established for some time. In 1897, th

1900, however, the two organizations, though distinct, co-operated, and the question of unifying the two organizations was more and more emphasized. In 1902, at t