Mark Kesselman - The French Workers Movement: Economic Crisis and Political Change

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ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
THE LABOUR MOVEMENT

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Volume 21

THE FRENCH WORKERS MOVEMENT

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THE FRENCH WORKERS MOVEMENT

Economic Crisis and Political Change

Edited by
MARK KESSELMAN

First published in 1984 by George Allen & Unwin Ltd

This edition first published in 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

1984 Mark Kesselman

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-32435-0 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-43443-3 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-32537-1 (Volume 21) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-45041-9 (Volume 21) (ebk)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

The French Workers Movement: Economic Crisis and Political Change

Edited by

Mark Kesselman

with the assistance of

Guy Groux

Translated by

Edouardo Diaz, Arthur Goldhammer, and Richard Shryock

London

GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN

Boston Sydney

Mark Kesselman, 1984.

This book is copyright under the Berne Convention. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved.

George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd,

40 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LU, UK

George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd,

Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, Herts HP2 4TE, UK

Allen & Unwin, Inc.,

9 Winchester Terrace, Winchester, Mass. 01890, USA

George Allen & Unwin Australia Pty Ltd,

8 Napier Street, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia

First published in 1984.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Kesselman, Mark

The French workers movement.

1. Labor and laboring classesFrancePolitical activityHistory20th century

I. Title II. Groux, Guy

33520944 HD8435

ISBN 0-043-31095-8

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Main entry under title:

The French workers movement.

Bibliography: p.

Includes index.

1. Trade-unionsFranceAddresses, essays, lectures.

2. FranceEconomic conditions1945 Addresses, essays, lectures.

I. Kesselman, Mark. II. Groux, Guy.

HD6684.F74 1984 331.880944 84-9238

ISBN 0-04-331095-8 (alk. paper)

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Set in 10 on 11 point Times by

Mathematical Composition Setters Ltd, Salisbury, UK

and printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner Ltd, Frome and London

Contents

1. Preface

1. ix
2. x

Preface

This volume aims to describe and analyze the French labor movement during the critically important period of the past decade. During this conjuncture French trade unions were confronted by unusually serious challenges and unusually attractive opportunities. Have trade unions succeeded in developing new organizational capacity and vision adequate to this situation? To what extent have they represented the new segments of the working class and the new demands and issues emerging at this time?

North American and British scholars have closely scrutinized French political parties and elections, as evidenced by the numerous books and articles available on the topic in English. They have paid far less attention to the French labor movement. For example, the last comprehensive surveys in English of French trade unions (Ehrmann, 1947; Lorwin, 1954) were published thirty years ago! While French scholarsmany of whom are among the contributors to the present workhave studied the labor movement, their research is not generally available in English.

This volume seeks to analyze the background and complexities of the situation created by the lefts victory in 1981. Although the contributors diverge on many points, most agree that the gap has increased between the labor movements innovations in the realm of ideology and practice. While unions have forged daring new programmatic approaches, they have been less successful in developing appropriate new forms of struggle which adequately reflect their ideological adaptations. Furthermore, labors strength remains sapped by severe conflicts among rival trade unions.

This volume indirectly suggests why the left government elected in 1981 was unable to develop a cohesive, secure social base. As many of the essays which follow indicate, however, the economic and political situation in France is too complex to permit definitive judgment, either about the significance of the left government or the impact or future evolution of the labor movement. How difficult prediction is can be seen from the fact that planning for this volume began in 1980, when the prospects seemed dim for political change in France. And yet the election of a left government in a period of international economic recession has not proved an unmixed blessing for French labor.

We have incurred many debts in preparing this work. Bernard Moss and Ren Mouriaux were helpful at the early stages in clarifying the overall organization of the volume. Richard Shryock provided invaluable editorial assistance, in addition to helping translate French texts. He also compiled the Bibliography. We are grateful for secretarial help from Aurelia Enache and the Institute on Western Europe, Columbia University; and the Laboratoire de Sociologie du Travail et des Relations Professionnelles, Conservatoire National des Arts et Mtiers. Mark Kesselman wishes to acknowledge financial support provided by a Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship, which enabled him to organize the volume while in France.

December 1983	MARK KESSELMAN
GUY GROUX

The French Workers Movement:
Economic Crisis and Political Change

Introduction:
The French Workers Movement at the Crossroads

MARK KESSELMAN

Does the relatively more radical ideological stance of large segments of the French labor movement, compared to labor movements in other advanced capitalist nations, reflect French workers militancy and strength or rather their weakness? Evidence to support the former interpretation is that the two largest French trade unions (the CGT and CFDT, who obtain about three-fifths of workers votes in elections to works councils and labor arbitration boards) have officially adopted socialist positions going substantially beyond northern European social democracy. Further, during much of the twentieth century, French workers have displayed an especially great propensity to strike. The French working class may thus continue to embody a radical stance linked to its revolutionary past.

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