LABOUR MOVEMENT IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 207, 27 May 1919, Page 5

LABOUR MOVEMENT IN FRANCE

NEW NATIONAL CONFEDERATION

STORY OF THE C.N.T.

A new organisation which was created in France in 1914, and called the Confederation Nationals flu Travail, 1 has become extremely popular with the more thoughtful members of the working classes in France. In spito of the intensive propaganda of its rival, tho C.G.T., which out of 8,000,000 French workmen, nuni' bered, in 1914, some 300,000 members. The creation of the C.N.T., as the new organisation is known by its supporters, responds to several urgent necessities. Firstly, it .opposes tho disastrous moral influence of the C.G.T., some idea of whose policy may be gained from the fact that M. Jouhaux went so fnv as publicly to embrace M. Malvy as the. former Minister was starting _ for Jiis forced sojourn at San Sebastian. Secondly, the C.N.T. strives to direct syndicalism back to its true interests, which are exclusively professional and corporative, instead of its being a school of anarchy and general demoralisation as the C.G.T. conceives of it. A Huge Membership, Such are the aims of the Confederation Nationale du Travail, which already numbers more than 200,000 members, all belonging exclusively to tho working classes. In* order that the confederation may preserve its essentially professional character, no employers and no "patrons" are admitted.

The C.N.T.. recently held a congress (it which all tho syndicates belonging to the Union of Free Syndicates of France were represented. The C.N.T. advocates rather the iiniou of forces than the struggle of classes, and the following resolutions were passed. Syndicalism must be saved from becoming the instrument of unscrupulous profiteers, of P9P.ular credulity and enthusiasm. The spirit of the "Union Sacree" which has reigned in France with such fine results during the last four years must he perpetuated between. employers and employees, and the members of the C.N.T. are ';resolved to make every effort necessary to this end. The C.N.T. moreover prea«hes to its followers good-fellow, ship between all Frenchmen, whatever their social status or political creed; it supports the idea of the union of Capital, Intelligence, and Labour. If dissensions occur between employers and employees, the C.N.T. wisely advises the latter to settle all differences amicably, without reporting to that violence which can but result in i the widening of the breach of mutual misunderstanding. In a. word, the C.N.T. wishes to revive the old and excellent French institution of "com. pagnonnage," xiz., those associations of workmen of the same profession which, although adapted to the requirements of modern labour, would nevertheless preserve those essentially Frenoh traditions of fraternity which the internationalists strove so vigorously to Germaflise. The members of the C.N.T. conceive of com{Mgnonnage in a wider sense than that literally expressed by this term, in that they desire their organisation to become, So. to speak, a national conipagnonnago, for aTe not all the sons of France "companions" in one and the same great undertaking, that of 'being tho artisans of victorious France?

New Directive Ideal. The C.N.T. is not preoccupied in any way with the religious or political con. victions of its members,; it' respects all beliefs —if sincere. It aims at ad absolute independence, and refuses categorically to allow its professional action to bo subjected to any doctrino which threatens to disorganise tho national life. Tho C.N.T. also possesses a carefullyelaborated programme, which its paper, "L'Avenir Syndicalc," defends and propagates. Thus tho question of .compulsory and theoretical apprenticeship is one of its favourite subjects of discussion, whilst it also .advocates tho "back to .tho land" theory with much persuasion and conviction. ■

The C.N.T. is conscious that' a largo part of the \rorkin{r classes of France is groping—perhaps blindly but surely, persistently—after a new directive ideal. It also realises tho necessity, of replacing class dissension by union, and wishes to do its utmost to contribute to the national prosperity of France by establishing ■ between employers and employees a great camaraderie, tho continuation of that formed in tho trenches during-their four years of common, struggle for a common cause.