The Charter of Amiens (french: Charte d'Amiens) was adopted at the 9th Congress of the ''

Confédération générale du travail The General Confederation of Labour (french: Confédération Générale du Travail, CGT) is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions. It is t ...

'' (CGT) French trade-union, which took place in

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; pcd, Anmien, or ) is a city and commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in the region of Hauts-de-France. In 2021, the population of ...

in October 1906. Its main proposal was the separation between the union movement and the political parties. The CGT was then dominated by anarcho-syndicalists who preferred the constitution of an alternate system through the elaboration of workers' unions rather than moderate reforms through the electoral path. The motion for the Charter was drafted by

Victor Griffuelhes Victor Griffuelhes (14 March 1874, Nérac – 30 June 1922, Saclas) was a French socialist and leader of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) in France.A. Thomas Lane. ''Biographical dictionary of European labor leaders''. Westport, Connec ...

, general secretary of the CGT, and Émile Pouget. The Charter was adopted by 830 participants, eight having voted "no" and one abstained, and marked the victory of the current of

revolutionary syndicalism Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of prod ...

in the CGT of the time.

Aims

The Charter of Amiens assigned two aims to the workers' movement: the "defense of immediate and daily demands" and the "struggle for a global transformation of society in complete independence from political parties and from the state." By this Charter, the CGT explicitly recognized

class struggle Class conflict, also referred to as class struggle and class warfare, is the political tension and economic antagonism that exists in society because of socio-economic competition among the social classes or between rich and poor. The forms ...

. Immediate goals included reduction of worktime (the

8 hours day The eight-hour day movement (also known as the 40-hour week movement or the short-time movement) was a social movement to regulate the length of a working day, preventing excesses and abuses. An eight-hour work day has its origins in the 1 ...

) and increase of wages. But the longer-term goal was nothingless than "expropriation of the capitalists" through the means of a

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

. It considered the trade-union to be the future group of production and of social repartition and the basis for a social reorganization — a main view of the syndicalism movement. Considering that all

employee Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any other ...

s were submitted to the same

exploitation Exploitation may refer to: *Exploitation of natural resources *Exploitation of labour **Forced labour *Exploitation colonialism *Slavery **Sexual slavery and other forms *Oppression *Psychological manipulation In arts and entertainment *Exploita ...

and alienation, both material and spiritual, it stated that it was a duty for all of them to belong to a trade-union. This, in turn, was followed by the proclamation of the complete freedom for its members to choose the form of political struggle (and, therefore, any party membership) which it deemed the fitter. In exchange, it requested for the union member not to introduce in the union opinions which it professed outside.

Legacy

The Charter of Amiens has become a cornerstone of the unions' tradition in France and the guarantee of their autonomy from political parties, although after World War II and the creation of the social-democrat ''

Force Ouvrière The General Confederation of Labor - Workers' Force (french: Confédération Générale du Travail - Force Ouvrière, or simply , FO), is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT ...

'' (FO) trade-union, close to the

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (french: Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière, SFIO) was a political party in France that was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the modern-day Socialist Party. The SFIO was found ...

(SFIO) and then to the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party (french: Parti socialiste , PS) is a French centre-left and social-democratic political party. It holds pro-European views. The PS was for decades the largest party of the "French Left" and used to be one of the two major p ...

(PS), the CGT has maintained unofficial links with the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its MEPs sit in the European Unit ...

(PCF). The CGT, FO, the '' Union nationale des syndicats autonomes'' (UNSA), the ''

Union syndicale Solidaires The Solidaires or Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (SUD) is a French group of trade unions. Political position They tend to favor progressive or even radical views and work with the alter-globalization or anti-globalization movement. Th ...

'', the ''

Confédération nationale du travail The CNT-F (Confédération nationale du travail) or National Confederation of Labour is a French anarcho-syndicalist union. It was founded in 1946 by Spanish anarcho-syndicalists in exile, and former members of Confédération Générale du Tra ...

'' (CNT), the FGAAC and the '' Fédération syndicale unitaire'' (FSU) today all claim as theirs the Charter of Amiens. The CNT-AIT, founded in 1922, is the only one to reject the Charter, alleging that by proclaiming an autonomy between trade-unions and political parties it organizes the submission of the workers' union to parties. Furthermore, the CNT-AIT — French section of the International Workers' Association (IWA) — which qualifies itself as an

anarchist communist Anarcho-communism, also known as anarchist communism, (or, colloquially, ''ancom'' or ''ancomm'') is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that advocates communism. It calls for the abolition of private property but retains re ...

organization, also criticizes the formulation according to which the trade-union will become the future cell of social organization: in its views, in the event of an overhaul of

Capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...

, the trade-unions will be called to disappear lest they become organizations of control.La Charte d'Amiens est morte...

References

External links

Text of the Charter

Text of the Charter

Compte rendu sténographique du congrès d'Amiens (séances concernant la question des rapports du syndicalisme et de la politique)

sommaire de Mil neuf cent. Revue d'histoire intellectuelle, n° 24, 2006, intitulé : "Le syndicalisme révolutionnaire. La Charte d'Amiens a cent ans"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charter Of Amiens 1906 in France Political history of France Trade unions in France Social history Syndicalism History of anarchism History of socialism 1906 documents Revolutionary Syndicalism

Aims

Legacy

See also

References

External links