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The Confédération générale du travail unitaire, or CGTU ( en, United General Confederation of Labor), was a
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
confederation in France that at first included anarcho-syndicalists and soon became aligned 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 ...
. It was founded in 1922 as a confederation of radical unions that had left the socialist-dominated General Confederation of Labour (CGT), and in 1936 merged back into the CGT.


Foundation

The CGTU emerged from a split in the General Confederation of Labour (CGT: ''Confédération générale du travail''), which had been torn by confrontations between socialist members of 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 foun ...
(SFIO: ''Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière'') and the more radical anarcho-syndicalists and members of 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 ...
(PCF: ''Parti communiste français''). The CGTU took the majority of the CGT with it. Initially the syndicalists and anarchists outnumbered the communists.
Joseph Tommasi Joseph Charles Tommasi (April 15, 1951 – August 15, 1975) was an American Neo-Nazi who founded the National Socialist Liberation Front. He advocated extremism and armed guerrilla warfare against the U.S. government and what he called its "Jew ...
, a member of the PCF executive committee, attended the congress in
Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...
on 25 June – 1 July 1922 at which the syndicates, unions and federations that had been excluded from the CGT founded the CGTU. The dynamic new organization was attached to peace and to the anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist struggle. As a member of the anarcho-syndicalist minority of the CGT, Gaston Monmousseau became General Secretary of the CGTU, a position he held until 1933.


History

Over the first two or three years many of the syndicalists joined the communist movement, including leaders such as
Alfred Rosmer Alfred Rosmer (born Alfred Griot, 23 August 1877 – 6 May 1964) was an American-born French Communist political activist and historian who was a leading member of the Comintern. Rosmer is best remembered as a political associate of Leon Trotsky an ...
and Pierre Monatte. Later the syndicalists became disillusioned with the control exerted by Moscow over the party, and the Trotskyite purges. Marie Guillot founded a new "unitary" confederation of teachers, with its first confederal Congress held at Saint-Étienne in June 1922. Marie Guillot took an intermediate position in the continuum of revolutionary syndicalism, while recognizing the merits of the Soviet Revolution. Guillot was appointed to the confederal Bureau of the CGTU after the withdrawal of her colleague Louis Bouët. This was the first time a woman was part of the Confederation Office, according to the ''L'Humanité''.2 August 1922, Compte-rendu du Congrès The cohabitation of revolutionary syndicalists with supporters of unconditional international centralism did not last long, and Guillot resigned from her responsibilities within the CGTU in July 1923. In November 1922 Monmousseau represented the CGTU at the second congress of the Red International of Trade Unions (
Profintern The Red International of Labor Unions (russian: Красный интернационал профсоюзов, translit=Krasnyi internatsional profsoyuzov, RILU), commonly known as the Profintern, was an international body established by the Comm ...
) in Moscow. Pierre Semard, a leader in the PCF, played an important role in the debate between Communists and Anarcho-Syndicalists over the role of the CGTU at its Bourges Congress in September 1923. Semard proposed a motion, passed by a great majority, that the CGTU would commit itself to a tireless struggle for the defense of workers. This was a victory for the Communist faction. In 1923 CGTU became a Profintern affiliate. The communist fully controlled the CGTU after 1924. They introduced changes to the original constitution. Union officials were now eligible for reelection, votes were proportion to the number of union members represented. Efforts, generally unsuccessful, were made to replace local organizations by regional ones, with officials loyal to the party rather than to their local base. Lucie Colliard was a deputy member of the PCF's 24-member steering committee (CD: ''Comité Directeur'') from 1922 to 1924. She was a member of the female secretariat of the CGTU from 1923 to 1925. In 1926, some of the CGTU members left to create the Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CGT-SR). Some syndicalists stayed with the CGTU and others returned to the CGT. Marie Mayoux and her husband François Mayoux, leaders of the teachers' union, were expelled from the PCF at the party congress held in Paris on 16–19 October 1922 as "unrepentant sydicalists". In 1929 they were also expelled from the CGTU. The CGTU membership steadily declined in comparison to the CGT due to internal disagreements, ineffective strikes and troubles within the Communist Party. During the
Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...
period the CGTU merged back into CGT. Monmousseau participated in founding the reunified CGT in 1936.


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * Saposs, D. J. ''Labour Movement in Post-War France'' (1931) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Confederation generale du travail unitaire Trade unions in France Profintern National trade union centers of France Trade unions established in 1922 Trade unions disestablished in 1936 History of the French Communist Party