The Charter of Amiens () was adopted at the 9th Congress of the ''

Confédération générale du travail The General Confederation of Labour (, , 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 the largest in terms of votes in the Labour C ...

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

Amiens Amiens (English: or ; ; , or ) is a city and Communes of France, commune in northern France, located north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme (department), Somme Departments of France, department in the region ...

in October 1906. Its main proposal was the separation between the union movement and the political parties. The CGT was then dominated by

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both ...

s 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, general secretary of the CGT, and

Émile Pouget Émile Pouget (; 12 October 1860 – 21 July 1931) was a French journalist, anarchist pamphleteer and trade unionist, known for his pivotal role in the development of revolutionary syndicalism in France. His iconic newspaper, '' Le Père Peinard ...

. 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 labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goal of gaining c ...

in the CGT of the time.

Aims

The Charter of Amiens assigned two aims to the

workers' movement The labour movement is the collective organisation of Working class, working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It ca ...

: 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 In political science, the term class conflict, class struggle, or class war refers to the economic antagonism and political tension that exist among social classes because of clashing interests, competition for limited resources, and inequali ...

. 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 of working time. The modern movement originated in ...

) and increase of wages. But the longer-term goal was nothing less than "expropriation of the capitalists" through the means of a

general strike A general strike is 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 coalitions ...

. 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 Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

movement.

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 (, or simply , FO), is one of the five major union confederations in France. In terms of following, it is the third behind the CGT and the CFDT. Force Ouvrière was founded in 1948 by former ...

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

French Section of the Workers' International The French Section of the Workers' International (, SFIO) was a major socialist political party in France which was founded in 1905 and succeeded in 1969 by the present Socialist Party. The SFIO was founded in 1905 as the French representativ ...

(SFIO) and then to the

French Socialist Party The Socialist Party ( , PS) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left to Left-wing politics, left-wing List of political parties in France, political party in France. It holds Social democracy, social democratic and Pro-Europeanism, pro-European v ...

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

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

(PCF). The CGT, FO, the ''

Union nationale des syndicats autonomes The National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (, UNSA) is one of the French confederations of trade unions, but they do not have the of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), Workers' Force ...

'' (UNSA), the '' Union syndicale Solidaires'', the '' Confédération nationale du travail'' (CNT), the FGAAC and the ''

Fédération syndicale unitaire The Fédération syndicale unitaire is the main trade union in the education sector in France and the largest trade union in the public sector The public sector, also called the state sector, is the part of the economy composed of both ...

'' (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 International Workers' Association may refer to: * International Workingmen's Association The International Workingmen's Association (IWA; 1864–1876), often called the First International, was a political international which aimed at unitin ...

(IWA) — which qualifies itself as an anarchist communist 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 use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

, 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