France, Alternative Libertaire #223 - 1912: CGT general strike against war (fr)

December 16, 1912, when the Balkan conflict threatens to engulf Europe, the CGT mobilizing 
its forces for preventive action: the war, the working class does not want. For 
revolutionaries, it is a real test. This will be the last before 1914.
November 24, 1912, when the Balkan War brought Europe on the threshold of a general 
conflagration, the Socialist International held in Switzerland a memorable congress 
against war that evoke Louis Aragon in 1934 The Bells of Basel .

But the French CGT, revolutionary syndicalist orientation, did not want to go to Basel 
pacifist protest vote "platonic". It has higher ambitions. Parallel Event socialist, she 
holds her own so extraordinary congress against war in Paris.

Organized in record time, it is a success in terms of attendance: 1452 750 delegates 
representing unions, it is more than ordinary congress Havre, two months earlier. The hall 
of the cooperative La Bellevilloise is too small to hold them all.

The aim of the conference is to organize a general strike preventive twenty-four hours to 
demonstrate opposition to the war of the proletariat, and discourage warmongering 
government Poincar?.

Bid anarchist
This is the first time since his dismal failure in May 1909, the CGT attempted a general 
strike. During the Moroccan crisis in 1911 [ 1 ], union had abandoned, noting that the 
working class was not ready to lift. So one can imagine the burden that weighs on the 
shoulders of activists and activists in the late 1912, the idea of grabbing again this 
formidable weapon but if unwieldy: the general strike.

In this respect, the CGT still stumbles on the same obstacle: the strategic associations 
to block the country - miners and railway workers - are not more proactive. If it were up 
to their leaders, reformers, the subject would not even be discussed. This is largely to 
circumvent this extraordinary congress, which will direct expression of the base, was 
summoned. And it works.

The right of the CGT opposed the general strike, but with little insurance. His spokesman 
expressed hostile to a room, and large federations reformists (Minor, Book, Cheminots) 
does not in any event to their rescue.

At the other end, left the CGT feels good and gives position in the bidding, quickly 
exceeding the strike issue twenty-four hours to bring the debate on the attitude to have 
in case of war. Activists of the Communist Anarchist Federation (FCA) and their supporters 
lead the attack on the theme of unpatriotic [ 2 ]. Estor (Building Montpellier) calls to 
sabotage railway and postal communication channels in case of mobilization [ 3 ]. The 
navvy Lepetit strike sees twenty-four hours rehearsal which "is not so much intended to 
frighten the government to give confidence to the working world" [ 4 ]. The intervention 
is the most sensational of Gaspard Ingweiller, the Union of metals from the Seine, and 
Henry Combes, Employee [ 5 ]. The report recommends that they give reading of textbooks 
sabotage, insurrection strike in case of war, the formation of "secret groups of 
companions safe" to move to the revolutionary action, requisition or destruction of the 
rotating bourgeois press [ 6 ]. For Combes, also secretary of the FCA, the labor movement, 
he wants to scare the bourgeoisie, should be less than demand peace prepare for war: "It 
should not be thought that we are afraid of war, need to know that we are ready, if the 
war to revolution, to achieve social transformation. " [ 7 ].

This attitude is somewhat annoying tribunician officials as confederal Jouhaux, Yvetot 
Griffuelhes, Merrheim and Dumoulin, anxious to get a strike twenty-four hours without the 
scare delegates more moderate. It is ultimately their interventions that fit the debate 
and in the end, the general strike was passed by acclamation almost unanimously [ 8 ]. It 
will be December 16, 1912.

Congress ends as it should be by a mass meeting Salle Wagram: 15,000 listeners applaud 
speakers come from all over France.

The rumor Arracourt
Soon returned home, activists are stepping up to the task. There are three weeks. And it 
takes the heat because at the same time, nationalist fervor doubles in the press, which 
rises pin a symptomatic episode: mobilizing Arracourt, near the German border.

As a result of an error PTT Arracourt nine rural communes of Meurthe-et-Moselle received 
on 28 November, a military mobilization order. In perfect discipline, without manifest 
reluctance, the vast majority of peasants illico answered the call. The event reflects the 
sense of impending war in November 1912, even in the most remote rural areas. The 
government and the press see it as a slap to the pacifists. The labor press retorted 
"bluff", "patriotic hype" [ 9 ] and even "legend" [ 10 ].

The militants of the CGT so courageously continue their preparations in a hostile climate, 
with a government that prohibits meetings, some farm labor exchanges, punish some 
recalcitrant mayors and threat of revocation workers arsenals. At the same time, the sense 
of urgency to strike down a notch with international appeasement: December 3rd, indeed, an 
armistice was signed in the Balkans.

Searches and arrests
In Paris, the State continued repression against the most restless of unpatriotic: FCA and 
Young trade unionists face raids and arrests. With several of its leaders fleeing abroad 
or in jail, the FCA is badly shaken, but not bend. Early 1913, a class action lawsuit for 
"anarchists carried out" under the wicked laws of 1894 will conclude, for 5 militants, for 
a total of sixteen years in prison and a fine of 6,300 francs. The trial of the "Bonnot 
gang" at the same time completely overshadow this maneuver choking revolutionaries.

Finally, the D-Day

The general strike of twenty-four hours against the war, December 16, 1912, is a 
semi-success. To inflate the figures, we chose a Monday, the day of the week off work is 
higher, due to too wet Sunday [ 11 ].

At the end of the day, the CGT 600,000 strikers. It is not mirobolant. Not ashamed either. 
The daily Le Matin will see the equivalent of a "slightly amplified May 1" [ 12 ]. In 
essence, the bourgeois press seeks to deny the event. "Complete failure of the strike" 
general "twenty-four hours," proclaims L'Echo de Paris , "Failed" also Le Gaulois, La 
Croix, Le Petit Journal and Intransigeant ; "huge oven" for Le Figaro , "black oven" for 
the French Action . More forgiving, Le Matin title: "The strike peace was far from being 
general," while Le Petit Parisien and La Presse suggest his character "partial" . Time, it 
calls on the government to take action against unpatriotic [ 13 ] .

Minors create surprise
In fact, public opinion was hardly "?motionn?e" by the day, in the words of Emile Pouget [ 
14 ]. Daily life was not disturbed: trains and trams rolled newspapers were placed on 
newsstands, mail has been sent.

The movement has largely relied on the traditional regions and corporations. Very strong 
in the Rh?ne with the trams and bus stop - 50,000 strikers marched in Lyon, which had 
never been seen. Honourable Paris region - unsurprisingly, it is the building, metals and 
furniture that have worked best. In contrast, gas, electrical and book have not changed. 
No more than state workers, except allumettiers d'Aubervilliers.

The two surprises, it is the Ardennes and the coalfields. The Federation of Miners is 
reformist, but it has mobilized its troops loyally, with an encouraging result: 50% of 
strikers in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais, 66% Montceau-les-Mines, 25% in the Loire more than 
90% in the Aveyron, the Allier and the Gard. "But do not forget: no coal, no war possible! 
" enthuses Pouget. As the Ardennes, industrial department and it is much more sensitive 
border with Germany, the movement was massive, with 50,000 strikers.

In other regions, are strongholds local workers who made ??the motion. Shoe factories and 
mills were busy in Ferns, Saint-Quentin, Roanne, Valenciennes, Vienna, Amiens ... ports 
and docks were blocked in Nantes and Le Havre, especially mobilized. In contrast, workers 
in the arsenals of Brest, Toulon and Rochefort apparently feared the threat of dismissal. 
At Brest, for example, we counted only 57 missing, 250 on average against the rest of the 
year [ 15 ]. In Cher, the movement was general, and even followed by farmers ... only the 
munitions factories of Bourges are sidelined. In the Gard, H?rault and 
Pyr?n?es-Orientales, are the laborers who made ??the motion.

Everywhere, the movement is accompanied by peace meetings, with an influx uneven. Clashes 
with the police took place in Puteaux, Billancourt, Levallois-Perret and Lyon. In the 
Paris region, police raided union halls.

On the eve of hardship
At the balance sheet, the CGT breathes in terms of its own criteria, it has passed the 
test without ridicule. The demonstration was certainly not up to the challenge, but it 
will weigh considerably heavier than the Socialist Congress in Basel. CGT is the only 
force in the country to initiate such a mobilization, and the only one in Europe to have 
done. Voice of the People, body confederation, not crying but victory salute "a beautiful 
demonstration against war [...] really significant for the rulers. [...] We know, above 
all, that the working class is composed of a dangerous revolutionary minority. Now we know 
it can, this minority, lead the masses to a social revolution day or the day after a 
declaration of war. " [ 16 ]

This is the Libertarian shows that by far the most enthusiastic titrating "The war 
impossible" the one. "We will not have war. The people do not want it, here are our rulers 
warned, " writes Eugene Jacquemin, who continues: "Never until now, a protest strike has 
met many strikers [...] for now, c is sufficient. No government is likely to face the 
hazards of war in such conditions. " [ 17 ].

For Emile Pouget is the main lesson to remember: "The mobilization for peace was not 
general ... yes! It is an undeniable fact! But [...] if the government committed the 
criminal folly to declare mobilization for war ... this mobilization would be much less 
than the general strike was Monday. " [ 18 ]

Officially, the labor movement shows its confidence. In reality, it is on the verge of 
serious difficulties in 1913, rising to the war will accelerate. Within the CGT, while the 
reformists will prioritize action and corporate traditional consolidate their forces, 
revolutionaries, prioritizing the fight against war, will collect all the repression, 
exhaust their strengths and see their base shrink. From the summer of 1913, the CGT will 
be shaken by a moral crisis which, a year later, when blowing the decisive hour, it will 
not be output.

William Davranche (AL Montreuil)

Saber-rattling
October 8, 1912: War breaks out in the Balkans against the Ottoman Empire (supported by 
Vienna and Berlin) in Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro (supported by Paris, London 
and St. Petersburg).

October 27: Speech Nantes Chair, Raymond Poincar?: " France does not want war, but it 
does not fear "

November 12: Grand meeting of the FCA promising "sabotage mobilization" if it should 
happen. In the days following the crackdown on anarchists.

November 17: The Ottoman Empire is on its knees, Russia and Austria-Hungary are on the 
warpath. Great war rally in Pr?-Saint-Gervais with PS and FCA.

November 24: International Socialist Congress against the war in Basel. The extraordinary 
congress of the CGT Paris preventive vote a general strike.

December 3: Armistice in the Balkans.

December 16: In France, 600,000 strikers against the war.

16 February 1913: Failed negotiations and resumption of hostilities in the Balkans.

[ 1 ] Read " 1911: Agadir, the war is already here , " Alternative libertarian February 
2011.

[ 2 ] This term prevailing at the time of the internationalism.

[ 3 ] The Hansard of 25 November 1912.

[ 4 ] Report of the congress, page 44.

[ 5 ] The Hansard of 25 November 1912.

[ 6 ] The Gauls of 25 November 1912.

[ 7 ] Proceedings of the conference on page 41.

[ 8 ] Report of the congress, page 61.

[ 9 ] Gustave Herv?, La Guerre Sociale December 4, 1912.

[ 10 ] Pierre Monatte on Labour December 20, 1912.

[ 11 ] This was called "make-Saint Monday."

[ 12 ] The Morning of December 17, 1912.

[ 13 ] The Times , 18 December 1912.

[ 14 ] ?mile Pouget, The Social War of 18 December 1912.

[ 15 ] The Gauls of 17 December 1912.

[ 16 ] The Voice of the People December 22, 1912.

[ 17 ] The Libertarian December 21, 1912.

[ 18 ] The Social War of 18 December 1912.