In 1913, the refusal by the Lyon section of the Book Federation to unionize Emma
Couriau, despite federal statutes authorizing this unionization, triggered strongreactions. This affair, publicized by the revolutionary syndicalist current andfeminist activists, was to generate debates and a movement within the centrallabor union in favor of the right granted to women to organize in a union. ----The Couriau affair began in April 1913 when Emma Couriau asked to be admitted tothe Lyon typographical trade union chamber. Not only was her admission refused,but her husband, Louis Couriau, also a typographer and union member of the CGTfor nineteen years, was expelled from the union. This decision is a surprise forthe Couriau spouses even though three years earlier, by a narrow majority, duringits Bordeaux congress, the CGT Book Federation had adopted two proposals on theunionization of women. It is true that the Fédération du Livre CGT, a reformistbastion of the trade union federation, has, since its founding congress inSeptember 1881, constantly opposed the unionization of women. These stillrepresent nearly 20% of the 64,000 employees in the sector. In 1910, following areport written by Burgard, the assistant secretary of the federation, two motionsconcerning the unionization of women were put to the vote. These two motions dealwith two distinct problems: that of remuneration and that of unionization.A first motion dealing with the question of remuneration, or rather the supportgiven to the sections which "will want to react against the exploitation of womenby obtaining in their favor the minimum union rate", is voted almost unanimouslyby the delegates. . In fact, it does not commit to anything. Sections that do notinvest in favor of equal pay (or at least that women obtain the union minimum)will not be penalized. The second motion deals more directly with theunionization of women, with significant restrictions since this motion providesthat "during a transitional period (fixed at 2 years)[...]women (regardless ofage or family status ) currently employed may be admitted to the federation underthe same conditions as men. At the end of this, only women paid at the union ratewill be admitted", was only adopted by a narrow majority: seventy-four votes infavor, sixty-two against and twenty-two abstentions[1].Women were not, however, absent from social and union struggles at the start ofthe 20th century. On December 4, 1909, the Graulhétoises workers in the leatherindustry began one of the longest social conflicts of the beginning of the 20thcentury: 147 days!If at the end of this congress women are officially admitted to the Syndicat duLivre CGT, on the ground, according to Burgard, "no action, no propaganda" iscarried out. Worse still, on December 31, 1911, the central committee of thefederation reconsidered the vote of the congress. Unanimously it adopted anagenda stipulating, with regard to the unionization of women, that it wasnecessary "to take account of certain local difficulties,[and]to leave to thesections, asking them to draw inspiration from the will of the congress, fulllatitude to resolve this delicate question in the best of their local interestsand the general interests of the federation"[2]. Thus, on the basis of thisagenda of the central committee of the Fédération du Syndicat du Livre, themembership of Emma Couriau is rejected. As for her husband, his exclusion fromthe union, after nineteen years of militancy, is justified according to adecision of a Lyon general assembly of January 1906 by virtue of which would bestruck off "any Lyon union member married to a typote woman, if he continued tolet him practice his profession.The right to work for women, and even more so for married women, was a battlefought within the CGT itself, which was not exempt from the patriarchalprejudices then very largely dominant. The model of the breadwinner male (whichwe would translate into French as "man earns bread") returns the woman, and evenmore the married woman, to her role of wife and mother of the family, not ofworker and even less of a worker defending her rights within a union.The situation of the Couriau couple is further complicated by the localsituation. The Lyon section of the reformist Syndicat du Livre CGT is one of thelargest in the federation, and enjoys the unfailing support of the centralcommittee. The secretary of this section, Botinelli, made the "eviction" oftypotes the major axis of his union program. Thus he declared: "The Lyonsection[...]has been leading the fight against typote for thirty years... Yes, weare pursuing the eviction of women from the typography workshop, but we let's doit without hate and without abruptness. Thus, without making a fuss, we havemanaged[in thirty years]to get more than a hundred women out of the workshop".Still according to Botinelli, with regard to the motion of the Bordeaux congress:"the admission of women was considered as a possibility and not as an obligation;moreover, it has not been applied. Finally, the agenda of December 31 gives "fullfreedom of action to the sections". It is neither more nor less, according tohim, to defend "the general interest of a corporation that is increasinglythreatened[...]We will be treated as selfish, too bad. We will defend ourprofessional interests... We are not on a mission to right the wrongs andshocking inequalities in our society. It would be far too heavy a task for ourweak shoulders"[3]. Finally, he justifies himself: "in our union which is not yetunder the libertarian regime, there are regulations, there are decisions; it isnecessary to submit to it or to resign, without that no possible existence forour organization. We can see a targeted attack there, indeed Louis Couriau waspart of the revolutionary syndicalist minority within the federation[4].Epile Pouget (1860-1931) Founder of several libertarian newspapers such as LePère peinard, he was also one of the figures of revolutionary trade unionism andone of the writers of the Charter of Amiens. He castigated the attitude of theSyndicat du Livre towards the Couriau couple in an article published in La Guerresociale.Emma and Louis Couriau decide to react and denounce their fate. In June 1913,Louis Couriau wrote his first article in Le Réveil Typographique, a newspaper ofthe revolutionary syndicalist minority within the Fédération du Livre, which wasextremely critical of its leaders and the central committee. Emma for her partgets closer to the Feminist Federation of the Southeast and obtains its support.A resolution was adopted and published in L'Humanité on July 18, calling for thereinstatement of the Couriau couple in the union, and adding that it was in theinterests and the duty of the unions to welcome the workers "into theirorganizations and to treat them as equals"[5].In August it was in La Bataille syndicaliste, of revolutionary syndicalistorientation and unofficial organ of the CGT, that Emma published a new letterdenouncing the anti-feminist policy of the Syndicat du Livre in a seriesentitled: "A serious problem. The industrial work of women". She returns point bypoint to the various dysfunctions of the Lyon section and also castigates themore than timid attitude of the central committee and the federation. She callsfor the self-organization of women workers: "Let's form our union ourselves, giveit the combative and educational ardor that seems to be becoming more and morethe prerogative of women" and nevertheless concludes on an optimistic note: "Formy part, I do not despair of seeing the very people who are repelling us todaycome tomorrow to claim our support", before ending on a note that Joe Hill wouldnot have denied[6]: "At the work, then!»[7]Feminist in the trade union movement and trade unionist in the feminist movement,at a time when the convergence between the two was by no means obvious, MarieGuillot (1880-1934) was able, with skill and tenacity, to bring French tradeunionism to a better organize workers. A revolutionary trade unionist, she wasthe first female secretary of a trade union confederation - the CGTU - in 1922.On the side of the central committee of the federation, the publicity of thisaffair is disturbing. Its secretary general, a man named Keufer whom Le RéveilTypographique described as a "bourgeois up and coming" and a "minister'ssycophant"[8], and whom Émile Pouget directly implicated in an article in LaGuerre sociale concerning the exclusion of the Couriau spouses, he finds as theonly defense to justify and diminish the position of the Lyon section than torefer to the corporate selfishness which also rages elsewhere: "they are not theonly ones to show professional selfishness". And if there is fault, it is to besought on the side of the women themselves: "And to feminists, I answer thatwomen are responsible for the deplorable mentality of which they complain. Theyare the ones who are usually responsible for the education of the children. Whydon't they raise them in a spirit of fairness, of consideration for women?»[9].The assistant secretary of the federation, Liochon is much more decided in hisopinions. He actively supports the anti-feminine policy of the Lyon section ofwhich he recalls the effectiveness of the method of "gradual eviction" of typotesand recalls the excellent figures "one hundred typotes eliminated in thirtyyears! "His arguments are unstoppable: "It is because for me the question arisesas follows: women should not work in typography. She has no place there. She isand can only be a Saracen. The boss only hires her because he pays her less thanthe man and she is more docile"[10]. And when the interviewer asks him if heshouldn't fight to increase the woman's salary (in the original text, woman isalways put in the singular) Liochon, replies "that she wouldn't want it", andthen "if we ask for equal pay, the typote will laugh in our face and will notwant to unionize"! And assuming it does, "in that case, the boss would kick herout," her work being "considerably inferior in quality to that of the man"[11].Marie Guillot among the other revolutionary delegates at the CGT congress inLyon, September 1919The business is now launched. Francis Millon, a revolutionary trade unionist, onbehalf of the minority of the Lyon section, responds to them in the now dailycolumn "A serious problem. The industrial work of women" from La Bataillesyndicaliste. He criticizes not only the majority of the Lyon section, but alsothat of the federation and more broadly the attitude of many corporationsvis-à-vis the question of women's work. For him, the remedy for the exploitationof women is entirely contained in trade union action. Recalling the famouswatchword "for equal work, equal pay", he concludes with the statement of adoubly revolutionary program: "and that they also and above all rely on directaction and on their personal energy to free both from the sometimes brutaltutelage of men and from the enslavement imposed by employers"[12]. We find inthese words the same criticism formulated a year earlier in Le Libertaire towardsthe CGT about its inaction for gender equality in an article entitled "Thefeminist battle". The author concluded his presentation with these words: "Letthe motto shine at the door of each Labor Exchange: "Work has no sex." That inthe functions of the CGT there are as many women as men: a step will be takentowards the final liberation.»[13]Following in particular this series of articles in La Bataille syndicaliste,several local sections disavowed the Lyon section of the Syndicat du Livre aswell as others within the CGT. Faced with pressure, the federation's centralcommittee decided to reinstate Louis Couriau but not Emma, who had founded herown women's union. The Couriau affair comes at a time when the trade unionmovement is being strongly challenged on the issue of women's work and theirunionization by libertarians and revolutionary trade unionists on the one hand,and by feminists on the other. The case then took on a whole new dimension,notably being publicized outside union circles by the union activist and feministMarie Guillot[14]who strongly criticized the attitude of the CGT in this case inan article published in La Voix du Peuple, the official organ of the CGT inJanuary 1914 triggering a series of articles in various organs of the tradeunion, feminist or libertarian press.David (UCL Chambery)To validate[1]Marie-Victoire Louis, "The Couriau Affair", in This Violence We No LongerWant. Trade unionism and sexism, n°7, 1988.[2]Same.[3]Same.[4]Notice "Couriau Louis, Auguste" by Marie-Cécile Bouju, Julien Chuzeville,version posted on March 24, 2020, last modification on October 7, 2022 on Maitron.fr.[5]Notice "Couriau Emma" by Madeleine Guilbert, notice completed by JulienChuzeville, version posted on March 30, 2010, last modification on September 24,2022 on Maitron.fr.[6]Emma Couriau, "Anti-feminist unionists", La Bataille syndicaliste, August 21,1913.[7]In reference to "Don't mourn, Organize! expression taken from the telegramsent by Joe Hill, trade unionist and American singer, after his death sentence,to Bill Haywood, leader of the union of revolutionary trade unionist orientationIWW: "Goodbye, Bill, I die like a true rebel. Don't waste time grieving. Organize!»[8]Le Réveil syndicaliste, January 2012.[9]La Bataille syndicaliste, August 25, 1913.[10]Same.[11]Same.[12]The Syndicalist Battle, August 26, 1913[13]Father Barbassou, "The Feminist Battle", Le Libertaire, August 17, 1912.Reprinted by Clara Schildknecht, Hardi, Compagnons! Masculinity and anarchistvirility in the Belle Époque, Éditions Libertalia, 2023, p. 163https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?L-affaire-Couriau-1913-le-Syndicat-du-Livre-contre-la-syndicalisation-des_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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