The fight against the far right is not only an electoral matter, it is
also played out at the union level. The positions taken by several tradeunion centers against the National Rally, calling for a blockade at the
ballot box, remind us that historically, trade unions have always
opposed the far right. From the 1930s to the Vichy era, trade unionists
stood up to say how the political project of the far right is opposed to
trade unionism.
The far right is powerful, that is a fact. Its importance in France is
added to its rise in Europe as these European elections have
demonstrated. Already at the helm of several European states, often
within the framework of coalitions, his ideas have infused to such an
extent that now the leaders of the right are forming alliances and they
do not need to be in power for elements of their program to be applied
by others, like the immigration law proposed by the French government
and adopted with the votes of the RN. Today, confronting them is
therefore becoming difficult. But one actor does not intend to
compromise with them, sometimes even in spite of its activists: the
unions. Even these days, they took a position of five (CFDT, CGT, FSU,
Solidaires and UNSA) to engage all their militant forces to oppose the
arrival in power of Marine Le Pen's party, which attests to their
principled and fundamental opposition to the extreme right[1]. These
unions did not wait for confirmation through the ballot box of the
intentions attributed to voters by pollsters, and the astonishing
announcement by the President of the Republic, to confront the danger.
Thus, on April 16, the CGT and the CFDT met with other European unions
at the Bourse du Travail in Paris to discuss the influence of the far
right in the workplace and the means to combat it[2], thus demonstrating
their attachment to a commitment made long ago, which dates back to the
first breakthroughs of the National Front in the municipal elections in
the early 1980s.
The forms of opposition to the far right are expressed differently
depending on the organizations, in connection with their own history and
the principles defended. But this opposition is very real, almost
identitarian for the unions which carry within themselves a vision of
social relations contrary to the societal project of the far right. It
is no coincidence that they are regularly attacked by the various
figures in this camp, from Louis Aliot for whom unions are "useless" to
Marine Le Pen who does not deprive herself of any opportunity to contest
their legitimacy or the merits of their action[3]. Beyond words, it is
also union premises that are also often targeted by the far right in the
street, and in particular those of Solidaires and the CGT.
1934: faced with the fascist danger, the two CGTs come together
To understand the union opposition to the far right, we must go back to
what happened in 1940 or 1958, even more than what was done during the
Popular Front. At the time, following the coup orchestrated by the
far-right leagues on February 6, 1934, the two main union forces of the
time, the CGT and the CGTU, separated since 1921, decided to reunite in
a single organization: it was necessary to "make a stand"[4].
Demonstrating together as they did the day after the event, on February
12, was not enough: it was necessary to confirm the unity of forces
against the enemy. This led to the joint congress in Toulouse in March
1936, prepared for many months (the reunification process had been
launched in the fall of 1934 by the first official meetings between
leaders while already, at the grassroots, unions were uniting without
waiting for confederal instructions)[5]. The unions had anticipated the
broader movement of the left as a whole, which showed itself ready to
unite when the danger of a far right in power took shape.
In 1940, their position towards Vichy further showed what fundamentally
opposed them to this political current of fascist inspiration: it began
with the signing of a common text, "French unionism, what it remains,
what it must become" (later known as the "Manifesto of the Twelve")[6].
After the publication by Vichy on November 9 of a decree announcing the
immediate dissolution of the union centers, allowing only local
structures to exist, twelve union leaders, three from the CFTC and nine
from the CGT, put their names at the bottom of a text which, without
being revolutionary, attacked Marshal Pétain's conception of the French
State and its social organization.
Unionism against corporatism
Two principles are ardently defended in the Manifesto: union plurality
and independence from the State. Faced with the desire to design a
single union that would remove all autonomy by placing it in the same
structure as the employers, following the corporatist model (which will
be implemented in the form of social committees of the establishment),
the text asserts the first principle of freedom of association (choice
to join or not to join a union) and the free choice of its organization.
While it recognizes the State's role in the proper functioning of the
economy and its need to play the role of arbiter, unionism cannot,
however, submit to it, which is summarized by the following formula:
"unionism cannot claim to absorb the State. Nor must it be absorbed by
it." Faced with the Pétainist project, partly developed by a former
trade unionist, René Belin, who wanted to be the heir to Christian
social doctrine and who made the class struggle disappear, i.e.
objectives shared in this manifesto, the signature of these trade
unionists, particularly Christians, is symptomatic. Other leaders also
agreed to participate in the Vichy regime's Labour Charter. But there
are principles that remain intangible and which explain the adherence of
these leaders to the manifesto and their entry into the Resistance, in
the name of this defence of freedom, a principle that they would then
take up again at the Liberation by refusing the single central union
envisaged by the CGT in the extension of the "Interconfederal
Understanding Committee" in operation since May 1944. The CGT had
initially proposed the establishment of a platform for unity of action
to achieve organic unity (September 1944) and then submitted the idea of
a merger (March 1945).
No racial discrimination for unions
The "Manifesto of the Twelve" also shows a clear and unequivocal
opposition to any form of xenophobia and anti-Semitism while the regime
has just promulgated its decree on Jews, excluding them from certain
professions and making them a category apart from French citizens. Faced
with these laws, the text rejects all discrimination: "French unionism
cannot admit distinctions between people based on Race, Religion, Birth,
Opinions, or Money. Every human person is equally respectable",
explicitly condemning anti-Semitism. Each time, the CFTC has refused to
engage in anything that goes beyond unity of action, arguing that union
pluralism is "one of the highest expressions of the exercise of freedom
and democracy"[7].
Against De Gaulle's coup d'état
1958 is another key moment that demonstrates the commitment of unions to
defending democratic principles and respecting the rule of law. The CGT
and what is still the CFTC participate in the demonstration of May 28,
which aimed to defend republican legality and "democratic freedoms"
against De Gaulle's seizure of power following the insurrection
orchestrated by the French of Algeria and the army on the 13th, which
had led to the creation of a Committee of Public Safety at the origin of
the appeal to De Gaulle. In the days that followed, while De Gaulle,
without condemning the coup, displayed his willingness to take "the head
of a government of the Republic", and while the army orchestrated the
increase in pressure on the territory (a committee of public safety
established in Corsica, the possibility of a communist coup d'état
regularly announced), Pflimlin agreed to resign under pressure from
President René Coty. De Gaulle could then be appointed President of the
Council under the conditions that he himself had set, namely full powers
for six months to modify the constitution. The procession of May 28,
however, only brought together 200,000 demonstrators, demonstrating that
if the union headquarters had held firm to their principles, the
militant bases had little desire to defend the regime of the Fourth
Republic.
Today, these ideals continue to fuel the fight against the extreme
right. Of course, the RN program does not go so far as to propose the
dissolution of union organizations. But, in the "great reform of the
unions" as it was presented during the last presidential campaigns, it
is indeed a question of limiting the already meager extent of their
power and of placing themselves implacably on the side of the employers.
This is the meaning conveyed, for example, by the ban on picket lines or
the prior vote of all employees before any work stoppage (announced for
a time as the reform of professional elections or of representativeness
to weaken existing unions).
The RN's "union project" has a taste of the 1940s
Basically, it is the same project, in 1940 as today, with these
inflections specific to the character of history that "does not repeat
itself": as a self-organization of workers who refuse to fall into line
meekly behind the designated leader, unions must be recognized in their
legitimacy to carry the employee's voice in a completely autonomous way
with the means they choose to give themselves, within the framework of a
state of law. To deny them this capacity is to deny the very principle
of their existence.
Today, it is in the name of this incompatibility that most union
organizations exclude members who appear on an RN list; it is in the
name of these principles that they can go as far as the voting
instruction according to various modalities. This does not mean that
trade unionism is immune to the far right - opinion polls show that
adherents to their ideas are making progress within the unions - but
these struggles, at the top as well as at the bottom, demonstrate to
what extent the unions do not compromise, in actions as in ideas. Not
everyone can say the same.
Claude Roccati, historian
Validate
[1]See the declaration of the inter-union that met on June 10 at the
headquarters of the CGT: "After the shock of the European elections,
social demands must be heard" by Elena Gianini Belotti.
[2]The interventions of this day are available on the CGT website, in
the article "Debate of European unions: together against the far right!"»
[3]Louis Aliot: "Unions are the undertakers of the economic and labor
world[...]they are useless", BFM TV, August 25, 2022.
[4]See "February 1934: From the reactionary coup attempt to the
anti-fascist surge", Alternative libertaire, February 2024.
[5]René Mouriaux, The CGT, Seuil, 1982, pp. 69-72. See also Georges
Pruvost and Pierre Roger, Unite! The unfinished history of union unity,
Éditions de l'atelier, 1995, pp. 95-117.
[6]"Manifesto of the Twelve"
[7]Motion adopted at the September 1945 congress, see Gérard Adam, The
CFTC 1940-1958. Political and ideological history, Armand Colin, 1964,
p. 103.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Syndicalistes-donc-antifascistes-Le-syndicalisme-francais-face-a-l-extreme
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