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| Revolutionary Syndicalist General Confederation (CGT) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Revolutionary Syndicalist General Confederation (CGT) |
| Founded | 1895 |
| Headquarters | Paris |
| Key people | Georges Sorel; Émile Pouget; Fernand Pelloutier; Victor Griffuelhes; Alfons Pegrem |
| Ideology | Revolutionary syndicalism; anarcho-syndicalism; syndicalism |
| Area | France; Europe; Latin America |
Revolutionary Syndicalist General Confederation (CGT) was a major French labor confederation rooted in late 19th-century syndicalist theory that played a central role in early 20th-century labor struggles. Emerging from the traditions of the Paris Commune and the International Workingmen's Association, the CGT combined direct action, strikes, and workplace organization to influence figures across Europe and Latin America. Its leaders and affiliates engaged with thinkers and movements such as Georges Sorel, Émile Pouget, Fernand Pelloutier, and the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, shaping debates among reformists and revolutionaries including Jean Jaurès and Rosa Luxemburg.
The CGT traced intellectual roots to the aftermath of the Paris Commune, the debates of the First International, and the militants of the Dreyfus Affair era, consolidating in the 1895 congress in Limoges and later in Paris. Early leaders like Victor Griffuelhes and Fernand Pelloutier synthesized ideas from Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin, and Karl Marx-influenced syndicalists to define a distinct strategy of general strikes and workplace control. The confederation grew through alliances with craft unions from Textile Workers' Federation (France) and Metalworkers' Federation (France), while clashing with the reformist French Section of the Workers' International and parliamentarians such as Léon Blum. During World War I the CGT experienced splits influenced by stances taken at the Zimmerwald Conference and by the Russian Revolution of 1917, leading to the formation of the Confédération générale du travail unitaire and interactions with the Communist International and the Second International.
The CGT's ideology synthesized doctrines from Revolutionary syndicalism, Anarcho-syndicalism, and the writings of Georges Sorel, especially his work on the myth of the general strike and the role of violence in class struggle. It promoted industrial unionism akin to practices in the Industrial Workers of the World and advocated direct action inspired by Bakuninist federations and the traditions of French socialism. Debates within the CGT invoked positions from Jean Jaurès's parliamentary socialism, Rosa Luxemburg's mass strike theory, and the reformist criticisms of Eugène Varlin, shaping policies on issues like syndical autonomy, anti-militarism, and the relationship to the Socialist International.
Organizationally the CGT combined local trade unions, national federations, and a federal council modeled partly on the structures of the First International and the Union of Revolutionary Trade Unions in other countries. Key organs included a national congress, regional federations in Île-de-France, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, and Brittany, and sectoral federations for miners, railway workers, metalworkers, and textile workers. Leadership figures such as Victor Griffuelhes and Raymond Péricat emerged from union committees and workers' councils influenced by the Parisian municipal socialism tradition. Internal schisms produced rival bodies including the CGTU and local revolutionary councils modeled on soviets and the Industrial Workers of the World's assemblies.
The CGT organized or influenced major labor actions including the 1906 dockers' strikes in Marseilles, the 1910 general strikes in Le Havre and Lyon, and the 1936 wave that intersected with the Popular Front and strikes in Saint-Nazaire. Earlier campaigns drew inspiration from the 1892 miners' strikes in Loire and the 1902 railway strikes that linked to international solidarity networks such as the International Transport Workers' Federation. Tactics emphasized mass pickets, workplace occupations reminiscent of actions during the Spanish Civil War by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, and coordination with peasant movements like the Larzac protests in later generations.
Relations with parties and movements were complex: the CGT alternated between cooperation and conflict with the French Section of the Workers' International, the French Communist Party, and syndicalist groups like the Syndicalist League. Personalities such as Jean Jaurès and Léon Blum debated tactics with CGT leaders, while the CGT maintained contacts with international anarchist networks including Errico Malatesta and Emma Goldman. The confederation interacted with reformist trade unions in United Kingdom and revolutionary unions like the IWW in the United States, and negotiated with employers and state institutions during episodes such as the 1936 Matignon Agreements involving Léon Jouhaux.
Internationally, the CGT influenced and was influenced by the Industrial Workers of the World, the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo in Spain, and Latin American labor movements in Argentina and Brazil. CGT delegates engaged with the Amsterdam International and later forums where syndicalist currents intersected with the Red Trades Union International and the Amsterdam International Federation. Ideas from the CGT reached activists like Buenaventura Durruti and Santiago Carrillo and contributed to tactics used during the Spanish Civil War and labor mobilizations in Portugal and Italy.
The CGT's legacy includes the institutionalization of direct-action tactics, the spread of industrial unionism, and theoretical contributions from figures like Georges Sorel that influenced 20th-century radicalism. Its conflicts with socialist and communist parties shaped French politics through the interwar period and informed postwar labor structures such as the reconstituted CGT and rival unions like Force Ouvrière. Historians connect CGT traditions to later movements including the May 1968 events, the revival of anarcho-syndicalism in the 1970s, and contemporary debates in European trade unionism involving the European Trade Union Confederation and transnational labor organizing.