The Daily Worker Newspaper, January 26, 1924, Page 7

—— ; j : i Communists and Syndicalists in French Trade Unions - 8y SIMON FELSHIN With the coming of the second wave of international revolution, changes are taking place in the in- ternational movement. New align- ments are brought about by the force -ef events. There is a constant fer- mentation going on, and the revolu- tionary forces are redressing their lines everywhere in the class strug- gie which is inevitably leading to new, decisive battles between the working class and the forces of cap- italism. In keeping with this international endeavor on the part of the revolu- tionary workers the werld over to elear for action, the radical French trade unions thru the Congress of their organization have announced that they will fight hand in hand with the Communists te bring about the downfall] of the common enemy, French imperialist capitalism. Decisive Victory. At the recent Congress of the Confederation Generale du Travail Unifie (C. G. T. U) or Unified Gene- yal Confederation of Labor, which was held in the city of Bourges from November 12 to November 17, 1923, the vote stood 1,114 to 220 in favor of staying in the Red International of Labor Unions The Congress of Bourges accepted the idea of organic connection between the French Com- munist Party and the C. G. T. U., as well as between the Red International of Labor Unions and the Communist International, The final vote on orientation of the trade unions was 971 unions for the majority resolu- tion and 356 unions in the opposition. The victory was decisive. The two groups which were opposed to the majority on the question of orienta- tion of the trade unions united in the final vote, tho they differed on the question of adhesion to the Red In- ternational of Labor Unions. The Groupes Syndicalistes Revolution- aires (G. S. R.) or pure syndicalists as they term themselves were in favor of remaining in the Red Inter- national of Labor Unions, but were opposed to organic connection with the Communist Party, and they were for the rejection of Communist ideas. The other minority group, the Comi- te de Defense du Syndicalisme (C. D. S.), or Committee for the Defense of Syndicalism, was composed of Anar- cho-Syndicalists who were for leaving the ed International of Labor Unions, and for the.absolute autono- my of the French trade unions. Strange Combination in Minority. There was a strange combination against the majority in the C. G. T. U. It was a combination of Fros- sardists, so called pure Syndicalists, and Anarcho-Syndicalists. The oppor- tunists and the dogmatists seemed to find each other congenial company. This combination was denounced at the Congress, and the sponsors of the alliance found it hard to explain mat- ters. Communist Party Will Lead in Revolu $ 3 g i : F i ue i force the Communist Party and un- der its direction to push the revolu- tion ahead in France. A united, real- ly revolutionary C. G. T. U. can ac- complish mighty deeds, for it is pow- erful, It includes the unions of al- most all the industries, the organized workers of the following trades: con- struction, railroads, metal, mining, textile, public service, ports and docks, agriculture, food and numer- ous minor industries. The Congress of Bourges refused to take measures against the Com- munist committees in the trade unions on the contrary, it indorsed them. It decided that the Commun- ist Party has a right te have its com- mittees within the C. G. T. U., it has a right to have control of its members within the trade unions. This decision practically ends the illusion that the trade unions can lead in the revolu- tionsry struggle. The organized, class-conscious revolutionary workers of France recognize that the Com- munist Party is the natural leader in the struggle to overthrow capitalism. The Congress indorsed the commit- tees of action composed of represent- atives of the Communist Party and the trade unions. ¥ Frossard Is Repudiated, The Congress of Bourges was a blow at Frossard who, since his ig- nominious exit form the Communist Party on the eve of the Ruhr inva- sion, has been hard at work maneuv- ering for power in order to deliver the Communist Party and the revolu- tignary trade unions into the hands of Albert Thomas, Renaudel, Blum, and consequently into the hands of the Bloc des Gauches (the left bloc) of bourgeois liberals and socialists. It is his aim to liquidate the Commun- ist Party, as Paul Levi wanted to do in Germany. The Opposition Characterized. After the Congress, Monmousseau, one of the leaders of the C. G. T. U., wrote: “an opposition ean only live as long as it stands upon a positive program and only when it is faced by a majority which has fallen back be- fore revolutionary events. As our minority lacked these two conditions it is being torn apart: anarchists and resisters, splitters and unitarians, minority and majority of the Con- federal Minority, when struck by the wind of defeat, fall to wrangling with one another. Let us therefore profit by this circumstances in order to re- pair the harm already done.” Cc. G, T. U. No Debating Club. No more sterile discussions, no more wrangling, no more looking backward at the past and dragging in the old Charter of Amiens at ey- ery occasion, this antiquated Charter of 1906 which rejected political ac- tion for the trade unions. The Charter of Bourges is a permanent thing. It has been arrived at only after consid- erable dissension within the revolu- tionary trade union movement. Now, the C, G. T. U. can go over from — debating to revolutionary ac- n. Change At Right Moment. The great fight at Bourges was up- on the orientation of the trade un- ions, and this fight has been decided to the satisfaction of all those who | German reyolution that the minority showed itself absolutely helpless, The minority broke on this very question. It did not break on an abstraction, geois pacifists such as George Pioch, it had men who fwere still under the influence of their socialistic tatics, as for instance Paul Louis who is a pedant and no revolutionist. And it was practically led by the slick, shrewd, smooth-tongued, demagogic, arch-opportunist Frossard. Frossard; like a chameleon, could change his color quite often—at one time he was a pleader for Jean Longuet, the centrist par excellence, and at an- other time he battled for the ideas of Syndicalism. While the French Communist Par- ty was honeycombed with all sorts of dangerous tendencies, the radical trade union movement was undergo- ing tremendous struggles to orient it- self upon the way of revolution. It had its internal dissensions. Stripped for Battle. But at sent the Communist Party has "been cleared of its unde- sirable elements. Frossard, Favre, Pioch, Meric, Paul Louis, and others like them with tXeir sparse follow- ing are out, And when they left others came in. The Communist Par- ty of France is growing continually. When Frossard left the French Com- munist Party, two great revolutionists joined it, Henri Barbusse and Pierre Monatte. The Communist Party is stripped for battle. And with the Congress of Bourges parties. But Monmousseau defended the Conference of Essen which brought together representatives of the Communists parties of Germany and France as well as of the revolu- tionary trade. unions to devise ways and means to launch a common ac- tion against the invasion of the Ruhr. The Conference of TFssen gave vitality to the Committees of Action. The Conference of Essen was a historical conference. It brought to mind Zimmerwald and Kienthal, but it was more than that, for it did not represent insignificant minorities of isolated militants. It rep- resented masses of workers. The cap- italists grasped its significance and raised an uproar in their press. Only doctrinaires, stiffnecked dogmatists who nvorship a hellow formula, a dead abstraction could have failed to realize the meaning of the Confer- ence of n. General Strike to Aid German Revolution. The minority even showed that it is opposed to a general strike in France as an aid to the German revo- lution, for the speakers of the minor- ity got up and accused the ma- jority of having decided for an insur- rection, whereas the truth is that it was decided to prepare the general strike which will be called according as revolutionary developments in Ger- many require it. The minority showed itself to be sterile, a confusion of dogma and op- the C. G. T. U. has turned into a; portunism, devoid of a will for re- potent, a sure factor of the revolu-| volution, lacking in the international tion. as Monmousseau, Semard, Rosmer, Tommasi, Monatte. Formidable Lineup. Now that strong ties have been established between the Communist Party of France and the C, G. T. U- up against the forces of capitalism, It has taken a long time for this to hap- pen, but it has not come too late. The German revolution will not find the revolutifnary workers of France unprepared. Once the German work- ing class rises against its masters it wil find a powerful ally in the united forces of the revolutionary proleta- riat of France. : Role of France. There were times when we all thought with sinking heart how far France had drifted from its glorious role of pioneer in revolution. ~ But we may rejoice that French imperial- ism, with its overweening ambition, nvith its audacious schemes of Euro- pean supremacy of France, with its dreams of world power, wil] be faced by a mighty opponent, It was on the question of the atti- tude of the C. G. T. U. toward the but a concrete question of a practical program of action. Everything else was tied up with this very question, for this was the question of revolu- tionary action. Syndicalism Negates Revolution. The Syndicalists are against the dic- tatorship of the working class, yet a revolution in Germany is unthinkable without the proletarian dictatorship. It_is laughable to think that it can be carried out according to the idle dreams of the Anarchists who are against dictatorship, or that it can has| be absolutely necessary for the tran- sitional period. The Syndicalists are against any kind of government, in- cluding a government of the working chass—they ache for a free society, where the administration of things will be carried on by the Anarcho- t|Syndicalist trade unions which are self-sufficient. The Syndicalists re- fuse to accord the Communist Party any place in. the revolution. Yet a revolution is an impossibility in Germany without the leadership of the Communist Party, without the leadership of these same “dirty poli- ticians” as the Syndicalists are pleas- ed to call the Communists,. The Mi- nority wanted the complete autono- my, the independence of the trade unions of France, yet the revolution is practically impossible in Germany without international action, with- out backing on the part of the work- el ath — The minority was nst committees composed | of Communists in the trade unions. Yet these committees are the means which the revolutionary forces will be consolidated in order to meet the forces of the enemy. of Essen, minority depounced' the Con- Essen, as a surrender of we have in France a formidable the trade unions to the Communist!the exploited against the exploiters, Tt has aWle leaders, such) view-point, hating revolution. Oratory Plus. The debate that took place at the Congress of Bouyges was marked by the usual French eloquence, but it ‘was not simply a display of oratory. It was a highly interesting and highly valuable discussion of ideas, of theo- ries, principles, tactics; it was an analysis of conditions and facts, it was a thoro examination of programs, of proposed measures. Besnard, leader of the Anarchists, in his speech glorified the Berlin Workers’ International as the true, the pure, the undefiled International which would have nothing to do with these “criminal” Communists. He spoke of the Berlin International as being an immense organization, tho ordinary human beings are. hardly aware of its existence. Certainly it has not reached the point where it can be taken seriously. He made charges of broken faith, of betrayal, of hobnobbing with Communists. “I am against everything which strikes at the autonomy and independence of the French trade unions,” cried Bes- nard, and that was the refrain that ran throughout his speech. This a autonomy must not be touch- ed. Semard made a brilliant reply to Besnard. “In this revolutionary work”, he said, “the trade ufions, placing the revolution above all sys- tem and all theory declare themselves ready to accept the aid of all other revolutionary forces.” Monmousseau’s Eloquence. But it was Monmousseau who rose above all the rest by his impassion- ed, brilliant oratory, his logic, his truth. “Permit me to be more ortho- dox than Pierre Semard,” Monmous- seau said to the Congress. “I am a defender of the Communist Interna- tional.” “Will you please tell us,” he cried turning to the Syndicalists, “what would you oppose to the regu- lar and irregular troops of the Ger- man reaction which held in check the armies of the Entente for so many years? Will you please present to us your scholarly and well-wishing formula, your positive program, not only of revolutionary defense, but of revolutionary action. Where there is no red army, where there is no dic- tatorship of the proletariat, the same thing must happen as happened in Italy.” , No Issues Evaded. The Congress of the C. G. T. U. left no pressing question undecided, no important problem undiscussed. It went to the roots of things. It evad- ed no issues. It cacme out with a- sound program based solidly on cor- by| rect understanding of the situation, on a correct analysis of the facts, on correct theories and principles, a pro- gram of correct tactics for the revolu- tionary struggle against French im- perialism in aid of the German revo- lution, and of the world revolution of