Fellow travellers : Communist trade unionism and industrial relations on the French railways, 1914-1939 / Thomas Beaumont.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beaumont, Thomas, author.

Series:

Studies in labour history (Liverpool University Press) ; 13.

Studies in labour history ; 13

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Railroads--Employees--Labor unions--France--History--20th century.

Railroads.

Communism--France--History--20th century.

Communism.

Railroads--Employees--Labor unions.

History.

France.

France--Politics and government--1914-1940.

Politics and government.

France--Social conditions--20th century.

Social conditions.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 271 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Liverpool : Liverpool University Press, 2019.

Summary:

Fellow Travellers examines the shifting practices and strategies adopted by Communist militants as they sought to build and maintain support on the railways. In a period in which the Communist party struggled to establish a foothold in many French workplaces, activists on the railways bucked the trend and set down deep and lasting roots of support. They maintained this support even through the sectarian period of the Comintern's shift to class against class, deepening their participation within railway industrial relations and gaining the experience of engagement with managers and state officials upon which they would build during the years of the Popular Front. Here France's railway employees joined alongside their fellow workers in shaping a new social contract for workers, extending the principle of democratic representation into the workplace. While the Popular Front experiment proved shortlived, its influence was long lasting. In the post Liberation period, the key tenets of the Popular Front experience re-emerged within the nationalised SNCF, shaping the particular character of railway industrial relations - the peculiar mix of collaboration and hostile confrontation between management and workforce that continues to make the French railways one of the most contested sectors of the modern French economy. -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The Professional World of the Railway Workers p. 3

Railway Workers and the Interwar Labour Movement p. 6

1 Railway Workers at War p. 15

Mobilisation p. 18

Class and Nation p. 26

L'Impôt du Sang p. 30

Working the Wartime Railways p. 34

Contre les Compagnies, Pour la Nation: War Weariness and the Remobilisation of Opinion p. 39

1917: Popular Attitudes to War p. 39

The Cost of Living Crisis p. 40

The National Union and its Programme p. 43

The 'Minoritaires': Against the Sacred Union p. 45

Conclusion: The Armistice p. 49

2 Railway Workers and the 'Après Guerre' p. 51

Railway Workers and the 'Spirit of 1919' p. 52

Demobilisation and the Transport Crisis p. 54

Bidegaray and the Majority Leadership p. 56

May Day 1919 p. 62

Reform and Revolution After 1 May p. 64

Cheminots and the Metalworkers' Strike, June 1919 p. 67

1920 p. 71

Precursors to May: The Strikes of January and February 1920 p. 72

May 1920: The Great Strike p. 79

3 Railway Workers and the Communist Choice p. 85

Railway Schism p. 86

Bolsheviks and Syndicalists: The RILU and Divisions within the CGTU p. 91

The Founding of the CGTU p. 91

The Syndicalists and Moscow p. 95

Party and Union p. 105

4 Stabilisation p. 115

Cheminot Unionism after 1921 p. 116

Stabilising the Railway Industry p. 117

The Amnesty Campaign p. 121

Red for Danger: Surveillance on the Railways p. 124

The Railway Companies and the Professional World of the Cheminots p. 126

Contesting Managerial Authority: Cheminots Rabkory p. 129

5 International Connections p. 137

Cheminot Internationalism p. 137

Internationalism: The Soviet Union p. 145

The Ruhr p. 149

The Rif War p. 158

6 'Hostile Participants': Communists and Railway Industrial Relations' in the 'CI ass-against-CI ass' Era, 1928-1934 p. 161

Workers and the Depression p. 162

Responding to the Crisis: The SFIO and the CGT p. 169

Responding to the Crisis: The Communists p. 171

'Class-against- Class' p. 171

The Path to Participation p. 174

Beginning Participation p. 180

Rationalisation and the Railways p. 185

The Politics of Railway Safety p. 193

7 Railway Workers and the Popular Front: From Victory to Defeat, 1934-1939 p. 203

Towards the Popular Front p. 207

1936 p. 212

Spain p. 221

The Popular Front and the Railway Industry p. 223

November 1938: Defeat of the Popular Front p. 228

The Nazi-Soviet Pact p. 233.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Electronic version: Beaumont, Thomas. Fellow travellers.

ISBN:

1789620805

9781789620801

OCLC:

1089435531