the original CGT and reformism
Dec 26 2006 14:22
the recent thread on the FAI got me thinking about this - and i apologize if this has already been discussed recently and i missed it or something 
how *did* the CGT go reformist? i've never seen a very thorough history of the CGT. Anarchist accounts i've read discuss the CGT when it was still pretty decent, then get to the difficulties WWI posed for it, and then say little more about it beside that it ended up going reformist not long after.
and, from non-Anarchist histories which deal with France during and after WWII, the CGT is described as little more than a Communist (ie: bolshevik) - controlled organization, being pseudo-revolutionary when the CP needed some agitation, and being reformist when it suited the CP's plans.
so, how *did* it get from point A to point B? did WWI break the back of the CGT, crushing its resolve? did the CGT at some point get a large influx of (militantly) reformist-minded workers who pushed it away from its libertarian origins? did CP members work their way through while it was still libertarian and tear it apart from the inside, as they were so effective at doing at that time (the CP would've been able to use the recent Russian Revolution to even gain *public* popularity for their ideas within the CGT, i have no doubt - they might not have even needed to be sneaky about co-opting the CGT)? or something different than these things?
thanks, ahead of time, for any info you folk can give.
Dec 26 2006 14:28
#2
here's something I wrote, which goes into this
Dec 26 2006 14:29
#3
Ah, you guys are killing me with all the different threads....and they all get cross wired, interesting and so forth... but....maybe we can think of a way to have a consolodated discussion?
---mitch
Dec 26 2006 14:48
#4
Sorry. wrote:
here's something I wrote, which goes into this[url=]http://libcom.org/history/1895-1921-the-cgt-france[/url] edit - changed the link here so it works to avoid confusion - Jack
The link doesn't work. It goes to the History home page.
Dev
Dec 26 2006 14:51
#5
how's about now?
Dec 26 2006 14:52
#6
edit - nevermind, you already editted
Dec 26 2006 15:07
#7
(I just edited again to put in the new-style address for it)
Dec 27 2006 01:22
#8
syndicalist wrote:
Ah, you guys are killing me with all the different threads....and they all get cross wired, interesting and so forth... but....maybe we can think of a way to have a consolodated discussion?---mitch
i was actually going to post this in that FAI thread, but i thought "nah, it's a separate topic, dont wanna derail it"
thanks for the article, sorry 
Dec 27 2006 04:46
#9
Comrades who are interested in a variety of articles (mostly in French) on the origins and practices of the CGT should go to: http://www.fondation-besnard.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=34
I've been been previously criticized for not mentioning thie site in maintained by CNT-Vignoles. Whatever. It's a treasur trove of information on many topics related to anarcho-syndicalism and revolutionary syndicalism. A good source for some primary materials.
--mitch
Dec 27 2006 14:13
#10
BTW, I know there's some discussion elsewhere, but one of the criticisms I've heard from French anarcho-syndicalists (CNT-AIT) is that the Charter of Amiens and its "non-political" (as opposed to an anti-political)stance allowed for problems to follow. That is, the failure to transform the CGT from a revolutionary syndicalist union to an anarcho-syndicalist union allowed for reformist and social democratic tendencies.
crap. while i was posting this, Sorry made a pretty good (and brief) explanation in the FAI thread
never mind!