In the concluding chapter of this book, the possibilities of a change in the character of French syndicalism which were indicated in the first edition are left unchanged. Developments are not yet ripe to warrant any definite conclusion. Of course, some very important phenomena have taken place. The most significant, perhaps, is the development of the iron and steel industry in the eastern parts of France, particularly in the Department Meurthe-et-Moselle. Something very similar to what happened in the steel industry of the United States is happening there; large plants are being erected, gigantic industrial combinations are being formed, labor organizations are relentlessly fought, and foreign workers are imported from Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Austria and other countries. Under these conditions, new problems are thrust upon the French labor movement, and it is significant that the Federation of the metal workers has played the leading part in the recent campaign against the "anarchistic" tendencies of the General Confederation of Labor and has demanded a return to the platform of Amiens (1906) and to a more definite program of labor demands. This does not mean a change in the ideas of French syndicalism, but it certainly indicates a tendency towards the more positive work of organization and of purely trade conquests.
It may be many years, before the struggle of tendencies in the General Confederation of Labor is determined either way. Meanwhile, the significance of French Syndicalism to the world of thought and action has become greater than it was before. France continues to present both the ideas and activities of syndicalism in the most lucid and developed form.
This fact, I take it, has been partly responsible for the keen interest in the first edition of this book and for the necessity of bringing forth a second edition.
INTRODUCTION, by Professor Franklin H. Giddings 17
CHAPTER I THE LABOR MOVEMENT IN FRANCE TO THE COMMUNE(1789-1871)
Legislation of French Revolution on trade associations; law le Chapelier, 1791--Laws of Napoleon--Prohibition of strikes--Violation of these laws--Secret labor organizations in France: compagnonnages, societies of resistance--Revolution of 1848 and the co-operative movement--Influence of Louis Blanc--Reaction during the fifties--Revival of labor movement in 1862--Effort of French Workingmen to break legal barriers--New law on strikes in 1864--Toleration of labor unions by Government of Napoleon III--Syndicats and co-operation--Failure of co-operative central bank in 1868--Communistic and Revolutionary tendencies in "The International"--Success of "The International" in 1869--Franco-Prussian War and its influence on the French labor movement 19