History of May 1st in France (2)
From the Courrière disaster, to the May 1, 1906 (demonstration for the 8-hour workday).
On March 10, 1906, a violent explosion occurred in the mines of northern France, known as the "Courrières catastrophe." The human toll of this disaster was 1,099 deaths.
As a result, a strike was declared in the following days. At the same time, following Maurice Rouvier's resignation, Jean Sarrien succeeded him as President of the Council. Georges Clemenceau was appointed Minister of the Interior. On March 15, Emile Basly gathered the Miners' Union of Pas-de-Calais (also called the "old union") at his town hall in Lens. The Miners' Union Federation of Pas-de-Calais ("young union" - affiliated with the General Confederation of Labour) met at the People's House in Lens. The leader of this miners' union, Benoît Broutchoux (an anarchist), presented the union's main demands: 8 hours of work and 8 francs of salary. The "yellow" workers openly opposed the strike and even encouraged repression.
On March 17th, there are 32,000 strikers. Emile Basly convenes a new congress of the "old union" to reach a consensus on the demands to be presented the following day during the meeting with representatives of the mining companies. It is then that Clemenceau intervenes in Lens; the "Tiger" expressed his intention to send troops to protect the pits from agitators likely to commit acts he considers unacceptable. Clemenceau calls for calm, affirming that the government will do its best to prevent clashes between strikers and the "forces of order." Basly and Clemenceau sign an agreement to have the mines guarded by the army.
Clemenceau attempts to negotiate with Benoît Broutchoux's union. He was welcomed at the Maison du Peuple with the cry of "Long live the strike," and he declared: "It is not my place to discuss your demands. I am here only to tell you that the Government of the Republic intends to uphold legality for all. The strike is, for you, an absolute right that cannot be contested. [...] If among you there are wrongdoers who want to destroy the wells, I must prevent them and have the mines guarded by troops, because the gendarmes would be insufficient. The soldiers will come at night and will be stationed there: they will have no contact with you. [...] What I ask is that, when work resumes partially, you respect the freedom of work, just as I uphold your right to strike."
The two unions are clashing. Basly violently attacks Broutchoux and the other anarchist unionists: "Look now at who these people are and where they come from. One is an unemployed teacher, another is a glassmaker, another is an anarchist journalist, the fourth is also an anarchist, and on top of that, a thief. None are from the coal basin; all come from Paris or elsewhere, without being called by anyone, with money coming from someone, to sow worker division." His proposal to demand a salary of 4.8 francs plus bonuses is rejected. 104 delegates out of 166 vote in favor of a demand for a fixed minimum salary. Four sections even attempted, unsuccessfully, to revive the demand for "8 hours, 8 francs."
On March 18th, only the Basly union is authorized to meet with the employer delegation in Paris, led by Jean Casimir PĂ©rier (former President of the Republic), who only offers a 10% wage increase. On March 19th, approximately 50,000 strikers are counted. Notable solidarity begins to develop, especially through food support from socialist municipalities. Additionally, the strikers show their support for bankrupt merchants.
Emile Basly and Jean Jaurès campaigned at the podium of the Chamber of Deputies for the nationalization of the mines. On March 20th, in Lens, the "old union" gathered at the town hall and discussed their demands to confront the mining companies and the unity of action with the "young union," a unity with which Basly strongly opposed. Nevertheless, in many pits, the action was entirely joint between members of both unions. The "young union" met at the House of the People and pressured the "old union"... 2,000 unionists gathered in front of the Lens town hall; Basly requested police protection! Broutchoux was arrested and then sentenced to two months in prison. On the same evening, Pierre Monatte (CGT – at that time editor-in-chief of L'Action Syndicale) and "Citoyenne Sorgue" (Antoinette Cauvin) led a meeting at the House of the People. The two unions continued to clash...
Clemenceau sends military reinforcements. 20,000 soldiers are present. From then on, Clemenceau and the SFIO begin to clash in the Assembly. Repression then begins to intensify. On March 25th, 15,000 people demonstrate. Basly announces the organization of a referendum on the response to be given to the proposals of the employers. Basly hoped to gain the legitimacy to call for a return to work. The referendum results: 32,000 votes in favor of continuing the strike, 18,000 votes for resuming work. On March 30th, a yellow (a type of militant supporter) shoots into the crowd, killing a 20-year-old unionist. Violence escalates: employer-owned houses are looted, and repression does not weaken. Explosives are used to break communication lines and telegraph lines. Churches opposed to the strike movement are dynamited. The Mining Union Federation of Pas-de-Calais dissolves into strike committees at each mine shaft. The old union is outdated. The socialist mayor of the mining town Montigny-en-Gohelle is sentenced to one month in prison for allowing the strikers to act.
On April 4th, a new survivor of the disaster is found by the "rescuers" (who had, until then, recovered thirteen survivors). He recounts that he had been left for dead since March 10th.
On April 10th, a new union congress in Basly, Lens, discusses whether to maintain the demand for 8 francs. The negotiations on April 14th, imposed by the government on the companies, are doomed to failure. The clashes intensify once again.
The radicalism of the "young union" increasingly appeals to the workers.
Thanks to the efforts of the CGT, the strike gains momentum. Miners from Loire and Gard go on strike on April 15th. The strike movement spreads to metallurgists in Pas-de-Calais on April 17th, then to glassmakers, postal workers, and typographers. Since the mining companies were employing foreign miners, solidarity strikes erupt in the Saar mines.
In Liévin, striking miners take refuge in the coal mines and prevent the cavalry charges by knocking down telegraph poles onto the roadway. The army charges multiple times from different sides but must retreat in the face of a barrage of projectiles. Around 9 p.m., the striking miners abandon their position in front of an infantry regiment's charge.
On April 22, significant military reinforcements arrive. Arrests multiply, targeting especially the CGT union and young strikers. The streets are cordoned off, making any gathering impossible. Monatte is charged.
As May 1st approaches, Clemenceau warns Victor Griffuelhes (the General Secretary of the CGT) that he will be held responsible for any disturbances, and mobilizes 45,000 soldiers in Paris. The government also pressures the companies to resume negotiations.
On April 27, 1906, L’Echo de Paris headlined "The Coming Revolution...". The liberal and conservative forces of France were worried about the upcoming demonstration scheduled for May 1st. The CGT (General Confederation of Labour) was causing concern. Here is the article from L’Echo de Paris: "Will it be a red day? Will the leaders of the Confederation play their all? [...] Is it not better to prevent the riot rather than having to suppress it? [...] Whatever the intensity of the revolutionary movement, order will be maintained in Paris. But has this order ever been so seriously threatened? The question, on the eve of the elections, must be posed to those who, for the past ten years, have allowed—or even encouraged—the revolutionary parties. Syndicates have been permitted to establish themselves as a state within a state, organizing rebellion."
In this newspaper, one of Louis LĂ©pine's right-hand men. the police prefect of Paris, outlines the "precautionary and security measures":
"We are facing agitation from groups or workers' unions, supported and encouraged by the Confederation of Labour, which have not organized themselves with the intention of what they are planning. And what are they planning? Initially, it was to obtain an eight-hour workday through the unemployment of all workers' unions. For the past two years, a canvas banner, which Mr. Lépine, by the way, despite all his efforts, has not been able to remove from the façade of the Labour Exchange where it is displayed for all to see, announces that starting May 1, 1906, workers will only work eight hours a day. [...] Mr. Lépine knows the strategic points in Paris that must be occupied to make any insurrection impossible: out of about a hundred points, in agreement with the military authority—which will deploy, outside the regular garrison, 20,000 soldiers, including 5,000 cavalrymen from nearby army corps—we will distribute a police and security force of 36,000 men, all included. [...] You can imagine that if we leave 500 protesters marching in the street singing La Internationale, this group will soon grow and snowball, reaching 1,000, 2,000, 10,000, 50,000... Not this. That could turn into a riot, and we would have to resort to artillery. Well! We won't let it come to that. Protesters and unemployed will not be allowed to circulate outside the designated area under any circumstances."
On April 30, L’Echo de Paris announced a tightening of police measures. The idea was to ban demonstrations and to arrest the leaders of the movement beforehand. Thus, just a few hours before the demonstration, Victor Griffuelhes (general secretary of the CGT) and Albert Lévy (treasurer) were arrested. "The arrest of the Secretary-General of the Confederation of Labour caused shock throughout the workers' world. Whatever the events may be, let them not be the prelude to worse provocations, more insane measures, and may the government stop on the blind alley into which it seems to have recklessly embarked." (L'Humanité - May 1, 1906)
On May 1, 1906, at 8 a.m., 146 arrests have already been made. Barricades are erected, and throughout the day, clashes occur between law enforcement and protesters. Starting at noon, even though no incident had taken place, the police nevertheless decided to make arrests 'to save appearances'. More intense charges take place in the afternoon. In the evening, the charges continued until seven thirty in the Faubourg du Temple, Fontaine-au-Roi Street, Folie-MĂ©ricourt Street, and Quai Valmy. The crowd of protesters soon regrouped afterward. Several times, warnings were issued, and then the troops advanced and charged with bayonets.
There are about a dozen deaths and 860 arrests, and lots of injured people, much more than the 60 reported by the police.
Consequently, Clemenceau earned his reputation as a strikebreaker. In the Chamber of Deputies, he was regularly criticized by the SFIO. Justifying the repression by the violence of the strikers, Jaurès responded to him that "Violence is a coarse, palpable, and graspable thing among workers: a threatening gesture, it is seen, it is noted. An act of intimidation is recognized, observed, and brought before the courts. The very nature of workers' action, in this conflict, when it is exaggerated or intensified, is indeed to proceed through visible and tangible acts of brutality. Ah! The employers do not need, to carry out violent actions, disorderly gestures or tumultuous words! A few men gather in secret, in safety, within the privacy of a boardroom, and without violence, without disorderly gestures, without raised voices—like diplomats talking around a green table—they decide that a reasonable wage will be refused to the workers; they decide that workers who continue the struggle will be excluded, will be expelled, will be marked with imperceptible signs known to other employers, to be universally condemned by the employers. This does not make noise; it is the deadly work of the machine which, in its gears, in its rolling mills, in its belts, has taken the trembling and crying man— the machine doesn’t even creak, and silently, it crushes him."
