Strike Ban Lifted

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Strike Ban Lifted

France 1864

Synopsis

On 25 May 1864 the French Corps Legislatif passed the Coalitions Law, effectively granting French workers the right to strike. The law revised earlier legislation that had classified the formation of workers' coalitions, or labor unions, as a criminal offense. For most of the early nineteenth century, French governments had regarded strikes, and indeed most forms of labor organization, as a serious transgression against the rights of industry. However, during the Second Empire, the government embarked upon a program of liberal reform, which made it look more kindly upon the requests of workers to be granted the right to strike. The 1864 change in the law was part of an attempt on the part of Napoleon III to woo the laboring classes and secure the Second Empire on a broad base of popular support. The law was not successful in this sense, as it failed to win the workers' gratitude and loyalty; instead, it contributed to an increase in labor agitation and militancy. Nevertheless, the law was a significant shift in the attitude of French authorities towards the rights of workers and stimulated the development of trade union activity in the later nineteenth century.

Timeline

1844: Samuel Laing, in a prize-winning essay on Britain's "National Distress," describes conditions in a nation convulsed by the early Industrial Revolution. A third of the population, according to Laing, "hover[s] on the verge of actual starvation"; another third is forced to labor in "crowded factories"; and only the top third "earn[s] high wages, amply sufficient to support them in respectability and comfort."
1849: Elizabeth Blackwell becomes the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree.
1854: In the United States, the Kansas-Nebraska Act calls for decisions on the legality of slavery to be made through local votes. Instead of reducing divisions, this measure will result in widespread rioting and bloodshed and will only further hasten the looming conflict over slavery and states' rights.
1857: Start of the Sepoy Mutiny, an unsuccessful revolt by Indian troops against the British East India Company. As a result of the rebellion, which lasts into 1858, England places India under direct crown rule.
1860: Louis Pasteur pioneers his method of "pasteurizing" milk by heating it to high temperatures in order to kill harmful microbes.
1862: Victor Hugo's Les Misérables depicts injustices in French society, and Ivan Turgenev's Fathers and Sons introduces the term nihilism.
1864: General William Tecumseh Sherman conducts his Atlanta campaign and his "march to0the sea."
1864: Founding of the International Red Cross in Geneva.
1864: George M. Pullman and Ben Field patent their design for a sleeping car with folding upper berths.
1866: Austrian monk Gregor Mendel presents his theories on the laws of heredity. Though his ideas will be forgotten for a time, they are destined to exert enormous influence on biological study in the twentieth century.
1870: Beginning of Franco-Prussian War. German troops sweep over France, Napoleon III is dethroned, and France's Second Empire gives way to the Third Republic.
1873: The gold standard, adopted by Germany in 1871 and eventually taken on by all major nations, spreads to Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland. Though the United States does not officially base the value of its currency on gold until 1900, an unofficial gold standard dates from this period, even as a debate over "bimetallism" creates sharp divisions in American politics.

Event and Its Context

Antiunion Laws

The history of labor legislation in nineteenth-century France began with the Le Chapelier Law of 1791. Intended to buttress the liberty of industry that had been established with the abolition of the trade corporations, the law forbade any citizens from acting together in the interests of their profession. While this was intended to prevent both employers and workers from forming coalitions, in practice it was used almost exclusively to prevent workers from organizing. In the Napoleonic Era additional legislation was implemented to prevent workers from organizing for economic or political reasons. A law enacted on 22 Germinal, Year XI (11 April 1803) specifically banned workers from organizing with the aim of challenging established wages or hours of work. This ban was reconfirmed in 1810 by Articles 414, 415, and 416 of the Napoleonic Penal Code, which also increased the penalty for leading a strike from two years to five. Workers' mutual aid societies were also technically illegal but were tolerated during the Napoleonic and Restoration period. In 1834, in response to waves of strikes following the radicalization of workers after the 1830 revolution, the July Monarchy passed more repressive laws making any gathering of more than 20 people potentially illegal. (July Monarchy refers to the Restoration government of France, 1830-1848. It was charged with preserving the principles of the French Revolution, which began in July 1789, while simultaneously restoring and maintaining civil order.) For the first half of the nineteenth century, most attempts by workers to organize were regarded as an attack on the rights of industry. Therefore, workers had little recourse to protest against exploitation or unfair work practices. The state had at its disposal a formidable arsenal of legal regulations designed to prevent workers from organizing.

Labor in the Second Empire

Louis Napoleon (Napoleon III) had an interest in the problems of labor dating back to the 1830s. He concluded that the support of the workers was crucial to the success of Bonapartism. During the 1848 revolution, he had received the support of democrats and republicans and even briefly convinced the socialist theorist Louis Proudhon of his commitment to social change. However, after the coup d'etat in 1851, the Second Empire was dependent on the traditional elites, who supported Napoleon III as a bulwark against the workers and the extreme left. The brief toleration of labor organization that occurred during the Second Republic was replaced with repression and surveillance by an authoritarian regime, which alienated the workers. However, Napoleon remained committed to projecting an image of himself as a populist ruler. Convinced that the July Monarchy had foundered because it had alienated the workers, he wanted the regime to show concern for the0problems of the laboring classes. To this end, government propaganda attempted to convince the workers of the benefits of the Second Empire. The regime tried to present itself as an impartial judge in industrial disputes, and local administrators were instructed to act neutral in labor disputes, to the extent that some major industrial companies accused local prefects of siding with workers. The government showed itself to be willing to intervene in the market to help soften the impact of economic fluctuations. It also provided financial aid to workers' mutual aid societies, as long as these concentrated on self-help rather than economic or social agitation. The extensive public works of the era, such as Baron Hausmann's redesign of inner city Paris, were also touted by the regime as beneficial to the workers, although the thousands made homeless by the project may have disagreed.

Despite these efforts, the working classes remained suspicious of the regime. It was apparent that they needed more than paternal gestures of good will to win them over. Many workers were openly discussing topics such as the right to strike and form trade unions. It was these kinds of issues that the Second Empire needed to address, if it was to be seen as responsive to the concerns of the laboring classes. The regime's need to gain the trust of the workers became more urgent as its support from other sources dropped away. This was demonstrated in poor election results for the government in the late 1850s and early 1860s. Free trade policies and support of the nationalist cause in Italy had alienated much of the Second Empire's support. In response, the emperor embarked upon a concerted policy of liberalization and reconciliation with the left. Serious overtures towards the laboring classes began around 1860, when the emperor's liberal cousin, Prince Napoleon, set up a worker's discussion group that came to be known as the Palais Royal. While this group helped produce Bonapartist propaganda aimed at the workers, it also served as a channel through which the regime could become acquainted with issues that concerned the workers. The group was closely involved with the organization of a workers' delegation to the 1862 London exposition, which was supported by the government.

In this atmosphere of greater concern for the grievances of the workers, strikes became more widely tolerated. The case of the 1862 printers' strike highlighted the changing attitudes. Several printers who struck for a wage increase were charged under the antiunion laws. The liberal lawyer Armand Levy defended their case. Nine workers were convicted of violating the laws against strikes, but Napoleon III personally intervened to grant clemency to the men. This indicated both the emperor's intent to appear as the champion of the workers and the regime's softening attitude towards strikes. From 1862 the government-authorized newspaper, L'Opinion Nationale, began a campaign calling for a repeal of the ban on strikes. The right to strike was regarded by many left-wing liberals as a natural corollary of the liberalization of trade. The 1860 Cobden-Chevalier commercial treaty with Great Britain opened France up to a more competitive economic environment. The ensuing expansion of industry created the possibility of greater exploitation and hardship for workers. Unless the government was willing to prevent this by intervening more actively in the complicated arenas of wages, hours, and working conditions, allowing the workers permission to strike seemed the easiest way to normalize labor relations.

The 1864 Coalitions Law

Therefore, the desire to win over the workers and left-wing sections of society resulted in a government investigation into the legalization of strikes. The liberal politician Emile Ollivier was appointed as the head of the committee appointed to consider the matter. The resulting legislation was a product of Ollivier's research into the English Combination Act of 1825, which had legalized strikes in certain circumstances. The Coalitions Law of 1864 modified Article 414, 415, and 416 of the penal code. By removing the word "coalition" from the category of actions regarded as criminal, the amendment effectively recognized the legal right of workers to strike. However, certain acts associated with coalition remained punishable crimes. These acts included the use of "violence, coercion, threats or fraudulent maneuvers" in the attempt to bring about a strike, or the use of fines, prohibitions, or bans in plans to prevent people from working. This meant that while workers were allowed to strike, there were severe limits on the methods that they could use to organize strikes, and they were prevented from taking any actions against strikebreakers.

Consequences

Napoleon III's hopes of achieving reconciliation with the left through the reform failed. The legislation received a mixed reception and was attacked by both the left and the right for a variety of reasons. Predictably, representatives of industry were opposed to the change in legislation, arguing that granting workers the right to strike would result in an increase in strikes and disruption to industry. However, the workers and left-wing liberal supporters of the right to strike were not satisfied either. They had sought a straight repeal of the antiunion laws and were not impressed with the reservations and provisos that Ollivier had written into the legislation. While the act of organizing itself may have no longer been a punishable offense, too many actions associated with strikes were still regarded as crimes. In particular, the definition of the vague term fraudulent maneuvers as criminal offenses caused concern, as authorities could interpret almost any activity associated with striking as a fraudulent maneuver. In addition, the right to strike was somewhat hollow without the accompanying right to hold public meetings. Without this right, trade union organization was subject to police harassment, and only spontaneous strike activity was technically legal. This placed a limit on the extent of labor organization, although the regime did become broadly tolerant of workers' meetings and organizations. Changes to the laws of association in 1868 allowed union meetings under certain conditions, but trade unions were not officially legalized in France until 1884.

Despite the continued restrictions, it is generally agreed by historians that the legislation did lead to an increase in strikes. Instead of normalizing labor relations and reconciling the workers with the government, however, the mid-to-late 1860s saw a rise in industrial militancy, as workers took the opportunity to organize and press their demands for better wages, hours, and working conditions. After so many years of authoritarian repression, the liberalization of the Second Empire was interpreted not as a gesture of reconciliation, but rather as a sign of weakness that invited exploitation. Government officials complained of the ingratitude of the workers in abusing the right to strike granted them by a benevolent emperor. However, many French workers felt that improvements in wages and conditions would have to be torn from recalcitrant employers rather than bestowed upon them. This controversy provided a major stimulus to the development of the French labor movement.

Key Players

Levy, Armand (1827-1891): Liberal lawyer and journalist during the French Second Empire. Levy had been a revolutionary opposed to Napoleon III but moved closer to the regime in the early 1860s. He defended several printers charged with breaking the laws against strikes and contributed to the newspaper campaign seeking the repeal of laws against workers' coalitions.

Napoleon III (1808-1873): Louis Napoleon, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and emperor of the French Second Empire. Louis Napoleon's desire to win the workers' support was the main impetus behind the 1864 Coalitions Law, which effectively granted French workers the right to strike.

Ollivier, Emile (1825-1913): Liberal lawyer, responsible for drafting the 1864 legislation. Originally a republican, Ollivier alienated liberal colleagues by collaborating with the government in the drafting of the legislation.

See also: June Days Rebellion; Paris Commune.