ABSTRACT
From the late nineteenth century, labour presented the French state with a triple challenge. First and most dramatic was the rise of trade unionism. This was accompanied by a sharp increase in strikes, culminating in a period of industrial militancy from 1904 to 1910 for which the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), founded in 1895, was widely held responsible. Labour relations became a matter of acute public concern and hence of public policy. The official response centred on the preservation of order, resulting in fierce clashes between strikers and troops. In 1908-9, the principal CGT leaders were imprisoned, and in 1910 a national rail strike was broken by the military mobilisation of the strikers.1 But there were also more constructive initiatives. Locally, prefects and justices were habitually called in as arbiters in industrial disputes. Nationally, attempts were made to reform labour relations, notably by Millerand in 1899-1900 (including an unsuccessful plan for compulsory arbitration) and by Briand in 1909. These efforts were hampered by the relatively low level of employer and worker organisation compared to other industrial societies, plus the often mutual hostility of the two parties and their shared suspicion of the state. But the creation of a full Ministry of Labour in 1906 testified to a persistent vein of bureaucratic reforming optimism in the field of labour relations.2
