ABSTRACT
This chapter shows the very trades and neighborhoods that rallied to the Ligue syndicate, clearly establishing link between shopkeeper mobilization and the crisis of the 1880s. The Parisian industries that coped most effectively with the slump were precisely those which manufactured cheap consumer goods, goods designated as la camelote. The Spuller Commission of 1884 heard testimony of unremitting gloom from dozens of chambres syndicates, from both workers and employers, corroborating the depth and extent of the economic downturn. The slump was devastating to the labor-intensive luxury industries of central Paris, doubly hit by restricted domestic demand and declining sales on foreign markets. The commercial sector of Parisian economy suffered a serious and prolonged recession in the 1880s and 1890s. Urban transformation provides the beginnings of an explanation for the Ligue syndicate's peculiar geographical and professional profile. The divisions which culminated in the break-up of central Paris' commercial community at the end of the century were sown in part by Haussmannization.
