Evening star., 1947-12-22
French Labor Splits

The major split in the ranks of French
organized labor which has just occurred
Is the logical result of the efforts OF Com
munist leadership to subordinate the eco
nomic interests of the working class to
the program of world revolution directed
from Moscow. The revolt of the anti
Communist elements has more than local
significance. 1t typifles struggle going
on within labor ranks in many lands, in
cluding our own. And this struggle is
essentially a return to the original ideals
of the labor movement, which aimed at
bettering the lot of the workers through
higher wages, shorter hours, improved
working conditions, and job security.
This was certainly the program of the
French General Confederation OF Labor
when it W.. founded in 1885, And 1t is
significant that the leader of the present
revolt against Communist domination Is
none other than Leon Jouhaux, one OF the
considerations charter members, who be-
came It's guiding spirit from 1909 until he
was forced to share authority with a, Com
munist last year.
The story of Communist infiltration into
the CGT, as the Federation is called in
France for short, is familiar one, paral-
lelled by that of many other labor unions
in our own country and elsewhere. Deter
mined and well-disciplined Communist
groups gradually acquire key posts within
the union and ultimately impose their will
upon the unthinking or il-organized
majority of the membership. BY clever
mixture of economic and class appeals
the members are gradually maneuvered
into actions which serve Communist ends.
The climax recently came in France, when
the CGT precipitated series Of strikes
clearly political in character and aiming
at the paralysis OF French economic life,
the overthrow of the existing government,
and the creation of what Communists
term "a revolutionary situation"
However, this bold gamble involved a
dropping of the mask and revelation of
Communist aims for all to see. The result
was not only breaking of the strikes by
the government backed by an aroused
national consciousness of the French
people as whole, but also growing defec-
tions among the ranks of organized labor
Although the CGT claims 100000 men,
bers, not more than half of these actually
followed the strike commands, while fully
one-fourth stopped paying their union
dues. Furthermore, many of the strikers
went out in protest and were held in line
only by coercion and downright terrorism
from Communist "goon squads"
This growing internal revolt has now
crystallized in mass secession from the
CGT and the formation of new organ
ization to be known as The Labor Force
(Force Ouvriere) headed by Leon Jouhaux
and other veteran labor leaders. Some
unions appear to have seeded almost un-
animously, while others are deeply split.
Already the membership Of the new organ
ization is estimated to exceed 100000,
and the probabilities are that the defec-
ton has only started
OF course, the tight Communist leader
ship Of the CGT retains control and is
waging fierce struggle to maintain its
hold. But this return to orthodox labor
ideals appears to be in line with the
national awakening in France to the
Communist peril, while the government,
on its part, is evolving plan to satisfy
labor's legitimate economic grievances due
chiefly to rising prices and imitation. The
prospects for the freeing of French labor
from the Communist incubus seem, there
fore, to be bright.