Resignation of the leader of the CGT: the precedent of Victor Griffuelhes – BBC

Resignation of the leader of the CGT: the precedent of Victor Griffuelhes – BBC

In 1909, Victor Griffuelhes is forced to leave his post as General Secretary, amid internal dissensions. This situation is reminiscent of Thierry Lepaon under pressure.

What would Victor Griffuelhes the battle is conducting Thierry Lepaon to stay at the head of the CGT? The general secretary of the workers’ union is trying to maintain, despite the scandals that accumulate. Forced to resign, he resists, as was done in his time Victor Griffuelhes, which however will eventually surrender in 1909.

But the route of the two men in the CGT Yet radically different. When Griffuelhes became general secretary of the union in 1901, he found himself at the head of an aggregate of federations to separate fighting despite common claims. “The CGT, founded in 1895, while the union is a young, still fragile,” recalls Michel Dreyfus, a researcher at CNRS and specialist syndicats.Il then work tirelessly to unify the struggles. “It is he who prepares the Congress is voting on motions, organizes battles. It is found everywhere, and its activity is relentless, “reads the biography published in the brochure libertarian The Men of the day shortly before his resignation.

Victor Griffuelhes, the architect of Unit

Its action results in 1906 on the organization of the first general strike on May 1 for the eight-hour day. A few months later, Victor Griffuelhes further reinforces a little more its leadership role by adopting the Charter of Amiens, at the trade union congress held in the eponymous city. This marks just over the will of the general secretary of the union put on the field of revolutionary struggle against capitalism by means of a general strike.

But this fight is some teeth gnashing of the CGT .dropoff window Two years later, some reformists enjoy the imprisonment of Griffuelhes following a violent demonstration to pass a motion that Griffuelhes had already opposed at previous conferences. His return is complicated by the hostility of some of the union executives. Supported by the base but abandoned by his peers, Victor Griffuelhes was forced to resign in 1909.

A resignation to lance the boil?

The comparison is not to The advantage of Thierry Lepaon. Where Griffuelhes was the architect of the unit, the current secretary general of the CGT has not been able to gather. Since its disputed election at the head of the union there two years, it accumulates blunders, turning the labor union into “old lady unworthy”. Whoever dreamed “normal general secretary” has turned into a commander of a CGT drifting, which is struggling to mobilize as shown by the recent call for strike-little monitoring and in transport.

A resignation Lepaon she would sign the end of the CGT? Nothing is less certain. “The trade union movement has experienced many crises, says Michel Dreyfus. A resignation could paradoxically help to lance the boil. “If that were the case, the fate of Lepaon then look more like that of John Kaspar. Dropped by the leaders of the CFDT, the secretary general eventually resigned in 1992 to make way for Nicole Notat. A strategic retreat that allowed the union to progress during union elections that followed, as Jean Kaspar had prophesied. When he resigned, he said, and he “are moments when the fate of a trade union is more important than the personal fate.” The CGT could recall dryly Thierry Lepaon.