France, Alternative Libertaire AL (#252) n° spécial -
unionism, Read: Georges Yvetot, "The union ABC" (fr, it, pt)
[machine translation] (a-infos-en@ainfos.ca)
This thin booklet had helped train a generation of militant and revolutionary trade
unionists in the early twentieth century. Permanentat, modes of action, structuring the
union ... These questions are far from being obsolete, a hundred and ten years later. It
deserved a reprint! ---- Written in 1906 by Georges Yvetot, a leader of the CGT, the
brochure Training just be a repeat. ---- The opportunity to discover this trade unionist
who was the champion of the anarchist current within the CGT, whose record in the
dictionary Maitron anarchists said its "specialty", within the confederation, was
anti-militarism and unpatriotic[1]. ---- While one might expect a dated text, most of the
news about remains a glaring. As the saying goes, "there is no point reinventing the hot
water." Although its purpose is to provide turnkey tools to create a union, it's probably
not the (short) part on the filing of articles that will hold the attention of the modern
reader. Back to the roots and foundations of trade unionism it is beneficial.
When Yvetot addresses the workers reluctant to join unions you smile thinking of those
comrades who think original of "wanting to preserve their freedom" while the argument
seems already in vogue in 1906. The reflection on the constitution of funds Strikes also
hold the attention as their food sometimes takes a central role in the struggles.
Permanent modes of action (boycott, sabotage, partial strikes ...), the union organization
or structuring corporation or industry complement the text. These questions continue to be
discussed.
The comrades of Salvador Segui of the FA group that publish this little book do in a
training objective and complete union formations, they consider quality, issued by the
CGT. It is a concern that any revolutionary militant sharing as training is crucial, both
to ensure real democracy in the union and to provide everyone with the tools needed to
struggle and emancipation. Finally when Le Monde wrote an entire article to answer the
question "What is a union? "He had done better to refer to Yvetot that perfectly
summarizes the answer: it is the union grouping the workers to improve their conditions of
life and work. The union tends to the removal of the employers and wage labor.
This little book which is added a known text, Sabotage, Emile Pouget (report voted by the
CGT confederal Congress 1897) is to put all hands as permitted his little practical size
and affordable price.
Aurélien (AL Paris Sud)
Georges Yvetot, The ABC union; Émile Pouget, Sabotage, Anarchist Group Salvador Segui,
2015, 159 pages, 5 euros.
[1] A portrait dedicated to him in William Davranche, Too young to die. Workers and
revolutionaries faced with war (1909-1914), The Insomniac / Libertalia, Montreuil, 2014.
http://www.alternativelibertaire.org/?Lire-Georges-Yvetot-L-ABC
