Before taking up the history of the Confederation after 1902, a general outline of the constitution adopted at Montpellier must be given. Passim will be indicated the changes that have been made since.
The General Confederation of Labor consists of National Federations of industries and trades,[180] of National Syndicats, of isolated single syndicats (in that case only if there is no national or regional federation of the trade, or if the federation does not adhere to the Confederation), and of Bourses du Travail, considered as local, departmental or regional central unions.[181]
Every syndicat adhering to the Confederation must fulfil the condition of so-called “double adherence;” that is, it must belong to its national federation of industry or trade, and to the Bourse du Travail of its locality. Besides, every federation must have at least one subscription to the Voix du Peuple, which is the official organ of the Confederation. These conditions, however, were, and still are disregarded by a considerable number of syndicats.[182]
The General Confederation is represented by the Confederal Committee which is formed by delegates of the adhering organizations. Each organization is represented by one delegate in the Confederal Committee. This point should be noticed as it is the cause of struggle within the Confederation. It means that a large Federation has only one delegate and one vote in the Confederal Committee, just as another smaller Federation. The number of delegates in the Confederal Committee, however, is not always equal to the number of adhering organizations, because one delegate may represent as many as three organizations. The delegates must be workingmen who have been members of their syndicat for at least a year.
The General Confederation has five central organs; two sections and three commissions. The first section is called: “The Section of Federations of trades and of industries and of isolated syndicats;” the second is “The Section of the Federation of Bourses du Travail.”[183] The three commissions are (1) the Commission of the journal; (2) the Commission of strikes and of the general strike, and (3) the Commission of Control.
The two sections are autonomous in their internal affairs. The first section is formed by the delegates of the National Federations of trades and industries. They take the name of Comité des Fédérations d'industries et de metiers. This section appoints its own secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, and archivist, who form the executive committee of the section. This section collects monthly from every adhering organization 40 centimes[184] for every hundred members, or for any fraction of a hundred; isolated syndicats pay five centimes monthly for each member.
The Sections of Federations of industries and trades is convened by its secretary and meets whenever necessary. Its functions are to promote the organization of new federations and to maintain relations between the adhering federations. It takes “all measures necessary for the maintenance of syndical action in the field of economic struggle.” It also tries to induce isolated syndicats to join their Bourses du Travail.
The “Section of the Federation of Bourses du Travail” is formed by the delegates of the local, departmental and regional central unions. The delegates take the title of Comité des Bourses du Travail.[185] The section appoints its own secretary, assistant secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, and archivist, and these five members form the executive committee of the second section. It collects from the Bourses du Travail 35 centimes monthly for each adhering syndicat.[186]
The second section promotes the creation of new Bourses du Travail and coördinates the activities of the adhering Bourses. Its functions embrace “everything that bears upon syndical administration and upon the moral education of the workingmen;” its task is to collect statistics of production, of consumption, of unemployment; to organize gratuitous employment bureaus, to watch the progress of labor legislation, etc. It also tries to induce single syndicats to join their national federations. This section also meets whenever necessary at the invitation of its secretary.
The Commission of the Journal is composed of twelve members, six from each section. It appoints its own secretary. The journal must be edited only by workingmen-members of the Confederation.