To carry out the decisions of the Congress, the Confederal Committee appointed a special commission to direct the movement for an eight-hour day. The Commission sent out a questionnaire to all syndical organizations, asking all those who were in favor of the movement to lend their help. A number of manifestoes, posters and pamphlets were published and spread abroad in tens of thousands of copies in which the meaning of the movement and its importance were explained. In the trade-journals, in the cars, in the streets, and wherever possible, brief mottoes were posted, such as: “Eight hours of work means more rest and more health,” “To work more than eight hours means to lower your wages,” etc. On the Bourse du Travail of Paris a big placard was put up with the words: “From the first of May, 1906, we shall not work more than eight hours.” Delegates were sent out on repeated tours into the province to carry on the propaganda and agitation. On the first of May, 1905, over 150 meetings were arranged in different parts of France at which the question of the eight-hour day was considered.
As May 1, 1906, neared, the agitation in the country became more and more intense. A number of events helped to increase the agitation. In March, 1906, a catastrophe occurred in the mining districts of Northern France which resulted in the loss of workingmen's lives. A strike accompanied by violence followed. In April, the letter carriers of Paris struck, causing some disorganization in the service for a few days.
Toward the end of April the number of strikes and manifestations increased in Paris. The agitation was exploited by the enemies of the government and particularly by the monarchist papers. The Government of M. Clemenceau, on the other hand, tried to discredit the movement by spreading rumors that a plot against the Republic had been discovered in which monarchists and leaders of the Confederation were involved. The Voix du Peuple published a protest of the Confederal Committee against this accusation. Nevertheless the government searched at the same time the houses of Monarchists, Bonapartists and of leading members of the Confederation, and on the eve of the first of May, it arrested Griffuelhes, Pouget, Merrheim and other syndicalists together with a number of well-known monarchists.
The first of May found Paris in a state of siege. Premier Clemenceau had collected numerous troops in the capital. Since the days of the Commune Paris had not seen so many. Among the bourgeoisie a real panic reigned. Many left Paris and crossed the Channel. Those who remained in Paris made provision for food for days to come. The papers spoke of the “coming revolution” which the General Confederation of Labor was to let loose on society.[197]
The strike movement was very wide. According to official statistics, the agitation of the Confederation affected 2,585 industrial establishments and involved 202,507 workingmen. The sweep of the movement may be grasped from the following table giving the statistics of strikes in France since 1892:
| Year | Number of strikes | Number of establishments | Number of workingmen |
| 1892 | 261 | 500 | 50,000 |
| 1893 | 634 | 4,286 | 170,123 |
| 1894 | 391 | 1,731 | 54,576 |
| 1895 | 405 | 1,298 | 45,801 |
| 1896 | 476 | 2,178 | 49,851 |
| 1897 | 356 | 2,568 | 68,875 |
| 1898 | 368 | 1,967 | 82,065 |
| 1899 | 740 | 4,290 | 176,826 |
| 1900 | 902 | 10,253 | 222,714 |
| 1901 | 523 | 6,970 | 111,414 |
| 1902 | 512 | 1,820 | 212,704 |
| 1903 | 567 | 3,246 | 123,151 |
| 1904 | 1,026 | 17,250 | 271,097 |
| 1905 | 830 | 5,302 | 177,666 |
| 1906 | 1,309 | 19,637 | 438,466 |
| 1907 | 1,275 | 8,365 | 197,961[198] |
The movement assumed various forms in different trades. The printers, for instance, pursued their conciliatory methods and obtained a nine-hour day in about 150 towns. In some trades the strikes developed a more or less acute character and continued for several months after the first of May.
Some of the “reformists” declared that the movement was a complete failure.[199] According to official statistics,[200] the results of the strike movement were as follows:
| Demand | Success | Compromise | Failure | ||||||
| Strikes | Establishments | Strikers | Strikes | Establishments | Strikers | Strikes | Establishments | Strikers | |
| 8 hour day | 2 | 5 | 45 | 13 | 1,970 | 25,520 | 88 | 7,556 | 109,786 |
| 9 hour day | 36 | 135 | 2723 | 28 | 994 | 30,750 | 45 | 755 | 17,023 |
| 10 hour day | 40 | 582 | 7409 | 16 | 220 | 2,000 | 27 | 368 | 7,251 |
The revolutionary syndicalists did not claim much material success, but they argued that this had not been expected. The main purpose of the movement, they asserted, was, “by an immense effort, to spread among the large mass of workingmen the ideas which animate the militant groups and the syndical organizations. The problem to be solved, at first, was, thus, by means of a vigorous propaganda to reach the workingmen who had remained indifferent to the syndicalist movement.”[201] And this task, in the opinion of the revolutionary syndicalists, had been accomplished. The agitation had aroused the workingmen in all parts of France.