The events of Villeneuve St. George aroused the press and the government against the Confederation. The “Confederal Committee,” wrote the Temps, “is not an instrument for trade conquests. It is a purely insurrectional Committee. It should be treated as such.” The government arrested all the leading members of the Confederal Committee.
On the 4th of August, as a move against the government, the Confederal Committee which constituted itself after the arrests and of which M. Luquet was temporary secretary, admitted the Federation of Miners with 60,000 members into the Confederation. The Federation of Miners had for some time expressed its wish to enter the Confederation, but certain difficulties, more or less personal, had stood in the way. After Villeneuve St. George these difficulties were smoothed and the adherence of the Miners to the Confederation was made possible.
The events of Villeneuve St. George aroused some protests within the Confederation. The collisions and the bloodshed were ascribed by the opponents of the Confederal Committee to revolutionary methods and “anarchist” tactics. The polemics between the “reformist” and “revolutionary” elements which had not ceased since the Congress of Amiens now became more and more bitter.
In September, 1908, the Congress of the Confederation met at Marseilles. The reports to the Congress showed that the Section of Federations of industries counted 68 federal organizations with 2,586 syndicats and 294,398 members; total receipts amounted to 24,719 francs. The Section of Bourses counted 157 Bourses du Travail with 2,028 syndicats and with a budget of 16,081 francs.
The Congress of Marseilles expressed its sympathy with the arrested members of the Confederation, and “denounced before the entire public the abominable procedures” of the government. The reports of the Confederal Committee were approved by 947 with none against and 109 blanks, “not because the members of the Confederal Bureau were arrested, but because the acts of the Bureau and of the Confederal Committee were the expression of the mandate entrusted to them.”
The Congress of Marseilles rejected the proposition to apply the principle of proportional representation which was again advanced. It discussed the question of industrial and trade unionism and decided in favor of the former, inviting all trade federations to fuse into industrial federations.
But the main question which agitated the Congress was that of anti-militarism. At Amiens (1906) an anti-militaristic resolution introduced by Yvetot (Secretary of the Section of Bourses du Travail) had been passed. But it was passed in a hurry, as there was no time to discuss it, and it raised strong opposition among the “reformist” elements. It was taken to the Congress of Marseilles, therefore, for another discussion.
The Congress of Marseilles accepted the resolution introduced by Yvetot. The resolution read:
The Congress of Marseilles, repeats and renders more precise the decision of Amiens, namely:
Considering that the army tends more and more to take the place of the workingmen on strike in the factory, in the fields, in the workshop, when it has not the function of shooting them, as in Narbonnes, Raon-L'Etape, and Villeneuve St. George;
Considering that the exercise of the right to strike will be only a fraud as long as the soldiers agree to substitute the workers in civil work and to massacre the workingmen; the Congress, keeping within purely economic limits, recommends the instruction of the recruits (jeunes) in order that on the day when they put on the military uniform they should be convinced that they should remain nevertheless members of the family of workingmen and that in the conflict between capital and labor their duty is not to use their arms against their brethren, the workingmen;
Considering that the geographical boundaries are modifiable at the will of the possessors, the workingmen recognize only the economic boundaries separating the two class-enemies—the working-class and the capitalist class.
The Congress repeats the formula of the International: “The workingmen have no fatherland;” and adds:
That whereas, consequently, every war is but an outrage (attentat) against the workingmen; that it is a bloody and terrible means of diverting them from their demands, the Congress declares it necessary, from the international point of view, to enlighten the workingmen, in order that in case of war they may reply to the declaration of war by a declaration of a revolutionary general strike.[207]
The resolution was adopted by 681 votes against 421 and 43 blank. Many voted against the resolution because of its anti-patriotic character, though they accepted the part bearing upon the use of the army in strikes.