[17] Viviani, Minister of Justice, resigned soon after the close of the strike. He did not agree with Briand in his efforts to pass a law making all railway strikes illegal. He said as long as railways were private property men had the right to strike, but not to destroy property.
[18] Before his resignation, the old-age pension bill had passed the Senate and thus became a law. The Socialists supported the bill; but Guesde voted against it in spite of his party's instructions, because labor was charged with contributing to the fund. The syndicalists were also violently opposed to it because they believe the amount of the pension is too small.
[19] When in January, 1912, M. Poincaré was appointed Prime Minister, he promptly invited Briand into his cabinet as vice-president and Millerand as Minister of War.
[20] The co-operative movement is spreading gradually throughout France. There are two kinds of societies—the Socialist and the independent. In 1896 there were 202 co-operative productive societies. In 1907 there were 362. The following figures show the increase in the number of co-operative stores: 1902—1,641; 1903—1,683; 1906—1,994; 1907—2,166.
[21] The following table, compiled from the reports of the Minister of Labor, shows the growth of the labor-union movement:
| Year | Number of Unions | Number of Members | ||
| 1885 | 221 | — — | ||
| 1886 | 280 | — — | ||
| 1887 | 501 | — — | ||
| 1888 | 725 | — — | ||
| 1889 | 821 | — — | ||
| 1890 | 1,006 | 139,692 | ||
| 1891 | 1,250 | 205,152 | ||
| 1892 | 1,589 | 288,770 | ||
| 1893 | 1,926 | 402,125 | ||
| 1894 | 2,178 | 403,430 | ||
| 1895 | 2,163 | 419,781 | ||
| 1896 | 2,243 | 422,777 | ||
| 1898 | 2,324 | 437,739 | ||
| 1899 | 2,361 | 419,761 | ||
| 1900 | 2,685 | 491,647 | ||
| 1901 | 3,287 | 588,832 | ||
| 1902 | 3,679 | 614,173 | ||
| 1903 | 3,934 | 643,757 | ||
| 1904 | 4,227 | 715,576 | ||
| 1905 | 4,625 | 781,344 | ||
| 1906 | 4,857 | 836,134 | ||
| 1907 | 5,322 | 896,012 | ||
| 1908 | 5,524 | 957,102 |
[22] See Journal of Political Economy, March, 1909, for a comprehensive article on French labor unions by O.D. Skelton.
[23] From the beginning there were two kinds of unions, named after the color of their membership cards. The "yellows" are those pursuing a policy of peace, and the "reds" are the militants.
[24] The following figures show the increase of strikes since the organization of the C.G.T.:
| Years | Average Number of Strikes | Average Number of Strikers | Average Number of Days Idle |
| 1890-1898 | 379 | 71,961 | 1,163,478 |
| 1899-1907 | 855 | 214,660 | 3,992,976 |