Merrheim, the CGT, and Antimilitarism

Abstract

During the years before August 1914, Merrheim and the CGT experienced considerable tensions because of the events that eventually led to World War I. As the possibility of a general European war became more probable, syndicalists made clear their resolve not to fight the workers of other nations in defense of middle-class interests. As the CGT began to firm up its posture toward militarism and war, Merrheim emerged as a leading an-timilitarist theoretician. In fact, in the half dozen years before the war, several of his proposals established the CGT’s official attitude toward militarism. That can best be summed up by the proposition that workers would stage a general strike in response to any declaration of war by the European powers. The common impression was that Merrheim and the revolutionary syndicalist workers would sabotage the French war effort while simultaneously initiating a revolution. Yet when the war broke out, neither Merrheim nor the CGT took any action to protest it. Rather, many syndicalist leaders joined a government of ‘national defense’ against the German invasion while the workers flocked to the colors.