Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in broader society. The goal of syndicalism is to abolish the wage system, regarding it as wage slavery. Anarcho-syndicalist theory generally focuses on the labour movement. Reflecting the anarchist philosophy from which it draws its primary inspiration, anarcho-syndicalism is centred on the idea that power corrupts and that any hierarchy that cannot be ethically justified must be dismantled.
Paul Guillaume, Viscount van Zeeland was a Belgian lawyer, economist, Catholic politician, and statesman born in Soignies.
The General Confederation of Labour is a national trade union center, founded in 1895 in the city of Limoges. It is the first of the five major French confederations of trade unions.
The Matignon Agreements were signed on 7 June 1936, between the Confédération générale de la production française (CGPF) employers' organization, the CGT trade union and the French state. They were signed during a massively followed general strike initiated after the election of the Popular Front in May 1936, which had led to the creation of a left-wing government headed by Léon Blum (SFIO). Also known as the "Magna Carta of French Labor", these agreements were signed at the Hôtel Matignon, official residence of the head of the government, hence their name.
The Bourse du Travail, a French form of the labour council, were working class organizations that encouraged mutual aid, education, and self-organization amongst their members in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
LIP is a French watch and clock company whose turmoil became emblematic of the conflicts between workers and capital in France.
Paul Bairoch was a Swiss economic historian of Belgian descent who specialized in urban history and historical demography. He published or co-authored more than two dozen books and 120 scholarly articles. His most important works emphasize the agricultural preconditions necessary for industrialization and controversially claim, contrary to most scholars that colonization was not beneficial to colonial empires. He argued that tariffs and growth were positively correlated in the 19th century.
The One Big Union (OBU) was a militant left-wing industrial union based primarily in Western Canada. Launched formally in Calgary on June 4, 1919, the OBU, after a spectacular initial upsurge, lost most of its members within a few years. It eventually merged with the Canadian Labour Congress in 1956.
Trade unionism is a powerful force in the politics, economy, and culture of Senegal, and was one of the earliest trades union movements to form in Francophone West Africa.
The history of Wallonia, from prehistoric times to the present day, is that of a territory which, since 1970, has approximately coincided with the territory of Wallonia, a federated component of Belgium, which also includes the smaller German-speaking Community of Belgium. Wallonia is the name colloquially given to the Walloon Region. The French word Wallonie comes from the term Wallon, itself coming from Walh. Walh is a very old Germanic word used to refer to a speaker of Celtic or Latin.
The International Federation of Trade Unions was an international organization of trade unions, existing between 1919 and 1945. IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU.
André Renard was a Belgian trade union leader who, in the aftermath of World War II, became an influential figure within the Walloon Movement.
The general strike of 1960–1961, known popularly in Wallonia as the Strike of the Century, was a major series of strikes in Belgium which began on 14 December 1960 and lasted approximately six weeks.
The royal question was a major political crisis in Belgium that lasted from 1945 to 1951, coming to a head between March and August 1950. The question at stake surrounded whether King Leopold III could return to the country and resume his constitutional role amid allegations that his actions during World War II had been contrary to the provisions of the Belgian Constitution. It was eventually resolved by the abdication of Leopold in favour of his son King Baudouin in 1951.
In labour law, unfair dismissal is an act of employment termination made without good reason or contrary to the country's specific legislation.
Henri Lambert (1862–1934) was a Belgian engineer and glass works owner at Charleroi near Brussels. His glass works was the largest in the world in that time. He was one of the first occupied with social economy. He spoke Walloon with his blue collar workers, which was exceptional in that time. He was a prolific writer of articles for newspaper and political journals, brochures, and books on political philosophy, and had several of his works translated into German and English. He favoured individualism, free trade, and international peace. He also wrote works about corporations, trade unions, government, democracy, and representation, voicing bold and well-intentioned ideas. But his criticism of the principle of limited liability in connection with corporations is an original point which seems to have attracted attention at the turn of the century, as well as his ideas about the organisation of trade unions. He was called upon to address lawyers' and economists' associations and other bodies.
Benoît Frachon was a French metalworker and trade union leader who was one of the leaders of the French Communist Party and of the French Resistance during World War II (1939–45). He was Secretary-General of the Confédération générale du travail (CGT) from 1945 to 1967.
The Confédération générale du patronat français was a French manufacturers' association during the last years of the French Second Republic from 1936 to 1940. It supported the rights of patrons and opposed trade union activity other than discussion of factory workplace conditions. In the lead-up to World War II (1939–1945) the CGPF resisted organizing industry to prepare for war.
The Union of Belgian Metalworkers (Dutch: Centrale der Metaalindustrie van België, CMB; French: Centrale de l´Industrie du Métal de Belgique is a trade union representing workers in metal and related trades in Belgium.
The Canadian Labour Revolt was a loosely connected series of strikes, riots, and labour conflicts that took place across Canada between 1918 and 1925, largely organized by the One Big Union (OBU).
