The Charter of Amiens

The 1906 Congress of the CGT in Amiens produced a document that would define French syndicalism for generations. The Charter of Amiens declared the complete independence of unions from all political parties, affirmed the class struggle as fundamental to union action, and proclaimed the general strike as the means of social transformation. This document crystallized the unique features of French revolutionary syndicalism: its autonomy, its militancy, and its transformative ambition.

The Charter stated: "The Congress declares that this double task, daily and future, derives from the situation of wage-earners, which weighs on the working class and creates for all workers, regardless of their political or philosophical opinions, the duty to belong to the essential grouping that is the union." This formulation—uniting immediate material struggles with ultimate social transformation—captured the dual nature of French unionism.

The emphasis on autonomy from political parties distinguished French from German unions, which were closely tied to the Social Democratic Party. It also differed from Lenin's vision of unions subordinated to a vanguard party, a difference that would create lasting tensions between French syndicalists and communists. The commitment to direct action over parliamentary reform set French unions apart from British Labour traditions.