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History of France’s Peculiar Labor Movement
France is a large country in Western Europe. It’s capital, Paris, is well known for its rich history in fashion and art. France is also popular for its mediveal history and many rebllions. Looking at France’s labor history reveals the different path France took to achieve its urbanization and other social improvements.

Since France takes over a large percentage of Europe, so-called socialist ideas such as worker's rights and fair wages, have made their way circling Europe for years. Typically, unions seek these ideals since socialism aims to even out and minimize wealth inconsistencies-something that a growing industry needs- as well as level the power between social classes. These socialist ideas created leverage for the proletariat to fight for fair wages and other various rights against their employers and government. While most workers would want this and always advocate for more pay, unions formed in France proved to be incredibly fragile. In France, socialism appeared before the first world war near the time of the Paris Commune of 1871. Naturally, groups with multidimensional socialist ideas formed and grew larger, especially in newly developing regions such as Europe. France, however, took a much different path compared to the paths of its well known European neighbors. The French unions advocated for rights that the employees collectively desired, yet few permanent changes were made. For example, some French unions seemed to prefer restrictionist policies to reduce some labor supply and ensure stability when unemployment levels would inevitably shift. These divergent ideals draw the curiosity of historians around the world and mark France as unique.

Socialist ideas grew in popularity with the European movements. Collectivism was an attractive ideal that most unions gravitated towards since larger numbers of people were more influential than small groups. Masses posed a larger threat to employers who needed their workers to be efficient as well as compliant for the sake of money-making. This was not the case in France. The French labor movement was known for syndicalist measures in which the advancement of worker's rights was achieved through strikes. These strikes occurred throughout the nineteenth century, eventually spreading out of France and Europe to countries in the west such as the United States. Unionists were far more advanced than those in the United States as France was fairly urban. As factory industries grew, the increased demand for goods prompted workers to advocate for higher wages. The economic systems of urbanizing countries grew quickly which also affected social standing. For the most part, steady growth is the one to be praised, since socio-economic stability can be accomplished. France was a fair example of this comfortable growth which allowed workers to become skilled in their profession. France, although urbanizing, did not bandwagon onto the factory lives that workers in other European countries adhered to. Many businesses maintained individualistic goods that were not one standard of quality. Unfortunately for the general bourgeoisie, competing with an international market was much more difficult to do which sometimes hurt France’s economy. Urbanizing hid slow economic growth in France, which was typically not obvious in unionism.

Unions are thought of as strong and defensive, yet the French unions were fairly weak and small. Compared to those in Britain, there were far fewer people, of those, only a few even carried membership cards. Today, an established percentage of people need to have cards. Although quite small, the bourgeoisie still showed defiance toward their bosses and enjoyed rebellion to slowly make positive advancements and changes in their work lives. If not for the French worker’s rebellious nature, they would not have been noticed in Europe’s socialist development. Many of the workers were involved with groups such as other trade unions, and political groups such as various socialist parties. Since France’s unions and the people involved in them were such an enigma, there is speculation over whether they rejected the grander revolutionary movements or shared the same ostracism as other workers throughout Europe. It can be assumed that because there were few French unions and they were not overflowing with people, workers did not put forth their criticisms and essentially let some of them go. By default, this weirdness of failed unions brought much attention to France’s moment of the revolutionary movement. This set France’s industrialization on a different path, then say that of Great Britain, which is much more well known. These paradoxical views and the seeming backwardness of the labor movements seemed to have various outcomes of economics-mainly slow growth- and some social inequality and instability for France.