Second International | The 1889 Congresses | Proceedings of First Congress (Possibilist)
The session began at nine o'clock.
The following are appointed: Chairmen, citizens Jensen, a Danish delegate, and Dumay, municipal councillor of Paris; assessors: Parnell, delegate of the Social Democratic Federation, and Simond, delegate from Lyon; secretary: Augé.
—63—
After reading four new messages of support (two from the provinces, two from Paris), the discussion started the day before concerning the first question on the Congress agenda continues.
Citizen Walker, delegate of the Social Democratic Federation, declares himself in favour of reducing the effective working day to eight hours. The Trade Unions of England want to achieve this end by means such as associations, unions, etc., which the delegate personally considers insufficient. The Trade Unions, after paying out a lot of money that they could have usefully spent on other tasks, have come to understand that the only way to achieve the goal is the legislative route.
A report filed in the House of Lords recognized that the working day in London is up to sixteen to eighteen hours a day; that a woman earns, on average, twenty sous a day; a child, two sous; a man, with a trade in hand, up to twenty francs a week. The report adds that the situation is even worse on the continent.
The speaker concludes by expressing the opinion that it is not only necessary to demand an increase in wages, but above all a reduction of the working day to eight hours. The worker will thus come to to understand social issues, thanks to the time he can devote to them.
Citizen Perret, a delegate from Constantine, thinks that the question was badly put. If we want to preserve a wage equal to that which currently exists, we must not ask for a reduction in working hours, much less talk about Sunday rest, because there are firms which only work two or three days in a week, one of which is Sunday; still if the pay for the days worked was enough to support him the remaining days, he would be in favour of that.
The English delegate Hobbard considers, on the contrary, that the —64— reduction of working hours is not enough. He has personally, and very recently, succeeded in forming a London Gas Workers' Union. This Union had only 80 members at the start. In fourteen weeks, the number of members rose to 5,000. At their first demand the frightened employer gave them everything they asked for: a raise, double pay for overtime and Sunday working. That is the only remedy: association.
He recommends that engineering workers only hand over their machines to employers who have previously guaranteed a livelihood to the workers they replace.
So, the workers must rely on themselves alone, manage their own affairs, show the bourgeois class that they are capable of leading themselves and of achieving great improvements, first by peaceful, legal means, and only then by force, if necessary.
To conclude: reduction of the working day by strong organization in numbers; no work by women or children; creation of worker-inspectors.
Citizen Soulery, delegate of the Algerian cooks, tells the story of the last strike of the railway workers of the gorges of the Chiffa. He tells how the employer incited a counter-strike, based on childish chauvinism, and asks foreigners not to work in France for wages lower than those of national workers.
Citizen J.-B. Clément, delegate of the Ardennes, demands a reduction in working hours, without reduction in wages; the fixing of wages by the Chambres Syndicales; the abolition of trading and of labour in prisons, workhouses or religious houses, in particular for the department he represents; the assimilation of slate quarriers to miners; French enterprises to be carried out by French workers; the creation of pension funds; the elimination of labour by children, who should instead have an —65— integral and professional education; the appointment of the greatest possible number of working-class deputies, municipal councillors and generals (he gives as an example the impressive results achieved by our friends of the workers' Party in the Paris City Council); and finally, the socialization of the means of production.
Citizen Parnell, an English delegate, insists on the creation of a single international law, with the reduction of working hours, oversight of factories by inspectors working in the same trade, the international organization of workers in the same trade. The future of the socialist workers' Party is in its own hands. With good organization, it will achieve all it desires.
Finally, Citizen Lenormand, delegate of the Paris hairdressers, requests in agreement with the Spanish delegation, the legal abolition of employment agencies, one day of rest per week, the abolition of night work for women and children, equal pay for equal work between men and women, and the prohibition of all work for children under the age of 14.
The secretary reads the minutes of the previous session, which are accepted.
Citizen Lavy, on behalf of the secretariat, asks Congress to kindly replace one of the secretaries, Citizen Bruguier. The Congress showed its acceptance of this request by chosing a new secretary, Citizen Regnier, delegate of the coopers.
The chairman points out that many French and foreign speakers are registered, so that the debate will last too long; he invites Congress to take action on this matter.
Congress decides that only one delegate per nationality may speak.
The Dutch delegation declares that it has been mandated to join the Marxist Congress and expresses —66— regret for its departure. This declaration is noted.
The session ends at midday.