The Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (General Confederation of Revolutionary Trade Unions) was a trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 federation in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 founded in 1926 by Pierre Besnard

Pierre Besnard

Pierre Besnard was a French revolutionary syndicalist. He was the Confederal Secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire from 1929, and the Secretary of the International Workers' Association....

 with the help of the Spanish CNT

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...

. It was affiliated to the International Workers' Association.

It was an anarchist split from the Confédération générale du travail unitaire

Confédération générale du travail unitaire

Confédération générale du travail unitaire was a trade union confederation in France. CGTU emerged out of split in the Confédération générale du travail, which had been torn by confrontations between socialists and communists. CGTU was founded at a congress in Saint-Étienne in June 1922, and was...

 (CGT-U) and was made illegal in 1939.

Theoretical Legacy

Its legacy comprises the charter of Lyons, which founded anti-political syndicalism.

Syndicalist Activity

It took part in the major struggles of its time, like anti-colonialism, the strikes of June 1936 in France, or the support to Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 and the resistance to the Nazis.

The CGT-SR actively opposed French colonialism, both in Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

 and in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. For the occasion of the centenary of the colonisation of Algeria, in 1930, a declaration denouncing colonialism was signed by the Union Anarchiste, the CGT-SR and the Association des Fédéralistes Anarchistes.

Famous members

• Pierre Besnard
  Pierre Besnard
  Pierre Besnard was a French revolutionary syndicalist. He was the Confederal Secretary of the Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire from 1929, and the Secretary of the International Workers' Association....
  
  
• Victor Giraud
• Paul Lapeyre
• Sail Mohamed
  Sail Mohamed
  Sail Mohamed Ameriane ben Amerzaine was an Algerian and French anarchist who fought in the Spanish Civil War. The French writer Jacques Prévert dedicated a poem to him....
  
   (1894–1953)
• Adrien Perrissaguet
• Vincent Joseph (1920- )
• Antoine Turmo