Canut revolts

There were three Canut revolts ( _fr. Révolte des canuts) in Lyon during the first half of the 19th century. The first occurred in November 1831, and was the first clearly defined worker uprising of the Industrial Revolution.

The silk industry in Lyon at the beginning of the 19th century

At the beginning of the 19th century, the textile industry was the main industrial activity of Lyon and the surrounding region. The livelihood of half of the population of Lyon was dependent on the silk weaving industry.

In 1831, the production of silken goods in Lyon was still organised in a manner similar to that of the pre-industrial era:
*At the top of the pyramid was the "grande fabrique" (literally "great manufacture"), a group of around 1400 bankers and traders named "fabricants" ("manufacturers") or "soyeux" ("silkies"), who controlled and financed the manufacture and commercialisation of the goods.fr Grande encyclopédie Larousse, 1972, p.2282-83]
*The manufacturers contracted about 8000 chief weaving craftsmen, the canuts, who were paid either for a specific order or per piece. The Canuts owned their own looms, generally between 2 and 6, depending on the size of the workshop.
*Canuts employed around 30,000 apprentices, who were paid by the day, but generally lived with the canut, who lodged and fed them, and with whom they shared a similar standard of living.
*Women were also employed at a lesser salary, as were apprentices and errand boys. These workers filled a wide variety of professions: "gareurs" (mechanic who repairs and adjusts the looms), "satinaires" (women who prepare the satin), "battandiers" (who make the tools necessary for the weaving), "metteurs en carte" (who make the coded tables indicating the colour and characteristics of the silk to be used, according to the drawing provided by the customer), "liseurs" (who create the perforated cards for the Jacquard loom), "magnanerelles" (women working in the magnaneries, warpers, embroiderers, silk folders, spinners, "ourdisseuses" (women who prepare the shape of the of the piece to be woven onto a machine prior to it being placed on the loom), dyers, etc.

While most of the workshops were situated in houses on the Pentes de la Croix-Rousse, some were also located in Saint-Georges in Vieux Lyon, Bourgneuf (Pierre scize), La Guillotière and Vaise. There was only one industrial grade factory, the silk factory of la Sauvagère, employing 600 workers, in Saint-Rambert-l'Île-Barbe.

The value of silk, as with any luxury product, was highly dependent on the economic climate. A large portion of the demand came from North America, and was very susceptible to competition and change. Under the First French Empire, the government accepted, or at least tolerated, the price fixing done in the Lyon. The increased revenue from price fixing allowed higher salaries throughout the system. After the economic crisis of 1825, with the support of Catholic royalists, the canuts and their companions had created mutual support societies, the forebearer of syndicalism.

The first revolt

In 1831, the economic outlook was grim and drastically reduced the demand for silk goods. Salaries were continually being reduced, far lower than their peak during the economically prosperous years of the First French Empire.

On October 18 1831, the canuts asked the prefect of the Rhône department, Louis Bouvier-Dumolart, to help in their negotiations with the manufacturers. The canuts wanted a fixed price to be put in place, which would stop the further fall in the price of silk goods. The prefect organised a panel of owners and workers, which was able to establish a fixed rate on October 26. A labour court, the "Conseil de prud'hommes", was given the role of insuring the rate was applied.

The intervention of the prefect was, however, poorly received by some manufacturers who considered his actions to be demagogic, and the concessions afforded by their representatives to be a sign of weakness. 104 of them refused to apply the rate, claiming it was against the principles of the French Revolution. Laws such as the Le Chapelier Law and the Allarde decree of 1791, enshrined the principle of economic non-intervention by the state, in addition to explicitly banning guilds (a predecessor to trade unions), and denying the right to strike. The manufacturers claimed the fixed rate was a block to freedom of enterprise. On November 10, they rejected the salary claims of the canuts, which they considered to be exorbitant. This attitude infuriated the working class, and tensions neared the breaking point.

The insurrection

On November 21 1831, several hundred weavers toured the then independent commune of Croix-Rousse. They forced the few weavers still at work to close their workshops, hassling the National Guard. Soon after they erected barricades and marched to Lyon under the black flag.

On November 22 in Lyon, the workers took hold of the fortified police barracks at Bon-Pasteur, pillaging the arsenal and stealing weapons in the process. Several units of the military guard and the national guard were attacked. The infantry attempted to stop them, but was forced to fall back under a hail of (thrown) tiles and bullets. The national guard, most of which was recruited from amongst the canuts, changed sides, joining the insurgents.

After a bloody battle which caused around 600 casualties (100 dead, 263 injured on the military side, 69 dead, 140 injured on the civilian side), the insurgents took hold of the town. During the night of November 22 to November 23, General Roguet, commander of the 7th division and mayor Victor Prunelle fled the town.

The insurgents occupied the town hall, though they allegedly did not loot the town at all. At this point, the leaders of the workers were unsure as to the further course of action, having started the strike with the sole intention of making sure the fixed rate on silken goods was be applied correctly. A few republicans in the group insisted on using the momentum to form a governmental committee. The committee did not make any tangible decisions, due to a lack of agenda. Not helping the committee's effectiveness was the canuts' refusal to have their uprising twisted to political ends.

The return of order

In Paris, the news of the riot and the occupation of France's second largest city caused astonishment and consternation. Debate raged in the Chamber of deputies and the opposition, led by François Mauguin, seized the opportunity to decry the incompetence of the cabinet. The President of the Council of Ministers, Casimir Perier, whose government's first goal was to re-establish order after the July Revolution, thought otherwise. He blamed the troubles in Lyon on Saint-Simonianist propaganda and political manoeuvres by the supporters of Charles X. King Louis-Philippe himself was quite sure that the problems were caused by republican actions. General Baudrand, aide de camp of Crown Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, wrote: "Poverty... [...] there are many exaggerations in what is said about it. It has been worse in other times and did not produce such results," which probably reflected opinion in the Tuileries Palace. [Antonetti 674]

On November 25, Perier announced that Crown Prince Ferdinand Philippe, and Marshal Soult, Minister of War and formerly one of Napoleon's most renowned marshals, would lead an army of 20,000 men to retake Lyon. King Louis-Philippe asked them to be firm, but to avoid the use of capital punishment. On 29 November 1831, he wrote to Soult: "The important point [...] is to enter Lyon without suffering any [major] blows and without agreeing to any conditions. [...] You will need to be strict. [...] [Y] et you know that when I say "strict", I do not refer to "execution" , and it is not to you that I need say this." [Antonetti 673] Louis-Philippe was very critical of the prefect, writing: "It is very clear, in my opinion, that he had a previously formed agreement with the leaders, and that he was not acting loyally to his government before the events." [Antonetti 673] He nonetheless was cautious on the subject of the fixed rate, writing to his son: "The fixed rate is a delicate point on which I believe we must tread lightly and carefully weigh what we do. I can not give further advice because I lack sufficient information. You must say as little on the subject as possible." [Antonetti 673]

On November 28, the duke of Orléans and Marshal Soult, stopped at Trévoux, where they waited for order to return in Lyon. They enter the city on December 3 without any blood being shed and with no negotiation or agreements being made. The fixed rate was abolished, the prefect dismissed, the national guard disbanded, and a large garrison positioned in the town. The government decided to build a fort to separate the commune of Croix-Rousse from the town of Lyon. 90 workers were arrested, 11 of which would be prosecuted, to be later acquitted in June 1832.Soult informed the king of the total success of his mission, attributing all the praise to "recognition of the king and the prince" and, where it was lacking, to an "expression of sadness which was obviously a testimony of repentance." He noted that all the authorities came to "pay homage to His Highness," and that all had prepared very good speeches, with the exception of the archbishop, [Jean Paul Gaston de Pins (1822-1824, was named in 1824 apostolic administrator of the archdiocese of Lyon and received at this occasion the title of archbishop of Amasia "in partibus infidelium". The official holding archbishop remained cardinal Fesch, uncle of Napoleon I, who had refused to resign and lived in Rome.] who was content saying he had nothing but prayers to offer." [Antonetti 674]

From December 17 to December 20 1831, the far left opposition opposition parties tried to bring the situation in Lyon back to the forefront in the Chamber of Deputies. Casimir Perier declared that the revolt had wanted to arm itself "against the freedom of commerce and industry," and affirmed on December 26 that "society will not let itself be threatened with impunity." The cabinet's motion was quickly passed by a large majority, moving on to the day's agenda despite the protests and demand for an enquiry by the far left.

The second revolt

After the failure of the 1831 revolt, the Parisian republicans sent agents to Lyon. They were able to create a large network of underground societies, often working closely with labour associations for silk craftsmen.

At the end of 1833, good economic prospects and conditions caused a boom in the Lyonnais silk industry. As a result, the government thought the chances of a second revolt extremely unlikely. The Interior Minister, the Count of Argout, wrote to the king on September 9 1833: "I have just received M. Fulchiron, who comes from Lyon. The manufacture is in a state of simply fabulous prosperity. The orders from America are immense. The workers earn 6 to 7 francs per day. This is too much. They are, however, in a state of tranquillity as one may easily conceive." [Antonetti 720] On February 1 1834, an attempt by a few hundred Italian, German and Polish revolutionaries from Geneva and Grenoble was made to start a republican coup in Savoy. D'Argout told the king: "They are Savoyards who have recently come to Grenoble, and a few French republicans. M. Gasparin writes to me that 1200 inhabitants of Lyon had made plans to support the movement in Savoy should it have succeeded. [Antonetti 720] The republicans skillfully moved to create a revolutionary climate, taking advantage of a salary conflict caused by high worker wages.

In February 1834, owners began to agree that workers' salaries had risen too high, and they began an attempt to impose a reduction. The results of this were conflict and strikes, the leaders of which were arrested and tried. Their trial began on April 5, while the members of Chamber of Peers were discussing a law which would intensify the repression of republican groups. The Republicans managed to amalgamate several political parties to fall within the scope of this law, as did the mutual workers' associations to which Lyon's canuts were very strongly attached. As a result, thousands of craftsmen rebelled on April 9. The leaders proclaimed daily agendas, which they dated not "April 9, 1834," but instead "Germinal 22, year XLII of the Republic," using the French Republican Calendar.

The army occupied the town and bridges. Soon after, gunfire broke out, with troops firing on the unarmed crowd. Barricades were quickly erected throughout the town to hinder the army's progress. The disorganised workers stormed the Bon-Pasteur barracks, the same as in the first revolt, and again plundered the arsenal. The workers barricaded the different districts of the city, including Croix-Rousse, effectively creating fortified camps. What would later be known as the "Sanglante semaine" ("bloody week") had begun.

Adolphe Thiers, the Interior minister, would use a tactic that he would later reuse in 1871 to crush the Paris Commune: retreat from the town, abandon it to the insurgents, surround it, then take it back.

On April 10, more fire was exchanged between the insurgents the troops. The workers took hold of the telegram office, the Guillotière quarter, and then of the nearby city of Villeurbanne where military barracks were taken. The black flag was flown over Fourvière, Saint-Nizier and the Antiquaille. Fighting continued on April 11; Croix Rousse was bombarded by the recently reinforced military, while revolts started in the more distant cities of Saint-Étienne and Vienne. On April 12, the troops attacked and re-took the Guillotière quarter, after having destroyed numerous houses with the artillery. On April 14, the army reconquered the town piece by piece, attacking Croix-Rousse for the third time, massacring many workers in the process.

April 15 marked the end of the Sanglante semaine in Lyon, the second canut uprising having been bloodily put down. Conservative estimates put the number of casualties between 100 and 200, [Antonetti 722] while more liberal estimates put it at over 600.cite web | title =fr Lyon, 9 avril 1834, début de la 2e révolte des canuts... et de la semaine sanglante | url = http://rebellyon.info/article337.html | publisher = rebellyon.info, "The Lyonnais site for alternative information" | date = April 9, 2007 | accessdate = October 30 | accessyear = 2007] 10 000 captured insurgents were tried in a "gigantic trial" in Paris in April 1835, and were condemned to deportation or heavy prison sentences.

The third revolt

A third insurrection occurred in 1848. Although it was as violent and was motivated by almost identical worker exploitation, it did not acquire the same renown as that of 1831. Indeed, the revolt of 1831 saw international coverage, and was the origin of many other worker revolts of the 19th century.

Consequences of the revolts

The canut revolts caused the emergence of a sense of shared interests in workers' communities. It began an era of social claims, that would be accentuated by the physical and moral distress of the workers in this time of emerging capitalism, as attested by the famous memoirs of doctor Louis René Villermé at the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.

They were later the inspiration for the uprising that led to the short lived Paris Commune, [Edwards, Stewart [1971] . The Paris Commune 1871. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN 0413281108. pg. 1] which in turn led to much of the socialist, communist and anarchistic philosophies that still reverberate into the 21st century.

References

Printed sources

* Jacques Perdu, "La Révolte des canuts", Spartacus, 1974.
* Fernand Rude, "La Révolte des canuts, 1831-1834", La Découverte, 2001.
* Guy Antonetti, "Louis-Philippe", Paris, Librairie Arthème Fayard, 2002 – ISBN 2-213-59222-7
* Edwards, Stewart "The Paris Commune 1871", London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1971 ISBN 0413281108.

External links

* [http://www2.ac-lyon.fr/enseigne/lettres/collyon/lyon/db_canuts/revolte.html La révolte des canuts] : page on the site of the [http://www2.ac-lyon.fr Academy of Lyon]
* [http://rebellyon.info/article1105.html 21 novembre 1831 : début de la révolte des canuts] article at [http://rebellyon.info www.rebellyon.info]
* [http://web.lyon.iufm.fr/formation/lyon/lyon1/canuts.html IUFM de Lyon]
* [http://metiers.free.fr/dcanuts/canutsv.html Bibliographie sur la soie et les canuts]
* [http://www.alyon.asso.fr/InfosLyon/histoire/lyon_centre/croix_rousse/maison_canuts/ La Maison des Canuts]

References