A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #345 - History, Union press in the 1920s: The dawn of "The Proletarian Revolution" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The political and social context of the 1920s was favorable to the 
emergence of multiple bulletins, magazines and other union newspapers, 
on a national, local or even professional scale, such as Droit ouvrier, 
the first legal monthly emanating from the General Confederation of work 
(CGT). Four years after the birth of Le Peuple, the daily newspaper of 
the CGT, a "communist unionist" monthly, entitled La Révolution 
prolétarienne, saw the light of day. Here is the origin of its creation
In January 1925, the first issue of La Révolution prolétarienne 
appeared, subtitled "monthly communist syndicalist review"[1]. Two 
months earlier, on November 22, 1924, Pierre Monatte, Alfred Rosmer and 
Victor Delagarde[2]published their Letters to Members of the Communist 
Party.

Excerpt: "There is a lot of talk about homogeneity, alignment, 
discipline. From the top to the bottom of the Party, a cascade of 
slogans is established which must be obeyed without understanding and 
above all without murmuring anything other than the sacramental: 
Captain, you are right[3]!

A barracks mentality is created and the morals of NCOs take hold. It is 
only a question of the device to operate, of permanence to establish. 
Soon the bureaucracy will take over from that of the French state. It is 
said that the party must be an iron cohort. In reality, anyone who shows 
character must be broken.[...]We must bow, not before ideas or decisions 
taken by the organization, but before men.

By this means, it is not solid cadres that we are preparing, it is not 
an iron cohort that we are forming, but a regiment of slugs.[...]

The importance of the upcoming congress cannot escape all party members. 
What is important is not that we may be excluded, it is that, under the 
label of Bolshevization, current autocratic methods are being 
aggravated, which are indeed the most flagrant disavowal of Bolshevism 
and of communism".

Delagarde, Monatte and Rosmer are fighting against the "Bolshevization" 
of the PCF. The publication of this open letter in 1924 resulted in its 
authors being excluded from the party.
These letters form a thirty-page brochure. The tone is harsh but the 
positions documented.

Delagarde, Monatte and Rosmer place their contributions in the 
perspective of the "next January congress": however, a few days later, 
they are thrown out of the party; on December 5, an extraordinary 
national conference accused these "enemies of the proletariat, the Party 
and the International" of "crass "Frossardism,"[4]anarchizing 
individualism, poorly refined Trotskyism."

Pierre Monatte (1881-1960), ex-anarchist, ex-leader of the CGT wanted to 
keep the flame of revolutionary unionism alive by founding the RP.
Looking back on this period, Colette Chambelland explains[5]:

"The adhesion of these revolutionary trade unionists to the PC was 
sometimes immediate - this is the case of Alfred Rosmer who from 1920 
was a member of the small office of the Communist International, 
sometimes slow - this is the case of Pierre Monatte who will not issue 
its first stamp until May 1923.[...]

Revolutionary syndicalism rejects parties - even socialist parties - to 
the extent that they have no working base, where they take pleasure in 
parliamentary action, where they play the game of the bourgeoisie and 
class collaboration, where they see in trade unionism not an autonomous 
force but a sort of mass of maneuver that they govern. The Guesdist 
experience, the anarchist experiences have only strengthened the 
syndicalists in this opinion, well defined by the Charter of Amiens.[...]

But revolutionary trade unionists do not refuse this "worker party" that 
Emile Pouget thought of and which would be the workers' organization in 
all its strength, in all its breadth, in all its desire to transform the 
organization of society. The Communist Party - purged from 1920 to 1923 
of its non-worker elements - will then appear to them as an authentic 
workers' party, completely freed from social-democratic dross and able 
to work on an equal footing with the unions.[...]

The war and the success of the Russian Revolution were two great shocks 
for them. The war aroused them with horror, the Sacred Union aroused 
them with disgust. It is through their struggle - that of a handful - 
that they become closer to the Bolsheviks.[...]It is quite natural that 
the "Committee for the Resumption of International Relations" is 
transformed into the "Committee for Accession to the Third 
International".[...]The victorious, but violently attacked, Russian 
revolution is an example - and not a model.[...]In 1923, all these 
revolutionary trade unionists joined the Party and while active in their 
trade union organizations, they wrote in L'Humanité.[...]But the crisis 
broke out in the spring of 1924. It was decisive.

The International, the Russian party, takes on a new face. In France the 
repercussions are immediate; with Treint, the French party even 
anticipates Moscow's decisions. On April 18, Treint, in the Communist 
Bulletin, criticized Monatte, Rosmer and Souvarine for being linked with 
the Russian opposition and for favoring Trotsky's theses in the French 
party.

On April 22, Monatte resigned from his responsibilities and concluded 
his letter thus: "as a simple member of the Party, I will have more 
freedom to defend my point of view". On April 23, in a collective letter 
A. Rosmer, F. Charbit, D. Antonini, V. Godonnèche, M. Chambelland, 
affirmed that "Party members from revolutionary unionism are treated 
like plague victims". They too[resign their responsibilities].[...]The 
members of the group of revolutionary trade unionists are gradually 
leaving the "so-called communist party", as Maurice Chambelland writes 
in his resignation letter of September 24, immediately followed by 
exclusion. On October 5, Monatte, Rosmer and Delagarde sent a letter to 
the Steering Committee; failing to obtain publication in the party 
press, they published a letter to the members of the Communist Party on 
November 22 in a brochure (using the format of letters to subscribers of 
La Vie Travailleur de la Guerre).»

This is the context which precedes the publication of the new journal. 
The small group of excluded resignations meets almost daily, even if 
everyone has returned to "ordinary" work: Chambelland is an accountant, 
Monatte a proofreader. The creation of a magazine appears to be a 
necessity: "The memory of La Vie Ouvrière of 1909 is vivid; quite 
naturally they thought of founding a magazine.

On December 26, 1924 Monatte submitted the title L'Action Ouvrière to 
the periodical services of the Seine court. But the other members of the 
"core" (the term is taken from La Vie Ouvrière) refuse this too neutral 
title. Chamberbelland suggests October. This was the subject of fierce 
discussions and Victor Godonnèche rallied the core to La Révolution 
prolétarienne with the subtitle "syndicalist-communist review".» [6]

The ambitions are explained in number 2: "What do we plan to do? Give 
the French revolutionary movement the workers' magazine it lacks. The 
daily and the weekly have their task. A review has its own, which is not 
negligible. It consists of studying the major theoretical and practical 
questions, drawing lessons from the events that occur, and collecting 
the information and documents that activists need.[...]

For some, we are too unionist. For others, we are too communist. Those 
who only need a catechism, whatever it may be, will probably not find 
what they are looking for here. But anyone who makes an effort to inform 
themselves honestly, to form an informed opinion, will not waste their 
time reading us.»

Alfred Rosmer (1877-1964), trade unionist opposing the Great War, 
participated in the launch of the Third International, before breaking 
with the PCF. He is one of the animators of the RP.
In October 1925, Trotsky asked Monatte and Rosmer "although being 
formally outside the Party, to act as soldiers of the Party", therefore 
to cease the publication of The Proletarian Revolution and to appeal 
their exclusions to the Inter ¬national communist.

The refusal is clear and motivated: "We did not appeal because we are 
convinced that it is in the policy and methods practiced by the 
leadership of the Communist International itself that lies the cause of 
the serious errors committed by its sections over the last two years; 
that this policy and these methods mark a break with previous policies 
and methods, call into question the very principles on which the 
Communist International was founded.[...]The normal consequence is that 
today there is room for a revolutionary outside the Communist 
International. And another consequence is that a magazine like La 
Révolution prolétarienne is a necessary organ.»

Until 1939, publication ceased when war was declared. It resumed in 1945 
and, after a few twists and turns, continues today, quarterly. No. 835 
was published in December 2023., the magazine will welcome those who 
fight both against "the so-called communists" who corporalize the unions 
and against the "reformists" who deny the class struggle. It was only in 
1930 that it changed its subtitle: from "communist syndicalist review", 
it became "revolutionary syndicalist review". But we will have the 
opportunity to talk about this again on the occasion of the magazine's 
hundredth anniversary, in January 2025.

Christian Mahieux, member of the current editorial committee of La 
Révolution prolétarienne

Chronology

December 1900 La Voix du peuple, official weekly of the CGT until 1914 
then monthly until 1946.
October 5, 1909 La Vie Ouvrière, bimonthly trade unionist magazine 
created by Pierre Monatte. The magazine became the official organ of the 
General Confederation of Unitary Labor (CGTU) after the split in 1921.
April 27, 1911 La Bataille syndicaliste, revolutionary trade union 
newspaper of the CGT, daily.
November 3, 1915 La Bataille, daily unionist organ until 1919 then 
weekly until 1920, the year in which publication ceased.
1920 Le Droit ouvrier, legal monthly of the CGT. It is the first French 
journal in the field of social law, labor and social security. It ceased 
publication in 1940, under the Vichy regime which banned all unions. She 
reappeared in April 1948.
January 4, 1921 The People
November 1, 1922 La Vie syndicale, monthly bulletin of the CGTU.
January 1925 The Proletarian Revolution

To validate
[1]The review will become bimonthly from January 1927.

[2]About the activists cited in the article, see the Biographical 
Dictionary of the Labor Movement: www.maitron.fr.

[3]This is an allusion to Albert Treint who was then general secretary 
of the Communist Party (PC): mobilized during the 1914-1918 war, he was 
appointed captain in 1917.

[4]First secretary of the French Section of the Communist International 
(SFIC, the PC) from January 1921 to January 1, 1923, Frossard returned 
to the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO, the Socialist 
Party) in June 1924.

[5]Colette Chambelland, "The birth of The Proletarian Revolution", 
Communisme, no 5, 1984.

[6]Ibid.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Presse-syndicale-dans-les-annees-1920-L-aube-de-La-Revolution-proletarienne
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en