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The National Economic Council of France
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
Extract
Since the war had necessitated resort to technical experts in the economic services of the French government, it was natural that after the armistice there should have been talk in various quarters of some sort of functional representation to meet post-war problems. Some suggested the development of the regional economic councils brought into being in 1917, while the Action Francaise was for setting up what was dubbed a new estates general. It was, however, the General Confederation of Labor (the C. G. T.) under the leadership of M. Jouhaux, which not only came forward with a carefully thought out plan but was sufficiently interested to pursue the matter until seven years later the general features of its program were finally incorporated into the public law of France.
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- Foreign Governments and Politics
- Information
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- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1926
References
1 Maxime Leroy suggests that this was a dream of Saint Simon revived by the C.G.T. (Le Progrès civique, January 31, 1925)Google Scholar. Be it remembered that after the war, before the split in its ranks in 1921, the Confederation numbered over two million members.
2 Le Peuple, May 20, 1924; La Voix du Peuple, March-April, 1925.
3 Ibid.
4 Published in full in L'Information sociale, August 14, 1924.
5 Le Peuple, May 20, 1924. Labor, of course, felt certain that any council Poincaré might set up would give insufficient attention to its wants.
6 May 20, 1924.
7 For a complete list of the members of the committee see La Voix du Peuple, March-April, 1925, pp. 50–51, or Industrial and Labor Information, Vol. XI, No. 7, p. 16Google Scholar.
8 Published in full in La Tribune de Fonctionnaire, and in summary in Industrial and Labor Information, Vol. XII, No. 5, p. 24–25Google Scholar.
9 Journal officiel, January 17, 1925.
10 This task of choosing organizations to be represented was a difficult one, as French economic interests are, in general, not well organized. In an attempt to remedy this in part, a decree, July 26, 1925, provided for trade councils for artisans, Monthly Labor Review, January, 1926.
11 Professor Scelle, chef au cabinet of the ministry of labor, under Godart, said in the presence of the writer that, at least as far as internal affairs were concerned, M. Herriot considered the establishment of the Council the main undertaking of his administration.
12 Industrial and Labor Information, Vol. XV, No. 2, pp. 13–14Google Scholar. The premier is ex officio president of the Council.
13 Industrial and Labor Information, Vol. XV, No. 2, p. 14Google Scholar.
14 Journal officiel, April 11, 1925. The other one represents the General Federation of Christian Workers.
15 The Confederation had from the first suggested the two categories, consumers and producers, the latter to include employers and employees in industry, agriculture, commerce, and transportation.
16 In the draft, technicians were not included as a separate category. The executive of the U.S.T.I.C.A. had a meeting on November 2, 1924, and again on November 8. A change was made which appears in the decree.
17 Article 3, Decree of January 16, 1925. Journal officiel, Jan. 17, 1925.
18 Each of the forty-seven may have two substitutes, but only one may sit on the Council at a time. Arrête, April 9, 1925. Journal officiel, April 11, 1925.
19 The above mentioned arrête provides that the premier may call special sessions of the Couneil, for which he alone shall determine the agenda.
20 This provision “après leur dépôt,” was not suggested by the Confederation, as it wished the Council consulted as of right on the drafting of all such bills.
21 Article 14 in draft constitution, La Tribune de Fonctionnaire. Note that there is a precedent for this in Part XIII of the treaty of Versailles with reference to the procedure of the Labor Office.
22 Such power as the constitution of the German Reich, Article 165, provides shall inhere in the Federal Economic Council.
23 The Confederation's program of 1923 is published in full in L'Information Sociale, August 14, 1924. Leroy, Maxime, in Le Progrès civique, October 18, 1924Google Scholar, went further, suggesting that the Council should have a veto on the economic legislation of Parliament.
24 Revue politique et parlementaire, Oct., 1924.
25 Journal officiel, January 17, 1925.
26 See article by ProfessorScelle, Georges in Revue des Études Coöperatives, Jan.-Mar., 1925Google Scholar.
27 This was clearly expressed in the Confederation's program in 1923. See also Leroy, Maxime in Le Progrès civique, October 8, 1924Google Scholar. Spain, Portugal, and Italy have national economic councils set up by decree or statute, while the constitution of Poland (Art. 68) provides for a national economic council, as does that of Dantzig (Arts. 45 and 114), that of Jugoslavia (Art. 44), and that of the German Reich (Art. 165). The German article provides for the establishment of a council with the right to initiate bills in the Reichstag even over the head of the cabinet, as well as the right to send representatives to defend its proposals on the floor of the Reichstag. Pending the formulation of a constitution for such a council, a Provisional Economic Council was set up on May 4, 1920, whose powers and functions are practically like those of the French Council.
28 La Voix du Peuple, March-April, 1925.
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