Unitary General Confederation of Labor

(Confédération Générale du Travail Unitaire, CGTU), an association of leftist revolutionary trade unions in France from 1922 to 1936. The CGTU was founded by trade unions that had been expelled from the General Confederation of Labor (Confédération Générale du Travail, CGT) by the CGT’s reformist leadership. In 1923 the CGTU joined the Red International of Trade Unions. After overcoming the resistance of anarchosyndicalist and reformist groups and reorganizing in accordance with the production principle, the CGTU became a major force in the trade union movement; the confederation grew from 371,000 members in 1922 to 475,000 in 1926. The CGTU fought for the interests of the toilers and struggled persistently against colonialism, political reaction, and fascism. It cooperated closely with the Communist Party. The CGTU urged that the split in the trade union movement be healed, and in the mid-1930’s the formation of a united worker’s front and the successes of the Popular Front created conditions favorable to the restoration of unity.

In March 1936 the CGT and the CGTU—whose members in January had numbered 775,000 and 231,000, respectively—held a unity congress, at which the unions of the CGTU returned to the ranks of the CGT.