Workers Participation in Post-Liberation France

This is a portrait of French labour's failure to achieve greater industrial democracy. Drawing on original archival research, Adam Steinhouse has recast the traditional view of this critical period of French history, demonstrating the fundamental importance of the immediate post-liberation period in determining the future course of industrial relations in France. He looks at the labour disputes of the 1940s and the interplay between industry and politicians that dealt a crushing blow to organized labour's demands for political change. Steinhouse examines the rise of state intervention in the economy and the growth of French employers' organized intransigence in the face of workers' collective action, which culminated in a series of actions effectively marginalizing labour's voice in the economic book of the early 1950s.