Post-war Period
The General Confederation of Labour had its roots in the National Workers' Union (UON) and was founded on 13 September 1919. It was the only Portuguese trade union at the time.
It was greatly influenced by the anarcho-syndicalist movement. According to its statutes, its three goals were:
- the unification of all workers of the country to defend their "economic, social and professional interests, as well as to improve their moral, material and physical condition"
- to develop the skills within the working class necessary to overthrow capitalism
- to exercise the concept of mutual help
The highest decision-making organ in the CGT was the confederation council, a national congress of representatives, which in turn elected seven members that formed the national committee to handle day-to-day matters. Some anarcho-syndicalists and the Communist Party called for the creation of a body to administer the economy after power had been seized. The organizational structure hardly differed from that of the UON. The main ideological difference was the distance it maintained to the Portuguese Socialist Party. The CGT's daily newspaper was called A Batalha. In 1922 the union became officially recognized and joined the International Workers Association (IWA).
Estimates on the membership of the CGT differ greatly. The union itself claimed a membership of about 150,000 from 1919 to 1922 and a steady decrease to 50,000 by 1927. Other estimates claim the membership never even exceeded 100,000 and even shrank to 80,000 by 1922. The membership is considerable nonetheless as Portugal boasted only a few hundred thousand industrial workers and artisans at the time.
From 1922 onwards membership fell considerably, despite militancy in the working class remaining constant. The phenomenon is likely the result of political bickering within the organization. Accordingly, the Communist Party withdrew all unions associated with it from the CGT in 1924 and established its own trade union federation in 1925. The CGT became increasingly concentrated in the industrial centers Lisbon/Setúbal/Barreiro, Porto/Braga, and Covilhã. At the same time, actions by the union lost in efficiency, its structure became increasingly hierarchical, and repression by the state and business became more commonplace. Likewise, the circulation of A Batalha sank from 25,000 in 1919/1920 to 10,000 in 1925. In 1922, it was decided that non-union organizations could join the CGT as well.
Read more about this topic: General Confederation Of Labour (Portugal)
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