Book Description

Workers' Participation in Post-Liberation France is a vivid portrait of French labor's failure to achieve greater industrial democracy. Drawing on original archival research, Adam Steinhouse recasts 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 brings to life the labor disputes of the 1940s, charting the interplay between industry and politicians that dealt a crushing blow to organized labor's demands for political change. Steinhouse captures the rise of state intervention in the economy and plots the growth of French employers' organized intransigence in the face of workers' collective action; which culminated in a series of actions effectively marginalizing labor's voice in the economic boom of the early 1950s. Steinhouse's impressive scholarship provides an excellent case study of the French state and its efforts to balance growing worker demands for representation with the imperatives of social peace and prosperity. This book makes a significant contribution to modern French political history and the development of modern industrial relations.