Fusillade de Fourmies explained

Event Name:	Fusillade de Fourmies
Participants:	French citizens
Location:	Fourmies, Nord, France
Date:	1 May 1891

The Fusillade de Fourmies is an event which happened on 1 May 1891 in Fourmies, in the French Nord department. This day, the troop fired on a peaceful demonstration of workers claiming "C'est les huit heures qu'il nous faut !" (it's the eight-hour day we need), killing nine people and injuring 35 others.^[1]

Context

Fourmies was a small town of 2000 people at the beginning of the 19th century, but it had an important industrial growth because of the textile industry.^[2] In 1891, it had 37 silk and wool mills, and 15 000 people, in majority factory workers.

In the factories, workers worked for 12 hours a day, and six days a week. Their salaries were particularly low.^[3]

Starting in 1885, the textile industry in the Nord began to experience difficulties.^[3] These difficulties had direct repercussions on workers, with unemployment and salary reductions when food and lodging expenses were rising.^[4]

History

Call to strike

The right to strike was allowed in France since The Ollivier law on 25 May 1864,^[5] but the Trade unions were allowed only since the Waldeck-Rousseau law on 21 March 1884.^[6]

Bibliography

• André Pierrard, Jean-Louis Chappat, La Fusillade de Fourmies : Premier mai 1891, Maxima, Paris, 1991 ^[7]
• Madeleine Rebérioux, Fourmies et les Premier mai, Fourmies Colloquium 1891/1991 (1991), Éditions de l'Atelier, 1994,
• Odette Hardy-Hémery, L'envers d'une fusillade : Fourmies, 1er mai 1891, L'Harmattan, coll. « Collection Chemins de la mémoire », 2000
• Justinien Raymond, Hippolyte Culine, Dictionnaire biographique, mouvement ouvrier, mouvement social, « Le Maitron », 2010.^[8]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1er mai 1891 : la fusillade de Fourmies. histoire-image.org. 2019-03-24.
2. Book: Les Territoires de la laine: Histoire de l’industrie lainière en France au XIXe siècle. Jean-Claude Daumas. Presses Universitaires de France. 2004. 9782859398125. 157–161.
3. Book: L'envers d'une fusillade : Fourmies, 1er mai 1891. Odette Hardy-Hémery. L'Harmattan. 2000. 2738442226.
4. Book: Fourmies et les Premier mai. Madeleine Rebérioux. L'Harmattan. 1994. 2-7082-3077-8.
5. Web site: 25 mai 1864, vote de la Loi Ollivier, qui ouvre la voie au droit de grève. Europe 1. 2016-05-25. 2019-03-28.
6. Book: Retour sur la loi de 1884. La production des frontières du syndical et du politique. Denis Barbet. Genèses. Sciences sociales et histoire . 1991.
7. Book: La Fusillade de Fourmies : Premier mai 1891. 2019-03-24.
8. Web site: Hippolyte Culine. maitron-en-ligne.univ-paris1.fr. 2019-03-24.