1-04-1910 After 3 months of steelworkers strike in Chambon, the bosses give in and agree to negotiate with the CGT. [more]
1-04-1944 Following a modest attack on a military convoy near Ascq station, 86 innocent civilians are shot by the German occupier. 60,000 workers go on strike in Lille. [more]
3-04-1919 Start of a strike that lasts until May 26, 8,000 miners fought against falling wages and the employers' refusal to negotiate. Their strike is crushed by the state. [more]
4-04-1871 Collapse of the Commune de Marseille. [more]
4-04-1963 End of strike by miners from Lorraine and Nord-Pas-de-Calais who win a 11% salary increase and a fourth week of paid vacation. [more]
5-04-1910 The retirement age is set at 65. The CGT refers to this as a "swindle" (life expectancy was then less than 49 years). [more]
9-04-1904 800 workers at the Hermitage slate mines in Maine and Loire, return to work after a week on strike after winning a 10 hour working day. [more]
10-04-2006 Following mass protests by workers and young people across France, the regressive CPE law was repealed. Had the law passed, it would have allowed employers to fire any workers below the age of 26 without giving any reason or notice. [more]
17-04-1905 5000 striking workers attempt to free their comrades from Limoges prison. 1,200 soldiers with drawn sabers charge them then shoot at a garden where some take refuge. A porcelain maker named Vardelle is killed, 3 are seriously injured. [more]
19-04-1905 10,000 at Vardelle's funeral in Limoges, "victim of the capitalist regime", "our brother assassinated on April 17 by French bullets". [more]
23-04-1905 Formation of the Unified Socialist Party, French section of the International Workers to "pass social laws likely to immediately improve the lot of the working class". [more]
25-04-1919 In Lormaison, 1,000 button workers on strike for a month reject the latest employers' proposals to divide men and women workers. [more]
26-04-1909 Deputies vote to ban civil servants' right to strike. [more]
30-04-1870 The arrest of "all the individuals who make up the International" is ordered. [more]