of the Middle Ages; he knew that part of history better than his contemporaries did, and was struck with the enormous part played at that time by the politico-criminal associations; he asserted the impossibility of reconciling a rational democracy with the existence of such forces, but we ought to learn from experience that there is no way of bringing about their disappearance.[1]
III
The preceding explanations enable us to understand the ideas about the proper function of the worker's syndicates formed by the enlightened democrats and the worthy progressives. Waldeck-Rousseau has often been congratulated on having carried the law on syndicates in 1884. In order to give an account of what was expected from this law we must recall the situation of France at that epoch. Severe financial embarrassments had compelled the Government to sign agreements with the railway companies which the Radicals denounced as acts of brigandage; the colonial policy gave opportunities for extremely violent attacks and was thoroughly unpopular;[2] the discontent which a few years later took the form of Boulangism was already very marked, and in the elections of 1885 very nearly gave a majority to the Conservatives.
Waldeck-Rousseau, without being a very profound seer, was yet sharp enough to understand the danger which might threaten the opportunist republic, and cynical enough to look for a means of defence in a politico-
- ↑ Rousseau, stating the question in an abstract way, appeared to condemn every kind of association, and our Governments for a long time used his authority to subject every association to authority.
- ↑ In his Morale, published in 1883, Y. Guyot violently attacks this policy. "In spite of the disastrous experiences [of two centuries], we are taking Tunisia, we are on the point of going to Egypt, we are setting out for Tonkin, we dream of the conquest of Central Africa" (p. 339).
