The Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT or "General Confederation of Labor") is one of the five major Frenchconfederations of trade unions.
It was founded in 1895 and up until 1921 was mostly anarchist and syndicalist-influenced. Following the October Revolution in Russia the French labour and socialist movement became increasingly divided between "revolutionaries" who supported the Bolsheviks and strong action at home and "reformists" who favoured moderation and re-affiliation to the pre-war Second International. One outcome of this division was a split in the CGT in 1921, which led revolutionaries to leave and set up a rival federation, the Confédération Générale du Travail - Unitaire. The two organisations were reunited in 1936, after which the CGT became increasingly influenced by the French Communist Party. A further split, this time involving the departure of the reformist right, followed in 1948, when Léon Jouhaux founded Force Ouvrière. During the 1990s, the CGT cut organic links with the French Communist Party and managed to remain one of the two major French union confederations.
