Albert Bourderon
| Albert Henri Bourderon | |
|---|---|
| Born |
26 November 1858 Corbeilles-en-Gâtinais, Loiret, France |
| Died | 2 April 1930 (aged 71) Paris, France |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation | Cooper |
| Known for | Pacifism |
Albert Henri Bourderon (26 November 1858 - 2 April 1930) was a French cooper (barrel maker) and syndicalist who became a leading socialist. During World War I he supported a pacifist position in line with internationalist principles.
Albert Bourderon was born on 26 November 1858 in Corbeilles-en-Gâtinais, Loiret. He became a cooper (barrel maker) by trade. In the 1890s he became a disciple of the radical syndicalist pioneer Jean Allemane. In 1903 he founded the coopers unions (Fédération du Tonneau). He became secretary of the union. In 1905 he was a participant in the conference where the socialist party (Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière, SFIO) was born. He became a member of the central committee of the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, CGT). Bourderon and others with Allemanist or Blanquist backgrounds differed from the anarchists in seeing syndicalism and political socialism as complementary, trying to reach the same basic goal through economic and political means.
On 15 August 1915 a pacifist resolution was presented at the CGT's national congress at the initiative of Bourderon and Alphonse Merrheim, signed by several militants of the federation of teacher's unions including Louis Bouët, Fernand Loriot, Louis Lafosse, Marie Guillot, Marie Mayoux, Marthe Bigot and Hélène Brion. The resolution said "this war is not our war" and laid responsibility on the leaders of the belligerent states. The resolution denounced the union sacrée and called for the restoration of liberty.
The conference at Zimmerwald in Switzerland was held from 5–8 September 1915, organized by the Italian socialist party, which was opposed to the war. Merrheim and Bourderon, both secretaries of federations within the CGT, represented the French pacifists. The conference published an appeal, mostly drawn up by Trotsky and the Swiss socialist Robert Grimm, that called for reestablishment of peace between the peoples, calling on the workers of Europe to fight for peace without annexations or indemnities. They should fight for liberty, for the fraternity of peoples, for socialism. Bourderon and Merrheim arranged for 10,000 copies of a pamphlet about the conference to be published by the Federation of metalworkers.
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