Background
Albert Bourderon was born on 26 November 1858 in Corbeilles-en-Gâtinais, Loiret. In 1905 he was a participant in the conference where the socialist party (Section Française de l"Internationale Ouvrière, SFIO) was born.
Albert Bourderon was born on 26 November 1858 in Corbeilles-en-Gâtinais, Loiret. In 1905 he was a participant in the conference where the socialist party (Section Française de l"Internationale Ouvrière, SFIO) was born.
During he supported a pacifist position in line with internationalist principles. 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. 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 Confédération générale du travail, represented the French pacifists.
Bourderon and Merrheim arranged for 10,000 copies of a pamphlet about the conference to be published by the Federation of metalworkers. The International Action Committee (Comité d"action internationale, Computer-assisted instruction) was founded in December 1915 by French syndicalists who supported the pacifist declarations of the Zimmerwald Conference. lieutenant was led by Bourderon representing the socialists and Merrheim for the syndicalists.
Three delegates from the SFIO led by Alexandre Blanc were able to attend, since they were deputies and had parliamentary immunity.
In December 1916, at the Confédération générale du travail"s second national conference in Paris, Bourderon and Jean Raffin-Dugens broke ranks with the Zimmerwaldians. They voted with the SFIO minority in favor of accepting United States. President Woodrow Wilson"s offer to mediate peace.
In February 1917 the Central Road Research Institute split, with Pierre Brizon, Raffin-Dugens and Bourderon joining the SFIO minority led by Jean Longuet, while the socialists Fernand Loriot, Charles Rappoport, Louise Saumoneau and François Mayoux took control of the committee. Albert Bourderon died in Paris on 2 April 1930 aged 71.
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. 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.
In 1916 this was merged with the Socialist Minority Committee to form the Committee for the Resumption of International Relations (Comité pour la réprise des rélations internationales, Central Road Research Institute). Bourderon proposed a manifesto supported by Louise Saumoneau which said the Committee would function "until the party majority and the International Socialist Bureau resume international relations."
A new international socialist conference at Kienthal was arranged by the Swiss for the end of April 1916. After Bourderon evolved towards reformism.
He became a member of the central committee of the General Confederation of Labour (Confédération générale du travail, Confédération générale du travail).
