.......DATE.............	...........................EVENT............................. .........
1750-1820	French highway system constructed, linking all parts of the country to Paris.
1823	First French railroad from Andrezieux to St. Etienne 1823.
1830	Machinery and factory system began to reach France
1840s	French railway system constructed with Paris at its center.
1848/spr	First workers' cooperatives formed in Paris
1848	Legal end to slavery in French Republic
1850s	Modern forms of labor protest with organization and political goals, began in France.
1857	Economic crash in Europe.
1869	First Workers International in 1869.
1873	Europe suffered an economic depression.
1879/10	The Parti Ouvrier was formed at the 3rd national French workers conference in Marseille.
1880-1899	National syndicats (unions) formed in France in the 1880s and 1890s.
1884	French law legalized strikes, but protected the liberte du travail . It encouraged unions to form. First groups were the Bourses du Travail that united craft guilds in each city.
1880s/late	French general labor congresses began to mention the general strike as a tactic.
1890s	French Bourses du travail became loosely federated at the national level in the 1890s.
1892	Treaty of Brussels obliged France to take action against slavery.
1895	A labor union, the Confederation Generale du Travail (CGT), was founded in France
1890s/late	French Federation des bourses du travail set up a general strike committee.
1900	Bourses du Travail began to disappear in favor of unions organized within each industry (ie. coal miners).
post-1900	The concentration of French industry into large enterprises did not really begin until after 1900.
1899-1907	The rate of labor strikes increased markedly in France
1901-1909	France had a high unemployment rate. While workers' wage increases may not have kept up with price increases, corporative profits increased 24%.
1901	After the death of Fernand Pelloutier, a union leader who advocated education and moderation, French union leaders saw their job as fomenting strikes.
1902	The first industry-wide strike in France by miners
1903	The CGT annual congress accepted a limited syndicalist program (organized strikes).
1905-1909	period of French union growth
1906	The first attempt at a national strike in France
1910-1914	Huge increase in French labor strikes.
1910	Major French railroad strike
1911	Violent railroad strike in Great Britain
1912/12/10	The CGT called a one-day national strike against war.
1918-1921	period of French union growth
1919/03	Third International (and the first led by Communist Russia; ie. "the First Comintern")
1921	The second Comintern
1926	League of Nations Anti-Slavery Convention defines slavery and raises question about the use of forced labor in colonies.
1930	ILO Forced Labor Convention outlawed the corvee as a form of forced labor. It defines and limits the use of forced labor to public enterprises.
1934	Labor unions legalized in France
1934/08/27	PCF and SFIO join "United Front" to oppose Daladier's government.
1935	Copperbelt strike by African mine workers in Northern Rhodesia
1935-1938	period of French union growth
1936	Socialist/Communist "Popular Front" won the French election.
1936	ILO "Recruiting of Indigenous Workers" Convention defines labor recruitment and sets limits.
1937/05/17	Labor unions legalized in AOF
1938/01/15	The communists withdrew from the Popular Front cabinet, toppling the government.
1938	Czech-German crisis in the Sudetenland leads to the Munich Conference.
1939/09/01	Outbreak of World War II in Europe
1940/06	Germany conquers France and the Vichy government replaces the Third Republic
1940-1943	Vichy government reversed most labor reform.
1946/01	General strike by Dakar unions
1946/summer	Elections to create the French Fourth Republic
1947	Port strike leads to riots and general strike in Gold Coast
1947-1948	Railroad strike in French West Africa
1949	Riots and French repression in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)
1952	Code du Travail extended to France's African territories