Abstract

Trade-Unions, Social Movements, and the Dynamic of Emancipation : theChallenge of the New Radicalism The article analyses the relations between trade-unions, associations and partisan movements inFrance today. These relations would appear to be characterised by a degree of mistrust which the crisisaffecting political projects of emancipation has accentuated. The growing autonomy of the French labour movement in relation to the existing political movements represents a major shift. Trade-unionsnow cling to their independence, regarding it as an essential element of their legitimacy. The principleaccording to which there is no prior hierarchy governing the relation between the agenda of social issues and the agenda of the political is the precondition for any form of cooperation. If trade-unionistsand activists in associations call for a « normalisation » of their relations with political parties, theyrefuse any invitation to engage in any “co-elaboration” of projects, which would cause them to assumeresponsibility for decisions which are not their prerogative. What they urge is a strategy of resonancerather than a strategy of alliance : confrontation rather than subordination