L'ATELIER. Organe spécial de la classe laborieuse rédigé par des ouvriers exclusivement novembre 1848

In-4° broché, L'Atelier est un journal fondé en septembre 1840 par des ouvriers se réclamant des idées de socialisme utopique et socialisme chrétien de Philippe Buchez (1796-1865). Il est rédigé par des ouvriers. Nous y voyons les noms d'André Martin, charpentier et d'Anthime Corbon, typographe, ce dernier étant souvent considéré comme le principal rédacteur. Ce journal se qualifie lui-même d'« Organe des intérêts moraux et matériels des ouvriers », puis « organe spécial de la classe laborieuse ». Il fait partie des grands ancêtres de la presse socialiste sous la monarchie de juillet, au même titre que « Le Populaire » du socialiste utopique Etienne Cabet (1833-1835 et 1841-1851), « La Fraternité de 1845 » (1846-1848), voire « La Réforme » (1843-1850) - - - - - L'Atelier (1840-1850), a journal published by working class followers of the Christian Socialist, Philippe Buchez, which appeared monthly from September, 1840 to July, 1850, with the exception of the period from February to June, 1848 when it appeared weekly. L'Atelier was established in September, 1840, by a group of skilled workers influenced by Philippe Buchez. They found in Buchez's synthesis of Saint Simonianism, Catholicism, and democracy, the inspiration for a cooperative transformation of society. L'Atelier 's staff of seventy-four and its editor, Anthime Corbon, were all workers and believed that the working class must liberate itself. Twenty-six printers formed the largest component of the editorial organization, and there were also jewelry makers, hatters, carpenters, mechanics, and tailors. Their journal printed articles by Buchez, but as a bourgeois intellectual he was not allowed to participate in its management. L'Atelier 's circulation was small and limited almost exclusively to skilled workers. In 1847 it only had 550 subscribers, but due to multiple readers reached a larger audience than that number would indicate. Though L'Atelier violently attacked the shortcomings of the clergy and was relatively indifferent to dogma, it emphasized the social value of Catholicism. It advocated a community based on selfless cooperation, believing that Catholic tradition could provide the moral basis for this transformation of society by inspiring workers with a sense of their dignity, their rights and their revolutionary obligations. L'Atelier assumed a more militant stance than Buchez and his bourgeois disciples. Permeated by a strong sense of class struggle, uncategorically rejecting capitalism, yet it also opposed state socialism and "communism." It consequently was sympathetic to Le National rather than to La Réforme. In discussions at Alexandre Thomas Marie's home in 1847 with Marie and Alexandre-Auguste Ledru-Rollin, the staff of L'Atelier rejected Louis Blanc's ideas and supported a proposal of Michel Goudchaux for voluntary producers' cooperatives promoted by cheap state-supplied credit. L'Atelier advocated electoral reform as a prerequisite to a social transformation; producers' cooperatives would end the subjection of workers to capital and allow a just distribution of the products of labor. Short of this ultimate goal, L'Atelier called for legislation: a minimum wage and maximum hours for labor; assistance for the sick and aged; a reform of the labor courts or conseils de prud'hommes, which arbitrated minor disputes between labor and management; and workers representation equal to that of employers. L'Atelier enthusiastically supported the revolution of 1848 and the establishment of the republic, and influenced politics until the election of Louis Napoleon. Corbon, who was on the electoral list recommended by Le National, was one of four workers from Paris elected to the constituent assembly. When the assembly met and Buchez was elected its first monthly president, Corbon was elected as one of the six vice presidents. - - - . Nous empruntons ces informations à Bernard A. Cook de l'université de l'Ohio.