La grande lutte des mineurs


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  • Other title(s): The great struggle of the miners
  • Genre: Newsreel
  • Year: 1948
  • Runtime: 00:12:00
  • Description: The long and bitter strike of the French miners in November and December 1948. After an overview of the harshness of the profession, this agitation film describes the beginning of the strike, its progress, and ends with a call for solidarity. A vehement statement, an extremely elaborate soundtrack, images of confrontations and remarkable editing stigmatize the actions of the C.R.S. ("CRS=SS"), the presence of the army in the corons and the responsibilities of the government, which is subject to American interests. In contrast, this collective film exalts the heroism of the miners, proletarian solidarity and internationalism. The name of the socialist minister Jules Moch is pronounced "moche", (probably to rhyme with the word "boche" also used). Sequence showing the buses of the communist municipalities of the Paris region coming to pick up the children of miners (buses from Bezons, Villejuif, Stains, Dugny, Gentilly, Issy-Les-Moulineaux, Villeneuve-Saint-Georges). The commentary states that the foreign miners are offered "a Machiavellian dilemma": "the job of strikebreaker, or deportation" ("For the Spanish, it's death"). One of the final, symbolic shots, often used in other militant films, shows an old white woman and a black worker demonstrating side by side, to the sound of the Internationale. The Great Struggle of the Miners, marked by the Cold War, was conceived to arouse active solidarity in favor of the miners in struggle (donations in kind and in money, welcoming the children of strikers). It was banned by the censors, following the decree of December 6, 1948, which subjected non-commercial films to prior censorship, thus allowing the banning of most of the militant films produced by the P.C.F. and the C.G.T.. If this decree was primarily aimed at "La grande lutte des mineurs" (The Great Struggle of the Miners), it was then commonly used to ban militant films produced during the Cold War. To avoid (in vain) the censorship of the film, Louis Daquin assumed the authorship of its direction and Roger Vailland that of its commentary. René Vautier, then an assistant trainee, could not really participate in the filming of the movie because he was apprehended by the C.R.S. at the port of Dunkirk.
  • Keywords: Courrières / Petite Recelle / Liévin / Puits Renard / Grèves de 1941 / combats de 1944 / Bataille du charbon / Résistance / Daniel Meyer / Schumann / Lacoste / Jouhaux / Jean Ansec (o?) (mineur tué le 7 octobre à Merlebach) / 1947-1991 Guerre Froide / Ce soir (journal) / Conflit social / Confédération Générale du Travail / Daquin Louis / Grève / Industrie minière non énergétique / Léon Jouhaux / L'Humanité (journal) / Loire / Lutte / Manifestation / Mine de charbon / Nord / Pas-de-Calais / Syndicalisme / Thésaurus / René Vautier / outdoor / hospital / police / politician / children / crowd / proletariat / street / bus / omnibus / ambulance / repression / strike / mine / communism / VICTOR-E project / Jules Moch / France
  • Provider: Ciné-Archives
  • Rights: In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted / Ciné-Archives
  • Production company: CGT (Confédération générale du travail)
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Director: Louis Daquin
  • Sound: With sound
  • Language: fr