Le Chapelier Law

an antilabor law adopted in France during the Great French Revolution by the Constituent Assembly on June 14, 1791, on the proposal of the deputy I. Le Chapelier, a lawyer from Rennes who supported the interests of the big bourgeoisie. The Le Chapelier Law prohibited the association of workers in trade unions and other associations, as well as strikes, under punishment of deprivation of political rights for one year and a fine of 500 francs. “The French bourgeoisie,” wrote K. Marx, “during the very first storms of revolution dared to take away from the workers the right of association but just acquired” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch, 2nd ed., vol. 23. pp. 751–72). In 1794, during the Jacobin dictatorship, Le Chapelier was accused of counterrevolutionary activity and was executed; however, his law remained in force. The prohibition of strikes was repealed only in 1864; the freedom of trade union activity was not reinstated in France until 1884.