{"id":13404,"date":"2022-06-13T15:17:27","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T13:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/?p=13404"},"modified":"2022-06-14T17:36:06","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T15:36:06","slug":"dying-at-work-industrial-society-and-the-relationship-to-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/dying-at-work-industrial-society-and-the-relationship-to-risk\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Dying at Work? Industrial Society and the Relationship to Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"4164\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-13177\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"425\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2.jpg 438w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2-212x300.jpg 212w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2-103x146.jpg 103w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2-35x50.jpg 35w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/ob_e5f5dc_lievin2-53x75.jpg 53w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/span><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"2949\">On December 27, 1974, an explosion occurred in one of the tunnels of the Li\u00e9vin coal mine in northern France. Forty-two miners were killed on the spot: it was the most serious French mining disaster of the post-war era, and one of the last too<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(1)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Marion Fontaine<i>, <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/editions.ehess.fr\/ouvrages\/ouvrage\/la-derniere-catastrophe\/\"><i>Li\u00e9vin 74. Fin d\u2019un monde ouvrier<\/i><\/a>, \u00c9ditions de l\u2019EHESS, 2014.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4>The End of Heroes<\/h4>\n<p>The images and speeches from the funerals of the victims a few days later appear to attest to historical continuity at first glance. A series of leitmotifs ran from the end of the 19th century throughout the 20th century: the same images of pained widows, and of the heroism and martyrdom of the \u2018black faces\u2019; and an identical horrified fascination for the underground world and man-eating mine, dating back to <i>Germinal<\/i> (1885). This visual illusion of persistence is misleading, however. All the signs of a profound change were actually already apparent.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, in 1906, at the time of the epic disaster at Courri\u00e8res (1,099 victims!), the socialist leader Jean Jaur\u00e8s incriminated mining companies on risk prevention and rescue operations. Yet he did not deny the \u2018fatality\u2019 involved in handling natural forces and the intrinsic danger of the profession, which reforms (wages, social protection, nationalisation) could help address, but which miners at the vanguard of industrialisation had to heroically shoulder. \u2018This mine where they toil and succumb, this mine that is always a difficult worksite and sometimes a sinister tomb: they love it despite of everything; because man loves what he devotes himself to. But how much more they would love and embrace an underground city of free labour and social justice.\u2019 (<i>L\u2019Humanit\u00e9<\/i>, March 11, 1906).<\/p>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"2955\">Nothing of the sort was discernible in 1974. Heroism had given way to sorrow, and above all to the shared feeling that the 42 victims had died for nothing\u2009\u2013\u2009or nothing worthwhile in any case. A local newspaper bluntly observed: \u2018These funerals in Li\u00e9vin may also mark the death of an era: one in which people were resigned to accepting \u201cfatality\u201d, and work in the mine as a fatality.\u2019 (<i>Nord-Eclair<\/i>, January 2, 1975). The sentence reflects a specific context: the decline of the coal industry was already very advanced in France at that time, and sacrificing one\u2019s life for coal when it was a dying industry did not seem to make much sense anymore. But the quote is also indicative of a more general evolution, whereby miners became actors refusing the fatality of workplace risk for either accidents or disease. In other words, the idea took hold that these risks had causes and that people were responsible for them, and that the former needed to be fully stemmed, while the latter needed to be identified and held accountable. <\/span><\/p>\n<h4>Mines as a Field of Experiment<\/h4>\n<div id=\"attachment_13195\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13195\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13195 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-768x498.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-225x146.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-50x32.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1-116x75.jpg 116w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Catastrophe_de_Courrieres_-_Les_Femmes_assises_en_rond_attendent_sur_le_carreau_de_la_Fosse_de_Sallaumines-1024x664-1.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13195\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Disaster of Courri\u00e8res &#8211; Women seated in a circle waiting on the floor of the Fosse de Sallaumines. Public Domain<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"2998\">A case like this leads to research paths at the intersection of history and the sociology of work, environmental history, and the sociological approach to collective risks<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(2)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">See for example Yannick Barthe&#8217;s work, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seuil.com\/ouvrage\/les-retombees-du-passe-yannick-barthe\/9782021358117\"><i>Les retomb\u00e9es du pass\u00e9. Le paradoxe de la victime<\/i><\/a>, Le Seuil, 2017.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"4538\">That work could kill either brutally or insidiously, through exposure to toxic substances for example, was a well-known fact in the 19th century, giving rise to considerable controversy among labour representatives, employers, and public authorities: such was the case for the use of phosphorus and lead in certain sectors <\/span><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3009\"><span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(3)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Judith Rainhorn, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/blanc-de-plomb-histoire-d-un-poison-legal--9782724624359.htm\"><i>Blanc de plomb. Histoire d\u2019un poison l\u00e9gal<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i>Presses de Sciences Po, 2019. <\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<br \/>\n<\/span>The industrialist and productivist paradigm, which became increasingly prevalent at the turn of the century, including in the labour movement, tended to consider this type of risk as fatal and inherent to the nature of industrial work. As Welfare States became stronger, the issue became less about risk elimination or prevention and more about it than about reparations for its consequences a posteriori, notably through financial compensation.\u00a0 While this phenomenon is now well known, the challenge is to understand how and why the paradigm broke down, or at least became increasingly contested, particularly beginning in the 1960s\u20131970s<span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3014\"><span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(4)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_4\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Renaud B\u00e9cot, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theses.fr\/2015EHES0130\"><i>Syndicalisme et environnement en France de 1944 aux ann\u00e9es 1980<\/i><\/a>, Th\u00e8se pour le doctorat d\u2019histoire, EHESS, 2015.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13197\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13197\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13197\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93.png 736w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93-251x300.png 251w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93-122x146.png 122w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93-42x50.png 42w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-18-18-52-9135T000387.jpg-Image-JPEG-629-\u00d7-750-pixels-Redimensionnee-93-63x75.png 63w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13197\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Minor with silicosis, near Lens (Pas-de-Calais), 1951. \u00a9 Donation Willy Ronis, Ministry of Culture (France), Multimedia Library of Architecture and Heritage, broadcast RMN-GP<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3016\">Both the Western and non-Western mining worlds, which have been the subject of profound historiographical reappraisals in recent years, appear to be an appropriate field to grasp and think about this change<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_5');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_5');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_5\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(5)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_5\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Marion Fontaine, \u00ab<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/revue-cahiers-jaures-2018-4-page-3.htm\"> Les Mines, un terrain d\u2019exp\u00e9rience<\/a> \u00bb, <i>Cahiers Jaur\u00e8s<\/i>, n\u00b0230, octobre-d\u00e9cembre 2018.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<\/span> <span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3680\">It is one of the sectors where the industrialist norm and negation of risks, or at least the solely monetary approach to compensation, were the most salient. During the 20th century, miners continued to die in spectacular catastrophes, but they died much more from diseases such as silicosis<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_6');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_6');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_6\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(6)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_6\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Paul-Andr\u00e9 (dir.), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.press.jhu.edu\/books\/title\/11359\/silicosis\"><i>Silicosis. A World History<\/i><\/a>, John Hopkins University Press, 201<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_6').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_6', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<br \/>\n<\/span>In France, even the nationalisation of mining companies (1944\u20131946), which Jaur\u00e8s fervently called for, did not change much. The new nationalised mining company recognised the origin of silicosis, but nonetheless perpetuated, if not amplified, a system where the imperative to modernise production paired with a relative indifference and very arbitrary management of its health consequences.<\/p>\n<h4>\u2018De Fatalizing\u2019 Work Risk?<\/h4>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3046\">The goal is to understand what changed and the elements of social and political modernisation that transformed this system, and more generally the understanding of risks associated with mining work<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_7');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_7');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_7\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(7)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_7\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Richard Berthollet, Marion Fontaine, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/culture\/article\/2022\/02\/03\/la-grande-tueuse-sur-france-3-cinq-decennies-de-lutte-sociale-pour-rendre-la-mine-plus-humaine_6112227_3246.html\"><i>La grande tueuse,<\/i><\/a> documentaire t\u00e9l\u00e9vis\u00e9 52\u2019, D-Vox production, 2021.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_7').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_7', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<br \/>\nSeveral factors were involved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>The first was the evolution of the workers\u2019 worlds themselves. In the large basins of the North and Lorraine, rising levels of education, the circulation of information, and alternatives to working in the mines increased throughout the \u2018Trente Glorieuses\u2019 period of high growth. Mining health risks were undoubtedly clearer and better understood by the miners and their families, resulting in a flight from the profession, if not for existing miners themselves, at least for their children. The change was also intellectual and political. It led to qualifying the simplistic divide between the land of heavy industry\u2009\u2013\u2009the stronghold of a traditional, productivist left, focused on quantitative demands\u2009\u2013\u2009versus the aspirations and new forms of mobilisation that emerged around health and work environment issues during the \u201968 era. This so-called \u2018delay\u2018 or gap was relative. Far left-wing activists, especially Maoists, campaigned in the coalfields during these years. Although there were only a handful of them, they offered a new interpretation of accidents and occupational diseases. In Li\u00e9vin and elsewhere they called for \u2018refusing fatality\u2019 in the mines and for the responsible doctors, engineers, and managers to be identified, denounced, and tried.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13186\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13186\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13186 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-300x199.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-768x510.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-220x146.png 220w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-50x33.png 50w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves-113x75.png 113w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-20-41-SOCIAL-HISTOIRE.-PHOTOS.-Mai-68-a-Forbach-pas-de-barricades-mais-des-manifestations-et-des-greves.png 942w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13186\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Miners&#8217; strike on May 11, 1968 on the market square in Forbach. Photos Paul de Busson \/ Christian Fauvel Collection1 \/48<\/p><\/div>\n<p>These activists did not succeed in bringing about a vast mobilisation, but their ideas spread in unions such as the CFDT-Mines<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_8');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_8');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_8\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(8)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_8\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">The CFDT (Democratic labor confederation) was founded in 1964. In the1960s and 1970s, it represented a self-managing trade unionism that very early on focused on quality of life issues at work.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_8').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_8', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>. Although the CFDT-Mines remained a minority compared to the CGT, it made significant progress, particularly in Lorraine. By combining the influences of <a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Personnalisme\">Christian personalism<\/a> and the movements of 1968, the CFDT-Mines offered a new reflection on the miner\u2019s profession and its risks. Here again, the idea was to assert that these risks were neither natural nor normal, and that it was possible to prevent them by changing the work of organisation, environment, and hierarchical structures. It was possible to modernise the profession and to conceive of underground work where accidents and illness were not inevitable hazards, but rather exceptions.<\/p>\n<h4>A Relevant Issue<\/h4>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3092\">The mines, an archetype of industrial work, thus constituted a field of experimentation and debate for developing a more reflective and critical approach to the forms of this work, and in particular the underlying relationship to risk. It is interesting to note that one of the young Maoist activists working in the northern basin at the time\u2009\u2013\u2009the philosopher Fran\u00e7ois Ewald\u2009\u2013\u2009would later use this experience as one of the starting points for his work on the welfare state and risk management<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_9');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_9');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_9\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(9)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_9\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Fran\u00e7ois Ewald, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grasset.fr\/livres\/letat-providence-9782246307310\"><i>L\u2019\u00c9tat-Providence<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i>Grasset, 1986.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_9').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_9', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>.<\/span><br \/>\nNot to exaggerate the significance of mining. The coal industry crisis and accompanying deindustrialisation quickly dried up these reflections, and the miner\u2019s profession disappeared in France and across the West, less for environmental and health reasons and more for lack of economic viability. However, mobilisations linked to risk exposure did not disappear in the former basins.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_13188\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-13188\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-13188 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-300x202.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"202\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-300x202.png 300w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-768x517.png 768w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-217x146.png 217w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-50x34.png 50w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai-111x75.png 111w, https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screenshot-2022-05-16-at-16-23-58-Moselle-Est.-Anxiete-des-mineurs-de-charbon-de-Lorraine-verdict-ce-vendredi-a-Douai.png 928w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-13188\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retired coal miners from Lorraine demonstrate in front of the Douai Court of Appeal, September They want to have their anxiety recognized by denouncing their exposure to numerous toxic products at work. They are claiming compensation from the former employer, Charbonnages de France. Photo archive RL<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The CFDT-Mines of Lorraine continue to mobilise in the legal field to recognise victims and fault operators over recognised occupational risks. In this mobilisation, the mining past has resurfaced in connection with new claims relating to occupational health risks: the CFDT-Mines has thus underscored the \u2018detrimental anxiety\u2019 to which former miners are exposed\u2009\u2013\u2009a legal term used in asbestos trials that is now being reused to describe the burden of the mining past for pensioners and their families.<\/p>\n<p><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3110\">Thus, reflection on industrial work, its criticisms, and the mobilisations that have accompanied them, is not an anachronistic undertaking that has no bearing on the present. Post-industrial work, for want of a better term, still involves different forms of exposure to risks<span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_10');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_13404_1('footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_10');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_10\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">(10)<\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_10\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Philippe Bernard, \u00ab\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/idees\/article\/2022\/01\/29\/les-accidents-du-travail-tuent-en-silence_6111468_3232.html\">Les accidents du travail tuent en silence<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb, <i>Le Monde, <\/i>29 January2022.<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_10').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_13404_1_10', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>, and its history is far from over.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"4164\"><em>Marion Fontaine, Centre for History<\/em> <\/span><\/p>\n<pre><span data-slate-object=\"text\" data-key=\"3134\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/histoire\/fr\/chercheur\/Marion%20Fontaine\/86113.html\">Marion Fontaine<\/a> is a university professor affiliated with the Sciences Po Center for History. Her research focuses on political and cultural history (20th-21st-century Europe), the history of socialism and the labour movement, the history of mines and miners, and the crisis of industrial societies. She is also interested in the history of social time and leisure (sports). Her most recent work focuses on the history of mining, the history of the crisis of industrial societies, and the history of socialism and the labour movement. \r\n<\/span><\/pre>\n<div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13404_1();\">Notes<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13404_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13404_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_13404_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">Notes<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Marion Fontaine<i>, <\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/editions.ehess.fr\/ouvrages\/ouvrage\/la-derniere-catastrophe\/\"><i>Li\u00e9vin 74. Fin d\u2019un monde ouvrier<\/i><\/a>, \u00c9ditions de l\u2019EHESS, 2014.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">See for example Yannick Barthe&#8217;s work, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seuil.com\/ouvrage\/les-retombees-du-passe-yannick-barthe\/9782021358117\"><i>Les retomb\u00e9es du pass\u00e9. Le paradoxe de la victime<\/i><\/a>, Le Seuil, 2017.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Judith Rainhorn, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/blanc-de-plomb-histoire-d-un-poison-legal--9782724624359.htm\"><i>Blanc de plomb. Histoire d\u2019un poison l\u00e9gal<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i>Presses de Sciences Po, 2019. <\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Renaud B\u00e9cot, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theses.fr\/2015EHES0130\"><i>Syndicalisme et environnement en France de 1944 aux ann\u00e9es 1980<\/i><\/a>, Th\u00e8se pour le doctorat d\u2019histoire, EHESS, 2015.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_5');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_5\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>5<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Marion Fontaine, \u00ab<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/revue-cahiers-jaures-2018-4-page-3.htm\"> Les Mines, un terrain d\u2019exp\u00e9rience<\/a> \u00bb, <i>Cahiers Jaur\u00e8s<\/i>, n\u00b0230, octobre-d\u00e9cembre 2018.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_6');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_6\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>6<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Paul-Andr\u00e9 (dir.), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.press.jhu.edu\/books\/title\/11359\/silicosis\"><i>Silicosis. A World History<\/i><\/a>, John Hopkins University Press, 201<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_7');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_7\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>7<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Richard Berthollet, Marion Fontaine, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/culture\/article\/2022\/02\/03\/la-grande-tueuse-sur-france-3-cinq-decennies-de-lutte-sociale-pour-rendre-la-mine-plus-humaine_6112227_3246.html\"><i>La grande tueuse,<\/i><\/a> documentaire t\u00e9l\u00e9vis\u00e9 52\u2019, D-Vox production, 2021.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_8');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_8\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>8<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">The CFDT (Democratic labor confederation) was founded in 1964. In the1960s and 1970s, it represented a self-managing trade unionism that very early on focused on quality of life issues at work.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_9');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_9\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>9<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Fran\u00e7ois Ewald, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.grasset.fr\/livres\/letat-providence-9782246307310\"><i>L\u2019\u00c9tat-Providence<\/i><\/a><i>, <\/i>Grasset, 1986.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_13404_1_10');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_13404_1_10\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8593;<\/span>10<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Philippe Bernard, \u00ab\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/idees\/article\/2022\/01\/29\/les-accidents-du-travail-tuent-en-silence_6111468_3232.html\">Les accidents du travail tuent en silence<\/a>\u00a0\u00bb, <i>Le Monde, <\/i>29 January2022.<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_13404_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13404_1').show(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13404_1').text('\u2212'); } function footnote_collapse_reference_container_13404_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13404_1').hide(); jQuery('#footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_13404_1').text('+'); } function footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_13404_1() { if (jQuery('#footnote_references_container_13404_1').is(':hidden')) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13404_1(); } else { footnote_collapse_reference_container_13404_1(); } } function footnote_moveToReference_13404_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13404_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } } function footnote_moveToAnchor_13404_1(p_str_TargetID) { footnote_expand_reference_container_13404_1(); var l_obj_Target = jQuery('#' + p_str_TargetID); if (l_obj_Target.length) { jQuery( 'html, body' ).delay( 0 ); jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On December 27, 1974, an explosion occurred in one of the tunnels of the Li\u00e9vin coal mine in northern France. Forty-two miners were killed on<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[302,300],"tags":[222,81],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13404\/?lang=en"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/?lang=en"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post\/?lang=en"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3\/?lang=en"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments\/?lang=en&post=13404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13404\/revisions\/?lang=en"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13406,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13404\/revisions\/13406\/?lang=en"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13292\/?lang=en"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/?lang=en&parent=13404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories\/?lang=en&post=13404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sciencespo.fr\/research\/cogito\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/?lang=en&post=13404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}