The Comité des forges (French pronunciation: [kɔmite de fɔʁʒ], Foundry Committee) was an organization of leaders of the French iron and steel industry from 1864 to 1940, when it was dissolved by the Vichy government.
It typically took a protectionist attitude on trade issues, and was opposed to social legislation that would increase costs.
At times it was influential, particularly during World War I (1914–18), and the Left often viewed it with justified suspicion.
However the Comité des forges always suffered from divisions among its members, and the government often ignored its advice.
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Foundation
In 1850 the French iron masters created an Assemblée Générale des Maîtres de Forges de France, under the presidency of Léon Talabot (1796–1863) head of Denain-Anzin.
At the end of the year it took the name of Comité des Maîtres de Forges. In 1855 Talabot assumed the title of president of the Comité des Forges.
In 1860 Talabot also became president of a new Association for the Defense of National Labor, which was opposed to lowering of tariffs.
What would become the Comité des forges was founded at a meeting on 15 February 1864, with representatives of foundries that produced over 20,000 tonnes of pig iron or 15,000 tonnes of steel annually.
The committee had the goals of managing relations between the industry and government, promoting exports and coordinating prices.
Eugène Schneider (1805–75) was the first President and Jules Hochet (1813–67) was chosen as vice-president.
There were ten members, each representing a region: Benoist d'Azy (Gard), de Bouchaud (Loire), Dupont-Dreyfus (Moselle), Germain (Commentry), Hamoir (Sambre), Hochet (Berry), Schneider (Le Creusot), Strohl (Franche-Comté), Waternau (Nord-Escaut), de Wendel (Hayange).
The Committee was to meet four times annually.
Early years
From the start, the Comité des forges intervened with the government to influence tariffs and social policies.
The committee also played an important role in defining production quotas and allocating markets.
It was secretive, and this gave it a reputation for having great influence.
However, the members often disagreed with each other, and the government often ignored its requests.
The Comité des forges was always handicapped by divisions between the members from the center, the north and the east of the country.
For example, Charles de Wendel of Hayange in Lorraine resented the control of the committee exerted by Schneider of Le Creusot in Burgundy.
In the early years the leading participants could not come to agreement on any meaningful action.
It was not until 1880, when French metallurgy was in crisis, that the Comité des forges began to meet regularly.
In 1886 it voted to undertake a program to regulate production and markets. Components included an allocation to each member of part of the domestic market, a uniform way to classify and price iron and steel, penalties for over-production and a fund to encourage exports.
The Comité des Forges reorganized itself under the new law on syndicats in 1887, and gave itself a constitution.
It was democratic in theory, but in practice the largest companies had control.
World War I
During World War I (1914–18) the common interests of the armaments industry were represented by the Comité des Forges and the Chambre syndicale des fabrications de matériel de guerre, both dominated by heavy industry.
Charles François Laurent succeeded Florent Guillain (1844–1915) as president of the Comité des forges.
Robert Pinot continued to serve as secretary general of the CFF under Laurent, as he did under Laurent's successor Gabriel Cordier.
Léon Alphonse Lévy (1851–1925), director of the Société des forges de Châtillon-Commentry-Neuves-Maisons, was a vice-president of the Comité des Forges and president of the Chambre syndicale.
The war economy was organized as a cartel of the great armament firms, coordinated by the Comité des Forges.
The Committee was responsible for buying coal in London and supervising sales of steel abroad.
In May 1916 the Comité des forges obtained a monopoly over import of pig iron from Great Britain.
The state sometimes saw the war industry as a partner, sometimes as a competitor for power, and at times tried to deal directly with individual industrialists and bypass the Comité des Forges.
The industry profited from the lack of social rights of mobilized workers, who had been called up for the army and then assigned to industry, and paid wages below pre-war levels despite the boom in business and the rising prices.
In 1915 it demanded compulsory assignment of civilian workers to prevent them leaving their jobs to accept better pay elsewhere.
Inter-war period
When censorship was relaxed after the war there were bitter complaints against the Comité des forges within and outside Parliament.
It was said that the Comité des forges had allowed France to fall behind in industrialization before the war, and that the Comité des forges had colluded with the army to prevent bombing of the French steel works in the Briey region that had been taken by the Germans early in the war.
The general secretary Robert Pinot defended himself and the steel masters, but the suspicion lingered and the Comité des Forges was attacked by the Left throughout the years that followed.
A shift of power within heavy manufacturing was underway during the interwar years as new industries such as car and airplane manufacture grew in importance, often with interests in conflict with the steel makers.
In December 1918 the Comité des forges created the Comptoir sidérurgique de France, which allocated quotas to members of the steel cartel.
During the war the government had run the National Coal Bureau with a system under which small steel producers who could not get cheap domestic coal were subsidized in buying more expensive imports.
After the war the Comité des forges president François de Wendel asked that this function be transferred to a consortium organized by the Committee.
The small producers were opposed to this measure, which seemed likely to confirm the advantage of the large companies.
In 1923 the Comité des forges asked for either a customs barrier between the Ruhr and Germany so that the French steel producers could get cheaper coal than the Germans, or else a takeover of the German coal mines, which would be leased to the French steel producers.
Dissolution
Under the Vichy regime the Comité des forges was dissolved by decree on 9 November 1940.
It was replaced by the Comité d'organisation de la sidérurgie (CORSID – Organizing Committee for the Iron and Steel Industry).
The only member of the Comité des forges to be appointed to CORSID was Léon Daum of the Compagnie des forges et aciéries de la marine et d'Homécourt.
The Commission générale was created in 1941, with similar membership to the Comité des forges: five members were removed and three added.
Alfred Lambert-Ribot (1886–1967), secretary-general of the committee until the end, was one of those removed, presumably because of the way he had criticized the Vichy regime after it took power.
The commission had a consultative role, but Jules Aubrun and the other CORSID members now coordinated the steel industry.
The significant change was to pass control from the presidents of the largest steelworks to senior managers of second-ranked steelworks.
Notable members
Notable members of the Comité des forges included: