Journée de 8 heures. Guerre et paix sociale. Histoire de l'Organisation Internationale du Travail

The reduction of working hours has been a historic struggle since the 19th century, fought on an international scale and embodied in the May Day demonstrations, which were sometimes violently suppressed. The ‘8-hour day’ (8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of leisure) was also a pivotal standard, established when the ILO (International Labour Organisation) was created in 1919, in the aftermath of the Great War, against a backdrop of intense social struggles around the world and insurrectionary movements that threatened the powers that be (the Spartacists in Germany, for example), in the wake of the Soviet revolution in Russia. This documentary takes us back to the early years of the ILO, an organisation now affiliated with the UN, whose role is to produce international labour standards and a framework for labour legislation in a world dominated by fierce economic competition. In a context where Donald Trump's United States is threatening to withdraw its share of funding from international organisations, this documentary also addresses how an international organisation such as the ILO is funded and how, since its creation, donors such as Rockefeller (Standard Oil) have contributed to the funding of the international organisation. Production: Centre for Contemporary Social History. Director: Jeanne Menjoulet Historians: Isabelle Lespinet-Moret, Adeline Blaszkiewicz-Maison, and Sandrine Kott Special thanks to Bernard Thibault, who kindly answered a few questions from Jeanne Menjoulet about the ILO (International Labour Organisation). Bernard Thibault was elected to the Governing Body from 2014 to 2021, where he represented all French trade unions. This documentary features numerous images from 1919-1920, including demonstrations, bustling streets, and scenes of everyday life and work. These images, now in the public domain, were filmed in the 1920s by Camille Sauvageot and Lucien le Saint for Albert Kahn. The images of the historians (in 2025) and Bernard Thibault were filmed by Jeanne Menjoulet, who conducted these interviews in Aubervilliers, in the Paris region. The documentary was also edited by J. Menjoulet