Comment dire son syndicalisme ? Sur l’usage de récits autobiographiques de militants CGT

Abstract

This article studies the French CGT trade unionists who sat for the third competitive examination for the Ecole nationale d'administration (1983-1986). During the examination, the candidates were to write an autobiographical account of their militant, professional and school life. This article analyzes these stories, offering two ways of reading them. On the one hand, they can be seen as a testimony of working class life in the 70s and 80s, and on the other, they can be seen as a strategic narrative that serves the objective of passing the ENA entrance exam. Based on these autobiographies, we propose an analysis of the use of archives by sociologists and the blending of historical and sociological methodologies.

Keywords

• CGT
• Trade unions
• autobiography
• École nationale d’administration
• civil service competition
• archives