“To Mr. Schneider”: when workers ask their boss to run for deputy (January 1902)

Abstract

Based on proceedings from the social history of politics, the article discusses how competence in politics cannot be understood outside the situations in which it is requested. The analysis of letters written by workers at a major foundry in Creusot (France) to his master and deputy allows us to capture the intricacies of the patronage tie through the mediation of written proof, by the manifestation of personal fidelity, then political, to the lord of the foundry-deputy. The intertwining of personal, economic, and political is the rule for the most faithful or for those who imitate such fidelity. The play around this indifferentiation is one of the impulses of certain epistolary strategies.

Keywords

• politização
• operários
• sócio-história
• frança