On 4 December, after extremely violent discussions, the National Assembly voted a law on the "defence of the Republic and the freedom to work". (Three years later, the arrest of Dehaene caused the Council of State to consecrate the constitutional right to strike. On 9 December 1947, the central strike committee, consisting of the CGT federations, ordered return to work. Ten days later, a split divided the CGT, with a majority close to the PCF and led by Benoît Frachon, and the reformist minority, led by Léon Jouhaux, founded the CGT-Workers' Force. The strike of 1947 at Renault also denounced the repression of the Malagasy Uprising. The PCF had been the only party in the French government to denounce the French colonial empire's atrocities in Madagascar, and with its expulsion, the other parties authorised an even more ruthless counter-insurgency. Strikes also affected the railway from Dakar to Niger by workers claiming the same rights as their French counterparts. Covert action by the Central Intelligence Agency was later revealed to have been a factor in the strike. The CGT-Workers' Force was initiated with the financial support of American unions (including the AFL-CIO), and the funding was co-ordinated by CIA operative Irving Brown. Even earlier, the CIA had begun funding and arming the Guerini crime family to assault communist picket lines and to harass union officials in Marseilles. Several murders of striking workers were traced to the Guerinis at the time. References Rémy Kaufer, , Cheminots, mineurs, métallos... : Les grèves insurrectionnelles de 1947, 01/01/2008 - n°733 Avril 1947 : La grève Renault enflamme la France, 7 April 2007 http://www.association-radar.org/spip.php?article1149 Robert Hirsch, La grève des instituteurs et institutrices de la Seine de 1947 Le Mouvement social, 2005/3 (n°212) Riots and civil disorder in France Strikes April 1947 events in Europe November 1947 events in Europe 1947 labor disputes and strikes Labor disputes in France