# Trade unions legalized (1884)

URL: https://history-france.com/timeline/1884-trade-unions-legalized
Location: France

The Waldeck-Rousseau Law permitted legal labor unions. Within the broader Third Republic period, The Third Republic survived war, the Commune, constitutional crises and fierce ideological conflict. It expanded mass schooling and empire, faced the Dreyfus Affair, fought World War I and entered the troubled interwar era. At this point in the timeline, the relevant governing authority is Jules Grévy (President of the French Republic). Trade unions legalized mattered because it changed the legal or constitutional framework within which French institutions and citizens operated. The event is positioned here so visitors can read it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion, culture and France’s wider international setting.

## Why it matters
Trade unions legalized mattered because it changed the legal or constitutional framework within which French institutions and citizens operated.

Ruler at the time: [Jules Grévy](https://history-france.com/rulers/jules-grevy)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia topic lookup — Trade unions legalized](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Trade+unions+legalized&go=Go)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Trade unions legalized](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Trade+unions+legalized)
- [Vie-publique — French institutions and history](https://www.vie-publique.fr/)