The CGTU emerged from a split in the General Confederation of Labour (CGT: Confédération générale du travail), which had been torn by confrontations between socialist members of the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO: Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière) and the more radical anarcho-syndicalists and members of the French Communist Party (PCF: Parti communiste français).

[3] Joseph Tommasi, a member of the PCF executive committee, attended the congress in Saint-Étienne on 25 June – 1 July 1922 at which the syndicates, unions and federations that had been excluded from the CGT founded the CGTU.

[5] Over the first two or three years many of the syndicalists joined the communist movement, including leaders such as Alfred Rosmer and Pierre Monatte.

Marie Guillot took an intermediate position in the continuum of revolutionary syndicalism, while recognizing the merits of the Soviet Revolution.

Semard proposed a motion, passed by a great majority, that the CGTU would commit itself to a tireless struggle for the defense of workers.

[12] The CGTU membership steadily declined in comparison to the CGT due to internal disagreements, ineffective strikes and troubles within the Communist Party.