What is Syndicalism?
Syndicalists believe workers can free themselves without politicians. The name comes from the French word for a trade union. Their plan is to build strong unions, use strikes and other direct action to win control of workplaces, and in the end run industry through unions themselves. Votes and parliaments, they say, are a distraction that tames the labor movement. In the future society, unions organized by trade and by area would manage production and replace the old state. The idea was a major force on the labor left in the decades before the First World War.
Core beliefs
- Workers and employers have opposed interests.
- Unions are both a weapon today and the seed of a new society.
- Direct action works better than lobbying or elections.
- A general strike could bring down the old order.
- Unions should stay independent of political parties.
- Industry should be managed by federations of local unions.
History
Syndicalism grew from French labor politics in the 1890s. The General Confederation of Labour, founded in 1895, became its main home, and Fernand Pelloutier built the labor exchanges that gave workers a base. At its 1906 congress, the CGT adopted the Charter of Amiens, which put the union above political parties. Georges Sorel's Reflections on Violence, from 1908, praised the general strike as a unifying myth, though most union leaders did not follow his ideas. Syndicalism spread to Spain, where the CNT was formed in 1910, and to Italy, Britain, Ireland, the United States and Latin America. After the Russian Revolution of 1917 many syndicalists joined the new communist parties, while others remained independent.
Variants
Anarcho-syndicalism adds the clear aim of ending the state. Industrial unionism, as in the Industrial Workers of the World formed in 1905, tries to put all workers in an industry into one big union. Guild socialism in Britain also wanted worker control but let the state speak for consumers. National syndicalism, which appeared in Italy and Spain, mixed unions with nationalism and is generally seen as a separate and quite different creed.
Criticisms
Liberal and conservative critics say strikes on a mass scale harm the public, and that unions running whole industries could become monopolies. Lenin and his followers argued that unions only chase immediate gains and need a disciplined party to win real change. Social democrats held that winning elections and passing labor laws gave steadier results. Historians note that the great general strikes of the era rarely reached their larger aims, and that many ended in defeat and repression.
In practice
Syndicalist unions led big strikes in France, Italy, Spain and Britain before 1914, and the IWW organized migrant and unskilled workers across the US. During the Spanish civil war from 1936, the CNT and other unions ran factories, transport and farms in parts of the country. Later labor movements borrowed ideas such as workplace democracy and shop stewards' committees. On the 12 axes it scores strongly toward Public on Ownership, strongly toward Planned on Markets, and toward Shared on Welfare, with Authority and Structure firmly Democratic and Local.