Concept
Anarcho-syndicalism
Overview
Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both a means to achieve immediate improvements to working conditions and to build towards a social revolution in the form of a general strike with the ultimate aim of abolishing the state and capitalism. Anarcho-syndicalists consider trade unions to be the prefiguration of a post-capitalist society, and seek to use them in order to establish workers' control of production and distribution. An anti-political ideology, anarcho-syndicalism rejects political parties and participation in parliamentary politics, considering them to be a corrupting influence on the labour movement. In order to achieve their material and economic goals, anarcho-syndicalists instead practice direct action in the form of strike actions, boycotts and sabotage. Anarcho-syndicalists also attempt to build solidarity among the working class in order to unite workers against the exploitation of labour and build workers' self-management.
The foundations of anarcho-syndicalism were laid by the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association (IWMA) and developed by the French General Confederation of Labour (CGT). Anarcho-syndicalism was constituted as a specific tendency following the International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam in 1907, which led to anarcho-syndicalism becoming the dominant form of trade union organisation in Europe and Latin America. After facing suppression during the Revolutions of 1917–1923, anarcho-syndicalists established the International Workers' Association (IWA) in 1922. Anarcho-syndicalism reached its apex during the Spanish Revolution of 1936, when the National Confederation of Labour (CNT) established an anarcho-syndicalist economy throughout much of the Spanish Republic. Anarcho-syndicalism went into decline after the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The movement split into two factions: the "orthodox" faction, which held to traditional syndicalist principles in spite of changing material conditions; and the "revisionist" faction, which aimed to achieve a mass base and work within the framework of newly established welfare states. By the end of the 20th century, the rise of neoliberalism and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc had led to a revival in anarcho-syndicalism, with syndicalist unions once again being established throughout the globe.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
(The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them. This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality' (of the Tao).
Laozi, The Tao Teh King
States what Anarcho-syndicalism is; the author is tied to Anarcho-syndicalism in the knowledge graph.
Man, at last the master of his own form of social organization, becomes at the same time the lord over Nature, his own master--free. To accomplish this act of universal emancipation is the historical mission of the modern proletariat. To thoroughly comprehend the historical conditions and thus the very nature of this act, to impart to the now oppressed proletarian class a full knowledge of the conditions and of the…
Friedrich Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific
States what Anarcho-syndicalism is.
A new form of opposition had to be found. At this point help came in the shape of a law enacted by the old, unreformed, oligarchic-Tory parliament, a law which never could have passed the House of Commons later, when the Reform Bill had legally sanctioned the distinction between bourgeoisie and proletariat, and made the bourgeoisie the ruling class. This was enacted in 1824, and repealed all laws by which coalitions…
Friedrich Engels, The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844 with a Preface written in 1892
Close in meaning to Anarcho-syndicalism; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Anarcho-syndicalism
Related ideas
- Anarchism
- Trade union
- Anarchist communism
- Libertarian socialism
- Latin America
- Spanish Civil War
- Marxism
- Wealth
- Industrialisation
- Nationalism
- Welfare state
- French Third Republic
- Collective ownership
- Welfare spending
- Syndicalism
- Socialism
- State (polity)
- Collaboration
- World War II
- Society
- Working class
- Social revolution
- Workers' control
- Workers' self-management
Opposing perspectives
- Federalism
- Hierarchy
- Self-help
- Bolshevism
- Authoritarianism
- Nation state
- Myth
- State capitalism
- Social revolution
- Vanguardism
- Reformism
- Representative democracy
- Anarchism and nationalism
Place in the tradition
Part of Anarchism.