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Anarcho-Syndicalism in the 20Th Century Was First Pub- Approved the Principles of Class Struggle and Direct Action; in Lished in Moscow in 2000

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Anarcho-Syndicalism in the 20Th Century Was First Pub- Approved the Principles of Class Struggle and Direct Action; in Lished in Moscow in 2000 congress of the FVdG, which morphed into the FAUD, solidar- ity was expressed with Soviet Russia. But at this same congress R. Rocker took the floor with a report on the principles ofsyn- dicalism. His speech and the resulting “Declaration concern- ing the Principles of Syndicalism” set forth a synthesis of an- Anarcho-syndicalism in the archism and revolutionary syndicalism on which the ideology 20th Century of the anarcho-syndicalist movement was based. An adherent of the anarcho-communism of P. Kropotkin, Rocker combined the traditional goals of anarchism (doing away with the State, private property, and the system of the division of labour; cre- Vadim Damier ation of a federation of free communes and a diversified econ- omy aimed at the satisfaction of the real needs of people – the ethical basis of socialism) with ideas developed by the German anarchist G. Landauer about a new culture and the creation of the elements of a future free society without waiting for a general social upheaval. Rocker was convinced the social revo- lution could not be carried through spontaneously, that it must be prepared still within the framework of existing capitalist so- ciety and that the better it was prepared, the less trouble and pain there would be in carrying it through. Following the rev- olutionary syndicalists, he considered the unions (syndicates) to be the organs and elements of preparation for the revolu- tion. The unions, in Rocker’s opinion, struggling not only for momentary improvements, but also for revolution, are “not a transitory product of capitalist society, but the cells of the fu- ture socialist economic organization.” Rejecting private property as a “monopoly of possessions” and government as a “monopoly of decision-making,” the syn- dicalists should strive “for collectivization of land, work tools, raw materials, and all social wealth; for the reorganization of the whole of economic life on the basis of libertarian, i.e. stateless, communism, which finds its expression in the slogan: ‘From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs!’” Rocker criticized not only the bourgeois State, Monday, September 28th 2009 State boundaries, parliamentarism and political parties; but 68 traction not only for the left-radical wing of social-democracy but also for libertarians, as a sort of historical compromise be- tween Marx and Bakunin on the basis of revolutionary princi- ples. Announcements about joining the Comintern were made by the French “Committee of Syndicalist Defense” of R. Péri- cat (renamed the Communist Party in the spring of 1919, and later – the Communist Federation of Soviets), by the Italian USI (in July 1919 and confirmed at a USI congress in December), and even by – “temporarily” in anticipation of the holding of a congress in Spain to organize a “genuine workers’ Interna- tional” – the Spanish CNT (at a congress in December 1919). A number of prominent leaders of Anglo-Saxon syndicalism joined communist parties: Bill Haywood (American IWW), T. Mann (the leading British revolutionary syndicalist), and oth- ers. There were some anarchists who spoke out early on witha sharp critique of the Bolsheviks and their dictatorship. Among them were the Italian Luigi Fabbri and the German Rudolph Rocker. Already in 1919 skepticism regarding the Bolsheviks’ break with the centralism of social-democracy was expressed by the Swedish revolutionary syndicalists (SAC). <fn>In 1922 SAC declared that affiliating to the Inter- national being created in Moscow was incompatible with the syndicalist principle of independence from political parties (RGASPI: F.532, Op. 7, D. 624, L. 23, 36, 65-66).</fn> But the centre of resistance to the influence of Bolshevism became the German revolutionary trade union association FAUD. In December 1918 FAUD called for co-operation with revolu- tionary socialists. Within its organization there were support- ers and even members of the Communist Party. In the spring of 1919 the prevailing view within its ranks was support for a non-party “dictatorship of the proletariat” in the form of Councils, in contrast to parliamentary activity, although it was maintained that socialization could only be car- ried out by revolutionary unions. In December 1919 at the 12th 67 rangements – played an important part in the belief systems of many anarchists and syndicalists.The majority of libertari- ans were enthralled by events in Russia, seeing in them what they wished to see rather than what was actually transpiring. In the words of Malatesta, they interpreted the dictatorship of Contents the proletariat not as a system of government, but as “a revolu- tionary action with the help of which the workers would take possession of the land and the means of production, and would Translator’s introduction 5 attempt to build a society in which there was no place for class, no place for exploitative and oppressive owners. In this case the Preface 8 ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’ would denote the dictatorship Part 1: Revolutionary Syndicalism 11 of everyone and therefore would not be a dictatorship at all, Chapter 1: From the First International to Revolu- the same as a government of everyone is no longer a govern- tionary Syndicalism . 11 ment in the authoritarian, historical, and practical sense of the Chapter 2: the Rise of the Revolutionary Syndicalist word,” the old anarchist noted. A section of the libertarians be- Movement .................... 18 came convinced that the Bolshevik system of “the dictatorship Chapter 3: Revolutionary Syndicalism and Anarchism 28 of the proletariat” is some kind of intermediate stage on the Chapter 4: Revolutionary Syndicalism during the road to the anarchist organization of society (the phenomenon First World War . 46 of “anarcho-bolshevism”). It was years before the anarchists and syndicalists grasped that behind the “power of the soviets” Part 2: Anarcho-syndicalism 51 was hidden a new party-state dictatorship. Chapter 5: The Revolutionary Years . 51 The revolutionary syndicalists were faced with the neces- Chapter 6: From Revolutionary Syndicalism to sity of choosing between anarchism and Bolshevism. The ques- Anarcho-syndicalism . 65 tion of the orientation and goals of the movement was central Chapter 7: The World Anarcho-Syndicalist Move- to the process of its unification on a global scale. At the end ment in the 1920’s and 1930’s . 84 of 1918 the Dutch and German syndicalists renewed their ap- Chapter 8: Ideological-Theoretical Discussions in peal for the convening of an international congress, but at a Anarcho-syndicalism in the 1920’s-1930’s . 89 conference in February 1919 in Copenhagen, only the Scan- dinavian delegates were able to be present. Attempts during Part 3: The Spanish Revolution 111 1919-1920 to assemble a congress in the Netherlands and Swe- Chapter 9: The Uprising of July 19th 1936 . 111 den were unsuccessful. Meanwhile the Bolsheviks, along with Chapter 10: Libertarian Communism or Anti-Fascist Communist parties and groups in a number of European coun- Unity? . 115 tries, announced the creation of the Communist International. Chapter 11: Under the Pressure of Circumstances . 124 To many anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists it seemed Chapter 12: The CNT Enters the Government . 131 that this new international association could be the centre of at- 66 3 Chapter 13: The CNT in Government - Results and Anarchists did not play a decisive role in the unions of the Lessons . 143 IWW, in fact activists of various leftist Marxists parties were Chapter 14: Notwithstanding “Circumstances” . 147 much in evidence. In the U.S.A. members of the IWW suffered Chapter 15: The Spanish Revolution and World greatly from government repression in 1917-1920. Another in- Anarcho-syndicalism . 162 dustrial unionist labour central – the One Big Union (OBU) – arose in 1919 in Canada and headed a powerful general strike in Part 4: Decline and Possible Regeneration 167 the western part of the country. The North American IWW and Chapter 16: Anarcho-Syndicalism during the Second OBU did not develop along the lines of anarcho-syndicalism. World War . 167 In Australia and New Zealand, the initial groups of the IWW Chapter 17: Anarcho-syndicalism After World War II 171 carried on work in the existing labour unions, trying to en- Chapter 18: Anarcho-syndicalism in contemporary courage them to associate on an industrial basis and adopt the Russia . 182 principles of the IWW. They suffered greatly from repression during the First World War, and then many of their leading Bibliographic Essay 185 activists joined communist parties. In South Africa industrial unionists were grouped around the IWW (1910-1914), the In- Acronyms 198 ternational Socialist League (1915-1921), and the Industrial So- cialist League (1918-1921). They acted as organizers of major strikes (including a general strike of miners in 1921-1922) and a number of active unions of “whites,” “blacks,” and Indian work- ers. But after 1921 the majority of the South African unionists joined communist parties. 1. In Columbia and Venezuela the anarcho-syndicalists ten- dencies began to have an impact only towards the middle and end of the 1920’s. Chapter 6: From Revolutionary Syndicalism to Anarcho-syndicalism The Russian Revolution, it seemed, offered the workers’ movement a revolutionary alternative to social-reformism. The idea of soviets – not as state organs staffed by party of- ficials but as instruments of non-party self-organization and workers’ self-management of production and of local living ar- 4 65 branches of heavy and light industry. It organized important demonstrations of textile workers, but in January 1922 it was destroyed by the provincial authorities and its leaders exe- cuted. In the 1920’s the centre of the anarchist and syndicalist movement shifted to Shanghai, where the anarchists and Translator’s introduction other non-communist workers’ unions formed a Federation of Labour Unions in March 1924. It participated actively in a strike movement.
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