Anarcho-syndicalism

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Anarcho-syndicalism
Theory Anti-authoritarianism Anti-capitalism Anti-militarism Anti-politics Class conflict Federalism Industrial democracy Industrial unionism Prefigurative politics Workers' control Workers' self-management
Practice Boycott Direct action Industrial action Sabotage Solidarity action Strike action General strike Trade unionism
People Ascaso F. Ascaso J. Besnard Camus Chomsky Dolgoff García Oliver Gröndahl Leval Kater Köster Mainwaring Maksimov Meltzer Orobón Peiró Gandía Novomirskii Pelloutier Pestaña Petrichenko Pouget Rocker Rüdiger Santillán Schapiro Seguí Soto Souchy Witkop Yarchuk
Organizations Asociación Continental Americana de Trabajadores Confederacion General del Trabajo Confédération Générale du Travail Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire Confederación Nacional del Trabajo Confédération nationale du travail Free Workers' Union Free Workers' Union of Germany International Workers' Association Norsk Syndikalistisk Forbund Solidarity Federation SAC Syndikalisterna Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation Unione Sindacale Italiana Union of Russian Workers Workers' Initiative
Related topics Anarchist communism Collectivist anarchism Council communism De Leonism Libertarian socialism Mutualism Neozapatismo Participatory economics Platformism Sorelianism Synthesis anarchism
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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, 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). 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. 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.