Syndicalism and Communism

[Wubbaz]

Hey there Revleft,

I was just wondering if there is any tendency which advocates a mix of Syndicalism and Communism? More specifically, which writers would you recommend if I want to learn more about any such tendency..

Thanks in advance

[bricolage]

anarcho-syndicalism surely?

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Do you mean Syndicalism and Marxism-Leninism or something along those lines? Because Anarcho-Syndicalists want to achieve a classless, stateless society (i.e. communism)

There's also Daniel De Leon and James Connolly, who were syndicalists (not by name) but still stressed the importance of a party and a relation to socialist unions.

[Тачанка]

Syndicalism is a stream of anarchism which builds its movement upon trade unions.

As a stream of anarchism, it is communist, since anarchism is nothing but a type of socialism, with the end goal being communism.

Sorry, don't have any papers..

[syndicat]

according to the syndicalist international's principles, the aim of revolutionary syndicalism is to create libertarian communism, where workers directly manage social production.

maybe you mean "Communism" with a capital "C", which is Marxist-Leninist politics. ML politics are inconsistent with syndicalism since the latter is based on autonomous grassroots mass worker organizations, not subordinate to any party, and aims at worker power through mass organizations such as unions, not thru any party taking state power.

[Wubbaz]

Maybe I should be a bit more specific.. A tendency which focuses on decentralized democracy and trade unions with the final goal of achieving a classless, stateless society. A tendency which believes that the trade unions are the best possible venue for the proletariat to organize and take over the means of production in the course of a revolution, and believes that democratic centralism is too, well, centralized. It should also be against vanguard parties to lead the revolution.

Is anarcho-syndicalism my best bet? Or should I read some stuff by DeLeon?

Thank you again

[syndicat]

maybe by "democratic centralism" you mean "well-coordinated"?

the phrase "democratic centralism" traditionally has been associated with the Leninist idea of the political party, not with unionism.

if you mean, is there a role for both political and union organizations that isn't vanguard party oriented, then dual organizational anarchism & syndicalism would fall into that camp. this is discussed by "Black Flame"

[bricolage]

Syndicalism is a stream of anarchism which builds its movement upon trade unions.
syndicalism existed before what we could really call communism or anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism came along later.

[syndicat]

syndicalism existed before what we could really call communism or anarchism, anarcho-syndicalism came along later.

i don't think so. syndicalism as a political direction came into existence via the libertarian socialist or Bakuninist wing of the first international. Bakunin advocated unions as instruments of revolution and power in society via federations of unions, plus the general strike as radical weapon of the oppressed...these are syndicalist positions.

[Wubbaz]

maybe by "democratic centralism" you mean "well-coordinated"?

the phrase "democratic centralism" traditionally has been associated with the Leninist idea of the political party, not with unionism.

if you mean, is there a role for both political and union organizations that isn't vanguard party oriented, then dual organizational anarchism & syndicalism would fall into that camp. this is discussed by "Black Flame"

Well, I think I have misunderstood what democratic centralism is about. I thought it was the idea of a socialist society formed around a leading political party, which supposedly lead the country towards communism while using the democratic input from the rest of the proletariat..

Can a tendency which believes in Dictatorship of the Proletariat be anarchistic? Or are anarchists against any form of authority, even authority over the bourgeoisie in order to stop counter-revolutionary action?

Sorry for all these questions.. I appreciate your patience

[Forward Union]

Hey there Revleft,

I was just wondering if there is any tendency which advocates a mix of Syndicalism and Communism? More specifically, which writers would you recommend if I want to learn more about any such tendency..

Thanks in advance

I advocate it.

But you can also check www.thesyndicalist.org.uk and you might want to read http://www.libertyandsolidarity.org/node/78

[W1N5T0N]

DOTP relies heavily on party pretending to be the voice of the workers, while at the same time constructing a hierarchical bureaucracy; example = bolshevik party.

dictatorships of any kind suck, because it always implies the oppression of people. So I can't see anarchists agreeing with this...dictatorships are just so primitive.

[Thirsty Crow]

DOTP relies heavily on party pretending to be the voice of the workers, while at the same time constructing a hierarchical bureaucracy; example = bolshevik party.

dictatorships of any kind suck, because it always implies the oppression of people. So I can't see anarchists agreeing with this...dictatorships are just so primitive.
The concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat does not inherently lead to the practice of party-state dictatorship (over the proetariat).

I think the problem lies in the fact that the usage of "dictatorship" in political discourse of the 19th century, especially in socialist theory, does not correspond to the contemporary usage which echoes the connotations of a lack of democratic political mechanisms.
Maybe it would be more prudent to reintorduce another old term - proletarian revolutionary government.

[Wubbaz]

I advocate it.

Hmm, this looks interesting. What is the difference between pure Syndicalism and Anarcho-Syndicalism?

[Forward Union]

Anarcho Syndicalism, unlike vanilla Syndicalism, belives in some level of exclusivity. Meaning, to be a member of an Anarcho Syndicalist Union, you have to have at least some tacit approval of incredibly complicated Anarchist philosophy. It isn't just a Union based on Anarchist organisational principals - it's an explicitly political union, for political workers. The only times such Frankenstein formations have grown to any interesting scale has been when they fundementally dropped this political requirement (such as with the Historical CNT) Political Unions, compete for membership with other Unions, rather than cooperate and move toward building a grand Industrial Union in the way Syndicalist organisations like the IWW do.

The two largest Unions in the Red and Black coordination (which I have been involved in), the SAC in Sweden, and the CGT (far bigger an more significant than the now tiny CNT) in Spain, have both dropped the "Anarcho" bit from their approaches, as it appears to act as little more than dogmatic baggage.

There's not too much about Syndicalism written. I really suggest reading the "Syndicalism vs Partyism" article I linked to. Or looking into the "Revolutionary Syndicalist Current" (http://www.syndicaliste.fr/) inside the CGT(F) and the Syndicalist Faction inside the NSSN in Britain. I mean Tom Brown put it well “When people say "Show me the Books of Syndicalism,” there is little to show. Its lasting work is the living flesh of the workshop committee idea, with is shop stewardship, which has grown till nearly every worker, be his collar dirty blue or dirty white, knows its efficacy." It's a newly emerging position in the west, or at least it's becoming better defined. I am currently writing an article outlining what Syndicalism has to say about the current situation. Going through an editorial process at the moment but I will post it here when it is ready.