Maxists on Syndicalists

[Faceless]

Whilst their intentions may be noble what do the marxists here think of left-wing syndicalists since market socialism stands in stark contrast to the Marxist's dialectical materialism?

[Guest1]

sydicalists believe in market socialism? :huh:

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:edited for obvious stupidity:
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Please give me some background, I know nothing about this (edit) and I'm interested.

[Faceless]

sydicalists believe in market socialism?
Yeah, I don't know much about it myself, but isn't it like where the means of production are handed over to some unions to form syndicates with effectively little change in the nature of the economy. There is an extreme right-wing syndicalism too associated with Fascism, but I obviously don't refer to that.

:edited for obvious stupidity:
I must have missed something.

[Morpheus]

Most syndicalists do not believe in market socialism. Anarcho-syndicalists believe that workers should run their own workplaces. Most believe that these workplaces should form decentralized directly democratic non-hierchical confederations (using workers councils or something like that) to coordinate production between different workplaces, rather than using the market. There are "free market syndicalists" who think the workplaces should compete in a market, instead of using confederations, but they are a minority. Most Marxist criticisms of syndicalism are the same as their criticisms of anarchism in general, they don't usually single out this particular brand of anarchism.

[Faceless]

On the economic front though do you have any criticisms of Syndicalism. I never thought that they abolished private property myself but then I don't know much about it.

Anarcho-syndicalists believe that workers should run their own workplaces I realised this but do they eliminate competition principly between workplaces in the light of right-wing syndicates?
Finally, do any of you know about the right-wing syndicalists (who use "syndicalism" in favour of the employers)? Better still, can anyone define Syndicalism for me?

[SonofRage]

Syndicalism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndicalism)


Syndicalism

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The political theory of Syndicalism gives control of both industry and government to labor union federations. Direct action, such as general strikes and sabotage, is a hallmark. Syndicalists often consider themselves Democratic Socialists.

During the Spanish Civil War, these methods and theories were used by the Spanish anarchist-syndicalist union Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT).

In the United States, the best-known syndicalist union is the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW).

Anarcho-Syndicalism (http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism)



Anarcho-syndicalism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Anarcho-syndicalism is the anarchist wing of the labor union movement. Its primary aim is the end of the wage system.

The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are:

1. workers' solidarity,
2. direct action
3. self-management.

Workers' solidarity means that anarcho-syndicalists believe all workers, no matter what their race, gender, or ethnic group are in a similar situation vis-a-vis their bosses. Furthermore, it means that, within capitalism, any gains or losses made by some workers in their relation to bosses will eventually impact all workers. Therefore, it says that in order to gain liberation, all workers must support one another in their struggle against bosses.

Anarcho-syndicalists believe that only direct action -- that is, action concentrated on directly attaining a goal, as opposed to indirect action, like electing a representative to a government -- will allow workers to liberate themselves.

Furthermore, anarcho-syndicalists believe that workers' organizations -- the organizations which struggle against the wage system and which, in anarcho-syndicalist theory, will eventually form the basis of a new society--should be self-managing. They should not have bosses or "business agents"; rather, the workers should be able to make decisions which effect them amongst themselves.

The Industrial Workers of the World, a once-powerful labor movement, is considered a leading organ of the anarcho-syndicalist philosophy in the United States.

The anarcho-syndicalist orientation of many early American labor unions played a large part in the formation of the American political spectrum. The United States is the only industrialized former English colony to not have a labor-based political party. See, It Didn't Happen Here: Why Socialism Failed in the United States, Seymour Martin Lipset and Gary Marks. ISBN 0-39-332254-8.

Michael Bakunin, one of the fathers of anarchism, wrote

"The [libertarian labour unions] ... bear in themselves the living seeds of the new society which is to replace the old world. They are creating not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself."

REF: Dolgoff, S. (ed), Bakunin on Anarchism, Montreal; Black Rose Books, 1990, pp. 255.

[Blackberry]

From the "Making Sense of Anarchism - Anarchism for Dummies" thread:



There have also been elements of the Marxist movement holding views very similar to social anarchism (particularly the anarcho-syndicalist branch of social anarchism) -- for example, Anton Pannekoek, Rosa Luxembourg, Paul Mattick and others, who are very far from Lenin. Karl Korsch and others wrote sympathetically of the anarchist revolution in Spain. There are many continuities from Marx to Lenin, but there are also continuities from Marx to more libertarian Marxists, who were harshly critical of Lenin and Bolshevism and whose ideas approximate anarchism's desire for the free association of equals.