Syndicalism vs. Communism

[OnFire]

Hello comrades,

I have recently talked with a person who claimed to be syndicalist but all he said sounded very much communist, like toppling of the capitalist rule by co-ordinated actions conducted by industrial workers.

Can someone enlighten me on Syndicalism?

[Rudolf]

Syndicalism itself is not necessarily revolutionary nor communist but is itself a method of organising and engaging in class struggle. Having said that one of the more well known forms of syndicalism is anarcho-syndicalism which is revolutionary and as a general rule communist.

The general notion within anarcho-syndicalism is that through forms of unionism the working class can overthrow capitalism. Anarcho-syndicalists thus address themselves to workers in their capacity as producers.

[G4b3n]

Syndicalism is not so much an economic system as it is a means of strategy to manage class struggle. While many communist theories focus on armed insurrection, either by the whole of the working class or professional revolutionaries, syndicalism wishes to unite the working class under one coherent and self-managing unit, in order to eventually bring production to a complete stop in what is referred to as the "general strike".

Post-capitalist economics of syndicalists may vary a good deal, but they are always decentralized, and they are generally in agreement on what strategies the working class needs to combat capitalism.

[#FF0000]

Syndicalism is not so much an economic system as it is a means of strategy to manage class struggle

Nah I think it's safe to call it both, actually. Syndicalists are probably the clearest when it comes to a blueprint for a post-revolution society, what with Father Haggerty's Wheel and all.

Though syndicalism isn't necessary revolutionary or even leftist -- Georges Sorel, the sort of "founder" of Syndicalism, influenced both Marxists and Fascists, and himself flirted with deeply reactionary organizations himself in life, e.g. the far-right monarchist group Action Francaise.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Nah I think it's safe to call it both, actually. Syndicalists are probably the clearest when it comes to a blueprint for a post-revolution society, what with Father Haggerty's Wheel and all.

Though syndicalism isn't necessary revolutionary or even leftist -- Georges Sorel, the sort of "founder" of Syndicalism, influenced both Marxists and Fascists, and himself flirted with deeply reactionary organizations himself in life, e.g. the far-right monarchist group Action Francaise.

I would say that, to the extent that syndicalism has a founder, Pelloutier is a stronger candidate than the much later Sorel. Sorel was perhaps the first of the "Marxist syndicalists", a current that doesn't really exist anymore (having merged with the communists after the October Revolution), but he was a political chameleon, going from Taine to Marx to Maurras to some god-awful synthesis of Bernstein and Maurras. I don't think that means there are monarchist, anti-revolutionary syndicalists - it just means that there are, or were, former syndicalists who crossed over to fascism or proto-fascism (not just Sorel, but Lagardelle and De Ambris as well).

[OnFire]

So Syndicalism is basically just another way of seizing the means of production, while it does not advocate the DOTP or revolution, right?

[Rudolf]

So Syndicalism is basically just another way of seizing the means of production, while it does not advocate the DOTP or revolution, right?


It depends on what you understand as the Dictatorship of the Proletariat. To use the anarcho-syndicalist International Workers Association (IWA-AIT) as an example because it's explicitly revolutionary and not Marxist

from their statutes: "...establishment of economic communities and administrative organs run by the workers in the field and factories, forming a system of free councils without subordination to any authority or political party"

This can be construed as advocating a DotP however the IWA would reject the term.

As for revolution, historically political and revolutionary syndicalism has overshadowed reformist syndicalism so i think an argument can be made that syndicalism advocates revolution despite this not necessarily always being the case.