Revolutionary Syndicalism in France: The Direct Action of its Time

by F. F. Ridley

• ISBN13: 9780521089067
• ISBN10: 0521089069
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-10-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

A comprehensive study of the ideas and practice of the French Labour Movement between 1900 and 1914. Part one sets the syndicalist movement against its historical background, pointing to the forces which helped to shape the attitudes of the French worker, French political culture, economic developments, the influence of earlier socialist and anarchist thinkers and the failure of parliamentary democracy. The central section examines in detail the ideological development of the French Labour Movement during the syndicalist phase. As Professor Ridley points out, syndicalist ideas are interesting in their own right as part of the history of socialist thought but also because many of them are echoed today by supporters of the 'extra-parliamentary opposition'. There are obvious parallels too, between the 'direct action' of syndicalism and the tactics of present-day movements. In a final section professor Ridley discusses syndicalism in the wider political and ideological context of its time, taking into account the development of the inter-war years.

Table of Contents

Historical Background

National character and revolutionary tradition

From craft to industry

The repressive state

Proudhon and mutual aid

Blanqui and the barricades

Bakunin and anarchism

The socialist tower of babel

The betrayal of the politicians

The growth of an organised movement

Strength and organisation of the C.G.T

Principles and Practice of the C.G.T.

Reform and revolution: the twofold purpose

Political neutrality and the politics of syndicalism

The autonomy of labour and direct action

The theory of strike

The strike in practice

The tactics of the strike

Subsidiary forms of direct action

Labour as a political pressure group

Antimilitarism and antipatriotism

Genealogy of the general strike

The changing picture of the general strike

The general strike as a myth

Organised labour and the syndicalist utopia

A theory of syndicalism

Conflicting voices in the C.G.T.

Leaders and followers, theory and practice

Ideological Context

The revolt against reason

Nietzsche and the transvaluation of all values

Bergson and creative evolution

James and the pragmatic approach

The revolt against democracy

The discredit of French democracy

Nationalism, monarchism and the right

Fascism: the alternative path

Sorel: a moralist in search of action

The philosopher and the labour market

The militants and the activist temper

Syndicalism as a philosophy of action

Conclusion

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