AtDTDA (4) 111 Anarcho-syndicalists

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

                In the U.S.A., it was almost the Fourth of July, which it 
           meant that tonight, by standing orders, there had to be 
           a shipboard celebration out here, too, like it or not.

                "Lights and noise, just to keep us hoppin like trained 
           baboons," was Darby's opinion.

                "Anyone at all educated," protested Lindsay, "knows 
           that Fourth of July fireworks are the patriotic symbols 
           of noteworthy episodes of military explosion in our 
           nation's history, deemed necessary to maintain the 
           integrity of the American homeland against threats 
           presented from all sides by a benightedly hostile world."

                "Explosion without an objective," declared Miles 
           Blundell, "Is politics in its purest form."

                "If we don't take care," opined Scientific Officer 
           Counterfly, "folks will begin to confuse us with the 
           Anarcho-syndicalists."

                "About time," snarled Darby. "I say let's set off our 
           barrage tonight in honor of the Haymarket bomb, 
           bless it, a turning point in American history, and the 
           only way working people will ever get a fair shake 
           under that miserable economic system---through 
           the wonders of chemistry!"

                "Suckling!" the astounded Lindsay Noseworth 
           struggling to maintain his composure. "But that is 
           blatant anti-Americanism!"

                "Eehhyyhh, and your mother's a Pinkerton too."

                "Why you little communistic little---"

           Anarcho-syndicalism is a branch of anarchism which 
           focuses on the labour movement.

           http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism

           Anarcho-Syndicalism 101 is a web archive of 
           theoretical and historical texts, articles, image 
           and mp3 files, cultural items and outreach 
           material (otherwise known as propaganda) 
           produced by, and related to, libertarian and 
           autonomous class struggle. Here you will find 
           information on various aspects of anarcho-syndicalist 
           theory and practise, including some texts translated 
           into English for the first time, specifically for this site.

           Given that anarcho-syndicalism is a living praxis with 
           relevance to the real world, and not a dead dogma, 
           this site features criticism of anarcho-syndicalism 
           over a broad ideological spectrum.

http://anarchosyndicalism.net/

           The use of such a long and syllable-intesive word to 
           describe a radical social movement stems from the 
           need in the countries where it first developed to 
           distinguish itself from its reformist counterparts. 
           "Sindicalismo" in Spanish, for example, simply 
           means "Unionism"; the addition of the "Anarco" 
           prefix denotes the libertarian branch of the union 
           movement, or that which aims not only at day-to-day 
           improvements in working conditions under capitalism, 
           but also eventually at a fundamental improvement in 
           the social distribution of decision-making power and 
           access to resources -- not simply "bigger cages and 
           longer chains" -- through social revolution.

http://anarchosyndicalism.net/

(found on the main page, scroll down to the 
highlighted Anarcho-Syndicalist FAQ.)

Anarchosyndicalism by Rudolf Rocker

           [Originally published in 1938 by Martin Secker 
           and Warburg Ltd] 

           Anarchism: Its Aims and Purposes; The 
           Proletariat and the Beginning of the Modern 
           Labour Movement; The Forerunners of Syndicalism; 
           The Objectives of Anarcho-Syndicalism; The 
           Methods of Anarcho-Syndicalism; The Evolution of 
           Anarcho-Syndicalism.

           . . . .Anarchism is a definite intellectual current in the 
           life of our times, whose adherents advocate the 
           abolition of economic monopolies and of all political 
           and social coercive institutions within society. In place 
           of the present capitalistic economic order Anarchists 
           would have a free association of all productive forces 
           based upon co-operative labour, which would have as 
           its sole purpose the satisfying of the necessary 
           requirements of every member of society, and would no 
           longer have in view the special interest of privileged 
           minorities within the social union. . . .

http://www.spunk.org/library/writers/rocker/sp001495/rocker_as1.html

           Syndicalism and Anarchism

           The relationship between the labour movement and the 
           progressive parties is an old and worn theme. But it is 
           an ever topical one, and so it will remain while there are, 
           on one hand, a mass of people plagued by urgent needs 
           and driven by aspirations - at times passionate but always 
           vague and indeterminate - to a better life, and on the other 
           individuals and parties who have a specific view of the 
           future and of the means to attain it, but whose plans and 
           hopes are doomed to remain utopias ever out of reach 
           unless they can win over the masses. And the subject is 
           all the more important now that, after the catastrophes of 
           war and of the post-war period, all are preparing, if only 
           mentally, for a resumption of the activity which must follow 
           upon the fall of the tyrannies that still rant and rage [across 
           Europe] but are beginning to tremble. For this reason I 
           shall try to clarify what, in my view, should be the 
           anarchists' attitude to labour organisations.

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/6170/malatesta_synd.html