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Revolutionary Syndicalism: An International Comparative Analysis

  • Korean Review of French History
  • Abbr : KRFH
  • 2009, (21), pp.117~149
  • Publisher : KOREAN SOCIETY FOR FRENCH HISTORY
  • Research Area : Humanities > History

Lee Yong Jae 1

1전북대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This comparative study seeks to illuminate the rise and fall of the syndicalist movements in the first decades of the twentieth century, and to explain the resemblances and the differences of this international labour movement current. It deals with ten western countries on which the syndicalism had strong influence. With the well-known exception of French CGT, the revolutionary syndicalist organizations in Europe and America were all minority movements. Each of them was beleaguered by its own larger union opponents; Reformists or Social-Democrats. The French CGT took the lead of international syndicalist movement. The decline of the syndicalist movement is attributed not only to temporary historical factors such as state repression, but also to structural changes of capitalist regime. The international syndicalist movements reveal the similarities as well as the disparities according to their different national conditions. There are common values agreed by all the syndicalist movements: the discredit on the socialist political party and the reformist trade unions, the primacy and autonomy of the labor organizations, and the belief in the direct action (general strike). But they differ one from another in terms of the revolutionary conscience, the organizational structures, the social composition of union members and so forth. The principal division occurred between the older industrial nations where the labor movement had already been strongly developed (England, France, Italy, etc.) and the nations that industrialized after 1870 (USA, Canada, Germany, etc.).

Citation status

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This paper was written with support from the National Research Foundation of Korea.