Syndicalism ripened out of strong anarchist and antiparliamentary traditions
among the French working class. Greatly influenced by the teachings of the Anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and the Socialist
Auguste Bianqui, it was developed as a doctrine by certain leaders of the French Trade-Union movement towards the end of the
19th century.
The Syndicalist affirms the inherent injustice of the wage system and the
fundamental immorality of capitalist society, based, as he/she sees it, on the exploitation of the worker. Like the Socialist,
the Syndicalist looks forward to an ultimate class war from which the working class will arise victorious, but
the Syndicalist's veiws differ however in that he/she are antonymous to the creation of a workers' state to replace the
capitalist state.
The ideal structure of the Syndicalist community is generally externalized
as follows. The unit of organization would be the local syndicat, it would be in touch with other groups through the local
labour exchange (bourse du travail) , which would function as a sort of employment agency and centre for union activities.
When all producers were thus linked together by the bourse, its administration would be able to estimate the capacities and
necessities of the region, could coordinate production, and, being in touch through other bourses with the industrial system
as a whole, could arrange for the necessary transfer of materials and commodities, inward and outward.
-Kat G.
