Part 11 (1/2)

At the Congress of Montpellier the report of the Secretary Griffuelhes claimed that during the year the Confederation had made progress. But this progress was very slight. The real growth of the Confederation began after its fusion with the Federation of Bourses. Since then also dates the more active partic.i.p.ation of the Confederation in the political and social life of the country. But before taking up the history of the General Confederation since 1902, it seems advisable to sum up the main ideas of revolutionary syndicalism in a more systematic way.

CHAPTER V

THE DOCTRINE OF REVOLUTIONARY SYNDICALISM

When the General Confederation of Labor adopted its new const.i.tution in 1902, the main ideas of revolutionary syndicalism had already been clearly formulated. Since then, however, a considerable amount of literature has appeared on the subject, either clarifying or further developing various points of the doctrine. This literature consists mainly of numerous articles in the periodical press and of pamphlets and is, accordingly, of an unsystematic character. The attempt is made in this chapter to sum up in a systematic way the leading ideas of revolutionary syndicalism common to all who call themselves revolutionary syndicalists. Consideration of individual ideas and of contributions of particular writers will be left to a following chapter.

The fundamental idea of revolutionary syndicalism is the idea of cla.s.s-struggle. Society is divided into two cla.s.ses, the cla.s.s of employers who possess the instruments of production and the cla.s.s of workingmen who own nothing but their labor-power and who live by selling it.

Between the two cla.s.ses an incessant struggle is going on. This struggle is a fact, not a theory in need of proof. It is a fact manifested every day in the relations between employers and wage-earners, a fact inherent in the economic organization of existing society.

The cla.s.s-struggle is not a fact to be deplored; on the contrary, it should be hailed as the creative force in society, as the force which is working for the emanc.i.p.ation of the working-cla.s.s. It is the cla.s.s-struggle which is consolidating the workingmen into a compact unity opposed to the exploitation and domination of employers. It is the cla.s.s-struggle which is evolving new ideas of right (_droit_) in opposition to the existing law. It is the cla.s.s-struggle which is developing the self-consciousness, the will-power and the moral character of the workingmen and is creating forms of organization proper to them. In a word, it is the cla.s.s-struggle which is forging the material and moral means of emanc.i.p.ation for the workingmen and putting these weapons into their hands.

The task of the syndicalists is to organize the more or less vague cla.s.s-feeling of the workingmen and to raise it to the clear consciousness of cla.s.s-interests and of cla.s.s-ideals. This aim can be attained only by organizing the workingmen into syndicats. The syndicat is an a.s.sociation of workingmen of the same or of similar trades, and is held together by bonds of common interest. In this is its strength. Of all human groupings it is the most fundamental and the most permanent, because men in society are interested above everything else in the satisfaction of their economic needs.

The strength, permanence, and cla.s.s-character of economic groups are made conspicuous by comparison with forms of grouping based on other principles. Political parties, groups of idealists, or communities professing a common creed, are a.s.sociations which cannot but be weak and transient in view of their heterogeneous composition and of the accidental character of their bond of union. Political bodies, for instance, are made up of men of various interests grouped only by community of ideas. This is true even of the Socialist party which consists of manufacturers, financiers, doctors, and lawyers, as well as of workingmen. Even the Socialist party cannot, therefore, make prominent the cla.s.s-division of society, and tends to merge all cla.s.ses into one conglomeration which is unstable and incapable of persistent collective action. Only in groupings of real and fundamental interests such as the syndicats, are men of the same conditions brought together for purposes inextricably bound up with life.

The syndicat groups men of one and the same trade in their capacity of workingmen only, regardless of any other qualifications. The workingmen entering a syndicat may be Catholics or Protestants, Republicans, Socialists, or Monarchists, they may be of any color, race or nationality; in their capacity of workingmen they are all equally welcome and legitimate members of the syndicat. A workingman enrolling in a syndicat is not entering a party, not subscribing to a platform, nor accepting a creed. He is simply entering into a relation which is forced upon him by his very position in society, and is grouping himself with his fellowmen in such a way as to derive more strength for himself in the struggle for existence, contributing at the same time to the strength of his fellowmen.

These conditions make the syndicat peculiarly fit to serve the interests of the workingmen. The syndicat is a sphere of influence which by the volume of its suggestion and by the constancy and intensity of its action shapes the feelings and ideas of the workingmen after a certain pattern. In the syndicat the workingmen forget the things which divide them and are intent upon that which unites them. In the syndicat the workingmen meet to consider common interests, to discuss their identical situation, to plan together for defense and aggression, and in all ways are made to feel their group-solidarity and their antagonism to the cla.s.s of employers.

In view of this the syndicats should prefer industrial unionism to craft unionism. The separation of workingmen into trades is apt to develop in them a corporate spirit which is not in harmony with the cla.s.s-idea. The industrial union, on the contrary, widens the mental horizon of the workingman and his range of solidarity with his fellow workers and thus serves better to strengthen his cla.s.s-consciousness.

The syndicat is the instrument with which the workingmen can enter into a ”direct” struggle with employers. ”Direct action” is what the syndicalists most insist upon, as the only means of educating the workingmen and of preparing them for the final act of emanc.i.p.ation.

”Direct action” is action by the workingmen themselves without the help of intermediaries; it is not necessarily violent action, though it may a.s.sume violent forms; it is the manifestation of the consciousness and of the will of the workingmen themselves, without the intervention of an external agent: it consists in pressure exerted directly by those interested for the sake of obtaining the ends in view.

”Direct action” may a.s.sume various forms, but the princ.i.p.al ones in the struggle against employers are: the strike, the boycott, the label, and _sabotage_.

The strike, in the view of the syndicalists, is the manifestation of the cla.s.s-struggle _par excellence_. The strike brings the workingmen face to face with the employers in a clash of interests. A strike clears up, as if by a flash of lightning, the deep antagonism which exists between those who employ and those who work for employers. It further deepens the chasm between them, consolidating the employers on the one hand, and the workingmen on the other, over against one another. It is a revolutionary fact of great value.

All strikes, partial, general in a locality, or general in some one trade, have this revolutionary influence, particularly when they are conducted in a certain way. If the workingmen rely only on their treasury, the strike degenerates into a mere contest between two money bags--that of the employer and that of the syndicat--and loses much of its value. Still more are the syndicalists opposed to methods of conciliation and arbitration. The idea of the revolutionary syndicalists is that a strike should be won by _Sturm und Drang_, by quick and energetic pressure on employers. The financial strength of workingmen when striking should not be considered. Money may be supplied by contributions of workingmen of other trades and localities, in itself another means of developing the solidarity of the working-cla.s.s.

Sometimes a strike may be won by calling out sympathetic strikes in other trades.

Strikes conducted in this manner yield practical results and serve also as means of educating the workingmen. They reveal to the workingmen their power, as producers, and their importance in the productive system of society. The label, on the other hand, is a means of bringing home to the workingmen their importance as consumers, and of making them wield this power for their own benefit.

The boycott reveals the power of the workingmen, either as producers or as consumers. It may be wielded against an employer whose shop is avoided, or against a firm in its capacity as seller. It is an effective means of forcing employers to terms.

_Sabotage_ consists in obstructing in all possible ways the regular process of production to the dismay and disadvantage of the employer.

The manifestations of _sabotage_ are many, varying with the nature of the industry and with the ingenuity of the workers. In its primitive form, _sabotage_ is a tacit refusal on the part of the workers to exert properly their energy or skill in the performance of their work, in retaliation for any injustice which, in their opinion, had been inflicted upon them by their employers. This form of _sabotage_ includes such practices as those summarized in the Scotch _Ca Canny_ (slow work for low wages) and in the French principle of a _mauvaise paye mauvais travail_ (bad work for bad pay). It also includes the recent practices of the railroad workers in Austria, Italy, and France who disorganized the railway service of their respective countries by obeying literally all the rules and regulations of the service code and by refusing to apply discretion and common sense in the performance of their duties.

The distinguis.h.i.+ng characteristic of this form of _sabotage_ is that in applying it the workers remain within the limits of their contract and avoid any manifest violation of the law, though the loss inflicted upon the employer may be very heavy.

A more aggressive form of _sabotage_ is that which expresses itself in deliberate damage done either to the product of labor or to the nature of the service. An instance of the latter was the so-called _greve perlee_ applied by the French railway men, which consisted in wilful misdirection of baggage and of perishable merchandise. This form of _sabotage_ implies disregard for the laws of property and for the clauses of the labor contract, but it is carried on in a manner which makes detection of motive very difficult.[152]

[152] An intermediate form of _sabotage_ is that known as _sabotage a bouche ouverte_ (_sabotage_ of the open mouth). It consists in the disclosure of conditions generally withheld from the public, such as conditions in hotel-kitchens and restaurants, methods of weighing and measuring in stores, practices followed by druggists, frauds resorted to by contractors and builders, etc.

From this form of _sabotage_ it is but a short step to the most aggressive and violent kind which finds expression in the deliberate and open disorganization of machinery. This form of _sabotage_ has nothing in common with the destruction of machinery practiced by unorganized workers during the early stages of the capitalist regime. It aims not at the destruction of the machine as a means of production, but at the temporary disability of the machine during strikes for the purpose of preventing employers to carry on production with the help of strikebreakers. Even in this most aggressive form, _sabotage_ may involve very little violence. The syndicalists strongly condemn any act of _sabotage_ which may result in the loss of life.