Syndicalism

As mentioned above, from pluralism to Guild Socialism, the degree of opposition to the State and its sovereignty increases. Syndicalism presents even a higher degree of rejection of the concept of State and its sovereignty. Syndicalism is based on the idea that Trade Union organizations as representatives of the interests of the workers should take over not only the means of production but also political functions presently performed by the State. The Syndicalist perspective is based on the understanding of society in class terms on the line of Marx and on Proudhon’s ‘Associative Communism’¹¹⁹ implying free organization of voluntary associations. Syndicalism was primarily a French phenomenon and it influenced French Trade Unionism in a large way though it was also prominent in United States. Syndicalism was influenced by Marxian concepts and Proudhon’s ideas. Its philosophic advocates and propagandists include Sorel, Lagardelle, Pelloutier, Pouget and others.

Basic understanding of Syndicalism on society, state and economic relations can be summarized as follows:

• Economic relations based on private ownership is characterized by irreconcilable class war, as Marx says.
• Capital is viewed primarily as theft as Proudhon advocated.
• State is viewed as a bourgeois and middle-class institution serving as an instrument of capitalist exploitation.
• Service of the state is characterized as bureaucratic and unsympathetic to the needs of the workers who are engaged in actual work of production.
• Democracy, political parties or any form of state organization of society cannot serve the interests of the workers.
• The workers who create value should be controllers of society—principle of producer’s control.
• Principle of producer’s control means that workers as producers should exercise control not only in economic or industrial spheres but also in political spheres.
• Political sphere with the State as its organ should cease to exist and its functions should be taken over by bodies of producers organized on vocational basis.

Unlike Guild Socialism, Syndicalism advocated an anti-state theory. From the perspective of producers’ control, state vanishes and its functions are taken over by voluntary associations. However, having advocated only from the producer’s perspective, Syndicalists faced criticism due to their neglect of consumers’ perspective. For example, it was pointed out that who should control services likes fire and police protection, administration of justice or for that matter, sewers? Is it not that these should be controlled by consumers of these services than those engaged in these occupations—the producers. Largely to contain such criticisms, in 1919, the CGT (Confederation Generale du Travail—federation of local and district trade unions in France that was instrumental in the Syndicalist movement) adopted a programme, which called for nationalization of key industries with joint control of producers and consumers.¹²⁰