How We Shall Bring About the Revolution: Syndicalism and the Co-Operative Commonwealth

by Emile Pataud, Emile Pouget, Frederick Charles (Translator)

First published in English in 1913, this book is a record of the early arguments and theories of revolutionary socialism. The authors consider the problems of how to overthrow established order and how to replace it, exploring the issues which this debate throws up such as the use of arms and the "freeing of woman". They look at key questions: will the state be centralized on behalf of the people? Will order be organized around the trade unions? Should the state be arranged into hierarchical governments, or should government be abolished altogether? Patuad and Pouget discuss and answer these questions - which became particularly important in the years of revolution immediately following the original publication of this work.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1913

Reviews

[Keir · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's difficult to tell whether this book is poorly written or poorly translated, but either way it's a tedious read.

As Tom Mann points out in his introduction the authors are a bit on the optimistic side when it comes to the ease of the revolution. It is achieved bloodlessly and the the remaining capitalists simply boycotted out of existance, an unlikely scenario as subsequent revolutionary experiments have shown. In contrast to this the invasion of external capitalists (the revolution having been limited to France) is dealt with incredibly brutally, with a combination of futuristic technology and biological warfare, a strange contrast to the near-pacifism displayed elsewhere in the book.

Mapping out the course of the revolution in advance is always going to be a bit hit and miss and the authors should be commended for atleast trying, but even considering the time in which it was written this is a fairly poor attempt.