Syndicalism

by William Z. Foster, James R. Barrett (Introduction)

In your hands you hold a little piece of dynamite, an explosive political pamphlet with a good deal of significance for the history of labor and radicalism in the United States. Syndicalism , first published in 1912, offers probably the most developed theory of pure syndicalism produced in the United States —from the introduction by James R Barrett
The authors were, of course, leading IWW militants, so you know this is good.

64 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1990

About the author

Labor organizer and Marxist politician. Joined the Socialist party in 1901, later became a Wobbly, Syndicalist, and Communist. Three times a presidential candidate of the Communist party.

Reviews

[Chet]

Lacks much relevance today. Far more dated than I expected. Still I'd like to read Foster's autobiography, which sounds like it has more of timeless quality to it. Also written when he was much older.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's some great, relevant stuff in this pamphlet and I'm glad to recognize a lot of the ideas here are included in the more contemporary Class Struggle Unionism by Joe Burns.

[Michael Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

First time I came across this idea of Sydicalism. Interesting stuff for sure and some up juicy History I wasn’t aware of before.

[Keir · Rating 2 out of 5]

William Z Foster and his Syndicalist League of North America are terribly interesting subjects, however sadly this pamphlet amounts to a poor argument for the "boring from within" approach to trade unionism. Foster denounces industrial unionism as superfluous, noting that the French CGT, his model, had a craft rather than industrial structure and was still capable of great militancy.

[Mitch · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my kind of syndicalism