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[Transcriber's note:

It is noted that on page 92 "From December 1, 1894, to September 12,
1892, 329 francs 75 centimes was collected;" that the dates are not
sequential. The word _sabotage_ has been consistently placed in italics.
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STUDIES IN HISTORY, ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC LAW

EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

 Volume XLVI]      [Number 3

Whole Number 116

SYNDICALISM IN FRANCE

  BY
  LOUIS LEVINE

  WITH AN INTRODUCTION
  BY
  PROFESSOR FRANKLIN H. GIDDINGS

  SECOND REVISED EDITION
  OF
  "The Labor Movement in France"

  AMS PRESS
  NEW YORK




  COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
  STUDIES IN THE
  SOCIAL SCIENCES
  116

  COPYRIGHT 1912
  BY
  LOUIS LEVINE

The series was formerly known as _Studies in History,
Economics and Public Law_.

  Reprinted with the permission of Columbia University Press
  From the edition of 1914, New York
  First AMS EDITION published 1970
  Manufactured in the United States of America

  Library of Congress Catalog Number: 76-127443
  International Standard Book Number:
  Complete Set... 0-404-51000-0
  Number 116... 0-404-51116-3

  AMS PRESS, INC.
  New York, N.Y. 10003




The term syndicalism sounds strange to an English reader. Its equivalent
in English would be Unionism. A syndicat is a union of workingmen, on a
trade or on an industrial basis, for the defense of economic interests.

Revolutionary Syndicalism, however, has a broader connotation than the
etymology of the term would suggest. A critical analysis of existing
institutions, a socialist ideal, and a peculiar conception of
revolutionary methods to be used for the realization of the ideal--are
all contained in it. Revolutionary Syndicalism appears, therefore, as a
phase of the general movement towards a reorganization of society on
socialist principles.[1]

[1] The term "socialist" is here used in a wide sense to include all
varieties, even communistic anarchism.

Revolutionary Syndicalism cannot be treated, however, exclusively as a
phase of the evolution of Socialism. As the term suggests, it is also a
development of the French Labor Movement. The organization which
represents Revolutionary Syndicalism in France is the General
Confederation of Labor (_La Confederation Generale du Travail_,
generally referred to as the C. G. T.)--the central organization of the
labor unions or syndicats in France. The history of Revolutionary
Syndicalism coincides almost entirely with the history of the General
Confederation, and it may be said that its future is entirely bound up
with the destinies of this organization.

In fact, Revolutionary Syndicalism is an attempt to fuse revolutionary
socialism and trade unionism into one coherent movement. Peculiar
conditions of French social history have thrown the socialists and
anarchists into the syndicats and have secured their leadership there.
In this respect, Revolutionary Syndicalism is a unique and interesting
chapter in the history of both Socialism and Trades unionism and of
their mutual relations.

Revolutionary Syndicalism has attracted much attention outside of
France. Its more or less rapid development, the turmoil into which it
has thrown France several times, the extreme ideas which it expresses,
the violent methods it advocates, and its attempts of proselytism
outside of France have awakened an interest in it. A number of studies
on the movement have appeared in German, Italian, Russian and other
European periodicals and books. In English, however, the subject has not
received the consideration it would seem to deserve from the theoretical
as well as from the practical point of view.

Revolutionary Syndicalism is an aggressive movement. Its aim is to do
away with existing institutions and to reconstruct society along new
lines. It must, therefore, necessarily call forth a definite attitude on
the part of those who become acquainted with it. Those who speak about
it are either its friends or its enemies, and even those who want to be
impartial towards it are generally unable to resist the flood of
sentiment which such a movement sets loose in them.

Impartiality, however, has been the main effort of the writer of this
study. It has appeared to him more important to describe the facts as
they are and to understand the conditions back of the facts, than to
pass sentence whether of approval or of condemnation. He has made the
effort, therefore, to suppress his personality entirely in all that part
of his work which is purely descriptive. The method adopted has been to
describe ideas and facts sympathetically--whether syndicalist or
anti-syndicalist, whether promoting or hindering the development of
Revolutionary Syndicalism.

The idea that has guided the writer is as follows: Let us imagine that
social phenomena could be registered automatically. All social facts
would then be recorded with all the sympathies and antipathies with
which they are mixed in real life, because the latter are part of the
facts. When social descriptions go wrong it is not because they are
tinged with feeling, but because they are  by those feelings
which they arouse in the writer and not by those which accompany them in
reality. The main task of the writer, therefore, is to try to enter into
the feelings which go along with the facts which he is describing.

This means that the writer must alternately feel and think as a
different person. However difficult this may be, it is still possible by
an effort of imagination prompted by a desire to get at the truth.

This method seems more correct than an attempt to remain entirely
indifferent and not to be swayed by any feeling. Indifference does not
secure impartiality; it results mostly in colorlessness. For instance,
were the writer to remain indifferent or critical while describing the
syndicalist ideas, the latter could not be