Sociology of the Anarchists - Gozips.uakron.edu - The University of ...

Missing, again, is any discussion of how vastly different the vision of “challenge” is
between anarcho-communists and the “National Urban League”.
Only Tilly's mention of anarcho-syndicalism shows a breath of potential for greater
discussion, suggesting that the French strikes in the 1890s on May Day (International
Worker's Day) 35 contained revolutionary potential that was missing from other strikes of
the decade (and had been grower tame leading up to the decade). His [brief] account of
these strikes is commendable, but he leaves the impression that this period was the
“heyday of anarcho-syndicalism”, a patently absurd proposition (Tilly 1978, p. 161).
Syndicalism increased in popularity in many countries well in to the 20 th century, clearly
peaking during its successful employment in the revolutionary situation of the Spanish
Civil War in the late 1930s by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo. The same was
roughly true for France, the case that Tilly is citing. Rudolph Rocker, author of the
definitive text on anarcho-syndicalism, explained that revolutionary syndicalism was
found in “the federations in the different countries of the revived International
Workingmen's Association” and that “in the years from 1900 to 1910 [revolutionary
syndicalism] experienced a marked upswing, particularly in France” (Rocker 1938/1990,
p. 49). Tilly failed to notice this in perhaps the best and most influential English-language
exponent's text on anarcho-syndicalism. Clark (1930) also sees active French syndicalism
during the late-1920s. For Tilly to not know this (or mention it) is astonishing – but
equally unsurprising.
“Comparative Perspectives on Social Movements”, ed. Doug McAdam, John D.
McCarthy, Mayer N. Zald. Attempt to combine the social movement theories of political
opportunities, mobilizing structures, and cultural framings. They advocate comparing and
contrasting all three major approaches to best understand social movements. (See their
introductory chapter for a good synthesis and comparison.)
Critiques/analysis of anarchist academic articles:
● Graeber
● Amster
● Shantz
Criteria used to analyze:
● Problem(s) identified
● Shortcomings
● Overlaps with sociological theory
● Needs for data and/or future research
[Go thru the chapter titles/glossaries/index-entries-w/lotsa-mentions for Morris &
McClurg (1992), Tarrow (1998), and Tilly (1978) to get main ideas, concepts,
keywords, etc. Study these, find good sociology-dictionary/glossary definitions of
35 Lots of great writings exist on the anarchistic origins of “May Day”, especially on the Internet.
l.gaylord@m.cc.utah.edu, “May Day - the Real Labor Day”,
http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mayday.html and Linebaugh 2004.
[ Williams 43 ] [ this is a draft. do not cite. ]