Graham R (Ed.) - Anarchism - A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas Volume One - From Anarchy to Anarchism (300 CE to 1939)

Clitpter 12
Anarcho-S yndicaCism
55. The Pittsburgh Proclamation (1883)
Anarcho-syndicalism represents an amalgam of anarchism and revolutionary trade unionism
("syndicalisme" in French). The anarcho-syndicalists took to heart the admonition from the
fo unding Statutes of the First International that "the emancipation of the workers must be the
workers' own doing" (Selection 19). The roots of anarcho-syndicalism can be traced back to
Proudhon (see Selections 12 and 18), Bakunin (Selection 25) and the anti-authoritarian sections
of the First International (Selections 26 and 27). The revolutionary principles of the
anti-authoritarian sections of the First International continued to have adherents in various
parts of Europe and Latin America. The Workers' Federatioll of the Spanish Region, which
adopted an anarchist stance (Selection 36), can be considered one of the first
anarcho-syndicalist organizations. An early variant of anarcho-syndicalism was introduced
into North America by a group of revolutionary socialists who ill 1883 helped found an affiliate
of the anti-authoritarian International, the International Working People's Association, also
known as the "Black International, " at a congress in Pittsburgh. The congress was attended by
delegates from across the United States, with proxies from British Columbia and Mexico. Anarchists
from Chicago and the midwestern United States, including Albert Parsons (1848-1887)
and August Spies (1855- 1887), persuaded a majority of delegates to endorse what became
known as the "Chicago idea, " the organization of the workers into federated, autonomous
trade unions that would spearhead the social revolutioll and serve as the basis for a new society,
fightingfor immediate improvements, such as the eight-hour day, but always with the ultimate
goal of social revolution in mind. Parsons and Spies helped draft the Congress' statement of
principles, which became known as the Pittsburgh Proclamation. In 1887 they were executed,
together with Adolph Fischer and George Ellgel, ostensibly fo r their role in the Chicago Haymarket
bombing, for which there was 110 real evidence, but in reality fo r their revolutionary activities
and anarchist views, making them the "Haymarket Martyrs. " The main author of the
Proclamation was}ohann Most (1846-1906), at the time a collectivist anarchist and fervent ad-