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

The Interwar Years /4 t 7
letariat," can ever be an instrument for human liberation, but that on the contrary, it
will always be the creator of new monopolies and new privileges.
III. Revolutionary syndicalism has a two-fold function: to carry on the day-to-day
revolutionary struggle for the economic, social and intellectual advancement of the
working class within the limits of present-day society, and to educate the masses so that
they will be ready to independently manage the processes of production and distribution
when the time comes to take possession of all the elements of social life . It does not
accept the idea that the organization of a social system based exclusively on the producing
class can be ordered by simple governmental decrees and maintains that it can only
be obtained through the common action of all manual and intellectual workers, in every
branch of industry, by the assumption of the administration of every individual operation
by the producers themselves, such that every group, factory or branch of industry is
an autonomous member ofthe universal economic organism that systematically shapes
the entire production and general distribution processes on the basis of mutual accords
and in the interests of the general community.
IV. Revolutionary syndicalism is opposed to all centralist endeavours and organizations,
borrowed from the state and the church, which systematically stifle the
spirit of initiative and independent thought. Centralism is an artificial organization,
from the top down, that leaves in the hands of the few the affairs ofthe whole community.
Through this process, the individual becomes a puppet guided and controlled
from above. The good of society is subordinated to the interests of the few,
variety is replaced by uniformity, personal responsibility is replaced by rigid discipline,
and education is replaced by training. Consequently, revolutionary syndicalism
is founded upon a federalist union, that is, upon an organization structured from the
bottom up, a voluntary federation of all forces based on mutual interests and shared
convictions.
V. Revolutionary syndicalism rejects all parliamentary activity and all collaboration
with legislative bodies. Not even the freest voting system can bring about the
disappearance of the clear contradictions at the core of present-day society; the
whole parliamentary system has as its only goal to lend an air of legality to the reign
of fa lsehood and social injustice, and to induce the slaves to put the imprimatur of
the law upon their own slavery.
VI . Revolutionary syndicalism rejects all arbitrarily created political and national
frontiers, and regards nationalism as merely the religion of the modern state,
behind which is concealed the material interests of the propertied classes. It recognizes
only natural regional differences, and demands the right of every minority to