SYNDICALISM.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 79, 13 September 1912, Page 8

SYNDICALISM.

Syndicalism is not, then, au artificial movement -.leafed by a group of bifiich ami Italian theorists and agitators. As a ibeery it- is the expression of working-class experiences in the polo hal and economic fields; while, as a •■■•actical movement, it is the inevitable response of the working-classes to tbo development of the iudusirial structure of <-ocietv. The !j,.<H proof of lies ;,. :<i • ji,.,j ;,, ,i-.".-f>rn:ir .-mntrie-J croups of Victltirs have woikod out a line of action which has tho characteristic features of syndicalism, though tim-v adopt i: -.- name only when it is attached to tbei- method by their .opponents, or wl;;.-n ibey discover that 'heir independent, theories and practice correspond wrch tho Italian and Piencn theories. hi -V 0... Rica lab.ir organisation--- *'on?id that. aJ.-hiA trtiiti ami aominst tt.-cb-loeul dr'v. ; .*>.*.> ■/. liiat re-duco ihe s:;- :- ---u.hesa, o individual trad-.-, ami slrii! in i'!ui.!-t:-ms. there is but one way to h_.ar. nanie!.. by merging the tiadunions into industnul union-*, embracing all the workus iii. all the skilled •,:.-..';.! uii.dnlled -..ccupauons within a particul.i!- industry. Tlio .urn'-* thing it.y*n)-, pkee in I-'ngland. in :.**-me cf her ~ -le*:*-*. a! I .! wb.-i-i-.-ver mod., ni indust;ml -,-v.duiion is at work. Now. the inJu-iria! union organisud to make the v,'.ei:h,v;ciass better iittid to remiro ad-vaiiLj-j.'. s ii-i::.i powerful i'.iiadahst co-ioiiiuioiis becomes tbe soil in which a revolutionary ideology inevif ably sprii'a.s up and thrives. The attention of the v,nrkor in tie- 1 mass turns to the pi'ohhoa nf <.i-;_!*juiisi*.rion. and inasmuch as ibo iii.uo-'diafe aim of ihe oisranisa.|.)ii i. io secure ereati')- colitiol ol'<'l' tiio preeesses, oi prod'.K-lion iii their particular industry, the mass of the. work")-■; —or, ai any rate iv the beginning ihe more al'-rt, more educated, and foresccim:' ininoi'ity—-becomes inlm-estcd in the technical problem of production. Throm.h t!iis toelmionl interest the workers become more efficient, and their social and class consciousness grows. Tbey want to work more and more effectively—not. however, ior the capitalist or for the State, but for the collective body of the workers. And it is here that tho syndicalists find their creed—tbat the best and simplest way of creating a new social order is by the organisations preparing for taking over their industries and carrying tbem on for the bmiefib of the collectivity. Each individual having a trade, each individual being a producer, the speediest and most organic way is to organise him as such and give him a social aim. When the -jvorkers have at-•■-iiKvl the, highest technical skill and efficiency, when they are able and readyactually to run their industries, ready with their perfected organisation and their skilled professional individuality, they will then take them over. Strikes, general strikes, and other forms of resistance are not the whole of syndicalism; they are only means toward an end; and above all. they teach the workers their power or their weakness, they are moulding their intellectual and moral energies, they make them perceive new issues and new human relations, new problems and their solutions. This process goes on in different countries quite independently of any theory. The great post-office strikes in France are in everybody's memory. They have been denounced as barbarous manifestations of irresponsible egotism paralysing tbe life of th,e nation wantonly and ruthlessly. But if we consider these strikes from the inside, we find a new point of view —the point of view of the syndicalised post-office workers. Tho employees were tired of being directed and dominated by a political department administered by politicians who had no comprehension of the work of the post-office clerk, nor indeed of work in general. They proposed, then, to deal with technical questions themselves, and to eliminate the present political element in administration, which offended their practical sense and their intimate and profound sentiments of right. They struggled for the autonomy and freedom of labor. "The guarantee that this autonomy of labor will operate for tlie community lies in the fact that a demand for it advanced by the post-office employees sprang from a professional 6ense of their effective worth jealously fostered, from a clear conception of economic relations, from a realisation of the public interests and of the responsibilities connected with an industry of such national importance as the service."* For some years past the General Association of Post-office Employees of France has turned its attention to professional problems connected with its own service and administration. Ithas denounced the State as incompetent to run the department, and has occupied itself with technical reforms, with the improvement of the service, *G. Beaubois, Syndicaliste dv Service dcs Postes in tho "Mouvement Socialiste," April, 1909.

and has tried to awaken the professional consciousness of the employees w give them a high conception of their work, and a dignity—the dignity of the conscious producer. Stimulated in this way, the employees have searched out faults in the complex mechanism of the service, have tried to neutralise mistakes due to the incompetent .administration, to save .money and labor —in a word, they have safeguarded the interests of the public. Many reforms have been originated by quire obscure clerks of bumble ra"!_, and through the professional group action of the employees many changes have been madd to the publio advantage. ''The 'effective value of the organisation suggest; that without the officials now retained at high salaries the department could work better and cheaper, animated by a new life, enriched by the competency and devotion of the employees, whose work their association succeeded in coordinating. """ The strike of tho post-office employees toon wa.; only an incident in their genuinely syndicalist training. It was more than an expression of their suffering under inefficient administration-, it was Ihe expression oi tlwir consciousness of their ability to carry on the whol*. postal service through their own organisation mora c-ifick-ntly in t-heir own and the publio interest. It is wholly wrong to say, as so many newspapers and magazines have lately declared, that syndicalism is a crude method by which the workers tryto capture an industry by reducing thoir own efficiency and output, by irritation strikes, by sabotage, etc., until the industry becomes unprofitable to the management and must come to terms. These means have always been applied by labor for obtaining concessions; syndicalists nlso apply tbem under certain conditions. They aro merely incidents in the struggle for victory over tbe capitalist class. But tbey do not explain or represent the fundamental characteristic and ideal of the syndicalist movement, the collective effoit of the workers to raise the level of their competency in reference to their industries, and to use this increased competency for the benefit of the collectivity. **Monbrunaud; La Greve dcs Postes et sa portee sociale. (To be continued.)