A Vision of the Future
Part one
Anarcho-Syndicalism

"Revolution is thought, liberty, & desire in action. People who have lived through such time describe them as festival of lights, sounds & joy. It is not a bloodbath & violence as they show on T.V ...People accomplish things which days before would have been inconceivable.

In Spain 1936 1.5 million anarchist workers of C.N.T (Spanish anarcho-syndicalist organization) mobilized to fight against facist onslaught of Francisco Franco's military regime & for the realization of their libertarian communist ideals. (i.e. anarchist!)

Syndicalism is basically a form of trade unionism. Workers in a trade gather in these labor organizations to better their existing conditions. Anarcho-syndicalism however takes on much grander perspective on the power the working class has within its hands.

ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM is the unified organization of labor to both defend the immediate interests of the workers (and to better their working conditions) and the preparing for the pratical carrying out of the radical transformation of social life in the direction of libertarian communism, to better life today and to createstructures towards the anarchist society of tomorrow!

Labor, being the working class, no matter what shit jobs we work, actually holds society together. Think about it, if no one works, nothing happens, society stops. The rich and the capitalists who profit off of our labor lose their centralist ideals (power from the top downward) topple. This has always been the case. More than anything they fear the working class, we hold it in our hands to create and perpetuate this society... or to change it.

Anarcho-Syndicalism is opposed to centralism. It is based on federalism where power starts from the bottom up, and we are the ones at the bottom. Anarcho-Syndicalism's double purpose is (1) to aquaint workers with the technical management of production and economic life in general (ie. educate ourselves on how to organize and run our own work places and to understand how society works) and (2) to enforce the demands of the workers for the safeguarding and raising of their standards of living. The goal of all this of coarse is the creation of an anarchistsociety, social evolution and social revolution out of this old corps of a society we live in! Organization? Anarcho-syndicalist organizations are pretty basic. First off workers form labor unions based on their trade, these unions grouped by region form a federation of labor unions.

Every trade of course is also allied with all organizations eithin the same industry, and these in turn with all the related trades. It pretty much connects all the different trades that would go into producing a product. These unions would then create industrial/agricultural alliances.

Anarcho Syndicalism revolves those two groupings: federation of labor unions (regional) and the federation of industrial/agricultural alliances These two give labor complete control of all of what society produces from the bottom up accounting for each individual!

In an anarchist society:
-The labor unions would take over determining the needs of each community and the administration of the goods and local consumption.
-The federation of those labor unions would be able to figure out the needs of the entire country and adjust the work accordingly.
-The industrial/agricultural alliances would provide the unions with what they need to get the job done.

What makes anarcho-syndicalism different than the unions of today? As already stated anarcho-syndicalism is based on each individuals autonomous voice. The power is held within the base. Modern unions of thoday like the AFL/CIO have distinct bureaucratic hierarchy, more time than not acting in the interests of the boss rather than the workers they supposedly serve. Syndicalist organizations have no leaders, nor any executive power; it is based on anarchist principles.

Anarcho-Syndicalism grew from the 1890's onward and reached it's height in Spain 1936 with the C.N.T (the Spanish anarchists also managed through the C.N.T to organize militias tens of thousands strong to defend their revolution!), but the movement was huge all over the globe even here in America. December 25th 1922 to January 2nd 1923 a conference was held in Berlin and the International Workingmen's Association (I.W.A) was formed. It represented hunderds of thousands of anarcho-syndicalists across the globe. The main insistence of the I.W.A is that all the syndicalists organizations must be completely independant of all political parties and social revolution could only be brought about by the working class themselves. Unfortunately most of the organization could not withstand the rising tides of fascism and the repressive actions taken by the ruling classes/ governments (with one exception being the Swedish S.A.C being the only continued organization since those days boasting 15000 members today!) The I.W.A still exists as well representing tens of thousands of anarcho-syndicalists today. Also, after the death of Francisco Franco in Spain the C.N.T reemerged and today has up to 35000 members still!

Anarcho-Syndicalism is the means and the hope of destroying the class system we live in and liberating the working class!

"Revolutionary Syndicalism is the confirmed opponent of every form of economic and social monopoly, and it aims at the establishment of free communities and administrative organs of the fleld and factory. It works on the basis of a free system of labor councils, entirely liberated from subordination to any governments and parties. Against the politics of the state and political parties it proposes the economic organization of labour against the government of men. It sets the management of things. Consequently it has for it's object, not the conquest of power, but the abolition of every state function in social life. It believes that along with the monopoly of poverty, should also disappear the monopoly of domination, and that any form of the state, including the dictatorship of the proletariat, will always be the creator of new monopolies and new privileges and never an instrument of liberation."
-From the declaration of the I.W.A