Syndicalism promotes a vision of a society free of social and economic inequalities, with a participatory democratic economy and society that extends into the direct control of the workplace and a bottom-up planned economy; in this society, hierarchy and elite control over economic and other resources is removed.. ... of especial interest is the prefigurative approach of the movement, that is, the strategy of developing, in its daily life, the basic moral, political and organisational infrastructure and daily practices of the new society [through revolutionary trade unions]... Consciousness, developed through struggle, education and participation – a revolutionary counter-culture – wedded to a flat, decentralized, inclusive, pluralist and pragmatic, yet militant and autonomous style of union organisation – a counter-power, opposed to the institutions of the ruling class – are to be forged in daily struggles, until ready and prepared for the final assault.... there would be both rupture – the removal of the old regime – and continuity – in that the unions, and their allies, already carried within themselves the basic framework of the new society, including the means of occupying workplaces and placing them under self-management ... To use the state, with its hierarchical character and deep alliance with capitalists and landlords, contradicts the basic syndicalist project of constituting, from the bottom-up, a militant and autonomous working class movement able to replace hierarchy and exploitation (including by the state). Moreover, the state is no ally of the working class, providing a place of power and wealth for a political elite that is allied, structurally, to the corporations, themselves a place of power and wealth for an economic elite. Reliance on electoral parties is ... futile FROM: ***van der Walt, Lucien (2014) “Reclaiming Syndicalism: From Spain to South Africa to Global Labour Today,” Global Labour Journal, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 239-252.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 08:24:09 +0000
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