ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an analysis of some of the forces that contributed to the rise and decline of revolutionary syndicalism. Certain developments in labour processes and in labour relations not only contributed notably to the rise of workers’ radicalism, but also served to enhance the appeal of syndicalism. Before syndicalism could emerge as an international phenomenon, its direct action programme had to be perceived as a viable alternative strategy to the dominant labour policies of electoral politics and reformist unionism. A survey of syndicalism as an international phenomenon suggests that spatial factors influenced the diffusion of its attitudes and practices. The relative success of syndicalist movements was at least partly determined by the general level of class struggle. Its spokesmen and activists intended syndicalism – ‘syndicalisme revolutionnaire’ in the country from which the term derives – to be a revolutionary current within the labour movement.
