Frederick Ridley. Revolutionary Syndicalism in France.

Contents

Preface

Introduction

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

National character and revolutionary tradition

From craft to industry

The repressive state

Proudhon and mutual aid

Blanqui and the barricades

Bakunin and anarchism

The socialist tower of babel

The betrayal of the politicians

The growth of an organised movement

Strength and organisation of the C.G.T.

PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF THE C.G.T.

Reform and revolution: the twofold purpose

Political neutrality and the politics of syndicalism

The autonomy of labour and direct action

The theory of the strike

The strike in practice

The tactics of the strike

Subsidiary forms of direct action

Labour as a political pressure group

Antimilitarism and antipatriotism

Genealogy of the general strike

The changing picture of the general strike

The general strike as myth

Organised labour and the syndicalist utopia

A theory of syndicalism

Conflicting voices in the C.G.T.

Leaders and followers, theory and practice

IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT

The revolt against reason

Nietzsche and the transvaluation of all values

Bergson and creative evolution

James and the pragmatic approach

The revolt against democracy

The discredit of French democracy

Nationalism, monarchism and the right

Fascism: the alternative path

Sorel: a moralist in search of action

The philosopher and the labour movement

The militants and the activist temper

Syndicalism as a philosophy of action

Conclusion

Bibliography