Outline the social, economic and political changes that took place in Britain round the turn of the last century
Explore the arguments that took place within the trade union movement and the rise of ‘New Unionism’
Examine the factors in the growth of the syndicalist movement in Britain
Explain the differences of approach within the syndicalist movement of the time.
Terms and abbreviations
Fabian Society: Named after a Roman general Fabius Maximus who won his campaigns by slow attrition. The Fabians believed that socialism was best achieved by permeation, gradually reforming existing institutions and through constitutional government rather than through revolutionary upheaval.
Outline the social, economic and political conditions in late 19th France and how they contributed to the growth of anarcho- syndicalism
Look at the extent to which trade unionism in France was influenced by anarchism
Outline the rise of the Bourses du Travail and the formation of the Federation des Bourses du Travail (FBT) and examine the practice, theory and organisational structure of the early French unions
Give a brief history of the development, and politics of the CGT and examine the reasons for the changes in outlook
Look at the idea of ‘political neutrality’ and the problems it raised.
Offer an interpretation of working-class radicalism 1750-1840 from an anarcho-syndicalist perspective
Introduce, through case studies, the history of organisation and direct action in working-class movements
Look at the social, political and economic context of the formation of early general unions and wage campaigns
Suggest some of the reasons why mainstream historical accounts have failed to acknowledge working-class revolutionary aspirations
Terms and abbreviations
Diggers: A communistic movement that flourished during the English Revolution and Civil War. They advocated the abolition of private ownership of land and believed that political revolution must be based on social revolution.
The accepted wisdom is that if you can speak and write ‘properly' you are ‘intelligent', if not, you are stupid. However, it is effectiveness of communication that matters, not whether a particular prescribed formula is followed or not.
No such thing as a decent quality free lunch? Probably not, but A History of Anarcho-syndicalism is both free and (we hope) decent quality. It has been produced by the SelfEd Collective, labour free and at minimal costs. If you have no Internet access and require printed materials, these will be supplied at cost.
Last week, at SF's national delegate council two new locals were recognised, we are pleased to announce we now have locals in Croydon and Newcastle. Both locals provided encouraging reports and were founded by members of existing locals, South London and West Yorkshire respectively.
We hope to add more locals in the months and years ahead and have members across the country working on starting new locals, notably across the south coast in Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth, and Hastings.
Our Scottish members based in Edinburgh and Glasgow will hopefully be launching locals at some point in the future and back down south we have members in Cambridge looking to start a local.
