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Syndicalism and Strikes, Leadership and Influence: Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, and the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2013

Ralph Darlington
Ralph Darlington*
Affiliation:
University of Salford, UK
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Abstract

The explosion of industrial and political militancy that swept the world during the early years of the twentieth century gave the revolutionary syndicalist movement a prominence and notoriety it would not otherwise have possessed, while at the same time providing a context for syndicalist ideas to be broadcast and for syndicalists to assume the leadership of major strikes in a number of countries. This article sheds new light on the complex nature of the relationship between syndicalism and strikes by means of an international comparative analysis of the revolutionary syndicalist movements in France, Spain, Italy, Britain, Ireland and United States. It presents evidence to suggest ideological/organizational initiative and leadership was of immense importance in understanding how syndicalist movements could be simultaneously a contributory cause, a symptom, and a beneficiary of workers' militancy.

Type
Special Issue: Strikes and Social Conflicts
Information
International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 83: Strikes and Social Conflicts , Spring 2013 , pp. 37 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2013 

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