The International Workingmen's Association

The Road to Syndicalism

February 1926

Independent trade and industrial organizations in every locality; maintenance of self-determination; inter-relationship of all the groups in industrial federations throughout the territory.

Co-ordination of all local organizations into Labor Exchanges.

The members of each local group independently decide for themselves regarding strikes and all other local affairs.

The local unions manage their own funds independently.

Education of members to self-reliance.

Refusal of negotiations, deputations and contracts with State or private employers.

Application of Direct Action: strikes, boycotts, passive resistance.

Only These Methods of Struggle Lead to Success in Daily Efforts

Propagation and Extension of the General Strike!

Study of the regulation of consumption and of communal (local) affairs.

Study of the process of work (in shop, factory, field, mill, etc.), and the regulation of production through the revolutionary unions of the workers.

These Activities and These Methods Alone Are Capable of Achieving and Preserving the Free, Social Communistic Society (as Against State-Ridden Communities)

Workers, decide for yourselves whether you want to continue on the old road to misery and ruin, or whether you want to take a New Road, the Road to Freedom and well-being for all.

The Struggle of the Syndicalists

The Syndicalists fight against Nationalism, because Nationalism is the fig-leaf covering narrow and selfish capitalist interests.

They believe in the world-wide International of Work, which alone can free the peoples.

They struggle against militarism in every form, because it leads to serfdom, to brutalization, and to defeat.

They fight by means of the invincible power of their economic position and by the aid of the spirit of Solidarity of the workers of the world.

They refuse to acknowledge and they struggle against parliamentary systems and activities, as well as against the conquest of political power, because these are the instruments of the possessing class for the enslavement and the oppression of labor.

They neither vote nor stand as candidates, because they do not want to seem to approve of the means of class-rule and wage slavery. In no way do they want to be identified with the tools of tyranny.

They deny and struggle against all political parties, because they serve only to divide the working class and to deceive the proletariat with promises which they can never fulfill.

They depend only upon themselves and upon the creative power of the whole working class.

They fight against every form of centralism (in organization and power), for it means tutelage and the crippling of the spirit and the movement from the very outset.

They stand for Federalism (the co-ordination of independent units) which alone makes progress and justice possible.

If only a part of the working class would enter this new road and fight on our side, the victory would be speedily assured!

What Do the Syndicalists Want?

The Syndicalists want to abolish capitalism, the wage and money system.

They want to eliminate the State (the Government), because only the State system makes it possible for a certain class to exploit and rule over the people by means of laws, courts, police, prisons and armies.

They want to put an end to private and state ownership and monopoly of the sources of wealth. They want the land and the means of production (factories, mines, machinery, etc.) placed at the disposal of the manual and mental workers organized for the production and distribution of the products of toil.

They want the freedom of communes, wherein free councils should be established; and therefore they want real Communism, based on justice and equality, and not what falsely passes as such.

They want every one to have the opportunity to work for the common good, according to individual capacity and ability.

They want all human beings to have their food, dress, shelter, education and happiness, according to their needs.

They want to awaken the will to freedom and the knowledge of the Right Way in the hearts and heads of all working men and women, so that the emancipation of mankind can be achieved on this basis.

If you are interested, if you are hungry for liberty and want justice, come to us!


Retrieved on 01/01/23 from https://libcom.org/library/iwma-road-syndicalism-road-freedom-feb-1926
Article featured in The Road to Freedom an anarchist newspaper published out of New Jersey and New York from 1924-1932.