What is syndicalism?

What Does syndicalism Mean

Syndicalism is the movement and the system that allows the representation of workers through an institution known as a union (an organization that brings together workers to defend their interests).

Unionism aspires to optimize the situation of workers in the labor market. Thus, their leaders develop negotiations with the labor authorities of the government and the companies to achieve improvements in work (increased wages, shorter hours, better social protection, etc.).
Although the work of unionism is linked to politics , its purpose is not to represent workers politically since unions are not political parties. The essence of trade unionism lies in the defense of the class interests of the workers in the workplace.

The development of trade unionism is linked to industrialization . In the first half of the 19th century , workers began to organize to defend their rights in the brand-new industries , something that, for various reasons, did not happen among the peasants. In this way, what we know today as trade unionism began to form.
Over the years, multiple currents of unionism began to emerge. Some union groups are close to political power and act as a containment for workers' protests, providing workers with superficial improvements. Other aspects, on the other hand, are revolutionary and fight the State and the bosses .
It is important to note that, through the action of trade unionism, workers often order work stoppages and strikes to exert pressure and achieve responses to their labor demands.
At this point we can speak of revolutionary unionism , a trend that considers it a fundamental institution for the protection of workers against abuses by their employers and the State itself, but also to help them improve the organization of their lives at a productive level in the framework of the society to which they belong.
In general, any radicalized union trend that is opposed to the democratic parliamentary system and, on certain occasions, to the subjection of employees is considered within the group of revolutionary unionism. One of its most outstanding features is that it defends the autonomy of workers' liberation, as manifested in the motto of the International Workers Association , according to which they must be the only architects of their struggle.
In the history of trade unionism, some of those who have felt part of this revolutionary current have denied belonging to any party, unless it was a Trotskyist, communist, Maoist, Guevarist, or revolutionary socialist.

In certain parts of the world, revolutionary syndicalism served as a source of inspiration for anarcho-syndicalism , and there came a point in history at which people came to relate the two concepts. So much so, that even today they are considered synonymous in several countries, for example, Western Europe.
On the other hand, we have unitary unionism , a trend that arose in France and some South American countries starting from Marxism, to give rise to a series of unions that had autonomy from the political parties and that gave rise to the coexistence of several ideological currents.
The Peronism , also known by the name of justicialismo , is a movement that emerged in Argentina during the 1940s around the former President Juan Domingo Peron who attached great importance to social justice. Well, one of its greatest influences was revolutionary unionism. Also in Argentina, Guevara communism was enriched by these ideas, and that is why they can be seen in some organizations and unions related to Che Guevara .

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