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#anarchosyndicalism
5 posts2 participants0 posts today
My family keeps mixing up anarcho-syndicalism with Communism (Marxism-Leninism), and honestly, I find that pretty funny because those two are entirely different things.
Anarcho-syndicalism is about workers running things for themselves, directly and democratically, without bosses or a state above them. Workers organize into unions and federate from the ground up, making all big decisions through assemblies and direct votes, not by handing power to politicians or a small elite. There are no vanguard parties, no rulers, everyone has a real say. That’s a big reason I’m drawn to it: it’s based on actual grassroots democracy and minimizes hierarchies as much as possible.
Marxism-Leninism (Communism), on the other hand, believes in a strong, centralized state led by a “vanguard party”, a small group of professional revolutionaries claiming to act for the working class. This party takes over after a revolution, keeps tight control over politics, industry, and most parts of daily life, and justifies suppressing dissent by saying it’s “for the revolution.” The idea is that eventually the state "withers away," but in practice the state usually gets stronger and sticks around, leading to bureaucratic rule and a pretty undemocratic system, historically speaking. Critics, especially anarchists, call this authoritarian, saying it replaces one ruling class with another, just with different bosses.
It always cracks me up that my family can’t tell these apart: anarcho-syndicalism is about bottom-up power and direct democracy, while Marxism-Leninism is about top-down control and party rule. They literally disagree on who should have power and how society should be organized. Mixing them up is like confusing a town hall meeting with a military command structure.
https://peertube.wtf/w/evs6FPAScfEdW9bGwxmtcn
I see trade unions as the cutting edge of the labour movement because workers hold the real power in the economic sphere; we create all the wealth that society depends on.
Through our organised strength in unions, we can directly challenge the capitalist system and the state, both of which exploit and oppress us. I believe in workers’ self-management and solidarity, and that by building strong, federated unions based on direct action like strikes and workplace control, we prepare ourselves not only to improve our immediate conditions but to ultimately abolish wage slavery, capitalism, and the state itself.
In other words, our unions are the foundation for a new society where workers truly run the economy and make decisions democratically, without bosses or politicians standing above us.
Members of the Spanish anarcho-syndicalist trade union CNT marching in Madrid, 2010.
Ah yes, #MarxismLeninism, greetings to all the tankies out there!
An Introduction to Anarcho-Syndicalism
https://syndicalism.org/texts/489/an-introduction-to-anarcho-syndicalism
I know I might be kinda annoying, posting about https://nsf-iaa.org everywhere online, but honestly, who cares? I’m into revolutionary syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism, and so are they, so it’s a total win-win!
Norsk Syndikalistisk ForbundHjemmeside - Norsk Syndikalistisk ForbundNorsk syndikalistisk forbund er en fagforening som har røtter i syndikalist bevegelsen på 1900-tallet og jobber direkte for arbeiderne!
It's been a while since my autistic special interest mode went all in on https://nsf-iaa.org, but tonight my autistic brain is thinking about them again and has me reflecting on their work.
If you share an interest in revolutionary syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism like me, you can also find their posts on Mastodon at @nsf_iaa.
The Norwegian Syndicalist Federation (NSF) still exists today, continuing their efforts to promote anarcho-syndicalism within Norway. Although their membership is very small, their cause remains important, and they need your support to keep pushing for workers' rights and social change.
Read more here: https://nsf-iaa.org
I shared Rocker’s book on anarcho-syndicalism with him a couple of weeks ago, and apparently, my friend really liked it.
He seems to appreciate the theory and practice, particularly the ideas of Rudolf Rocker, and takes an interest in labor movement activities.
The more I know!
Spain's Anarchist Revolution: The RISE & FALL of the CNT
Being #autistic, I have developed a strong hyperfixation on this image, and it’s so stuck in my head I can’t stop thinking about it.
Read more here: https://nsf-iaa.org
Today in Labor History July 30, 2006: Murray Bookchin died. He was an anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, social theorist, libertarian socialist, and founder of social ecology. He published over two dozen books. In the 1990s, disillusioned by the increasingly “apolitical, lifestylism” of mainstream anarchism, he stopped calling himself an anarchist and founded his own libertarian socialist ideology that he called “communalism,” which sought to combine elements of Marxism and anarchosyndicalism. His ideas, more generally, have influenced numerous movements, including the New Left, anti-nuclear, Occupy Wall Street, and the People Defense Units (YPG) and the Rojava Kurdish Autonomous Region of Syria. In 1988, along with Howie Hawkins, he cofounded the Left-Green Network, as a radical alternative to the liberal Greens, with a focus on Social Ecology and Libertarian Municipalism. His critique of Deep Ecology, popular among many in the radical Earth First! Movement, led many Earth Firsters to refer to him as Bernie Munchkin. He rejected the popular view of Barry Commoner and Paul Ehrlich that the environmental crisis was caused by technology or overpopulation, or human nature, but was rather the product of capitalism, its “grow or die imperative,” and its emphasis on profit or human life and security.
My flags are a total disaster, it looks gloriously bad in here, and honestly, I live for that chaotic energy.
I’m so unapologetically gay and proudly gender-fluid, you wouldn’t even believe it.
Continued thread
Especially how he saw the family as inherently authoritarian, acting just like all other systems of oppression that constantly impose control and restrict freedom over individuals.
I used to think I was the only one who saw the family as almost a built-in surveillance system enforcing authority, but it turns out I’m not alone in this struggle.
I really appreciate Rocker and his ideas. Being autistic, I find that his way of thinking just makes sense to me. Sometimes it feels like we’d get along well because his writing connects so naturally with the way my autistic mind works.
I’m genuinely thankful that I found anarcho-syndicalism through Wikipedia back in December, since that’s how I discovered Rocker. He’s an anarchist thinker who really speaks to me and whose ideas feel truly relatable.