Syndicalism and the transition to communism

Ralph Darlington, Ashgate, hardback, 323 pages, £60

Syndicalism is an often-forgotten trend in trade union history and this book casts the early history in a new light. It came to be applied to movements, organisations and minority groups a century ago that wanted unions to play a revolutionary role, and grew up after the rapid industrialisation and restructuring of the world economy from the 1890s. It was fuelled by dissatisfaction with the methods of many craft-based unions and with the failures of social democratic parties.

This book breaks new ground by comparing syndicalist ideas across a range of countries for the first three decades of the 20th century. Thus it explains the role played by the CGT union federation in France, the CNT in Spain, the IWW in the United States and the ITGWU in Ireland.

It includes a discussion of the Industrial Syndicalist Education League, led by Tom Mann and the wartime shop stewards movement in Britain, and makes interesting comparisons between similar methods of trade union struggle in different countries. It also draws out the crucial role of well-known and lesser-known militants and their publications.

Overall the book serves as a good introduction to a fascinating period in labour movement history.