Book Blog: Anarcho-Syndicalism Theory & Practice

NinaIllingworth October 15, 2020November 5, 2022 anarchist literature, anarchist theory, Anarcho-Syndicalism, bigger is not better, blog, Book Blog, Books, bottom up socialism, boycott, CA4, Can't You Read, class war, decentralization, Emma Goldman, General Strike, IWW, labor, labor class, Libcom, libcom dot org, militant unionism, Nicolas Walter, Nina Illingworth, Noam Chomsky, Offsite Writing, other types of socialism, PDF, peasant politics, peasant rule, peasant socialism, radical unionism, read Rocker online, Reviews, Rudolf Rocker, slowdowns, Socialism, ST2, the class war never ended, Theory, Union, unionism

Editor’s note: after struggling against online censorship and some procrastinating, I’m getting around to reorganizing my website. As part of that process, I’m posting links to older content that I will never find again otherwise.

This activity is beyond tedious, but necessary for my archives. Please bear with me in the meantime and thanks for all your support.

Rocking with Rocker and Radical Unionism

As anyone whose seen my library can attest, I’m madly in love with pinko books; and although I’ve rarely got the time for a full-fledged book review, I do love to share recommended reading tips with my friends. In this October 15th, 2020 Book Blog I tried to square that circle while looking at Rodolf Rocker’s “Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice.” Combining a Rocker quote with a few paragraphs explaining why you should read this book, and a link to a place where you can read the actual book, this is more like a blurb than a review; these days I just write longer reviews.

So why would you want to read a book from 1937 about labor class organizing and radical unionism? The answer is surprisingly simple; because the socialist revolution doesn’t look like it’s coming any time soon but all of us still gotta work – there’s power in a union, my friend.

“Moving beyond elections, Anarcho-Syndicalists seek to use direct action weapons like the boycott, sabotage, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist agitprop, the strike, the slowdown, the General Strike and if necessary, armed military resistance to defend and expand the rights of workers; not until the labor class destroys the state, but until the labor class itself literally becomes the state by gaining the capacity for direct rule over ourselves – and not waiting on orders from a revolutionary vanguard or bourgeoisie intellectuals slumming left, to do it.”

To check it out on my Can’t You Read blog, click on the header or the image below:

Bottom Up Socialism on Can’t You Read

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

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