What do you think about Anarcho-Syndicalism?

[Taverner]

That is - not any party - but the political philosophy?

That is, that government, if it is to exist, should be built from the Syndicates/Unions up?

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/82420/82420,1213720274,3/stock-photo-red-and-black-flag-symbol-of-the-anarcho-syndicalist-and-anarcho-communist-movements-13871059.jpg

[MedleyMisty]

1. When I showed some friends my result on the political compass

one of them said I was an anarcho-syndicalist. So I suppose I approve of it? :)

I will actually have to go to research it.

By the way, that result on the political compass - bottom left corner. As in actually down at the corner. I'm more left and more libertarian than Gandhi. :)

[Taverner]

3. That's me - and that's Anarcho-Syndicalism

Do what thou wilt, and fuck bosses!

[PETRUS]

6. Wondered how you'd label yourself.

[Taverner]

9. Socialist

remember that now!

[PETRUS]

10. Excellent. More info for your "file."

I'm trying to be Mr. Wait Until the Last Minute before committing, but Socialism is very tempting.

[Taverner]

11. Let it Be

None of us are as strong as all of us

[Taverner]

20. You do know "file" is an anagram for "life"

:)

[villager]

5. Pretty sure that's where I fit in, too...

Unless, of course, I'm merely an anarchist/socialist... ;-)

[PETRUS]

2. It's a distant second to PETRUS-ism.

Seriously, I think I need to read more to give a thoughtful answer. But any ideas for a bottom-up system that distributes power broadly and involves transparency and democratic decision making deserve a fair hearing.

[FarLeftFist]

4. I was huge into it in college. It would make CEOs obsolete and at the bottom of the totem pole.

[Throd]

7. I think of Michael Palin

"Come see the violence inherent in the system"!

[Taverner]

12. Or Eric Idle ----->

"Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony." --Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[deutsey]

13. +1

[Luminous Animal]

8. I'm for it!

More serious, politically, that is where I feel most comfortable.

[deutsey]

14. You're fooling yourself. We're living in a dictatorship...a self-perpetuating autocracy

:evilgrin:

Seriously, what I know about it, I like. I wonder how well it could work, though.

[Taverner]

16. Well the first one (Bolshivek Revolution) ended in Stalinism...

I don't know if that was a mistake, or the way things go

I would be willing to try it again, in a much more managed sense...

The Bolshevik Rev set up a Syndicate (aka Soviet) rule...

[deutsey]

22. I read an interesting book called the Long Detour or something like that

in which the author said socialism was making great inroads in the US before 1917 because, according to Marx, socialism was the next logical step in industrialized democratic countries.

However, with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, socialism was successfully derailed in America because of its authoritarian nature (especially with the rise of Stalin). The author said because Russia was not a democracy and was far behind in terms of industrialism, real socialism was impossible there.

Still, the elites in this country used the bogeyman of the USSR to smear socialism and batter it down here in the US.

[provis99]

15. what's the difference between anarcho-syn and socialism?

I'd call myself a socialist, because I like the idea of business being run by employee owned co-ops rather than capitalists, and I like the idea of credit unions rather than banks. Among a host of other things.

[Taverner]

17. Depends on the Socialism...

If we're talking Stalinism, then big diff

If we're talking the aims of the Bolshevik Rev...totally Anarcho Syndicalist...

The Soviets were the Syndicates/Unions

[PETRUS]

18. So can you point me to a cheat sheet

What are the similarities/differences between Socialism and Anarcho-Syndicalism?

[Taverner]

19. Honestly, I would suggest Wikipedia

They have a very good section on both Socialism, as well as Anarcho-Synidcalism

After that, let me suggest Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn...

[themadstork]

21. I would love it

As I would love any system that could ensure direct democracy (as much as possible) and prevent the concentration of power/capital.

I've been meaning to make a larger research project of figuring out what system could best do this, but there's such an intimidatingly large stack of political philosophy out there to think through and my work has been bringing in mostly rejection letters, so for-fun projects must wait. : (

[Douglas Carpenter]

23. for those interested in the history - here is a great 1979 documentary about the IWW

Industrial Workers of the World - also known as the Wobblies - a major anarcho-syndicalist union and movement that at one time was a genuine viable major movement in America.

In answer to your question. I think Anarcho-syndicalism or a mixture of Anarcho-communism and Anarcho-syndicalism would be the best of all possible worlds. However, I don't think at this time it is a viable movement. If events changed so that it did become a viable movement - that would be the best of all possible futures for humanity.

Anywhere here is the link on google videos to this wonderful 1979 film - the Wobblies:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-582501436157763581#


.

[FarCenter]

24. It has the same problem as capitalism -- over time monopolies form

Capitalism under a democratic government attempts to control the coalesence of economic power by either breaking up monopolies with anti-trust laws or by allowing natural monopolies to form and regulating them as utilities. Whether completely effective or not, there is an attempt to separate political and economic power, and to use political power as a check on economic power.

If you combine political and economic power in syndicates, there is nothing to stop the syndicates from coalescing and eventually falling under control of a state monopoly. You get Stalinism or Maoism as a natural end result.

So a relatively free society is most possible when there are a lot of different types of power centers in society and where they compete and form coalitions to reduce concentrations of power in any given organization of any given type.

[Taverner]

25. Then break them up - a million non-violent revolutions is necesarry!

[socialist_n_TN]

26. As a Bolshevik-Leninist I like the idea of them

But until you weather the inevitable bourgeois counterattack, you have to be more centralized (read: vanguard party). Otherwise the capitalist powers overthrow the syndicates one at a time.

Sometimes it's a little difficult to reconcile my Marxism with my anarcho-syndicalist tendencies, but the above is why I'm a Marxist and not a anarcho-syndicalist.