The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1913-01-24
DIRECT ACTION
AND ANARCHISM
ARE The SAME
THE PEVOLUTIONIST UNION
IST OF TODAY BELIEVES
AS HAS ALWAYS THE AN
ARCHIST IN A WORLD UP
HEAVAL.
BY ROBERT HUNTER.

much in common. Both lay emphasis
on series of oppositions. Both are
supplementary, anti-patriotic, anti
militarist, anti-votes, ANTIQUES, anti
insurance, anti-contracts. Both be-
| lieve in vague federalism of Hide
fined and hastily-grouped workers.
The revolutionary unionists declare
for the general strike, which is form
of the instructions urged by the an
archists. The sabotage of the revolu-
tionists bears striking resemblance
to the anarchists propaganda of the
| deed, even when it leads to assassin
alton. Leadership is abhorred by
both, but an inner circle of daring
revolutionists is advocated by both.
1--WE must FORM" said Bakunine, mot
indeed the army of revolution-the
army can be anything but the peo-
| ple-but yet sort of staff for the
revolutionary army No
very great number of such men is
requisite. A hundred revolutionists,
firmly and seriously bound together,
are enough for the international or
ganization of all Europe"
This deia of an inner clique to lead
the ignorant and inert mass plays a
great part in both the anarchist and
syndicalist movements. Bakunine
| formed a secret society in the midst
of the International Workingmen's as
sociation, and after that organization
was abandoned in 1871 the anarchists
continued to advocate the same tao
tics in subsequent conferences. To-
day we find Pouget, the leader of the
French syndicalists, insisting that the
enlightened minority in the French
labor unions should be the unre-
strained guardians of the organiza
ton. He says: "The conscious min
ority will act without taking account
of the obstinate mass of the uncon
scious who have not yet been ami
mated by the spirit of revolt and
may be considered as human zeros."
And Pouget concludes: Thus ap
pears the enormous difference in
method which distinguishes syndical-
ism from democracy; the latter, by
the mechanism of universal suffrage,
gives direction to the unconscious
and STILES the minorities who
bear within them the hopes of the
future. The syndicalist method gives
a result diamentrically opposed to
this. Impulsion is instilled into the
ably inclined are called upon to act
and to participate in the movement"
The position here taken by Pouget is
incorporated into the very constitu-
ton of the French federation of Ia
Dor, Which makes it possible for "a
closely organized minority tc COM
rletely control that organization. The
trade union with score of members
has the same voting power in the
federation es the trade union with
| 10000 members. Opposition to ma
jority rule mas always been as much
cardinal principle of the anarchists
as it is of Tammany Hall, and it to-
day stands as the policy and prac-
tice of the French unions.
The anarchists in the international
/ fought, as the revolutionary union
lists do today, for what is called
purely economic action. They had
no faith in political parties, in par
liamentary methods, or, in fact, in
any effort to capture public powers.
For instance, the anarchist, Bordat,
said before the Lyons tribunal in
4 1898, what most of the revolutionary
unionists today would thoroughly as
sent to. ITO send workingmen to a
parliament" he declared, ''is to act
{ like a mother who would take her
! daughter to brothel" Working
class candidates." said Bakunine,
transferred to bourgeois conditions
of life and into an atmosphere of
completely bourgeois political ideas,
ceasing to be actually workers in or
der to become statesmen, will become
bourgeois, and possibly will become
even more bourgeois than the bour-
geois themselves. For it is not the
men who make positions, but, on the
contrary, positions which make the
men" Such have been the criticisms
of the anarchists levied against
working class political action. Any
one who will turn to the literature
of revolutionary unionism will find
again and again the same thought.
In advocating trade union action,
however, the anarchists always op-
posed officials and sought a decen-
tralized federation of groups. The
chief purpose of the vague organiza-
ton they advocated was little more
/ than to enable the workers to keep
in touch with each other and to
serve the needs of quick and wide
spread insurreotion They believed
that the world was on the verge of
an upheaval, and that mere agitation