economic situation. Hardly any of these ideas are new: almost all are derived from the Bakunist section of the old International.[1] The old International had considerable success in France before the Franco-Prussian War; indeed, in 1869, it is estimated to have had a French membership of a quarter of a million. What is practically the Syndicalist programme was advocated by a French delegate to the Congress of the International at Bale in that same year.[2]
The war of 1870 put an end for the time being to the Socialist Movement in France. Its revival was begun by Jules Guesde in 1877. Unlike the German Socialists, the French have been split into many different factions. In the early eighties there was a split between the Parliamentary Socialists and the Communist Anarchists. The latter thought that the first act of the Social Revolution should be the destruction of the State, and would therefore have nothing to do with parliamentary politics. The Anarchists, from 1883 onwards, had success in Paris and the South.
- ↑ This is often recognized by Syndicalists themselves. See e.g., an article on "The Old International," in the Syndicalist, of February 1913, which, after giving an account of the struggle between Marx and Bakunin from the standpoint of a sympathizer with the latter, says: "Bakounin's ideas are now more alive than ever."
- ↑ See pp. 42-3 and 160 of "Syndicalism in France," Louis Levine, Ph.D. (Columbia University Studies in Political Science, vol. xlvi. No. 3). This is a very objective and reliable account of the origin and progress of French Syndicalism. An admirable short discussion of its ideas and its present position will be found in Cole's "World of Labour" (G. Bell & Sons), especially chapters iii., iv., and xi.
