Syndicalism in FranceLorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
History
Syndicalism in France
Lorwin, Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki)
Labor unions -- France -- History; Syndicalism -- France
The distrust of parliamentary methods has been strengthened in the
French socialist workingman by another fact. The French workingmen have
seen their political leaders rise to the very top, become Ministers and
Premiers (_e. g._, Millerand, Viviani, Briand), and then turn against
their "comrades" of old. The feeling has been thereby created in the
socialist workingmen that parliamentary methods are merely a means to a
brilliant career for individuals who know how to make use of them.
The mistrust of "politicians" finds some nourishment in the fact that
the political leaders of the Socialist movement are generally the
"intellectuals," between whom and the workingmen there is also some
antagonism. The "intellectuals" are thrown out upon the social arena
principally by the lower and middle bourgeoisie and generally enter the
liberal professions. But whether lawyer, writer, doctor or teacher, the
French "intellectual" sooner or later enters the field of "politics"
which allures him by the vaster possibilities it seems to offer. In
fact, the "intellectual" has always been a conspicuous figure in the
history of French Socialism. As a socialist poet, Pierre Dupont, sang,
"Socialism has two wings,
The student and the workingman."
And as the socialist ideas have spread, the number of
"intellectuals" in the socialist movement has been constantly
increasing.
The "two wings" of the Socialists, however, cannot perfectly adapt
themselves to one another. The "intellectual" generally lacks the
"impatience for deliverance" which characterizes the socialist
workingman. The "intellectual" is bound by more solid ties to the
_status quo_; his intellectual preoccupations predispose him to a calmer
view of things, to regard society as a slow evolutionary process.
Besides, the "intellectual" takes pride in the fact that he supplies
"the proletariat with fresh elements of enlightenment and progress"; he
is inclined, therefore, to dominate the workingman as his "minor
brother", and to advocate methods which secure his own predominant part
in the movement. Parliamentary action is the field best adapted to his
character and powers. The socialist workingman, on the other hand,
protests against the tendencies of the "intellectual", particularly
against the dominating impulses of the latter. He is anxious to limit
the powers of his leaders, if possible, and to create such forms of
organization as shall assure his own independence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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