SAC Syndikalisterna

Last updated

SAC Syndikalisterna
Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden
Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation
Founded1910
Headquarters Stockholm, Sweden
Location
Members
3,055 in Sept 2018
Key people
 Gabriel Kuhn, secretary-general (current) Elise Ottesen-Jensen
Britta Gröndahl
Jan Fridegård
Stig Dagerman
Folke Fridell
Affiliations Red and Black Coordination
Website www.sac.se/en

SAC Syndikalisterna (Swedish : Sveriges Arbetares Centralorganisation) is a syndicalist trade union federation in Sweden. Unlike other Swedish unions, SAC organises people from all occupations and industries in one single federation, including the unemployed, students, and the retired. [1] SAC also publishes the weekly newspaper Arbetaren ("the Worker"), owns the publishing house Federativs and runs the unemployment fund Sveriges Arbetares Arbetslöshetskassa (SAAK).

Contents

History

Establishment

Insignia of SAC Sacinsignia.png
Insignia of SAC
SAC workers conference, held in Orebro November 25-November 26, 1917. The conference decided to plan mass action for 8-hour working day in the spring of 1918. Sackonferens1917.jpg
SAC workers conference, held in Örebro November 25-November 26, 1917. The conference decided to plan mass action for 8-hour working day in the spring of 1918.

Anarcho-syndicalism first began to emerge in Sweden out of the far-left opposition to social democracy within the trade union movement. [2] In 1908, members of the Young Socialists began to advocate for the adoption of the syndicalist methods of the French General Confederation of Labour (CGT). [3] In the wake of the defeat of the 1909 Swedish general strike, rank-and-file trade union members became more disillusioned with their social-democratic union leaders. [4] This culminated in 1910, with the establishment of the Central Organisation of Swedish Workers (SAC). [5]

In September 1913, delegates from the SAC attended the First International Syndicalist Congress in London, where they and other revolutionary syndicalist unions attempted to establish a Syndicalist International. [6] However, this process was interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. [7] After the war, the SAC participated in a series of strike actions. [8] By 1920, the SAC had grown to count 32,000 members, largely from the construction, timber and metalworking industries. [9] It also maintained close relations with the syndicalist federations in Norway and Denmark. [10]

Opposition to Bolshevism and international syndicalism

The SAC was sceptical of the rise of Bolshevism that occurred in the wake of the Russian Revolution, considering it to be a centralist and authoritarian ideology. [11] It refused to affiliate to the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU), as the SAC considered it to be an organ of party politics and thus incompatible with the anti-political stance of syndicalism. [12] In December 1920, the SAC participated in an international syndicalist conference in Berlin. [13] When a Russian delegate encouraged the syndicalist delegates to affiliate themselves with the RILU, the SAC delegation responded by criticising the government of Vladimir Lenin and its political repression of the Russian anarchist movement. [14]

The SAC attended the RILU's July 1921 congress in Moscow, where it supported a motion to keep the RILU independent from the Communist International, but the motion was defeated. [15] Syndicalist unions that were in the opposition at this congress decided to establish their own international association. [16] At a subsequent syndicalist conference, held in Dusseldorf in October 1921, delegates from the SAC supported the establishment of a syndicalist international. [17] Back in Sweden, the SAC formally voted against affiliating with the Communist International in an internal referendum. [18] In December 1922, the SAC, along with syndicalist unions from Argentina, Chile, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain, established the International Workers' Association (IWA). [19]

In the wake of the Spanish Revolution of 1936, the SAC criticised the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) for joining the government of Spain, although it also accepted the CNT's tactical autonomy on the matter and defended the policy of anti-fascist unity. [20]

Post-war revisions

The SAC building in central Stockholm, housing the Stockholm Local Federation of the SAC, the SAC secretariat, and the Arbetaren office Exterior, the SAC building.jpg
The SAC building in central Stockholm, housing the Stockholm Local Federation of the SAC, the SAC secretariat, and the Arbetaren office

Following the conclusion of World War II, anarcho-syndicalist unions throughout Europe experienced a decline, while reformist trade unionism began to see a resurgence. Although the SAC remained relatively strong after the war, from 1945 to 1957, its membership numbers declined from 22,000 to 16,000. [21] In Sweden, where the anarcho-syndicalist movement hadn't been suppressed by dictatorship or wartime repression, the SAC remained active, making it one of the few IWA affiliates that continued to function. The Swedish state was also developing into a social democracy, with a comprehensive system of welfare and collective bargaining, in which trade unions themselves were tasked with administering social benefits. [22]

Within the SAC, the German emigrant Helmut Rüdiger challenged the anarchist "orthodoxy" of anti-statism. Rüdiger thought that, as the states which anarcho-syndicalists had previous opposed had since been transformed into welfare states, overthrowing the state would also mean abolishing its social programmes. He thus proposed that anarcho-syndicalists should act within existing state systems in order to democratise the economy, rather than waiting around for a social revolution, [23] and even began to support participation in local government. [24]

In order to pursue such reforms to the state structure and bolster its own popularity, the SAC elected to participate in the administration of unemployment benefits in Sweden. [25] In 1952, the SAC membership voted to approve the creation of a syndicalist-administered unemployment insurance fund. Rejecting direct action, they declared their goal to be the establishment of industrial democracy by bringing state and private companies under workers' control. Evert Arvidsson  [ sv ], the editor of Arbetaren , declared the SAC's renunciation of the "magic wand of revolution". [26] Instead he announced that the SAC "regards the progressive democratization of the economy as its primary task... The basic idea consists in gradually transferring economic power from the shareholders to the producers." [27]

During this period, while it grew increasingly moderate, the SAC also saw a marked growth in its membership. [28] The SAC's establishment of unemployment insurance funds resulted in the further deterioration of relations between it and the IWA, which increasingly criticised the SAC as "reformist" and "collaborationist". [29] In 1958, as the CNT called for a "return to anarchist principles" in the international anarcho-syndicalist movement, the SAC left the IWA. [30] For its part, the SAC called for the "modernisation" of anarcho-syndicalism by revising its principles to fit post-war conditions. [31]

The SAC's youth wing, the Syndikalistiska Grupprörelsen ("Syndicalist Group Movement") functioned between 1958 and 1970 with student groups in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala, and elsewhere. [32] The movement published the magazine Zenit  [ sv ] through 1967. [33]

Contemporary era

Malmo LS 1 May 1991. SAC 1maj1991-Malmo.jpg
Malmö LS 1 May 1991.

Throughout the late 20th century, the SAC experienced a decline, as the SAC failed to respond to the counterculture of the 1960s and the institution of neoliberalism in Sweden damaged their position within the welfare state. By the turn of the 21st century, the SAC's membership had declined to 7,000 members. [34]

In the 1970s, the SAC began to swing back towards far-left politics and reaffirmed some syndicalist principles, although it continued to administer state unemployment benefits well into the 21st century. [35] In 1993, the SAC established a youth section, the Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation (SUF). As of 2009, it allowed the unemployed, students and pensioners to join the ranks of the SAC. [36] In 2001, the SAC co-founded the International Libertarian Solidarity network, together with other anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist organisations throughout Europe. [37]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syndicalism</span> Form of revolutionary organisation

Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the labour movement that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes, with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of production and the economy at large through social ownership. Developed in French labor unions during the late 19th century, syndicalist movements were most predominant amongst the socialist movement during the interwar period that preceded the outbreak of World War II.

Anarcho-syndicalism is an anarchist organisational model that centres trade unions as a vehicle for class conflict. Drawing from the theory of libertarian socialism and the practice of syndicalism, anarcho-syndicalism sees trade unions as both a means to achieve immediate improvements to working conditions and to build towards a social revolution in the form of a general strike, with the ultimate aim of abolishing the state and capitalism. Anarcho-syndicalists consider trade unions to be the prefiguration of a post-capitalist society and seek to use them in order to establish workers' control of production and distribution. An anti-political ideology, anarcho-syndicalism rejects political parties and participation in parliamentary politics, considering them to be a corrupting influence on the labour movement. In order to achieve their material and economic goals, anarcho-syndicalists instead practice direct action in the form of strike actions, boycotts and sabotage. Anarcho-syndicalists also attempt to build solidarity among the working class, in order to unite workers against the exploitation of labour and build workers' self-management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solidarity Federation</span> British anarcho-syndicalist organisation

The Solidarity Federation is a British anarcho-syndicalist organisation. It advocates for the abolition of capitalism and the state through industrial action, which it agitates for in industrial networks and local groups.

The International Workers' Association – Asociación Internacional de los Trabajadores (IWA–AIT) is an international federation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions and initiatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Confederation of Labour (Spain)</span> Spanish trade union

The General Confederation of Labour is a Spanish trade union federation. Formed as a faction of the National Confederation of Labour (CNT) during the Spanish transition to democracy, its support for participation in union elections led it to split from the organisation, which prohibited participation. After losing a lengthy legal battle for the name, the pro-electoral faction renamed itself to the CGT and reorganised itself as an independent trade union center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish Anarcho-syndicalist Youth Federation</span>

The Swedish Anarcho-Syndicalist Youth Federation, is a youth-based group in Sweden that supports independent working class struggle.

Anarchism in South Africa dates to the 1880s, and played a major role in the labour and socialist movements from the turn of the twentieth century through to the 1920s. The early South African anarchist movement was strongly syndicalist. The ascendance of Marxism–Leninism following the Russian Revolution, along with state repression, resulted in most of the movement going over to the Comintern line, with the remainder consigned to irrelevance. There were slight traces of anarchist or revolutionary syndicalist influence in some of the independent left-wing groups which resisted the apartheid government from the 1970s onward, but anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism as a distinct movement only began re-emerging in South Africa in the early 1990s. It remains a minority current in South African politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volin</span> Russian anarchist (1882–1945)

Vsevolod Mikhailovich Eikhenbaum, commonly known by his pseudonym Volin, was a Russian anarchist intellectual. He became involved in revolutionary socialist politics during the 1905 Russian Revolution, for which he was forced into exile, where he gravitated towards anarcho-syndicalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unione Sindacale Italiana</span> Italian trade union

The Italian Syndicalist Union is an Italian anarcho-syndicalist trade union. Established in 1912 by a confederation of "houses of labour", the USI led a series of general strikes throughout its early years, culminating with the Red Week insurrection against the Italian entry into World War I. During the Biennio Rosso, the USI was at the forefront of the occupation of factories, which saw hundreds of workplaces throughout the country brought under the control of workers' councils. The USI also led the establishment of the International Workers' Association (IWA), which became the main international organisation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Confederation of Labour (Portugal)</span> Portuguese trade union confederation

The General Confederation of Labour was a Portuguese trade union confederation. Established in 1919, as the successor to the National Workers' Union (UON), the CGT was the only national trade union centre in Portugal throughout the early 1920s. The organisation was led largely by anarcho-syndicalists, who declared the CGT to be independent of all political parties and proclaimed its goal to be the abolition of capitalism and the state. Opposed to Bolshevism, it refused to join the Red International of Labour Unions (RILU) and instead joined the International Workers' Association (IWA), which was aligned with anarcho-syndicalism. An internal schism between the syndicalist leadership and members of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) followed, as unions aligned with the latter broke off from the CGT. Following the establishment of a military dictatorship in Portugal, the CGT led a workers' uprising against it, but they were defeated, the organisation banned and many of their members exiled to Africa. After the establishment of the fascist Estado Novo regime, the CGT attempted to resist the creation of a corporatist economy and led a general strike against it, but this too was suppressed. The CGT's secretary general then attempted to assassinate the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, but was unsuccessful. The CGT was ultimately driven underground and eventually disappeared, as the fascist regime was consolidated in Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anarchism in Sweden</span>

Anarchism in Sweden first grew out of the nascent social democratic movement during the later 19th century, with a specifically libertarian socialist tendency emerging from a split in the movement. As with the movements in Germany and the Netherlands, Swedish anarchism had a strong syndicalist tendency, which culminated in the establishment of the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden (SAC) following an aborted general strike. The modern movement emerged during the late 20th century, growing within a number of countercultural movements before the revival of anarcho-syndicalism during the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norsk Syndikalistisk Forbund</span> Norwegian anarcho-syndicalist group

The Norwegian Syndicalist Federation is an anarcho-syndicalist group in Norway. Established in the 1910s, the NSF worked within existing Norwegian trade unions in order to radicalise them towards revolutionary syndicalism. It was a founding member of the International Workers' Association (IWA) and historically maintained close connections with the Central Organisation of Swedish Workers (SAC). The NSF was politically repressed during the German occupation of Norway and, in the wake of World War II, experienced a dramatic decline. In the 1970s, the organisation was reconstituted as a propaganda group and continued its activities into the 21st century, with a much smaller membership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Besnard</span> French revolutionary syndicalist (1886–1947)

Pierre Besnard was a French anarcho-syndicalist. He was the co-founder and leader of the Confédération Générale du Travail-Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CGT-SR) and its successor the Confédération Nationale du Travail (CNT), and the principal theoretician of anarcho-syndicalism in France during the early 20th century.

A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions of political, social, and labour organizations and may also include rallies, marches, boycotts, civil disobedience, non-payment of taxes, and other forms of direct or indirect action. Additionally, general strikes might exclude care workers, such as teachers, doctors, and nurses.

Anarchism in Portugal first appeared in the form of organized groups in the mid-1880s. It was present from the first steps of the workers' movement, revolutionary unionism and anarcho-syndicalism had a lasting influence on the General Confederation of Labour, founded in 1919.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helmut Rüdiger</span> German anarcho-syndicalist and journalist (1903–1966)

Helmut Rüdiger (1903–1966) was a German-Swedish journalist and anarcho-syndicalist activist. Born in Saxony, he became involved with the anarchist movement after the German Revolution of 1918–1919, becoming a leading member of the Free Workers' Union of Germany (FAUD). During the 1930s, he moved to Spain, where he participated in the Spanish Revolution of 1936. After the defeat of the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, he fled to Sweden, where he became a leading member of the Central Organisation of the Workers of Sweden and an influential figure in the "revisionist" tendency of anarcho-syndicalism. He died in Spain in 1966, while trying to make contact with members of the anarchist underground.

The history of anarcho-syndicalism dates back to the anti-authoritarian faction of the International Workingmen's Association. Revolutionary syndicalism as a tendency was constituted in the 1890s by the French General Confederation of Labour (CGT), which became a model union for other syndicalist organisations to base themselves on. Anarchists were involved in the syndicalist movement from the outset and a specific anarchist tendency developed within the movement over the subsequent decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fagoppositionens Sammenslutning</span> Danish syndicalist organisation

The Trade Union Opposition Federation was a Danish trade union federation. Established in 1910 by syndicalist opponents of the social-democratic dominance over trade unions, the FS pursued a strategy of dual unionism and worked within existing trade unions with the intention of radicalising them. The membership of the FS consisted largely of industrial workers in Copenhagen, where they carried out a series of strike actions, including wildcat strikes, to improve working conditions.

The Syndicalist Defense Committee, also known as the Committee for the Defense of Revolutionary Syndicalism, was a French anarcho-syndicalist trade union centre of the United General Confederation of Labour (CGTU). The CDS was formed to oppose the influence of the French Communist Party (PCF), which quickly took over the leadership of the CGTU and brought it into the Red International of Labour Unions (RILU). Despite its conflict with the CGTU leadership, the CDS remained within the organisation, as it sought to preserve working class unity. While still within the CGTU, the CDS participated in the founding of the International Workers' Association (IWA), in which it called for a conciliatory stance towards the RILU. After the murder of two libertarian activists by a PCF member, the CDS broke away from the CGTU. In 1924, the CDS formed the short-lived Federative Union of Autonomous Trade Unions; and in 1926, they established the Revolutionary Syndicalist General Confederation of Labour (CGT-SR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Workers' Union (Portugal)</span> Portuguese trade union centre

The National Workers' Union was a Portuguese trade union federation. Established by a coalition of syndicalists and socialists, in the wake of a strike wave that followed the 1910 revolution, the UON was the first trade union centre to unite workers across different industries from throughout the country. The UON launched a series of strike actions following the Portuguese entry into World War I, which radicalised the union towards anarcho-syndicalism. By 1917, the UON was calling for revolution, backed by its powerful construction workers' union. In November 1918, the UON carried out a national general strike, but it was defeated by the state. The following year, the UON was reorganised into the General Confederation of Labour (CGT), which took over its structures and activities.

References

  1. ↑ The Principles and Aims of SAC Archived 11 December 2006 at the Wayback Machine , point 10
  2. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 19.
  3. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 19–20.
  4. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 20–21.
  5. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 20–21; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 190.
  6. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 39–40.
  7. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 40–41.
  8. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 56–57.
  9. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 56.
  10. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 57.
  11. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 66.
  12. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 66n99.
  13. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 71.
  14. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 71–72.
  15. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 73–74.
  16. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 74.
  17. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 75.
  18. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 75–76.
  19. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 82–85.
  20. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 182.
  21. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 193.
  22. ↑ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 222.
  23. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 196–197.
  24. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 196–197; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 223.
  25. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 197; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 223.
  26. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 197.
  27. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 197–198.
  28. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 198; van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 223.
  29. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 198.
  30. ↑ Damier 2009, pp. 195–196.
  31. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 196.
  32. ↑ Lindblom, Per, ed. (2014). Anarkosyndikalismens återkomst i Spanien: SACs samarbete med CNT under övergången från diktatur till demokrati [The return of anarcho-syndicalism in Spain: SAC's co-operation with the CNT during the transition from dictatorship to democracy](PDF) (in Swedish). Södertörn University. p. 49. ISBN   978-91-89615-28-1. OCLC   941493496.
  33. ↑ Ekelund, Alexander (2017). Kampen om vetenskapen [The battle for science] (in Swedish). Daidalos. p. 55. ISBN   978-91-7173-521-8. OCLC   1041629655.
  34. ↑ Damier 2009, p. 198n334.
  35. ↑ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 223.
  36. ↑ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 190.
  37. ↑ van der Walt & Schmidt 2009, p. 224.

Bibliography

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.