this party, since 1909, all the important Unions have belonged, but in spite of the fact that its strength is derived from Trade Unions, it has stood always for political rather than industrial action. Its Socialism has been of a theoretical and academic order, and in practice, until the outbreak of the war, the Labour Members in Parliament (of whom thirty were elected in 1906 and forty-two in December 1910) might be reckoned almost as a part of the Liberal Party.
France, unlike England and Germany, was not content merely to repeat the old shibboleths with continually diminishing conviction. In France[1] a new movement, originally known as Revolutionary Syndicalism—and afterwards simply as Syndicalism—kept alive the vigour of the original impulse, and remained true to the spirit of the older Socialists, while departing from the letter. Syndicalism, unlike Socialism and Anarchism, began from an existing organization and developed the ideas appropriate to it, whereas Socialism and Anarchism began with the ideas and only afterwards developed the organizations which were their vehicle. In order to understand Syndicalism, we have first to describe Trade Union organization in France and its political environment. The ideas of Syndicalism will then appear as the natural outcome of the political and
- ↑ And also in Italy. A good short account of the Italian movement is given by A. Lanzillo, "Le Mouvement ouvrier en Italie," Bibliothèque du Mouvement Prolétarien. See also Paul Louis, "Le Syndicalisme Européen," chap. vi. On the other hand, Cole ("World of Labour," chap, vi) considers the strength of genuine Syndicalism in Italy to be small.
