Editing Syndicalism (section)

== Terminology ==
The word ''syndicalism'' has French origins. In French, a {{lang|fr|syndicat}} is a trade union, usually a local union. A [[syndicate]] is a self organizing group working towards a shared interest. The corresponding words in Spanish and Portuguese, {{lang|es|sindicato}}, and Italian, {{lang|it|sindacato}}, are similar. By extension, the French {{lang|fr|syndicalisme}} refers to trade unionism in general.{{Sfnm|1a1=Darlington|1y=2008|1p=4|2a1=Thorpe|2y=2010b|2p=25}} The concept of {{lang|fr|syndicalisme révolutionnaire}} or ''revolutionary syndicalism'' emerged in [[French socialist]] journals in 1903,{{Sfn|Gervasoni|2006|p=57}} and the French [[General Confederation of Labour (France)|General Confederation of Labor]] ({{lang|fr|Confédération générale du travail}}, CGT) came to use the term to describe its brand of unionism. ''Revolutionary syndicalism'', or more commonly ''syndicalism'' with the ''revolutionary'' implied, was then adapted to a number of languages by unionists following the French model.{{Sfnm|1a1=Darlington|1y=2008|1pp=4–5|2a1=Thorpe|2y=2010b|2p=25}}{{refn|group=note|Of frequent criticism has been the transplantation of the term into languages in which the etymological link to ''unionism'' was lost. Opponents of syndicalism in Northern and Central Europe seized upon this to characterize it as something non-native, even dangerous. When the [[Free Association of German Trade Unions]] ({{lang|de|Freie Vereinigung deutscher Gewerkschaften}}, FVdG) endorsed syndicalism in 1908, it did not at first use the term for fear of using "foreign names".{{Sfn|Thorpe|2010b|pp=25–26}}}}

Many scholars, including [[Ralph Darlington]], [[Marcel van der Linden]], and Wayne Thorpe, apply ''syndicalism'' to a number of organizations or currents within the labor movement that did not identify as ''syndicalist''. They apply the label to [[one big unionists]] or industrial unionists in North America and Australia, Larkinists (named after the Irish ITGWU leader [[James Larkin]]) in Ireland, and groups that identify as revolutionary industrialists, revolutionary unionists, [[anarcho-syndicalists]], or councilists. This includes the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW) in the United States, which claimed its industrial unionism was "a higher type of revolutionary labor organization than that proposed by the syndicalists". Van der Linden and Thorpe use ''syndicalism'' to refer to "all revolutionary, direct-actionist organizations". Darlington proposes that syndicalism be defined as "revolutionary trade unionism".{{refn|group=note|Darlington adds that this definition does not encompass communist or socialist unions because, in his own words, the syndicalist conception "differed from both socialist and communist counterparts in viewing the decisive agency of the revolutionary transformation of society to be unions, as opposed to political parties or the state and of a collectivized worker-managed socio-economic order to be run by unions, as opposed to political parties or the state."{{Sfn|Darlington|2008|p=5}}}} He and van der Linden argue that it is justified to group together such a wide range of organizations because their similar modes of action or practice outweigh their ideological differences.{{Sfnm|1a1=van der Linden|1a2=Thorpe|1y=1990|1pp=1–2|2a1=Darlington|2y=2008|2pp=5–7|3a1=van der Linden|3y=1998|3pp=182–183}}

Others, such as Larry Peterson and [[Erik Olssen]], disagree with this broad definition. According to Olssen, this understanding has a "tendency to blur the distinctions between industrial unionism, syndicalism, and [[revolutionary socialism]]".{{Sfn|Olssen|1992|p=108}} Peterson gives a more restrictive definition of ''syndicalism'' based on five criteria:
# A preference for [[federalism]] over [[centralism]].
# Opposition to [[political parties]].
# Seeing the [[general strike]] as the supreme revolutionary weapon.
# Favoring the replacement of the state by "a federal, economic organization of society".
# Seeing unions as the basic building blocks of a [[post-capitalist]] society.

This definition excludes the IWW and the Canadian [[One Big Union (Canada)|One Big Union]] (OBU), which sought to unite all workers in one general organization. Peterson proposes the broader category ''revolutionary industrial unionism'' to encompass syndicalism, groups like the IWW and the OBU, and others.{{Sfn|Peterson|1981|pp=53–56}}