Communist critique of the unions - reading suggestions

This is great too: "I'd also assume that if Cajo Brendel was consistent (that can't be a real name btw ?)"

Another text…

The Union Makes Us Strong? Syndicalism: a Critical Analysis
Anarchist Communist Federation.

Hey, your review is fine and your hands were tied (which does make it hard to type). Perhaps you could do a more detailed review (with the gloves off ) it could start some interesting discussion. In the end I have a lot of criticisms esp about the formulas for defining the 'traditions' e.g. the insurrectionist vs syndicalist, syndicalism and the relationship with the broad anarchist tradition. I think looking at Malatesta is instructive on this account. But I really enjoyed reading the book, and was glad to see an account of our movement from a more global (less eurocentric) viewpoint.

Hi Steven, you might want to check this out:

http://www.mouvement-communiste.com/pdf/letter/LTMC0311EN.pdf

Seems like a good text (I'm on p5 so far).

EDIT. Yeah, it's very good. I don't agree (surprise, surprise) with the programmatic conclusion, insofar as it says "Revolutionaries have nothing to do with the state [e.g. TUC] unions..." - though I suspect that this position is more coherent with their analysis in France than here, given the differences in how industrial action happens. But it's easily the sharpest and most subtle of the left communist critiques of the unions I've read... lots of great analysis in there.

I have to say I'm kind of obsessed with this question and I've just finished reading almost everything posted on this thread, plus I recently read the 1972 version of Jeremy Brecher's "Strike!" (mentioned here) and I want to "fourth" it. It was full of terrific examples of how the unions work and how struggles often expressed themselves in the language of unions (especially before WWII) and hoped to be aided by them but were eventually contained and derailed by them.

"Stike!" was all about the US, though. I live there so it was great for me to understand the union issue in light of some history that I'm already somewhat familiar with, but does anyone know of another counterpart to this kind of book--looking at class struggle and union response to it historically--that deals with other countries? Especially Britain and France where trade unions have a LONG history? I'm trying to understand this issue in an international context.

Lastly I posted a question about Brecher's "Strike!" in regard to something it reminded me about from the ICC's "Union's Against the Working Class" in this thread here (maybe the thread is too old, but I didn't want to clutter this reading suggestion list with theory):

http://libcom.org/forums/thought/are-the-unions-against-the-working-class?page=4#comment-357245

Didn't think the mouvement-communiste text was that good really although still in the right direction.

This debate will inevitably resurface time and time again but is best illustrated with practical examples like the recent very good Libcom text on the Visteon occupation in Enfield in the British context.

We do need to understand the different contexts in which workplace struggles take place historically, industrially and geographically.

The earlier thread on the Brighton SolFed pamphlet was quite good for trying to get past the confusions around the different use of language (in relation to 'unions' but not the 'state') by the different political tendencies that predominate on this site and worth another read.

Those of us in North West England might find it worthwhile attending the CWO meeting in Manchester on the 23rd January on this very subject (see announcements) for some face to face discussion.

Also worth a read is the IP article from a while back 'Trade Unionsillars of Capitalism'

http://internationalist-perspective.org/IP/ip-archive/ip_41_trade-unions.html

And it doesn't even engage with the contents of the pamphlet - all it says is how it should've been written...

Yep - anarcho-syndicalist sloganeering blah blah that could've been inserted as dogma into pretty much any article ...

Finally just saw that 'review' - all you say is true - what a complete waste of time. (Well I guess it publicised the pamphlet at least.)