Anarchists, Syndicalists, and the First World War

“The First World War was a painful ordeal for anarchists and revolutionary syndicalists. Preventing its onset, as they had planned, proved beyond their means. The anarchist movement was too weak, and the syndicalists—too disunited—to organize a general anti-militarist strike. The impotence of ideologically “neutral” syndicalism and the growth of revolutionary sentiment during the war among the labouring masses (as predicted by the anarchists) made changes in the syndicalist movement all the more urgent. . . . To many activists it became clear that syndicalism alone is not enough, that you need to connect the self-organized labour movement and direct action with clear revolutionary ideas. The choice in the years of the post-war revolutionary upsurge was between Bolshevism and anarcho-syndicalism.” – Vadim Damier