Another idea which is used by the democratic State for the same purpose is the idea of patriotism. "Our country", "our nation", are mottoes inculcated into the mind of the workingman from his very childhood. But these words have no meaning for the workingman. The workingman's country is where he finds work. In search of work he leaves his native land and wanders from place to place. He has no fatherland (patrie) in any real meaning of the term. Ties of tradition, of a common intellectual and moral heritage do not exist for him. In his experience as workingman he finds that there is but one real tie, the tie of economic interest which binds him to all the workingmen of the world and separates him at the same time from all the capitalists of the world. The international solidarity of the workingmen and their anti-patriotism are necessary consequences of the class struggle.

The State appears to the syndicalists as the political organization of the capitalist class. Whether monarchist, constitutional, or republican, it is one in character, an organization whose function it is to uphold and to protect the privileges of the property-owners against the demands of the working-class. The workingmen are, therefore, necessarily forced to hurl themselves against the State in their efforts toward emancipation, and they cannot succeed until they have broken the power of the State. The struggle against the State, like the struggle against the employers, must be carried on directly by the workingmen themselves. This excludes the participation of the syndicats in politics and in electoral campaigning, the parliamentary system is a system of representation opposed in principle to "direct action," and serves the interests of the bourgeoisie, for the management of which it is particularly suited. The workingmen can derive no benefit from it. The parliamentary system breeds petty, self-seeking politicians, corrupts the better elements that enter into it and is a source of intrigues and of "wire-pulling".The so-called representatives of the workingmen do not and cannot avoid the contagious influence of parliament. Their policy degenerates into bargaining, compromising and collaboration with the bourgeois political parties and weakens the class-struggle.

 Revolutionary Syndicalism from Syndicalism in France by Louis Levine 1912  - Part 2. Direct Action

The syndicat is the instrument with which the workingmen can enter into a "direct" struggle with employers. "Direct action" is what the syndicalists most insist upon, as the only means of educating the workingmen and of preparing them for the final act of emancipation. "Direct action" is action by the workingmen themselves without the help of intermediaries; it is not necessarily violent action, though it may assume violent forms; it is the manifestation of the consciousness and the will of the workingmen themselves, without the intervention of an external agent; it consists in pressure exerted directly by those interested for the sake of obtaining the ends in view.

"Direct action" may assume various forms, but the principle ones in the struggle against employers are: the strike, the boycott, the label, and sabotage.

 The strike, in the view of the syndicalists, is the manifestation of the class-struggle par excellence. The strike brings the workingmen face to face with the employers in a clash of interests. A strike clears up, as if by a flash of lightning, the deep antagonism which exists between those who employ and those who work for employers. It further deepens the chasm between them, consolidating the employers on the one hand, and the workingmen on the other, over against one another. It is a revolutionary fact of great value.

 All strikes, partial, general in a locality, or general in some one trade, have this revolutionary influence, particularly when they are conducted in a certain way. If the workingmen rely on their treasury, the strike degenerates into a mere contest between two money bags--that of the employer and that of the syndicat--and loses much of its value. Still more are the syndicalists opposed to methods of conciliation and arbitration. The idea of the revolutionary syndicalists is that a strike should be won by Sturm und Drang, by quick and energetic pressure on employers. The financial strength of workingmen when striking should not be considered. Money may be supplied by contributions of working men in other trades and localities, in itself another means of developing the solidarity of the working-class. Sometimes a strike may be won by calling out sympathetic strikes in other trades.

Strikes conducted in this manner yield practical results and serve also as a means of educating workingmen. They reveal to the workingmen their power, as producers, and their importance in the productive system of society. The label, on the other hand, is a means of bringing home to the workingmen their importance as consumers, and of making them wield this power for their own benefit.

The boycott reveals the power of the workingmen, either as producers or as consumers. It may be wielded against an employer whose shop is avoided, or against a firm in its capacity as seller. It is an effective means of forcing employers to terms. 

Sabotage consists in obstructing in all possible ways the regular process of production to the dismay and disadvantage of the employer. The manifestations of sabotage are many, varying with the nature of the industry and with the ingenuity of the workers. In its primitive form, sabotage is a tacit refusal on the part of the workers to exert properly their energy or skill in the performance of their work, in retaliation for any injustice which, in their opinion, had been inflicted upon them by their employers. This form of sabotage includes such practices as those summarized in the Scotch Ca Canny (slow work for low wages) and in the French principle of a mauvaise paye mauvais travail (bad work for bad pay). It also includes the recent practices of the railroad workers in Austria, Italy, and France who disorganized the railway service of their respective countries by obeying literally all the rules and regulations of the service code and by refusing to apply discretion and common sense in the performance of their duties. The distinguishing characteristic of this form of "sabotage" is that in applying it the workers remain within the limits of their contract and avoid any manifest violation of the law, though the loss inflicted upon the employer may be very heavy. 

A more agressive form of sabotage is that which expresses itself in deliberate damage done either to the product of labor or to the nature of service. An instance of the latter was the so-called gre've perl'ee applied by the French railway men, which consisted in wilful misdirection of baggage and perishable merchandise. This form of sabotage implies disregard for the laws of property and for the clauses of the labor contract, but it is carried on in a manner which makes detection of motive very difficult.* 

    [*An intermediate form of sabotage is that known as sabotage a' bouche ouverte (sabotage of the open mouth). It consists in the disclosure of conditions generally withheld from the public, such as conditions in hotel-kitchens and restaurants, methods of weighing and measuring in stores, practices followed by druggists, frauds resorted to by contractors and builders, etc.]

 From this form of sabotage it is but a short step to the most agressive and violent kind which finds expression in the deliberate and open disorganization of machinery. This form of sabotage has nothing in common with the destruction of machinery practiced by unorganized workers during the early stages of the capitalist regime. It aims not at the destruction of the machine as a means of production, but at the temporary disability of the machine during strikes for the purpose of preventing employers to carry on production with the help of strikebreakers. Even in this most agressive form, sabotage may involve very little violence. The syndicalists strongly condemn any act of sabotage which may result in the loss of life.

Revolutionary Syndicalism from  Syndicalism in France by Louis Levine 1912  - Part 1.  Class-Struggle and the Industrial Union,

 The fundamental idea of revolutionary syndicalism is the idea of class-struggle. Society is divided into two classes, the class of employers who possess the instruments of production and the class of workingmen who own nothing but their labor-power and who live by selling it.

Between these two classes an incessant struggle is going on. This struggle is a fact, not a theory in need of proof. It is a fact manifested every day in the relations between employers and wage-earners, a fact inherent in the economic organization of existing society.

Utah Phillips is very, very ill. He can no longer perform and urgently needs financial help. He has given so much to the One Big Union and progressive people everywhere. Now is the time to show him what we learned from him and to put into practice the solidarity he taught us.

I.W.W. Musician, Singer, Poet, Writer, and, most of all Organizer - Utah Phillips has spent his life uplifting the spirits of all struggling against the bosses to build a better world. At all his concerts he had it stipulated that wobblies would be present to fundraise and organize.

He has been the voice for "...all those thousands of unnamed wobblies buried in unmarked graves throughout the west." Don't let that voice go unanswered.

Cards, messages and money can be sent to:
UTAH PHILLIPS
BOX 1235
NEVADA CITY, CA 95959

THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE GOES ON STRIKE:
(A Children's Story for Young Wobblies)

It was darktime in the land of Sodor. The moon loomed low in the early morning sky. Thomas puffed slowly to the Tidmouth Sheds, pistons knocking and clattering where his buffer had fallen off once again.

"Joe Hill's Ashes!" Thomas exclaimed to his friends, "Today is the last straw!"

He had so much to tell Percy, who had to remain in his shed after his boiler exploded. Poor Percy, he was still shaking from the shock of the explosion.