[Anarcho-Syndicalism and Anarchism](https://syndicalism.org/texts/461/anarcho-syndicalism-and-anarchism)
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By [Pierre Besnard](https://syndicalism.org/authors/233/pierre-besnard)

Published May 30, 1937

Topics: [IWA](https://syndicalism.org/topics/IWA),
[structure](https://syndicalism.org/topics/structure),
[intro](https://syndicalism.org/topics/intro)

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### What is Revolutionary Anarchism?

Revolutionary Anarchism is a movement whose doctrine is designed to
institute an individual and collective existence from which the State,
Government, and Authority will be barred.

Incontrovertibly, the foundation of that society will be man.

So Anarchism is the affirmation of an *ongoing social demand* in the
here-and-now and into the infinite future, into the indefinite future.

It implies an economic, administrative, and social project and has to
begin right now...

Historically, Revolutionary Anarchism is the third branch of traditional
socialism.

By contrast with the other two branches, *Socialism* and *Communism* ---
both of them political, authoritarian, and statist --- it is
a-political, anti-parliamentary, and anti-statist.

Its essential feature is freedom in a context of accountability,
individual and collective alike.

Its chief tasks at present are: *propaganda, popularization, and social
education of the labouring masses today and, tomorrow, the
administration of society*.

### What is Anarcho-Syndicalism?

Anarcho-Syndicalism is an organizational and organized movement. It
draws its doctrine from Anarchism and its organizational format from
Revolutionary Syndicalism.

It is the *contemporary* expression of the anarchist doctrine as regards
matters economic and social.

In terms of the revolution, it is also, as the Spanish experience itself
has demonstrated, the essential agent of realization.

At the world level, it is represented by the IWA and its National
Centres.

Its doctrine has been defined by the founding Congress of the 2nd IWA
(25-31 December 1922), by succeeding congresses, and by the works and
writings of its militants.

In Spain, the CNT stands for the Anarcho-Syndicalism of the IWA.

Practically and no less historically, Anarcho-Syndicalism is the
organizational format assumed by Anarchy for the purposes of the fight
against capitalism. It is fundamentally at odds with political and
reformist trade unionism.

Anarcho-Syndicalism\'s substitution of the idea of Class for the notion
of Party makes it an essential tool for workers obliged to defend their
living conditions in their preparation for economic and social
liberation.

The Anarcho-Syndicalist movement makes possible a yoking together of
action in pursuit of day-to-day demands and the loftiest aspirations of
the workers.

It achieves an amalgamation of the two in terms of material, moral,
short-term, and future interests.

*Out of a commonality of interests, it brings forth an identity of aims
and, as a logical and natural consequence, a reconciliation of
doctrines.*

Like any truly social doctrine, Anarcho-Syndicalism is essentially a
matter of *trial and error*.

Proof of this is the fact that, today, in Spain, its doctrine, having
been consecrated and confirmed by the facts, is achievable in the
short-term.

Based on trial and error? Just like every social movement and all the
sciences.

In sociology as in physics or chemistry or mechanics, *the idea springs
from the act and returns to it*.

The fact always predates the idea and conjures up the doctrine, the
philosophy from which the realization is to sprout.

The doctrine, the idea, the yearning for further experiment as a means
to the end, follow from the phenomena recorded which give rise to laws
acknowledged by all and authenticated by experience.

### Historical Comments

Down through the ages, what has social experience in every country and
in the modern world in particular taught us?

1\. That within their own class, individuals are more and more sure to
band together on the firm ground of their interests.

2\. That antagonistic classes seek, through elimination of their own
contradictions, to realize their common interest: *capitalists* by means
of the establishment of state capitalism, of which fascism is the most
distinct expression; *workers*, through expropriation of capital,
abolition of wage slavery, abolition of the state, and establishment of
libertarian communism.

3\. That, like their adversaries --- and unfortunately, after them ---
workers try to achieve unity and a pooling of all their resources,
because they have come to realize, at last, that the crucial battles
taking place require *methodical organization, coordination, and
massive, orderly deployment of these forces*; because they have learnt
the lesson taught by facts and experience, which plainly indicates that
*action should be well-prepared, direct, widespread, and synchronized*.

4\. That the age of political revolutions is over; that everywhere the
social revolution has come into its own; that no specially class-based,
proletarian party or group can, by opposing the disparate interests of
its heterogeneous membership, serve as a revolutionary spearhead, a
class organization; that, whereas an employer might profess to be a
socialist, communist, or anarchist --- they exist --- and while he might
see eye to eye with *his worker* ideologically *within the group*, he in
fact has no class interest in common with him, *once they both return to
the factory, yard, workshop, office, etc.* In real life, they are and
remain: in the case of one, an employer, and, in the case of the other,
a worker, with all of the antagonisms that their circumstances imply.

5\. That the only genuinely class group with the potential, by virtue of
its name, power, and the resources at its disposal --- which it alone
can set in motion --- simultaneously to destroy capitalism and make a
reality of libertarian communism, is the *Trade Union*. Even now it
brings manual, technical, and scientific operatives together
organizationally --- and this is something it will take further tomorrow
--- ensuring that the life of society is sustained throughout. The Trade
Union is also the typical grouping, the free and concrete model of
association that can furnish libertarian communist society with the
sound economic foundations vital to the new order that will spring from
the revolution.

### Revolutionary Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism Share a Common Objective

The IWA Charter has extracted from all these historical considerations
that which is common to all of the world\'s anarcho-syndicalists. In
concert with the FAI, the CNT is even now striving to put this into
effect.

This notion does not at all imply that anarcho-syndicalism --- which is,
remember, against the State and federalist --- means and aims to be
*everything* and that *nothing else* should exist alongside it.

Instead, anarcho-syndicalism is of the view that men, while they cannot
refrain from producing in order to survive, ought not to have production
as their sole aim. It very candidly admits and has no hesitation in
announcing that man has and rightly should have other aspirations ---
the highest ones at that --- toward the good, the beautiful, the better,
and this in every realm to which his faculties afford him access; that
administrative and social agencies are called for equal to all the
demands of a full, rounded, complete life, operating with the
enlightened assistance and under the watchful, constant and unrelenting
supervision of all.

It accepts without question that individuals are entitled --- or rather,
have a duty --- to administer themselves. It formally invites them to do
just that, right here and now.

Likewise, it fervently wants communes to federate on a regional basis,
confederate with one another nationwide, and for the confederations to
link arms internationally, after the pattern of the unions and the CGT.

It is even convinced that this is *crucial* and it stands ready to add
its efforts and the efforts of its trade unions to the efforts of
individuals operating as such and to the efforts of the federated,
confederated, and combined communes in making a reality of that *genuine
libertarian communism* which cannot but be anarchism\'s handiwork.
\[...\]

Of necessity, agreement between anarcho-syndicalists and
anarcho-communists on libertarian communism as the objective is
*complete, permanent, and absolute*.

So it is clear and self-evident that the place of the workers, the
exploited of whatever sort, whose ideal is anarcho-communism, cannot be
other than in the anarcho-syndicalist unions and nowhere else.

*Their doctrine makes this an imperious, specific, and ineluctable
duty*[.]{style="color:black"}

Moreover, it is their best practical means of actually achieving that
unity of action so necessary for the modern revolutionary anarchist
movement.

It is only in action and through action that anarchists will discover
their real *unity of thought;* that the anarcho-syndicalist movement,
out of kilter for the past 30 years, will also rediscover its
equilibrium and its vigour; that all anarchists will at last come to
look upon the social revolution as an imminent event and a feasible
proposition.

### The Role of the Anarchist Groups and the Unions

All of the above leads naturally and logically to consideration of the
role of the anarchist groups and the trade unions.

Anarcho-syndicalists have no difficulty in agreeing that
anarcho-communist groups, being more mobile than the trade union
organizations, should *go prospecting* among the labouring masses; that
they should seek out recruits and temper militants; that they should
carry out active propaganda and intensive pioneering work with an eye to
winning the greatest possible number of workers hitherto deceived and
gulled by all the political parties, without exception, over to their
side and thus to the anarcho-syndicalist trade unions.

This *wholly ideological* undertaking, this *psychological-type*
propaganda drive falls, without question, within the purview of the
anarcho-communist groups, on the *express* condition that they identify
with the work of the anarcho-syndicalist trade unions which they
complement and reinforce, for the greater good of libertarian communism.

But let me state bluntly that the *decision-making responsibility,
action, and supervision of the latter* should reside *in the
here-and-now with the trade unions as the executive agents and
operatives carrying out revolutionary tasks*.

I am also of the opinion that it is incumbent upon these unions to
prepare all such undertakings *of an economic, defensive, or offensive
order*.

Finally, in my view, the economic, administrative, and social system
ought to be homogeneous, harmonious, etc., and the basis of that system,
if it is to be *real, sound, and lasting*, cannot but be economic.

On behalf of the trade unions, I claim *the right* to handle
revolutionary and post-revolutionary economic tasks because *the
organization of production is the true calling of the workers*.

On the other hand, logic dictates that the communes, administrative
agencies, their technical and social services should handle distribution
of goods; interpreting the wishes of men in social terms, organizing
life in all its manifestations. *Starting right now, the anarchist
groups have a duty to lay the groundwork for these revolutionary
accomplishments*.

The task of every one of these bodies is therefore extremely clear-cut
and perfectly defined. Broadly speaking, it will be enough to welcome
everyone\'s acting and making an effort in every sphere of activity,
depending on the individual\'s actual abilities.

At no time, and let me offer you the most formal guarantees here, at no
point will the anarcho-syndicalist trade unions be able to constitute an
obstacle to the onward march of revolutionary communism.

And at no point, either, will they be able to turn reformist, because
they are and will remain revolutionary, federalist, and anti-statist,
because, like the anarcho-communist groups, their purpose is to
establish libertarian communism.

To conclude this part of my address, let me affirm:

1\. The anarcho-syndicalist movement cannot deviate, because of the
close and unrelenting supervision exercised over its organizations and
militants.

2\. That, in current terms, in the realm of revolution, the
anarcho-syndicalist movement represents the means whereby libertarian
communism can be achieved. That it is up to the anarcho-communist
groups, operating exclusively on ideological terrain, to take propaganda
as far as it will go.

3\. That the anarcho-communist movement should concern itself primarily
with propaganda and education tasks: the study of society and the
popularization thereof.

4\. That the best ongoing contact achievable will be achieved, as in
Spain, through the unrestricted recruitment into the anarcho-syndicalist
trade unions charged with preparing for and carrying out action (they
being the only ones capable of bringing this to a successful conclusion,
having the requisite membership and resources) of all anarcho-communists
in every country; that anarcho-syndicalism\'s trial-and-error doctrine,
which is the doctrine of anarchism itself, is sound and solid enough not
to incur the risk of any infringement, attenuation, or deviation.

5\. That anarcho-communism, the real face of socialism, was spawned by
the utter inadequacy of all the political parties; that
anarcho-syndicalism, that movement\'s modern, active form, deriving from
anarchism, currently caters to all of the positive tasks of
anarcho-communism and paves the way for libertarian communism, of which
it will be the chief midwife; that anarcho-communism\'s tasks --- like
anarcho-syndicalism\'s tasks --- will be accomplished in the
post-revolutionary period when men, due to the evolution and development
of their capacity for understanding, will be capable of acceding to free
communism, anarchy\'s goal.

In short, anarcho-syndicalism is the force required for the struggle
under the existing regime and the agent of the economic construction of
libertarian communism in the post-revolutionary period.

Anarchism assists the anarcho-syndicalist movement, without supplanting
it.

The activities of its militants blend in with those of
anarcho-syndicalist militants within the trade unions.

The two movements therefore owe each other ongoing mutual aid.

And later, come the peace, harmony, and concord, anarchism and
anarcho-syndicalism, *amalgamating* into a single movement, will pursue
the achievement of libertarian communism, anarchy\'s ultimate aim.

Anarcho-syndicalism\'s most *pressing* task today is to organize the
workers under its aegis with an eye to the decisive battle against
capitalism; to make technical preparations for that battle, to bind the
forces of production together for the revolutionary construction of the
libertarian communist order; and, *tomorrow*, to organize the economy
until such time as free communism is established; and finally, to defend
the revolution.

That of revolutionary anarchism consists of deploying all of the
resources at its disposal to help bring this about.

### Relationship between Anarchism and Anarcho-syndicalism

Self-evidently, there must be a relationship between anarchism and
anarcho-syndicalism, *nationally as well as at the international level*.
Moreover, the IWA, at its founding congress, anticipated just such an
eventuality.

Relations between them should be founded upon each movement\'s
independence and autonomy of the other and they must remain on a footing
of the completest equality.

Besides the cross-fertilization of the two movements through the actions
of their militants, it is to be wished that in every locality, region,
and country, contacts may be established between anarchist and
anarcho-syndicalist organizations.

If these relations are to be fruitful and lasting, they will have to
rest on the groundwork of mutual toleration, facilitated by doctrinal
common ground in every realm and a precise understanding of the tasks
incumbent upon the two movements...

But those relations can only be established on two conditions:

*1. Anarchists in each country be of one mind, doctrinally.*

*2. The unification of the anarchist groupings within each country on
the basis of a single doctrine of revolutionary anarchism.*

### General Conclusions

Whatever the wishes of Congress and of the IWA may be with regard to
practical realization of these relations, they can only achieve this, as
circumstances require that they do, if those two conditions are met
beforehand by the anarchist movements in each country.

It would have been infinitely preferable, as well as consistent with our
known principles, namely, federalist principles, had that doctrinal
unity and unification of anarchist forces taken place prior to the
meeting of the Congress that is due to give birth to the Anarchist
International.

On behalf of the anarcho-syndicalists who achieved that double objective
through the launching of the present IWA back in 1922, I call upon all
our revolutionary anarchist comrades to follow suit.

If they all agree, the International that emerges from this Congress
will deserve the title with which they will surely endow it and which
cannot be other than: The Revolutionary Anarchist International --- and
I say again --- they will accomplish this without a hitch.

It is sufficient but it is necessary that they all agree to break once
and for all with the so-called forces of democracy, be they political or
trade unionist; that they affirm that revolutionary anarchism, by dint
of its goals, its methodology, and its doctrine, *has nothing and can
have nothing in common* with these so-called "democratic" forces which
are, in every country, capitalism\'s finest servants.

If, taking this to its limits, the revolutionary anarchist movement also
breaks with all of the dissenters from the authoritarian political
parties who, like their parties of origin, have but one ambition --- *to
seize or to seize back power* --- the revolutionary anarchist movement
and the anarcho-syndicalist movement will be able to stride fearlessly
and in step toward their common goal: revolutionary social change
through the establishment of libertarian communism, a necessary step
along the road to free communism.

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**Additional Information**

Translation by Paul Sharkey. Taken from [Robert Graham's Anarchism
Weblog](https://robertgraham.wordpress.com/alexander-schapiro-pierre-besnard-anarcho-syndicalism-and-anarchism/).

Besnard, then secretary of the International Workers' Association,
prepared this report for an International Anarchist Congress held in
1937. Although the Graham blog post states that it is from the IWA's
special congress held in Paris on June 11-13, it is unclear that this is
correct. The subtitle of a republished version in 1963 calls it a report
to \"the International Anarchist Congress\" - not the International
Workers\' Association Congress - and the context (discussing the
founding of a new, anarchist International in the concluding section)
also suggests that it is for an independent congress. Additionally, a
citation for it in the book [*Anarchist Periodicals in English Published
in the United States (1833-1955): An Annotated
Guide*](https://books.google.com/books?id=zHljnvvToEcC&pg=PA266&lpg=PA266&dq=international+anarchist+congress+%221937%22+besnard&source=bl&ots=7PJWjtkleA&sig=ACfU3U1qKdlWE903-O4ueOSozrVocD7oSg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf_MbdoejqAhUjknIEHWnJCAQQ6AEwGHoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=international%20anarchist%20congress%20%221937%22%20besnard&f=false)
by Ernesto A. Longa states that \"Besnard, secretary of the \[IWA\],
prepared this statement for the International Anarchist Congress to be
held in Barcelona.\" Please [contact us](https://syndicalism.org/about)
if you are able to provide any clarification.