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However, even in Europe, the direction of socialism for step-by-step reforms through the parliamentary route, e.g. Social Democrats, historically favoured policies building up a wide middle-class. Myself, I think the self-defeating nature of this project could have been seen on the onset

It was. But rather a lot of the people who saw it were presenting alternatives that involved lining people up against a wall and shooting them. Those alternatives were almost uniformly discarded for a variety of usually excellent reasons.

The late 19th century was not a nice period in European history. (Well, the 19th century wasn't a nice period in history overall, but the late part of it saw the formative years of the labour movement.)

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 03:48:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It was. But rather a lot of the people who saw it were presenting alternatives that involved lining people up against a wall and shooting them. Those alternatives were almost uniformly discarded for a variety of usually excellent reasons.

But then again there was also various movements that (as opposed to the social democrats or the communists) did not seek control over government but rather transfering the power into other structures. Syndicalists, anarchists and various forms other forms comes to mind. However, they did have a tendency to be lined up and shoot. Or hanged.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 06:27:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, if I recall my history correctly, the Syndicalists were not so much hanged in Denmark as subsumed by the Social Democrats (or maybe it was the other way around).

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 06:35:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Your memory appear to be correct:

Syndikalisme - Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi

Syndikalismen i Danmark er i dag ikke synligt eksisterende som selvstændig bevægelse i arbejderbevægelsen, der domineres af den socialdemokratiske ideologi. Dette skyldes bl.a., at de danske syndikalister ikke ønsker at splitte den traditionsrige danske fagbevægelse.

Men også i starten af det 20. århundrede som i andre europæiske lande oplevede den syndikalistiske bevægelse en stor fremgang i Danmark. Efter at Hovedaftalen (Septemberforliget) var blevet indgået mellem DsF (nu LO) og arbejdsgiverne i Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening (DA) i september 1899 efter lang tids strejke og lock-out, var utilfredsheden stor i dele af den danske fagbevægelse. Man mente, at DsF's forhandlere havde accepteret alt for mange af DA's krav. Nogle arbejdere var særligt utilfredse med fredspligten, konfliktløsningssystemet og arbejdsgivernes ledelsesret, der ville svække arbejdernes faglige kamp.

Derfor oprettedes i ca. 1910 Fag-Oppositionens Sammenslutning, hvis mest markante figur var Christian Christensen. Tilslutningen til Fag-Oppositionens Sammenslutning var relativt stor i det efterfølgende årti. Dette skyldtes bl.a. stor arbejdsløshed i visse fag og udbruddet af 1. Verdenskrig. Syndikalisterne engagerede sig ikke kun i den direkte faglige kamp, hvor deres indflydelse ikke var så stor, men også i den sociale og kulturelle kamp. Bl.a. kæmpede de mod kvindeundertrykkelse, for bedre boligforhold og mod militarismen, der gik som en bølge over Europa under 1. verdenskrig. Det var også syndikalisterne, der var den største faktor i mobiliseringen til den direkte aktion og demonstrationen "Stormen på Børsen" i 1918.

Fag-Oppositionens Sammenslutning gik dog i opløsning omkring 1921, da mange søgte over i det nyoprettede Danmarks Kommunistiske Parti i forbindelse med den russiske oktoberrevolution.

Presset på Fag-Oppositionens Sammenslutning havde i øvrigt også internt i fagbevægelsen altid været stort. Således blev det vedtaget af Socialdemokratiet på deres kongres i 1913, og senere støttet af DsF, at der skulle gøres alt for at bekæmpe den syndikalistiske bevægelses fremgang.

I was more thinking about the fates of alternative socialist movements in the 19th and first half of the 20th century in the countries with more violent conflicts.

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se

by A swedish kind of death on Sun May 18th, 2008 at 06:56:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
There wasn't a lot of lining people against walls and shooting them in Scandinavia, but if you look at the German, Russian and Spanish Revolutions (the latter referring to the situation in the Republican-controlled rural hinterland during the Spanish Civil War) there was a lot of shooting of (and by) anarchists.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon May 19th, 2008 at 07:12:37 AM EST
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