It gives no orders,
but is purely advisory. It does not allow politics
to be introduced into the Unions. This decision was
originally based upon the fact that the divisions
among Socialists disrupted the Unions, but it is now
reinforced in the minds of an important section by
the general Anarchist dislike of politics. The C. G.
T. is essentially a fighting organization; in strikes, it
is the nucleus to which the other workers rally.
There is a Reformist section in the C. G. T., but
it is practically always in a minority, and the C. G.
T. is, to all intents and purposes, the organ of
revolutionary Syndicalism, which is simply the creed
of its leaders.
The essential doctrine of Syndicalism is the class-
war, to be conducted by industrial rather than politi-
cal methods. The chief industrial methods advocated
are the strike, the boycott, the label and sabotage.
The boycott, in various forms, and the label,
showing that the work has been done under trade-
union conditions, have played a considerable part
in American labor struggles.
Sabotage is the practice of doing bad work, or
spoiling machinery or work which has already been
done, as a method of dealing with employers in a
dispute when a strike appears for some reason
undesirable or impossible.
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