nnot live without their labor. This, of course, is only true if stated
in the most unqualified form. Society is able to dispense with all labor
for a short time, and with very many classes of labor for long periods.
Moreover, the forcing of labor at the point of the rifle is by no means
so impracticable during brief emergencies as is sometimes supposed.

Syndicalism may, perhaps, be most usefully viewed as a reaction against
the tendency towards "parliamentarism" or undue emphasis on political
action, which has existed even among revolutionary Socialists in Germany
and elsewhere (see Part II, Chapter V). Among the "revisionist"
Socialists of that country a great friendliness to labor union action
existed, in view of the comparative conservatism of the unions. For this
same reason the revolutionaries became rather cold, though never
hostile, towards this form of action, and concentrated their attention
on politics. In a word, syndicalism is only to be understood in the
light of the criticisms of revolutionary Socialism as presented by
Kautsky, just as the standpoint of the latter can only be comprehended
after it is subjected to the syndicalist criticism--and doubtless both
positions, however one-sided they appear elsewhere, were fairly
justified by the economic and political situations in France and Germany
respectively. "Only as a _political_ party," says Kautsky, "can the
working class as a whole come to a firm and lasting union." He then
proceeds to argue that purely economic struggles are always limited
either to a locality, a town, or a province, or else to a given trade or
industry--the directly opposite view to that of the syndicalists, whose
one object is also, undeniably, to bring about a unity of the working
class, though they claim that this can be accomplished _only by economic
action_, while from their point of view it is political action that
always divides the working class by nation, section, and class.

"The pure and simple unionist," says Kautsky, "is conservative, even
when he behaves in a radical manner; on the other hand, every true and
independent political party [Kautsky is speaking here of workingmen's
organizations exclusively] is always revolutionary by its very nature,
even when, according to its action, or even according to the
consciousness of its members, it is still moderate." This again is the
exact opposite of the syndicalists' position. They would say that a
labor party unconnected with