Social-syndicalism is a political movement of trade unions , called upon by participating in democratic elections, to realize the right of workers to an equitable distribution of public goods created both at the level of economic entities and at the state level when generating national income.
Content
Theory
The inclusion of trade unions in the political struggle for votes along with traditional parties and their associations is impossible without a new format of work in the modern system of industrial and economic relations.
The basis of this is the expansion by trade unions of their authority to organize targeted control of the financial resources of a company, regardless of its form of ownership and jurisdiction.
In the interests of the work collective, they carry out: continuous monitoring of liquid assets of the enterprise with periodic reporting to employees; the introduction of a system of complicity in the management of financial assets in order to prevent the owner or hired administration from attempting to unjustly and unlawfully use funds that worsen the economic situation of employees, as well as preventing economic activities that cause material damage to production as a whole.
A tool to help in such situations should be a trade union bank. Its establishment, for the needs of the trade union movement, is determined by its specificity in the generally accepted practice of providing banking services. So, in particular, it is necessary to take on service those legal entities in which there is an unfavorable situation for employees due to the destructive policy of management. This also applies to striking enterprises and those who need economic reorganization to maintain jobs.
A step that the owner or the hired administration does not want to take, namely the transfer of a legal entity for servicing to the trade union bank by agreement with the trade union committee, can be taken by the interim management of the enterprise, whose representatives are nominated by the trade union activists and approved by the members of the labor collective.
The legitimacy of the chosen administration is recognized at a higher level of the trade union movement. In the event that it is possible to reach an agreement with the owner of the production on the observance of trade union rights to exercise control over financial assets, then its activity ceases, simultaneously with the organization of a new management format, in which the requirements and interests of both parties will be taken into account.
Thus, the expansion of powers and rights in the designated areas allows trade unions to begin political activity in terms of creating a trade union party with a more effective mobilization of the necessary funds.
Support for their actions at the civil level, which is provided by the work of party activists, should serve as the basis for the formation of a stable, ideological electorate from representatives of all sectors of society. In the interest of achieving such a goal, any alliances and coalitions with other political forces ready for mutually beneficial cooperation are possible.
On behalf of the party, trade unions nominate their candidates to participate in election campaigns in the executive and legislative branches. This key point is preceded by mandatory preliminaries within the entire national trade union structure, regardless of the consolidating form of its organization.
In this event, initiative groups consisting of members of primary organizations represent their leaders for registration. Their subsequent selection is carried out in the course of internal voting with the participation of party members and workers of the trade union movement.
Depending on the level of the upcoming elections in the country: national, regional or local, the number of candidates is being formed, and their political programs are approved, which should contain provisions to expand and consolidate the rights of trade unions at the legislative level and measures to implement the declared reforms through the public administration system . The political success of a candidate does not deprive him of future union membership. At the same time, voluntary withdrawal or cancellation of it, according to the results of the voting of the quorum of trade union activists, will mean the termination of support for the chosen person by the whole union of trade unions.
Practice
The oldest party, which arose with the direct participation of trade unions, is the Labor Party of Great Britain . This was the first and serious attempt to attract the trade union movement to political forms of power struggle, taking into account their traditional interests and needs. The goal was achieved, but the trade unions did not receive any leading role. Organizationally, they remained in the background, wagging only on internal party processes, such as: forming a political program or supporting their candidates in elections.
Therefore, the trade union party is the most complete option for realizing their leadership aspirations in the political arena. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia created such an organization called the Union of Labor .
To date, its potential, in fact, has not been revealed for the mass attraction of voters in comparison with other political forces of the country.
This is explained by the fact that the old format of the work of the trade union itself cannot effectively support the ideological component of the party, which remains at the declarative level, being lost among other left-wing editions.
Accordingly, leaving him, associated with the expansion of the powers of the official representative of employees in their labor relations with the employer to the level of a full-fledged participant in production and economic processes, able to control and fight for the fair distribution of public goods in favor of workers, will allow the party to meet the expectations of the majority of the country's voters .
The beginning of such a difficult and long-term transformation has already been laid. And its final result will largely determine the reformist attitude of the trade union leaders themselves and the support of their actions with trade union assets.
See also
- Social democracy
- Social liberalism
- Socialist international
- Workers self-government
- The strike movement of modern Russia
- Anarcho-syndicalism
- Revolutionary syndicalism