These are some books we recommend for anyone who wants to learn more about anarchism and syndicalism
Short Introductions
Your Freedom is My Freedom (7 pages), by William Gillis – An excellent short introduction to the very core of anarchist though.
Direct Action (16 pages), by Émile Pouget – A classic introduction to the syndicalist, bottom up, and workplace focused approach to social change that Solidarity Federation advocates.
Ready to Fight (15 pages), by Shane Burley – An introduction to ways in which the principals of syndicalism can be taken out of the workplace and used to organise in the community.
The Politics of Voices: Notes on Gender, Race & Class (9 pages), by Aidan Rowe – An introduction to anarchist thought about race, gender, sexuality, and how they intersect with class.
Anarchism, Syndicalism, and Workers Councils (20 pages), by Iain McKay – A short history of anarchist thought and action, up to the failure of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
The Spanish Revolution: Anarchy in Action (16 pages), by Iain McKay – A short history and analysis of the 1936 Spanish Revolution, perhaps the closest anarchism has ever come to overthrowing a modern nation state, and a high water mark for bottom up workers power in Europe.
Practical Pamphlets
How to Fire Your Boss (9 pages), by BossBusters – A compilation of workplace tactics other than formal strikes which workers can use to fight back against their bosses. Includes short examples of when and how these tactics have been used.
Anarcho-Syndicalism in Puerto Real (12 pages), by Pepe Gomez and others – A look at the Spanish Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT-AIT) union organising in the shipyards of Puerto Real during 1980s and how that organising spread outside of the workplace into the community.
Workmates (18 pages), by Solidarity Federation – A look at Solidarity Federation organising on the London underground in the 1990s/2000s, building alternative structures outside of the unions based on mass meetings in the workplace.
Why Misogynists Make Great Informants (10 pages), by Courtney Desiree Morris – Reflections on how patriarchy damages movements, and how accepting such behavior from comrades puts everyone at risk.
Dare to Be A Daniel (27 pages), by Wilf McCartney – A history of one of Britain’s earliest syndicalist unions, The French Cooks Syndicate, written by one of its members.
The Seattle Solidarity Network (40 pages), by Walter Winslow- A look at members of the American Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union finding ways to organise and successfully resist against bosses and landlords even when traditional unions are weak. This Network continues to be active to this day.
Workers Without Bosses (10 pages), by José Antonio Gutiérrez D. – A short history and analysis of the reclaimed factory movement that emerged in Argentina in the early 2000s, in which workers seized factories abandoned by their owners and ran them themselves.
Industrial Collectivization During the Spanish Revolution (13 pages), by Deirdre Hogan – A look at the workers collectives that seized workplaces in the 1936 Spanish Revolution and started to run the economy from the bottom up without bosses.
History and Theory
Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice (71 pages), by Rudolf Rocker – A good introduction to classical anarcho-syndicalism as it was understood in the 19th and early 20th century. Some of the ideas in this short book/long pamphlet are old and a bit outmoded by modern standards, but it provides the solid basis on which more complex modern praxis has been built. Especially good in its coverage of the philosophical basis of anarchism, something that has not changed since Rocker’s time.
Fighting for Ourselves: Anarcho-Syndicalism and The Class Struggle (89 pages), by Solidarity Federation – Our modern take on anarcho-syndicalism, which is based on lessons learnt since the high point of classical anarcho-syndicalism. While it has been a few years since this was first published, it is still a good introduction to the specific perspective of the Solidarity Federation.
The Anarchist Collectives: Workers’ Self Management in the Spanish Revolution, 1936-1939 (168 pages), by Sam Dolgoff – A detailed look at how the anarchist collectives in the Spanish Revolution were run and how those collectives cooperated to manage broader regional economies. Contains many accounts from different sectors of the economy, both rural and urban. Important reading for an example of how anarchism works in practice in an industrial society.
Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States (259 pages), by Zoe Baker – An excellent analysis of the unifying ideas and practices behind the classical anarchist movement in Europe and the United States. Does not just cover anarcho-syndicalism, but is an important work for understanding the broader ideas which anarcho-syndicalism came out of, and situating anarcho-syndicalism amongst other currents within anarchism.
Rebel Alliances: The Means and Ends of Contemporary British Anarchisms (339 pages), by Benjamin Franks – A comprehensive analysis of the development of modern anarchism in Britain and Ireland, up to 2006, covering both theory and practice and how they interact with each other. If you want to understand Anarchism in the British Isles and only want to read one book, this is that book.
A History of Anarcho-Syndicalism (423 pages), by Solidarity Federation – Our expansive history of anarcho-syndicalism that covers the birth of capitalism and the socialist and labour movements that arose in opposition to it, anarchism as a distinct tendency within those movements, and the development of syndicalism and anarcho-syndicalism in Britain, France, Spain, Mexico, Russia, Argentina, the USA and other areas, from the 18th century to the start of the 21st century.
An Anarchist FAQ (3078 pages), by The AFAQ Editorial Collective – A huge resource for answering common questions about anarchism, often in great depth. We recommend that you do not attempt to read the entire FAQ as a book, but instead look for the specific questions you are interested in.