Syndicalists in the Russian Revolution. Direct Action Pamphlets No. 11

18 pages. Spontaneous Syndicalism and Factory Committees: Maximoff argues that after the February Revolution, Russian workers naturally adopted anarcho-syndicalist tactics without explicit theoretical training. They formed Factory Committees (fabzavkomy), seized control of their workplaces, and began organizing production horizontally.The "Grand Struggle": The pamphlet details the strategic friction between the Factory Committees and the traditional trade unions. While the committees represented direct workplace democracy, the trade unions were more centralized and susceptible to political manipulation.The Bolshevik Co-optation: Maximoff notes that before and during the October Revolution, Lenin and the Bolsheviks temporarily adopted anarcho-syndicalist slogans (like "Workers' Control") to gain the support of the militant working class.Subordination and Terror: Following the Bolshevik consolidation of power, the independent Factory Committees were systematically stripped of their autonomy, subordinated into state-controlled trade unions, and integrated into a rigid, state-capitalist bureaucracy. Maximoff critiques this transition from genuine workers' control to state centralization enforced by political terror. (SL#125/14).…