Background
In the later 19th and early 20th century syndicalist organizations emerged all over Europe and the Americas. The French General Confederation of Labor (CGT) was very influential in this respect. The founding of syndicalist organizations in other countries or existing labor unions turning to syndicalism was often the result of the CGT's influence. The Charter of Amiens was important for the Free Association of German Trade Unions's turn to syndicalism, the leaders of the Italian Syndicalist Union had close contacts to France, and Tom Mann and Guy Bowman decided to found the British Industrial Syndicalist Education League only after a trip to France.
In 1907, following the International Anarchist Congress in Amsterdam, Christiaan Cornelissen started publishing the Bulletin international du mouvement syndicaliste as a journal for the international syndicalist movement. It was funded by Dutch, German, Czech, Swedish, and French syndicalists, sometimes even with support from the American Industrial Workers of the World.
In 1909, the Dutch NAS declared: "To us it appears necessary that the question of whether the isolation of revolutionary organizations needs to last should be posed seriously in every country" and suggested an international syndicalist congress. The Catalonian syndicalist group Solidaridad Obrera, the future National Confederation of Labor (CNT), was quick to support this proposal. However, the largest syndicalist union worldwide, the French General Confederation of Labor (CGT), was opposed to this proposal, since it was already affiliated with the International Secretariat of National Trade Union Centers (ISNTUC), the international secretariat of reformist trade unions, and because this was likely to cause a split between the radical and the reformist wings of the CGT. The French syndicalist leader Pierre Monatte convinced the Dutch to withdraw their proposal.
Read more about this topic: First International Syndicalist Congress
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