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Originally published in 1978, Richard Gombin's book traces the recurrent attitudes in the history of the European revolutionary movement which have criticized socialist and communist parties for their authoritarian and bureaucratic tendencies, and which have stressed spontaneity and decentralization as the correct basis from which to change society.From a critique of Marx, through to an examination of Soviet practice under Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin as a factor in the disillusionment of the left with the methods of the Russian Revolution, Gombin's study examines the concepts of 'workers' counci

Mouvement syndical et théorie sociologique, par Richard Gombin
Le syndicalisme est étudié par plusieurs disciplines : science économique, science politique, sociologie des relations industrielles, histoire. Les théories globales et totalisantes ont fait défaut jusqu'ici. Certes on ne manque pas d'essais de théorisation mais un rapide examen montre leur caractère unilatéral ou peu solide du point de vue scientifique. Il importe d'intégrer l'étude du phénomène syndical dans un cadre conceptuel qui embrasse la totalité d'un phénomène dont les multiples dimensions ont découragé les approches d'ensemble.
[Revue française de science politique XXII (3), juin 1972, pp. 543-565] framework embracing every aspect of phenomenon whose many facets have discouraged the general approach Revue fran aise de science politique XXII 3) juin 1972 pp 543-565

Includes a summary in English on p. 708-9.

THE NEW FORMS OF SOCIAL CONFLICT IN FRANCE AND THE IDEOLOGIES underlying them pose some formidable questions to the historian and the sociologist of the workers' movement. Those which particularly interest us deal, on the one hand, with the existence of anarchist ideas and concepts within the sum total of ideological utterances in May and June 1968 and, on the other, with the libertarian character of the methods of contestation which have appeared in France during recent years. I have deliberately confined myself to the wide notion of the 'practice of contestation' precisely because it goes beyond the phenomenon of the wildcat strike or the unrest in the universities and corresponds to a more general concept which has not as yet been monopolized by any theory. 'Generalized contestation' does not claim to be a definitive sociological category. On the contrary, it is a provisional portmanteau word which will take a more definite shape once we emerge from the chiaroscuro of impressionistic criticism and philosophical reflection.