Editing Errico Malatesta (section)

=== On labour unions ===
Malatesta argued with [[Pierre Monatte]] at the [[International Anarchist Congress of Amsterdam|Amsterdam Conference of 1907]] against pure [[syndicalism]]. Malatesta thought that [[trade unions]] were [[reformist]] and could even be at times conservative. Along with [[Christiaan Cornelissen]], he cited as example [[labor unions in the United States]], where trade unions composed of skilled qualified workers sometimes opposed themselves to un-skilled workers in order to defend their relatively privileged position.<ref name=Amsterdam/> Malatesta warned that the syndicalists aims were in perpetuating syndicalism itself whereas anarchists must always have overthrowing capitalism and the state, the anarchist ideal of communist society as their end and consequently refrain from committing to any particular method of achieving it.<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Skirda |author-first=Alexandre |title=Facing the enemy: a history of anarchist organization from Proudhon to May 1968 |publisher=[[A. K. Press]] |year=2002 |isbn=1-902593-19-7 |page=89 }}</ref>

Malatesta's arguments against the doctrine of revolutionary unions known as [[anarcho-syndicalism]] were later developed in a series of articles, where he wrote that "I am against syndicalism, both as a doctrine and a practice, because it strikes me as a hybrid creature."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1926/03/syndic3.htm |title=Further Thoughts on Anarchism and the Labour Movement |author-first=Errico |author-last=Malatesta |date=March 1926 |access-date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130140227/http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1926/03/syndic3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite their drawbacks, he advocated activity in the trade unions, both because they were necessary for the organization and self-defense of workers under a capitalist state regime, and as a way of reaching broader masses. Anarchists should have discussion groups in unions, as in factories, barracks and schools, but "anarchists should not want the unions to be anarchist."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/04/syndic1.htm |title=Syndicalism and Anarchism |author-first=Errico |author-last=Malatesta |date=April–May 1925 |access-date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130143550/http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/04/syndic1.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Malatesta thought that "[s]yndicalism ... is by nature reformist" like all unions.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/12/syndic2.htm |title=The Labor Movement and Anarchism |author-first=Errico |author-last=Malatesta |date=December 1925 |access-date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130150537/http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/12/syndic2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> While anarchists should be active in the rank and file, he said "any anarchist who has agreed to become a permanent and salaried official of a trade union is lost to anarchism."<ref>Quoted in [https://www.scribd.com/doc/8344384/Guerin-Anarchism-From-Theory-to-Practice-1970 Anarchism: From theory to practice] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224184818/http://www.scribd.com/doc/8344384/Guerin-Anarchism-From-Theory-to-Practice-1970 |date=24 December 2013 }} Daniel Guerin, Monthly Review Press, 1970</ref> While some anarchists wanted to split from conservative unions to form revolutionary syndicalist unions, Malatesta predicted they would either remain an "affinity group" with no influence, or go through the same process of bureaucratization as the unions they left.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/12/syndic2.htm |title=The Labor Movement and Anarchism |author-first=Errico |author-last=Malatesta |magazine=El Productor |date=December 1925 |access-date=8 February 2012 |archive-date=30 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120130150537/http://www.marxists.org/archive/malatesta/1925/12/syndic2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>