Part 1: Introduction by Arturo M. Giovannitti
Chapter 1
Of all the words of a more or less esoteric taste which have been purposely denaturalized and twisted by the capitalist press in order to terrify and mystify a gullible public, “Direct Action” and “Sabotage” rank easily next to Anarchy, Nihilism, Free Love, Neo-Malthusianism, etc., in the hierarchy of infernal inventions.
To be sure, the capitalist class knows full well the exact meaning of these words and the doctrines and purposes behind them, but it is, of course, its most vital interest to throw suspicion on and raise popular contempt and hatred against them as soon as they begin to appear and before they are understood, for the purpose of creating an... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
This booklet is not written for capitalists nor for the upholders of the capitalist system, therefore it does not purpose to justify or excuse Sabotage before the capitalist mind and morals.
Its avowed aim is to explain and expound Sabotage to the working class, especially to that part of it which is revolutionary in aim not in method, and as this ever-growing fraction of the proletariat has a special mentality and hence a special morality of its own, this introduction purports to prove that Sabotage is fully in accordance with the same.
We shall endeavor to prove that it is not incompatible with proletarian ethics, — either as represented by the tenets of conservative unionism or as codified by political Socialism, as Sabotage, in ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chapter 3
Having disposed of the moral objections to Sabotage, we must now face those of different type of critics, that is, of such eminent and world-renowned theorists of Syndicalism as Sorel, Leone, Michels and others.
It is claimed that Sabotage would injure the cause of the workers before the public and that it would degrade the moral value of those that practice it. As to the first objection we may answer that if by public opinion we mean the people at large, these are and always will be favorable to the cause of any class of workers. whatever their actions, simply because they are workers themselves. If, on the other hand, we mean by public opinion that part of the public which comes under the daily influence of the press, we are... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Part 2: Sabotage By Emile Pouget
Chapter 1. Origin of Sabotage
Origin of sabotage. Its early appearance. Balzac on sabotage. The english “go canny”. Bad wages, bad work. New horizons. Panic among the bosses. An impressing declaration. An epoch-making discussion at the congress of the C.G.T. Triumphant entrance of sabotage in France.
Up to fifteen years ago the term sabotage as nothing but a slang word, not meaning “to make wooden shoes” as it may be imagined but, in a figurative way. To work clumsily as if by sabot[1] blows.
Since then the word was transformed into a new form of social warfare and at the Congress of Toulouse of the General Confederation of Labor in 1897 received at last its syndical ba... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chapter 2. The Labor Market
The labor market. Capitalistic tricks and pretensions. The demand for labor power. Belligerents in permanent conflict. The clash of two worlds. Effects of social “capillarity.”
From what we have already related in a condensed form we have been able to see that sabotage, even in its English expression of “Go Cannie,” is derived from the capitalist conception of human labor, which it considers as a merchandise or a commodity.
All bourgeois economists are agreed in upholding this theory and they unanimously declare that there exists a labor market just as there are markets for meat, grains, fish, etc. This granted, it is but logical that the capitalists act towards the “fles... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chapter 3. The Rich Man’s Morals and the Poor Man’s Vices
The rich man’s morals and the poor man’s vices. The dictums of Jaures. The workers logic. Sentimental declarations. The bourgeois heart is his strong box. The more we progress the more we sabot. The last toppling down.
From the radical difference, the persistence of which we have noted, between the working class and the capitalist class, there is naturally derived a different morality.
Indeed, it would be very strange if everything were different between the toiler and the capitalist except their morals. How could one admit that the acts and attitude of an exploited workman should be judged and valued according to the criterion of his class enemy? ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
To pierce the Golden Cuirass. The criticism of Rockefeller. Whom sabotage must be wielded against. To strike at the boss, never at the consumer. The sabotage of the parisian barbers. The sabotage of the food workers. The criminal pretenses of some hotel owners. The open mouthed sabotage. Who shall be blamed: criminal employers or honest workers?
On the battlefield, which is called the labor market, it is important that the belligerents meet with equal weapons. The capitalist opposes a golden breastplate to the blows of the adversary who, knowing beforehand his offensive and defensive inferiority, tries to remedy it by having recourse to the many ruses of war.
The worker being powerless to attack his enemy in the front, tries to do so ... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chapter 5. The Various Methods of Sabotage
The various methods of sabotage. Carnegie and sabotage. The insufficiency of the strike. Intelligent paralyzation versus stupid destruction. The end of scabbery. A question of life and death. The Carmen’s sabotage. Tailors and furriers. Railroad men and telegraphers. Infinite varieties of sabotage.
Up to this point we have examined the various methods of sabotage adopted by the working class without a stoppage of work and without abandoning the shop and factory. But sabotage is not confined to this — it may become and is gradually becoming a powerful aid in case of strike. The multi-millionaire Carnegie, the iron king, has written that “to suppose that a man who is defe... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Chapter 6. Proletarian Sabotage and Capitalistic Sabotage
Proletarian sabotage and capitalistic sabotage. The saboters of the mile. Saboters of the mills. Saboters of iron and steel. The great contractors of the fatherland. From the workers sabotage drops the gold of the bourgeoisie. From the capitalist sabotage oozes out human blood.
As we have stated, in examining the various systems of proletarian sabotage, under whatever form and at whatever moment it manifests itself, its chief characteristic consists — absolutely always — in hitting at the bosses’ pocketbook.
For the workers’ sabotage which is aimed only at the means of exploitation, against the machines and the tools, that is against inert, painless and l... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
[1] Sabot means a wooden shoe.
[2] The standard dictionary of the French language. The word is not registered in any English dictionary, but it surely will be in the near future.
[3] Le Travailleur des P.P.T., Sept., 1896.
[4] We refer to Mr. Treich, then secretary of the Bourse du Travail (Central Union) of Limoges and a fiery Guesdist, since appointed a Receiver of the Register (County Clerk) at Bordeaux.
[5] We do not believe that the shampooing or damaging of signs constitutes sabotage — if it did even breaking the boss’s gold watch or cutting his coat tails would be sabotage. As we understand it by Pouget’s own definition sabotage consists only in slackening work or temporarily disabling the instruments of product... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
