Rudolph Rocker

German Father of Anarcho-Syndicalism

March 25, 1873 — September 19, 1958

Description : Rocker was born in Mainz, Germany, son of a workingman who died when the boy was five years of age. It was an uncle who introduced him to the German SociaI Democratic movement, but he was soon disappointed by the rigidities of German socialism. (From : Irving Horowitz Bio)

Tags : anarchist, labor unionist, german, anarcho-syndicalist, anarcho-communist, writer, speaker, communist.

Quotes :

"In place of the capitalist economic order, Anarchists would have a free association of all productive forces based upon cooperative labor, which would have for its sole purpose the satisfying of the necessary requirements of every member of society." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"...our present economic system, leading to a mighty accumulation of social wealth in the hands of privileged minorities and to a constant repression of the great masses of the people..." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"Where industry is everything, where labor loses its ethical importance and man is nothing, there begins the realm of ruthless economic despotism, whose workings are no less disastrous than those of any political despotism." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"...only by the elimination of economic monopolies and by common ownership of the means of production does a condition of social justice become feasible, a condition in which society shall become a real community, and human labor shall no longer serve the ends of exploitation but assure the well being of everyone." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"...economic exploitation has always gone hand in hand with political and social oppression. The exploitation of man by man and the domination of man over man are inseparable, and each is the condition of the other." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"...Anarchism has to be regarded as a kind of voluntary Socialism." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"Every type of political power presupposes some particular form of human slavery, for the maintenance of which it is called into being." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"The urge for social justice can only develop properly and be effective when it grows out of man's sense of freedom and responsibility, and is based upon it." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"For the Anarchist, freedom is not an abstract philosophical concept, but the vital concrete possibility for every human being to bring to full development all capacities and talents with which nature has endowed him..." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

"...power always tries to keep things as they are, safely anchored to stereotypes. That has been the reason for all revolutions in history. Power operates only destructively, bent always on forcing every manifestation of social life into the straitjacket of its rules. Its intellectual expression is dead dogma, its physical form brute force." (From : "Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism," by Rudolph Rocker.)

Biography :

Rudolph Rocker (1873-1958)
Rocker was born in Mainz, Germany, son of a workingman who died when the boy was five years of age. It was an uncle who introduced him to the German SociaI Democratic movement, but he was soon disappointed by the rigidities of German socialism. As a bookbinder, he wandered from one employment to another, and, from the contacts he made in this occupation, he became interested in anarchism. He lived in Paris and in London until after World War I. Although of Christian background, he identified himself with the Jewish and Slavic immigrants who settled in East London. He edited a Yiddish newspaper, Arbeiter Freund, and a Yiddish literary monthly, Germinal. He contributed his organizing efforts to the jewish labor unions in England. Interned as an enemy alien in England in 1914, Rocker and his wife left England upon their release. In 1919 he returned to Germany. With the rise of Nazism he fled to the United States. He is the author of a biography of Johann Most. His most widely read book was Nationalism and Culture, published in 1937. (Irving Horowitz, The Anarchists, 1964, Dell Publishing)
Note: Rocker is considered one of the foremost theorists on Syndicalism.

From : Anarchy Archives.

Works :

Author of AnarchoSyndicalism (November 30, 1937)

Author of Pioneers of American Freedom: Origin of Liberal and Radical Thought in America (November 30, 1948)

Author of Biographical Sketch of G.P. Maximoff (January 01, 1970)

Author of The Tragedy in Spain (September 30, 1937)

Author of Nationalism and Culture (November 30, 1936)

Author of Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism (November 30, 1948)

Author of Anarchism and Sovietism (January 01, 1970)

Author of Federalism (November 30, 1936)

Author of Marx and Anarchism (November 30, 1924)

Author of The Reproduction of Daily Life (January 01, 1970)

Author of Anarchism and the National Liberation Struggle (January 01, 1970)

Author of Anarchy and organisation (January 01, 1970)

Author of Suggestions for Discussion (January 01, 1970)

Author of The Soviet System or the Dictatorship of the Proletariat? (January 01, 1970)

Author of What Is Anarchism? An Introduction (November 30, 1994)

Author of The Poverty of Statism (January 01, 1970)

Author of Bloodstained (January 01, 1970)

Chronology :

March 25, 1873 : Rudolph Rocker's Birth Day.

September 19, 1958 : Rudolph Rocker's Death Day.

November 15, 2016 : Rudolph Rocker's Added.

January 09, 2022 : Rudolph Rocker's Updated.

Links :

• Anarchy Archives: Rudolph Rocker Archive
http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/rocker/rudolf.html

• Anarchist Library: Rudolph Rocker
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/author/rudolf-rocker

• Wikipedia: Rudolph Rocker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Rocker

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