The Industrial Syndicalist Education League (ISEL) was a British

syndicalist Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of pr ...

organisation which existed from 1910 to 1913.

History

In May 1910 Guy Bowman and

Tom Mann Thomas Mann (15 April 1856 – 13 March 1941), was an English trade unionist and is widely recognised as a leading, pioneering figure for the early labour movement in Britain. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a ...

, two dissident members of the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

(SDF) travelled to France visiting members of the syndicalist General Confederation of Labour. Mann returned convinced of their doctrine. He started the monthly newspaper ''The Industrial Syndicalist'' in July. He went on to establish contacts with leading syndicalists in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

like Peter Larkin and

James Larkin James Larkin (28 January 1874 – 30 January 1947), sometimes known as Jim Larkin or Big Jim, was an Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader. He was one of the founders of the Irish Labour Party along with James Connolly and Willia ...

, and other dissidents in the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, the SDF, and the Clarion movement. In November 1910 the ISEL was founded at two-day conference in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, allegedly attended by 200 delegates representing 60,000 workers. The ISEL became the first British fully syndicalist organisation, and the largest ever. It was not a trade union, but rather sought to disseminate syndicalist ideas within the labour movement. The ISEL did not have a formal organisational structure or membership. It did not consider the conditions to be ripe to start a mass organisation, thus it consisted mainly of Mann and a few of his confidants. It gained the support of

E. J. B. Allen Ernest John Bartlett Allen (29 March 1884 – 16 June 1945) was a British socialist active in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Allen was born in South Hinksey, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) and graduated from Oxford University. He joined t ...

, associated with the Industrialist League. It published a monthly newspaper ''The Syndicalist'', which claimed a circulation of 20,000. The period from 1910 to 1914 was marked by

labour unrest A labour revolt or worker's uprising is a period of civil unrest characterised by strong labour militancy and strike activity. The history of labour revolts often provides the historical basis for many advocates of Marxism, communism, socialism and ...

including the 1911 Liverpool general transport strike and the

Dublin lock-out The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Ireland's capital and largest city, Dublin. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often vie ...

. Tom Mann was the head of the strike committee of the former, which did not allow any transportation in the city without its permission. The ISEL also had close contact to coal miners in South Wales. In November 1912, the ISEL held a two conferences with a claimed attendance of 235 delegates representing 100,000 workers. That winter, the organisation began setting up branches and drawing up a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. In September 1913, the ISEL hosted the

First International Syndicalist Congress The First International Syndicalist Congress was a meeting of European and Latin American syndicalist organizations at Holborn Town Hall in London from September 27 to October 2, 1913. Upon a proposal by the Dutch National Labor Secretariat (NAS) ...

Holborn Town Hall Holborn Town hall is a municipal building on High Holborn, Holborn, London. It is a Grade II listed building. History The first town hall was a substantial structure on the corner of Gray's Inn Road and Clerkenwell Road which had been designed ...

in London, where syndicalists from all over Europe and South America convened. The same year also saw the ISEL collapse. The period of unrest that had been significant for the development of British syndicalism was coming to an end. Bowman, an important theoretician in the group, turned to the

Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...

, winning the ISEL to a dual unionist position. Those in the group opposed to this line left to form the Industrial Democracy League, and the ISEL dissolved soon after.

References

*Lorry, Anthony
Le syndicalisme révolutionnaire en Grande-Bretagne
Fondation Pierre Besnard. Retrieved September 2, 2007. * * *Peter Barberis, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, ''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations'' {{Authority control Organizations established in 1910 Organizations disestablished in 1913 1910 establishments in the United Kingdom 1913 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Syndicalism