Édouard Berth (1 July 1875 – 25 January 1939) was a theorist of French

syndicalism Syndicalism is a labour movement within society that, through industrial unionism, seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through Strike action, strikes and other forms of direct action, with the eventual goa ...

and disciple of Georges Sorel. In 1911, he co-founded the

Cercle Proudhon ''Cercle Proudhon'' (; French for Proudhon Circle) was a national syndicalist political group in France. The group was inspired by Georges Sorel, Charles Maurras and a selective reading of anarchist theorist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. History Foun ...

with

Georges Valois Georges Valois (; born Alfred-Georges Gressent; 7 October 1878 – February 1945) was a French journalist and national syndicalist politician. He was a member of the French Resistance and died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Lif ...

. Berth tried to unify the

materialism Materialism is a form of monism, philosophical monism according to which matter is the fundamental Substance theory, substance in nature, and all things, including mind, mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. Acco ...

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and the

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

of Bergson through his articulation of revolutionary self-organization of the

proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

Life and career

From 1899, Édouard Berth became a regular contributor to '' Le Mouvement socialiste'' before breaking with this review in 1909. An active defender of Alexandre Millerand's reformist positions until 1902, he then gradually evolved towards revolutionary syndicalism, while showing a mystical inclination. From 1909, Berth, starting from a common aversion for “bourgeois” parliamentary democracy, moved closer to the monarchist movement and founded with Georges Valois and wrote for Cahiers du Cercle Proudhon in 1911. He then tried to propose a synthesis of revolutionary syndicalism and

corporatism Corporatism is an ideology and political system of interest representation and policymaking whereby Corporate group (sociology), corporate groups, such as agricultural, labour, military, business, scientific, or guild associations, come toget ...

. In 1917 was enthusiastic about the

Bolshevik Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir L ...

and saw in it a new expression of the class struggle. A contributor to the review Clarté, he joined the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

in 1920. Disillusioned with communism, he became a vehement critic of

Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's policies in the Soviet Union and the Stalinist PCF, and later once again joined the ranks of revolutionary syndicalism from 1935. Becoming increasingly marginalized by the labor movement in France, Berth died mostly forgotten of angina pectoris in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

References

1875 births 1939 deaths National syndicalists French anti-communists French socialists French male non-fiction writers Corporatism {{France-philosopher-stub Proto-fascists