Swift, Jonathan (1667–1745) Irish political
writer
Active in British-government controversies of his day,
Swift was at times a LIBERALWhig, at other times a
CONSERVATIVETory. His satirical writings ridicule the
absurdities and abuses of state policy in the British
Empire. Most famous of these is the book Gulliver’s
Travels(1726), which criticizes NATIONALISM, colonial-
ism, Modern warfare, political pride, and hypocritical
language. Even more devastating is his pamphlet A
Modest Proposal(1729), which suggested eating the
babies of the Irish poor (exposing the brutality of Eng-
lish rule “devouring” Ireland). The horror of this pro-
posal was more shocking before the widespread
practice of ABORTION. His A Tale of a Tuband Mechani-
cal Operation of the Spirit(1701) satirized religious tol-
eration and diversity.
Born in Dublin, Swift was educated at Trinity Col-
lege and served as dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Further Reading
Lick, F. P. Swift’s Tory Politics.Newark: University of Delaware
Press, 1983.
syndicalism
A SOCIALISTmovement in early 20th-century France,
Italy, and Spain. Derived from the MEDIEVAL GUILDsys-
tem, syndicalist IDEOLOGY saw economic protest by
labor unions (strikes, walkouts, etc.) as more effective
challenges to the CAPITALISTsystem than MARXISTwork-
ing-class REVOLUTION. Particularly, the general strike, in
which all unions in a country stopped working, could
bring down capitalist domination of workers or certain
government policies. A violent proletarian revolution
(like that of the COMMUNIST SOVIET UNION) would sim-
ply lead to many workers being killed, according to
syndicalist thinker Fernand Pelloutier. Socialism could
better be accomplished within economic organizations
(labor unions such as the Industrial Workers of the
World) than through political means (parliamentary
elections, parties, change of government). In Italy, syn-
dicalism was subsumed within FASCISM; in Spain, it was
associated with ANARCHISM. The massive general strike
in Great Britain in 1926 followed some syndicalist
ideas, but the British socialist (and other dominant
European LEFTISTmovements) followed either Marxist
or SOCIAL DEMOCRATmodels.Further Readings
Roberts, D. L. The Syndicalist Tradition in Italian Fascism.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
Stearns, P. Revolutionary Syndicalism and French Labor.New
Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1971.syndicalism 289