Anarcho-syndicalism is the libertarian (anarchist) wing of the labor union (syndicalist) movement. This fusion of true freedom and communism makes it difficult explain, but the primary aim is the liberation from wage-slavery. The basic principles of anarcho-syndicalism are:

1. workers' solidarity,

2. direct action and

3. self-management. Many movements adhere to one or two of the principles, but few to all three. Labor unions, by committing themselves to the existing political framework, violate direct action. Social movements that pit ethnic groups against each other violate worker's solidarity. The Industrial Workers of the World, a once powerful labor movement, is considered a leading organ of the anarcho-syndicalist philosophy. Michael Bakunin, one of the fathers of anarchism, wrote "The [libertarian labour unions] ... bear in themselves the living seeds of the new society which is to replace the old world. They are creating not only the ideas, but also the facts of the future itself." REF: Dolgoff, S. (ed), Bakunin on Anarchism, Montreal; Black Rose Books, 1990, pp. 255.

• http://faq.anarchosyndicalism.org