Direct Action & Sabotage

The pamphlets reprinted in this collection were first published in the 1910s amidst great controversy; the significant works included are “Direct Action and Sabotage” by William E. Trautmann, “Sabotage: Its History, Philosophy and Function” by Walker C. Smith, and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn's “Sabotage: The Conscious Withdrawal of the Workers' Industrial Efficiency.” Even then, the tactics of direct action and sabotage were often associated with the clandestine activity of a militant minority or the desperate acts of the unorganized. The activist authors of the texts in this collection challenged the prevailing stereotypes. As they point out, the practice of direct action, and of sabotage, have been an integral part of the everyday work life of wage-earners in all times and places; direct action is recognized as a valuable and effective tactic by many movements around the globe, and remains a cutting edge tool for social change.