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Yellow socialism, oryellow unionism, was an economic system proposed in 1902 inFrance byPierre Biétry, as an alternative to the "red socialism" advocated inMarxism.[1] Biétry envisioned workers organizingunions which would operate in parallel with groups ofbusinesses (a structure similar tocorporatism). Workers would get a greater share of companyprofits through negotiation between each union and the corresponding business group. Above this would be a strongauthoritarianState.
Yellow socialism was prominent inFrance untilWorld War I, competing with Marxism for support among workers. The name "yellow socialism" was also a Marxist term of abuse for all non-Marxist socialists. After World War I, the term "yellow socialism" fell into disuse.
Pierre Biétry had been a member of the MarxistFrench Workers' Party until his departure in 1900. Disappointed by the failure of "Red socialism" to improve the condition of the workers, he now advocated cooperation between organized labor and capitalist businesses. He called this "Yellow socialism", as a deliberate contrast to Marxist "Red socialism". In 1902, he founded theFédération nationale des Jaunes de France ("National Federation of Yellows of France" - FNJF). Later, affiliatedSwiss andGerman "Yellow" groups formed. All the "Yellow" groups were strongly opposed to Marxism.[2]
The FNJF gained some support among more conservative workers when strikes by unions of the "Red"Confédération générale du travail (CGT) included violence.
In the next few years, Biétry addedantisemitism to the FNJF program, and the FNJF became entangled with the reactionary French right wing. Some of its members and organizers joinedAction Française; other returned to the CGT. The FNJF held its last congress in 1909. Biétry went toIndochina and died there in 1918.
The "Yellow socialist" label was appropriated byMarxist Reds to describe any socialist whom the Reds considered as on the side of the ruling class: that is, all non-Marxist socialists, whether they used the "Yellow" label or not. The Red usage thus included many whose ideas would later be known associal democracy anddemocratic socialism, concepts very different from those of Biétry.
In theUnited States, "Yellow socialism" was associated with thebusiness unionism ofSamuel Gompers (and thus described as "Yellow unionism"). Business unionism was based on the belief that the workers' best option was to form a labor cartel within a capitalist society.
Marxists criticized "Yellow" socialists and unionists fornationalism, and also for perceived occasional engagement in ethnic and racialchauvinism. This was seen in "Yellow" opposition toimmigration, because competition from immigrants reduced wages or took jobs from native-born workers, and sometimes evenracism includingantisemitism.[3][4]
In Europe, duringWorld War I, Marxists associated thesocial democratic parties with "Yellow socialism", as they supported their own nations in the war rather than taking an internationalist position against the conflict. However, these parties had no connection to Biétry's thinking.
TheBerne International, formed with theZimmerwald conference in 1915, was similarly described as "Yellow socialist" byVladimir Lenin for its rejection of revolutionary socialism, despite its opposition to the war.[5]
