Syndicalist Workers Federation

The Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF) emerged in August 1950 following a split within the Anarchist Federation of Britain (AFB). These syndicalists 'Syndiclism' is a movement for transferring the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution to workers' unions. Although a feature in Spainish and French trade unionism, it was not so prominent with British trade unionism.  regrouped under the new name and aligned with the International Workers’ Association (IWA) The IWA is a international federation of anarcho-syndicalist trade unions. The IWA website links to affilitated organsiations around the world. , becoming its British section. 

The SWF was generally syndicalist in orientation, not strictly anarcho-syndicalist, but its early membership included a significant number of pacifists who opposed the use of violence in class struggle.

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Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the SWF grew modestly. By 1965, the syndicalist movement in Britain included around 150 organisers, approximately a third affiliated with the SWF and the rest with the exiled Spanish CNT. 

In the late 1970s, the SWF underwent changes, influenced by an influx of younger activists, some coming from the punk subculture. This led the group to reform in March 1979 as the Direct Action Movement (DAM).

Source: Libcom. Direct Action: Paper of the Syndicalist Workers’  Federation (1950s-1970s). R Totale, Direct Action: Paper of the Syndicalist Workers' Federation (1950s-1970s) , Libcom, 25 May 2020.