Cutline · Grade 8–9 · one of sixteen

C·L·N·R

The Syndicalist

collective · decentralized · national · rupture

Libertarian socialism

The union is the unit, not the political party. Workers take over the workplace directly instead of waiting for a law to do it for them. The government is not the prize. It is the obstacle.


What the four letters mean

C Ownershipcollectivenot private (P)
L Controldecentralizednot centralized (A)
N Horizonnationalnot internationalist (I)
R Methodrupturenot gradual (G)

Where this has shown up

HistoricallyThe Industrial Workers of the World — the “Wobblies”; Spain’s CNT union; the general strike, including Winnipeg in 1919.

All sixteen

Columns: collective → private. Within each half, internationalist then national.

Rows: centralized → decentralized. Within each half, rupture then gradual.

This page is not a diagnosis

The Syndicalist is a box, and a box throws almost everything away. It keeps which side of each line you landed on and forgets how far. Two people in this box can be at opposite ends of it, and somebody two points the other side of a line has more in common with this type than with their own. The four axes are real. Where the lines were drawn across them is a decision a person made.

The point

Cutline tells you the margin it used to hand you each of your four letters — including when one of them was a coin toss. That is the part every other quiz leaves out. And you are fourteen. You are supposed to change.

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