direct action

n. The use of immediately effective acts, such as strikes, demonstrations, or sabotage, to achieve a political or social end.

direct action

n (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) action such as strikes or civil disobedience, employed by organized labour or other groups to obtain demands from an employer, government, etc

direct′ ac′tion

n. any action seeking an immediate result, esp. an action against an established authority, as a boycott. [1835–45]

direct action

Short-duration strikes and other small-scale offensive actions conducted as a special operation in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and which employ specialized military capabilities to seize, destroy, capture, exploit, recover, or damage designated targets. Direct action differs from conventional offensive actions in the level of physical and political risk, operational techniques, and the degree of discriminate and precise use of force to achieve specific objectives. Also called DA. See also special operations; special operations forces.

Thesaurus

Noun

direct action - a protest action by labor or minority groups to obtain their demandsprotest, dissent, objection - the act of protesting; a public (often organized) manifestation of dissentcivil disobedience - a group's refusal to obey a law because they believe the law is immoral (as in protest against discrimination); "Thoreau wrote a famous essay justifying civil disobedience"job action - a temporary action by workers to protest management decision or to make demandsnonviolence, nonviolent resistance, passive resistance - peaceful resistance to a government by fasting or refusing to cooperaterecusancy - refusal to submit to established authority; originally the refusal of Roman Catholics to attend services of the Church of England

direct action

direct action,

theory and methods used by certain labor groups to fight employers, capitalist institutions, and the state by direct economic action, without using intermediate organizations. Political measures, such as arbitration, collective bargaining, and trade agreements, are rejected as ineffective. According to the theory, workers, acting as a class, are in a position to exert pressure on capitalist institutions to secure rights. Such measures as the strikestrike,
concentrated work stoppage by a group of employees, the chief weapon of organized labor. A suspension of work on the employer's part is called a lockout. Strikes usually result from conflicts of interest between the employer, who seeks to reduce costs, and employees, who
..... Click the link for more information. , the general strikegeneral strike,
sympathetic cessation of work by a majority of the workers in all industries of a locality or nation. Such a stoppage is economic if it is for the purpose of redressing some grievance or pressing upon the employer a series of economic demands.
..... Click the link for more information. , the boycottboycott,
concerted economic or social ostracism of an individual, group, or nation to express disapproval or coerce change. The practice was named (1880) after Capt. Charles Cunningham Boycott, an English land agent in Ireland whose ruthlessness in evicting tenants led his
..... Click the link for more information. , and sabotagesabotage
[Fr., sabot=wooden shoe; hence, to work clumsily], form of direct action by workers against employers through obstruction of work and/or lowering of plant efficiency. Methods range from peaceful slowing of production to destruction of property.
..... Click the link for more information. —frequently accompanied by physical violence—are the preferred methods for labor disputes; propagandapropaganda,
systematic manipulation of public opinion, generally by the use of symbols such as flags, monuments, oratory, and publications. Modern propaganda is distinguished from other forms of communication in that it is consciously and deliberately used to influence group
..... Click the link for more information. and agitation are employed against the government. The specific reforms gained are seen as steps toward the ultimate revolution and toward abolition of capitalism. The theory was developed with the rise of the labor movement in the 19th cent. and was formulated as a definite policy in the early 20th cent. by anti-Marxist radical groups, notably proponents of syndicalismsyndicalism
, political and economic doctrine that advocates control of the means and processes of production by organized bodies of workers. Like anarchists, syndicalists believe that any form of state is an instrument of oppression and that the state should be abolished.
..... Click the link for more information. . The method was used in France and spread to other European countries. In the United States the Industrial Workers of the WorldIndustrial Workers of the World
(IWW), revolutionary industrial union organized in Chicago in 1905 by delegates from the Western Federation of Mines, which formed the nucleus of the IWW, and 42 other labor organizations.
..... Click the link for more information. advocated it.

Bibliography

See W. Mellor, Direct Action (1920); L. L. Lorwin, Labor and Internationalism (1929).

direct action

direct action

direct action

direct′ ac′tion

direct action

direct action

direct action,

Bibliography

direct action

Words related to direct action

noun a protest action by labor or minority groups to obtain their demands

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