Syndicalism and guild socialism, unlike the various "progressive movements" that eventually overshadowed them, mounted an impressive challenge to the wage system— the last such challenge, as it turned out. They rested on a shared belief that "slavery," not poverty, was the overriding issue of modern times. They differed, however, in the degree to which they were prepared to compromise with progress. In England, guild socialism was eventually absorbed by social democracy. In France, the syndicalist movement remained intransigent and unregenerate; after its collapse, around 1910, syndicalists tended to gravitate to the extreme left or to the extreme right.

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