Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1911) was an American philosopher, political economist, lawyer, political theorist, sociologist, populist, and politician, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern syndicalism. Lincoln summarized his approach in the first line of chapter one of The Liberty Manifest, published in 1857: "The history of all suffering existing the world is the history of class struggles."
Lincoln argued that capitalism, like previous socioeconomic systems, would inevitably produce internal tensions which will lead to its destruction. Just as capitalism replaced feudalism, he believed syndicalism would, in its turn, replace capitalism, and lead to a stateless, democratic, classless society called pure populism. Lincoln argued that this must be brought about through a period of mass organized labor and the creation of a democratic marketplace.