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This article compares and contrasts the attempts by workers in Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and Canada to organize industrial unions at the beginning of the twentieth century. It starts with the premise that revolutionary industrial unionism was an international phenomenon, arising from similar socioeconomic conditions in the advanced capitalist countries, and that simultaneous movements to found "one big union" of all industrial workers should be seen in this light. The article proceeds to analyze the different views of industrial unionists on the subjects of dual unionism, organization and politics within an overall tendency in favour of one big unionism. It argues that syndicalism was only one faction active in the movement and that revolutionary industrial unionism was much broader in scope than syndicalism. The article further analyzes the social bases of the movement among unskilled workers and specific groups of skilled workers in the mass production industries. Finally, it points out the tactical originality of the movement and why its tactics posed a revolutionary challenge to capitalist control of the economy.