 According to Angela Vogel and Hartmut <unk> , Carl Hillmann , a typesetter and prominent trade unionist in the 1870s , was the " intellectual father " of the localist and anarcho @-@ syndicalist movement . Vogel 's and <unk> 's claim is based on the fact that Hillmann was the first in Germany to consider unions ' primary role to be the creation of the conditions for a socialist revolution , not simply to improve workers ' living conditions . He also advocated a de @-@ centralized trade union federation structure . Many of the later anarcho @-@ syndicalists including Rudolf Rocker agree with this notion . Hans Manfred Bock , on the other hand , sees no evidence for Hillmann 's influence on the FVdG . 
