These letters of Varlin addressed to Albert Richard show Eugène Varlin first and foremost as the precursor of French syndicalism.

Between the years 1868–1870 a great development took place in the French labour movement of which Varlin was the heart and soul as well the brains. He saw the great advantage of labour having its own organs for propaganda and founded a short-lived weekly le Travail; the Marseillaise, a daily paper for which he asked Richard's support took its place.

Notwithstanding the financial hardships entailed on the workers, he welcomed, in a sense, the numerous strikes, because they were a sure means of compelling the workers to organise. “We must be ready with our organisation against the day of the revolution. It is essential that we shall be able at once to replace existing institutions by a more perfect system of our own; it will fetch all the doubters.” He mentions the advisability of enlisting the bakers' union in the general strike movement. “For a general strike to be successful, it is imperative to have them with us.”