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The article offers a critical introduction to Offe and Wiesenthal’s “two logics of collective action.” Although Claus Offe is widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of the theory of “new social movements,” this text—of which he is the main author—gives access to his analysis of the “old” labor movement. The text is frequently seen as a model of Marxist vulgate. However, I argue that its specific interest is in connecting Offe’s emerging theory of new social movements with the Marxist approach, which is inextricably theoretical and political. The originality of the text is that it formulates a theory of labor action that gives to the dialogic process of interest formation a crucial importance for the emancipation of the oppressed. By situating the text in its theoretical and political context, I argue that its significance is to be found in the discrepancy between the rigidity of its vocabulary and the momentum of its thought.