A Revolution by Peaceful Means

A Revolution by Peaceful Means

By Kurt Schulz

Historically, any means to achieve a viable socialist future has been ascertained to be by insurrection or working within the current democracy. Sadly, both have revealed immense shortcomings. In this light, a new methodology must be devised that involves popular change that will not result in corruption. Revolution involves repudiating and replacing the established political system by the governed and therefore does not require violence. It is through peaceful means that the community socialist revolution will come with an immediate result of full community-democracy.

The aim is not a gradual transition to community-democracy, but the construction of such a system separate from the existing one. To set the stage for the organization of neighbourhood and community councils, there must be solid activist work done by members of the CCSO and supporters of community socialism. Currently, left-populist movements are divided over tactics or are even without tactics at all. This is because much of leftist thought is based around opposition to things (ie. capitalism, authoritarianism, violence, etc.) and therefore solutions may not be so clearly proposed. Violent revolution and working within the capitalist democracy have proven to have serious flaws, and community socialism aims to provide a new, workable program to achieve its goals. Knowledge of this program must be made available and clear to the average person so that the path to community socialism may be taken. The next step is to start from the lowest levels where governing could be plausible, the neighbourhood. The definition of neighbourhood is loose, and thus so would be the standards of a neighbourhood council. However, a neighbourhood council must include all of its members directly and should be limited to not usurp this or the ability of each member to have a relevant say in governing. It is logical therefore to say that activism will not achieve the greatest results through mass demonstrations, but through interaction with those who we already know and live around, our future co-governors. The revolution must begin in our neighbourhoods to convince as many members as possible to pool their resources and manage them together for the maximization of the quality of life. The next level up is the community council, the composition of which will differ from a neighbourhood council. A community council will be made up of delegates from the neighbourhood councils in a way that reflects their various populations. Again, the goal is to maximize the representation of each individual, so for example a neighbourhood council should get one delegate for every six members. This is not set in stone and must be flexible to adjust to the needs of individual neighbourhoods and communities. Nevertheless, the basic principle is that neighbourhood councils must have full, direct membership participation and community councils must be composed of recallable delegates that represent as few members as is reasonable to maximize representation.

That was how the new system will be set up, and inevitably it will become fully capable of replacing the current one. Nevertheless, the likelihood of the current governors stepping aside without a challenge is very low, especially considering they are so well-supported by the influence of the upper class who have historically kept a firm grip on their power. The time will come for a confrontation between the community-democracies and the current system. The confrontation will not be one of violence or open insurrection, but instead a well-planned infiltration of the current system with an immediate devolution to the community-democracies. The time will be ripe when the majority of electoral districts in any jurisdiction, be they municipal, provincial or federal, are composed to community-democracies, although it will likely start at the municipal level. Established supporters of community socialism will run for office, preferably with no competition between them so as to not divide the vote, and sweep the election. Once in, the first thing to pass is a law that says that by a simple majority vote the community councils within the electoral districts can recall their delegates. From there, powers should be devolved to the community and neighbourhood councils and the means of production should be acquired by the governments and placed in the hands of the communities. Emphasis must be placed on the ripeness of time (when the election could be swept beyond a doubt) and the urgency of the law of recall (to keep the elected community socialists in check as they make the necessary changes). The existing structures of government may remain, and in fact they very much should. The point of community-democracy is not to remove all power from higher levels, but to make them accountable to the needs of communities and not the needs of greedy, ruling class individuals. This involves composing all levels of government beyond a neighbourhood council just like a community council – made of delegates that are recallable at a moment’s notice by the community councils beneath them.

In a country built on community socialism there are bound to be differences from a country based on capitalist democracy. The basic differences will encompass how one lives, how one works and how one is involved in the political process. Daily life will be different for many different people, but there will be some things that all will have in common. First and foremost, the basic necessities of life will be guaranteed to all. Water, food, shelter and clothing will be produced on a basis that focuses on need and while those producing them will receive their dues, the absence of a pathological drive for profit will allow for cheaper prices and distribution subsidized by government. A senior citizen will have a good pension, a student will attend democratic and free-expression oriented schools, and adults can expect to be guaranteed employment. In the field of employment, the workplace of a community-socialist country will be vastly different from the current one. Workers’ councils as a component of trade union locals will co-manage the workplace with existing management and supervisors. The variation in the needs, size and nature of different workplaces will demand slightly different structures in each one. Nevertheless, all workers must participate in their workers’ council which, like a neighbourhood or community council, will feed into the next levels up and have immediately recallable delegates. Resulting from this, workers will be able to demand a higher share of the company’s profits and the term “working poor” will be an oxymoron. Politics will be intertwined with daily life, where at least once a week the neighbourhood councils will meet. To maximize individual participation, this should be at a separate time than community councils. The neighbourhood councils will review their confidence in their community council representative(s) and review business within their jurisdiction. The community councils will review their confidence in their elected representatives at the municipal, provincial and federal levels based on their constituents’ confidence and proceed with their jurisdictions, notably the ownership of the means of production and the use of the profits accumulated from this ownership. In other words, politics will not be a series of games between big parties but will be an integral part of the individual’s daily life. Life will be comfortable, the workplace will be fair, and politics will be universal.

This is what the word “revolution” means to community socialist and is a desirable thing. Anyone wishing to use the term should use discretion based on the common misconception of violence and revolution being inseparable. Nevertheless, a revolution that upholds the dignity of life and at the same time never accepts the current system and does not work within it until victory is guaranteed is the only path to community socialism.