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Iue #0AUTHOR
Janet iehl
ookchin’ RevolutionarProgram
LIRTARIAN MUNICIPALIM
The demand for a rational ociet ummon uto e rational eing—to live up to ouruniquel human potential and contruct theCommune of commune.
T he lifelong project of Murra ookchin(19212006) wa to tr to perpetuate thecenturieold revolutionar ocialittradition renovating it for the current
0. UILDING POWR PAG 4
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era. Confronted with the failure of Marxim afterWorld War II, man, perhap mot radical ocialitof hi generation aandoned the left. ut ookchinrefued to give up on the aim of replacing capitalimand the nation tate with a rational, ecologicalliertarian communit ociet, aed on humane andcooperative ocial relation.
Rather than aandon thoe idea, he ought torethink revolution. During the 1950 he concludedthat the new revolutionar arena would e not thefactor ut the cit; that the new revolutionaragent would e not the indutrial worker ut thecitizen; that the aic intitution of the new ocietmut e, not the dictatorhip of the proletariat, utthe citizen’ aeml in a facetoface democrac;and that the limit of capitalim were ecological.
Moreover, ookchin concluded that moderntechnolog wa eliminating the need for toil (acondition he called “potcarcit”), freeing peopleto recontruct ociet and participate in democraticelfgovernment. He developed a program for thecreation of aemlie and confederation in uranneighorhood, town, and village that, at varioupoint in thi life, he called ecoanarchim,liertarian municipalim, or communalim.
In the 1970, new ocial movement—feminim,antiracim, communitarianim, environmentalim—emerged that raied hope for the fulfillment of thiprogram, ut the ultimatel failed to generate anew revolutionar dnamic. Toda, in 2015, theconcept of radical citizen’ aemlie i gaining
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renewed interet among the international left. Forthi new generation, I propoe to la out the aicprogram a ookchin developed it in the 1980 and1990.
LIRTARIAN MUNICIPALIM
The ideal of the “Commune of commune,”ookchin argued to man audience and reader,ha een part of revolutionar hitor for twocenturie: the ideal of decentralized, tatele, andcollectivel elfmanaged commune, or freemunicipalitie, joined together in confederation.The anculotte of the earl 1790 had governedrevolutionar Pari through aemlie. The PariCommune of 1871 called for “the aolute autonomof the Commune extended to all localitie inFrance.” The major nineteenthcentur anarchitthinker—Proudhon, akunin, and Kropotkin—allcalled for a federation of commune.
Liertarian municipalim wa intended a anexpreion of thi tradition. Rather than eeking toform a part machine to attain tate power andintitute topdown reform, it addree the quetionthat Aritotle aked two thouand ear ago, thecentral prolem of all political theor: What kind ofpolit et provide for the rich flourihing ofcommunal human life? ookchin’ anwer: thepolit in which empowered citizen manage theircommunal life through aeml democrac.
For ookchin, the cit wa the new revolutionararena, a it had een in the pat; the twentieth
For ookchin, the cit
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centur left, linded itengagement with the proletariatand the factor, had overlookedthi fact. Hitoricall,revolutionar activit in Pari,t. Peterurg, and arcelonahad een aed at leat a muchin the uran neighorhood a inthe workplace. During thepanih Revolution of 193637,
the anarchit Friend of Durruti had inited that“the municipalit i the authentic revolutionargovernment.”
Toda, ookchin argued, uran neighorhood holdmemorie of ancient civic freedom and of trugglewaged the oppreed; reviving thoe memorieand uilding on thoe freedom, he argued, we couldreucitate the local political realm, the civic phere,a the arena for elfconciou political elfmanagement.
Much of ocial life toda i trivial and vacuou, hepointed out, in a modernit that leave udirectionle and uprooted, living under nationtate that render u paive conumer. contrat,liertarian municipalim, tanding in the tradition ofcivic humanim, offer a moral alternative, placingthe highet value on active, reponile citizenparticipation. Politic, it init, i too important toe left to profeional—it mut ecome the provinceof ordinar people, and ever adult citizen ipotentiall competent to participate directl indemocratic politic.
For ookchin, the citwa the revolutionararena, while the ideal
polit would e the onein which empoweredcitizen manage their
communal life throughaeml democrac.
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Aeml democrac i a civilizing proce that cantranform a group of elfintereted individual intoa delierative, rational, ethical od politic. haring reponiilit for elfmanagement, citizencome to realize the can rel on one another—andcan earn one another’ trut. The individual and thecommunit mutuall create each other in areciprocal proce. medding ocial life in ethicalwa of life and democratic intitution reult inoth a moral and a material tranformation.
Whereaemliealread exit,liertarianmunicipalimaim to expandtheir radicalpotential;where the formerl exited, it aim to rekindlethem; and where the never exited, it aim to createthem anew. ookchin offered practicalrecommendation a to how to create uchaemlie, which in 1996, in collaoration withhim, I ummarized in a primer, tarting with elfeducation through tud group.
The proce ma involve running candidate forelective municipal office on program calling for thedevolution of power to neighorhood; where that iimpoile, aemlie can e formed extralegalland trive to achieve veted power through moralforce.
Politic, ookchininited, i too importantto e left to profeional—it mut ecome theprovince of ordinarpeople.
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In large citie, activit ma initiall etalihaemlie in onl a few neighorhood, which canthen erve a model for other neighorhood. Athe aemlie gain real de facto power, citizenparticipation will increae, further enhancing theirpower. Ultimatel cit charter or othercontitution would e altered to legitimate thepower of the aemlie in local elfgovernment.
DMOCRATIC POLITICAL LIF
In a tpical aeml meeting, citizen are calledupon to addre a particular iue developing acoure of action or etalihing a polic. Thedevelop option and delierate the trength andweaknee of each, then decide majorit vote.The ver proce of delierating rationall, makingdeciion peacefull, and implementing their choicereponil develop a character tructure incitizen—peronal trength and civic virtue—thati commenurate with democratic political life.
Citizen come to take erioulthe notion that the urvival oftheir new political communitdepend on olidarit, on theirown hared participation in it.The come to undertand thatthe enjo right in their politut alo owe dutie to theircommunit, and the fulfill theirreponiilitie in the
The ver proce ofdelierating rationall,
making deciionpeacefull, and
implementing choicereponil develop acharacter tructure incitizen commenurate
with democratic
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knowledge that oth right anddutie are hared all.
Reaoned civilit i eential to a tolerant,functional, and creative democratic participation. Iti a prerequiite for contructive dicuion anddelieration. It i indipenale for overcomingperonal prejudice and vindictivene, and forreiting appeal to cupidit and greed, in theinteret of preerving the cooperative nature of thecommunit.
One thing direct democrac doe not depend on iethnic homogeneit: neither it practice nor itvirtue are the excluive propert of an one ethnicgroup. A rational democratic polit provide thepulic pace where mutual undertanding amongpeople of different ethnicitie can grow and flourih:it neutral procedure allow memer of ethnicgroup to articulate their pecific iue in the giveandtake of dicuion. In thi hared context,people of all culture ma develop modet aouttheir own cultural aumption and achieve acommon recognition of a general interet, epeciallaed on environmental and communal concern.
The aemlie’ deciion, it i to e hoped, will eguided rational and ecological tandard. Theetho of pulic reponiilit could avert thewateful, excluive, and irreponile acquiition ofgood, ecological detruction, and human rightviolation. Citizen in aemlie could concioulenure that economic life adhere to ethical preceptof cooperation and haring, creating what ookchin
with democraticpolitical life.
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called a moral econom aoppoed to a marketeconom.
Claical notion of limit andalance would replace thecapitalit imperative toexpand and compete in thepuruit of profit. Thecommunit would valuepeople, not for their level ofproduction andconumption, ut for theirpoitive contriution tocommunal olidarit.
DCNTRALIZATION AND CONFDRATION
To upport democratic elfgovernment, municipalpolitical life would have to e recaled to mallerdimenion; large citie will have to e politicalland adminitrativel decentralized intomunicipalitie of a manageale ize, intoneighorhood. The cit’ phical form could edecentralized a well. decentralizing citie andrecaling technological reource along ecologicalline, liertarian municipalim propoe to ringtown and countr into a creative alance.
To upport democraticelfgovernment,municipal political lifewould have to erecaled to maller
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Decentralization, however, doe not preuppoeautark. An given individual communit, for themean of life, need more reource and rawmaterial than are contained within it own order.Municipalitie are necearil interdependent,epeciall in economic life. conomicinterdependence i a function not of the competitivemarket econom or capitalim, ut of ocial life auch—it i impl a fact.
Organized cooperation i therefore necear, andookchin argued that making thi poile requirethe intitutional form of a confederation, a lateralunion in which everal political entitie comine toform a larger whole, uch a the cit or the region.The democratized neighorhood do not diolvethemelve into the confederation ut retain theirditinct identit while interlinking to addre theirhared municipal or regional life.
The aemlie end delegate to a confederalcouncil to coordinate and adminiter the policiethat the aemlie have etalihed, to reconcile(with ae approval) difference among them, and tocarr them out. The delegate are not policmakerut are accountale to the aemlie that choethem, and the are imperativel mandated,immediatel recallale at the aemlie’ dicretion.
The confederal council exit olel foradminitrative and adjudicative purpoe.Concioul formed to expre and accommodate
recaled to mallerdimenion.
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interdependence, and enuring that power flowfrom the ottom up, the emod the revolutionardream of a “Commune of commune.”
COMMUNITY OWNRHIP
The economic life that liertarian municipalimadvance i neither nationalized (a in tateocialim), nor placed in the hand of worker factor (a in ndicalim), nor privatel owned (ain capitalim), nor reduced to mall proprietarcooperative (a in communitarianim). Rather, it imunicipalized—that i, placed under communit“ownerhip” in the form of citizen’ aemlie.
All major economic aet would e expropriatedand turned over to the citizen in their confederatedmunicipalitie. Citizen, the collective “owner” oftheir communit’ economic reource, formulateeconomic policie in the interet of the communita a whole. That i, the deciion the make woulde guided not the interet of their pecificenterprie or vocation, which might ecomeparochial or tradeoriented, ut the need of thecommunit. Memer of a particular workplacewould thu help formulate polic not onl for thatworkplace ut for all other workplace in thecommunit; the participate not a worker, farmer,technician, engineer, or profeional ut acitizen.
The aeml would make deciion aout theditriution of the material mean of life among allthe neighorhood in a municipalit, and among all
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the municipalitie in a region, where itcan e ued for the enefit of all,according to the maxim of nineteenthcentur communit movement:“From each according to their ailitand to each according to their need.”verone in the communit wouldhave acce to the mean of life,regardle of the work he or he wacapale of performing. The aemlwould rationall determine level ofneed.
conomic life a uch would euumed into the political realm,aored a part of the pulic uineof the confederated aemlie. If onemunicipalit tried to engro itelf atthe expene of other, it confederatewould have the right to prevent itfrom doing o. Neither the factor northe land could ever again ecome aeparate competitive unit with it ownparticularitic interet.
Toda, ookchin long argued,productive technologie have eendeveloped ufficientl to make
poile an immene expanion of free time, throughthe automation of tak once performed humanlaor. The aic mean for eliminating toil anddrudger, for living in comfort and ecurit,rationall and ecologicall, for ocial rather than
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merel private end, are potentiall availale to allpeople of the world.
In the preent ociet, automation ha created ocialhardhip, like the povert that reult fromunemploment, ecaue corporation prefermachine to human laor in order to reduceproduction cot. ut in a rational ociet,productive technologie could e ued to create freetime rather than mier. It would ue toda’technological infratructure to meet the aic needof life and remove onerou toil rather than erve theimperative of capitalim. Men and women wouldthen have the free time to participate in political lifeand enjo rich and meaningful peronal live a well.
CITIZN’ MILITIA
A more and more municipalitie democratizedthemelve and formed confederation, ookchinoerved, their hared power would contitute athreat to the tate and to the capitalit tem.Reolving thi untale ituation could well involvea confrontation, a the exiting power tructurewould almot certainl move againt the elfgoverning polit. The aemlie, he elieved, wouldhave to create an armed guard or citizen’ militia toprotect their newfound freedom.
In thi repect, he followed the longtandingrecognition the international ocialit movementthat the armed people, citizen’ militia a analternative to tanding armie, wa a ine qua non fora free ociet. akunin, for one, wrote in the 1860:
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“All aleodied citizen hould, if necear, take uparm to defend their home and their freedom. achcountr’ militar defene and equipment hould eorganized locall the commune, or provinciall,omewhat like the militia in witzerland or theUnited tate.”
A citizen’ militia i not merel a militar force utalo manifet the power of a free citizenr,reflecting their reolve to aert their right and theircommitment to their new political dipenation. Thecivic militia or guard would e democraticallorganized, with officer elected oth the militiaand the citizen’ aeml, and it would exitunder the cloe uperviion of the citizen’aemlie.
It i poile that armed confrontation would eunnecear, ookchin oerved, a the verexitence of direct democrac could “hollow out”tate power itelf, delegitimating it authorit andwinning a majorit of the people over to the newcivic and confederal intitution. The larger andmore numerou the municipal confederationecome, the greater would e their potential tocontitute a dual power (to ue Trotk’ phrae) orcounterpower to the nationtate. xpreing thepeople’ will, the confederation would contitute alever for the tranfer of power.
With orwithout armedconfrontation,power would
With or without armedconfrontation, powerwould e hifted awafrom the tate and intothe hand of the people
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e hiftedawa from thetate and intothe hand ofthe people and their confederated aemlie. InPari in 1789 and in Petrograd in Feruar 1917, tateauthorit impl collaped in the face of arevolutionar confrontation. o hollowed out wathe might of the eemingl allpowerful French andRuian monarchie that when a revolutionarpeople challenged them, the crumled.
Cruciall, in oth cae, the ordinar rankandfileoldier of the armed force croed over to therevolutionar movement. Toda too, ookchinthought, it would e crucial for the exiting armedforce to cro over from the ide of the tate to theide of the people.
IZING TH RVOLUTIONARY MOMNT
ookchin emphaized repeatedl in hi later earthat for a revolution to ucceed, hitor mut e onit ide. ucce i not poile at ever moment; inaddition to the will of individual, large ocial forcemut alo e at work.
ut too often, when a revolution i on the horizon,people are not read for it. At “revolutionarmoment,” a ookchin called them, when a ocialor political crii explode, people pour into thetreet and demontrate to expre their anger—utwithout the exitence of revolutionar intitution toemod an alternative, the are left wondering what
from the tate and intothe hand of the peopleand their confederatedaemlie.
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to do. the time a revolutionar moment occur, iti too late to create them.
It i impoile to predict,ookchin inited, when ocialcrie will take place, oemancipator intitution mute concioul created well inadvance of the revolutionarmoment, through paintaking,molecular work. He urged hitudent to egin to create theintitution of the new ocietwithin the hell of the old, othat the will e in place at thetime of crii.
The architect of the Rojava Revolution undertoodthi point clearl. In the earl 2000, even a therutal Aad regime procried political activit, thewomen’ union Yekitîa tar and the PYD eganorganizing clandetinel, in accordance with thenew PKK ideolog of Democratic Confederalim. InMarch 2011 the rian upriing egan, allowing formore overt organizing, and the plunged ahead fullforce: the People’ Council of Wet Kurditan(MGRK) created council in neighorhood,village, ditrict, and region.
Citizen poured into thee alternative intitution, omuch o that a new level wa created, the reidentialtreet, which ecame home to the commune, thetrue citizen’ aeml. the time Rojava’revolutionar moment occurred in Jul 2012, when
It i impoile topredict when ocial
crie will take place, oemancipator
intitution mut econcioul created well
in advance of therevolutionar moment,through paintaking,
molecular work.
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the Aad regime evacuated the region, the procehad een underwa for over a ear, and thegroundwork had een laid: the democratic counciltem wa in place and had the upport of thepeople.
The next challenge will not onl e to urvive in thewar againt the jihadit, ut to enure that powercontinue to flow from the ottom up. For the ret ofthe world, the Rojava Revolution offer animportant leon aout the need for advancepreparation. While Wetern activit often facerepreion, the face nothing like the rutalit of theAad dictatorhip, and the have the relativefreedom to egin to create new intitution now.
TH QUTION OF POWR
In movement toda, ookchin found to hifrutration, man activit regard power itelf a amalignant evil, omething to e aolihed or avoideda morall impure. He vehementl oppoed thinotion, late in life, initing that power i neithergood nor evil—it impl i. The pertinent iue i notwhether it will exit (it will, alwa) ut whether iti in the hand of elite or in the hand of the people,and the purpoe and interet for which it iexercied.
He illutratedthi point telling a torfrom thepanih
The pertinent iue,ookchin argued, i notwhether power will exit(it will, alwa) utwhether it i in the
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Revolution of193637. In theprecedingdecade,panih anarchit had uilt a trong revolutionarintitution, the CNT (National Confederation ofLaor)—the world’ larget anarchondicalit tradeunion. On Jul 21, 1936, a Franco’ general wereoverrunning much of pain with the intention ofdetroing the panih Repulic in favor of amilitar dictatorhip, the worker of arcelona,organized the CNT, formed armed militia, andin ome place—epeciall Catalonia—ucceeded inpuhing ack the reactionar Francoit.
When the dut ettled, the worker and peaantheld de facto power in Catalonia. The hadcollectivized workplace in factorie and in uranneighorhood; in the countride, thecollectivized the land; and the etalihed anetwork of elfgoverning committee to handledefene and upplie and tranportation. Theeottomup intitution contituted a truerevolutionar government. Through them, workerand peaant did not detro power— virtue oftheir elforganization and their militar ucce,the held it. It wa, ookchin thought, one of thegreatet revolutionar moment of the twentiethcentur, indeed in all revolutionar hitor.
For guidance on how to manage that power, theworker and peaant turned to the CNT, which onJul 23 convened an aeml or plenum neararcelona to dicu the matter. ome delegate
whether it i in thehand of elite or in thehand of the people.
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argued paionatel that the CNT hould approvethe collective and committee a a revolutionargovernment and proclaim comunimo liertario. utother argued that uch a move would contitute a“olhevik eizure of power.” Intead, the urged theCNT to join with all the other antifacit partie—ourgeoi lieral, ocialit, and even talinit—and form a regional coalition government inCatalonia.
The CNT plenum lot itrevolutionar nerve andchoe the econd coure.Tragicall, it in eencetranferred power from thede facto elfgovernmentto the coalitiongovernment—which reallwa a new regional tate.Thereafter thi Catalantate conolidated itpower, retoring the oldpolice force and evengiving the talinit a freehand. Within a fewmonth, the talinituppreed the worker’
and peaant’ committee, demolihed therevolution, and arreted it upporter.
ookchin, of coure, thought the Catalan anarchitof 1936 hould have proclaimed comunimoliertario when the had a chance. ut anarchittheor had taught them to reject all power a
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malignant rather than emrace popular power thatwa grounded in the people. The Friend of Durruti,whom ookchin admired, attriuted the failure ofthe Jul 1936 revolution to it lack of “a concreteprogram. We had no idea where we were going. Wehad lricim aplent; ut when all i aid and done,we did not know what to do with our mae ofworker or how to give utance to the populareffuion which erupted inide our organization. not knowing what to do, we handed the revolutionon a platter to the ourgeoiie and the Marxit.”
With liertarian municipalim, ookchin ought toprovide jut uch a liertarian theor of power awa needed in 193637; o doe Öcalan’ DemocraticConfederalim. Armed with liertarian theorie ofpower, we ma hope that in the future uchrevolutionar moment will not once again etragicall lot.
RADICALIZ TH DMOCRACY!
The nation tate and the capitalit tem cannoturvive indefinitel. Around the world, the diviionetween rich and poor have widened into a awningcham, and the whole tem i on a colliion courewith the iophere.
Capitalim’ growordie imperative, which eekprofit for capital expanion at the expene of allother conideration, tand radicall at odd withthe practical realitie of interdependence and limit,oth in ocial term and in term of the capacit ofthe planet to utain life. Gloal warming i alread
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wreaking havoc, cauing riing ea level,catatrophic weather extreme, epidemic ofinfectiou dieae, and diminihed arale land.
To
ookchin, the choice wa clear: either people wouldetalih a democratic, cooperative, ecologicalociet, or the ecological underpinning of ocietwould impl collape. The recover of politic andcitizenhip wa thu for him not onl a preconditionfor a free ociet; it wa a precondition for oururvival a a pecie. In effect, the ecologicalquetion demand a fundamental recontruction ofociet, along line that are cooperative rather thancompetitive, democratic rather than authoritarian,communal rather than individualitic—aove all eliminating the capitalit tem that i wreakinghavoc on the iophere.
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ookchin thought that the deire to preerve theiophere would e univeral among rationalpeople; and that the need for communit aided inthe human pirit, welling up over the centurie intime of ocial crii. A for the capitalit econom, iti little more than two centurie old. In the mixedeconom that preceded it, culture retrainedacquiitive deire, and it could do o once again,reinforced a potcarcit technolog.
The demand for a rational ociet ummon u to erational eing—to live up to our uniquel humanpotential and contruct the Commune ofcommune. In man place, he argued, olddemocratic intitution linger within the inew oftoda’ repulican tate. The commune lie hiddenand ditorted in the cit council; the ectionalaeml lie hidden and ditorted in theneighorhood; the town meeting lie hidden andditorted in the townhip; and municipalconfederation lie hidden and ditorted in regionalaociation of town and citie.
unearthing, renovating, and uilding upon theehidden intitution where the exit, and uilding
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them where the do not, we can create thecondition for a new ociet that i democratic,ecological, rational, and nonhierarchical. Hence thelogan with which he cloed o man of hiinpirational oration: “Democratize the repulic!Radicalize the democrac!”
MOR >
Janet iehl
Janet iehl i the author of colog or Catatrophe:The Life of Murra ookchin (2015), pulihed Oxford Univerit Pre.
Jerome Roo Decemer 9, 2015
Toward a New AntiCapitalit Politic
Theodoro Karoti Decemer 9, 2015
Chronicle of a DefeatForetold
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