On The Jacobin Show, Amber Frost offers a critique of some of the intellectual arguments for mutual aid, debunks the myth that the Black Panther Party's free...
Thanks for that clarification. I think the historical example you cited is a really important one that should certainly be learned from. I guess my construction of what dual power could be differs a bit from how it's defined elsewhere. I think having self-governing units within cities and communities (united under a party or organization) could constitute a kind of dual power whereby alternatives to capitalism and the capitalist state are being actively created under the banner of one organ of power. I lean more towards the social ecologist/Bookchin side of things, but I've never seen a good reason for why a concept like libertarian municipalism couldn't exist under the auspices of a larger apparatus. Does the PSL have any literature on synthesizing direct democracy/local self-governance and democratic centralism?
Does the PSL have any literature on synthesizing direct democracy/local self-governance and democratic centralism?
There's a good translation of a Raul Castro speech on this topic I'd recommend. [1]
In a workers state, democratic centralism only happens within the party itself. The party is not a state organ. It is a vanguard party which provides direction to the state organs. But the state organs can reject this direction if the people disagree with the party.
In Cuba, which is the example PSL studies the most, organs of state power are democratic.
There are Municipal Assemblies, which are local governments elected by direct democracy.
There is also a National Assembly, which is the national government. Half the representatives are elected by Municipal Assemblies & half are elected by trade unions, student organizations, and other progressive advocacy groups.
The National Assembly elects the president, vice president, and their supreme court members. It also votes on the major policy positions of the Cuban government.
At the last National Assembly, 2/3rds of the representatives were members of the Cuban Communist Party. They are most represented because their Party is incredibly popular, but the people are free to elect other representatives.
I think there's a lot of room for Anarchists to feel represented in a workers state, despite their (justified) distrust of states. They are democratic in a way that is difficult for people living in a bourgeois state to understand.
Thanks for that clarification. I think the historical example you cited is a really important one that should certainly be learned from. I guess my construction of what dual power could be differs a bit from how it's defined elsewhere. I think having self-governing units within cities and communities (united under a party or organization) could constitute a kind of dual power whereby alternatives to capitalism and the capitalist state are being actively created under the banner of one organ of power. I lean more towards the social ecologist/Bookchin side of things, but I've never seen a good reason for why a concept like libertarian municipalism couldn't exist under the auspices of a larger apparatus. Does the PSL have any literature on synthesizing direct democracy/local self-governance and democratic centralism?
There's a good translation of a Raul Castro speech on this topic I'd recommend. [1]
In a workers state, democratic centralism only happens within the party itself. The party is not a state organ. It is a vanguard party which provides direction to the state organs. But the state organs can reject this direction if the people disagree with the party.
In Cuba, which is the example PSL studies the most, organs of state power are democratic.
There are Municipal Assemblies, which are local governments elected by direct democracy.
There is also a National Assembly, which is the national government. Half the representatives are elected by Municipal Assemblies & half are elected by trade unions, student organizations, and other progressive advocacy groups.
The National Assembly elects the president, vice president, and their supreme court members. It also votes on the major policy positions of the Cuban government.
At the last National Assembly, 2/3rds of the representatives were members of the Cuban Communist Party. They are most represented because their Party is incredibly popular, but the people are free to elect other representatives.
I think there's a lot of room for Anarchists to feel represented in a workers state, despite their (justified) distrust of states. They are democratic in a way that is difficult for people living in a bourgeois state to understand.
Other references: [2] [3]