LET'S GET ORGANIZED!
to remove the rich from power
by John Spritzler
August 10, 2020
The URL of this article for sharing it is https://www.pdrboston.org/let-s-get-organized
Please read
"Here's What an Individual Can Do"
Also very much related: "What Makes Reform Movements So Weak?"
(Also see Revolutionary Community Organizing and Brighton People Posed for a Photo)
There are literally more than a hundred million people in the United States (and billions in the world) who would LOVE it if the rich were removed from power and there were real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor (a.k.a. an egalitarian revolution.) See the overwhelming evidence for this here.
Virtually all of the BLM protesters would LOVE an egalitarian revolution. And so would most Trump supporters (read about that here.)
Egalitarian revolution is indeed possible because it's what most people would love. But it cannot be done with elections; read why here and here.
The way an egalitarian revolution CAN be accomplished--the realistic strategy for it--is described in "How We CAN Remove the Rich from Power."
I strongly suggest you read this, because what I advocate doing today, below, is all about taking the first steps towards creating the organization required to actually remove the rich from power that way. A general strike--something more people are talking about now--would likely be a part of this same strategy. But, again, even a general strike aiming to remove the rich from power (not just win a reform that leaves the rich in power) requires organization that we don't yet have, organization that what I propose below is designed to start creating.
The problem is, this vast majority of ordinary people--even if they are protesting wonderfully in the streets as are the BLM protesters--are totally unorganized to make an egalitarian revolution. As a result of this total lack of organization with an explicitly egalitarian revolutionary aim, people as individuals and families have no practical choice other than to adapt as best they can to the system of class inequality that prevails today. (One way people adapt is to vote for "the lesser evil." That strategy, obviously, does not solve the problem!)
Adapting to our existing class inequality doesn't, however, have to mean abjectly submitting to it. Many people resist the dictatorship of the rich as individuals by trying to shape the little corner of the world over which they have any real control with the egalitarian values of equality and mutual aid, even if they typically don't think about it in these explicit political terms (read this online book that discusses this in some detail.)
Many people also resist the dictatorship of the rich collectively with organizations such as labor unions or community organizations focused on some reform, as discussed here, as well as things like the BLM protests.
But because these individual and collective forms of resistance do not aim explicitly to make an egalitarian revolution, they will never result in removing the rich from power and getting us off of the treadmill of defeat, as I discuss here and here.
This is why we need to create explicitly egalitarian revolutionary organizations. The way such organizations can (when they grow large enough and determined enough) actually remove the rich from power--despite the proverbial "82nd Airborne Division"!--is discussed here.
READ WHAT YOU CAN DO AS A MERE INDIVIDUAL HERE.
HOW CAN YOU CREATE AN EGALITARIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION?
As soon as two or more people mutually decide that they intend to work together to somehow strengthen the explicitly egalitarian revolutionary movement, they have created an egalitarian revolutionary organization. Everything else is just secondary details!
Here are some suggestions for what a newly-formed and very small (even just two members!) egalitarian revolutionary organization can do. These suggestions all involve creating face-to-face (as opposed to merely online/electronic) relations among people in a given local community, based on the shared goal of egalitarian revolution. Face-to-face relations are key; no movement is a real movement without them!
WHAT MIGHT A NEWLY FORMED EGALITARIAN REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION ACTUALLY DO?
An egalitarian revolutionary organization (even if it consists of just two individuals) would think about what tactics it can realistically implement to advance the strategy for making an egalitarian revolution that is discussed here (please read this if you haven't already done so.)
Buttoning / Stickering
One tactic is to do what is called "buttoning," the strategic importance of which is discussed along with a description of what it means here. This is something that a single individual can do; it is legal, cheap, and actually fun. Furthermore it can be done without taking any extra time out of one's normal routine life.
The value of an individual "buttoning" is that it is a way for that individual to gain great confidence that he/she is surrounded by ordinary people who would love an egalitarian revolution (and who, typically, think it is impossible because they think hardly anybody ELSE also wants it.) It is also a way to find people who may want to join the new organization.
The downside of just a single individual "buttoning," however, is that the people who see only a single person wearing the button tend to think it's just one lone person who is advocating egalitarian revolution, and since it's just one lone person it's not a movement worth taking very seriously, never mind actively participating in. But if a bunch of people are seen (in a public place such as a sidewalk in the shopping area of a town) "buttoning" together then people will see that it's not just a single lone individual; they'll see that it's something larger than that and hence more deserving of being taken seriously and perhaps even participating in. To make this happen is one initial goal that a new egalitarian revolutionary organization may want to aim to accomplish.
Let People Declare Publicly Their Egalitarian Revolutionary Aspiration
Read about one way to do this here. Be creative and think of other ways to accomplish the same goal. Here's another way.
Sticker-ing
When there is a grievance, such as the lack of affordable housing (gentrification), that lots of people in the local community are very angry about, and eager to do something about, but have no organization yet with which to do it, then egalitarians can aim to help them express their anger publicly by putting stickers up all over town--stickers that frame the issue in a way that is consistent with egalitarian revolution rather than in a reformist framework. This can help people find others who want to create an egalitarian revolutionaary organization. This is what I and others are doing in my neighborhood in Boston, as described here.
Notices
One aim of an egalitarian revolutionary organization is to let people know about the egalitarianism idea, how it is the alternative to our present class inequality that is truly desirable (in particular truly democratic as opposed to the notoriously anti-democratic nature of all Marxist regimes, as discussed here) as well as being practical and possible. One way of letting people learn about what egalitarianism means is to post "Notices" like the ones here in public places (e.g. taped to lamp posts, etc., outside, or placed on public bulletin boards, or taped onto the inside of business store front windows facing outside with the permission of the store owner). These "Notices" get the attention of people and help to create some "buzz" about egalitarianism, even if people don't show up at the advertised Local Assembly of egalitarians meetings (but some might show up!)
Signs and Leaflets
Another way to spread awareness of the idea of egalitarianism is to hold up signs with relevant short messages at events such as public hearings about budget cuts, etc. Some examples of such signs are provided here along with some examples of leaflets that can be passed out also.
Criticize What IS by Contrasting It to What OUGHT To Be; Do This With All Tactics, from Leaflets to Demonstrations to General Strikes
An egalitarian revolutionary movement aims for what OUGHT to be, not merely for band aid reforms to class inequality. The fact is that only an egalitarian revolutionary organization does this. None of the existing non-egalitarian revolutionary organizations do it.
An egalitarian revolutionary organization should criticize (in everything from leaflets, letters-to-the-editor, demonstrations and general strikes) the status quo by contrasting it to what ought to be, in other words what things could be like in an egalitarian society with no rich and no poor and real, not fake, democracy.
It turns out that advocating what OUGHT to be is far more unifying (of the have-nots) than advocating any particular band aid reform. This is because ALL the have-nots are better off in an egalitarian society than they are today, but in contrast any band aid reform of class inequality typically results in some have-nots benefiting and other have-nots being harmed by it. This is due to the fact that the rich remain in power and make sure that what helps some will hurt other have-nots so that divide-and-rule continues. For example, winning a $15/hr minimum wage helps those whose wage is increased, but it harms those who don't get hired or who get fired because a small business now can't afford to hire as many workers as before.
An egalitarian revolutionary organization can join and support reform efforts of non-egalitarian revolutionary organizations by saying that the band aid reform in question is one that people want because it makes (or is intended to make) society more like the way it ought to be; thus in an egalitarian society it would be such-and-such (spelled out) instead of just the particular band aid reform to class inequality. For example, instead of a $15/hr wage (which is really a poverty wage, by the way), in an egalitarian society everybody who is willing to contribute reasonably according to ability has the right to take--for free--from the economy what they need or reasonably desire or have equal status with all other people to obtain scarce things that are equitably rationed according to need: no rich and no poor. Read more about supporting reform efforts here.
Persuade An Already-Existing Organization to Advocate Egalitarian Revolution
There are many already-existing organizations that fight for various good reforms, but which do not advocate egalitarian revolution (read about why many of them don't here.) It would be wonderful if a small egalitarian revolutionary organization somehow persuaded a larger already-existing non-egalitarian revolutionary organization to advocate egalitarian revolution (which would make it an egalitarian revolutionary organization as well.) This is a great goal for a small egalitarian revolutionary organization.
Unfortunately, this is a very difficult goal to achieve. To achieve it one must persuade a majority of the active rank-and-file members of the larger organization to confidently believe something that is true but which the ruling class devotes enormous energy to making people think is false. Specifically, one must persuade them that their reform organization would GAIN MORE support from the general public if it advocated egalitarian revolution than if it didn't (the ruling class works hard to make people think exactly the opposite.) The truth of the matter is evident in this video of random people saying they would support an organization MORE, not less, if it advocated egalitarian revolution.
An egalitarian revolutionary organization might want to devote serious mental effort to figuring out how to achieve this goal, which would be well worth the effort if successful. Success in achieving this goal would mark a qualitative advance of the egalitarian revolutionary movement! Click here to read what I did in my local community to try to accomplish this. I failed. The leaders of the organization (the BACC) turned out to be strongly opposed to egalitarian revolution or even to doing what it takes to win its supposed reform aims, and I was unable to persuade the many GOOD people in the organization to become activists to remove the bad leaders from office. I discuss the obstacle in my blog post here.
Invite the Public to Watch a Film
A small egalitarian revolutionary organization can attract a fair number of people to the showing of a film. One good film on YouTube (free!) is "Living Utopia (The Anarchists and the Spanish Revolution)" online here. After watching this film there can be a terrific discussion about egalitarianism. (One point might be that it is NOT utopia, as discussed here.)
Promote Solidarity Among ALL the Have-Nots (No Matter Who they Vote For or What Radio Station they Prefer)
An easy way for a small egalitarian revolutionary organization to promote solidarity among all the have-nots (be they liberal or conservative) is this. Pay close attention to how the ruling class divides-and-rules us, identify the particular lies and censorship of key facts and manipulation (conservative media telling their audience one thing and liberal media another to pit them against each other) that the ruling class media use to pit good and decent people against each other, and then use letters-to-the editor in local weekly newspapers to expose what the ruling class is doing. See two examples of such letters here ["Question 3 Misled Voters"] and here ["Big Money is the Enemy"] (go to page 14 in each case.)
Create a Website to Share Ideas and Experiences and Calls for Support
A small egalitarian revolutionary organization can easily create a website and thereby become visible to the whole world and also communicate with other egalitarian revolutionary organizations to act together on a larger-than-local scale.
Be Creative!
The above suggestions are just suggestions. Be creative and think of other ways to advance the strategy of egalitarian revolution.
Remember, the present goal is to use whatever tactics we can think of to gather together, in face-to-face explicitly egalitarian revolutionary organizations, the people (they are the vast majority!) who already would love an egalitarian revolution, people who are presently unorganized, unaware they are the vast majority, and feeling hopeless about the possibility of egalitarian revolution. We can turn this around with an organized effort to make publicly visible the fact that the vast majority want an egalitarian revolution and that increasing numbers are determined to make it happen.
Egalitarian Revolutionary Organizations Are Independent of Each Other and Use Mutual Agreements to Cooperate
There is no central authoritative egalitarian revolutionary organization that controls the other egalitarian revolutionary organizations. Just as, in an egalitarian society, there is no central governmental power that controls the Local Assemblies of Egalitarians that are sovereign. The individual egalitarian revolutionary organizations cooperate by mutual agreements, possibly facilitated by voluntary federation just as, in an egalitarian society, the Local Assemblies of Egalitarians cooperate with voluntary federation.
This means that any two or more persons who wish to form/create an egalitarian revolutionary organization can do so without first having to get any kind of permission from anybody.
What Role Does PDRBoston.org Play?
The website, PDRBoston.org, is just a website. It is the product of its editor, John Spritzler, and not really an organization although a handful of people in the Boston area have joined Spritzler in doing some of the things suggested above, and also in collecting signatures for the egalitarian revolutionary declaration of belief titled, "This I Believe." (The effort to collect signatures for This I Believe showed two things to be true: 1) If a random person reads the one-page document there is at least an 80% chance they will sign it. 2) It is very challenging, logistically and financially, to arrange for lots of people to read the one-page document. This is why buttoning, which accomplishes pretty much the same thing but which is also logistically much easier and financially much cheaper, is a better tactic.)
If an egalitarian revolutionary organization wishes not to associate in any way with the PDRBoston.org website, that is fine. It could, if it wished, create its own button (perhaps with its own website on it) and "button" with it.
A lot of thought, based on a lot of experience advocating egalitarian revolution, is incorporated in the PDRBoston.org website. It should be used as a valuable resource, not as an authority.
Join the NO RICH & NO POOR Email Group
The PDR email group called NO RICH & NO POOR exists for people to communicate with each other about building the egalitarian revolutionary movement. Joining this email group may, in many cases, be the very first step a person takes towards joining an egalitarian rvolutionary organization. Please join it. Read how here.