Keith Sanborn on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:44:11 +0100 (CET)


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Re: <nettime> The Revolutionary Role of a Transnational Counterparty


Party specialization for those seen as incapable of representing
themselves may seem quite pragmatic but it's the beginning of
hierarchy. It wd clearly give rise to internal party hierarchy,
whether acknowledged or unacknowledged and you're stuck with party
cadres with specialized expert self-interest. A mass party has to
be non-hierarchical from the beginning, which precludes the use of
previous models of party relations with a mass they "represent."
there can be different kinds of participation perhaps but social
structures themselves must be altered or you're back with the same old
illusions of 20th century democracies whether capitalist or "people's"
democracies. The slippage into representation vs participation is
critical and fatal.



On Oct 28, 2011, at 5:05 PM, Dmytri Kleiner <dk@telekommunisten.net> wrote:

> Thanks Brian, I certainly agree that there would be a lot of commonality
> with these movements. However, I think the opportunity here is bigger than,
> we need to have a Mass movement, which the radicalism of OWS, etc, as much
> as I love it, and identify with it, could never have. 
> 
> We need to reach the average person, and allow them to have organized
> representation without taking radical action themselves, as their class
> condition does not allow for it, they have kids, studies, jobs, etc, and
> are struggling against debts, and mainly insecure about their own
> historical or political knowledge, and uncomfortable taking radical stances
> that may alienate their social peers.

 

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