Committees, Councils, and the Construction of Revolution

On Building Workers Power

No word is as misused, abused, devalued, and distorted amongst the left, as the word “organizing”. Contrary to common ‘wisdom’, political organizing is not mere activity in the service of a good cause. Campaigning, marching, demonstrating, or serving the people can be political, but they can not — by themselves — change politics. Nor is organizing simply the act of planning — we are not organizing a dinner party or putting a sock drawer in order. For communists, organizing is specifically about the construction of an organization. What is a workers’ organization? It is workers' power in physical form. It is the body of the working class which allows that class to unleash its energy in its struggle with the capitalist regime. 

With our superior numbers, the capitalist regime stands no chance against our united efforts. But ‘unity’ is the operative word, and it does not develop spontaneously. Unity is achieved through the painstaking construction of workers’ organizations — organizations which are tempered, tested, and hardened through struggle as steel within a furnace. It is only through this construction that workers can attain revolutionary democratic control.

Developing Relationships

In order for us to seize power, we must rebuild the connections between each other that have been worn down by the harsh conditions of capitalist exploitation. We must also work to mend the wounds between us that have been inflicted by capitalist indoctrination in an attempt to weaken us. The contempt towards women by men, the distrust of Black people by whites, and the outcasting of the LGTBQ community by the cisgendered and heterosexual, are all grenades tossed at us by the ruling class to destroy working class unity — we must not foolishly pull the pin.

We as workers must begin to speak with each other, with the purpose of revealing the truth of our exploitation — forging the strength to fight it. We must meet with our friends and neighbors outside of the workplace and share political education. Many have fought against capitalist oppression before us and won. We can apply their lessons to our struggle.

Structure and Strength

If meeting with like-minded coworkers and community members is the first step in developing political consciousness, then the workers’ committee is the first building block of a working-class organization. A committee is a group of trusted coworkers who meet to discuss the problems at their job. It is this group of people who through agitation and political education, will help to guide the rest of their coworkers into action.

The committee’s job is to learn the concerns of their coworkers, to sharpen their grievances — explaining why these problems exist and how class struggle can solve them. The committee strategizes and works to bring other workers into the struggle. Over time, the committee must become an instrument of workers’ democracy, with an elected leadership.

Workers Councils

The first thing your committee must understand is that you are not alone. All workers, nationally and internationally, are connected by the exploitation they suffer under the capitalist regime. This common condition connects workers to each other more securely than steel cables, creating the network around which the bonds of solidarity are fastened.

Solidarity is the source of our true power. This power is realized when workers from many sites, industries, and communities come together in a revolutionary block. When we join our respective committees together, we multiply our strength exponentially. 

In practical terms, three or more committees who elect delegates to meet together to represent their respective work sites or neighborhoods, is called a Workers Council. These councils decide on the issues that affect workers as a whole, and lead their members to combat these problems in unison. Multiple Workers Councils join together at higher levels, representing larger and larger areas; centralizing the will of the whole working class. Collectively, the Workers Councils are the organization of the working class. They are the breathing embodiment of working class democracy, the instrument of the will of the people and the conduit through which revolutionary energy flows. The Workers Councils are both gravedigger for a capitalist regime which is dead yet still walks, and midwife for a socialist society which lives but is not yet born. They are the death of oppression and the birth of justice.