Workers Must Take Power

On Revolutionary Democratic Control by the Working Class

Source: PBS

How do we build a better world? It cannot be achieved through Capitalism, because capitalism is an unjust and unequal economic system. It fuels the raging fires of injustice that ravage our society — racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, and discrimination against whomever lacks the ability to create profits for the capitalist regime. A better society, even a livable one, cannot exist as long as the capitalist regime is in power. But how can we defeat capitalism and what do we build in its place?

Our liberation will only come when we fight for Revolutionary Democratic Control by the Working Class. Our struggle is revolutionary because it involves the total overthrow of the capitalist regime, it is democratic because it insists upon the direct election of representatives and the power of the majority over the minority, and it represents total control by the working class because only the working class and the oppressed can be represented in this system of workers power.

Revolution

What is capitalism? Society produces the things that are needed or used (commodities) to keep society running and keep us alive. Individuals do not produce everything they need on their own. There is a vast network of production and distribution that is supported by the whole of society. Even something as simple as a cup of coffee requires farmers in the Global South who grow the coffee beans, crews who ship the harvest across the ocean, drivers to transport it over highways, workers to process and package the product, and finally retail workers to sell it to you.

Any large, technologically advanced society will have a huge amount of division of labor where the entire society collectively takes part in producing needed items. But under capitalism, although the products are created by society as a whole, the profits generated by the sale of these products are instead owned by individuals. Why? Because the resources needed to produce these items (i.e. ‘the means of production’) are privately owned by capitalists. No matter how desperately the people need to consume or use land, water, grain, fuel, or factories, these production resources can be bought up and used for extortion by the capitalists. The tyranny of private ownership over needed production resources is enshrined in the US legal system. 

But the fires of capitalist injustice can be extinguished by the surging waters of socialism. In a socialist economy, the working class themselves, who produce the things society needs, also own the resources needed for that production. And because the working class socially own the production resources, they therefore own the wealth that production creates — capitalists are not allowed control over the things everyone needs. Capitalists also can’t hold the power that comes from that control, like the ability to pressure people to work for poverty wages or face houslessness. 

This is why capitalism must be abolished. The total dismantling of capitalism is what we mean when we say ‘revolution’. As we struggle to build socialism, we may take the compromises tossed out by the capitalist regime if those compromises can ease the suffering of the people — but we won’t stop there. We will pursue, with the greatest determination, the revolutionary abolition of capitalism. 

When hurricanes, blizzards, or landslides throw massive objects across our path, it takes focus, will, and collective action to clear the way. In our struggle, we will need the political focus provided by a working class party and the will and collective action of an organization of all workers to find our way home.

Working Class Control

The US regime hypocritically calls itself a democracy while restricting the voting rights of people of color and limiting ballot access to two corrupt parties. But the rot runs much deeper. The US is, in fact, a dictatorship. It is not the dictatorship of an individual, but a dictatorship which carries out the interests of an entire class of capitalists.

This capitalist regime draws its power from its outright control over the economy. The ability to invest in one industry and divest in another, to open companies or shut them down, to hire and fire workers — these are the most important decisions a society makes and yet capitalists alone are free to make them with no accountability. This is what a dictatorship truly looks like. 

Capitalist ownership of the press and universities gives the capitalist regime control over our very ideas. They decide which ideas are ‘pragmatic’ (incarcerating 2 million people) and which ideas are ‘radical’ (making sure every child is fed). 

With these systems in place, politicians have little choice but to carry out policies that benefit the capitalist regime. If they don’t, they risk having their careers destroyed by economic sabotage and bad press. But most politicians don’t need to be forced — the legalized system of bribery called “lobbying” is enough to turn most elected officials into capitalist puppets. Capitalists can also buy elections for themselves and directly manage policy while in office. 

There is no way to change course away from mass incarceration, mass poverty, and mass extinction while the capitalist regime is in place. Workers must take control if we are to change society for the better. With workers in control, the economic interests of the working class will guide the decisions that society makes, driving political ideas and policies in the direction of the common good. 

In order for working class power to take physical form, councils of workers must be organized. Workers Councils are created to bring unity and coordination to all workers organizations. When workers on the job or in a neighborhood get together to form small committees, their power grows, but they are still separated from other committees, unions, and organizations. A Workers Council is a collection and centralization of all these organizations. 

Democratic Centralism

From the largest Workers Council down to the smallest local workplace or neighborhood committee, workers will decide how they want their workplace and community to be run. Any workplace or neighborhood can form a committee of working-class people and join a local council. Committees discuss and vote on all issues, and they elect delegates to bring their views to the higher councils which cover larger areas. Unlike in the “democracy” of the capitalist regime, Workers Council delegates advance the exact views of the workers in their committees on every issue. That way, the Workers Councils represent the interests of all workers.

The capitalists want us fighting and divided because they know they cannot control us if we act as one. But that does not make us fear conflicting views. We maintain unity of action through centralism — once views have been debated, we stick with the final democratic decision of the whole council. By putting aside our individual views and supporting the majority vote, we can move as one. Combining democracy and centralism brings together justice and strength. 

With democratic centralism as our process, Workers Councils will decide how our economy and community is run, directing resources to what is most important. This is how we will build a society that prioritizes housing, healthcare, and education over profits, imperialism, and white supremacy. 

It is possible to build a better and more just society. It will require strength and determination. It will require workers to reach out to one another, to set aside differences, to learn how to hold each other up. Concretely, it will require the patient building of working class organizations — of Workers Councils which can lead our struggle. But it can be done. If we have the courage and the compassion; we can band together, defeat the capitalist regime, and win our freedom.