On Revolution, Reform and Dual Power
There are many kinds of revolution and many different conditions in which revolution takes place.
Types of Revolution
We can have unconscious or conscious revolutions, the conscious is of course better. We can have negative or positive revolutions. We can have creative or uncreative revolutions. We can have organized or chaotic revolutions.
There are revolutions against authoritarian states and revolutions against so called democracies. There are revolutions against naked brutal dictatorships and revolutions against Shell Cultures with their noble but false words and rituals.
There are revolutions that occur because of street protest and chaos, and there are revolutions that occur through electoral struggles.
More, in this globalized world we have both domestic and foreign-assisted revolutions. Some of these are bad such as Bush’s “nation building” in Iraq. In other cases rebels get material assistance from other nations. In still other cases we have “no-fly zones”. Globalization is globalizing revolution and this is making things very complex and confusing. While revolutionaries always need support and they must make their own choices, this epoch offers both appealing advantages and high risks.
Revolution is also both an act and a state of things. And revolution has its stages of progress:
The formation of a movement, the competition for power, transitions to power, achievement of power,
establishing the hegemony of creativity, then stages of creative evolution.
One of the most challenging issues for activists is the debate between revolution and reform.
Revolution or Reform
Some things need revolution, a breaking of power, a destruction of an institution because it cannot be reformed, because it is the primary obstacle to social change, to the application of popular power.
Reforms alter an existing institution, they modify but do not eliminate it. Some situations require reforms of a mild or radical type.
Surveying an entire culture one must make judgments as to what things require reforms and what things require a revolution. Only activists in each nation, territory or culture can determine what is correct. There are no specific rules, this is simply a matter of realistic thought and creative solutions.
We may use the term “Revolution” in the general sense of a global sweep of the New to push obstructions out of the way of cultural and political evolution. But in terms of specific institutions and actions we must parse and be precise as to which is really “revolution” and which is “reform”. That being said, we must also note that reform struggles can go through periods of revolution. At some stage the reform hits an obstacle and then must resort to strong action. In transitional strategy this arises frequently.
It is unlikely that revolution is needed on every front. What we are seeking overall is a new organizing principle for society. Some things will be eliminated, many other things can be reorganized and repurposed. Revolution on all fronts is nihilistic, destructive, antisocial, leads to despondence and is ultimately suicidal.
Dual Power
To further complicate the discussion we must consider a third idea, in addition to revolution and reform there is Dual Power. Dual power is the power produced by building up new cultural institutions – education, rituals, community, new family, media, art, entertainment, business and finance, international relations, healthcare, charity, mental health care, environmental practices and more.
Dual Power is called such because it builds up a parallel system of power to the established institutions of society. Dual power does not necessarily extend to political institutions and government because they are securely controlled by elites. There is however an entire area of work that cannot be neglected. Activists, entrepreneurs, teachers, professionals, artists and many others are free to construct the embryonic and proto-type organizations of a new world to come. And there is no reason to wait, a whole new society can be initiated, a new civilization can be founded. There is an enormous amount of work to be done and postponing it is foolish.
A Dual Power strategy has many benefits:
· It attracts many strata of society who are not necessarily oriented in the main toward political activism or electoral politics. This increases the size and scope of a movement so that it reaches into all levels, margins and pockets of society.
· The “political” movement and the “cultural” movement are now interconnected, each influencing the other. Now political minds must think in terms of new social practices, and cultural minds must think in terms of achieving power, getting beyond just the narrow though satisfying work. Now all are connected and the ultimate success of one is dependent on the other.
· Dual Power begins the long process of experimentation, competition and innovation needed to develop the many products, institutions, values and practices for a nascent culture.
· If a political wave subsides then a movement can focus most of its efforts on the cultural. When the political becomes a clear primacy, for example when power is within a movement’s grasp, then cultural forces can focus effort on the political necessities.
· If successful, Dual Power provides real, existing, tested alternatives to a social plan when popular power is achieved. Often revolutionaries find themselves upon assumption of hegemony with no plan, no solutions, no clue about healthcare, government, economics etc. This can produce a crisis of confusion and infighting. More this can encourage leaders to get stuck in a negative mode of sectarianism, blaming and paranoia. But most importantly a lack of cultural institutions will maintain the suffering of ordinary people because there are no alternatives to the old ways. Lastly, there is a danger that popular opinion will lose its enthusiasm for the new order and begin to distrust the new leaders.
· Dual Power can be created before or after a “revolution”. It is always necessary, it is an ongoing task, only after power it is not “dual ” anymore because the parallel system has won.
· Also, this cultural activity becomes the main form of activity after a revolution. There may be periods of political reform but primarily the work of creating new businesses and economics, new mental healthcare, new schools etc. will get society’s focus.
Dual Power though cultural in the main can become more political. Parallel government can be created perhaps first as a form of citizen’s activism on the internet where individuals discuss and debate mock legislation in preparation for a direct democracy and new re-constitution to come. Later Local Political Power may occur in regions, and this power might be closely tied to new cultural institutions and forces.
New Nation and New National Liberation
Dual Power is essentially about creating a new Nation, its goal is the formation of a new Nation within an old Nation, and then to grow this Nation until one day it supersedes the dominant system. The course of these events are not predictable, they can be gradual or chaotic, the old community can die away or it may put up a vicious fight for survival.
This idea is a new variation on the notion of National Liberation where values, psychology, lifestyle are the territory to liberate from the over-culture and its over-psyche.
Dual Power, Revolution and Reform
The discussions of Revolution and Reform above get modified when we introduce Dual Power, for now we have a third concern and a second form of power, cultural power. Now we see that politics needs culture to ensure its success. More, we now can see that dual power is its own form of revolution in daily living, and that the terms revolution and reform can be applied to the sphere of culture formation too.
Thinking in these three ideas is helpful, it can give us a more sophisticated strategy, more power, more support and more chance of success.
Cage Innoye