Post by Walker on Jun 26, 2012 23:40:47 GMT
Source
Part Four
"I might, it is true, have written to you something different and more agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it is desirable for you to know the real state of things here before taking your measures. Besides I know that it is your nature to love to be told the best side of things, and then to blame the teller if the expectations which he has raised in your minds are not answered by the result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to you the truth." -- Thucydides.
Let us now concentrate on practical or, rather, organizational matters. Revolutionaries must band together: the spectacle is predicated on isolation and separation; each revolutionary needs the support, encouragement, inspiration and friendship that only other revolutionaries can provide. But such bands must themselves be revolutionary, which means they must be constituted by equals and they cannot reproduce within themselves the conditions that exist in the spectacle, in particular, hierarchy, deception (of self and others), fragmentation and incoherence. In sum, revolutionary organizations cannot be collectives or, even less, federations of collectives: they must be groups of individuals, that is, groups that do not suppress or dissolve the individuality of their members, but retain and enrich them, and in turn are enriched by them.
Thus, we reject the concept of "multitudes" as it has been elaborated by Antonio Negri.[22] We are not philosophers, nor are we interested in establishing or elaborating ontological systems, which are better suited to academic "discussions" than revolutionary activity. Note well that, despite Negri's post-modern replacement of the word "individuals" with "singularities," his politics go no further than electoral politics and "radical" political parties. We also reject the text by the Situationist International entitled "Minimum Definition of Revolutionary Organizations," which rather dogmatically insists that any such organization "pursues with consequence the international realization of the absolute power of the Workers' Councils, such as it has been sketched out by the experience of the proletarian revolutions of this century." Oppressed workers but not members of a single "class," becoming ever-more conscious of our situation but in no need of "class consciousness," we seek our emancipation outside the economy, whether it be capitalist, socialist or communist.
It seems to us that all of the organizational tactics used by the situationists remain relevant and useful to today's struggles. Since the spectacle is a global system, revolutionary organizations must be international in composition and action, and must include members of as many countries as possible. But such members cannot be nationalists or "representatives" of their respective countries of origin: they must be internationalists. (Foreign language skills therefore are obligatory.) Since revolutionary organizations must be small, they cannot admit too many members; nor can they tolerate the presence within themselves of people who turn out to be fundamentally different from what they appeared to be before they joined. As a result, exclusions are regrettable but absolutely necessary, as are breaks with "outsiders" who are hostile to our existence, program or actions, or who continue to collaborate with third-parties with whom we have broken.
Revolutionary organizations must also be real communities that exist in face-to-face situations: they cannot exist "online," that is, in or on list-servs, posting boards or chat rooms. Such communities must strive to produce their own food, clothing and housing; otherwise they are part of the commodity system. Such communities must constantly strive to better their personal and interpersonal communication skills, which means that individuals must be "in touch" with their true feelings and desires, and must know how to express and act upon them; otherwise, deception, hierarchies and power structures are inevitable.
To be coherent, our political "programme" must return to and derive from our definition of the spectacle. That is to say, it must insist upon the super-concentration of wealth in this society, the poor or even lethal uses to which this wealth is put (the USA spends $3 billion per week on the GWOT), and the type of society that could be constructed if this society were overthrown and its wealth was put to truly human uses. The pleasures and "happiness" that this society offers must be mercilessly critiqued as insufficient. Our progamme must condemn the obsolescence and irrevelance of work, the commodity and the market; it and it must ceaselessly expose and undermine those institutions, people and forces that prevent these relics from being placed squarely in the trashcan of history.
Part Four
"I might, it is true, have written to you something different and more agreeable than this, but nothing certainly more useful, if it is desirable for you to know the real state of things here before taking your measures. Besides I know that it is your nature to love to be told the best side of things, and then to blame the teller if the expectations which he has raised in your minds are not answered by the result; and I therefore thought it safest to declare to you the truth." -- Thucydides.
Let us now concentrate on practical or, rather, organizational matters. Revolutionaries must band together: the spectacle is predicated on isolation and separation; each revolutionary needs the support, encouragement, inspiration and friendship that only other revolutionaries can provide. But such bands must themselves be revolutionary, which means they must be constituted by equals and they cannot reproduce within themselves the conditions that exist in the spectacle, in particular, hierarchy, deception (of self and others), fragmentation and incoherence. In sum, revolutionary organizations cannot be collectives or, even less, federations of collectives: they must be groups of individuals, that is, groups that do not suppress or dissolve the individuality of their members, but retain and enrich them, and in turn are enriched by them.
Thus, we reject the concept of "multitudes" as it has been elaborated by Antonio Negri.[22] We are not philosophers, nor are we interested in establishing or elaborating ontological systems, which are better suited to academic "discussions" than revolutionary activity. Note well that, despite Negri's post-modern replacement of the word "individuals" with "singularities," his politics go no further than electoral politics and "radical" political parties. We also reject the text by the Situationist International entitled "Minimum Definition of Revolutionary Organizations," which rather dogmatically insists that any such organization "pursues with consequence the international realization of the absolute power of the Workers' Councils, such as it has been sketched out by the experience of the proletarian revolutions of this century." Oppressed workers but not members of a single "class," becoming ever-more conscious of our situation but in no need of "class consciousness," we seek our emancipation outside the economy, whether it be capitalist, socialist or communist.
It seems to us that all of the organizational tactics used by the situationists remain relevant and useful to today's struggles. Since the spectacle is a global system, revolutionary organizations must be international in composition and action, and must include members of as many countries as possible. But such members cannot be nationalists or "representatives" of their respective countries of origin: they must be internationalists. (Foreign language skills therefore are obligatory.) Since revolutionary organizations must be small, they cannot admit too many members; nor can they tolerate the presence within themselves of people who turn out to be fundamentally different from what they appeared to be before they joined. As a result, exclusions are regrettable but absolutely necessary, as are breaks with "outsiders" who are hostile to our existence, program or actions, or who continue to collaborate with third-parties with whom we have broken.
Revolutionary organizations must also be real communities that exist in face-to-face situations: they cannot exist "online," that is, in or on list-servs, posting boards or chat rooms. Such communities must strive to produce their own food, clothing and housing; otherwise they are part of the commodity system. Such communities must constantly strive to better their personal and interpersonal communication skills, which means that individuals must be "in touch" with their true feelings and desires, and must know how to express and act upon them; otherwise, deception, hierarchies and power structures are inevitable.
To be coherent, our political "programme" must return to and derive from our definition of the spectacle. That is to say, it must insist upon the super-concentration of wealth in this society, the poor or even lethal uses to which this wealth is put (the USA spends $3 billion per week on the GWOT), and the type of society that could be constructed if this society were overthrown and its wealth was put to truly human uses. The pleasures and "happiness" that this society offers must be mercilessly critiqued as insufficient. Our progamme must condemn the obsolescence and irrevelance of work, the commodity and the market; it and it must ceaselessly expose and undermine those institutions, people and forces that prevent these relics from being placed squarely in the trashcan of history.