How Do We Get There?

Despite vast obliviousness and denial, more and more people are becoming aware that society has gone off track and deep change is needed.

Among those who recognize that we need to transition to something different, the question frequently asked (often by readers of this Substack) is: What is our strategy? How do we get there?

Where we go to answer “How do we get there?” depends on what “there” is.

• If one’s “there” is the goal of the Democratic Party capturing the US Congress and Presidency in the next election cycle — a goal that is of primary concern to many — then there are well known political analysts who have thoughts. James Carville, for example. His last two NYT editorials were “My Fix for the Confused and Leaderless Democrats” and “Out with Woke; In with Rage”.

• If one’s “there” is the ascent of Democratic Party leaders who will promote a progressive agenda that will help struggling Americans, then a good person to be listening to might be Robert Reich. Reich has proposed that voters hold Democratic Party candidates to a “Democrats Pledge to America” — a set of 10 reforms to bring prices down and real wages up.

• If one’s “there” recognizes that the present state of America’s two-party system is itself problematic, then a good person to pay attention to is Heather Cox Richardson. She believes America is in the beginnings of a realignment of political parties on a scale that’s only happened twice in America’s past. To move this forward, she is encouraging citizens to become politically engaged in whatever way calls them — running for office, talking with elected leaders, joining demonstrations, etc. Out of this ferment of engagement, political parties will be compelled to reconfigure in response.

• If one’s “there” is to reorient the economy to one that is by, for and of the people, then pay attention to those voices — including this Substack — that are promoting economic democracy. Economic democracy, in its more substantive form, would permanently shift the balance of economic power to individuals and local communities, which would be a permanent fix to the problem of big money corrupting politics.

• If one’s “there” is to address the polycrisis that threatens the collapse of human civilization, then good people to listen to are those, such as Suzanne Taylor, who are calling for a paradigm shift that acknowledges the unity of humanity and that calls for empathy and cooperation to be the driving values in society.

Revolution

The word “revolution” has several meanings. The meaning that comes first to mind for many is “a complete and forceful overthrow of an established government”. A broader meaning is “a sudden, complete, or radical change”, for example, the Industrial Revolution. Revolution can also mean “a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something” — that is, a paradigm shift. A good example is the Copernican Revolution.

So, when we talk about paradigm shifts (in the social realm), we’re talking about revolution in this last sense of the word.

Paradigm shifts are revolutions that bring change to the collective psychology of people. This, in turn, brings a shift in society’s dominant cultural values, which then patterns social institutions and political policies in new ways. Paradigm shift revolutions play out organically over time.

But we don’t have time. Humanity’s situation is nearing Code Red as we face the growing intensity of the polycrisis. We don’t have time for the paradigm shift revolution to play out over time. It needs to occur in the second sense of a “revolution” — as “a sudden, complete, and radical change”.

We need an accelerated paradigm shift, and for this we require a viable strategy for “How do we get there?” We can’t escape the importance of this question.

Historical Examples of Successful Strategies

Vladimir Lenin’s article “What is to be Done?” outlined his strategy for developing political consciousness in the working class and building an organizational base to take political power, a strategy that guided the Bolshevik Revolution.

Mao Zedong’s essays, “On Contradiction” and “On Practice” provided the philosophical underpinnings of Maoism and defined the strategy that guided the Maoist peasant revolution.

Regis Debray’s book, Revolution in the Revolution, articulated the strategy of guerilla struggle developed by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro that brought the Cuban Marxists to power.

These are of course examples from violent Marxist revolutions. I’m well aware that, as revolutions, they were pyrrhic victories, failing to fully free people from oppression. My point is to highlight the value of a coherent strategy.

Revolutions that aim to bring sudden and systemic change require strategy for success. They cannot be run as an Occupy Movement one year, March for Our Lives the next, Me Too after that, then No Kings, etc.

Intellectual Revolution

Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, in his social philosophy writings, proposes a strategy for accelerated paradigm shift revolutions that he calls “intellectual revolution”. Intellectual revolution is based on the propagation of ideals.

I’d like to give a brief summary of Sarkar’s approach as it offers a broad framework to pieces of strategy that I see emerging, in a rudimentary way, on Substack.

According to Sarkar, Intellectual revolution should unfold systematically in the following stages.

1 — Ideological education. In the first stage, education in new ideas is initiated to develop political consciousness and new social vision. This can be done in many ways, such as consciousness raising groups, political book clubs, online forums, etc. Or, to bring it home, engaging in Substack discussions. Ideological education is not for everyone, but it’s needed to develop leaders who have proper vision.

2 — Platform propaganda. In the second stage, platform propaganda and popular mobilization are added to the activities of the first stage. This can be done by conducting public forums, holding mass rallies, launching social movements, distributing popular literature, and propagating ideas on the Internet. Such activities build awareness and engagement among the public. In any revolutionary movement, only a minority of people develop deep political understandings. But the masses must at least be made aware of their rights and embrace the popular demands that are being called for.

As I understand, this is the stage that Substack activist Suzanne Taylor has been urging Substack writers to step into. And it’s what motivated the Crisis and Transition Substack to put out the Agenda for Economic Democracy.

Recently, reader Peggie Freeman proposed the following “platform propaganda” type approach for promoting economic democracy:

We could begin in communities with a ‘meet and greet’. A person with the knowledge about economic democracy could lay it out for the local group, explaining all its aspects, answer questions, and leave people thinking about it. The conversations that group begins would then start to move as others begin to tell their friends and neighbors.

3 — Democratic fight. In the third and final stage, democratic fight is taken up. While maintaining the activities of the first two stages, progressive forces would both support candidates in elections and apply extra-electoral pressure. As new leaders are elected and take positions of authority, their policies will give substance to the popular demands of the revolution. Democratic struggle should also take place outside of electoral politics, in those realms in which oppression needs to be confronted — such as movements for worker rights or for social inclusion.

Something like this may be what Suzanne Taylor envisions being included in her concept of an “Awakening Movement”.

Note that the stage of democratic fight is not given initial priority. Priority first goes to building awareness and engaging with the masses. Electoral campaigns can go on, social movements can be organized, but movements without depth of direction and candidates without depth of vision cannot stem the polycrisis. Thought-leaders first need to build mass awareness and inspire mass engagement. Then there will be a base from which to take on the struggle for fundamental change.

Leaders and Institutions

Intellectual revolution, as a strategy, will not deliver us. Something more is needed: the agency of dedicated individuals and the support of organizational structures.

Thom Hartmann recently posted a must-read blog titled, “When the Chant Fades, Who Builds the Future?” Its thesis is that progressive social movements need more than moral clarity and, I would add, more than a good strategy. In Hartmann’s words:

Here’s the hard truth: that energy, that passion, that righteousness [of social movements] means very little if it doesn’t translate into structure and leadership. Movements that fail to coalesce around leaders and build institutions die in the glare of their own moral light or fail to produce results.

We’ve seen it before. The Women’s March drew millions. Occupy Wall Street electrified a generation. Black Lives Matter shook the conscience of the nation. But without leadership, durable organizations, funding networks, and consistent strategy, these movements faded from the political field as quickly as they filled it.

Protests without public faces and follow-through are like fireworks. Beautiful, brief, and gone before the smoke clears.

Hartmann goes on to observe that movements like

. . . the American Revolution, the Civil Rights movement, the union movement, the women’s suffrage movements, and [the anti-Vietnam War movement] didn’t just come from mass mobilizations (although they helped) but flowed out of an organizational structure and local and national leaders who could articulate specific demands.

I agree. There can be many leaders; there can be diverse organizations. But there must be leaders with vision, discipline and moral integrity, and there must be organizations capable of collaboration, sustained initiative, and supporting people’s work.

There’s much more to say about “How do we get there?” This topic is to be continued.