WHAT IS AN ORGANIZER? Part I (X.) by X.

A promising discussion is taking place on the US Left regarding the difference between organizing and activism. Mark Rudd, a key leader of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) back in the 60’s, addressed this topic in a recent speech at Drew University. He later told me that he got the formulation from punk organizer Andy Cornell in the book Letters from Young Activists. Andy and Dan Berger also address this issue in their recent article “Ten Questions for Movement Building and Reflection” over at Left Turn.

Organizing is a fundamental component of the revolutionary experiments in democracy that have taken place in New Brunswick in the past decade and a half. In the Tent State movement, the distinction between organizing and activism was first explicitly articulated by our brother Tommy D at least a couple of years back. This important topic deserves a whole lot of attention and I plan on getting back to it. For now, I’ll start with a brief, positive outline of what I believe are key premises of organizing.

FIRST DRAFT OF AN ORGANIZERS’ CREDO

1) Organizers know that changing our world requires a whole lot of people to act together, that a whole lot of people can only act together in a movement, and that building a movement takes a lot of hard work and time.

2) Organizers know that the movement requires both organization and community. It must address all aspects of life: political, cultural, social, economic, etc. if people are to join it and stick with it. Organizers value both the ideals of the movement and the movement itself, just as they value their own ideals and themselves.

3) In all activities, organizers seek every opportunity to work with others. They will only work alone if they absolutely must.

4) In all activities, organizers do their utmost to recruit, train, mentor and inspire others to become organizers.

5) No matter where they are, no matter what their circumstances, no matter how limited their resources, organizers strive to build the movement in whatever capacity they can.

So far, the points I outlined could apply to just about any type of organizer, be they political, religious or professional and of whatever ideological persuasion. The many organizers I have had the privilege to work with over the years on various revolutionary experiments in democracy also practiced the following additional principles:

1) Always expand and develop democracy in society. Seize every opportunity to engage people in the practice of democracy – that is, engage people to build together and to decide together, i.e. in collaborative decision-making.

2) Always expand and develop democracy within the movement. Promote equitable collaboration (everyone contributes to the work) and informed decision-making (everyone gets meaningful opportunities to determine the course of the movement).

3) Always expand and develop the evolving vision of Revolutionary Democracy. Connect the local to the national and to the rest of the world. Share with others and learn from others. Connect today to yesterday and tomorrow. Learn from the history and plan for the future.

To be continued...