What is Revolutionary Democracy? (X., Keith) by X.

Revolutionary Democracy is a strategy for revolution. It works by expanding democracy to every corner of society. Starting today. No need to follow a great leader or join this or that organization or make a donation. No need to wait for some distant revolutionary event in the far future. We can all practice revolution as a social process here and now: Organize with all kinds of people right where they are to take control of society step by step; liberate and consolidate resources to build the movement both outside the system and inside of it; build a dual power of the people that grows and contends with the power of the system (capitalism, imperialism, whatever you want to call it).

Revolutionary Democracy is simple enough: The people that do the work should make the decisions about how that work is done, how it is organized, and how the products of that work are shared. In the revolutionary democratic movement, we work together and we decide together. Everywhere. We can learn how to practice democracy in a revolutionary way in the street, at work, at home, at church, at school, even in the army. We can use protest, advocacy, direct action, elections, service programs and any number of tactics to build revolutionary democracy. We can challenge the system in the process of overcoming it. We can take the system apart piece by piece and build the new world in the midst of the old.

Revolutionary Democracy is both a means and an end. All progressive and revolutionary trends are welcome. We can unite for practical action without a uniform theory. We just ask one simple question before we make a move: Will this empower as many people as possible to expand democratic control over the world?

In the following pages, you will find ideas and experiences developed by the emerging revolutionary democratic movement in and around Rutgers University and the city of New Brunswick, NJ over the past 15 years. Most of the key concepts in the article draw from a number of rich revolutionary traditions[1] but truly came into their own with the rise of the Tent State University movement (tentstate.com) that started at Rutgers in 2003 and has so far spread to campuses across the US, the UK and Australia.

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[1] Although the collection of articles titled 'The Revolution Starts Today' does not claim to represent his views, we want to acknowledge the essential contributions of Amiri Baraka who first introduced us to the theoretical concepts of dual power, protest mode, loyal opposition, etc. and who provided incisive insights into the dysfunction of the traditional US Left.