Strategy & Tactics (Keith) by X.

Revolutionary Democracy is a strategy as well as a broad set of tactics and organizational forms or structures. Revolutionary Democracy provides an organizational form because it poses that the people who do the work should make the decisions, and that this is the most effective, efficient and powerful form of organization. The strategy is about the long term and the goal of the movement. The strategy of revolutionary democracy is then to build a movement, an alternate society, a dual power, where the people who do the work make the decisions. From this strategic idea almost any tactic is possible. Tactics would be things like protesting, lobbying, electoral politics and so forth. The strategy informs the tactics because the point of any tactic is to advance democratic participation. Organizing, for instance, a protest against the war is a tactic. But what is the point? That is the strategic question. Usually there is no point, unless we are utterly naïve and believe that Bush or the Democratic Party will make decisions based on our protests. Millions protested the war against Iraq before the first bombs were dropped. In many countries the majority of people opposed the war and made their views known through protest yet their governments went ahead and supported the war. Protesting, however, is not futile if the point is to organize people—not into little sectarian grouplets—but in a revolutionary democratic fashion so that they begin to participate, do work and make decisions about that work collectively. Most existing left-wing groups are either secretive about their strategy or are only interested in getting people to join or follow their little thing. Instead revolutionary democracy empowers people to participate fully in the transformation of society, wherever they are. That is the strategy for which the tactics are means. Ani DiFranco says “every tool is a weapon if you hold it right” and we say that any tactic can be revolutionary democratic if it organizes people to work and decide together.