Democracy in the movement (Keith, X., Tommy D) by X.

Whereas many on the US Left mistakenly think that democracy is dangerous and that the rule of the majority is a threat, Revolutionary Democracy holds that the greatest threat is a lack of democracy—the lack of democracy makes the arbitrary rule of the wealthy minority possible. Democracy cannot be based on the comfort of a permanent, unchanging majority but -quite the opposite- it can only reach its full potential through the fullest emancipation of all, the fullest expression of all and the fullest exchange of ideas.

Revolutionary Democracy is practiced and developed within the movement just as it is in society at large. Revolutionary Democracy insists that the people that do the work to build the movement, its organizations, events and activities are also the ones that make the decisions. The movement itself must be radically democratic so it becomes the image of the society it aims to build. The project is non-exclusionary: Anyone that wants to contribute can and their contribution means they get to decide how things are run. The movement must not imitate the power structure of capitalism (big capitalist shareholders, for instance, contribute nothing, but under capitalism they make all the decisions). Instead, in a revolutionary democratic movement, everyone is entitled to make decisions based on their contribution.

As the movement grows along these lines, it will expand the model of revolutionary democratic participation into more aspects of productive and social life. While the movement may grow in fits and starts and at times make great strides forward, the revolution is in the process itself and in its expansion. Rather than saying “power to the people;” we say “people are the power.” Their power becomes realized as they organize themselves into a movement and supplant the non-democratic society with a democratic society of their own making. Revolutionary Democracy rejects the old saying that “political power flows from the barrel of a gun.” Political power grows out of the movement of people.