Building Neighborhood Committees, Canvassing, and Winning (Keith) by Keith

These are some notes on organizing in New Brunswick but I think that they may be useful to others who are thinking about dual power and seizing power locally.

We must build neighborhood committees if we are going to win on election day and if we are to build a lasting revolutionary democratic movement in New Brunswick. In many ways the committees will be one of the most important outcomes of the whole campaign. Below I put down some notes on building the committees and the crucial role they will play on election day with Get Out the Vote.

The universal task of all neighborhood committees’ is to get out the vote. Beyond that each committee will develop organically, based on the concerns and issues faced by the citizens in that neighborhood. In some neighborhoods parking is the main issue, in others police violence and gang activity, and other neighborhoods have issues that will only emerge as citizens meet and talk. As people come together and feel their collective power, other issues and possibilities, that are presently beyond their imaginative capacity and ours, will emerge. In other words they will change the conditions and themselves and thereby make new possibilities.

Our biggest challenge at the present moment and the key to winning election day is getting these neighborhood committees off the ground. The committees are an organizational structure so to understand what kind of structure we need we must first understand the practice or activity the committees will engage in. Again much of the activity will be determined by the committees themselves, but one activity that we know will be asked of all committees will be getting out the vote on election-day. So we can build structure around that task, and then allow other practices and organizational forms to develop organically based on the needs of the citizens in the groups.

When we knock on a door we may be talking to a neighborhood leader, or a future neighborhood leader (or a national leader in embryo!). We should offer each person the highest level of participation and work down. This is especially important in Latino/a neighborhoods. We will need to find bi-lingual people who can organize Spanish speakers. Additionally, Revolutionary Democracy recognizes all residents as citizens and therefore they have full rights and freedom to participate regardless of their “status.” So while they cannot vote in November they will be able to vote in their neighborhood committee.

A key component of our campaign must be building neighborhood committees as the basis for our anti-machine local revolutionary democratic movement and the canvas is the place to get them started. Ideally each committee will be made up of five or more registered voters. The chair of the committee will be responsible for making sure that all committee members vote on election day. Mobilizing the group on election day will take preparation, that preparation is the basis of the committees initial existence.

Recruiting neighborhood leaders while canvassing
When canvassing we come across people who are natural leaders of the neighborhoods, people others turn to for help, or people who command respect. If these people, for example, tell other to sign a petition they are listened too. When canvassing we should try to get these people to become leaders of a neighborhood committee. We have to lay out the whole vision with them. We are trying to transform this city in a democratic way. We want schools that provide the best education for our children and makes it possible for the kids to do whatever it is they want to, their background and the school system should not be a limitation but an advantage. We want the schools to be community centers and recreation centers that provide job training and job placement. We want professional police who help the community end gang violence instead of encouraging it. And so on (we can talk vision stuff in another essay). The point is that we lay out the dream and then we lay out the path that leads from here to there. The path is the ward campaign. We can explain neighborhood committees, how they will function to discuss neighborhood issues and how they will function in relation to a real democratic city council.

Then we explain how to build the committee: Do you know 3 or more people you can register to vote or who are registered? Can you hold a meeting to explain the campaign? what we are doing? and how we will be counting on them to come out and vote on election day? Can you stay in regular contact with your committee? That is minimal. The committee’s can do much more, but that is a start. At this level of organizing it is all face to face, ultimately this networks include elements of friendship. You can invite a potential committee chair to Sunday dinner and hook them more deeply into the campaign. The idea is to get them close to the campaign and also feel ownership so that they willing to take initiatives to help develop it. We can help with the initial meetings and send organizers. Building trust and friendship will be crucial.

Recruiting neighborhood leaders at Public Meetings

When we hold a public meeting it is important to lay out the vision of a democratic city, and then link the ward campaign to that vision. The next step is to explain the role of neighborhood committees, what the job of the committee chair will be and ask people to volunteer to host a first meeting. Again, the first meeting can be your brother, your cousin, your momma and neighbor and your sister’s friend, start with whatever is doable and build-- something is better than nothing. Whoever it is we have to get together explain the campaign and how to vote for it and the role of the committee on election day. The more resources we can provide so that people take ownership over the process and their committees and develop them creatively according to the needs of their neighborhood the more we will build revolutionary democratic power.