Council communism

Council communism was a radical Left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s. Its primary organisation was the Communist Workers Party of Germany (KAPD). Council communism continues today as a theoretical and activist position within Marxism, within Libertarian Socialism, and within Anarchism. The central argument of Council Communism, in contrast to those of Social democracy and Leninist communism, is that workers' councils arising in the factories and municipalities are the natural form of working class organisation and state power. This view is opposed to the Reformist and Bolshevik stress on vanguard parties, parliaments or governments.

Related Topics:
Left - Germany - Netherlands - 1920s - Communist Workers Party of Germany - Marxism - Libertarian Socialism - Anarchism - Social democracy - Leninist - Communism - Workers' councils

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The core principle of Council Communism is that the State and the economy should be managed by workers' councils, composed of delegates elected at workplaces and recallable at any moment. As such, council communists oppose state-run "bureaucratic socialism". They also oppose the idea of a "revolutionary party", since council communists believe that a revolution led by a party will necessarily produce a party dictatorship. Council communists support a workers' democracy, which they want to produce through a federation of workers' councils.

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The Russian word for council is "soviet," and during the early years of Soviet Russia workers' councils were politically significant. Indeed, the name "Supreme Soviet," by which the national parliament of the Soviet Union was later called, as well as the name of the Soviet Union itself, imply that the country was meant to be ruled by workers' councils. This was largely the case in the beginning, but the workers' councils soon lost their power and significance. The Supreme Soviet was relegated to the role of a rubber-stamp parliament, and real power was concentrated in the hands of the Communist Party.

Related Topics:
Soviet Russia - Supreme Soviet - Soviet Union - Communist Party

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For these reasons, Council Communists held a critique of the Soviet Union as a capitalist state, believing that the Bolshevik revolution in Russia became a "bourgeois revolution" when a party bureaucracy replaced the old feudal aristocracy. Although most felt the Russian Revolution was working class in character, they believed that since capitalist relations still existed (because the workers had no say in running the economy), the Soviet Union ended up as a state capitalist country, with the state replacing the individual capitalist. Thus, Council Communists support workers' revolutions, but oppose one-party dictatorships.

Related Topics:
Soviet Union - Capitalist - Bolshevik - Bourgeois - State capitalist

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Council Communists also believed in diminishing the role of the party to one of agitation and propaganda, rejected all participation in elections or parliament, and argued that workers should leave the reactionary trade unions and form one big revolutionary union.

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