Is this, in essence, what we are trying to create?
abram spritzler
Summary of Proposals for a New Society
We propose a democratic revolution to sweep away the system of elite power and class domination that so distorts our present world. We propose a new society in which:
• All who contribute to society, or who are not obligated to do so because they are children, elderly or otherwise unable to work, have free and equal access to its goods and services, which are shared according to need, not bought and sold. Money is not used. There are no rich and no poor people.
• There is genuine democracy based on local assemblies of all community residents and all working people. All political power is vested in local community and workplace assemblies. Congress, state legislatures, city and town councils, and all other instruments of the former capitalist state are disbanded.
• All the things that people use to produce goods, such as factories and mines and large tracts of land, belong to all the people. These things are like the air we breathe and the sunshine that warms us—a common treasure for all of society, not the property of a few.
• The goal of economic production is to provide the things and services people need and want, not to make profits for capitalists.
• Human lives are no longer degraded nor the earth ravaged for the greed of a few. Instead of mindless growth laying waste the earth, we have creative, bottom-up planning to create a paradise.
• There is no unemployment. The more people want to pitch in to do the work, the better for everyone. Work-time is dramatically reduced. Automation is used to liberate workers from drudgery rather than to speed up or control them or put them out of work without pay.
• Everybody has a home to live in, good food to eat, good health care when they need it, a good education for the whole family, and an equal right to enjoy all the other products and services and benefits that society makes possible. If any of these things are scarce then they are rationed equitably according to need.
There will be no unemployment.
• All adults who embrace the principles of mutual aid, equality and democracy have an
equal say in decisions.
• All workers have an equal say in workplace decisions. People do not work for somebody else; they work with each other for the common good.
• Workplace assemblies determine the hours of work required per week and per year based on their assessment of needs and each worker’s personal circumstances. In a highly productive society with no unemployment and no overwork, time spent working will be drastically reduced.
• Local and workplace assemblies decide how to meet the needs of community members for food, shelter, health care, and other necessities. When local needs exceed local capacity these assemblies use voluntary federation, to coordinate with each other, carry out plans for the common good and share economic products and services on a large scale.
• The Pentagon, the military, the police, and other instruments of capitalist power are disbanded. Communities organize to meet local needs for safety and protection.
• There are no more unjust wars. People no longer feel helpless before the mass murderers who control the government today. People take power into their own hands.