From the Streets to the State

Description

For decades, emancipatory struggles have been deeply influenced by the slogan "Change the world without taking power." Amid growing social inequalities and the return of right-wing authoritarianism, however, many now recognize the limits of disengaging from government and the state. From the Streets to the State chronicles many diverse and exciting projects to not only take state power but to fundamentally change it. A blend of scholars and activists explore issues like the nonsectarian relationships between new radical left parties, egalitarian social movements, and labor movements in Greece, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Turkey. Contributors discuss municipal campaigns based in popular assemblies, solidarity economies, and independent political organizations fighting for racial, gender, and economic justice in cities such as Jackson, Vancouver, and Newcastle. This volume also studies the lessons learned from the Pink Tide in Latin America as well as the social movements of racialized and gendered workers transforming human rights across the United States. Finally, the book offers case studies from around the world surveying the role of state workers and public sector unions in radically democratizing public administration through coalitions between the providers and users of public services.
Acknowledgments

Part I: Changing the World . . . and Ourselves: The Radical Left and the Problems of State Power

1. From the Streets to the State: A Critical Introduction
Paul Christopher Gray

2. D emocratizing the Party and the State: Transcending the Limits of the Left
Leo Panitch

Part II: Confronting Leviathan: Parties, Social Movements, and the Capitalist State

3. Building “Parties of a New Type”: A Comparative Analysis of New Radical Left Parties in Western Europe
Xavier Lafrance and Catarina Príncipe

4. Watching Over the Right to Turn Left: The Limits of State Autonomy in Pink Tide Venezuela and Ecuador
Thomas Chiasson-LeBel

5. Casting Shadows: Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi
Kali Akuno

6. T he Radical Democracy of the People’s Democratic Party: Transforming the Turkish State
Erdem Yörük

7. T oward a Radical Politics of Rights: Lessons about Legal Leveraging and Its Limitations
Michael McCann and George I. Lovell

Part III: In, against, and beyond the Behemoth: Projects for “Democratic Administration”

8. Market Failures, Failing States: Challenges for Democratization Projects
Greg Albo

9. Forging a “Social Knowledge Economy”: Transformative Collaborations between Radical Left
Governments, State Workers, and Solidarity Economies
Hilary Wainwright

10. Femocratic Administration and the Politics of Transformation
Tammy Findlay

11. Beyond Service, beyond Coercion? Prisoner Co‑ops and the Path to Democratic Administration
Greg McElligott

Contributors
Index

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 22 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438470306
• Langue: English

Extrait

From the Streets to the State
SUNY SERIES IN N EW P OLITICAL S CIENCE
Bradley J. Macdonald, editor
From the Streets to the State

CHANGING THE WORLD BY TAKING POWER
edited by
P AUL C HRISTOPHER G RAY
Cover: Noche en el tiempo (Night through Time) by Fabio Mesa, 2010, oil on canvas, 51 inches x 55 inches.
Used by permission of the artist.
Published by
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY
© 2018 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact
S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS , A LBANY , NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gray, Paul Christopher, editor.
Title: From the streets to the state : changing the world by taking power / edited by Paul Christopher Gray.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2018] | Series: SUNY series in new political science | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017034947 | ISBN 9781438470290 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438470306 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Right and left (Political science)—Case studies. | New Left—Case studies. | Left-wing extremists—Case studies. | Capitalism—Political aspects—Case studies.
Classification: LCC JC328.3 .F76 2018 | DDC 320.53—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017034947
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Ev pirtûk diyarî ye ji bo çalakvan, rojnamevan û rewşenbîrên li Tirkiyê û li Kurdistanê ji bo edaletê têdikoşin.
— Kurmanci dialect of Kurdish spoken in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Iran
No kitab seba çalakîker, rojnameger û roşnvîrê ke Tirkîya û Kurdistan de semedê edaletî tekoşîn kenê rê dîyarî yo.
— Zazaki dialect of Kurdish spoken in Turkey
Bu kitap, Türkiye ve Kürdistan’da adalet için mücadele eden aktivist, gazeteci ve entellektüellere adanmıştır.
— Turkish
This book is dedicated to the activists, journalists, and intellectuals fighting for justice in Turkey and Kurdistan.
Contents
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Part I: Changing the World … and Ourselves: The Radical Left and the Problems of State Power
C HAPTER 1. From the Streets to the State: A Critical Introduction
Paul Christopher Gray
C HAPTER 2. Democratizing the Party and the State: Transcending the Limits of the Left
Leo Panitch
Part II: Confronting Leviathan: Parties, Social Movements, and the Capitalist State
C HAPTER 3. Building “Parties of a New Type”: A Comparative Analysis of New Radical Left Parties in Western Europe
Xavier Lafrance and Catarina Príncipe
C HAPTER 4. Watching Over the Right to Turn Left: The Limits of State Autonomy in Pink Tide Venezuela and Ecuador
Thomas Chiasson-LeBel
C HAPTER 5. Casting Shadows: Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi
Kali Akuno
C HAPTER 6. The Radical Democracy of the People’s Democratic Party: Transforming the Turkish State
Erdem Yörük
C HAPTER 7. Toward a Radical Politics of Rights: Lessons about Legal Leveraging and Its Limitations
Michael McCann and George I. Lovell
Part III: In, against, and beyond the Behemoth: Projects for “Democratic Administration”
C HAPTER 8. Market Failures, Failing States: Challenges for Democratization Projects
Greg Albo
C HAPTER 9. Forging a “Social Knowledge Economy”: Transformative Collaborations between Radical Left Governments, State Workers, and Solidarity Economies
Hilary Wainwright
C HAPTER 10. Femocratic Administration and the Politics of Transformation
Tammy Findlay
C HAPTER 11. Beyond Service, Beyond Coercion? Prisoner Co-ops and the Path to Democratic Administration
Greg McElligott
C ONTRIBUTORS
I NDEX
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, I thank Adam Hilton, who helped me to conceptualize this book and suggested its title. I also thank Leo Panitch for funding a one-day workshop where the book’s authors presented and discussed early drafts of their essays. For hosting the workshop and providing administrative support, I express gratitude to Carolyn Cross, Margo Barreto, Judy Matadial, David Mutimer, and the York University Department of Politics. I also appreciate those who presented papers at the workshop and contributed to the discussions, including Susan Spronk, Lesley Thompson, Michalis Spourdalakis, Christian Parenti, Bryan Evans, Kristinn Arsaelsson, and Pete Ramand, as well as Erik Olin Wright, who provided funding for Kristinn and Pete to attend.
For reading parts of the manuscript, providing feedback, and discussing the project, I thank Janaya Letkeman, Nora Parker, Genevieve Ritchie, Herman Rosenfeld, Meghan Sangster, and Emily Stewart-Wilson. Special thanks go to Sam Gindin, who provided extensive comments, as well as Umair Muhammad, Assya Moustaqim-Barrette, and the Political Conversation Café for organizing a discussion of the book’s major themes. I also thank the anonymous peer reviewers for their careful reading of the manuscript and their valuable comments. I thank Julian Ammirante, who first piqued my interest in the issues addressed in this book. For providing this first-time editor with excellent advice throughout the project, I thank Greg Albo. I also thank David McNally for his encouragement. I greatly appreciate Michael Rinella and SUNY Press for their efficiency and support. I also thank Erdem Yörük for helping me to translate the dedication into some of the dialects of Kurdistan and Turkey. I happily acknowledge the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung’s New York Office for providing permission to publish a revised version of Kali Akuno, Casting Shadows: Chokwe Lumumba and the Struggle for Racial Justice and Economic Democracy in Jackson, Mississippi (New York: Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, New York Office, 2015).
Finally, I am unendingly grateful for the love of my family and friends. Thank you.
PART I
Changing the World … and Ourselves
The Radical Left and the Problems of State Power
C HAPTER 1
From the Streets to the State
A Critical Introduction
Paul Christopher Gray
I
The communist playwright Bertolt Brecht (1977) once wrote, “The individual can be annihilated / But the Party cannot be annihilated” (29). And yet, the party has been annihilated. It seems that only the individual remains. A century after the Russian Revolution, communist parties have become insignificant political forces, or, as in China, are establishing capitalism. Meanwhile, social democratic parties everywhere have abandoned any attempt to achieve socialism through gradual reforms. At the most, they are resigned to preserving a more humane capitalism, the permanence of which they do not doubt. Given the declines of communism and social democracy, what constitutes the radical left today? Among other things, it includes anyone who believes that capitalism is fundamentally unjust because it has inherent social inequalities that are the result of imposed historical circumstances, not permanent natural hierarchies. For that reason, radical leftists argue that capitalism can and should be replaced by a much more egalitarian social order. In recent decades, for certain sections of this radical left, the experiences of state socialism have not discredited the need for an alternative to capitalism, only the idea that it can be achieved through taking state power. For them, the annihilation of the party is not an obstacle, but an opportunity. The spirit of this diverse political tendency is best captured by the radical left theorist John Holloway (2002) and his slogan, “Change the world without taking power.”
In general, this anti-power politics believes that fundamental transformations of capitalist society cannot occur through political parties, electoral politics, and winning government office. Instead, radical change requires creating and expanding institutions that are autonomous from the states that they will eventually replace. These parallel institutions are variously described as dual power , counter-power , diarchy , or autonomism . They can include popular assemblies, cooperatives, and councils in workplaces, schools, barracks, neighborhoods, social centers, and free zones. This strategy has persuaded significant parts of the radical left, including within the New Left and the new social movements since the late 1960s; the anti-globalization, alter-globalization, and global justice movements from the 1990s; the World Social Forums since the early 2000s; and the Occupy and Squares movements from the late 2000s and early 2010s.
Indeed, we can situate Holloway in these shifts. In the 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the more articulate strategists of taking state power. 1 In the 1990s, however, Holloway became inspired by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation, better known as the Zapatistas, who demanded from the Mexican government autonomous control of the land and resources in Chiapas, the co