On the Revolutionary Seizure of Political Power by the Working Class

By Rick Gunderman

Many socialists are limited in their scope of what it means for the working class to seize political power. Some believe it means winning at the federal level either exclusively or primarily, while others back a sovereigntist-type platform that causes for territorial fragmentation (like some elements within Quebec Solidaire).

Political power is a necessary prerequisite to the transition to a socialist economy. As such, the success or failure of a future socialist revolution in Canada will depend heavily on the means by which revolutionaries approach this monumental task.

Suppose that a revolutionary coalition of political parties and trade unions wins a federal election in Canada. It is unlikely that this could occur without having already secured governance in at least some provinces and a handful of municipalities. If it did, however, a lack of political control at lower levels would be a virtually insurmountable obstacle to initiating constitutional change.

A political revolution from the top, in either case, would not have the necessary grassroots base to effectively devolve political power to the working masses. The workers would need to control municipal and provincial governments first.

To do so, local councils of the revolutionary coalition would need to be set up. These councils would serve the electoral needs of the coalition and would be the forerunners to the participatory local councils that will hold supreme power in revolutionary Canada.

The first goal of the councils will be to win municipal power for the revolutionary coalition, and to secure it for the future political reconstruction of the country. From there, winning power at the provincial level will be the next great concern. The constitutional arrangements in Canada dictate that any change to the constitution itself requires unanimous approval of the provinces.

Imagine, then, that a healthy majority of municipalities and most (if not all) of the provinces have come under revolutionary dominion. Further imagine that a socialist constitution has been approved and Canada is on the path to socialism.

Barring any real threats from counter-revolutionary forces (the domestic bourgeoisie, street-fighting fascists, the American military, etc.) there will be a radical realignment of the Canadian political arrangement. Massive steps towards autonomy for the First Nations and French Canada will be undertaken, but the real changes will be seen at a local level.

Staying with the commitment to democracy, the revolutionary coalition must proceed to grant autonomy to the municipalities, including the right to mutually redefine their borders. The latter is an important stipulation that will be discussed in depth later.

In these circumstances, the local participatory councils will proceed to replace the bureaucratic City Halls that currently dominate Canadian local politics. These councils, properly structured, will become the new municipal governments, but will be more than that. They will be the workers’ states.

When socialists speak of a workers’ state, we mean one that recognizes the rights of the working class to a democratic workplace as opposed to a capitalist state, which recognizes private domain over the workplace. A workers’ state must be democratic in nature, lest it degenerate into a bureaucratic, despotic regime.

Democratic, participatory councils whose jurisdiction extends over the municipalities of Canada will be the forces that solidify democracy in revolutionary Canada. As the trade unions and workers’ councils proceed to conquer economic power backed by the power of the federal workers’ state, the municipal workers’ states will be the means by which the federal workers’ state is kept under democratic control.

The reality of this process, then, could be something like this:

The city of Hamilton, Ontario has a municipal government aligned with the revolutionary coalition. The new socialist constitution has paved the way for the restructuring of Hamilton’s economic and political institutions. Workers’ councils now administer Hamilton’s steel mills, chemical plants, assembly lines, retail outlets, and infrastructure. All profits are going to the workers and to economic and social programs.

Backed by the federal revolutionary government, the municipal government organizes participatory community councils throughout the city. These councils elect recallable delegates to the municipal government and begin to function as completely independent political entities. The municipal government is now subordinate to the decisions of the community councils. They work under a system of direct democracy.

For the citizens of Hamilton, this means that their city council never acts without the expressed approval of all those who choose to participate in the community councils. It also means that in their workplaces, all major decisions are made by the workers’ councils and the managers that they elect (and can recall through a simple majority vote at any given time) execute those decisions.

While evidently politically sovereign, the city of Hamilton is one part of the massive economic machine of Canada that is now under workers’ control. The economy as an entity being a natural network, Canada’s true unity will come through the interdependence and co-participation of all Canadian workers in the national economy. This stands in stark contrast with the current order, where workers are “loyal” to their individual bosses and the workings of the so-called “free market” (i.e. the decisions of the capitalists) guide the national economy.

Thus, a workers’ state seizes federal political power and devolves it to the workers’ municipalities. The workers’ state lays the foundation for an economic revolution through constitutional change, after which the trade unions and workers’ councils remove the capitalists from power and begin to make the decisions themselves. It will be the role of the workers’ municipalities to facilitate and ensure the removal of the capitalists, thereby enforcing the new constitution and making it a reality for all Canadians.