What do we mean by a workers’ revolution?

“Revolution is necessary not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but because only in a revolution can the class overthrowing it rid itself of all the muck of ages and fit itself to found society anew.” - Karl Marx

As resistance to austerity and the cuts grows, more people are involved in activity and experiences that make them open to the idea that we need a completely different kind of society.

But many can be intimidated by the idea of revolution. After all, aren’t revolutions violent, with a few leaders exploiting the “mob” to seize power?

The ruling class promotes this scary image of revolution. But it is far from the truth.

A socialist revolution is first and foremost a vast expansion of democracy. Socialism is about the transfer of economic power—away from a tiny, greedy elite, and into the democratic control of the majority, the working class.

Revolutions are about the mass entry of ordinary people onto the political stage, as they actively attempt to shape their own futures. No more war and poverty, no more slums and palaces, a world where everyone's needs are met.

Millions upon millions of people, including many who have never been on a protest before or even voted in an election, take to the streets, take over their workplaces—and start debating how society should be organised.

They go much further than events like the Arab Spring in 2011 and other movements for democratic reforms that are often hailed as revolutions.

Workers' councils
Revolutions that really shift power from one class to another look very different.

New institutions are created to express the new democratic power of the masses: elected councils of workplace delegates, who decide the way forward for the revolution.

Remarkably, similar structures appear again and again, each time under a different name. In the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1971 they were called “soviets”. In Germany in 1918-23 they were called “rate”. And in Chile 1972-73 they were known as “cordones”.

They are much more democratic than capitalist parliaments. Instead of ordinary people only voting every few years and then leaving things to the politicians, the delegates represent the workers and can be instantly recalled.

They are paid no more than other workers, and are easy to replace with a new representative who better expresses the views of a factory or office as the revolution develops.

Ordinary people discover a new sense of confidence and power. Other groups from students to peasants who begin to identify with the revolution elect their own delegates.

And the mood can infect the rank and file of the army—and they can elect delegates too, challenging the authority of the officers.

Revolutions are “festivals of the oppressed”, as the Russian revolutionary Lenin put it.

Oppressions used to divide us under capitalism—from racism to prejudice against disabled people—are challenged and start to fall away.

People’s intellectual horizons are vastly expanded, as life no longer seems cramped into the narrow drudgery of work and poverty.

But surely there would be some “violence”?

Power
The real violence in every revolution comes from the old order, as it desperately uses every weapon it has to try to cling onto power.

That’s why we are not pacifists. It’s necessary to be ready to use violence to defend ourselves and our revolution against counter-revolutionaries. The ruling class has proven over and over again to use violence in defense of their interests. The 'shock and awe' bombing of Baghdad in 2003 to the beating of peaceful protesters the real violence in society always come from those in power.

Revolutions have to go further than setting up workers' councils. These new forms of democracy cannot exist side-by-side with the capitalist state. The new aims of these councils, to redistribute the goods and wealth in society so that no children are hungry while supermarket freezers are full or to end ecologically destructive oil drilling, collide immediately with the aims of the capitalist class to make profit for themselves.

Workers in a revolution have to overthrow and dismantle the state—or the old ruling class will eventually use it to destroy the revolution.

It sounds like an impossible task—but it can happen. Ideas that before the revolution were only held by a minority of socialists become accepted by millions of people. But this is a process—it doesn’t happen instantly.

As Karl Marx put it, “Revolution is necessary not only because the ruling class cannot be overthrown in any other way, but because only in a revolution can the class overthrowing it rid itself of all the muck of ages and fit itself to found society anew.”

The capitalist society we are all brought up in makes any argument for revolution difficult to win. The idea that we could overthrow not just one hated boss, but that ordinary people could take over and run society themselves, runs completely counter to the dominant ideology.

That’s why socialists who are clear about the need for a socialist revolution and to push forward the revolution when it begins have to be organised—to win the debate and make sure the old order is swept away before it can regroup.

To do this effectively, socialists needs to be organised now, into a revolutionary party.

Adapted from Socialistworker.co.uk