In Search of Praxis #4: Self-Government, Envisioning State Transformation and Building 'Real Utopias'
This final article will discuss some alternatives: renewal of parties through the principle of self-government, genuine socialist state transformation and the building of real utopias.
Imagining the establishment of a socialist society in Malaysia can seem daunting, if not impossible, with the hegemony of the state and our barren political landscape staring us dead in the face. There is a temptation to say that events of socialist transformation had beneath them the fertile ground of discontent and preexisting class consciousness that allowed them to occur and succeed. This, however, ignores the role of the organiser, be it parties and individuals that set the stage for such moments. The Spanish and Russian Revolution had more than fifty years worth of agitation and organizing put into it (obviously only seen in retrospect) in order for them to have any chance of taking off. Malaysia must begin somewhere, even if it has to start from scratch.
The anti-party sentiment, a product of the betrayal of social-democratic parties and the failure of Leninist organisations, has led to a strong affinity for the anarchist-inspired preference for leaderless movements. Yet, the Arab Spring should be instructive on how these leaderless movements are ill-equipped for the day after the revolution when structures are needed if a power vacuum is to be quickly and effectively filled. The emerging form of the movement-party or party-movement is a potential model, Spain’s socialist Podemos party being the prime example. In the final analysis, a movement is insufficient as a political instrument and a political party is needed for the task of organizing and structuring collective action. This party-movement hybrid is premised on living up to the promise of any political organisation, to be rooted among the people it represents.
To find political success under these worsening conditions of capitalist and state hegemony, a new relationship between the party and its movements must be established. A worthwhile principle to absorb into this model is the notion of self-governance as a key tenet of the party. As Leo Panitch puts it, the role of the party is “developing the democratic capacities of the people who put them there” (1) and must “see politics as the education of the masses” so that they are invested in the anti-capitalist struggle. In teaching the people how to organise and govern themselves, this will realise Lenin’s vision of the “withering away of the state” in which everyone would be a bureaucrat so no one would be a bureaucrat. The party’s membership would be in the movement or even a range of movements that are autonomous and separate yet connected to the party, allowing for greater participation and sense of ownership. Seeing through this project of people’s self-governance will require the party to be explicit about its role as merely the organizer and enabler of movements rather than as their overseer or superior.
If the choice between reform and revolution is a false one, what else can there be? A path that is not often tried is to “take the notion of transforming the state seriously”, going beyond the social-democratic aspiration of merely taking power and the Leninist conception of “smashing the state”. This path would see a socialist party carry through the project of democratic socialism such that it brings the people and its movements, the party’s base, into the state and the process of governing, not merely governing on their behalf. Leo Panitch sums up the challenge of the project: “how is it possible radically to transform the state in such a manner that the extension and deepening of political freedoms and the institutions of representative democracy (which were also a conquest of the popular masses) are combined with the unfurling of forms of direct democracy and the mushrooming of self-management bodies?” In other words, the project would be to transform the state in a way that allows for the aforementioned people’s self-governance to be installed in the centres of power. (2)
If the task of transforming the state through deep democratisation is clear, the next question would be how can it be done? More specifically, what forms would the institutions take once they have been democratised. This is where Erik Olin Wright’s concept of “Real Utopias” and his ‘emancipatory social science’ can inform the process of thinking about transformation. He contends that concretely imagining alternative institutions might be a challenge -- economic alternatives like cooperatives and workers councils, political ones like direct democracy and consultative mechanisms. The greater challenge is how to arrive at a functioning version of those alternatives that have actual power and autonomy, of which he posits three paths: ruptural transformation (revolutionary smashing of the state), interstitial transformation (building alternative projects on the margins of capitalist society) and symbiotic transformation (a compromise win-win between the people and elites). Each alternative institution may call for one or a combination of these strategies. For example, mass mobilisation of people to set up cooperatives in Malaysia would not be difficult as the state sees it as an actual strategy for economic growth and poverty alleviation (can be considered symbiotic). These cooperatives could then be transformed into sites of education about economic democracy and advance the anti-capitalist struggle (an interstitial transformation). *My future articles will explore which institutions are ripe for transformation and how it could be done.
The utility of a party as an organ for mobilisation and the exercising of collective power cannot be ignored as the capitalist and climate crises intensify. Any socialist party established in Malaysia must have as its base many movements from which it is independent while it simultaneously draws strength from the movements. The movement-party must then be grounded in the principle of people’s self-governance and chart forward a path for the transformation of the state to open it up to mass democratisation. There will be many pitfalls once in power, such as the temptation for elitism within the movement-party and overall disillusionment with the state’s capacity to be transformed. Yet, with many other forms of praxis — revolutionary and reformist — tried before, and given the current state of Malaysia’s political economy, this long and difficult path of transformation appears to be the only way forward.
(1) When We Take Power w/ Leo Panitch & Sam Gindin, Democratic Socialists of America YouTube Channel
(2) Towards a Democratic Socialism by Nicos Poulantzas, Introduction by Leo Panitch https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/10/towards-democratic-socialism-poulantzas-state-power