Active Revolution by James Mumm
Submitted by Chuck0:James Mumm
1998
This essay contains elements of the "Revolutionary Model of Social Change" writing project that came out of the Active Resistance '96 Community Organizing Core Section. I am facilitating this writing project with an editorial collective of twenty people across the country. We are currently writing and editing the third draft, although I am the sole author of this essay.
Our challenge today is to be as radical and as grassroots as possible. This pamphlet explores several key questions, debates and challenges that are of critical importance to anarchist revolutionaries. First, the difference between activism, advocacy and organizing are discussed in the context of power, the degree of intentionality placed on relationship-building and the emphasis on issue or organization as the point of connection between people. Second, a definition of Dual Power strategy is given, and the Active Resistance Core Sections are located within that strategy.Third, several concrete directions for the Dual Power strategy of revolution are explored.
Why did I write this? I've been active in the anarchist scene since the end of the Gulf War, and I've worked as a community organizer since the summer of 1989. From these experiences springs my obsession with combining anarchism with community organizing. I hope that the ideas in these pages lead to a healthy debate on the direction of revolutionary social change.
