The _possibility_ of a democratically-organized constituent assembly was prefigured (negatively) in the critique of earlier revolutions and their "thermidors" or "18th Brumaires" and positively by the distinctive measures taken by the Paris Commune -- such as universal suffrage. Historically, it has been the property owners who have been the principle opponents of democracy -- even in the form of universal suffrage. So I suspect there is an element of "expectation by negation" -- people thinking that if we get rid of the die-hard opponents of democracy, the rest will be easy (or at least possible).
On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 7:45 PM, David Shemano <[email protected]>wrote: > I understand the position that just because what comes after the > revolution could be worse than the pre-revolution status quo does not mean > you should never engage in revolution. But that does not answer my > question, which is what is your evidence that the revolution *can* result > in “democratically organized constituent assemblies.” Is there historical > evidence that convinces you it can occur? For example, the Paris Commune? > Or are you limited to the theoretical possibility, like there is > theoretical possibility that Angelina Jolie might leave Brad Pitt for me?* > *** > > ** ** > > David Shemano**** > > ** ** > > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Tom Walker > *Sent:* Tuesday, August 28, 2012 6:57 PM > > *To:* Progressive Economics > *Subject:* Re: [Pen-l] Capitalism and the 'undeniable' rise in living > standards**** > > ** ** > > My point being that just because the criteria for what is democratic will > never receive universal assent doesn't mean that we have to grant perpetual > privilege to a bad status quo. In fact, abject failure of the status quo > may be sufficient grounds for experimentation even given the understanding > that there is no guarantee those experiments will succeed.**** > > On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 6:48 PM, Tom Walker <[email protected]> wrote: > **** > > I'm not sure that I would agree that a constituent assembly is a > "structure." David. It seems to me it is an action: constituents assemble > at the behest of initiatives undertaken by broad popular participation. > That action may eventually congeal into a structure. Whether or not such a > structure is deemed 'democratic' would be essentially contested. > > Is a plebiscite -- conceived, administered, financed and manipulated by > elites -- "democratic" as long as the majority of the population is > "eligible" to register a choice between two offered candidates? **** > > ** ** > > On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 5:58 PM, David Shemano <[email protected]> > wrote:**** > > Carroll Cox writes: > > "Anti-capitalist movements at least in principle can/could overthrow > capitalist regimes, leading to democratically organized constituent > assemblies." > > There are two statements here. The first is that anti-capitalist movement > can overthrow capitalist regimes (i.e., anti-capitalist revolutions can > occur). The second statement is that such revolutions can lead to > democratic political structures. > > I am curious about the second statement. In your view (the generic you), > what is the evidence for the second statement? This is not intended as a > contentious question. The fact that I may disagree with you about whether > any specific post-revolutionary political structure is democratic, or an > improvement, is irrelevant to the question. The questions is, from your > perspective, what is the evidence that supports the statement that > anti-capitalist revolutions can lead to democratic political structures? > > David Shemano**** > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l**** > > > > **** > > -- > Cheers, > > Tom Walker (Sandwichman)**** > > > > > -- > Cheers, > > Tom Walker (Sandwichman)**** > > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > > -- Cheers, Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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