Our Organization
Interprofessional Union of Workers (MPST) is an association of
like-minded people from different regions of Russia, which accepts
members who do not exploit the labour of others, and who do not have
power nor management authority, who shares principles set out in the
manifesto and organization charter of MPST.
Libertarian Communism
We stand for stateless and classless society, based on the principles of
self-government, where all decisions concerning economic, political,
social, and cultural life will be made by all interested members of the
society through general meetings, and not by a privileged minority,
whether business owners, managers or government officials.
Mechanisms of People’s Power
In such society, all the state apparatus will be abolished. Soviets,
organs of the direct democracy, will be formed instead of them. Soviets
(councils) will unite people in their communities. They will hold
general meetings to make decisions on all the aspects of the local life
and form work groups, fully accountable to these meetings, to enforce
their decisions.
General meetings in the communities will also address issues that go
beyond their territory. To adjust interests of residents of different
regions, people will appoint delegates from their regions and appoint
them with instructions. Council’s decisions will be coordinated at
delegates meetings, where they will share the decisions made at the
local level, to find a solution that would suit everyone. Delegates then
return to their collectives for the final confirmation of these decisions.
Economy
Universal participation in socially useful labour, abolition of
government posts, and elimination of unemployment allows to reduce the
working day significantly. This can free up time for everyone to address
the pressing issues, for creative work, self-development, and all forms
of life, that a person considers necessary.
We oppose to market relations and stand for socialization of
enterprises, schools, universities, health facilities, and other
institutions. By ‘socialization’ we mean transition of the managerial
functions at these socially important institutions to their ordinary
workers and those who are directly interested in their functioning.
Labour collectives and locals will manage economy by the general
assemblies, to ascertain the needs and production capacity and to
confirm the general production and development plan. We want to
emphasize that we stand for socialization, not the nationalization of
the economy, because in case of nationalization economy is managed by
government officials, not by the workers.
Human and the Nature
We stand for the minimization of the damage to the environment from the
human activities and harmonious coexistence of society and nature. We
stand for humanization of labour processes and rational overcoming of
manufacturing single-sourcing and specialization of labour.
Self-Defence
We stand for general arming of the people and the organization of
voluntary squads. Their tasks will include the fight against crime. We
also see the need of voluntary army with elected commanders, organized
on territorial basis. We believe that voluntary militia and army must
report directly to the residents, whose peace they guard.
Internationalism
We stand for internationalism, unity of the oppressed regardless of the
national borders, traditions and religions. We oppose to the nationalism
and other ideologies claiming superiority of some people over others,
and provoking warfare among oppressed people of various nation and
ethnicity. We also oppose to the idea of tolerance—respecting the
rights of police officers, state officials, capitalists, nationalists,
religious fundamentalists etc. We believe that all the oppressors and
supporters of the oppression and discrimination should be subjected to
retaliation until they stop their unacceptable activities.
Denying the nationalism, at the same time we believe that any person has
right to have own ethnic, cultural, or other identity, if one does not
consider other peoples affinities worse than one’s own.
Antimilitarism
We are opposed to all wars initiated by states, no mater what purposes
they declare. Wars make profit only for privileged stratum of society but
civilians and the ranks, that formed from the oppressed people, die. During
wars ordinary citizens of different states forced to kill each other. This
is the reason why we appeal all the oppressed to stop murdering their
sisters and brothers and to turn their arms against the oppressors.
Liquidation of oppression
We stand for ensuring true equality of opportunity for men and women in
everyday life, studies and labour. We support unity in struggle against any
kind of inequality and oppression, for ultimate equality independently of
age, gender, race, sexuality and relations with religion.
Class struggle
We think birth of new society is impossible without crating friendly
horizontal relations between oppressed, which are almost destroyed and
continue degrading in capitalist society forcing people to follow logic of
competition and egoism. Such horizontal relations can re-emerge only in
collective activity of people trying to solve their common problems
without collaboration with the state and institutions of capitalist
society. In particular these relations will appear during collective class
struggle. We believe that ordinary people will create parallel social
structures
like network of assemblies during this struggle. These institutions will
be able to destroy capitalism and state and to take management in their own
hands.
Direct action
We support direct struggle of oppressed for their purposes and believe that
this struggle should be organized in a way of direct action (strikes,
road blocking, etc.) and controlled by the assemblies (general
meetings) of its participants. Parliamentary struggle, legal and
hierarchical union-organizing, political parties and organisations like
these, appealing to judicial authorities are ways of co-option with the
system, killing the revolutionary substance of struggle. Hierarchical and
legal parties, trade-unions and other public associations organised like a
small model of capitalist society degenerate in the course of time, even
when they proclaim revolutionary ideology in the beginning. That’s due to
appearance of management stratum in such groups, which join establishment
and take its part of political and economic power. These managers brake a
grass-roots activity replacing it with endless negotiations, lawsuits, etc.
That’s the way of degradation of many «independent trade unions», housing
and ecological initiatives, etc.
Against reformism
We believe that struggle for reforming of capitalist and state system
towards its softening and democratization is useless and even adverse. The
most democratic and social oriented state will soften social struggle and
corrupt working people, make them more loyal to system and make them
refuse to fight for creation of new society. «Social state» has another
problem for ordinary people: such regime can exist only during no-crisis
period, but as we know, capitalism is systematically affected with
crises of different kind. Finally, period of democratic and social state
will be replaced by dictatorship and collapse of social goods and
democratic «liberties».
We are revolutionaries and believe that new social organization can be
created only through action and struggle taken by oppressed themselves. It
will not be given by any «saviours» from above: «No one will grant us
deliverance, Not god, nor tsar, nor hero». It can be created only
through social revolution in the course of which we all establish
self-management.