From the League for the Fifth International and Marcus Otono.......

[socialist_n_TN]

9. OK there is one difference right there in your summation. As a Marxist........

you can't subjugate the role of the working class in any of these councils. Workers MUST take the leading role simply because ONLY workers have the numbers and the economic power over production to face down and overthrow capitalism. And any system, whether anarchistic, syndicalist, centralistic or anything else that does NOT count on workers is doomed to eventual failure because it won't directly confront capitalism where capitalism lives, i.e., in the workplace. Councils and confederations of councils that merely confront the organs of state power will not cut it UNLESS they directly involve workers and the representatives of the working class who would be the front lines in any confrontation with the system that engenders those organs of state power.

I guess the ideal would be a combination type of council made up of citizens and workers. The overall council would provide the direction and include workers' input, then the organized workers would be the "muscle" to enforce the council's proclamations.

Now this is not to say that councils that challenge the organs of state power, especially the police in oppressed communities, should not be formed EVEN IF THERE IS NOT MUCH WORKER INVOLVEMENT IN THE FORMATION. Those types of councils SHOULD be formed and empowered to the maximum extent possible. But the FIRST job of those councils should be to involve the organized working class in supporting the neighborhood councils.