Provisional Charter of Radencommunisten
Provisional Charter of Radencommunisten
OUR POSITION
Radencommunisten is distinguished from other publications by its unwavering support of workers' self-emancipation.
Today, the management of the life of the working class is dictated by forces it does not control. At work, it is dictated by the manager, responsible to the executive, responsible to the profit margin. At home, it is dependent on the wages it receives for the price of its labor power: a price necessarily set at the bare minimum in exchange for the absolute maximum of work.
It is this system of wage labor which subjugates the working class. Its exploitative nature is enclosed in the fact that the worker has no control over their conditions of life, other than in their ability to sell themselves for a wage.
Therefore, Radencommunisten calls on the working class to seize control, for itself, its conditions of life. For, no amount of change to the capitalist system, and no one but the working class itself, can achieve emancipation.
In the past, various parties have claimed to represent the interests of the workers. In the workplace, the trade unions have claimed to champion the cause of the workers. Outside of the workplace, the workers' parties have made the same claim. However, these parties have done just the opposite! In the workplace, the trade unions have channeled workers discontent into contractual agreements with capitalists. Outside of the workplace, workers parties have channeled workers discontent into agreements with the state. The fraudulence of these organizations is demonstrated by their parasitic character: they can only exist as long as the working class remains in bondage. Any gain they make is a bargain between a master and slave: fine, you may receive an extra paltry sum, as long as you keep working!
The trade unions and political parties are not organs of the working class; on the contrary, they are middle-men who sell the working class into slavery.
The working class must find independent means of direct control over its social life. In the past, the mass action and workers council have constituted the foremost means of working class emancipation. These forms gave rise to a political movement which fought under their banner, council communism, which fought tirelessly for workers' self-emancipation. Council communism is the masthead of Radecommunisten.
OUR PURPOSE
Council communism, as it stands, is ambiguous and disorganized. Its sorry state is all the more pitiable because it occurs at a time when interest in council communism - corresponding to its relevance in general - is increasing.
A large part of the blame can be placed on the fragmentation of the working class itself. Without a broad working class movement fighting for emancipation, council communism can only exist as a very limited movement. But even for a limited movement, the balance sheet of council communism is poor. Over the past 40 years, no local, national or international groups have managed to disseminate their views.
The situation of the working class cannot fully explain the depressed state of council communism: a much greater factor has been the inability of council communists to form a coherent critique of capitalist society. In the past, even at times when the workers movement seemed totally dead, militants were consolidating the critical insights which would form the basis of future, stronger movements. In order to grasp our current circumstance, it is necessary to look back at these examples: there is no reason to assume council communists cannot learn from their mistakes.
The bastion of council communism, the Kommunistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands (KAPD), was not created overnight. The KAPD were preceded by the tradition of the Dutch German Left, which had held since 1910:
that the mass action of the proletariat would be the determining factor of proletarian revolution,
the mass action of the proletariat would find new forms of organization which would overthrow the bourgeois order
and after 1914:
that the first world war had put an end to the possibility of any national wars.
From 1914-1921, these positions would separate the Dutch-German Left from social democracy. In 1914, they would lead to the International Socialists Deutschlands’ split from the SPD over its involvement in the First World War. This was followed by the de facto split within the Zimmerwald left between the Dutch-German and Russian currents over the character of revolution, followed by the 1919 split within the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD) over participation in the parliament and trade unions. This last split would lead to the formation of the KAPD, and finally the KAPD’s withdrawal from the Third International.
None of the splits which led to the KAPD's formation were mere tactical disagreements. Rather, the splits which led to the KAPD’s complete separation from social democracy can only be explained by its strong critical premise.
Over the last five years, many have started looking back at the legacy of council communism for inspiration. However, and in almost equal proportion, there have grown one-sided interpretations of its central tenets, ones which ignore the critical foundation which allowed it to exist in the first place. As a consequence, the many recent attempts to turn the growing interest in council communism into organization have rapidly disappeared. In this context, the lesson transmitted to us from the experience of the Dutch-German Left and KAPD is supremely important.
A strong communist movement cannot subsist on its tactical positions alone: it must live and die based on its understanding of capitalism.
For Radencommunisten, the only way forward is for council communists to formulate a comprehensive critique of capitalist society, starting from a strong grasp of the inherited theoretical premise of the KAPD.
As a publication, Radencommunisten's main task is to establish the practical basis for such a critique – a unified discussion organ where the many-sided insights of contributors can be exchanged and clarified.
Starting from this premise, it considers its minimum points of agreement to be:
proletarian internationalism,
the rejection of working within the state and trade unions,
the insistence of the primacy of mass-action and workers councils in revolution and
a commitment to cooperation within the communist movement
to be its minimum points of agreement.
Among the key topics which it considers urgent to clarify:
the nature of imperialism,
the nature of crisis within the capitalist system,
the nature of class consciousness and the relationship between communists and the class
and the evaluation of the historical currents which comprise council communism.
Radencommunisten's position as a publication does not mean that it is content with mere reflection. Its position is based on the understanding that critique is an intervention into the existing state of affairs. Critical consciousness can only occur from and lead to lived action. Radencommunisten’s ultimate goal can only be the creation of a politically dedicated group of revolutionaries whose work consists in expanding the clear and conscious self-organization of the laboring masses: nothing less is acceptable.
Articles in agreement with the general premise of the publication (see purpose statement) are not signed. Critiques or different perspectives or dialogues are signed by initials.
Historical translations and transcriptions are published at the end of each issue. Translations into English will go through the standard editorial process; Translations from English into other languages will be handled on a case by case basis in cooperation native speakers.
Full submissions carry a minimum of 2000 words. Submissions shorter than 2000 words may be published as letters or otherwise produced as pamphlets.
Georgia, 12 pt. font, 1.25 spacing, Chicago Footnote Style citations preferred.
All written submission to Radencommunisten will go to: radencommunisten@gmail.com
At the end of each month, all new submissions will be rounded up by the chief editor, at which point the editorial committee will convene to review them.
The agenda for each meeting will comprise a discussion of each written submission. After every submission has been discussed, the editorial committee will vote to either accept or reject each submission. For a submission to be voted on, it must be sponsored by at least one editor. A simple majority is required to accept a written submission. Rejections will come with a justification.
If a submission passes the vote, it becomes accepted, at which point it will be delegated to an editor. The editor will cooperate with the writer(s) to edit the writing until it is of acceptable quality. In special instances, the editor will also coordinate with a graphic designer to add visuals. After an accepted piece is of acceptable quality, the editor will forward it to a copy editor.
After the copy editor finalizes the accepted piece, it will be published in the next issue of Raddencommunisten.
The entire review process is illustrated below:
Submission → Editorial Review → Editing → Copy editing → Publication.
The entire life of a piece is illustrated below:
Written Submission → Accepted Submission → Published Article.
Raddencommunisten is published quarterly. Issues have a deadline of January 1st, April 1st, July 1st and October 1st.
If there is not sufficient content for an issue, Raddencommunisten will not be published that quarter.
The body of Raddencommunisten is divided into two sections, with an additional section for additional translations of the content in either section. The first section comprises all novel content (written submissions, letters, pamphlets, etc). The second comprises all historical content (translations, transcriptions, etc).
The translation section comprises various mini-sections, organized by language.
The provisional editorial committee is tasked with managing the collective’s publication. Within the committee, responsibility is divided between three roles: chief editor, editor and copy editor.
The editorial committee convenes quarterly to assess the state of the publication. Additionally, the editorial committee convenes monthly to assess that month's submissions.
(as of 2025) Until all roles can be filled out, the editorial committee consists of M.S. and S.S..
The chief editor is generally responsible for ensuring that the editorial committee acts in accordance with the publication charter. They also have unique executive responsibilities in keeping with their role as the ‘general manager’ of the publication.
These responsibilities include:
managing the website,
running the email,
and managing exchanges with other publications, especially cross-publications.
Additionally, they bear the full responsibilities of being an editor.
Each editor is responsible for ensuring that their submissions are of a high quality, both in terms of content and organization. They are permitted a certain degree of creative liberty, including full discretion over editors notes. In the case of translation/transcription, they are also permitted to write an introduction to the piece as they see fit.
The responsibilities of an editor include:
balancing the creative considerations of the author with the needs of the publication,
editing articles in a timely manner,
and voting in accordance with the needs of the collective and the charter.
Each copy editor is responsible for ensuring that the publication is free of grammatical errors and that footnotes are properly formatted. A copy editor may also be an editor, and at the level of the publication receive the same rights and responsibilities.
Copy editors are responsible for:
ensuring the publication is grammatically perfect,
ensuring footnotes are accurate to their references,
and balancing stylistic considerations with their responsibilities.
Due to the limitations of the publication, english is the lingua franca of Radencommunisten. However, translation both into and out english is a high priority for Radencommunisten, and which cannot be handled by the main editors.
For translation into other languages, each language has a provisional editor-in-chief. They are responsible for the translation of pieces in their respective language into English, as well as the translation of English material into their respective language, which is delegated to them by the main editorial committee.
Because of current limitations, the only material to be translated into other languages is historical material.
The structure of a language committee is much less formal than the main committee. Committees are composed of the editor in chief for the language and native speakers, as needed. No revision process is needed for translation, other than for grammatical issues.
New translations are to be posted in a bulletin on the website, updated monthly.