Dear Tord, Here is an 2013 article and links of three practical projects hope that gives a broader perspective: Another World, Now! Coming of the Transnational Revolutions and the Networked Prince: http://www.academia.edu/5179504/Another_World_Now_Coming_of_the_Transnationa... This is [CoDe]Proletkult: http://www.networkedlabour.net/ - CoDe stands for cooperative and collaborative development of the self- co- learning platform in order to produce and expand de-proletarian culture of the classless society, as much as possible. And this is an counter 'operational research' unit to build and strengthen operational work for change: http://www.networkedlabour.net/ networkedlabour list is the currently most active aspect feeding in generative exchange. Finally the GNUnion as a global networked labour union: https://gnunion.wordpress.com/ it is designed as an organisational tool for those enslaved by global IT companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, gameing companies and call centers. so these are where and how I see Bogdanov's work and vision be more than helpful. best, Orsan On 28 July 2015 at 17:07, Tord Björk <[email protected]> wrote:
Interesting perspectives both in terms of practical organizing of a movement, proletkult, and theoretically. There seems to be quite much underbenteath the surface produced by the institutionalized left and their state-centric tendencies.
Yet some smaller notions can be added in relation to both the text and in general the way the left discuss societal matters at the moment.
1. The comments made by Tompsett putting Bogdanovs ideas into historical perspective by placing it in relation to the English revolution lacks one fundamental example emerging out of this revolution somewhat later. Tompsett sees the company, the commando based army and local commons (or if I understand the text correctly - local communities digging up commons stolen by the rich and sow corns" as the primary examples of organizational differenciations during the revolution.
This fits well into a dominant strand today focusing upon local change either in terms of subcommandant Marcos talking about pockets of resistanceand change, the theory or ideology of horizontalism or Anglo American transition town concepts. Change as something occurring locally and then connecting to each other.
I have not been reading Bogdanov so I do not know if this fits well with his theories, he himself was referring to the Paris Commune according to the text which can be claimed to be none of the examples given by Tompsett as 8 hours working Day and electoral rights were included among the demands pout forward, very much in line with the global demands carried forward first by Australian workers in 1856 if I remember right and then spread globally with such methods as global actions Days on May 1st.
My claim is that "Commons based Exemplary Laboratory" is not compareable to the innovation of the company or the commando based army. Thus we still become helpless by using Bogdanov this way.
More to the point I would say is the notion of the association and the mass organization of commoners which was also an innovation, first in England and then in Ireland. This social innovation scared those in power as it was not built on personal relationships in terms of being excepted in person by someone above but in terms of personal commitment to a common cause. In principle the association could with other words become a new society once it is able to fulfil most or all peoples needs. The emergence of associations has mainly been seen in the light of benevolent associations to stop slave trade and similar causes, somewhat racist and imperialistic way of placing history in the hands of nations in power rather than the simultaneous slave rebellions and pirate communities that spearheaded much of the popular movement social change in later centuries. Still the association is of importance, especially when the Irish turns it into a mass mobilizing tool in the early 19th century against the British and after this such movements as trade unions, peasant organization or lets say Proletkult. Today we have such movements as Via Campesina while many have been absorbed by state centrism or the project funding market more accountable to the state or funders than to the members.
2. There seems to me to that many intellectuals are looking at hot spots in history or geographically rather than trying to look at more general trends. My point of view in Sweden which is not a country were much is going on at the moment although the trend to emphasize exemplatory local projects has been dominating since mid 1980s. What Tompsett brings forward from Mexico was standard procedure in Nordic countries from 1844 and onwards. Grundtvig started a rebellion in Denmark against what was called "black pedagogy" and a mass movement emerged able of establishing maybe a thousand peoples high schools in all Nordic countries, mainly on the country side and often linked to the workers, abolitionist or peasant movement being able to promote something in line with Proletkult. One can say somethings about the limitations of this mass movement that simultaneously developed huge cooperatives building local chapters in every corner of the Nordic countries. Today there are some attempts in similar direction. But my main point here is that the way to claim only hot spots as interesting and pull them out of a common history of very similar development earlier of simultaneously will not bring us forward. Especially problematic are at least two things. By lacking empirical and theoretical concept that at least to some degree places different experiences into a common perspective by only looking at hot spots it will be hard to find what is really new. The other aspect is the risk of romanticizing the "exemplatory project". Among quite a few intellectuals today is seems very popular to criticize state centric models, but equally important is to not fall into the trap of avoiding to see how project, networking an horizontalism easily becomes trapped in market relationships or at least non-democratic informal power relationships.
3. Bogdanov seems interesting as he is both ecologically, organisationally and social aware, something quite uncommon. Thanks for sharing the text.
Tord Björk
On Mon, Jul 27, 2015 at 9:15 PM, Örsan Şenalp <[email protected]> wrote:
This essay uses Bogdanov’s Tektology, or organisational science to compare three forms of organisation: Bourgeois corporation, the Soldier-peasant army and the Exemplary laboratory and their role as competing organisational forms offering market-based, command-based and commons-based approaches to social organisation. Bogdanov’s role as an educational innovator is compared with that of Gustavo Esteva, and both are linked to the exemplary-laboratory organisation as a way of combining learning with the commons. One outcome of Bogdanov’s approach which is featured is that of Vladimir Vernadsky, the Ukrainian bio-geochemist who discovered the role of man and other living creatures in the generation of CO 2 in the atmosphere. This reflects the strengths of Bogdanov’s Tektology as way of approaching sustainability, which at the same time fits with a commons-based innovative approach rooted in a dynamic around autonomy and mutuality.
http://www.academia.edu/10149629/Bogdanov_s_Organisational_Science_the_Commo...
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