The Green Book by Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi

[Fodla32 3,692]

Colonel al-Gaddafi explains how representational democracy robs the people of their will and usurps their power. Political parties, in representational democracy, do not represent the people, but only their wealthy financial backers:

 

 

[Fodla32 3,692]

Al Gaddafi makes a very interesting point, which I don't think has been solved by Marxist theory, i.e. when the Working Class liquidates all other classes, far from these classes ceasing to exist, they re-emerge within the Working Class itself. We saw that in the USSR, were a bourgeois class emerged from the ranks of the Working Class. It seems to me that this is not only a question of base and superstructure, but also of human psychology, which may remain resistant to new forms of base and superstructure.

[Fodla32 3,692]

Colonel Al-Gaddafi outlines how a system of Direct Democracy could work:

 

 

[Guest Connolly]

Thats why libertarian Marxism exists, or indeed anarchism. To analyse society not just in terms of Marxian class analysis, but in terms of social hierarchy, forms of social capital and social structures and organisational forms.

 

Marxist class analysis by itself is incredibly limited.

[Fodla32 3,692]

Thats why libertarian Marxism exists, or indeed anarchism. To analyse society not just in terms of Marxian class analysis, but in terms of social hierarchy, forms of social capital and social structures and organisational forms.

 

Marxist class analysis by itself is incredibly limited.

 

I agree with you up to a point. I think economic class still remains the dominant factor. A very weak minded millionaire can still hire media spin doctors and body guards to make sure that he gets his own way against strong minded, but economically poor individuals. Also, in Marx's defense, I would say that, for all his work, he was still just one man, and he couldn't be expected to take everything into account. He wasn't foolish enough to try to either. As you say, its up to us to continue the work he started, so that our analysis becomes more comprehensive. I think that when studies are done on the Green Book, and how it operated in practice in Libya are done, it will teach us a lot about the reality of trying to implement Direct Democracy.

[Lugh Ildánach 2,352]

Here is the quote from the Green Book itself

 

]A party that is formed in the name of a class inevitably becomes a substitute for that class and continues in the process of spontaneous transformation until it becomes hostile to the class that it replaces.[/b]

 

Any class which inherits a society also inherits its characteristics. If the working class, for example, subdues all other classes of a particular society, it then becomes its only heir and forms its material and social base. The heir acquires the traits of those from whom it inherits, though this may not be evident all at once. With the passage of time, characteristics of the other eliminated classes will emerge within the ranks of the working class itself. The members of the new society will assume the attitudes and perspectives appropriate to their newly evolved characteristics. Thus, the working class will develop a separate society possessing all of the contradictions of the old society. In the first stage, the material standard and importance of the members become unequal. Thereafter, groups emerge which automatically become classes that are the same as the classes that were eliminated. Thus, the struggle for domination of the society begins again. Each group of people, each faction, and each new class will all vie to become the instrument of government.

 

Its a very important point. Gaddafi is essentially denouncing the dictatorship of the proletariat, and he is right to do so. The proleteriat, if it does not reform the political structures, will remain only one class. If it doesn't address the base and superstructure, of course those elements that have been destroyed by the working class dictatorship must reappear, it will not just not become the universal class, but it will ensure that class division reasserts itself and that a new working class will arise in opposition, meaning that all the struggle will have been in vain.

 

Direct democracy offers the key to this, it doesn't offer a chance to the working class to become embedded in the existing order, it gives the working class the chance embrace the opportunity to get rid of class altogether.

[Lugh Ildánach 2,352]

This is another presentation from the Annual Muammar Al Gaddafi Day School. As I was reading through the Green Book to prepare the presentation I was struck by its simplicity, and could imagine almost any working class person in Ireland express most of the sentiments in the book when describing their own experience of so-called democracy in Ireland. So, rather than give a presentation as such, I decided to simply read some of the more striking quotes from the Green Book as they relate to parliaments and to political parties, which was particularly apt given this was the first event that our new party had organised.

 

The presentation is divided into two pages, the first containing quotes about the sham democratic system that we have, and the second outlining the alternative suggested by Gaddafi.

 

I feel that if Gaddafi had just been able to transport this simple vision to Ireland, it would have been of infinitely more value than the weapons, which ultimately ended up destroyed under the watch of the bourgeois enemy. Such ideas could never be decommissioned, and indeed they still live on and inspire us today.

 

Regardless of how far Gaddafi managed to implement these ideas, we can still be inspired by them and pledge to fully implement them in Ireland today.

 

The series of excerpts is attached.

Green Book, Chapter 1 - Presentation.doc

[Lugh Ildánach 2,352]

The full Green Book can be viewed here

 

http://www.mathaba.n...i/theory/gb.htm

 

And there is a thread already on the site with some videos on the subject http://soviet.ie/index.php?/topic/1793-the-green-book-by-colonel-muammar-al-gaddafi/

[Lugh Ildánach 2,352]

Threads merged.