The Green Party is the only political party that promotes direct democracy in our electoral campaigns and our platform. Direct democracy is the process through which the important issues and ideas that the Green Party supports can best be implemented. It is the putting into practice of our vision of a future society. A society that would be democratically run on all levels, especially the political, economic, and infrastructure levels.

Worker councils and popular assemblies, democratically organized in the workplace and local areas, would decide on public policies together. Worker, farmer, and tenant cooperatives would replace global corporations with sustainable local economies based on democratic decision making. These could then form trade associations for the purpose of industrial and agricultural specialization. Other methods of direct democratic decision making would include participatory budgeting, community land trusts, initiative and referendum, and police review boards.

A society where the collective good is prioritized by a real political and economic democracy would foster voluntary cooperation. A decentralized democratic society would minimize the layers of hierarchy which create inequality of wealth, so you have not only the freedom but also the resources and the ability to meet basic needs. Direct democracy transforms individual free choices into equally shared collective action. It demonstrates that individual freedom and collective benefit are not mutually exclusive. Direct democracy is the process where the methods of health or security or the social good is determined by the people themselves. The inclusive participation of direct democracy expresses the cooperative ownership of the society.

That is what the Green Party is fighting for.

The first 2 pages of this book is happening right before our eyes as Russian troops are set to enter Nicaragua

https://preview.redd.it/3dvraj0x7s591.png?width=1968&format=png&auto=webp&s=a3478a351e23ef0890371ee4eba51387e2da536e

Ok,

I am a market socialist for a lot of reasons. But one of the big ones is the authoritarianism and sheer mismanagement of the centrally planned economies of 20th century socialist regimes. Clearly, a better system is needed. Despite the flaws of capitalism, it is clear markets produce a great deal of wealth. The issue is its distribution and control. As socialists, we ought to consider a variety of socialist perspectives though. Traditionally, I tend to align with JS Mill and Proudhon, but it is undeniable that Marx has a deep and lasting impact on socialism, and so we ought to include a marxist analysis shouldn't we? Recently, I have been trying to couple marxism and market socialism and have been running into issues. So let's take a look at the big one: Capitalist crisis.

This video (starting at 5:22) https://youtu.be/b2h7NWpyfkE offers an overview of capitalist crisis (i.e. why capitalism is inherently prone to crisis).

So what is relevant specifically is the discussion of surplus value.

Basically, here's the issue:

Surplus value consists of the profit the capitalist takes home and the resources put into expanding his enterprise.

So because capitalists are competing, the profits they take home must fall because otherwise another capitalist can offer a lower price that undercuts them. However, a smart capitalist can take some surplus value and reinvest in machines that then expand the productive capacity of labor. That means that goods can be produced cheaper and that the capitalist can lower your wage as a worker and therefore the profit can remain the same and you can still afford cheaper goods.

This process continues until capitalists produce more than is needed and nobody can afford anything and so crisis ensues.

My question is: would market socialism be subject to this same force for crisis as worker cooperatives would be forced to reinvest surplus value to expand productive operations within a market context?

I would say no, but i want to double check that my reason why is correct: market socialism eliminates capitalist profit, i.e. the take home for the capitalist. Instead all surplus not reinvested goes to the workers themselves, in short it becomes an addition the wage, so as productive capacity expands and cooperative profits go up, so do wages, and therefore workers can afford more.

This is resting on the idea that workers would take home the pay allocated to capitalists though. An immediate counter argument could well be that every dollar given to workers could go to reinvestment and therefore the firm that takes home nothing for each worker will win out, so profit doesn't go to the worker and the same problem arises.

But a counter to that is: this is true within the capitalst system as well right? Every dollar of profit to the capitalist doesn't go to reinvestment, so therefore wouldn't the profit less firm win put? So then why would any profit exist at all?

I guess a solid answer to that is: yeah that's the point. That's the tendency for the rate of profit to fall. And that's what generates capitalist crisis.

So, as you can see I have been going back and forth.

Does market socialism face the same issue of crisis? If so, how can it be dealt with?

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The Green Party Of New York is seeking enthusiastic and personable persons, to help collect signatures to get our candidates on the ballot. These are temporary jobs lasting five weeks, from April 19 to May 24 of this year. We are hiring for both full time and part time positions. Hours can be flexible as long as you can find people to sign for you. Pay is $20/hour with bonuses for high performers.

Your job will consist of meeting people in public places to ask for their signature on a petition. Training will be provided, and no prior canvassing experience is necessary. Attention to detail is important. You must be registered to vote in New York State. Please respond here, or apply online at gpny.org/petitionjob. Together we can challenge the corrupt and complacent, and work toward a better future for all people.

Hello I'm from ex-Yugoslavia and I find the idea of worker's self management very appealing but we did try it, it wasn't that good. Many people (mostly southerners and easterners) remember Yugoslavia as the good old days but most aren't aware or simply overlook the over reliance on western loans, institutionalized gastarbeit (guest work, 20% of the entire country's work force was employed abroad), unemployment etc. Eventually the economy collapsed in 1980 which gave nationalist demagogues the opportunity for power and I'm sure everyone knows what happened next. Thanks in advance for any answers