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A Theory of Council Democracy

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The German Revolution and Political Theory

Part of the book series: Marx, Engels, and Marxisms ((MAENMA))

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Abstract

This chapter identifies three constitutive levels of a theoretical model of council democracy. It first addresses the political dimension of the organisation of the councils as they arose in Germany and Russia, partially influenced by the Paris Commune. Given the political principles it introduced and their relation to representation, the German Revolution raises the issue of the strategic reasons for the collapse of council power at each time they arose. The chapter contends that the tension between a destructive strategic dimension and a constructive democratic dimension was successively embodied in a fetishism of the form (Paris Commune), instrumentalisation (Russian Soviets) and institutionalisation (German Councils), revealing the underlying question of the temporality of democracy. Finally, the legacy of the councils of the German Revolution raises the issue of organisation and the shifting articulation between substitutionism and spontaneity in the relation between a revolutionary movement and its political organisations.

(Translated by Olivier Ruchet).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IEP (Sciences Po) Paris, Paris, France

    Yohan Dubigeon

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  1. Yohan Dubigeon
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Management Research, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Gaard Kets

  2. Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Penryn, UK

    James Muldoon

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Dubigeon, Y. (2019). A Theory of Council Democracy. In: Kets, G., Muldoon, J. (eds) The German Revolution and Political Theory. Marx, Engels, and Marxisms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13917-9_13

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