Chapter 36: Strategies and Tactics

Traditional strikes have been effective strategies in many places and times. Employees shut down production, picket, and raise public awareness and support, while negotiating with employers for improvements in salary, benefits, working conditions etc. Often this is the only way to get employers to make improvements, since otherwise they simply won’t, because the economic paradigm reinforces getting the most out of employees and giving them the least possible. Strikers often make huge sacrifices, living without pay with minimal help from strike funds, often harassed, threatened, jailed, beaten, tortured and even killed by intransigent employers. Public sympathy often leads to public boycotting of exploitative businesses. Employers often bring in scab labor, putting strikers in and scabs in an adversarial setup often spawning violence.

Strikes succeed when the cost to employers and the modern feudal lords at their helms, in terms of lost profits, stock price, and market share exceeds the cost of giving concessions to strikers. Employers will finally compromise with employees, when it becomes better for the bottom line to do so.

Where there are strong, well-organized labor unions and high public identification with striking employees (remember that most people are paid sub-living or barely-living wages), we see real improvements in wages, benefits, working conditions, and the lives of employees in general. We even see laws passed to safeguard the safety and well-being of employees. Strikes are usually aimed improving the lot of employees at an individual company, sector or industry.

Unfortunately, strikes are no longer nearly as effective as they were just a generation ago, for the following reasons:

1) The modern feudal lords, their corporations, and politicians responsive to their interests, have successfully generated propaganda and disinformation portraying strikers and unions in general as criminals, troublemakers, and even “economic terrorists.” Such propaganda is often made to look like it comes from organizations that claim to be oriented towards the good of employees.

If you see a pamphlet or public service announcement from, for example, “Workers’ Rights Alliance,” you are more likely to trust that its output is in support of employees, than if it comes from the Chamber of commerce. It is not uncommon for such names to be covertly used by employers and their government suzerains to deliver disinformation. Amidst typical labor-oriented language, you might see an article claiming that unions, not employers, exploit employees, cause job loss and inflation, and take away your freedom.

This divides employees into pro-union and anti-union, fighting each other rather than the employer and the socioeconomic paradigm. We also see increasing public indifference to and hostility towards strikers, who are blamed for inflation, rather than the businesses which put employees in a position where they need to strike, just to be able to survive; rather than realizing that the real “culprit” is the socioeconomic paradigm which pits employers and employers against each other and always advantages the employer.

2) News media have become inexorably swallowed up into mammoth mega-corporations through acquisitions and mergers. Reporters are no longer expected to uncover the truth and report it, with no preconceptions. Rather, they are expected to tell whatever story their employer, and the feudal lord driving it, want told. If they don’t want a strike reported, it won’t be. If they want a strike spun as the act of hooligans or bad elements, that’s how the story will be told. In the United States, almost as much as in China and North Korea, what the public sees and hears is by and large what the feudal lords want them to see and hear. 3) Some unions have indeed become corrupt, complacent, and out of touch with their purpose. Some union leaders become self-serving and unresponsive to real issues, even to the point of colluding with employers at employees’ expense. A classic example is when the Teamsters’ Union terrorized early organizers of the United Farmworkers, on behalf of growers. 4) The gains made from decades of employee and public struggles, have led to complacency, a misperception that we’ve arrived at a good place and that the struggles are behind us. Yet as long as the current paradigm is operating, such complacency guarantees escalating loss of gains. 5) Employers increasingly hire people as contractors, rather than employees, as a way to save money and avoid legal obligations and protections in place for employees. 6) The “right to work” or “at-will employment” concept, implemented in many U.S. states, is a legal framework which allows employers to micromanage and fire employees at will, with few to no restrictions.

Traditional strikes usually involve one company, or at most, one industry. A more effective kind of strike is the general strike, in which people strike across nearly all industries and sectors, shutting down the economy in order to achieve gains for everybody. This is even more effective when people also refrain from buying and selling altogether. Another advantage of general strikes is that they are nonviolent and much less likely to be subjected to violence. This has been especially effective in Europe, Iceland and other places.

Since it involves everybody staying home, there’s no large gathering that can be targeted for intimidation, or degenerate from purposeful, concerted action into an emotional “purging” that accomplishes little. The general strike can still be a very good vehicle for nonviolently forcing systemic legal, economic, and policy changes, providing that demands are clearly and concisely presented. This tactic definitely has a place among the tactics to be used to initiate the Transition, keeping in mind that some services, such as hospitals and firefighters, might best refrain, while expressing solidarity with strikers.

For the purposes of the Transition, however, the general strike alone will not be sufficient. This is because strikes happen in order to bring about specific changes. Once those changes are achieved, everybody goes back to work under the same current, modern feudal paradigm as before the strike. The goal of the Transition, however, is to completely decommission the current, dysfunctional paradigm and completely replace it with an entirely new one. This is not an overhaul or maintenance. It is total replacement of the paradigm. It’s unlikely that a universal general strike could induce modern feudal lords to disband their corporations and relinquish power, financial institutions to shut down, and legislators to make abolish currency and make the necessary changes to the legal framework.

The transition will need to use tactics and strategies that are innovative, nonviolent, aggressive, and free of the limitations of strikes that we’ve known before. For one approach, think of a reverse strike. The current socioeconomic paradigm cannot be tweaked or fixed to make it viable. It must be halted in order to implement a new paradigm based on completely new operating principles and reinforcing very different behaviors, which will give rise to sustainable, win-win societies where each and all are able to thrive in a synergistic, symbiotic set of relationships between fully empowered and actualized individuals, groups, and the larger community, in which mutual support and reciprocal benefit is the norm.

Enter the reverse strike. It will work something like this:

Via social media, email, and word of mouth, people will come to consensus on a date for the Transition. It will literally happen from one day to the next. The date will ideally be chosen sometime in early spring, in order to minimize the impact of unexpected disruptions. This will avoid having to contend with winter cold or summer heat right away, and allows maximum time to stabilize any outages before the next winter.

On the day of Transition, people will go to work and things will proceed very similarly to “normal,” with the following important differences:

1) Production processes will continue as always, except that the chain of command will be ignored. Decision-making will henceforth be made on a peer-based democratic or consensus model. Chains of command will be informed of the change. No demands will be made, and no negotiation will take place. There will be no going back. Any attempts to physically re-establish and enforce the old chain of command will be dealt with physically, but as nonviolently as absolutely possible, with firmness, respect and compassion towards all parties. 2) Banks, stock exchanges, investment firms, insurance companies, collections agencies, and all financial sector entities will be evacuated, physically blocked, and cut off from power and communication in the early hours before the morning rush hour. 3) In the financial departments of productive operations such as factories, hospitals, schools, power plants, all accounts will be marked paid in full (including currently past-due ones), all billing and all payment will cease. Goods and services will continue to flow.

Meanwhile, software developers supporting production and business software systems will remove all financial functionality from all applications. All genuinely productive functionality will remain: inventory, maintenance, industrial processes, and other essential functionality will be preserved. Payment terminals, toll gates and similar hardware will be removed from wherever they are. If this can be done before Transition and patched into apps during, it would be optimal, though such work will have to proceed in secret.

Doctors, dentists, mechanics, and other service providers will cease charging customers, who will cease to pay. People will no longer pay rent, mortgages, leases, loans or other debts, even if old-paradigm die-hards try to make them. Remember, all financial institutions and departments will be unmanned and without power, communication, or even physical access.

Stores, gas stations and other retailers will still ring customers out, but without taking payment, price modifying all transactions to zero. Very quickly, POS applications will be updated to provide inventory-related functions only. If payment is offered, it will be refused; if demanded, it will be not be given.

4) The chain of command will be shut down. CEO’s, managers, supervisors and similar commanders will be the last to realize that their fiefs are running smoothly and efficiently under autonomous peasant control, and that their orders are being steadfastly ignored, their authority is gone.

When the deposed lords and their agents try to reassert their control, they will be informed, firmly but respectfully, that their jobs are eliminated and their former roles no longer exist. Their orders will be ignored. They will be invited to join the rest of the members of the enterprise as respected peers, not as commanders.

When some deposed lords try to use physical force to reassert dominance, we will resist them calmly and firmly, both verbally and physically. If necessary, they will be removed from the premises, but always with respect and care to cause no or minimum possible injury or indignity. If it becomes the only option, we may on occasion have to fight; but always with the guiding principles of minimizing harm and then rendering aid when threats are contained.

When deposed lords inevitably try to leverage the legal system, law enforcement, and even the military to enforce their will, we will be ready to live-stream events to the world. Their only options in that effort would be to try to halt production of goods and services, which will plainly show the world the truth of their priorities. By that time, many police and military members will have realized that the Transition is actually restoring government of, by and for the people as set out in the Constitution that they swore to protect and defend, and that the current modern feudalism has been quietly subverting democracy and supplanting it with feudal oligarchy. Many such people will support the Transition, or at the very least, interpret their task as protecting all parties from harm, keeping the peace. If we are forced to either capitulate or fight and have exhausted all other options, we will be prepared to fight, but only to defend against the re-establishment of modern feudalism, and always seeking to neutralize the threat posed by our adversaries with minimum possible harm to all parties. If government attempts to enforce the will of the defunct lords, we will continue producing and refuse to comply.

5) Some won’t know what the Transition is about. Some will try to sabotage it out of fear, ignorance, attachment to the old paradigm, or for other reasons. If we Transition well, then we’ll contain and restrain such people with the same attitude and approach that we use to contain and restrain people suffering from dementia, delusions, chemical alteration, or panic. Anybody who tries to cut off services, send or collect bills, or obstruct access of people to goods and services, will be respectfully but firmly prevented from doing so. 6) Many working in the media will already be participating in the Transition, but likely not all. Therefore, we expect coverage of the Transition to be incomplete and inconsistent, some outlets reporting factually, some sympathetically, some antagonistically, and some not at all.

Fortunately we won’t be wholly dependent on the media. Every one of us will be a reporter, recording and uploading events as they occur, at every level. If any media portray the Transition as violent, authoritarian, or barbaric, the overwhelming live reporting on the scene will show the country and the world that those initiating the Transition are peaceful, level-headed, reasonable people bent on keeping the lights on, the trucks rolling, and the flow of goods and services strong. That will put those deposed lords trying to shut the Transition down, into the role of violent, brutal, authoritarian thugs trying to shut everything down out of sheer greed and power lust. The world will see clearly the superiority of the new paradigm over the old, in close juxtaposition.

Unlike in traditional strikes, there’ll be no negotiation, no compromise, and no return to a modified continuation of the old paradigm afterwards. Production and distribution will continue undisrupted, while financial institutions and functions will be permanently and completely shut down, never to be revived.

7) As the Transition unfolds, statements will be sent to all electronic, audio, video, printed and other media and shared from person to person presenting, clarifying and explaining what’s happening and elucidating its guiding principles, intentions and goals. These statements won’t be presented as demands, but as statements of fact. There will be no vilifying of individuals or groups, and no violent or hateful rhetoric.

The statement will explain that the current modern feudal socioeconomic paradigm is untenable, unsustainable, and incompatible with democracy and why it is so. It will explain that we the people are initiating a new paradigm from the ground up, centered on peer-based consensus-oriented models, a win-win paradigm rooted in collaboration, synergy, symbiosis, and psycho-social science, designed to generate a social environment where reciprocating benefits foster a thriving society made up of empowered, thriving, free individuals. We will emphasize that there can be no free and democratic society of, by and for the people, without an economy of, by and for the people.

The Transition will inevitably vary in some ways from country to country with different cultures, institutions and traditions. The statement will also be delivered to all foreign embassies, consulates and other missions in the Transitioning country, as well as to foreign governments.

In the United States, it would be good to start the statement by quoting the Declaration of Independence, where it states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” and goes on to state that when governments pursue agendas harmful to the people, that the people have the right and duty to change it accordingly, followed by an assurance that we do not seek to overthrow the government, but only the modern feudal socioeconomic power structure.

Next we’ll need to explain how pyramidal socioeconomic paradigm has given rise to an anti-democratic, feudalistic oligarchy or monetocracy which is fundamentally incompatible with, and inimical to, the principles of the Constitution and government of, by and for the people and that therefore it is our right and duty to deconstruct this power structure and replace it with a paradigm that will empower each and every one of us to thrive.

We’ll include a message to all who swore an oath to protect and defend the nation and the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, explaining to them that their oath obliges them to support the Transition, as it is removing a real threat to the Constitution’s principles.

The declaration will include multiple explanations and exhortations that our goal is the forceful but nonviolent transition from the current socioeconomic paradigm to a new one, seamlessly and without disrupting the flow of goods and services. We will stress a strong ethical message making clear that nobody should attack, lynch, terrorize, harass, demean, or disrespect another. It will be clarified that nobody will take away anybody’s home, personal property, life, or freedom.

The message will also declare that henceforth, each person or social group is the legal owner of their home and other personal property, that currency is obsolete, and that none shall be obstructed or required to pay in any way for rent, mortgage, goods, services, or access to resources, and that all unoccupied dwellings will be open for occupation via legal processes soon forthcoming. We’ll reiterate that the rule of law will remain in effect and no violence will be accepted, on anybody’s part.

We’ll also send out a similar statement to the global community, with a slightly different emphasis. Since there will be global apprehension at such a sudden and drastic change, especially given the traumatic experiences of may major changes in many countries, we’ll need to let the world know what to expect, and make sure that our actions support our words.

The international version of the statement will make it clear that we are reasonable civic-minded people who, wherever possible, intend to honor existing treaties, alliances, trade agreements and other international arrangements, with the proviso that corporations and for-profit businesses are null and void in the Transitioned countries, and that facilities owned by for-profit companies in un-Transitioned countries will be owned and governed by all who work in them, and that they will work in equal partnership with foreign home offices, for mutual benefit, but will not be under their control. Likewise we’ll reassure employees of now-decommissioned companies in Transitioned countries, that their local laws and customs will be respected and their salaries will be paid. We’ll tell the world community that we will not do business with companies or countries who practice systemic human rights violations, environmental irresponsibility, or invade or occupy other countries’ people or lands, and that any affected trade agreements or treaties will be renegotiated with the intention of achieving benefit to all parties. And we will assure the world that while we encourage other countries to Transition, we will respect the sovereignty and integrity of other countries and their citizens.

We’ll also guarantee that foreign nationals in the Transitioned country will be safe from harm and free to continue about their affairs, with the added clarification that currency will no longer be required of anybody, that smuggling will be intercepted and thwarted, and that foreign employees of Transitioned companies will henceforth be co-owners, co-stakeholders and co-decision-makers in their enterprises.

In this way, we expect to be able to bring about the Transition with little to no disruption of most people’s daily lives. In situations where disruptions do occur unexpectedly, they will be short-lived and relatively minor, in contrast to most revolutions and other paradigm-changes that we’ve seen.

It will take time for some aspects of the Transition to be completed. Engineers, planners and designers will need to redesign products and processes. Industrial and business software and procedures will change significantly. Today’s stores will become tomorrow’s distribution centers. New laws will need to be written, others modified and redefined, others stricken from the books.

People who now work in parasitic industries such as the financial sector, insurance, and related occupations will be displaced; but with the disappearance of currency and the need for it, their livelihood and quality of life won’t be compromised. Others will be displaced as large-scale farming and power generation facilities are phased out in favor of distributed small-scale ones. In the new paradigm, people who thus find themselves at loose ends will benefit from a massive outreach program meant to support and assist them in finding new niches that match their skills, talents and interests, as well as provide them with psychological counseling if needed and wanted. Many will find that their skills are easily adapted to new niches. Others will find no barriers whatsoever to getting any training or studying any discipline they wish.

All sectors will work together to keep goods and services flowing normally during the retooling, reorganization, and reorientation. If we do it correctly most of us should experience less disruption of our lives than we currently do under the existing paradigm.

Some who are currently accustomed to wealth and power that will no longer exist or be possible, will probably try to restore their status by violent force. If we are to succeed in creating a society with an unparalleled level of empowerment, freedom, harmony and well-being, we must take extreme care not to initiate violence or escalate any violence one bit more than is absolutely unavoidable. We must never become yet another bloodbath in a tragic history of bloodbaths. Yet we’d be unrealistic to not be prepared to fight for our lives and our Transition if we have to.

At that point, it will be the duty of each of us to render aid and support, to all who need it, regardless of their affiliation, with respect and compassion. Captured opposing combatants are to be disarmed, preventing from doing harm, and treated with respect and dignity, then released unharmed as soon as it’s safe to do so. We must follow these principles absolutely and rigorously, no matter how emotionally challenging it may be. The very nature of the society that we’re creating depends on it. This will create the added benefit of showing everybody at home and abroad, who may be wondering what to expect, that our Transition is well thought out and being carried out by reasonable, honorable, compassionate, considerate people of conscience, and that our actions match the principles that we espouse. This will help to dispel any worries or even propaganda that we may be terrorists, thugs, or autocrats.

We will not disrupt or attempt to overthrow government. Those in government, however, will have to adapt to the new socioeconomic realities. They will no longer enjoy privileged status above other citizens. There will be no more lobbyists or wealthy donors. Some may quit as a result, which will result in special elections in most cases. The jobs or politicians will change some, but will most likely become simpler in many ways.

The coming Transition will not just birth a new socioeconomic paradigm. It will also set a new path and template for the very act of forcing a necessary change of paradigm, one that avoids the brutality, bloodbaths, purges and atrocities that so often accompany revolutions and major socioeconomic changes. No act of change that commits acts of terror, repression, oppression, gratuitous violence, persecution, or revenge can hope to establish a truly thriving, harmonious, society of actualized and empowered people.

Once the first country has Transitioned, the world will see that, contrary to commonly-held cultural myths and misconceptions, the new paradigm is not only practical and in line with human nature, but that it is superior to the old paradigm in nearly every possible way, both practically and in terms of quality of life. This will inspire and engage more and more people in more and more countries to desire their own Transition. Just as happened with heavier-than-air flight, once it’s widely known that it’s possible, it will proliferate. Desire will lead to intention, which will lead to action, which will lead to Transition and a new Renaissance and golden age in country after country. In this way, the whole world will Transition into the new paradigm and know a level of freedom, fulfillment, harmony and safety previously undreamt of.