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In volume 3, I gave a short timeline of the events leading up to the ratification of the current SFP constitution and introduced a distinction between basic and special party procedures laid out in the document. I will be continuing to examine the Regular Sections in volume 4.



In practice, it’s pretty simple. The Chairman (Party President) gets elected and then appoints his/her Revolutionary Committee picks, then an election is held after candidates have been found to fill the remaining six slots



(some potential caveats are the fact that you may not be able to find 11 people, it being unclear what we are to do if membership has diminished considerably, there has been opposition historically to the power of the chairman to appoint members, and concerns over who holds the election and the transparency of those elections -)



After the Revolutionary Committee is appointed a Group Message is established in-game containing all active members of the party relevant to the Revolutionary Committee and off game membership status is given on sites like the forum and Discord to its members. In these places they will be formally addressed by the elected Party President and either a dialogue will ensue or an issue will be brought to the floor. Any member of the party can bring an issue to the Revolutionary Committee for a vote/ discussion /action



(Most of the time people will begin their term on the Revolutionary Committee by asking the party treasurer what the status of the treasury is and then programs are discussed.)



When consensus has been reached on an issue and all opinions have been voiced a member of the party may call for a vote on a course of action. If a majority vote in favor it passes and the party works to do that thing.



For example, the party may want to begin funding a food program. So they ask the treasurer how much CC is in the account. He/She responds “1,000,000 cc”. So the Revolutionary Committee then checks food prices and does an estimate and then debates on how much food they want to give out over whatever time, and if there are any events coming up etc. Once decided on a plan the party then votes. If it passes the plan is enacted, resources are moved, products are bought or sold, or ingame messages are posted. It’s basically the decision making apparatus of the party.



And that's basically what goes on in-game with regards to the Revolutionary Committee.





Now let’s take a look at what the constitution says about the Revolutionary Committee and the way it’s supposed to operate.



“6. The day-to-day organization of the Party is facilitated by the Revolutionary Committee (RC) of the Socialist Freedom Party. The Revolutionary Committee is tasked with promoting, leading, protecting, empowering and enlivening the SFP community and the e-global anarcho-syndicalist movement of which the SFP is the dynamic turbo-charger.

The Revolutionary Committee is an engine of activity. It is neither a legislative nor a governing body. It is an organization of militants, of leaders, of doers, of professional revolutionaries. It is the center ring of the SFP circus. The RC of the SFP is organized as follows:”


Very straightforward, the Revolutionary Committee is the decision making apparatus of the Party and is generally made up of revolutionaries and party members of all kinds.



“a. Except under dire circumstances, the in-game-elected Party President (PP) is the Chair of the Revolutionary Committee.

b. Including the Chair, the Committee has a total of eleven voting members.

c. In order to qualify for participation in the internal party primary for PP, candidates for Chair of the RC must announce their selections for voting RC members (their "cabinet") as part of their campaign. The four in-game Party-level cabinet members appointed by the in-game Party President are the Chair's four appointed voting members of the RC.

d. As part of the monthly run-up to electing the Chair, the General Membership elects six additional voting members of the Revolutionary Committee.

e. The Revolutionary Committee may have as many additional non-voting members as desired.”



Unless under circumstances laid out by Irregular Sections of the SFP Constitution the Revolutionary Committee is chaired by the Party President. It has eleven voting members and it is a requirement that the four members who are appointed by the chairman be announced as part of the chairman's campaign for election.

During the Party Presidential Election the party is to hold another election to appoint 6 members to the Revolutionary Committee. Any member of the party has the right to be apart of the revolutionary committee as a non-voting member and there’s no limit. (just ask)



“Votes of the RC should not be some kind of officious undertaking. The RC is about doing much more so than deciding. If RC members spend most of their time voting on stuff, something is amiss. A bourgeois-bureaucratic mindset is creeping in. Or somebody is up to no good. A cultural revolution is probably needed to expose and drive out the capitalist-roaders. Or at least some new acts are needed in the center ring.

Discussion and debate and communication are necessary. Consensus is a good thing. Voting helps to prevent analysis-paralysis and move things to action. But post-action analysis is just as important as "deciding" and "predicting" and "commanding" before-hand. Understanding what actually works is better than having theories. Training folks how to catch the trapeze is more important than telling them they have to catch it.

Revolutionary leaders should be spending most of their time doing stuff, like managing and running programs or taking individual actions to do things like:

Build up the members' strength training
Provision houses inexpensively
Pool resources in order to supply members with food and weapons
Train members in how to conduct international diplomacy
Prepare members for serving in Congress
Teach new players the fundamentals of the game
Creating a lively and entertaining press
Promote other left-wing parties nationally and internationally
Bringing a sense of art, song and poetry into the game
Teach and learn the intricacies of game mechanics
Investigate and experiment with economic alternatives
Exposing multi's and other dishonest game play
Bring people together in new and interesting ways”



This part explains that the Revolutionary Committee is not meant to be a kafkaesque and bureaucratic system and then gives some suggestions for what Revolutionary Committee members should be doing with their time.





Now let's discuss “Titles, Departments, and Programs”.



“Leaving aside the in-game titles, there are no permanent titles or departments defined within the Party other than being a Party Member and being a voting or non-voting member of the Revolutionary Committee.

The Revolutionary Committee is not an exclusive club. Any member of the Party may forward a proposal to the RC, or, indeed, initiate an action or program on behalf of the Party that is in keeping with its general orientation.

Such individual initiatives should be critiqued, opposed and curtailed only if they are causing obvious harm. And of course silly ideas, mistakes, bad jokes, errors in judgement and so forth are a normal part of game play, not things that deserve "legal measures" and whatnot.

There will be and should be any number of initiatives, both some organized by the RC and some initiated by individual Party members or groups of members. The role of the RC is to facilitate, encourage, advise, and promote such activity, while, of course, watching out for and exposing devious capitalist monkeyshines. It is not the job of the leaders to micro-manage and approve everything going on in and around every ring of the socialist-freedom community.

The Chair of the RC and the most active members of the Revolutionary Committee should make it their duty to see to it that, minimally, the Party is engaged in the following areas:

Congressional elections.
Press presence.
Membership solidarity, training, material support.
International communications and friendship.
In particular, the RC should see to it that 1 or 2 members are representing the Socialist Freedom Party at the e-Internationale or similar groupings of left-wing parties internationally.”



This section explains that there are no exclusive titles or permanent titles other than being a party member or a member of the Revolutionary Committee and that no other departments have its authority within the party. It explains that any member of the party can put forward a vote and that it is not the job of the Revolutionary Committee to micromanage the party.

It then explains the body's minimum duties that must be fulfilled.





I will be wrapping up this series on the SFP Constitution with Volume 5 in which I will go over the last section left, “Part III: Voting and Nominations” and will explain my conclusions of this Interpretation.






END OF VOLUME 3


~SFP Councilor Max Planck