The responsibility for preparation falls on the focus person. In preparing for clearness you might:
Read the section on Criticism/Self
Criticism in the Red Docs and be ready to handle criticisms. In particular know
what an open criticism is and ways to resolve criticisms.
Look for self criticisms; consider your past political work in Groundwork and
before in a critical way.
Do you have any special problems which keep you from working well in groups?
Why did you leave previous groups? Anything you want to correct?
What's your style of work? When you take on a task is it carried through to
the end (or brought back to the group) rather than done poorly (or just dropped)?
Can you ask for advice while keeping RR for a task? Are you a together person
or flaky? Do you want to change?
What do you want most to change about yourself (if anything)?
How seriously do you want to be taken?
You might go to people in Groundwork to see what criticisms they have to see
if you can think them through and make self criticisms at the meeting.
Think about past relationships with each member of the collective and any criticisms
of them you have. If important, you may want to discuss before clearness to
get it all straight. It's important that any past hostilities or bad feelings
or unresolved criticisms be dealt with to prepare for the great leap forward.
Think about your other commitments and where the collective fits in your priorities.
Are you in any other social change groups? Where does your job or school fit
in, i.e. are you career oriented?
Think about the collective itself. Is it working? Are you taking responsibility
for making it work? Review the collective agreements and resolve any problems
with them.
If there is too much to
cover during clearness for one reasonable session, you may want to have a clearness
with one other person before to summarize and bring out the most important parts
of your clearness.
Don't let the clearness stuff scare you or bog you down. You're among friends.
Each person should consider what criticisms they have as well as praises. Any
bad feelings which exist should be brought up. If feelings or criticisms are
particularly strong, you should consider discussing them before clearness.
A typical session will consist of discussions of the following topics:
a review of why clearness now, (e.g. coming into the collective) for the benefit
of those who don't know
self criticisms
criticisms of people in Groundwork
criticisms of the focus person
criticisms of Groundwork
discussion of relationship to agreements
summary of open criticisms or feedback which is going to be given regularly,
i.e. ongoing commitments
decision of whether to come into group, wait a while, leave the group, or whatever
criticism/self criticism of the clearness
celebration or . . .
Collective Agreements
Devote at least two hours a week to the collective.
Work toward a critical relationship with other members of the collective. Start
by developing this with at least one other person in the collective.
Make a disciplined withdrawal from commitments to the collective when you want
to end them. This includes any jobs you took RR for, as well as leaving the
collective itself. You should not go longer than two weeks without contact with
the collective.
Have a working knowledge of the Red Documents and be in agreement (or at least
consensus) with each part.
Be open to criticism. Solicit criticism of your work and make self criticism
when necessary. Self criticism would include developing a style of work which
includes considering these agreements from time to time and criticizing whether
you're meeting them.
Be committed to making criticism.
Any other agreements made by your specific collective.