I'm ready for some Criticism
It would be easy to have one or two people make all the decisions and leave everyone else to grumble ineffectually, just accept the way things are done, or try to grab control of the organization themselves, but then we wouldn't be a collective. What's harder is making sure that everyone in the collective has a say in making decisions -- a sort of equal access to decision-making. We feel this is a much more satisfying way of running things, but it creates new problems.
In practice, it's very difficult to have the entire collective make every decision. If we all had to get together to decide if the store needed sweeping out, the store world never get swept out. The compromise is that everyone in the collective is encouraged to make the decisions they feel capable of making, but if anyone is unhappy with that decision, they in turn are encouraged to criticize it. On the other hand, if someone is happy with the decision they are free to praise it and encourage more of the same. Anyone can bring a problem to a general business meeting or to the daybook for a decision if they think it's something the whole collective ought to discuss.
However, if everyone is just hanging out doing what they feel like doing, there may be some important jobs that don't get done. To avoid this, we list all the jobs that need doing and try to get people to volunteer to do them.
Anyone can volunteer to take care of some aspect of the collective's work for which they will be responsible. This doesn't mean, of course, they are exempt from criticism. It just means they can make decisions on their own without having to get consent from everyone. This also doesn't mean they have to do all the work themselves, only that they're responsible for making sure the work gets done. This is called taking residual responsibility for a job, affectionately known as "taking RR"
The person who takes RR for a job is known as the Designated Person Responsible, or the DPR. Every DPR should be in a critical relationship with someone in the core collective, and is responsible for seeing that personal and delegated commitments are fulfilled, planning for future problems, encouraging the use of criticism/self-criticism to improve effectiveness, and returning problems to the group if they appear unsolvable.
In the bookstore, we keep a current list of who's taken RR for what on the message board. This list can be used to find out who is responsible for taking care of a certain problem, and who to direct criticism and praise toward. Groundworkers should also check it out now and then to see if there are any jobs which no one has taken RR for and that they might be interested in taking on.
If you have some suggestion or criticism about how some part of the store is running, look on the Workboard for who is the DPR. Talk to them about your suggestions and try to reach a consensus decision about what to do. In the rare event that the two of you can't reach consensus, it becomes a collective problem. You should describe the problem in the daybook so people can begin thinking about it for resolution at the next general business meeting.
One of our goals in the collective is to try to get new people involved in as much responsibility and decision making as they want. In the Bookstore collective, most new people start out as staffers. Essentially, each staffer is the DPR for the shift they take on. Each staffer is responsible for knowing how to staff, staffing the hours they committed themselves to, and entering into a critical relationship with their day coordinator. This means that both the staffer and the day coordinator are obligated to tell the other if there is something bugging them about that person's work.
When a new person begins working with Groundwork, we ask them to tentatively make the same agreements as collective members, but only with their day coordinator rather than the whole collective. Some of these agreements may be hard for new people to keep because they don't know yet how Groundwork works. How to use criticism and how to be involved in consensus decision making may be the hardest things to learn. The process of understanding the agreements and preparing to make them with the whole collective is called the Long March. It lasts several months, during which time new people should attend at least three GW events.
During the Long March, the new person should enter into a critical relationship with their day coordinator as they become familiar with the Red Docs and the other GW agreements. However, new people should feel free to drop out of the Long March at any time for whatever reason, but particularly if they can't keep the collective agreements (or struggle with the collective to change them). They should, however, make a disciplined withdrawal, making the day coordinator aware of their decision. Don't just fade away!
Near the end of the Long March, the new person and their day coordinator should discuss clearness, the agreements, and their feelings about joining the collective, or becoming a fellow traveler. During clearness they will make the agreements with the collective.
Somehow it all sounds so formal. It's just our attempt to get to know new people and have them know us. Hopefully, they can then move from that vague status of new person to be taken as seriously as they choose to be taken. Along the way they can drop out at any time (with discipline, alas).
Collective members have been through the Long March (a series of steps by which a new person becomes acquainted with the Groundwork Collective, its organization, and the people in it), and clearness, and are committed to keeping the Collective Agreements.
Start by developing this with at least one other person in the collective.
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.
Solicit criticism of your work & 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.
Sometimes a person who has been through the Long March wants to be involved in Groundwork but can't agree to all of the agreements or doesn't want to go through clearness. Sometimes people just want to work in a bookstore and don't want the responsibility of a collective relationship. After a statement of their reservations, a joint decision between them and the collective may be made that they are "fellow travelers." Fellow travelers can always decide later on to become collective members.
The core collective consists of those people who are working toward taking residual responsibility for their collective and its work. Their goal is the creation and maintenance of an environment which supports the development of socialist consciousness and relationships, including the use and development of criticism/self-criticism. In theory, the people in the core make a higher level of commitment to their collective and to each other through their agreements. Through the use of criticism/self-criticism they resolve to bring their practice into agreement with their theory and to develop their theory. The core collective is totally subject to criticism & review by all the people at Groundwork. The core collective may initiate activities on a day to day basis but should be questioned and criticized about them. While the core collective takes residual responsibility for maintaining & nurturing the collective and for long term planning, This does not relieve Groundwork as a whole or each person in Groundwork of this responsibility!
In addition to the collective agreements, the members of the core collective are committed to keep the following agreements among themselves Core Collective Agreements
New members can be added to the core collective by a joint decision between the core collective and people who --
The first step for joining the core collective is to start coming to core collective meetings. The last step is discussion of the agreements and clearness with all members of the core collective.
Day Coordinators are encouraged to attend core collective meetings. Others should talk to core collective members if they want to attend so that they can be prepared for the meeting. A core collective member must take responsibility for the preparation of people attending meetings.
Basically, everyone is encouraged to make decisions which they have the information to make, but to pass a problems along (via the day book or a general meeting) if the decision might best be made by someone else. All decisions are subject to criticism and struggle with everyone at Groundwork. It's important to write up questionable decisions in the day book so other people can criticize them if they so desire.
Struggles which are unresolved are subject to discussion and resolution at the business meetings. All major policy decisions are also made at these meetings. It is a high priority to achieve consensus on these matters. All Groundwork people are encouraged to attend and enter the struggle for consensus.
In the event a consensus cannot be reached by those present among the members at the meeting, an attempt shall be made to reach consensus among the members of the Groundwork organization, i.e. all the collective members. The struggle between members of the Groundwork organization shall continue until consensus is reached. If no consensus can be reached this grave situation represents a breakdown of the socialist decision making process. We have a split in the group, and the decision shall be made by a plurality vote among the members of the Groundwork Organization. Every possible effort should be made to avoid this split in the group.
A Groundwork collective is a group of people meeting regularly who have made the collective agreements. At least two members of the collective should be in the core collective.
New collectives can be started by splitting existing collectives or by a joint decision between an existing collective and people who meet the requirements for a collective.
The Groundwork Organization consists of all the collective members of all the Groundwork collectives.
The first Groundwork collective has taken responsibility for Groundwork Books. The second collective is working to establish a Far/Retreat. New collectives might also be "at large" collectives of people doing different political work from each other but meeting regularly for review and criticism of people with the same social goals.
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