Instead of "revolution" or "reform"-TRANSFORMATION.

[Ken Burch]

The word "revolution" really no longer means much of anything(which is why it's used so much in advertising now).

It should be declared an extinct term and replaced, I suggest, with "Transformation".

Transformation can be a much more creative, positive concept than "revolution", and can avoid the defeatist limitations implied in the term "reform".

Transformation can be much more a product of the imagination, of the spirit, of the personal and collective will to reshape life, than "revolution&quot which too many people confuse with destruction and nihilism)or reform(a limiting vision that inevitably requires those who call themselves "reformists" to, at some point, become reactionary and embrace the crushing of those who seek REAL change).

Transformation is, unlike "revolution" as it actually played out in most places, as much about "building the new world in the shell of the old" as it is about reducing the worst of the old world(gently, if possible)to a shell in the first place.

And Transformation can be both materialist and spiritual, embracing people who work for radical change from either plane.

Just wanted to put this out there as the beginning of a discussion on words and the concept of change.

[canoeist52]

1. And that's what I believe the local food and organic farming is.

Last edited Sat Apr 5, 2014, 11:53 PM - Edit history (1)

And it's a very powerful movement embraced by both conservatives and liberals. We need to embrace and capitalize on this.

[struggle4progress]

2. The best way to fine-tune vocabulary IMO is to learn from experience

what phrasing actually works when attempting to organize

[Ken Burch]

3. ok...and, in my experience, both "revolution" and "reform" have failed as terms on that level.

What terms have you found most workable and useful?

[struggle4progress]

4. I don't presently argue such abstract matters with people: I discuss specific issues and

try to learn how people react regarding those issues

[Ken Burch]

5. Well, obviously specifics are what you'd discuss most of the time.

Maybe it's more about what words to THINK of, rather than what you'd say.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. Transformation or revolution means someone loses power and someone else gets it.

Changing the name doesn't change the process.

How does the process of transformation approach this problem without engaging in the struggle that revolution requires to change the power structure.

Transformation seems most achievable with fundamental changes in technology. The industrial revolution is called a revolution but what it really did was transform the way goods were manufactured from handcrafted master apprentice relationships to manufacture by large powered factories and machines. It transformed every nations it touched from agrarian to mechanization.

The discovery of iron was another one of those transformational technologies that completely changed the way humanity lived.

Transformations occurred throughout history. The current slow switch from petrochemical based civilization to renewables is a transformation, though not a quick one.

What you appear to want is a complete change in institutions and economies, and those do not come about through changes in technology.

[Gravitycollapse]

7. We should change the way we use words, not change the words we use.

The reason why words like revolution appear to be meaningless is because they are used up and thrown away. Which is, oddly enough given the spirit of your OP, exactly what you're doing now; throwing the word away.

Revolution is not meaningless. It has a rich history of being extremely meaningful. That it is being abused now is really just an argument to reappropriate it to restore it to it's actual meaningfulness.

[1000words]

9. Well said

[Spitfire of ATJ]

8. I thought that was when a car became a robot.

[socialist_n_TN]

10. Socialist Alternative member are we Ken?..........

That's one of the critiques of Kshama Sawant, the Seattle councilor elected as a self proclaimed "Trotskyist", but who ran on a left reformist platform. Unlike Trotsky himself, who never shied away from naming things as they were, she (and SAlt) never uses the word revolution when talking about changing the system. They always use the euphemism "transformation" rather than revolution. To me it's kind of a cop-out, like calling capitalists, "corporatists".

The fact is capitalism will never "transform" into socialism because the owners have the power under capitalism and they will never voluntarily let that power go. It will take a revolution. Transformation also implies gradualism, which never works and is subject to being pushed back. Revolution as a word, is cleaner and more accurate than transformation. But you are correct in saying that revolutions don't have to be bloody. The amount of violence depends ENTIRELY upon how tightly the owners hold on to their power.

IOW, I'll believe in socialist "transformation" when the capitalists actually give up their wealth and power to the workers peacefully.

[Ken Burch]

11. I like Kshama(I'm not a member of SA), but I came up with "transformation" on my own.

Is it actually good strategy to use the "R" word in a City Council race?

You assume that I am calling for something less radical in using "transformation" rather than revolution...believe me, I'm not. I'm looking for a way to express the notion of a concept of change

And I wasn't expecting capitalism to ever voluntarily change in any way at all. It will need to be replaced from below, with something very, very different.

"transformation" is not used here as a synonym for reformism.

[socialist_n_TN]

12. Cool. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.....

And it probably wasn't a good electoral strategy for a councilor race. The main problem I have with using a less loaded word like "transformation" instead of revolution is that I believe that in most people's minds it DOES have a less radical meaning. It's a little more confusing IMO. It's like Sawant running on a left reformist platform as an avowed revolutionary socialist. I'm afraid that when the left reformism fails, as I do believe it inevitably will, people will think that "socialism" has failed rather than what actually DID fail, i.e., reformism.

However, this type of wordplay could be a tactic that could be useful. Events will tell us that. Even Worker's Power will use the 99% slogan for some of the agitation and propaganda writing we do simply because it has become something of a meme on the left. Not exactly accurate, but recognizable. Possibly "transformation" will become the same sort of meme. I just worry about the dilution of purpose that might possibly come from changing the words.