What kind of business should a revolutionary party start?

[CatsAttack]

To fund their operations? I think it's quite foolish to depend solely on donations and its not fair to demand dues from members. Revolutionaries should be completely dedicated to the cause, 24/7, not weekend socialists. And for that they need funds. I think this whole selling papers thing is a complete waste of time, the money should come from elsewhere and the papers should be distributed for free.

We need our own radio stations, our own PR department, our own high paid lawyers, our own market studies, travel expenses, hotel conference room fees, etc. etc.

What do you think are some good businesses to fill up the party coffers?

[d3crypt]

Well now that weed has been legalized in Colorado and Washington. Maybe that will be a good buisness :-)

[helot]

So... you gonna make some profit?

[Teacher]

I would think that revolutionaries and their supporters would get most of their funds through working. Almost like a "working class" of sorts.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

Join the movement and produce our revolutionary hairgel!

What's that? This is a capitalist ploy!? NONSENSE! We NEED to exploit you so that we have enough money to pay for the party to keep on running and then somehow end up being instrumental in working-class gains (as long as they aren't opposed to party-based surplus).

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Join the movement and produce our revolutionary hairgel!

What's that? This is a capitalist ploy!? NONSENSE! We NEED to exploit you so that we have enough money to pay for the party to keep on running and then somehow end up being instrumental in working-class gains (as long as they aren't opposed to party-based surplus).

Is your hair tangled like the interests of finance capital and the bourgeois state? Do your attempts at styling your hair fail more often than revolutionary movements led by the petite bourgeoisie? Your hair needs the Dictatorship of the Colloidariat, the new hair gel from the Workers' Democratic Revolutionary Socialist-Communist Progressive Party of Labour in Canada.

Seriously, this is a horrible idea. The Mensheviks had several corporate operations, and that probably contributed to their degeneration - I don't think Menshevik politics went sour over kefir, but running these enterprises certainly pressured the Mensheviks towards liquidationism and so on.

[Hit The North]

The Bolsheviks preferred robbing banks to raise funds.

A party that goes into business becomes a party of business. It will end up opposing revolution, not fighting for it.

[Thirsty Crow]

To fund their operations? I think it's quite foolish to depend solely on donations and its not fair to demand dues from members. Revolutionaries should be completely dedicated to the cause, 24/7, not weekend socialists. And for that they need funds. I think this whole selling papers thing is a complete waste of time, the money should come from elsewhere and the papers should be distributed for free.

We need our own radio stations, our own PR department, our own high paid lawyers, our own market studies, travel expenses, hotel conference room fees, etc. etc.

What do you think are some good businesses to fill up the party coffers?
Sweatshops.

[The Feral Underclass]

This guy's trolling, right?

[Jimmie Higgins]

Magic tricks, entertainment at children's parties. Rough trade.

[helot]

Magic tricks, entertainment at children's parties. Rough trade.


"Is there a reactionary in the audience? Yes? Come up on stage. Watch closely, kids, as we make him disappear!"


*BANG*

[Thirsty Crow]

Magic tricks, entertainment at children's parties.
Children's revolutionary parties?

[The Feral Underclass]

^I'll turn tricks for the revolution...

[helot]

Children's revolutionary parties?

revolutionary birthday parties.

[#FF0000]

P. sure the Bolsheviks funded themselves with a stock portfolio and bank robberies.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

P. sure the Bolsheviks funded themselves with a stock portfolio and bank robberies.

Bank robberies are not really a business, though, and I've never heard of the stock portfolio, though, as I said, the Mensheviks were partially financed by Axelrod's kefir business, and later, Parvus's business concern. And, I mean, there is nothing wrong with making money selling newspapers and so on, but market analysis? PR departments?

[Hit The North]

And, I mean, there is nothing wrong with making money selling newspapers and so on, but market analysis? PR departments?

I can't imagine that any revolutionary party ever makes a profit from selling the paper. Obviously that isn't the point of producing a revolutionary paper.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I can't imagine that any revolutionary party ever makes a profit from selling the paper. Obviously that isn't the point of producing a revolutionary paper.

I meant "make money for financing party operations". And Newsline probably made a killing, but the revolutionary status of the WRP is... questionable.

[#FF0000]

Bank robberies are not really a business

That's a matter of perspective.

[#FF0000]

Intersection of art and commerce, etc.

[Comrade #138672]

I'd rather rely on crowdfunding or something like that.

[baronci]

Thinking that funding initiatives will result in anything other than self-perpetuation is pretty naive. The countless "revolutionary" parties currently existing would be irrelevant in a revolutionary situation.

[MarxSchmarx]

Although it has potential, I think this thread is really not ready for prime time. Moved to chitchat.

[Paul Pott]

Sell Che shirts in competition with revleft.

May the best petty bourgeois win.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Worker-run bars. I believe that German autonomists have done this with some success. Of course a collectively-managed business is still exploitative, it's still a business, but it's arguably better than the alternative as a way of supporting oneself financially (the alternative being entering into a conventional boss-employee relationship somewhere).

Then of course there's a whole host of less-than-legal options...armed robbery, fraud, providing illicit goods & services, etc. Probably aren't many social bandits on revleft though (although I know of at least one revlefter who went to prison for conducting such activities w/ the goal of funding left-wing organizations)

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Homemade wine.
Reselling goods that "fell off the truck".
Stick'n'pokes.

Sincerely though, one of my "if the rev doesn't happen before I'm in my mid-forties" plans is to open a greasy-spoon providing affordable potato-products and poorly-paid-but-relatively-bearable jobs in an environment that is actively hostile to cops and yuppies. Like, a standing policy of not serving people in uniform, etc.

[svenne]

One thing that works is to have parties, take an entry fee and sell alcohol (so make sure no punks bring their own homemade wine...). I've been in groups which (semi-legally) made $5000, with all costs deduced, in an evening. Mostly on hipsters, to make it even better. Made our local group richer than the federation we were part of itself :lol: That maybe won't work everywhere though, the police seems to ignore these parties - they even visited ours, without caring - where i live. As long as everybody's old enough to drink.

[Angry Young Man]

Firebox, obvz

[Angry Young Man]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/http://i42.tinypic.com/5wysmu.jpg

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

Interesting aside - there's an argument put forward in "The Revolution Will Not Be Funded" (it's a collection of essays but different folks - so lots of different things are proposed) that we should really just go back to collecting dues.
There are worse ideas.

Good book tho.