Appendix Information and the Construction of Socialism Coordinadora, JUSOCAN Avde. 1 de May, 13 Local 2 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Spain Translated by: Carlos Betancourt and Peter Waterman Presented at: Haymarket International Labor Conference Chicago, May 1986 1. The strategy of the power-holders He who has information has power. The collection and use of data and information about objects, persons, groups or peoples one wishes to dominate or exploit--this is the secret of the accumulation of power, the manipulation of persons, groups and peoples, the exploitation of natural resources, of natural and human behavious at the end of the 20th century. The instrument which permits the accumulation and use of information is the computer and informatics. There exists a growing consciousness about the problem and the dangers that such an accumulation of information implies, there are extensive and varied accounts of it as well as dramatic examples and apocalyptic perspectives. Let us summarize some of the most fundamental characteristics of the problem: a) The process is rapid, appears irreversible, and is accompanied by a totalisation and internationalisation. The data banks are inter- related and mutually supportive; b) There is as yet no adequate, equal or proportional consciousness of the problem on the part of persons and sectors already victims of the above process, or about to be placed in positions of subordination difficult to overcome; c) The monopolization of information is the culmination of capitalist alienation. It is no longer a question of extracting surplus value from the product. It is no longer a question of domination by coercion, threats or fear. It is now a question of extracting and dominating consciousness itself. The problem is that data and information concerning persons, groups and peoples is no longer within their reach but within that of their dominators; d) This situation can reach an irreversible point, a moment at which feelings, sentiments, motivations and `information about informa- tion' is known and manipulated by the dominant political power. The manipulation of behaviour thus results in a system of selection in which, on the one hand, those who are both alienated and adaptable are incorporated into the system whilst, on the other hand, those who do not respond to the logic of the system (in which the fetish of productive rationality serves to conceal the inflexible and immobile structure of power) are removed; e) Faith in life moves us to firmly believe that the problem can be solved. A problem is essentially an invitation to find a solution. The crucial facets and characteristics of the problem reveal to us the proper way to surpass it. 2. General characteristics of the alternative a) The alternative to the monopolistic accumulation of information is the socialisation of information: access to data centres by those persons, groups or peoples about whom information is accumulated in such data banks. Against monopoly, diffusion. b) Here are some partial dialectical alternatives-- if not the final, sole or most important ones: the destruction of monopolistic accumulation, the denial of information in the archives of existing political powers, the secret accumulation of information--the force of counterpower; c) Whether one likes it or not, the alternative must be as global in both its concepts and breadth as is the current threat of irreversible alienation. What has till now been a person option, a result of ethical or ideological conviction--the choice between domination or freedom, capitalism or socialisation--is becoming, and actually appearing, as an unavoidable scientific dilemma. There is no intermediate space; d) In the same manner as the channels of communication are being internationalised, the fragmentation or globalisation of their contents becomes radicalised. In as much as decisions are fundamental conditions of life and death--in so far as they are more political--then the fragmentation of the data supporting these decisions make them no longer incomplete but false. What is required is a public truth, socially developed and used, the clear air necessary for a collective, communal--in other words a human--life; e) This means cultivating the primary sources for the creation, construction, development and unfolding of human truth. This is a matter of experience. And for this we need more adequate means of genuine personal contact and of global communication. This is, then, both the moment of creation and the point of rupture that makes history advance. And it is here that there is awakened, developed and dynamised that feeling that passes through the deepest parts of the human being in order to continually discover `the new,' the not-computerized, the data which escapes the already-existing archive and which orders the external precisely because it is rooted in the unplumbable depths of the internal; f) The only means by which technological development can deserve its name is by the socialisation of progress. This implies that technological development cannot justify the exclusion of man from the productive process but that it must, on the contrary, discover new activities that make of labour something more human, that allow for a reduction of routine tasks, for an increase in creative ones, employment for all. 3. Implementing the alternative A. At the political level It is necessary to promote the passage of rules and laws by which it can be declared as a matter of principle that every data bank or archive in which information about individuals, groups or peoples is collected is open to and usable by these same individuals, groups and peoples. The existence of secret data banks is not only dangerous for the `informatised' (not the same as the `informed') but is as--or more--dangerous than the existence of arsenals of weapons, explosives and poisons. This is why it is necessary to implement the principle above not only in constitutional declarations but in the most diverse normative areas such as laws, rules, negotiations, contracts, etc. B. At the trade union level In so far as wages and conditions demands are concerned, we need, in the first place, to emphasise the encessity for access to information. And, in fact, in the same way as there exist health and safety committees, there is an undeniable necessity for information-access committees. These committees should seek the advice of technical experts, just as is presently the case with health and safety committees when they need the professional advice of doctors and lawyers. Such a right cannot be denied on the basis of arguments concerning the defence of enterprise security. The `enterprise' is an artificial construction, a fetish which in reality is nothing other than the concrete interests of concrete persons. And in a situation of conflict between concrete persons the alternatives are only an understanding or struggle. Any other alternative is a delusion. It is necessary to introduce other values into the negotiation of collective agreements, by means of which progress is socialised: to transform the tasks which increase alienation, to reduce working hours, to create new activities by means of which labor can be humanised, to create an alternative power as counterweight. C. At the level of the alternative movement Personal alternative: To deepen personal communication. To construct a basic infrastructure, primary groups, direct relationships, in a continuous process of both structuring and destructuring, stabilisation and rupture. At the sectoral level: Concrete programmes (production, consumption, culture, etc.) in which what is demanded is access to information, its diffusion, its control, and participation in its development. At the level of the alternative movement: An infrastructure of coordination services for horizontal, ascending and descending information. The fundamental instruments at the service of alternative groups and platforms are: the computer and psychodynamic means. Computers. These should be used by alternative groups and sectors to teach and control means for access to and participation in information. Psychodynamic means. These should be used as instruments to stimulate creativity outside the sphere of canned information, i.e. as a counter to the power accumulated in the computer (see General Characteristics of the Alternative, above, point 2.e). 4. In relation to the ports movement The transport of commodities is the point in the chain of control least dominated by the capitalist structure. Production is strictly controlled by the rigid structure of the enterprise. Consumption is fully dominated by the extreme vulnerability of the isolated individual. Spatial mobility in the transportation of commodities implies a certain distance from immediate control by the instruments of the enterprise structure. And it is here where world capitalism is currently fighting its fundamental battle. And, within transportation, it is precisely in the movement of commodities within ports that there continues a possibility for exercising some kind of counterpower with a certain degree of autonomy and strength. Maritime and land transport are both closely tied to the power structures of the system. It followes from the above assumptions that the alternative ports movement should implement the following lines of activity. Create information centres which can be used by the base at different points: ports, autonomous trade union organisations, national and international coordination. Such information centres, characterized by their openness, accessibility, participation, and by their ascending, descending and horizontal diffusion, should be administered by representatives of the base, or those serving them, and supplied with the necessary material equipment (computer information bulletins, magazines, data centres, etc.). We would also suggest that the contents--the data to be worked upon, stored, systematised, analysed, distributed--should be the following: a) Working conditions, skills, wages, collective agreements, standards, laws and working rules, etc.; b) Trade union experiences, organisation, strategies, campaigns--especially solidarity campaigns--coordination, etc.; c) Political structures, enterprisesm public administration, policies, purposes, dependency, etc.; d) Technical structure, mechanisation; e) Documentary archives, magazines, articles, documents relative to matters of interest; f) Movements, groups and alternative experiences close to the plans of the ports movements. The strategy against the monopolisation of information, and stimulating the diffusion, access to and socialisation of the same: a) Coordination of archives, studies, available information, by means of periodical meetings and seminars at national and international level. Distribution of work and successive coordination; b) Campaign and information concerning the problem in order to raise consciousness; c) Concrete tactics: legal standards, negotiations, control commissions, etc.