What steps would be necessary to implement a party policy of 'radical honesty' that trumps all others, including considerations of victory? As a co-founder of The Socialist Alliance, Barry Weisleder asked me, as 'the resident anarchist' to propose a system of party rules, trusting me to suggest the fewest and least repressive rules possible. I found that I could only recommend one rule, and that until that rule was implemented, no other rule should be implemented: the rule of radical honesty. Winning by lying's a loss.
Radical honesty is to be contrasted with other principles like 'meta-honesty'. I would highlight a few key properties of the concept I endorse:
Radical Honesty:
is radical as in politically radical
involves saying exactly what you say to yourself
is not selective
occurs at the speed of thought, leaving no time for editing
Is how I wrote this email (with almost zero editing)
The real test of radical honesty is if you tell the truth when you expect it to harm you. I've mentioned a related concept, Radical Transparency, in my previous email, which mostly adds conditions of forthrightness and externality, but I've also suggested to the Socialist Alliance that for every rule proposed, we can first ask "can this proposed rule really just be seen as a special case of radical honesty?"
It has also come to my attention from our previous exchange that there are no rules codified for complaints against the party by members. This is unconscionable and I can help you out if you need someone with this kind of experience and a background in analytic philosophy and software development to contribute to working out the logic democratically. Currently there is zero public perception of fairness and accountability.
--
adamgolding.ca