Become a Member of People For a Cooperative Society

Advantages and Requirements

Member status (1.) reinforces your commitment to yourself to the idea of a Cooperative Society, to continue studying and learning about it, and to actively spread the word. It also (2.) affords you a more influential role in formulation and execution of decisions of your local Chapter, and the National, and International PCS organizations. Further, Membership (3.) signifies to other people the excellence of your social, political, and personal belief system, and the commitment you have made. And last, (4.) the larger our membership base grows, the more influence we will have on the general political debate.

(Note:  at present, PCS is not strictly a member-run organization.)

Membership is free of monetary cost. All that is required is compliance with the following three requirements:

1. You are in agreement with the six core and basic principles of PCS:

   1. The money-and-profit system of capitalism is the principal cause of just about every problem the world, and people individually, face. This causation is usually direct, though sometimes indirect or exacerbating.

   2. A factor concomitant with, or secondary to, capitalism is human ego, and its often injurious effects upon people and the world. Thus, The notion of the love ethic (also called brotherly love or agape) must play some role in the new society, as a counter.

   3. The money-and-profit system cannot be reformed (i.e. improved piecemeal), but must be completely replaced. This is because 1.) the problems caused by the normal operation of this system are extremely severe, and because 2.) this system is notoriously difficult to reform successfully; reforms enacted are never enough to fully address problems, and insofar as they are addressed, improvements are often impermanent and disappear or are weakened as markets and governments change.

   4. A Cooperative System, whereby the economy is democratically managed in an organized fashion by all the people, is the best alternative, and the one PCS advocates. "Organized fashion" refers to a formal and official mechanism of global (or national, as the case may be) coordination such as the Cooperative Industrial Framework, capable of providing realistic, meaningful, and credible management to a future global society, technologically and socially advanced, of perhaps 10 billion people. In this regard, the political philosophy of "anarchism" or "anarchy" is not a meaningful option.

   5. Such a new system must be brought about by peaceful, democratic means, at least in nations with democratic mechanisms that presumably afford such change. Nations without such means must be approached and assessed on an individual basis. The use of violence is eschewed and remains an absolute last resort.

   6. The new system we advocate is a yet-untried Cooperative system, with nothing in common with the Leninist, Maoist, or like systems of nations such as China, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, or the former Soviet Union.

   
   

2. You are not presently affiliated with any organization whose principals, complexion, character, or history starkly or fundamentally contradicts that of People For a Cooperative Society. This would include such groups as the Nazi Party, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and political "vanguardist" groups such as the American Communist Party (CP). It would generally not include single-issue groups such as the National Rifle Association or the American Civil Liberties Union.

   "Affiliated with" refers to outright membership in an organization, as well as relationships with organizations that you are not an official member of, but which you work with or associate regularly, or are in sympathy with.

   (You are not required to list memberships or affiliations with groups focused around personal issues; for example, irrelevant would be your affiliation with a group working toward legalization of gay marriage, a group working to keep guns legal, or a group working to preserve civil liberties.)

   The reason for this requirement is that:

   1. Organizations whose existence, actions, or affiliations have caused, or been associated with, significant human suffering, especially on a mass scale, directly or indirectly, are rightly condemned by people everywhere. PCS will not accept any association, even remotely, with such groups or their members.

   2. Organizations whose existence, actions, or affiliations have served to smear or discredit the legitimate idea of a cooperative social system in the public mind are seen as working counterproductively, or at cross-purposes with PCS, and indeed against the legitimate notion of a cooperative system. It would thus be inappropriate to accept persons from such groups into membership.

   3. People For a Cooperative Society takes itself and its program seriously, and seeks legitimacy from the larger society. Thus, organizations widely castigated or condemned by that society would provide an impediment to the building of that legitimacy. Consequently, PCS seeks to avoid such associations.

      Relatedly, we do not wish to give opponents (or "enemies," as it were) of PCS or the idea of a Cooperative System "ammunition" with which to cast aspersion on our integrity or character, or that of our political program.

   (Organizations with an unacceptable history or affiliation, but which have completely and utterly, formally and officially, aggressively, publicly, and continuously repudiated such history, and severed such affiliation, constitute a special case and will be assessed on that basis.)

   At present, generally consistent with the above, there is a two-fold criteria for determining which existing group memberships or affiliations may be relevant in assessing a request for membership in PCS:  (1.) Is it a group with a broad political vision, which is to say a group which seeks to change the mode of social organization, or the very character, of society (the Communist Party, for example);  (2.) Is it a group with a murderous or repressive history or affiliation (the Ku Klux Klan, or again, the Communist Party, for example).

   Individuals determined to hold unacceptable memberships or allegiances may participate in PCS meetings, functions, and events, but may not apply for Member status. Consequently, such individuals cannot enjoy privileges within PCS such as the ability to influence organizational direction. Such persons are respectfully urged to terminate or discontinue unacceptable memberships. They would then be eligible for Member status in PCS.

   Moreover, financial contributions from those holding unacceptable memberships or allegiances are politely declined.

   . . . . . .

   Regarding CP members, our proscription against PCS membership is not rooted in a judgment about CP members themselves, in their capacity as moral and intelligent beings, as much as, as stated more fully above, in 1.) The CPs unfortunate past strong affiliation with the Soviet Union, and the bloody and undemocratic legacy, therein, and 2.) The existing official political program of the CP, which still contains troubling language on the nature of revolution, and its means and ends.

   Moreover, the CPUSA, like the SPUSA, appears to hold official positions on reform issues, or issues other than those explicitly pertaining to the establishment of socialism. For example, as of February 2007, the CPUSA website home page calls for the return of all U.S. troops from Iraq. As odious as some see the Iraq war, a socialist party should not take a formal position on ending it, or at least not take one readily. Some socialists and sympathizers will hold one view, others, another.

   The role of a socialist party is to educate on, and agitate for, socialism; specific issues should certainly be analyzed and deconstructed from a socialist or cooperative standpoint, and the ruling-class bias on both sides revealed. But taking an official position on an issue on which persons of good faith can and do disagree is inappropriate and counterproductive. All that is accomplished therein is the alienation of one or more segments of the working class, predisposing that segment(s) against the organization holding the position or maintaining the advocacy.

   Between 2006 and 2007 two CP members expressed their desire to join PCS. Both were declined. They remain sympathizers only and can work with PCS under that status.




3. You are applying as an individual, not as, or on behalf of, an organization. Individuals, but not organizations, can become members at the present time. Individuals within organizations may apply individually.

What to Include in Your Application Email

Presently, application submission and related communication is only conducted via email.

To become a Member, please email us the following information, as indicated below. All information transmitted to us is held in strict confidence, and will not be published, shared, leased, rented, or otherwise communicated or disseminated in any way.

1. Required:  Your first and last name.
2. Required: Your email address.
3. Required: Your complete postal mailing address (city, state, province, region and/or territory, and country).
4. Required: Your statement that you are in agreement with the six basic principles of PCS, as listed above. To signify that agreement, please copy this statement into your email:

   I am in agreement with the six basic principles of PCS, as listed on the Member page at the PCS website.

   Then, please print your name directly afterward, signifying your agreement with the statement.

5. Required:  A complete list of your existing memberships and affiliations, formal and informal, with political, fraternal, or related groups. "Affiliations" refers to relationships with organizations you may not be an official member of, but which you work with or associate regularly, or are in sympathy with.

   (You are not required to list memberships or affiliations with groups focused around personal issues; for example, irrelevant would be your affiliation with a group working toward legalization of gay marriage, a group working to keep guns legal, or a group working to preserve civil liberties.)

6. Requested, but not mandatory:  your telephone number.
7. Requested, but not mandatory:  a statement explaining why you decided to join People For a Cooperative Society.  Further requested:  your permission for us to publish your statement, here at this website, to help encourage others to join.

What Next

After receiving your application email, as specified above, I will review it to ensure that it contains all information requested, and for compliance with Requirement #2, above:

You are not presently affiliated with any organization whose principals, complexion, character, or history starkly or fundamentally contradicts that of People For a Cooperative Society.

Upon receipt, review, and approval of your application material, I will send you an official Letter of Welcome from People For a Cooperative Society. It will contain a summary of PCS and its program and a list of suggested next steps, and will likely arrive within 48 hours.

Thank you for applying for membership in People For a Cooperative Society!

Exciting!