A Study On Lummis' Radical Democratic Theory

Since 1960 s,especially the drastic changes in the early of the 1990 s,the socialist movements and the democratic movements of left-wing in the West have stepped in trough after suffering an eclipse.The setback of the global socialist cause led to the crisis of the traditional Marxist theory in the West.In this context,C.Douglas Rummis tried to rebuild democracy so that it could benefit the people again and provide a sharp weapon of criticism for the left-wing' anti-capitalist movements.Rummis believed that the essence of democracy was the state in which the people had the power to dominate their own lives,but it was gradually defined as a set of systems and the development of these system was to help the people win and possess such power.But the systems had become a tool for depriving the people of democracy in reality.That meant democracy had been misappropriated.In fact,democracy is not any particular form of institutional arrangement,but a common sense,a virtue,an atmosphere,and a state.To that end,he called for regaining democracy from those exercising state power and returning it to the people,and restoring the critical and radical forces of democracy.Through the in-depth study of the development of western society,Rummis found that the political factors hidden in the economic development and the machine development were deliberately avoided,and he boldly revealed that the development under the capitalist system had an anti-democratic tendency.It is worth emphasizing that Rummis was not opposed to economic development and scientific and technological progress,but against the view that such development and progress could promote people's democracy.Facing the oppression and exploitation of the western society,he believed that the direct democracy and autonomy could be realized by forming a civil society in the form of a small group organization and establishing a free space.Based on the criticism of western democratic system,Rummis elaborated the invisible virtue of democracy in the western democracy system and hoped to cultivate and construct the democratic atmosphere.Rummis' radical democracy theory injected vitality into the discussion of democracy.Face with the confused understanding of the true meaning of democracy,Rummis tried to justify democracy and create a democratic atmosphere.As a post-Marxist,his understanding of radical democracy was also close to Marx's position.Rummis' criticism of development aimed to reveal the hypocrisy of the ideal that the development of capitalism could realize social equality under the operation of the world economic systems.However,his theory of radical democracy also had some deficiencies.Rummis always argued that democracy was a living concept,but the radical democracy that lacked institutional reconstruction was just a weak slogan.Meanwhile,he placed great trust in the grassroots society,but failed to find an effective way out for the grassroots movements.Thus,there were both merits and demerits in Rummis' radical democratic thoughts.