DELUISM
The starting point
Freedom has to hold up in everyday life.
Having a right means little if you cannot use it. Deluism asks what we would need to change for everyone to have a say over their own life.
Read the manifestoStart with the introductionWho gets to decide how we live?
We depend on one another. Yet much of what shapes our lives is decided far from the people affected: at work, in housing and in the use of shared resources. The manifesto begins with this gap between formal freedom and actual influence.
Deluism proposes giving people more control over those decisions. Democratic workplaces and local self-government are part of the answer. Whether they can coordinate a complex society without creating new centres of power is a question the texts have to face.
How the proposal fits togetherThe manifesto / 01–08
The principles
Each chapter develops one part of the argument. The original English text remains available alongside the commentary.
- 01
Community as a foundation
People depend on one another. The manifesto asks how political institutions should account for that dependence.
Read - 02
Freedom and equality
Rights must be usable by people with little money or influence. Equality is meant to secure that possibility.
Read - 03
Limits on power
Exceptional powers need a defined purpose and an enforceable end.
Read - 04
Cooperation
Institutions influence which behaviour pays off. They can make cooperation easier while limiting abuse.
Read - 05
Federated self-government
Communities decide their own affairs and agree which tasks they will undertake together.
Read - 06
Economic democracy
People working in a business should have a say in its decisions. Its responsibility extends beyond its workforce.
Read - 07
Pluralism and anti-racism
Equal rights apply regardless of origin or way of life. Local majorities are bound by them too.
Read - 08
International solidarity
Many dependencies cross borders. Shared solutions must not remove the self-determination of others.
Read
From the dossiers
Who owns the workplace?
Workplace democracy becomes difficult when investment, responsibility and conflicting interests enter the picture. The economy dossier works through a proposal and its limits.
Read the economy dossierReading further