Many egalitarian collectives consist of activists working to achieve a
just
society and were formed for that purpose. Even collectives that don't
have
specific political aims have made a commitment to social justice by
virtue
of being anti-authoritarian and pursuing equality as a fundamental
goal. It
should be obvious that internal power plays, deceitful back-room
plotting,
rumor-mongering, and marginalizing or ridiculing are behaviors that do
not
befit a group fighting for fairness and against oppression. Yet, people
in
collectives do these things all the time, usually without even inviting
a raised eyebrow.
Collectives that incorporate as non-profits are required by law to
draft a
mission statement letting potential supporters know about the work that
the
organization exists to achieve. Fulfilling the mission is a
non-profit's
legal reason for being (as well as the reason it doesn't have to pay
taxes),
just as a for-profit company's all-consuming purpose in life is to make
money for its owners. Most collectives have no such mandated
requirement,
but it's still a good idea to compose a mission statement to refer back
to
whenever a decision needs to be made on how the group should act in a
given
situation. This position paper should spell out the fundamental belief
that
the collective must operate internally by the same high standards of
fairness and democracy that it is working to bring about in the larger
society. If it fails to do that, then it has failed in its most basic
goal.