Council rule
Our times more than any other have brought to full view the real disenfranchisement of the people and the formal nature of their participation in political power under liberal and parliamentary democracies. A society that is to ensure wide popular participation in government and in the legislative and executive process cannot be based on parliament and on the system of delegatory democracy. Exercise of power at various levels, from the local up to the national level, has to be carried out by people's own councils, acting as both legislative and executive. The supreme ruling organ will be the national congress of representatives of people's councils. All persons over the age of 16 are recognised as vote-carrying members of their local council and have the right to run for all positions in the local council or for representation to higher councils.
Dissolution of the army
The army and professional armed forces in the existing society are but the armed mercenary bands of the ruling class, organised at the expense of the working people to keep them under subjugation and to protect the economic interests and the home market of one country's bourgeoisie against another. Despite the fact that the ruling class tries to conceal the class nature and the real function of its army under various covers, portraying it as a public organ created to serve society as a whole, the intimate connection of armies with ruling classes, and their role in protecting the interests of the masters of society is clear to the majority of people - and this not only in Asian, African and Latin American countries, where the repressive role of the army and police has been blatantly obvious, but also in Europe and North America, where the myth of an apolitical military has survived longer.
The Worker-communist Party stands for the dissolution of the army and professional armed forces.
The army, Pasdaran (Islamic guards) and other professional armed forces, as well as all secret military, security and espionage organisations should be dissolved.
A militia force of people's councils, based on universal military education and universal participation in security and defence duties, replaces the professional army that stands separate from and above the people.
In addition, the party believes that the following principles must be applied in any case and under all circumstances, whilst armed forces exist:
Repealing the practice of unquestioning obedience in the armed forces. All military personnel have the right to refuse to carry out orders which they regard as being in conflict with the laws of the country or which contradict their own conscience and principles.
Every person has the right to refuse to take part in war or in any military activity that is incompatible with his/her principles and beliefs.
Members of law-enforcement agencies must always wear their uniforms on duty and bear their weapons unconcealed. Formation of armed forces without uniform or conducting of missions as armed police in civilian clothes is forbidden. It is the right of every citizen to have knowledge of the presence of armed law-enforcement forces in her community and vicinity (workplaces, residential areas, roads, etc.).
Members of the military have the right to take part in political activities and join political parties. Political parties, trade unions and other organisations have freedom of activity inside military forces.
Abolition of unelected bureaucracy.
Direct popular participation in administration
All political and administrative organs and posts in the country are to be elective and revocable whenever the majority of the electors so decide. Persons elected to such posts should receive salaries not higher than the average wage of workers. Direct supervision by people, through their councils, of the activities of all administrative bodies. Simplification of the hierarchy, language and working procedures of state bureaus in order to make people's intervention in them and their control a simple task.
Enhancement of work ethics and respect for citizens and clients in the public service. Any abuse of position of authority by officials, bribery, nepotism, discrimination, deviation from legally defined rules and procedures, or failure to carry out the provisions of law etc., should result in prosecution in common courts as major offences. Strict prohibition of the use of facilities and resources of public office for private purposes.
Unconditional right of individuals to sue any state official in common courts.
An independent judiciary. Legal justice for all
The judicial system and the concept of legal justice in every society are a reflection of the social relations and the economic and political foundations of that society. The judicial sphere - from the corpus of laws and the prevailing interpretation of right, fairness and justice, to the institutions, administration and procedures of judicial power - is part of society's political superstructure that protects the existing economic and class foundations. Thus, genuine legal justice and its equal application to all, and a truly independent and fair administration of justice, require a fundamental refashioning of the existing class society.
As a step towards this goal, and to ensure the most equitable judicial practice possible in the existing society, the Worker- communist Party calls for the immediate implementation of the following basic principles:
1 - Complete legal independence of judges, courts and the judicial system from the executive.
2 - Judges and other judicial authorities to be elective by people, and revocable whenever the majority of the electorate so decide.
3 - Abolition of special courts; all trials to take place in common courts.
4 - All trials to be open and public. Trial by jury in all major criminal offences. The right of the accused and their lawyers to accept or reject judges or members of the jury.
5 - In all trials, the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof lies with the prosecutor or the plaintiff.
6 - The country's judicial principles and the rights of the individual before the judicial system are described in more detail in later sections of the Programme.
