Q: What is communism? 

A: At it's core, communism means communal "ownership" of land and resources, (this does not mean personal resources like your house, car, lamp, etc...). It is likely that communism is the natural state of humanity prior to violently coerced hierarchical systems like nobility, patriarchy, and capitalism. At the root of the philosophy, communism is the claim that all beings have an equal right to life, the planet, and it's resources just by being alive, and that it is only by violence that this natural right is taken.

Q: What counts toward the community service tax?

A: Some examples include taking a friend to work, picking up trash around your neighborhood, making food for your wife, babysitting, helping a friend write their resume, mowing a neighbor's lawn, helping someone move or unpack, talking to someone during a stressful time in their life, etc... literally any labor you provide for another human is sufficient to qualify for community service. Furthermore, you aren't removed for not paying the tax. Instead, "failure" to report community service lets the community know you may be in need of assistance. At this point what assistance we can provide isn't much, but eventually we hope to have some services available.

Q: Why do you call the community service requirement a "tax"?

A: Part of the reason for calling it a tax is to make people think differently about taxes, money, and government in general. Everything that a government needs to function is labor. Even buildings, weapons, chairs, etc... are all just natural resources modified by labor. Therefore, it is possible to create an entire governing system composed of nothing more than labor. The labor tax directly, and indirectly facilities that governing system without the need for money, and theoretically without the need for central planning. 

Q: Does the Sortition encourage illegal activities or violence? 

A: The Sortition does not encourage illegal activities. While we believe that some violence is inevitable during a socialist or communist revolution, the purpose of the Sortition is to organize inside the current capitalist system and to engage in community building, mutual aid, and mutual defense. The Sortition has no intention of initiating violence, but will defend its citizens' right to exist free of exploitation.

Q: Would citizens of the Sortition be required to disavow their current citizenship, benefits, or status?

 A: No. You will not be asked to disavow any current citizenship, benifits, or status.. The Sortition exists within the state governments as a layer of protection, and to guide physical state governments toward a more just and equitable society. Therefore, we expect members to fully participte in, and take advantage of, any and all current systems in place, democratic, legal, political, etc...  "by any and all means." 

Q: How does the Sortition function as a layer of protection? 

A: By creating  a connected group of like minded individuals who can pool their knowledge, resources, and labor in physical, financial, legal, political, and other various areas of mutual aid and defense. We intend to accomplish this much the same way special interest groups, cooperatives, labor unions, political action committees, religious organizations, and many other member organizations are able to gain special favor from an otherwise highly predatory capitalist system. Individuals in a capitalist system are preyed upon, groups have an upper hand.

Q: What is the scope of the Sortition?

A: The scope of the Sortition is limited only by the imagination of its members and material conditions of the specific time and place. In other words, what can be done depends on the current abilities of the local community and/or virtual community. 

Q: Are you trying to attempt an actual revolution? 

A: The Sortition is an experiment in non-state governing within the current capitalist system. However, depending on your definition of revolution, you could say that the Sortition is attempting to radically change the way all governments operate.

Q: How can we overcome capitalism?

 A:There's not a single simple solution, and no guarantees anything specific will work. However, so long as capitalism exists, there will be a class of people who try to hoard resources until enough people have nothing to lose and must resort to violence to sustain their life. Revolution needs to take advantage of that defect in capitalism and replace the system after a large political upheaval. Every time this happens we need to learn from and tweak the replacement system until it can work to permanently suppress capitalism. This may take a very long time, or it may not be so far away. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to know what system will work until it's tried.