What is Participatory Democracy?

If you could go back in time and ask the women of Cleveland's welfare rights movement what they meant by participatory democracy, they would likely tell you "community control" or "neighborhood control." Most simply, participatory democracy is a system that ensures people have power and influence over the decisions that affect their daily lives. Leaders in Cleveland sought to enact this form of popular sovereignty by launching community oversight of the Welfare Department, speaking out in public forums, holding rallies and marches, and lobbying for legislation at the local, state, and federal levels. 

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Since time travel is impossible, we have to reconstruct their perception of democracy from the records these women left behind and from oral histories with survivors. Black leader of Citizens United for Adequate Welfare, Carole King, used a story to explain her vision for welfare while testifying before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She described an occasion when members of the organization "had asked the county officials that we all get together with county, State, and Federal officials to sit down and discuss the problems [claimants faced].” Perhaps unsurprisingly, their request was rebuffed. Officials did not take the suggestion seriously. “They thought it was a ridiculous offer,” she recounted. “They would probably be surprised,” King countered. “We probably could work something out that would actually help the mothers and fathers that are on welfare.” From this story, we can see that King and others believed that a democratic welfare state would involve people experiencing poverty in anti-poverty policymaking.

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Participatory democracy was more than a system of governance. It was also a way of organizing a social movement. Its principles pushed women on welfare to implement safeguards to ensure that college-educated organizers and middle-class allies did not overpower them in grassroots groups. The Cleveland Welfare Rights Organization's constitution, written in Carole King's living room, welcomed as members "middle income [people]...who have a deep desire to better the conditions of welfare recipients and who will participate and support the rights of recipients." But two provisions placed decision-making power firmly in the hands of members who were on welfare. The first read, "At no time shall middle income or suburban members run or rule the C.W.R.O." The second provided that "if at a regular meeting more middle income or suburban members are present than welfare recipients and [/] or low income people the acting chairman has the authority to give the majority vote to the welfare recipient and low income people present at such a meeting." With these clauses, women on welfare ensured that they maintained power and authority at the grassroots level of the political movement for their rights. Participatory democracy, for them, also involved crafting an organizational structure that prevents allies from overpowering those affected by welfare policies. 

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Below are quotes from women on welfare and college-educated organizers who supported participatory democracy during the 1960s that help offer a glimpse into their definition of democracy.