Parallel society

Parallel society is the term the Logos movement uses for a set of institutions built and run by the people who use them, working alongside official institutions that Logos considers to be failing. Logos describes itself as "a movement building a parallel society". The idea draws on Václav Benda's parallel polis and on older traditions of self-governed commons.

The basics

The Logos activist course Building a Parallel Society defines a parallel society as an alternative set of institutions, run by their users, alongside the official ones. It says these institutions provide their own ways to learn, to save, to settle disputes and to care for each other. In the course's account, people turn to the parallel institution when an official one fails them. It earns that place by working better.

The course sets three limits on the term:

A parallel society runs alongside ordinary life. The course distinguishes it from withdrawal into a commune.
It does not compete for the old offices. It takes over what those offices were failing to do.
It is built while the old system still stands, without waiting for a collapse.

The course names two needs. The first is a group of committed builders whose results are good enough that joining becomes the obvious choice. The course says a majority is not required. The second is an economy of its own. The course argues that no one leaves a system they still depend on to survive, so people must be able to earn, save and trade outside it. The Logos website makes the same point: "A parallel society needs an economy."

The reasons Logos gives for building one are set out on Institutional decline.

How it applies to Logos

The Logos website calls Logos "the private-by-default technology stack for parallel societies". It describes these as "communities, institutions, and economies that operate outside the legacy system". The course treats the technology as a catalyst. It says the Circle and the institutions it builds come first.

Institutions by area

The course defines an institution as any established arrangement a society relies on to meet a shared need. That covers the rules, the organisation that keeps them, and the service people count on. Banks, courts, schools and hospitals are institutions. So are a co-op, a savings group and a mediation table. The course says Logos institutions are run by the people who use them, and are voluntary, self-funded, decentralised and free from capture.

The basic unit is the Circle. Logos describes Circles as "self-organised groups solving winnable issues that matter locally". The course says each Circle organises around a need in one of eight areas of everyday life. It gives examples for seven of them:

Economy: a food co-op or a credit union.
Housing: a community land trust or a housing co-op.
Health: a health co-op or community health workers.
Welfare: a rotating savings group that pays out when a member is hit hard.
Security: community-led safety, from a network of safe havens to violence interruption.
Infrastructure: a tool library, community WiFi or an energy co-op.
Education: schools and classes run by the community.

The eighth area, institutions, has no example in the course.

From first win to institution

The course describes growth in steps, each small enough to finish:

The activation. One visible win, run in a day, draws people to the cause.
The Circle. The people it drew form a community and pick their first winnable issue.
The cycle. The Circle wins the issue, keeps the gain and picks the next one.
The stack. The work moves onto infrastructure the old system cannot reach.
The institution. The wins become permanent, with rules, people responsible and a record of delivering.
The economy. Institutions that hold become places to earn, save and trade outside the old system.

The course says the endpoint is a parallel society that outlasts the old system because it does the job better. Elsewhere it says a Circle starts with one need and one activation day, which it calls the build rules described on Commons governance at work: know who is in, start small, win something real, then grow.

Examples

The course presents the parallel society as a recurring response with several precedents.

Czechoslovakia. In The Power of the Powerless, dated October 1978, Václav Havel described a greengrocer who displays a regime slogan in his shop as a sign of submission. The essay credits Václav Benda with the idea of developing "parallel structures". Benda, a Charter 77 signatory, called for parallel institutions that would answer human needs better than the official ones. The course credits these dissidents with underground universities in private flats, banned books retyped by hand as samizdat, a parallel music scene and mutual aid networks. See Parallel polis.
Poland. Solidarity was founded on 22 September 1980 in Gdańsk. Britannica calls it "the first independent labour union in a country belonging to the Soviet bloc." It had about 10 million members by early 1981. Martial law was imposed on 13 December 1981. Solidarity continued as an underground organisation. In April 1989 the government agreed to legalise it. In the June 1989 elections its candidates won 99 of the 100 Senate seats. The Solidarity activist Zbigniew Bujak said Havel's essay reached his group at the Ursus factory in 1979, when they felt they were "at the end of the road". The course says Solidarity built its own unions and schools under communism.
Commons. The course cites Alpine villages that have run common pastures for centuries and Spanish communities that share irrigation water. See Commons governance.
Cherán. The course cites Cherán, a town in Michoacán, Mexico, whose residents organised their own defence and government. The town has governed itself since 2011. See Cherán.

Takes on this idea

None yet. See Takes.

Sources

Building a Parallel Society, Logos activist course, 2026
Logos Movement, Logos, read 2026-11-04
Logos, Logos, read 2026-11-04
Václav Havel, The Power of the Powerless, translated by Paul Wilson, The Anarchist Library
The Power of the Powerless, Wikipedia
Václav Benda, Wikipedia
Solidarity, Encyclopaedia Britannica

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