Parallel society

From Local Area Network
Revision as of 21:10, 4 November 2026 by Eleutherious (talk | contribs) (Second check fixes, plus material from the Circles handbook, Circle reports, LAN and Logos docs, source-checked)

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. The course says it earns that place by working better.

The Parallel Society Playbook in the Logos Circles handbook gives a similar definition. It calls a parallel society "a form of non-violent civil resistance, where an organised group of people build parallel civil structures" alongside harmful and unfair ones. It says the concept "comes from Czechoslovak dissidents living under a totalitarian regime". It names five intended outcomes: sovereign individuals, sound money, private coordination, healthy communities and a culture of civic virtue.

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. A 2025 Logos article on the Lisbon and Berlin Circles states that "Circles are designed to evolve into parallel structures that stand alongside existing institutions".

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. The areas match the eight civil society Issue Buckets in the Circles handbook, each with a three-letter code. The course gives examples for seven areas:

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

The course gives no example for the eighth area. The handbook names it "Rule of Law & Institutions" (INS). Its beginner actions for that bucket include "Community mediation tables for small disputes", "Legal-rights clinics with pro-bono lawyers" and municipal budget analysis.

What Circles have done

Circle reports and Playbook entries record early work in most areas. These are the Circles' own accounts.

From first win to institution

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

  1. The activation. One visible win, run in a day, draws people to the cause.
  2. The Circle. The people it drew form a community and pick their first winnable issue.
  3. The cycle. The Circle wins the issue, keeps the gain and picks the next one.
  4. The stack. The work moves onto infrastructure the old system cannot reach.
  5. The institution. The wins become permanent, with rules, people responsible and a record of delivering.
  6. 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. It calls this the build rules at work: know who is in, start small, win something real, then grow. The rules are set out on Commons governance.

The Circles handbook describes the same opening. Its Issue Buckets page says "a steward should begin with one visible win on an issue they care deeply about". The Circles Charter states the end point: "Over time, Circles will evolve beyond meetup groups into self-sustaining local institutions." The Playbook records each solved issue so that other Circles can "learn from that experience and adapt it locally".

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 be more responsive to human needs. 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. The first issue of the Logos zine LAN says that when mass protests swept the country in 1989, this self-organisation "provided part of the civic infrastructure through which opposition could rapidly coalesce". See Parallel polis and Issue 1/Parallel Society.
  • 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.
  • Logos Circles. The first issue of LAN opened with the claim that "The parallel society already exists." It gave as examples a food bank in Ibadan, a node behind a hotel router in Prague, a school under a tree in Delhi and activists in Benin City raising money for a member's treatment. See Issue 1/Editorial and Issue 1/Under a Tree.

See also

Takes on this idea

None yet. See Takes.

Sources

Page status: Outline. Stub · Outline · Usable · Guide · Star. Anyone can improve this page and change its status.
Retrieved from "https://alienware-1.tailb5c716.ts.net/index.php?title=Parallel_society&oldid=842"