Trade unions, not tribunates: Contrasting two proposals of anti-oligarchic democratic innovation

Political theorists concerned with addressing oligarchic capture have increasingly engaged with the proposal of a people's tribunate as a promising anti-oligarchic democratic innovation. However, there are a range of issues with the proposal which put doubt on its capacity to address the diagnosed pathologies. Against the backdrop of recent talk of a trade union comeback, I argue that reviving (bottom-up, participatory, and oppositional) trade unions is more desirable and straightforward in this regard. I first identify five functions attributed to the tribunate in the literature and call into question its ability to sufficiently deliver on these functions. I then highlight how trade unions, in contrast, can fulfil each of them similarly well or better. In a second step, I give three independent reasons why trade unions should be prioritized. First, the trade union proposal takes more seriously the interrelation between the distribution of social and political power; second, it has the additional advantage of facilitating material redistribution; and third, it faces fewer feasibility concerns. Finally, I argue that this proposal is consistent with tribunate proponents’ political analysis and theoretical commitments such that they should, in principle, be open to it.