Welcome, comrades, to Moscow on the Pacific

MAYOR ANTONIO Villaraigosa is learning what it feels like when a revolution starts eating its children. Shaped and promoted by public employee unions throughout his career, he now faces a possible insurrection.

Villaraigosa signed off on a deal with Department of Water and Power workers that no sane private executive would ever agree to -- five years of annual wage increases of 3.25% plus a cost-of-living clause. Now all the other city unions, starting with the 8,000-member Engineers and Architects Assn., are demanding the same sweet deal.

The mayor may be left-handed, but he can still count. If he caves in to union demands, he knows the city could be in dire financial trouble.

So maybe it’s time to knock down the whole municipal democratic facade -- the council, the commissions, the boards of the DWP, airport and other independent agencies -- and replace it with a council elected directly by city workers.

Back in the Bolshevik era, they called such bodies “soviets.” They represented workers, peasants and soldiers. In Los Angeles, they could represent engineers, sanitation workers and cops.

Think of the savings. By cutting out elected intermediaries, the city can save the $149,000 yearly salary of each council member, by far the highest in the country. We wouldn’t have to spend money on high-priced labor negotiators.

And here’s the best part: If the city goes bankrupt, it’s the workers’ problem. They can worry about bailing it out.

A city of soviets could issue five-year plans. The council already tinkers with wages and subsidies to achieve social goals. Why not establish production quotas for L.A.’s progressive industries -- porn production, plastic surgery and PR puffery?

By leading the sovietization of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa could become the most progressive politician of the ages. After all, soviet-style “people’s democracy” worked brilliantly the last time around, didn’t it?