On 2-5 May, Marxists from across the country are meeting in London for the annual congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). If recent weeks are anything to go by, this national gathering is likely to take place against a backdrop of explosive events, in Britain and internationally.
The central discussion at this congress will be on our party’s perspectives: an attempt to understand the significance of the epoch-changing developments taking place around us; and, on this basis, to connect with the most radicalised layers of workers and youth – in order to build a revolutionary force that can become a factor in the process.
To aid this, in advance of every congress, we produce a draft document that all comrades read, study, and discuss in the branches of the RCP. Delegates then debate and vote on amendments to this document, with the aim of clarifying any political questions and sharpening our collective understanding as a party.
As Marx famously stated: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it.” And in order to change the world, we must first understand it. Only by making sense of events can we provide a compass to point the way forward for the working class.
Marx and Engels emphasised the role of communists, in this respect, in the Communist Manifesto. Having a firm grasp of perspectives is what distinguishes communists: “clearly understanding the line of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the workers’ movement.”
Amidst all the turmoil and turbulence in today’s world, the need for a sober, lucid perspective is evident – to provide us with, in the words of Leon Trotsky “the advantage of foresight over astonishment”.
In the absence of such a perspective, it is easy to lose one’s head; to succumb to the pressures of alien classes, and fall for the lies of the establishment and its mouthpieces.
The pernicious consequence of this, ultimately, is political capitulation to this or that reactionary wing of the ruling class: to sow illusions in the so-called ‘lesser evil’ of liberalism, or in reformism and pacifism; or to buy into the demagoguery of charlatans.
The communists, however, do not ‘take sides’ when it comes to the fight between two reactionary camps in the culture war. Instead, we take an independent class position, and draw out the class questions that can unite workers and youth against the real enemy: the capitalists and their representatives.
This is what Marx and Engels meant when they said that the communists “always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole”. Our task, they stress, is “to point out and bring to the front the common interests of the entire working class”.
This remains our method and approach today. Our job is to raise consciousness. Democratic debates for us are not conducted out of academic interest, but to arm ourselves politically with our most powerful weapon: clear ideas. This is what contrasts our party to all other tendencies in the movement.
End of an era
Possessing a Marxist perspective provides us with enormous strength. But it is not a crystal ball. It is impossible to predict how events will play out exactly.
This is especially the case given how pregnant with crisis and volatility the capitalist system is in this era. As this year’s draft document asserts: “We are in a period of sharp turns and sudden changes.”
That is why the document begins by emphasising that “the purpose of perspectives is to outline the main processes taking place in society”; to “concentrate on the fundamentals, leaving all secondary details to one side”.
Furthermore, the document underlines that “it is not possible to understand perspectives in Britain in isolation”, but only “in the context of the world situation”.
This is clear from recent developments, as shockwaves emanate from the epicentre of the White House, producing earthquakes across the planet.
“The re-election of Donald Trump as US President represents a historic shift in world relations and world politics,” the document explains, predicting the titanic events that are now playing out before us.
“Trump threatens to upend the so-called ‘rules-based order’, by undermining all the institutions and agreements that have underpinned the US-woven web of western imperialism for the last 80 years. This will have colossal consequences everywhere.”
Even the ruling classes of the West are beginning to realise this fact, particularly in the wake of Zelensky’s recent humiliation in the Oval Office. Indeed, the very concept of ‘the West’ – of a shared set of interests between US imperialism and its European ‘allies’ – is increasingly being challenged.
The champions of the establishment are belatedly drawing this conclusion – albeit from the opposite class perspective to that of the communists. Whilst we see the potential revolutionary implications of the breakdown of the old world order, they are desperately trying to uphold this crumbling status quo.
“We have entered the most disturbed period in human history,” the document states, without any understatement. “Conditions are being created everywhere for the development of the world revolution.”
Powder keg
Not only is it impossible to understand events in Britain in isolation from global developments, but it is also impossible to make sense of the present situation without an appreciation of the past.
In particular, the perspectives document explains the process of long-term decline that has unfolded over the last century in regards to British capitalism.
For decades, the British capitalist class has failed to invest in productivity and modernisation. Instead, they have put their ill-gotten gains into all manner of speculation and gambling.
The former ‘workshop of the world’ has now become a mere ‘butler to the world’: providing financial and legal services to international capital; siphoning off a trickle of wealth from the money flowing into and out of the City of London; and acting as a Trojan Horse for US imperialism inside Europe.
Brexit has accelerated this process, cutting the UK adrift from its main trading partner, and diminishing Britain’s utility as a bridgehead for global investors’ excursions into the EU.
Added to this has been 15 years of austerity under successive Tory – and now Labour – governments. And with economic growth stalling, and Britain’s creditors demanding their pound of flesh, Starmer and co. are lining up further, deeper cuts.
The tragic result is the dilapidation and decay seen in working-class communities across Britain. Infrastructure is creaking. Schools and hospitals are collapsing. Private profiteers are literally pumping shit into the country’s waterways.
UK industry is shutting down, creating ghost towns and throwing workers on the scrapheap – most recently with the jobs massacre at the Port Talbot steelworks in South Wales.
Ordinary families – including middle-class layers – are facing the squeeze. Real wages are falling, as pay fails to keep up with rising prices. And sickness, burnout, and mental health issues are becoming widespread across the workforce, as the bosses seek to boost their profits at the expense of the working class.
This bleak picture explains the palpable malaise in British society; the hatred of the entire capitalist establishment – from the police and Parliament, to the monarchy and media.
No wonder Britain has seen so much social and political upheaval in the past decade: riots in deprived areas like Ely (Wales) and Harehills (Leeds); the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, the 2016 Brexit vote, and the Corbyn insurgency; and the Black Lives Matter protests, the 2022/23 strike wave, and the Palestine solidarity movement.
With the pressures on the working class only intensifying, and nobody providing a serious political outlet for all the accumulating anger and discontent, it is clear that Britain has become a powder keg, ready to explode.
Government of crisis
The document explains how all the traditional parties and politicians are hated. The Tories were unceremoniously booted out by voters last summer. But there was – and is – no enthusiasm for Keir Starmer and Labour.
Starmer’s government had no honeymoon period. Within weeks of the general election, racist pogroms and massive counter-demos were breaking out across the country. And the crises have only mounted for the Labour leaders since.
The Prime Minister and his wooden sidekick, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, have desperately tried to woo big business. But the capitalists have not responded warmly to Labour’s economic proposals.
In particular, attempts to ‘share the burden’ for Britain’s financial difficulties has led to a backlash from the bosses and bankers. This includes a mini-run on the pound and UK debt bonds at the start of this year, with international investors pushing the government to follow through with its promise to take ‘tough decisions’ in regards to public spending.
At the same time, with Trump threatening to abandon NATO and Ukraine, Starmer is pledging to ‘show leadership’ by increasing UK ‘defence’ spending. But that means diverting money away from healthcare and welfare towards warfare.
This is the reality of Labour’s ‘patriotic’ chest-beating: militarism alongside austerity. But jingoistic flag-waving and delusions of grandeur won’t make the blindest bit of difference in regards to Britain’s influence abroad. And nor will it pay the bills for workers back home.
“This Starmer government – this government of crisis – will therefore lurch from one disaster to another as they attempt to grapple with the deteriorating situation,” the document therefore concludes.
“They are under intense pressure from the capitalists, on the one hand, and the working class on the other, reflected in the opposition of the trade unions, the movements on the streets, and the anger in working-class constituencies. The Labour leaders will be squeezed between these two millstones, providing the working class with an education in the limits of right-wing reformism.”
Starmer’s balancing act
The Labour leaders have banked everything on the idea of stimulating growth through deregulation, hoping to incentivise the capitalists to invest.
This means opening the country’s doors to the big imperialist powers, inviting all manner of parasites and vultures to gorge themselves on what remains of British industry and public services.
But as the document states: “Starmer has not the slightest chance of turning around the fortunes of British capitalism.”
The stategists of capital are already talking about the prospect of ‘stagflation’ for the UK economy: anaemic (or non-existent) growth alongside continually rising prices. And the inflationary pressures – including government debts and deficits, military spending, labour shortages and other bottlenecks, and protectionism – are only growing.
This explains Starmer’s desperate balancing act: attempting to draw closer to Europe and maintain trade links with China, whilst preserving the so-called ‘special relationship’ with the USA and not incurring the wrath (and tariffs) of Trump.
“The experience of this Labour government, with its programme of counter-reforms and subservience to Washington, will only increase a sense of betrayal amongst workers and youth,” the document continues. “This is the meaning of reformism in the epoch of capitalist decline. Starmer is destined to become the most hated politician in Britain.”
In fact, as the document notes, support for Starmer and his government is already plummeting. Consequently, Labour MPs are growing nervous about their careers.
We can therefore expect increasing discord within the Parliamentary Labour Party. At a certain stage, this will express itself in open mutiny and revolt against Starmer’s austerity agenda. The recent resignation of Anneliese Dodds from her position as international development minister is a harbinger of future fissures and fractures.
“This poses an enormous dilemma for the ruling class,” the document explains. “Their traditional political representatives, the Tory Party, are in a state of disarray and degeneration. Their B-team, meanwhile, the Labour Party, is rapidly being discredited and losing support. Demagogic figures like Farage, meanwhile, cannot be fully trusted to represent the capitalists’ interests.”
“Consequently, at a certain stage, the ruling class will come to depend on the left reformists – in particular the leaders of trade unions – to hold back the working class.”
For now, the trade unions remain largely passive. Even catastrophes like that at Port Talbot have failed to produce a militant response from the union leaders.
Instead, they have placed all their hopes on the idea of Starmer’s government offering them a few scraps that they can sell to rank-and-file members – in particular, reforms relating to workplace rights. But even these measures could end up being diluted, in order to appease the employers.
Eventually the dam will burst, and a deluge of industrial struggle will sweep across Britain. The strike wave of 2022/23 shows the potential.
We should have no illusions in the current crop of union leaders, however. Seeped in a completely class-collaborationist outlook, they cling to the past. They will have to be pushed into opposition against the Labour government by the pressures from below.
Combustible material
“There is enormous anger in society. Anger at the Tories. Anger at Starmer. Anger at capitalism. Anger at the prolonged squeeze on living standards. Many are searching for a way out of this blind alley. This has created an enormous vacuum in society.”
So begins the final section of the perspectives document, covering the key development of ‘populism and polarisation’.
“The ‘left’, who are politically bankrupt, have completely failed to offer an alternative,” the document continues. “In fact, with the exception of the four years of Corbyn, there has been no real left wing in British politics for decades.”
Given this immense political vacuum, and complete lack of any genuine reference point on the left, all manner of phenomena are possible – and even likely.
For a time, the movement for Palestine provided a lightning rod for all the accumulated anger amongst workers and youth. George Galloway’s by-election win in Rochdale, along with the victory of several pro-Gaza independents at the general election, gave this a political expression. And although attention is not currently focussed on the Middle East, this mood has not gone away.
In particular, there has been a tremendous radicalisation of the youth. Survey after survey shows that young people in Britain are wide open to the ideas of communism and revolution – albeit in a vague and confused way. And with UK universities going into crisis, as the document notes, “campuses are a tinder box that could explode again at any time”.
Given the hatred towards all the mainstream parties, it is possible that we could see a mass grassroots movement directed against the whole political establishment, along the lines of the 2018 gilet jaunes protests in France.
Similarly, there could be moves by the unions to disaffiliate from Labour, or attempts to set up a new political formation on the left.
Given the onslaught against the working class, we can also expect the development of opposition within the Labour Party – from the trade unions, from backbench MPs, or both.
In Scotland, meanwhile, it is likely that the SNP will see a temporary stabilisation. The bourgeois nationalist leaders are themselves discredited, given their failure to provide any answer to the questions of austerity and independence during their many years in power. Nevertheless, by default, they will benefit from the disappointment towards Labour, and the desire to keep out Reform.
Again, we cannot predict exactly how the process will play out. The important thing is to recognise the combustible material in society, just waiting for a spark.
Farage and Reform
Understanding all of this is essential for making sense of the rise of right-wing populism – notably, in Britain, in the form of Nigel Farage and his latest political outfit, Reform UK.
As with Trump in the USA, the growing support for Reform does not represent a ‘shift to the right’. Rather, it is a distorted expression of the rejection of the establishment.
Indeed, on many class questions, including support for nationalisation and opposition to imperialist intervention, Reform voters are actually to the left of the official Labour position.
In this respect, we must not conflate the popularity of Reform with the genuine menace of the far right. There is a world of difference between workers holding an anti-establishment anger (and some superficial prejudices), and hardened hooligans holding fascist views, as seen on Britain’s streets last summer.
The latter must be met with militant, organised force; driven back with united class struggle, and – in the words of Trotsky – “acquainted with the pavement”. The former can be won over on the basis of bold socialist policies to burning class issues.
The blame for the rise of Reform, in this respect, lies with the so-called ‘lefts’. “With their weak reformist politics and their pandering to identity politics,” the document explains, “the ‘left’ have provided a golden opportunity for Farage to capitalise on the situation.”
From the woolly reformism of Momentum and co., to the liberal pacifism of Stop the War, to the class collaborationism of the trade union tops: the leaders of the ‘left’ and the labour movement have completely failed to offer a clear class alternative at every critical juncture and opportunity.
In the absence of such an alternative, the perspectives document outlines, “disillusionment with the Starmer government will provide further fertile ground” for right-wing populists.
“The only real answer to Farage and these reactionary demagogues – and all those who defend the status quo – is a bold revolutionary programme, linking our day-to-day problems with the need to overthrow the capitalist system.”
It is too early to say what the future holds for Reform. Currently, Farage’s party is topping the polls: gaining support from both Labour and the Tories, and from ordinary folk who despise both these traditional political parties. At the next election, this could translate into major parliamentary gains for Reform – and even to Farage coming to power in some form.
There is no point in speculating at this stage. Just to say, however, as the document notes: whatever its exact composition, any right populist government would also be a government of crisis – presiding over further decline, and forced to carry out even-deeper austerity.
With its unstable coalition of support, including both nakedly-reactionary former Tories and disaffected workers, right-wing populism in power would be torn asunder, as antagonist class interests come to the fore.
“Right-wing populism will not offer a solution, as it operates on the basis of capitalism,” the document explains. “Once the illusions in these populists are tried and tested – then shattered – there will be a sharp shift to the left amongst these same masses, still searching for a solution.”
“Very quickly, such a government would come up against the mighty force of the working class, especially the youth. It would lay the basis for a massive shift to the left, and the opening of a pre-revolutionary situation.”
The crisis of capitalism is therefore a crisis of liberalism, reformism, and populism; a crisis of any regime that bases itself on this decrepit system.
World turned upside down
Our role, as communists, is to recognise these contradictions, digest their implications, and bring out the class questions that can cut across the culture war.
In this respect, the document emphasises the potential for leaps in consciousness, on the basis of intensified crisis and class struggle, “as was seen in Britain in the wake of the 2016 Brexit vote and the Tory victory in the 2019 general election”.
“On both occasions, superficial empiricists on the ‘left’ were filled with pessimism, declaring that Britain was an inherently right-wing, racist country. A year after the EU referendum, however, Jeremy Corbyn almost came to power on the basis of a left-wing, class-based programme. And within months of his landslide election win, Boris Johnson was presiding over one of the most crisis-ridden governments in British history.”
“These examples demonstrate the importance of a dialectical perspective; the need to not be impressionistic, and get fixated on what is immediately in front of us. Such a blinkered, empirical outlook inevitably leads to doom-and-gloom, and in turn to mistakes of both an opportunistic and ultra-left character. Instead, we need to understand how volatile the situation is; how consciousness can rapidly change and swing from right to left, and back again; and therefore how things can – and will – turn into their opposite.”
This is the perspective ahead of us. The situation will be completely transformed by the hammer blow of events. No stone will be left unturned. The whole world will be turned upside down.
However, as the draft document emphasises: “We cannot feed ourselves on the fruit of tomorrow.” In other words, we do not sit on the sidelines, twiddling our thumbs and awaiting the coming British revolution.
Instead, we must redouble our efforts to build the forces of genuine communism in the here and now. “This is our fundamental task, upon which the fate of the working class and that of humanity rests.”
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