Young people grow up surrounded by constant crises, cuts, and conflict. So it should come as no surprise that revolutionary and communist ideas are back on the agenda.
Students are becoming increasingly aware of how capitalism prioritises profit over their education and safety: from school departments no longer being able to afford basic materials; to the struggle and strife of getting by as a teacher. Consequently, radicalisation is happening from ever younger ages.
With thousands now missing school to avoid collapsing roofs, one thing is clear: since college students are blighted with the problems of a crumbling system, they are certainly old enough to protest and get organised with the communists.
Myths of Marxism
The Chelmsford communists are evidence of this. Comrades have formed a local cell composed almost entirely of college students. This has grown from one to nine in just three months. We hosted our first day school recently, on 31 August, which saw 20 attend throughout the day.
Comrades joined from Ipswich, Norwich, London, and Cambridge for our ‘Marxist myth busting’ session in the morning. School textbooks spew out numerous myths about socialism and communism; manipulating history to disgrace and ridicule revolutions of the past.
But the fact that the capitalists and their mouthpieces still churn out lies about Marxism, in an effort to dampen and divert young people’s anger, reveals their fears about their system’s future. Their propaganda and vitriol comes from a place of weakness, not one of strength.
Indeed, the spectre of communism looms larger than ever. The ideas of Marx and Engels have never been more relevant. Marx’s powerful predictions of globalisation and inequality, combined with his scientific understanding of the crisis-ridden nature of the capitalist system, are invaluable insights that revolutionaries must understand.
We also discussed the role of class struggle in propelling society forward. It is the duty of all communists to understand the history of our movement, in order to ensure we are not doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.
Building communist cells
Under capitalism, schools will only ever be training grounds for the workplace. The school curriculum, for example, is curated to dull our critical faculties; concealing the systemic failures of the profit system.
As communists, we do not need to accept this. That is why we had a session on building communist cells in colleges.
On a weekly basis, we will be using discussions of the Socialist Appeal paper and of key Marxist texts to train ourselves up for the titanic battles that impend. And we will be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with striking workers, supporting them in their disputes.
Theory will be our guide to action. We are not interested in mindless activism; this wastes precious time and achieves little. The role of communist students must be to understand the world, in order to transform it.
Turn your college communist!
The banning of ‘anti-capitalist’ teaching in schools cannot stem the tide of growing interest in revolutionary ideas. This is wishful thinking on the part of the Tories.
The success of this recent day school proved the appetite for revolutionary ideas amongst the youth. Hearing everyone’s enthusiasm and resolve to paint our towns and cities red was truly inspiring
There is no better time to be a communist. It is the job of communists to build in their colleges, campuses, and workplaces – connecting with the mood of anger that is bursting to the surface across society.
We pride ourselves on being a youthful organisation, in the best traditions of Bolshevism.
With schools opening for the new term, we haven’t a minute to waste. Join us in the fight for communism. As Marx said in the Communist Manifesto: we have a world to win!
