Youth in revolt

The prospect of major social upheaval is beginning to frighten the bosses and billionaires. Decades ago, the capitalist class was confident that its social system was here to stay. But with wave after wave of youth revolts and class struggle around the world – like the recent wave of ‘Gen Z Revolutions’ – that confidence has turned to dust.

From Minneapolis to Morocco, from India to Indonesia, a common thread can be found: young people overcoming their fear and fighting for their future. Anger over corruption, austerity, inequality, and repression continues to fizzle away here in Britain.

The crisis of capitalism is undermining the prospects of young people. Graduate employment is at an all-time low, high rents are pricing young people out of cities, and the cost of living continues to bite. Something has to give.

But we cannot fight alone. That is why we need a party that represents the interests of the working class with a clear programme for revolution.

Revolutionary theory

As Lenin famously remarked, “without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.”

Capitalism will not simply implode by itself. It needs to be consciously overthrown by the working class. In critical moments, a revolutionary leadership is needed to play a decisive role in uprooting the old order. Building such a leadership requires training and education. Leading mass movements, developing political perspectives, and providing direction are not tasks that can simply be improvised.

For this reason, at the RCP we combine our daily political activity with the theoretical and political education of our members in Marxist theory. We study Marxist philosophy and economics, and examine the lessons of previous revolutionary movements.

These ideas help us understand the turmoil before us, connect with consciousness, and develop an understanding of society that arms us with the ability to change it.

This is the basis of our revolutionary optimism. It is not a naive optimism, but is grounded in an understanding of our role within history.

The role of the party

Workers and young people are searching for ways to change society, but often find that there is no organised expression for their efforts. At every step, they encounter established organisations and reformist leaderships that have abandoned any serious commitment to socialism or communism.

Our task is to organise the generation of communists that will overthrow the status quo.

The RCP bases itself on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky. We seek to build an organisation of political activists trained in theory and practical activity, capable of connecting different struggles among workers and young people to overthrow capitalism.

The capitalist class has its own parties and organisations through which it defends its interests. The working class requires its own.

Building an International

Capitalism does not stop at national borders. The problems we face – from war and poverty, to austerity and exploitation – exist on a global scale. The struggle for communism is international, or it is nothing.

The RCP is the British section of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), which brings together communists across the world and is active in more than seventy countries. We are united around a common programme, methods, and political purpose.

The RCI’s aim is to build revolutionary parties in different countries, connecting struggles across national borders. In Pakistan, for example, our comrade Ehsan Ali was arrested by the state. Comrades internationally mobilised in his defence, launching campaigns and putting pressure on the authorities. Our successful mobilisation led to his release.

Internationalism is a powerful tool for the working class. By seeking to build revolutionary parties in every country across the world, we are preparing the success of tomorrow’s struggles.

The revolution needs you!

We are organising for the big revolutionary events on the horizon. In our lifetime, there will be the opportunity for our class to take control of the economy and democratically run it. Not according to the profit motive of the capitalists, but according to the needs of the majority.

We are sometimes told that this is unrealistic. But is the alienation experienced by millions every day truly the natural order of things? Is it really true that humanity is incapable of organising society in a better way?

In a world consumed by crisis and pessimism, communists must be the unresting optimists. We are demanding what we are taught is ‘impossible’. We understand that the material conditions for a new and higher human society already exist on a world scale.

We produce enough food for everyone to have more than enough, yet one sixth of the world’s children go hungry. Enormous resources are being used to produce weapons for an imperialist war machine. There is enormous wealth, yet poverty is widespread.

Humanity has made enormous progress in technology and science, and many of the means to tackle the climate crisis already exist. Yet they are not being implemented because they cannot provide a satisfactory return on investment for the capitalists.

The question is not whether revolution will come to the shores of Britain. The question is whether or not we will be ready to seize the moment.

Demand the impossible. Demand the future. Join the Communists.