Comrades, this is a truly historic event, a historic congress, the task of which is to found a Revolutionary Communist Party – a Bolshevik Party – on British soil.
There was never a more important task in our time.
Yes, there have been other attempts to build a revolutionary party – the earliest being the Social Democratic Federation in 1883. But this was shipwrecked by sectarianism and dogmatism by the likes of Henry Hyndman.
Under the influence of the Russian Revolution, a British Communist Party was founded in 1920. But this was ruined by Stalinism.
In 1944, our forerunner, the first Revolutionary Communist Party, was founded by Ted Grant and others. Despite a promising start, this was cut across by the objective situation and the intrigues of the so-called leaders of the Fourth International, who destroyed the movement.
Nevertheless, Ted Grant, in the most difficult of times, kept the ideas of genuine Marxism alive, which he has bequeathed to us today.
You can say that we have come full circle. We are retying the knot of history, but on a far higher level. The objective situation is now flowing in our favour. And the capitalist crisis has returned with a vengeance.
We stand on the shoulders of the great Marxists. As a party, we must learn the lessons of the past, and studiously avoid the pitfalls of sectarianism and opportunism.
The founding of the RCP will be a testing time for all of us, politically and organisationally. But it is a task that cannot be put off any longer.
I would say that there are better opportunities opening up to build such a party than at any time since the early 1920s.
The job of this congress is to help us prepare for the revolutionary epoch that lies ahead.
Crisis and revolution
Trotsky defined a revolution as the forcible entry of the masses onto the political arena. This occurs when all the contradictions of the past explode to the surface.
Consciousness is then transformed overnight. It catches up with the objective situation – not gradually, but with a bang.
It is then the task of the revolutionary party, if it is built in time, to place itself at the head of this movement, and carry it through to a conclusion: the conquest of power.
This congress needs to understand at what stage we are at in this process. While it is difficult to determine the exact tempo of events, I would say the line of march is clear.
On a world scale, capitalism has reached its limits. It has exhausted itself. This fact was reflected in the crises of 2008 and 2020. We are referring here, not to a cyclical crisis of boom and slump. This cycle will always be with us. We are referring to the organic crisis of capitalism.
As Marx explained, when a social system cannot develop the productive forces, it enters into decline and crisis, preparing the way for social revolution.
That is precisely the epoch we have entered.
Instability everywhere
We have entered the most disturbed period in history. War is raging in Europe and in the Middle East, adding to the proud instability everywhere. Europe has been forced to cut its trade with Russia, plunging the continent into economic decline. The USA and China are heading towards a trade war that threatens the world economy.
At the present time, world capitalism is limping along, stumbling from one crisis to the next. Every attempt to restore the economic equilibrium results in further political disequilibrium.
The ruling classes everywhere are looking with trepidation at the possible re-election of Trump in November, who promises to slap 10 percent tariffs on imports and 60 percent tariffs on Chinese imports.
In other words, we have the prospect of a world trade war, with all the consequences that come with it.
Capitalism has only managed to save itself from a depression by building up massive debts. This has served to build dynamite into its foundations. Any shock can set off a chain reaction.
That is why a new slump terrifies them. Despite all the promises, the banks are more exposed than ever. The fallout can be devastating. Even the head of the IMF says there is little room for another bailout given the mountain of debts. They have boxed themselves into a corner.
As the Financial Times, the organ of finance capital, explained:
“While the global economy is able to handle a transitory bump, it is already too fragile to handle a large new economic shock.
“The larger cloud on the horizon was an increasingly gloomy prognosis for the outlook for global growth over the rest of this decade.
“What lies behind the gloom is a mixture of weak productivity, a retrenchment in globalisation – and its corollary, frequent bouts of geopolitical turmoil.
“Together this toxic combination would drag growth down to paltry levels and, in so doing, sow the seeds of ‘popular discontent’ with mainstream politics, Georgieva [the head of the IMF] warned.”
“The downward trajectory in the IMF’s longer-term growth forecasts looked like a ‘Swiss ski slope’, said Georgieva.”
On a world scale, we have entered an epoch of crisis, wars, revolution and counterrevolution.
Decline and degeneration
This is the ‘blissful’ background to developments in Britain.
British capitalism has been in decline for over 100 years. From once being the dominant world power, it has been reduced in reality to a third-rate power on the edge of Europe.
The ruling class has presided over a collapse, turning Britain largely into a rentier economy. Indian and Chinese capitalists own its steel industry; Chinese and French own its power generation; its railways and car industry is foreign owned, as are many other sectors.
Along with this humiliating collapse has come a degeneration of the ruling class, which is more parasitic than ever before. They have given up on developing the economy. They want to make money from money, without going through the trouble of production.
Today, the UK economy has flatlined. But the stock market is booming! This reflects the disconnect between the real economy and the world of the capitalist speculators.
In Britain, corporate investment – the lifeblood of any economy – has collapsed. It has only grown by a total of 4.6% in the last eight years! Productivity, as a result, has grown by 0.4% a year since 2008. Meanwhile, real wages have collapsed: the biggest decline since the Napoleonic Wars.
Trotsky explained that the British ruling class in the past thought in terms of continents and centuries. Today, they can’t see further than their own nose.
This degeneration is especially reflected in its political representatives. People like Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, not to mention Rees-Mogg, are completely mad.
Even the bourgeoisie, fearing economic chaos, were forced within weeks to bring down the Truss government. Meanwhile, Sunak, who was supposed to be a safe pair of hands, has been a dithering disappointment. Whatever they do will be wrong.
Of course, they were all staunch supporters of ‘Brexit’, which has been an absolute calamity for British capitalism.
As a result, Britain has been transformed from possibly the most stable to one of the most unstable countries in Europe. Britain has again become the sick man of Europe.
Stinking and sinking
Sunak has presided over a government in meltdown, pulled apart by corruption. Tory factions are fighting over a sinking ship, which is heading for oblivion after 14 years of austerity.
In this period, Britain has suffered a massive collapse in living standards, health, education, housing – you name it! The state of the roads and railways are falling to pieces. The NHS is in terminal decline. Sewerage is poured into our rivers. The quality of life has gone down sharply. Life expectancy has fallen. Poverty has risen dramatically, especially for children.
Working life has become a nightmare for many, who are striving to make ends meet. The youth believe they have no future.
As a result, frustration, stress, and anger is widespread. Discontent is at record levels.
These are the objective conditions preparing revolutionary upheavals in Britain.
For many people, capitalism has now become discredited. This includes those institutions that prop up capitalism: the police, judiciary, Parliament, the monarchy. We have a crisis of the regime.
At the same time, the class divide has become a chasm.
Broken promises
With the Tories in meltdown, the scene is set for a Starmer Labour government with a sizeable majority.
But there is no enthusiasm for Keir Starmer or a Starmer government, especially amongst the youth. Satisfaction with Labour is lower than at any point since 2010. Starmer’s net satisfaction rate is minus 31.
The only reason Starmer will win the election is that the Tories are hated even more!
He is a faithful agent of the capitalists and bankers.
Starmer has already backtracked on his promises. There will be no bailout for the working class. On the contrary, councils will be allowed to go bankrupt, which will hit the most vulnerable in society. Austerity will intensify, as the Starmer government wraps itself in the Union Jack.
In the past, the right-wing Labour leaders made promises, got elected, then betrayed them. Starmer is determined to get his betrayals in first!
The Starmer government, the new agents of capitalism, will carry on from where the Tories left off. There will be no honeymoon period.
Their talk of ‘growing the economy’ is farcical. Every government has raised this idea and failed. Growth can only take place with rising investment, which has flatlined.
British capitalism is in a dire state and getting worse.
We predict the Starmer government will be the most hated Labour government in history. Its actions are going to provoke an almighty backlash.
Industrial battles
The British working class has been reawakened and aroused in the recent strike wave. The working class will not take the attacks from Starmer lying down. All hell can break loose.
The trade union leaders will be under enormous pressure. Despite their yearning for a deal with Starmer, they will be forced into opposition.
The bourgeoisie will demand that the entire burden of the crisis be placed on the back of the working class. And the working class will resist.
Blocked on the political front the workers will turn to the industrial front. The working class will be steeled in these battles, as increasingly, new young workers come to the fore.
Given the hatred towards Starmer and capitalism, these layers will be drawing radical – and even revolutionary – conclusions.
The trade union leaders, especially the ‘lefts’, will begin to make radical speeches, while at the same time attempting to restrain the workers. We should recall Mick Lynch’s advice to workers to ‘grow up’ and vote for Starmer.
Limits of reformism
Even the Labour ‘lefts’ may start to squeak. But there is more fight in a paper bag.
We witnessed their feeble actions during the Corbyn years. As we explained, their weaknesses are a result of their weak reformist politics. They wish to work within capitalism. At the end of the day, therefore, they act little differently from the right wing.
Corbyn has set up his Peace & Justice Project, which has zero socialist content. Instead, it is all based on making capitalism nicer. It is saturated with mealy-mouthed pacifism. They go on to sow illusions in the dis-United Nations as the saviour of the working class. There is not an ounce of class content in their politics.
“We are guided by hope, not hate,” said Corbyn. “Real security isn’t destroying your neighbour, it’s getting on with your neighbour.”
This is turn-the-other-cheek philosophy. Pacifism is like the lamb trying to resist the butcher’s knife with bleatings. Only the overthrow of capitalism can end imperialist wars, not moral indignation, resolutions, or ‘peace’ congresses.
For these so-called ‘lefts’, it is not capitalism that is the problem, but ‘neoliberalism’ – in other words, nasty capitalist policies, instead of good clean Keynesian policies!
Keynesian policies are capitalist policies, however, based on ‘deficit financing’: namely, borrowing to help ‘grow’ the economy. But governments are already weighed down with unsustainable debts. And interest rates are sky-high. That is why governments are cutting back.
Monetarism and Keynesianism are simply the head and tail of the same capitalist coin. They offer either deflation or inflation. Both represent attacks on the working class.
As we have explained, inherent in reformism – both of the left and right variety – is betrayal.
This is not a personal question, but arises from their politics. They have no faith in the idea of revolution. Everything must therefore be kept within the confines of the capitalist system.
When the chips are down, they capitulate to the ruling class. This explains the defeat of Corbynism.
Mole of revolution
The objective situation is relentlessly pushing Britain towards revolution. It is not revolutionaries that cause revolution, but the insoluble crisis of capitalism. The mole of revolution is burrowing a sure path.
It is in this process of sharp and sudden changes that consciousness is transformed.
What is the position today? We must be careful in our assessment.
There are elements of a pre-revolutionary situation – but only elements. We are not as yet in a fully-fledged pre-revolutionary situation. But we are moving in that direction.
In other words, we are at the beginning of this process. As Trotsky explained, we must not mistake the first month of pregnancy with the ninth, for obvious reasons.
We can say, however, that the act of conception has taken place!
Events are moving quickly. But this is not a straight line. The crisis will intensify. There will be ups and downs, even setbacks. Each setback, however, will lead to a greater acceleration of events.
The process will not be quick. It will be a protracted process towards revolution in Britain.
This is not a bad thing, but a good thing, as it gives us more time!
The revolutionary situation develops when there is a complete economic and social impasse, which crashes in on consciousness. The masses face a catastrophe. The working class searches for a way out – not on the old basis, but along the path of revolutionary insurrection.
“Surely not in Britain?”, the sceptics say.
Yes, absolutely! The first shall be last, and the last shall be first, says the Bible – a very dialectical concept indeed.
The former power of British capitalism has collapsed. The crisis of British capitalism is accelerating. This is demonstrated by facts and figures.
The whole system is being turned upside down. The death agony of capitalism will wreak havoc, creating one wave of struggle after another.
In this sense, the past is no guide to the future!
Revolutionary convulsions will be on the order of the day. This remains our perspective.
Of course, there will be ebbs and flows, including setbacks.
The Spanish revolution unfolded from 1931-37. But it was not a straight line. There were two years of reaction in 1933-34, but these gave way to greater shifts. We can expect similar things.
We must not be put off by this. We need to understand the dynamics of the class struggle and how the process unfolds.
The revolution will only succeed if a revolutionary party stands at the head of the proletariat, however. That is the vital lesson of history.
Wanted: 10,000 communists!
Perspectives for us are not a blueprint. They are a guide to action.
The party is the memory of the working class: we learn from history, which prepares us for the coming events. The subjective factor is the most important factor in history.
No doubt we will face derision from those on the ‘left’ and the right, who have no understanding of what is taking place.
Let them scoff as much as they like. History shows that a small movement with a correct programme can grow on the basis of events.
Although we are relatively small at the present time, there is no reason why we can’t be 5,000 or 10,000 in a relatively short space of time.
We must understand that there are no shortcuts to building the revolutionary party. There is no substitute for systematic revolutionary work, based on revolutionary propaganda.
The task is not to appear stronger, but to get stronger! Our task is to ‘patiently explain’.
Of course, that does not mean passivity. On the contrary, we need tenacity and more tenacity!
As Trotsky explained, you can have revolutionaries of all kinds. But you can’t have revolutionaries who lack devotion and the willingness to break through obstacles.
We need to build a powerful organisation – not on sand, but on the firm ground of Marxist theory.
We turn towards the youth and the young workers.
There is an enormous vacuum out there. We can’t fill it entirely, but we can fill a slice. That is down to us! Building the party still requires time and hard work.
How long will it take us? That depends largely on ourselves.
I say, the rallying cry of this founding congress of the RCP should be “WANTED: 10,000 communists!”
In 1933, Trotsky raised this challenge in front of the Bolshevik Leninists in Britain. But they were too weak and immature.
For us, this is entirely achievable.
As the Bible says: Where there is a will, there is a way. And we have to find the way!
There was never a greater and more worthwhile task in history.
On our shoulders lies the fate of humanity. The choice we face is socialism or barbarism. We have to prepare ourselves for this.
In this Year of Lenin, we dedicate ourselves to achieving this goal. Build the RCP!
Comrades, forward to the victory of the British revolution! Foreword to the victory of the world revolution!
