Since March, the London region has been on an unstoppable march to recruit for revolution. We have had 90 new members join the party, taking us over the milestone of 350 members!
We now have 29 branches across the city, spread across almost every borough. That’s why whether you’re grabbing a coffee in Stratford or going to see a band in Shepherd’s Bush, you will bump into reels of our posters calling for a revolution against the billionaires.
Workers in London, just like everywhere in the UK, have had enough. Enough of the government’s active participation in the genocide in Gaza. Enough of the Labour Party blaming the social decay of Britain on immigrants. Enough of Sir Keir Starmer coughing up billions for wars abroad, whilst slashing social spending here at home.
This is exactly what our five month long recruitment campaign has shown. We have been inundated with hundreds of applications to join the party, and have aimed to turn the anger that exists on the streets into revolutionary commitment.
Below are some key lessons of how we hit this milestone.
Raising our political level
What sets the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) apart from everyone else is the emphasis we place on revolutionary ideas. As many applicants to join us in London have understood, there is an organic link between theory and practice:
“I want to overthrow capitalism and get more educated about Marxism. In general, be more politically involved.”
“We can’t go on like this. We need a real alternative to the current system. One that is fair for all and I want to be educated and ready.”
With so much confusion existing out on the left, we have placed a special emphasis on the education of all layers of the organisation – starting first with the London leadership.
Back in February, we held our ‘Winter Cadre School’ with 60 comrades attending the two day event. We had talks on Marxist philosophy and economics, colonial revolutions, the decline of feudalism, why the USSR degenerated, and much more.
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The event served to raise the sights of our leading members, and catapult us into the recruitment drive. At this school, we emphasised the role the leading comrades must play in building up their own political level, in order to best lead their branches and districts.
Since then, there has been a series of educational initiatives for the secretaries across the districts: from discussions on Lenin’s philosophical writings, to Ted Grant’s writings on the post-war economic boom.
This enthusiasm for revolutionary theory has trickled down into the branches, and set the political tone.
For example, in Bermondsey, the comrades have come up with curated educational plans for each new member. As Alex, the chair of the South East London district, writes:
“Our newest recruit has already finished the In Defence of Marxism magazine on the African revolution, and is starting the Palestine booklet along with [Marxist] Classics Volume 1. Once he finishes these, he wants to cover In Defence of Lenin…
“Our previous recruit has already finished reading ‘Left-Wing’ Communism and has been re-reading What is to be Done? as well. He had some questions about Stalinism and the difference in the compromises made by Lenin and Trotsky in the early USSR compared to that of the Stalinists later on.
“Our task in the branch leadership is to make sure that for every text these comrades read, we discuss with them to make sure they have understood the key ideas and answer any questions they might have.”
In the New Cross branch, which has grown from three to ten active members this year, the leading comrades have been playing catch-up with the new members’ reading! As Alen, the secretary, writes:
“Since finishing What is Marxism?, comrades are more politically engaged and energised than ever. A real sense of urgency is taking hold – comrades are hungry for more theory, and more action.
“Newer comrades are already asking what to read next, and we’re responding by launching a State and Revolution reading group led by comrades who’ve been closely studying the book with the branch leadership.
“This is part of a conscious effort to train and build sustainable, confident leadership for the future.”
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In the Finsbury Park branch, patient political follow up has been the name of the game. They have recruited eight new people this year, with one new member setting up a £100 monthly donation after discussing through a pamphlet written by Engels!
Another of the new members in Finsbury Park was so inspired after their first demo with the RCP, they messaged mutual friends on Instagram asking them directly to join. They then brought along someone that responded to the next branch, and got their first recruit within a week.
Down in Brixton, the comrades have also been recruiting hand over fist. They have recruited six new people this year, and involved new members in the process of political follow up of new joiners too. As Tommasso, the secretary, explains:
“The key point we have made to all our new joiners is the importance of raising their political level, which enables us to connect with whatever has attracted new people to revolutionary communism, and to show that we have the ideas and the tactics they have been looking for.”
In order to feed our new members’ thirst for theory, we put on a book launch of the Classics of Marxism Volume 1, to which 40 new members showed up. We have also organised district meetings on the war in Ukraine, remilitarisation in Europe, austerity, and the crisis in the Middle East.
A conscious effort to raise the political level as quickly as possible has also been the essential element to the growth of London. It has, in many cases, been the newest recruits driving the work forward in London on the basis of political inspiration.
Getting stuck in
In the last three months, there has been plenty we’ve got stuck in with.
We’ve been out protesting for Palestine, led a solidarity campaign for the release of our imprisoned comrades in Gilgit-Baltistan, and been on the streets to oppose the criminalisation of KneeCap, and the proscription of Palestine Action.
The highlight of our recruitment campaign was undoubtedly the June 7 anti-austerity demo.
All branches in London had discussions on aspects of our political programme before heading along, in order to feel best prepared to make the communist case against the cuts.
Some focused on why we fight for nationalisation and workers control, others on the ballooning national debt and the need to expropriate the billionaires.
It has been on this basis that we were able to bring out a bloc of 400 – the biggest the streets of London have seen in decades. Our chants of “Nationalise the banks, seize their wealth, spend it on the national health!” and “Day by day, hour by hour, we will fight for workers’ power” electrified the demo.
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Our bold slogans even made their way onto the pages of the bourgeois papers, with the Evening Standard unable to ignore the “chants of revolution” approaching Whitehall.
None of this would have been possible without the patient political education taking place at the branch level. The same can be said of all our Palestine interventions this year.
Before each political intervention, we make sure to discuss the political situation on the ground, and brief our comrades on what we are there to do: not to cheerlead the movement, nor repeat back the politics of the common denominator. We are there to put forward a revolutionary way forward.
Our task as communists is to show that in order for the people of Palestine to live, and live freely, the imperialist system must die. That is what we aim to do when we organise for revolution here in Britain: to bring down all the warmongers, and put the workers in charge.
We’ve had a very busy five months in London. But there are no signs of exhaustion. There has arguably never been more momentum in the London organisation than there is now. It has proven that on the basis of political inspiration and solid branch meetings, we can keep the energy up.
Being fearless
As before mentioned, some of our newest members have become the boldest recruiters. A special shoutout must be given to our fastest growing branch based around a college in Camden.
Three months ago, we recruited one college student who had been radicalised by Palestine. He immediately recruited two friends, and set about trying to create a cell at his school. Since then, we have a new branch of eight in Camden, based on winning over sixth form students to the RCP.
As they write in an agitational leaflet they are preparing ahead of the start of college next year:
“The world we live in, in particular the system of capitalism, no longer seems to be ‘working’, and, in the eyes of many, appears utterly nonsensical.
“Having grown up in the age of the internet, our generation has been exposed to the barbaric failures of the world ever since we were little. To be online and shelter yourself from what is happening is not easy, most notably because of Gaza. Today, it affects us all.”
They are now known as ‘the communists’ at college. On the basis of discussing regularly with comrades in the districts, they have been running Communist Manifesto reading groups, and selling the Communist at local gigs.
Our newest branch in London gives a sense of the mood that exists all across the city. It proves that now is the time to be bold and fearless. Armed with the right ideas, and the right attitude, we will be hitting the 400 membership milestone in no time.
