“Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” Lenin, What is to be Done?
The RCP is preparing a future generation of revolutionary leaders – cadres capable of leading the masses to fundamentally change society. In order to change something, you first need to understand it.
Education is a lifelong process. It is not enough to have a small handful of theoreticians and a party of followers, we aim to train up every comrade in the method of Marxism, and for this task there are no shortcuts.
That’s why at the start of the summer, the Bristol RCP District Committee agreed to put up a programme of summer day schools. The purpose of these isn’t one-off educational events, but to continuously measure the political development of the comrades in the district.
Last weekend, we held the first of these day schools focussed on the subject of imperialism, with talks on the relative decline of US imperialism, and whether so-called ‘multipolarity’ is something to celebrate.
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A strong meeting is less determined by what happens during the meeting, and more by what happens before and after.
We prepared thoroughly for this event. Through the meticulous day-to-day educational work in the branches, several comrades gave theoretical contributions to the discussion for the first time.
Everyone was encouraged to come into the discussion with questions, or to try to answer them. Regardless of whether they give a perfect answer, the experience is highly valuable, and reveals the next steps. It’s not by avoiding mistakes, but rather through mistakes that we develop.
The school was incredibly impressive, with a fully packed room, attendance from 30 comrades, including guests from Bath, Yeovil, Cardiff, and London!
We highlighted the remarkable growth of our Party, with several new comrades in attendance who weren’t members at the time of the last school.
The quality and professionalism was an enormous step-up, running smoothly and on-time, with detailed, prepared and thoughtful contributions from a wide range of comrades.
We closed the day with some fantastic, inspiring remarks, highlighting how far we’ve come, and the importance of our journey to 50 comrades in Bristol, and 150 in the region.
After this, we highlighted the necessity of revolutionary finance, and raised £1,000 for the fighting fund from the floor.
We also recruited two new comrades, and sold plenty of literature! A phenomenal success, which we expect will only improve further next month, and leading into the autumn offensive on campus.
Ben Campbell, Bristol
Reading RCP holds its biggest meeting yet on Marxist philosophy
On Saturday the Reading RCP held a philosophy day school, and it was a great success!
Over the past few months, we have held an educational campaign around philosophy, focusing on how to apply the dialectical method in practice, as well as the need to defend Marxist ideas, culminating in us organising our second-ever RCP day school in Reading.
We had 18 people attend, making this our biggest meeting to date – including five first-time attendees, one of whom has now joined and another is close to joining!
More people dropped by throughout the day to take a look at our stall and buy our paper (the banners and red gazebo made us very eye-catching).
We raised £152 total from selling food, drinks, and materials, as well as a strong financial appeal by one of our treasurers – the most we’ve raised at a single event.
Comrade Fran gave a fantastic talk introducing the topic of dialectical philosophy. Following this, we held breakout groups to discuss the ideas raised.
This gave the whole district a chance to explain the ideas, and showcased how much we had strengthened our political level on the subject.
Among topics discussed were what is truth, the necessity of a revolutionary philosophy, the crisis in science, and how we use dialectics to explain the crisis of capitalism.
After a lunch filled with political discussion, Central Committee member Alex Falconer introduced a discussion on Marxism versus postmodernism.
Compared to previous events, many more comrades were involved in preparing for the day school politically, as well as taking on organisational tasks, giving everyone an increased sense of ownership of the event.
We’ve come away from it inspired, confident, and renewed in our focus to reach 20 comrades in Reading by the end of this year!
In the words of one of our comrades:
“Today has given me such optimism and excitement for our work going forward. It feels like we’re heading into a new era for the Reading district armed with a clarity of ideas and the tools we need to grow the RCP in Reading with the enthusiasm required of a professional revolutionary force.”
Our task is now to build on this momentum, and push onwards in our aim to make the RCP the strongest political force in Reading!
Katya Turchin, Reading
