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Revolutionary Communists take on Tory warmongers

Revolutionary Communists take on Tory warmongers

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Across the country, comrades of the newly-founded Revolutionary Communist Party are helping to build the student movement in solidarity with Palestine. Whether it’s on campus or on TV, the RCP is fighting to overthrow the Tories and end imperialism.

This past week, as a full-scale invasion of Rafah looms, the Palestine movement on campuses has continued to grow, with new encampments popping up in universities such as Cardiff, Lancaster, and Queen Mary in London.

Demands vary from place to place; but with one united voice, students and communities are placing a clear demand upon the university bosses: Disclose and divest! Cut your ties with Israel and the imperialist war machine!

Across the country, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) has thrown itself into this struggle (see reports below).

RCP comrades have played an active role in organising the encampments, giving fiery speeches at rallies, and leading educational discussions on topics like imperialism and revolutionary history.

But above all, the Revolutionary Communists have been putting forward a fighting programme to escalate the movement – by reaching out to workers on campus, and spreading the struggle to local workplaces, schools, colleges, and working-class neighbourhoods.

Our comrades are raising demands that link this struggle to the fight against profiteering university bosses, the Tory government, and the system they uphold.

We say: Open up the financial books, so we can see where our fees, rents, and taxes are going! Put universities under the democratic control of staff and students! Kick imperialism off campus! Down with the Tory warmongers!

At Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and elsewhere, RCP members have led chants of “Intifada! Revolution!” These have been taken up passionately by students and local residents, revealing the mood of burning anger that exists across society.

Taking on the Tories

No doubt spooked by scenes of militant struggle and unrest at encampments across North America, the establishment in Britain is on high-alert.

Already, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has met with vice-chancellors to discuss the rise of so-called ‘antisemitism’ on campuses – a blatant smear against those who wish to stop the Gazan genocide and fight imperialism.

Yesterday, rabid right-wing Tory MP and former home secretary Suella Braverman paid a provocative visit to the Cambridge University encampment, with a GB News camera crew in tow, no doubt hoping for a bit of limelight to revive her faltering career.

The ensuing scenes could have been taken from The Thick of It. Every time Braverman tried to engage in conversation with protestors, she was met with a barrage of silence from students, who rightly had no interest in discussing with this racist reactionary.

Walking away empty-handed, without any red meat to feed their rabid viewers, GB News then invited leading members of the RCP onto their show to discuss the encampments.

The channel’s hosts were clearly hoping to lampoon the left. Instead, they and their right-wing guests were shocked and humiliated, as RCP comrades shone a light on the Tories’ lies, attacks, and hypocrisy.

Refusing to rise to any bait, Adam Booth – editor of communist.red – outlined the real aims that students are fighting for, and the role that campus staff can play in advancing the movement.

“What is needed is precisely the university workers, the lecturers, and other staff to come in and support these protests as well, to shut down the campuses. They’re the ones with the power to prevent these university bosses from bringing big business onto campus, and to actually kick imperialism off campus, and put students and staff in control of universities.”

Later in the same programme, Fiona Lali – national campaigns organiser of the RCP – went head-to-head in a debate with Suella Braverman herself.

Straight off the bat, Fiona came out swinging, dealing blow after blow to the Tory MP.

“I think it’s great that you went to the camp today to talk to those students. And you embarrassed yourself doing that.

“It’s a reminder that the Palestine movement brought you down – and the Palestine movement has the potential to bring down lots of other Tory ministers and the whole Tory government. And not just the Tory government, but any government and any mainstream political party that is backing what Israel is doing right now, which is a genocide.”

War criminal

Mouth agape, a stunned Braverman tried to deflect this scathing criticism with predictable reactionary talking points: Do you denounce Hamas? Does Israel have a right to exist? What about ‘antisemitism’? And so on.

Undeterred, Fiona continued: “You posing those questions is exactly what makes students in Cambridge think ‘I don’t want to talk to you, I don’t want to talk to any war criminal’.”

When asked whether her main argument was that we need to smash the capitalist system, Fiona replied:

“Capitalism produces war and produces imperialism, which fundamentally has been driving everything that has happened over the last 76 years [since the founding of Israel]…I am entirely opposed to the capitalist system and the horrors that it produces across the world…but also in this country too.”

“I believe there is a lot of violence taking place across that whole region,” Fiona continued. “And I think western imperialists are the people who set up that problem in the first place. And they’re continuing to back everything that Netanyahu is doing.”

“Refusing to condemn Hamas,” Braverman arrogantly interjected.

“And you’re refusing to condemn the whole system which produces all of that violence in the first place,” Fiona quickly – and rightly – responded.

At encampments across the country, our comrades reported that student protestors were gathered around laptop screens cheering along as Braverman cringed and squirmed, unable to defend herself – and the rotten ruling class she represents – against these proverbial punches.

We’ll leave it to our readers to decide who won this debate!

Kick imperialism off campus!

The student encampments – on both sides of the Atlantic – have been an inspiration, providing a reference point for fury and frustration that is otherwise failing to be channelled and directed effectively.

After months of marching without any results, and with the massacre in Gaza worsening day by day, workers and youth are aiming their fire at the warmongers in Westminster, and at the establishment institutions that are helping to prop up the Israel war machine.

The next step is to escalate the encampments; to link all these local struggles together nationally; and to deepen and broaden out the movement, bringing the weight of the organised working class into the equation.

To this end, next Thursday evening, the RCP will be hosting a national online meeting for encampment activists, in order to discuss how we can continue building and widening the student movement for Palestine, and take it forward in the weeks and months ahead.

We call on university students and staff across Britain to actively participate in this discussion, and to help us forge a powerful, united, nationwide movement to kick imperialism off campus.

Two weeks on from our founding congress, the Revolutionary Communist Party has firmly planted the flag of communism in the Palestine solidarity movement.

This is what the RCP is about: leading militant grassroots struggles, and publicly denouncing the Tories as war criminals, complicit in genocide.

If you also want to fight against imperialism and capitalism, the system that breeds war, misery, and oppression, then it’s time to get organised and join your party – join the RCP.

Reports from the front lines

Queen Mary

Five days into the QMUL encampment, eight people have agreed to join the RCP, ten more are interested in joining.

With four comrades at the university – backed by the East London branches – we have established ourselves as the reference point for the most radical elements, and our demands for student and worker control of the university, and kicking imperialism off campus, have been taken up as de facto demands.

As a result of our work in the last upsurge of the movement, we were invited onto the planning committee. We have used every opportunity to inject revolutionary communist ideas into the encampment and to win the trust of the students and workers.

We have led teach-outs, spoken at rallies, and set up stalls on and off campus. Most of all, we are constantly discussing, because there is a palpable hunger for ideas which we can satisfy.

In the encampment discussions, we have consistently advocated for broadening the action, with concrete suggestions.

We hosted the first teach-out on escalating the movement, and led a confrontation with the vice-chancellor.

In response to management’s attempt to partition the students from the hugely sympathetic locals, we advocated taking control of the space and letting them in. But fortunately, during a rally, the gate’s lock happened to break.

300 people flooded onto campus for a massive rally, with our comrades giving the main speeches, ending with calls for intifada – a mass uprising against the entire imperialist system. This electrified the camp, hugely raised our political authority.

People are wide open to our ideas. Through patient work we are distinguishing ourselves as a determined and clear-sighted section of this movement.

Cardiff

Since Tuesday 14 May, Cardiff Communists have gotten stuck into the Palestine solidarity encampment at Cardiff University.

Comrades have played a leading political role in helping to organise the encampment, and putting forward the case for why worker and student control of the university is essential for carrying through our demands of divestment from arms companies, and opening up the uni’s financial books.

There’s still plenty of work to do! In the camp, we have been put in charge of education and outreach.

We are explaining that for the movement to succeed, we must reach out and draw in the whole of the student body, the students’ union, the UCU, and all workers involved in the actual running of the university.

And we are putting our money where our mouth is, by organising delegations to go out and do just that!

We have organised talks on the First Intifada, the French Revolution of May 1968, and another coming soon on why we need a revolutionary philosophy. As fresh layers of students are being drawn into struggle, there is a thirst for revolutionary theory and the lessons of the past.

On Wednesday night, a lone coward cycled into the camp, crashed into a tent of one of our student comrades, tore down some flags and peddled away.

However, this provocation has only strengthened our comrades’ resolve. We immediately took to social media and used the experience to demonstrate that the best form of protecting the encampment is for it to grow even bigger, drowning out the threat of a reactionary minority.

Birmingham

In the dead of night on 8 May, 17 activists armed with tents set up an encampment at the University of Birmingham. We renamed the University’s ‘Green Heart’ park to ‘Gaza Heart’, and called on hundreds of students to join us.

Within a week, the encampment has grown to 60 tents with over 1,000 students and local workers involved.

The encampment is being led by the RCP, Friends of Palestine, and the Amnesty Society. Demands include disclosure and divestment, freedom of protest on campus, and workers’ and students’ control of the university.

Over 200 members of staff have signed an open letter backing the encampments demands. Delegations have been sent to other universities in the city to organise solidarity action, whilst explaining our political programme.

The tents are centred around a ‘Resistance Library’ which RCP comrades have established – turning the camp into a centre of education with daily teach-outs on topics like the history of Palestine, the role of British imperialism, and the lessons of May 1968.

These teach-outs are not just of personal interest, but to arm the movement with the ideas needed to spread the encampment further afield.

We are raising the slogan “from the campus to the streets!” And with mass anger in Birmingham over the genocide, as well as the brutal austerity package imposed on the city, we believe that that the encampment can fan the flames of rebellion far and wide.

Cambridge

The Cambridge University encampment began on Monday 6 May. At the break of dawn, several dozen students, including RCP comrades, occupied a lawn outside King’s College in the centre of Cambridge.

The camp has quickly become a reference point for the anger in the entire town, with sympathisers stopping by on a regular basis donating money and material, and asking how they can help.

Our intervention has been based on the belief that this could quickly transform into a mass movement in the city.

Comrades have been taking on practical tasks such as stewarding and outreach, all while raising the need to escalate the encampment if we want our demands to be met.

Many are recognising the Communists as the spearhead of this movement. Already, several people within the encampment have expressed their interest in getting involved.

In one telling anecdote, a comrade overheard a group of workers expressing their surprise at Communists leading the encampment at a takeaway.

One person among them defended the ideas of communism. Our comrade sold him a copy of The Communist and arranged to meet up and discuss how to join the Party!

Lancaster

Lancaster Communists, alongside other groups, helped to launch an encampment at Lancaster University, which we promoted with posters, stalls, and lecture shout-outs.


We’ve got stuck in with practical tasks, as well as organising a programme of teach-outs on topics like the state, the Nakba, the First Intifada, and the overthrow of Apartheid.

We’ve also given a number of rousing speeches at rallies, calling for the university to open up its books, for student and worker control of the university, and for the encampment to reach out to workers on and off campus.

Despite the excitement of the events, we’ve kept our sights on the bigger picture: that the encampment needs to grow and take on a wider perspective if we are to succeed in winning our demands.

Our goal over the coming days is to connect with academic and non-academic staff, both unionised and otherwise. As part of this, we’ve invited the UCU to put on educational events.

One of our comrades is a junior doctor who studies at the medical school, where students are forced to pay an extra £1,500 to do voluntary full-time work in hospitals, without access to bursaries.

So we’re backing a campaign around the slogan ‘Bursaries not Bombs!’ which we are using to connect the question of divestment with the university’s neglect of education and student welfare.

Already, we have a number of people interested in joining the RCP on the back of this campaign.

Yesterday, a group of activists were brutally dragged out of a meeting between the university management and the students’ union, simply for trying to deliver a two-minute speech in protest.

We strongly denounce this attack by the bosses, and call on students and workers to help us grow the encampment. Our strength lies in numbers and unity.

Sheffield

The Sheffield encampment was set up 1 May and has been drawing huge sympathy from across campus and the whole city, with donations of material, food, and camping gear flowing in.

The Sheffield Communists immediately got stuck in: washing up dishes, leafleting, and sparking discussions on the way forward for the movement.

Widening the movement is within reach, given the mass support and the mood of anger around Britain’s complicity in the massacre of Palestinians.

Only a mass force will be strong enough to impose our demands, starting with getting the university bosses to put an end to their lucrative dealings with arms companies.

We raised the idea of a general assembly to discuss our demands and how to escalate the movement. And on 10 May, 200 students and workers gathered for the first assembly.

Ten of our comrades took part in the discussion, and we managed to convince everyone to build towards a mass movement of students and workers.

Within a couple of weeks, we have been able to take on a leading role in the encampment. We are writing for the camp’s bulletin, planning discussions on imperialism, and working towards the next assembly – the largest any of us will have seen in Sheffield!

Kent

The encampment at Kent University started on 10 May. Our comrades immediately got involved with the planning.

We gathered as many students around us as possible to join the occupation, and also organised multiple teach-outs.

Over 50 people attended our first discussion on imperialism. We also discussed the demands of the occupation and how to grow it further.

We have organised a meeting on revolutionary struggles in Africa, and have another planned on May ‘68.

We have sold over £70 worth of copies of The Communist, books, and pamphlets, showing the thirst for revolutionary ideas.

We have also been involved in banner making, and door-knocking to build support for the occupation.

There is a lot of potential to grow the movement further. We will keep up the fight until our demands are met!

King’s College

On 13 May, students at King’s College London (KCL) launched an encampment.

As soon as it was launched, the local RCP branch worked diligently to build the camp and grow the movement.

Through our bold speeches and ideas, we have gained political support within the camp. We have worked on the outreach team, visiting the library and other parts of the university to hand out flyers, put forward our demands, and bring attention to the encampment.

Within a camp meeting, our proposals for a democratic assembly to decide on strategy, and to elect a democratically accountable leadership body, were unanimously accepted.

Putting forward our communist ideas boldly has been an amazing success!

Imperial

Over a hundred students and staff met for a rally at Imperial College London campus on Wednesday 15 May to mark Nakba Day. Comrades of the RCP led the rally and gave the opening speech.

There was a mood of anger against this university’s complicity with the genocide in Gaza. Imperial has failed to disclose its ties with the Israeli war machine and has made no pledge to divest.

An RCP comrade also led a teach-in on how to escalate the movement, drawing on the lessons of May ’68.

The communists’ demands for full disclosure, democratic management by students and staff, and to kick imperialism off campus were very well-received.

There is clearly a mood for escalating the protest into an encampment, as students in other universities have done already, with many people saying this is what needs to happen at Imperial.

Home Office revokes Palestinian student’s visa

Palestinian student Dana Abuqamar, a law student at the University of Manchester, had her visa revoked by the Home Office after she spoke at a pro-Palestine demonstration in Manchester.

The Home Office claimed that her statements constitute ‘extremist’ views. A bit rich coming from a government that sells weapons to Israel, which has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, including over 14,000 children. Dana herself has had 15 of her relatives killed by Israeli bombing.

This is clearly an attempt by the establishment to intimidate foreign students with the threat of deportation and having their education cut short if they dare protest against the crimes of British imperialism.

While our freedom of speech is attacked, the vice-chancellors, arms dealers, bankers, and politicians – who are all complicit in this genocide – get off scot-free. And this is what passes for a liberal democracy?

Rory, Manchester

UCU: mobilise for staff-student solidarity over encampments!

R.S. Stan, Greenwich UCU (personal capacity)

Following Israel’s invasion of Rafah, an international student occupation movement has erupted across thousands of campuses. The UK is no exception, with some encampments here housing hundreds of students.

At the same time, 51 universities across the UK are either experiencing (or are at risk of) major restructuring programmes. This will mean a disastrous loss of jobs.

Historically, when the UCU has fought against cuts and austerity, senior management has tried to turn the students against striking academics and staff. But this will be much harder to do now.

Many students are already disgusted by the actions of senior management over Gaza. Some are already calling for a policy of ‘disclose and divest’, of opening up the books in order to see exactly where their university’s money is going.

These students are not going to fall for divide-and-rule, so long as organised workers on campus reach out to them in solidarity! With students and workers in joint struggle against the bureaucrats, we can become far stronger than the sum of our parts.

Greenwich UCU has already stated in our last motion on Palestine that we resolve to: “Encourage members to participate in, and legitimately support, protests, demonstrations and occupations in solidarity with Gaza, to publicise such events and initiatives.”

Now it’s time to put our words into action. We must back the call to disclose and divest, and for committees of workers and students to properly carry it out. No trust in senior management’s promises!

If we do this, we can educate students in the most important lessons of the coming period: lessons in the class struggle.

Model motion: Staff and students – unite! Kick imperialism off campus!

This branch / union notes that:

  • A student movement in solidarity with Palestine, beginning in the USA, has now spread to Britain and other countries. These protests, primarily involving encampments, are taking place on dozens of UK university campuses.
  • The main demands of the encampments are for universities to ‘disclose’ and ‘divest’: for universities to provide full transparency about the financial links and partnerships that they have with arms companies and other firms that are complicit with the Israeli state’s war on Gaza; and for higher education institutions to cut any ties or investments that they have with such businesses.
  • Collectively, UK universities have investments and deals in the arms industry worth over £1 billion. And they have around £430 million of investments in companies that are involved in the Israeli state’s oppression of the Palestinian people.
  • Other demands raised include the protection of democratic rights and freedoms for students and staff: the right to protest; academic freedoms; and freedom of speech. All of these have come under threat on campuses since 7 October, with the state and university authorities clamping down on efforts to show support and solidarity for Palestine.

This branch / union believes that:

  • UK universities, along with the British government and the entire British establishment, are complicit in the genocidal massacre being inflicted upon the Palestinian people.
  • The demands being raised by the student encampment movement are relevant to university workers also. And these should form the basis for a joint campaign between students and campus unions.
  • The marketisation of higher education is responsible for university funds being invested in the arms trade, and for bringing arms manufacturers onto campuses; it is responsible for sky-high tuition fees and student rents, and for the erosion of teaching and learning conditions; and it is behind the continual attacks that staff have faced over the years to jobs, pay, and conditions.
  • Workers and students – united – have the power to shut down campuses and thereby force universities to end their involvement in the imperialists’ war machine.
  • To end the marketisation that lies at the root of the problems facing staff and students, such a movement should go further and raise demands to: put universities under the democratic control of staff and students; kick imperialism off campus; and kick capitalism out of education.

This branch / union resolves to:

  • Send a delegation to any local encampment, in order to deliver a message of solidarity and support, and to forge links between students and workers on campus.
  • Organise a mass democratic assembly alongside student protestors and other unions, in order to formulate demands aimed at ending the university’s ties with the Israeli state and the arms industry.
  • To launch a united student-worker campaign to ‘kick imperialism off campus’, based around these demands.
  • Elect a joint student-staff action committee, made up of representatives from the campus unions and student body, that can coordinate such a campaign locally.
  • Build towards a mass student-staff walkout as part of this campaign, alongside other forms of mass action and united struggle.
  • Call on our union’s national leadership to support such local campaigns, and to work alongside other trade unions and the NUS to organise a national campaign to ‘kick imperialism off campus’ based on the same aims and demands.
Bread and circuses

Emperor’s new clothes

Israel has begun its siege on Rafah, closing off the only humanitarian corridor into Palestine, continuing its butchery and displacement of the hundreds of thousands sheltering there.

At the same time, student encampments across the world are being attacked by armour-clad cops and Zionist mobs.

But what is the media choosing to focus on, you ask? Well, the grotesquely ostentatious Met Gala, of course! The bosses’ rags have been awash with trivial gossip about whose garish outfits were the best and worst.

It’s revolting to see this annual schmoozing of the rich, famous, and powerful amidst all this bloodshed and repression.

The ruling class would rather we all ignore and forget the war crimes they fund, and instead watch celebrities pose vapidly in extravagant clothes worth thousands of pounds.

One ticket to the Met Gala costs £60,000 – over 3 years of salary for someone living on minimum wage in Britain! The contrast between them and us could not be more stark.

Just like the tale of the Emperor and his new clothes, we can all see the naked horrors of this sick system.

Katya, Reading

Eurovision hits a bum note

For our second helping of bread and circuses, we have the annual Eurovision Song Contest. This is the supposedly ‘apolitical’ event where countries across the western world come together to dance, sing, and celebrate love and peace.

Despite this, Eurovision scandalously allowed Israel into the competition, even though Russia has been banned following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The double standards and tone-deafness are beyond belief.

This hasn’t come without backlash, as many have protested Israel’s inclusion outside the venue in Malmö, Sweden, including our comrades in the Swedish RCP.

The booing and chants of “free Palestine” are loud and clear in footage taken within the arena, which has left the editors of the show scrambling to silence the outrage.

Meanwhile, television workers in Belgium interrupted the transmission of the contest just before Israel’s performance, to televise a message denouncing Israel and showing solidarity with Palestine.

This is the system we are living under: one that offers us a shiny, colourful façade of peace and harmony, all the while turning a blind eye to imperialist war and genocide. Well, the cracks are beginning to show.

Eric C, Croydon

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