If you want to know which party the ruling class is planning to use as their loyal servants next, watch the changing tides in the flow of political donations.
Traditionally, these funds ran directly to the Conservative Party – but after 15 years of using up every last drop of credibility, the financial stream started flowing in Labour’s direction.
Sensing this, Labour readily sucked up to the City of London and promised to do their bidding. Lo and behold, in 2023, they received a record £13 million in individual donations! In 2024, the year of the general election, they also outraised all other parties.
Just under two years later, Labour’s credibility has been wrecked, and Reform UK is now the party receiving the most donations from wealthy backers.
In just the last three months of 2025, Farage’s party received over £5.4 million in large donations. £3 million of that came from one particular parasite – Christopher Harborne, a cryptocurrency investor and CEO of an offshore aviation company.
Construction company JCB are hedging their bets, meanwhile – donating a modest £200,000 to Reform and the Tories both.
Revolutionary traditions
Although the capitalist class competes with one another on the market, and have always been miserly money grubbers, they have always been perfectly aware they must part with some of their money to defend their interests as a whole.
Very large sums of money indeed go towards making sure they have reliable political parties. These eye-watering political donations are just the part we can see – far larger sums are used to bribe politicians and other officials for more direct and personal economic gain.
An understanding of this exists too amongst the working class. Without a willingness to sacrifice, the working class would never have moved beyond an entirely atomised state – without organisation, without basic rights, just raw material for exploitation.
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Despite desperately low income, workers have always understood the importance of financial sacrifice to defend their class interests overall. “English economists are amazed,” Marx observed in 1847, “to see the workers sacrifice a good part of their wages in favour of associations.”
This was in the early days of capitalism, when the working class was establishing their basic organisations. Today the working class has mass organisations, who have millions of members, raise millions more in membership fees – and whose leaders do very little with this at all.
Investing in the revolution
We are living through the death agony of the capitalist system. The working class can make no substantial gains within the confines of this system. In fact, all of our basic conditions and standards of living have been under attack for over a decade.
57 percent of people believe that the cost-of-living crisis is here to stay. And now genocide, war, and further economic turbulence are the only future most people can envision.
What is needed to address all of this is a revolutionary party – and revolutionary sacrifices to build such a weapon. In 1918, Trotsky explained:
“One of the basic tasks of socialism is to free mankind from militarism and from the barbarity of bloody clashes between peoples. The goal of socialism is universal disarmament, permanent peace and fraternal co-operation between all the peoples inhabiting the earth.
“This goal will be achieved when power in all the strongest capitalist countries has passed into the hands of the working class, which will wrest the means of production from the exploiters and turn them over to all working people for common use, and will establish a communist system as the unshakable foundation of the solidarity of all mankind.”
Now there’s a cause worth sacrificing for! This system can only drag us downwards – a donation to the revolutionary cause is an investment in the alternative.
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As we prepare for our National Congress in May, we are also preparing for a financial collection.
We need to raise over £150,000 between now and this great event, which will be held exactly 100 years to the day since the start of the General Strike of 1926.
The working class will rediscover these revolutionary traditions – and we must all redouble our commitment to build a party that will genuinely fight for our class interests when this time comes.
Help us raise £150,000 by Congress!
Stan Laight, RCP finance team
We are aiming to raise £150,000 at this year’s National Congress.
Donations to the fighting fund support the production of our A World on Fire and Marxist Voice podcasts, our Wellred Books publishing house and bookshop, our regional cadre schools, and our student activity.
The May local elections will be happening at the same time as our Congress. If the Gorton & Denton by-election and the opinion polls are anything to go by, the two-party system that has dominated British politics for the past century will continue to collapse.
At our Congress, we’ll be discussing how we can become the reference point for the millions of workers and youth who wish to see the whole establishment overthrown.
To reach our fundraising target, members have been discussing their individual donations at local branch meetings, inspired to make a meaningful financial sacrifice based on a clear understanding of our tasks, and a sense of revolutionary optimism.
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For example, Mike, an experienced member in Liverpool, pledged an exceptional £5,000. He explained why he wanted to make such an inspiring financial sacrifice:
“I have been a Marxist for nearly 50 years and I can honestly say that being a member of the RCI now is the pinnacle of my time as a communist, in terms of my political level, my enthusiasm for Marxism, and my determination to fight for revolution. The International has only got to where it is because of its leadership, and the resources made available by the collective sacrifice of our members.”
Of course, not everyone can donate such a sum. But, as Mike said, it is the collective sacrifice that has got us this far.
In a branch in Birmingham, the average individual pledge is over £300! Those comrades planned to raise the funds by selling communist-themed merchandise, holding bake sales, and playing at an open mic event. At a recent Yorkshire cadre school, comrades raised £3,000 from ticket sales, donations, and literature sales.
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It is extremely inspiring to see comrades so determined to build the forces of communism. Going about their work with such revolutionary energy, and putting their money where their mouth is too. This shows we are not only enthusiastic but serious, and see the building of the party as the most important investment in our future.
We are also receiving more donations from supporters than ever before. Any contributions from our readers and sympathisers goes a long way in helping us to expand the scope of our work.
If you agree with what we say in The Communist and you want to help us spread these powerful ideas far and wide, then we appeal to you to donate towards our Congress target!
