The youth in revolt. This is the theme unfolding across the world. The term “Gen Z revolution” has been invoked many times, most prominently during the revolution in Bangladesh and Kenya last year, and now again with the events taking place in Indonesia and Nepal.
Young people have seen that their governments, the state, and politicians have given them absolutely nothing. All they have experienced are crisis, destruction, and war, which are raging on a scale rarely seen before.
It is no surprise, then, that they are questioning whether this system has any future to offer them. The same mood is alive in Britain.
The RCP, therefore, has an important task before it. We believe a system free from exploitation, poverty, and oppression is possible. We are fighting for such a world, and it is today’s youth who hold the power to ignite a working-class movement that can sweep this rotten system aside.
That is why we are preparing to take campuses by storm. At our recent all-members meeting, we discussed both the international situation and our national strategy for freshers.
Building on this, many regions have organised aggregates and day schools to prepare comrades for the campaign ahead.
In Central London, a day school on Bolshevism sharpened our understanding of one of the greatest events in human history: the Russian Revolution. It provides countless lessons on the need for leadership and the importance of correct ideas.
Aggregates in the North West and Birmingham held similar discussions, covering not only the Russian Revolution but also identity politics and The Transitional Programme.
We base ourselves on the genuine communist traditions, and are building Marxist societies that are able to put on events and meetings to answer the burning questions the youth have.
We will enter 45 campuses across the country, and we will organise over 100 meetings and 30 talks on Why You Should Be a Communist, leading up to our major national event: the Revolution Festival this November.
We believe we have a world to win, so don’t hesitate to come and speak to your local communists on campus!
Edinburgh
This year’s freshers proved what we have long said: beneath the surface, young people are burning with anger at capitalism, and when shown a genuine revolutionary alternative they flock towards it.
Our intervention at Edinburgh University was a resounding success, cutting across the tired routine of student politics and filling the vacuum of leadership that exists on the left.
From the outset, comrades prepared politically and organisationally, ensuring that new members were armed with communist ideas and ready to take the lead.
This preparation paid off: our stall became a hub of debate and agitation – with over 50 people registering interest to join, while comrades joined striking UCU staff to link the fight for Palestine with the broader struggle against capitalism.
Everywhere, our presence was felt, and our boldness drew in the most radical layers of students.
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The highlight of the week came with our public meeting, Why You Should Be a Communist. The room was packed with students searching for answers. The enthusiasm in the discussion was electric, a clear sign that young people are turning to the ideas of communism.
At Napier University too, comrades defied the quiet atmosphere of campus politics, winning dozens of students through audacity and patient explanation.
After just one week of activities, we already have a couple of new members in Edinburgh. We look forward to welcoming more into our ranks in the freshers period.
The lesson is unmistakable: the youth are looking for revolution, not reform. The RCP is here to provide the leadership they are searching for.
Glasgow
At the University of Glasgow freshers’ fair there was a constant flow of people interested in the Marxist society and in the RCP. From 10am to 4pm we were constantly chatting, often quite in depth, about who we are – and most importantly our ideas.
By the end of the day we got 80 sign ups and we sold seven pamphlets and 36 copies of The Communist. This shows the incredible hunger for Marxist ideas on campus!
The most common point of discussion was just how much is happening in the world today – and what we can do about it. The situation in Britain and across the world is rapidly changing, becoming increasingly polarised and often quite absurd. Marxism offers the only real explanation for the madness. This is what we felt at Glasgow today.
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Our explanations of everything from the far right, to austerity, to Palestine and war resonated with students in a way many comrades hadn’t felt before.
It has never been so easy for communists to connect up different issues with the class struggle and get an immediate agreement. There were many occasions where we said ‘do you want a revolution?’ and people immediately perked up and said yes – a few American students said, ‘I’m from the US, of course I want a revolution!’
We did not hide that the RCP ran the society, but rather we were proud of it!
We explained that, after discussing all of these ideas, the next question becomes how do we put them into action – and building the RCP was the answer we gave. This meant we not only found attendees for Marxist society meetings but also young class fighters who can help us build the branch of the RCP in Glasgow!
Sheffield
The Sheffield Hallam freshers fair is the most successful freshers intervention we have done in Sheffield to date.
Our presence on campus was hard to miss. A wave of red posters had already swept across Sheffield in the run-up to the fair, ensuring students were well aware of our activities.
The comrades threw themselves into the fair, whenever I looked around everyone was engaged in conversation. We were there for eight hours and we had to tear the comrades away to take breaks because they were so enthused by it.
In the past, we would focus on sign-ups and handing out hundreds of term cards, this would yield us maybe 30-50 names. This time we put the focus on the paper and having in-depth conversations, and then personally taking contact numbers and making plans to meet with them to go postering or discuss the ideas.
We sold 50 copies of The Communist over the course of the day. The impact was immediate. That same evening, ten new faces came along to our meeting titled Why You Should Be a Communist. The session really struck a chord – students described it as “enlightening” and said it was a relief to discover that others shared their frustrations about the state of the world.
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Another highlight was the fundraising: £366 raised in a single day through papers, literature, and donations, an unprecedented figure for us in Sheffield. It shows both the strength of our preparation and the hunger students have for serious ideas.
We are proud of what we achieved at Hallam. But this is only the beginning. Next week we head into the University of Sheffield freshers’ fair with even greater ambitions. Watch this space!
Norwich
The freshers’ offensive at UEA is off to a flying start!
Drawn in especially by the posters across campus, students were queuing up to speak to us at the societies fair, with some even saying straight away, ‘I’m already a socialist, how do I get involved?’
Comrades were also tested by the usual FAQs about communism – discussing how we would answer these in our most recent branch meeting certainly helped.
We invited everyone who signed up to ‘Meet the Communists’ in the bar the same evening, an opportunity to answer some more questions and connect with people over what is most interesting to them.
Two of these people have joined the RCP in the days since. This is just the beginning – we’ll be back on campus later in the week to advertise our big open meeting next week!
Forwards to building the revolutionary party at UEA!
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Cambridge
At the Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) freshers fair we made sure the communists would be present not only inside the fair, but across the campus.
This meant that as well as plenty of conversations with students at our stall inside, we could have even more conversations walking around campus – handing out flyers, getting sign ups, and showing people The Communist. At the stall inside, our literature was particularly popular, with students buying up several books and pamphlets.
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Emphasising that we were going to have a social that same night and inviting people we were speaking to on the stall sparked a lot of interest, since people were looking for “taster” events to go to the same week. We ended up getting 19 people’s contact details, and making £60 from the social from donations for food and drinks at the social!
This term, we’ll be having Marxist Society socials every week, alongside our fortnightly education events and regular paper sales across the campus. People won’t be able to miss the communists at ARU!
