A new generation of young people is shedding the illusions of capitalism and moving towards communism. But without organisation we can do nothing. In order to gather the forces of real communism, our Swedish comrades are launching the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP).
[Originally published in Swedish at marxist.se]
The new year has started as the old one ended, with immense suffering: economic crisis, imperialist wars, falling living standards, climate catastrophe. The list goes on and on. Endless horrors – that's all capitalism has to offer humanity.
Sweden has been one of the countries in the world where the reformist idea of a ‘better capitalism’ has been particularly widespread. But today, the material basis for the idea is gone. Welfare has been slaughtered beyond recognition: healthcare, schools, social services, security systems, culture, leisure centres. In the wake of the crisis, poverty is spreading quickly, alongside unprecedented profits for the bourgeoisie. The five richest Swedes own as much as the five million poorest.
Lenin explained two things that are required for a socialist revolution: that the ruling class cannot rule as before, and the masses cannot live as before. This situation is being prepared before our eyes. But as long as there is no revolutionary party to channel the struggle, the working class cannot win.
The goal of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) is nothing less than "overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat", as Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto. It is not a party like other parties. It is not an electoral machine, but a tool for the struggle of the working class. Our programme aims to prepare one thing only: world revolution.
Reform or revolution
We form the party in opposition to the policies of the leadership of the entire Swedish labour movement.
It is the Social Democrats who have been in government for most of the attacks of the last 30 years. Their policies are becoming increasingly indistinguishable from those of the right.
The Left Party leadership has followed the Social Democrats to the right, in search of government posts and respect from bourgeois public opinion. This has met with no internal opposition to speak of. Those who have actually raised any real criticism have been outmanoeuvred, expelled or simply given up and left. The party's entire active membership base has been taught that political work is about what compromises can be made with the Social Democrats, the Greens – and now also the right-wing Centerpartiet. ‘Yes to NATO, arms exports and increased militarism’: in practice, this is now the Left Party leadership's policy.
Many people dream of going back to the large-scale improvements for workers of the post-war period, but this was an exception in the history of capitalism that will not be repeated. In fact, it is precisely the illusions of that period that underlie the state of the labour movement today.
Whole generations of activists were educated in the idea of class collaboration – peaceful cooperation with the bourgeoisie, on the basis of ever-expanding capitalism. Socialism was postponed indefinitely: staying within the limits of what the bourgeoisie could tolerate. Since the boom turned into a crisis for capitalism, this has meant accepting, step by step, and in many cases implementing, the attacks of the bourgeoisie.
At the same time, trade union leaders have come to see preserving the stability of capitalism as their main task. The message to workers is always the same: it doesn't pay to fight. Therefore, when inflation skyrocketed, they actively argued against wage increases. For them it is like a law of nature that workers should pay for the crisis of capitalism.
It is through class struggle that the working class acquires a revolutionary consciousness / Image: Revolution
The truth is that the previous period left its mark on the entire Swedish left. It is enough to open any issue of supposedly communist papers like Proletären, Internationalen or Offensiv to see the total lack of propaganda for the need for revolution and communism. They promote the only thing they think workers understand: struggle for minor improvements within the framework of capitalism. The ideas of communism are relegated (at best) to programmatic documents and study circles. While the Left Party sounds more and more like the Social Democrats, organisations like the Communist Party and the Socialist Alternative sound more and more like the Left Party. The price of this opportunism is that they have nothing to offer the new generation of communists.
Of course, it is impossible to fight for a socialist revolution without taking up the struggle for reform. It is through class struggle that the working class acquires a revolutionary consciousness – the unity, organisation and self-confidence needed to smash capitalism.
But we must tell the truth: that what the capitalists give with one hand they will take back with the other. In fact, the crisis of capitalism is gradually destroying all the improvements won by the working class since the Second World War. The only way to solve the problems of the working class is to take power in society. That is what we are fighting for.
The possibilities of world revolution
Perhaps the most explicit image of the barbarism of capitalism is the ongoing atrocities of Israeli imperialism in Palestine. Behind them are all the Western imperialist powers: the US, France, Germany, Britain – and of course Sweden. Imperialism has revealed its true face.
The movement in support of Palestine has developed into a political earthquake. Hundreds of thousands have protested in London, Paris, Washington and so on. In Sweden, thousands have taken to the streets week after week, in the biggest such protest movement in 20 years. In the Middle East, regimes need to pose as friends of Palestine to avoid being overthrown. Everywhere, a justified disgust against imperialism and all its agents is spreading.
As with all other issues, the reformist degeneration of the entire Swedish left and labour movement has been reflected in their attitude towards Palestine. The Social Democrats loyally supported Swedish imperialism and proclaimed "Israel's right to defend itself". The Left made sure to alternate every condemnation of Israel with condemnation of Hamas, all to avoid accusations of anti-Semitism. Their policy was meaningless liberalism: calls for Ulf Kristersson's right-wing pro-Israeli government to advocate a "humanitarian ceasefire".
The movement in support of Palestine has developed into a political earthquake / Image: Revolution
Even the so-called "revolutionary" left has shown its political bankruptcy. Instead of advancing revolutionary politics, class struggle against imperialism and raising the slogan of intifada, they refer to UN resolutions, and call for ceasefire and boycotts. But what is needed is not to appeal to the international bodies of imperialism, or to buy fewer oranges. A powerful imperialist state cannot be defeated by consumer power or by bourgeois diplomacy. What is needed is global intifada – revolutionary mass struggle against imperialism worldwide. This is a communist policy.
The future of the whole world is in the hands of the international working class. This is seen not least in the climate crisis: in the fires, droughts and floods raging around the world. It can be seen in the economic crisis, and in the escalation of conflicts between the imperialist powers, in the destruction of entire nations. Technological development should lay the foundation for a paradise on earth – which would be possible under the planned economy of socialism. But under capitalism, humanity is instead marching towards barbarism.
Out of the crisis of capitalism, a new world is struggling to be born. Since the 2008 crisis, revolutions and uprisings have shaken every continent: from the Arab revolutions to Sri Lanka, from the Yellow Vests in France to Black Lives Matter in the US. With the cost of living crisis, a wave of trade union struggle has swept the world. Powder kegs waiting to explode are accumulating everywhere.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, Edelman reported that a majority of the world's population believes that capitalism does more harm than good. A lot has happened since then. In countries like the US and Canada, 20 percent of young people believe that communism is the ideal economic system. In the UK, the figure is 29 percent.
More and more workers and young people are concluding that capitalism is at a dead end and turning to communism – the most revolutionary movement in world history. We must organise these young communists into truly communist parties.
Our tasks
The global working class now contains well over half the world's population in its ranks. In India, hundreds of millions have walked out simultaneously in general strikes. Black Lives Matter was the largest movement in US history. Never in history have the oppressed been so objectively strong. But at the very moment of capitalism's deepest crisis, the leadership of the working class organisations is clinging to the system like never before.
The whole history of capitalism shows that the working class cannot take power without a revolutionary party on the basis of scientific socialism – Marxism. The immediate task of the Revolutionary Communist Party can therefore be summed up simply: to organise and train those who have already begun to draw communist conclusions today, in order to win those who will do so tomorrow.
The possibilities are seen not least in the work of our communist international over the past year. Using a simple slogan – "Are you a communist? Get organised!" – we have rapidly doubled our forces in one country after another. In Sweden, we have grown by 50 percent since the summer alone.
Now we are taking the next step: in countries like Britain and Canada, preparations are in full swing to form revolutionary communist parties. We are raising the banner of communism so high that every communist will see it. Together we are laying the foundations for rebuilding a genuine revolutionary communist international, the world party of socialist revolution.
What we are undertaking is nothing less than the building of a party ready for its historic task: to lead the struggle of the working class to communism.
We ask you directly: Are you a communist? You are not alone! Help us build the RKP and gather the new generation of communists under the banner of Marxism. Never has there been a more important task.