The IMT in 2023: the communists are organising!

2023 marked a dramatic change in the world situation. War, exploitation and social unrest are intensifying, as the unbearable weight of the global capitalist crisis is offloaded by the ruling class onto the downtrodden and oppressed. In this period of turmoil and social explosions, it is imperative for communists to unashamedly and unerringly declare who we are, and what we stand for. Comrades of the International Marxist Tendency have been rising to the occasion all around the world!

In particular, Israel’s war on Gaza has lit a spark in the hearts and minds of all who wish to bring an end to the horrors of capitalism and imperialism. More and more people are realising that the only way forward is to turn this epoch of war and misery into one of revolution. And this will only be possible by organising the most determined class fighters out there.

This is the task that the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) set itself in 2023 – with great success! To prove this, we have put together a recap of our organisation’s most important achievements and events over the course of this year.

If you are a communist, the IMT needs you to help us build a revolutionary organisation. If you are reading this, and you are not already a member, then get organised and help us put an end to the nightmare of capitalism once and for all!

Are you a communist?

The standout achievement of 2023 for the IMT is without doubt the Are You a Communist? (AYAC) campaign / Image: Lucha de Clases

The standout achievement of 2023 for the IMT is without doubt the Are You a Communist? (AYAC) campaign. Across the world, the deepening crisis of capitalism is demonstrating every day the superiority of communism to the present system of exploitation and oppression. This has awoken in a significant layer of workers and youth a growing desire to join the fight to overthrow capitalism.

From Denmark to South Africa, from Taiwan to Mexico, comrades of the IMT have tirelessly put up hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters inviting communists to get organised. This has resonated deeply with a growing number of people and has led to the unprecedented growth of our International.

Thanks to the AYAC campaign, our comrades have received thousands of requests to join the IMT, with many messages highlighting the growth of class consciousness among young people and workers.

The communists have arrived!

A landmark event both for the International in 2023 and for the AYAC campaign was the IMT’s World Congress, which was held in early August. 400 comrades from more than 40 countries gathered in Italy for five days to discuss the world situation and the tasks of the communists.

With sessions covering topics from the Marxist approach to war to how to build a Bolshevik organisation, the Congress armed the comrades internationally with an immense arsenal of communist ideas and methods. On this basis, the Congress was able to boldly declare that “the communists have arrived!”

Above all else, this year’s World Congress showed the immense determination of the comrades around the world. In a galvanising financial collection, the sections raised €630,000 to fund the work of the IMT – completely smashing the ambitious target of €450,000.

The collection saw staggering donations from the developed capitalist countries, such as Switzerland, Canada and the US, but also significant donations from comrades in the areas hit hardest by the global crisis of capitalism, such as Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

A party of a new type

In order to better reflect the boldness of the AYAC campaign, some sections of the IMT have taken the decision to rename themselves in the coming period.

Socialist Appeal, the British section of the IMT, has announced that next month it will be changing the name of its fortnightly paper to The Communist, and will next year hold a special congress to change the organisation’s name to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).

This is a very significant step that will ensure that our comrades in Britain carry the unblemished standard of communism wherever they go, sweeping away the legacy of the reformists and Stalinists that have misused the name ‘communist’ for decades.

The refounding of the British section is the culmination of their campaign to reach 1,000 members this year, which with the help of the AYAC campaign was readily achieved. Going into 2024 with over 1,100 comrades, the soon-to-be Revolutionary Communist Party has set its sights on reaching 2,000 members within the next year.

Audacity, audacity, and still more audacity

Much like in Britain, the IMT in Brazil has also taken the decision to rename their organisation from Marxist Left to the Internationalist Communist Organisation. This comes at a time when the section has grown by almost 70 percent since the beginning of this year, thanks to the consistent work of the comrades.

In Canada, Fightback/La Riposte socialiste received 150 requests to join within just the first week of the AYAC campaign. The Canadian section of the IMT has reached the important milestone of over 200 members in Quebec and can now proudly say that it is the largest Trotskyist organisation in Canadian history!

The United States has also made the most of the AYAC campaign. In the month of September alone, over 200 people joined Socialist Revolution, the US section of the IMT. Individual branches tripled in size in the course of one month, such as the comrades in Dallas, who recruited 18 people in one meeting.

These achievements have been repeated in country after country, showing the explosive growth of class consciousness internationally, particularly among young people.

Comrades have also not been afraid to ruffle a few feathers with the AYAC campaign. Right wingers and reactionaries the world over have expressed their outrage that the communists are recruiting for revolution.

Failed Republican congressional nominee Laura Loomer, Turning Point USA, Kristian Niemietz – the head of political economy at a major libertarian think-tank in the UK, prominent Danish businessman Martin Buch Thorborg, major Swiss newspaper Basel jetzt; all of these and more have taken time out of their day to scream into the void about the AYAC campaign.

With enemies like these, we must be doing something right!

Championing revolutionary theory

A communist organisation is nothing without its ideas. The sound understanding and active defence of Marxist theory is the bedrock on which the IMT is built. The purpose of all our activities is not simply to bring communists together, but to give them the theoretical training necessary to achieve our revolutionary goals.

For this reason, marxist.com has endeavoured to bring readers high-quality Marxist analysis in over 35 languages. This year we have uploaded over 1,000 articles, which constitute a goldmine of revolutionary material that is unrivalled anywhere else online.

We have been particularly pleased to publish articles such as the English translations of the contributions to a debate between our comrades in the Spanish State and the Socialist Movement, which has rapidly emerged as a force organising radical youth in the region.

Such fraternal dialogue and debate is invaluable at a time when the ideas and tactics of the communists must be our sharpest tool in the class struggle.

But the theoretical output of the IMT is not limited to this website. Wellred Books, the publishing house of the International, has been extremely busy in 2023 and has upheld its well-deserved reputation as one of the finest sources of revolutionary literature worldwide. This is reflected in Wellred’s sales this year, which reached almost 14,000 books!

This year’s bestseller for Wellred was the much-anticipated publication of Alan Woods’ Class Struggle in the Roman Republic, the first ever complete history of the Roman Republic from a Marxist perspective. The book was officially launched at the IMT World Congress, with Alan speaking on the lessons of this period for the class struggle today.

Another standout publication in 2023 was Women, Family and the Russian Revolution by John Peter Roberts and Fred Weston. Making second place in this year’s Wellred bestsellers, this enlightening book provides a Marxist analysis of the women’s struggle in Russia throughout the 20th century. Having won significant freedoms thanks to the conquest of power by the working class in 1917, women were steadily disempowered under the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union.

Alongside these new texts, we are also proud to have republished this year Trotsky’s Writings on Britain, with a new introduction by Rob Sewell. This monumental compilation of Trotsky’s work deals with one of the most turbulent periods in British history with remarkable clarity. With chapters dealing with topics from philosophy to economics to history, Writings on Britain is a must-read for communists worldwide. Clearly readers were aware of this, with Writings on Britain making this year’s top three most popular books from Wellred.

In addition to the IMT’s English-language publications, a number of invaluable translations were released this year.

Alan Woods’ The History of Philosophy: a Marxist Perspective – one of the highlights of Wellred Books’ publications in 2022 – is now available in Spanish, French and German, thanks to the tireless work of IMT comrades in a number of countries.

In defiance of heavy state censorship, our comrades in Pakistan also recently held a launch event for the Urdu translation of Alan Woods’ Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution / Image: Lal Salaam

In defiance of heavy state censorship, our comrades in Pakistan also recently held a launch event for the Urdu translation of Alan Woods’ Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution. That this modern classic of revolutionary theory and practice is now available to a new layer of communists in Pakistan cannot come at a more important time for the crisis-ridden region.

Last but by no means least from Wellred Books this year were four spectacular editions of In Defence of Marxism magazine (IDOM). IDOM magazine is the premium regular source of Marxist theory published in print internationally and this year brought readers articles on everything from the Spanish conquest of the Americas to an assessment of the impact of Artificial Intelligence.

Selling 13,000 magazines this year in English and Spanish alone, this has been by far the most successful year yet for IDOM. In addition, the magazine is available in eight languages, making it a genuinely internationalist publication, read in dozens of countries worldwide.

For those who prefer to listen to their Marxist theory, however, 2023 was certainly no disappointment.

This year Wellred released 44 brand new audiobooks. This includes classics such as Lenin’s Imperialism or Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire, as well as modern publications including Marie Frederiksen’s The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg and Rob Sewell’s Germany: from Revolution to Counter-Revolution.

In addition, 2023 saw the launch of two new IMT’s podcasts, International Marxist Radio, and then The Spectre of Communism, which have regularly produced in-depth interviews and discussions on topics from contemporary news to history and theory.

Spanning 40 episodes and reaching 120,000 streams this year, the IMT’s podcasts have proven to be a useful and popular tool for educating communists worldwide. The show has also hosted speakers from the United States, Pakistan, France, Germany, South Africa and Britain, making it a truly international operation.

Record-breaking schools and congresses

But articles and podcasts can never compare to the educational impact of in-person activity. This year saw some of the biggest gatherings that the IMT has ever organised. Here are some examples of the stunning work that the comrades of the IMT have been up to.

One of the most recent events of the year was the Workers’ Socialist School, organised by the Red Workers’ Front in Karachi. This was not only the RWF’s first workers' school, it was the first political school for workers in the history of Pakistan. With 170 people attending, some of whom had to travel for more than 20 hours to make it, the school was a stunning achievement on the part of the comrades.

Simultaneously, on the other side of the world, our recent 5th Panamerican Marxist School in Mexico City was an immense success. Gathering 110 comrades from 15 countries, the event was possible thanks to the generous collection of $10,000 in small and medium donations from comrades and supporters of the IMT internationally.

The IMT’s largest in-person school of the year was the Revolution Festival, organised by the British section. This year’s event attracted 1,000 communists including visitors from across Europe and the Americas. In a profound display of revolutionary sacrifice, the comrades raised £210,000 to help fund the relaunch of the section and its paper, blasting through the target of £160,000.

The extremely important work of the IMT’s comrades in the Middle East and North Africa was also immensely successful this year. The IMT’s first ever Arabic-language Marxist University, held online in March, attracted 254 registrations and consistently maintained a high participation throughout, despite difficulties accessing the internet in the region.

Turning our attention to the Americas, last month’s congress and cadre school of the Brazilian section brought together 200 communists from across the country. This event included an extremely timely ‘Rally Against Imperialist Wars’, which put forward an internationalist position on the conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine and was held jointly with the Brazilian Communist Party – Revolutionary Reconstruction.

In North America, this year’s Montreal Marxist Winter School was the largest Marxist gathering in Canada in a generation! 460 attendees from five countries met for a weekend of talks under the theme ‘The Revolutionary Party’. The dedication and enthusiasm of the comrades was reflected in the thirst for theory, with $17,000 worth of Marxist literature sold in just two days.

In the United States, the comrades have also been busy organising schools. Hundreds of communists from across the country attended four separate Marxist Schools, which IMT comrades organised in New York, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Bellingham.

In Europe, the recent IMT Francophone School, held in Geneva, brought together 200 French-speaking communists from four countries. It was the largest French-language event the IMT has ever organised and comrades raised an impressive 11,000 Swiss francs.

Across the border in Germany, last month’s Karl Marx Seminar 2023 attracted 188 young communists from eight countries for a weekend of discussion dedicated to the German Revolution of 1918-1923. An excellent financial collection raised over €28,000!

In Austria, this year’s Pfingstseminar included 15 workshops on wide ranging topics. 200 communists took part, with guests from across Europe giving the event a truly internationalist spirit.

Apart from schools, however, many sections also organised groundbreaking congresses this year!

The 22nd congress of the IMT in Italy took place in February, with comrades meeting for their first in-person congress since the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was a great success, attracting 180 comrades from over 25 cities across Italy.

The Swedish section of the IMT held an important congress in April, bringing together over 100 enthusiastic communists. Thanks to the impressive determination of the comrades, more than €37,000 was raised to help build the IMT.

Similarly, the IMT in the Spanish state held an important congress earlier this year, in Madrid. Dozens of comrades attended from across Spain, as well as from Catalonia and the Basque Country.

There were also important steps taken towards growing the IMT’s work in countries where we previously did not have a presence. 2023 saw the first meetings of the IMT in Hungary and Ireland, with regular communist newspapers being launched by our comrades in both countries.

Intifada until victory!

Communists will always stand on the side of the oppressed and are not afraid to raise our voice / Image: Der Funke

Since October, however, the defining feature of the IMT’s work internationally has been our response to the brutal war that is being fought by the Israeli ruling class against the people of Gaza. Communists will always stand on the side of the oppressed and are not afraid to raise our voice, even in the face of repression.

This website is proud to have published over 40 English-language articles on Israel and Palestine since 7 October. These articles have not only reported on events as they happen, but have provided a consistent theoretical, historical and above all a communist perspective.

Likewise, the comrades of the IMT internationally have done an outstanding job expressing solidarity with the people of Palestine. Often, as the most consistent opponents of imperialist war, our comrades have come under attack from the ruling class. Everywhere, however, the IMT has stood firm and, unlike much of the left, we have always resisted pressures to capitulate or water-down our principles.

In Britain and Canada, universities have attempted to silence the activities of our student comrades using methods including censorship, threats, and actually shutting down or suspending our student groups.

In several countries, our comrades were targeted by the police for their determined support for Palestine. In Sweden, a comrade was detained by police simply for reading our material on a public train. The Metropolitan Police in London, meanwhile, orchestrated a manhunt against three of our comrades via Twitter, in an attempt to intimidate them into silence.

Comrades in many countries have also been targeted by the right-wing media, which has spewed lies and accusations of ‘terrorist sympathising’ against us. In Austria, the national public broadcaster claimed that the IMT “celebrated the Hamas attacks as a revolutionary deed.”

Likewise, Swiss capitalist media launched a full-scale offensive against our comrades, accusing them of defending Hamas, encouraging violence and being anti-semites. In Britain too, the Telegraph, frothing at the mouth, claimed the slogan “intifada until victory” is antisemitic, violent and pro-Hamas.

These are just a handful of examples of the attempts of supposedly liberal democratic regimes to undermine the free speech of communists in their support for Palestine – but without success!

Comrades of the IMT have made a bold impact at demonstrations around the world and have put forward a communist position to tens of thousands through speeches at demos and rallies.

In Italy, comrades in Modena organised an impressive campaign inside the metalworkers’ union in solidarity with the Palestinian people. This culminated in a lively demonstration of 2,000 workers and youth, led by our comrades, under the slogan “Palestina libera” (Free Palestine).

Always and everywhere, our comrades have remained defiant. Faced with all sorts of attacks, we proudly stand shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinian people in declaring: Intifada until victory!

A revolutionary banner on May Day

1 May, International Workers’ Day, was another key occasion in which comrades of the IMT internationally stood up and proudly declared that the communists are here, and we are organised!

This year, the IMT was active on May Day in over 30 countries, as comrades carried the red flag high and marched in solidarity with workers’ struggles everywhere. Below are some highlights of this year’s May Day for the IMT; a full report on all our activities on the day is available here.

In Britain, comrades attended demonstrations in 12 cities, with more than 100 communists forming a revolutionary bloc in London. The audacious revolutionary enthusiasm of the comrades on the bloc made an impact on all those attending, with 215 papers being sold, alongside £650 of other educational material.

Our Danish comrades also had an impressive May Day, organising their own event entitled “Revolutionary May Day – for class struggle and socialism”. In sharp defiance of the attempts of the reformists to turn May Day into a drinking holiday, our comrades’ explicitly revolutionary event attracted several hundred people over the course of the day.

Our Danish comrades also had an impressive May Day / Image RS

While in North America there may not be a strong tradition of celebrating International Workers’ Day, comrades in Canada and the United States attended demonstrations across the continent, selling hundreds of papers and meeting dozens of young communists eager to get organised. In Toronto, IMT comrades organised a meeting on the history and significance of May Day, with over 110 people in attendance.

In Nigeria, despite immense economic hardship and political turmoil, our comrades sold 119 papers across demonstrations in three major areas: Lagos, Ibadan and Abuja. This was a great success given a relatively low turnout from workers, who are being hit hard by the deep social and economic crisis impacting the country.

In Nigeria, despite immense economic hardship and political turmoil, our comrades sold 119 papers across demonstrations in three major areas / Image: Workers Alternative

May Day also saw the largest mobilisation to date for the Polish section of the IMT, who were able to sell almost half of their supply of newspapers at a demonstration in Warsaw. Our comrades were the only group raising the concrete task of building a revolutionary organisation in Poland and internationally, with one comrade giving a well-received revolutionary speech about the need for workers to fight back against capitalism.

Striking back

2023 saw a wave of huge strikes sweep the world. IMT comrades consistently showed revolutionary solidarity with these movements, which concretely demonstrate the immense power that the working class holds.

From the near-insurrectionary strike in France against Macron’s hated retirement age hike, to the recent strike of 600,000 public sector workers in Quebec, to the ‘mega-strike’ of German transport workers in March, wherever the workers moved, comrades of the IMT have been attending picket lines, publishing reports and following the growing militancy of the labour movement.

Swedish comrades, for example, have been attending picket lines for the ongoing strike of Tesla mechanics. The immense wave of solidarity with the workers, in which our comrades are playing a part, has been a slap to the face of arrogant billionaire Elon Musk.

Swedish comrades have been attending picket lines for the ongoing strike of Tesla mechanics / Image: Revolution

In Britain, comrades energetically mobilised to support the strike of over half-a-million workers at the beginning of February. Comrades attended dozens of picket lines and demonstrations, connecting the power of the strike to the need for workers to organise.

Likewise in May, Belgian comrades supported the strike of thousands of workers at Delhaize, the country’s biggest supermarket chain. Comrades put forward the need for solidarity committees to prevent the inspiring struggle of these workers from becoming isolated.

In March, following a tragic and avoidable train crash in Greece which killed over 50 people, our comrades took part in a militant general strike that brought up to 150,000 people onto the streets of Athens.

In all of these instances, the IMT’s message is simple: the unity and strength of the working class is the only force that can change society for the better.

We only want the earth

The IMT is growing at an unprecedented rate / Image: IMT

These examples are just a taster of what the IMT has been up to around the world in 2023. Every day, somewhere in the world, our comrades are active in their local areas or their workplaces, spreading communist ideas and getting people organised for revolution.

What is clear, however, is that more and more people are realising that there is no solution to the problems of the oppressed under capitalism. The IMT is growing at an unprecedented rate, allowing our comrades to reach more and more radical workers and youth every year.

The forces of communism are stronger now than they have been for a considerable time, but they are not yet strong enough. If we are to be ready for the social explosions that impend, we need thousands and tens of thousands of trained communists at the forefront of revolutionary movements wherever they develop.

In the words of Irish Marxist revolutionary, James Connolly, “our demands are most moderate, we only want the earth.” Although there is much to be done, our goal is nothing less than the total liberation of the masses from the chains of class society. Join us, comrade, in the most important struggle facing humanity today.