2025 Marxist School series picks up momentum in Chicago

Communism has returned to Chicago! In a city with a rich history of labor struggles—including the world-famous Haymarket martyrs and the fight for a forty hour work week—about 200 revolutionary communists met on October 25–26 for the first-ever RCA Chicago Marxist School.

[Originally published at communistusa.org]

The Chicago branch was joined by large delegations from Minneapolis, Dallas-Fort Worth, and St. Louis, as well as Columbia, MO; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY; Detroit, MI; Seattle, WA; Denver, CO; Madison, WI; Milwaukee, WI; Des Moines, IA; Iowa City, IA; Cincinnati, OH; Akron, OH; New York City; Nashville, TN; Durham, NC; Portland, OR; Austin, TX; Houston, TX; Elkhart, IN; and Paris, IL.

It was the second of three Marxist Schools the RCA is organizing this fall. Having recruited hundreds of new members in our fall recruitment campaign, this series aims to educate and train the communists of America in the Marxist method and the revolutionary history of our class.

The Los Angeles Marxist school held on October 11–12 was also a great success. The third and final school will be held in NYC on November 8–9. Register while there’s still time!

In a city with a rich history of labor struggles—including the world-famous Haymarket martyrs—about 200 revolutionary communists met for the first-ever RCA Chicago Marxist School / Image: RCA

Can capitalism be reformed?

The school began with a discussion of what capitalism is and why it can’t be reformed. Reformism starts by accepting capitalism as an insurmountable obstacle that workers must accept. The reformists view capitalism from a moralistic perspective of “good” versus “bad” people.

By contrast, Marxism shows how and why capitalism cannot solve its own internal contradictions. The global economy is bogged down with mountains of debt. Consequently, the ruling class in all countries is forcing workers to pay for the crisis through austerity, inflation, and attacks on wages and working conditions.

Reformism, no matter how well intentioned, amounts to rearranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship. Private ownership of the means of production and the anarchy of the market are driving humanity deeper into the abyss of war, famine, and poverty—all for the enrichment of the parasitic minority of capitalists.

On Saturday evening, Jaybre Acres led a discussion on communism and the Black struggle / Image: RCA

On Saturday evening, Jaybre Acres of the Dallas-Fort Worth RCA led a discussion on “Communism and the Black Struggle.” He traced the development of the Black struggle, starting before the First American Revolution, all the way to today. From chattel slavery, to the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, to the superexploitation of Black workers in the cities following the Great Migration, the capitalist class has always used racism as a tool to increase their profits and divide the working class.

Tom Trottier capped off the weekend with an incisive explanation of the crisis of world capitalism—and where the world is headed. In the 50 years since the 1973–75 worldwide crisis which ended the postwar boom, the economy has been on a downward trajectory. Three billion people live in countries that pay more on debt interest than anything else, while 700 million live in countries that have defaulted on their debts and gone bankrupt. This is the best that capitalism has to offer.

In the country of the “American dream” and “American exceptionalism,” cuts to social services are also on the agenda. By 2033, the Social Security surplus will run out, with a predicted 33% reduction for all recipients. The anger that is accumulating after decades of economic decline will lead to revolutionary explosions also in the US.

The task of communists is to build a revolutionary leadership with the correct understanding of Marxism and the class struggle, sufficiently large to be able to guide the working class out of the blind alley of capitalism.

Tom Trottier capped off the weekend with an incisive explanation of the crisis of world capitalism and where the world is headed / Image: RCA

A school of communism

In addition to the three plenaries, there were six other commissions on a wide range of topics. It is hard to say which was the most impactful session—almost all the books and booklets on each topic sold out at the book stall!

Jon Lange’s presentation on the Chinese Revolution of 1925–27 examined the Stalinist blunders that led the movement to defeat—massacred by what was supposed to be their “progressive” national-bourgeois allies in the Kuomintang. These lessons are key to understanding the later peculiarities of the 1949 Revolution and China’s subsequent emergence as an imperialist power after the restoration of capitalism.

Other discussions included Alex from the Chicago RCA on how the Bolsheviks took power, focusing on the lessons for building a revolutionary organization; Simon Jarcho on the failed revolutionary struggles in Germany from 1918 to 23 due to the absence of a Bolshevik Party; Mark Rahman how Marxists analyze and fight against fascism; and Abadie Ludlam’s overview of dialectical materialism, the revolutionary philosophy of Marxism.

In his talk, Bryce Gordon explained how capitalism got a new lease on life during the postwar boom—and why this historical anomaly will not be repeated. The economic upswing that followed the end of World War II shaped the outlook of entire generations. From 1946 to 1973, mass consciousness and the forces of organized Marxism were thrown back. Millions of workers thought, based on their experience, that capitalism could genuinely improve living standards—particularly in the US.

In his talk, Bryce Gordon explained how capitalism got a new lease on life during the postwar boom and why this historical anomaly will not be repeated / Image: RCA

Building the RCA

That period has decisively ended, and consciousness is now catching up with a bang. The resulting surge of interest in communism was palpable in the room. Throughout the weekend, attendees purchased an astonishing $6,500 worth of books, booklets, and other merch! A whopping 20 titles completely sold out. A raffle and donations drive raised an additional $3,500 for the communist struggle.

Between each session, during the lunch breaks and socials, attendees from across the country discussed the ideas they had just learned, and swapped advice on building the RCA.

On Friday evening, at a screening of the recently released documentary on the founding of the Revolutionary Communist International, The Communists Are Coming, a law student was so inspired that they signed up for dues and joined the party on the spot!

Five years ago, the RCA had just one member in Chicago. Today, it has grown explosively—and just hosted a Marxist School with nearly 200 participants. This reflects the change in the objective situation and the accelerating crisis of capitalism, along with the patient work of educating and training communist cadres. But it’s only the beginning!

The school concluded with rousing renditions of “The Internationale” and “Bandiera Rossa” / Image: RCA

The American working class will not take austerity sitting down. But in order to wage a successful fight, a revolutionary party is needed. The main thread running through the school was the urgent need to build the RCA to lead the revolutionary overthrow of American capitalism and the establishment of a socialist society in our lifetime.

As Marx said, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways. The point, however, is to change it!”