We are now half way through the founding conference of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI). And at this point we can say with confidence that we are building on a foundation of solid granite: the revolutionary ideas of Marxism; and the Bolshevik attitude of dedication shared by all our comrades! At the end of the third day, comrades across the International demonstrated their determination to build this historically necessary instrument of world revolution with an astonishing collection that raised €474,000, smashing our target. With half of the conference to go, you can still sign up to participate in the rest!
In three days, we’ve already had 11 talks, covering philosophy, our historical tradition, and economic analysis, with much more to come! The discussions have been lively and far-reaching, showcasing the very high political level of our cadres: a conquest of many years of commitment to education.
Global enthusiasm
Around the world, this conference has been met with a wave of enthusiasm. Social media has been abuzz with images and videos of comrades following the discussions in North America, the Middle East, Europe, Pakistan and beyond.
In addition to the 500 delegates and visitors physically present, over 7,000 people are attending the conference online. Watch parties have been organised in many countries, deepening the profound sense of international unity that this event has fostered. Here are a few highlights:
Sweden
USA
Canada
Pakistan
Many more countries have watch parties planned for later this week, including Britain – where groups of comrades will meet in over 18 towns and cities – as well as Austria.
Please keep sharing your pictures and videos of yourselves watching the stream, either individually or in groups, with the hashtags #CommunistsAreComing and #RCI24.
Why not join one where you are by checking out the national sections page of our website, and if there isn’t a section or group where you are: why not take the initiative? We invite you to get together with friends and comrades, host a watch party, and post the images online! This could be the basis for a new communist branch or cell.
The algebra of revolution
All agree that, aside from the first session on our Manifesto, the highlight of the event so far was Alan Woods’ talk on dialectics: the algebra of revolution.
The pessimistic, eclectic rubbish passed off as ‘philosophy’ in universities today – especially the pernicious trend of ‘postmodernism’ – deliberately seeks to confuse and demoralise young minds, rather than explain the world. This is no accident.
The crisis of capitalist society is also a crisis of culture: of art, human relations, and of thought. The representatives of official bourgeois philosophy have fallen far from the heights of the towering geniuses like Hegel, Spinoza or Leibniz. As Alan noted, the sole purpose of today’s bourgeois philosophers is to trap our minds in an arid wasteland, where nothing fertile can grow.
In contrast, dialectics, as the Russian revolutionary democrat Alexander Herzen explained, is the “algebra of revolution”. It is a framework for understanding the world as it really is. Rather than taking a collection of dead facts, it draws out the laws of motion of nature, society and human thought. As Alan explained:
“We wish to change the world. And a task as complex as that requires serious study. In order to change the world, you first have to understand it.”
Marx’s great accomplishment was to combine to place the revolutionary dialectic of Hegel on a materialist footing. As Alan explained, Marx’s writings are full of facts and figures. However, the dialectical materialist method does not consist of picking out an isolated figure or fact to justify an argument: it is the search for rational insight.
The method of Marxism, “scientific socialism”, seeks to accumulate all the relevant facts about the material world, not for their own sake, but to uncover the underlying laws and processes behind them.
Once we understand how to look beneath the surface of the world around us, we realise quickly that the apparent stability of capitalist society is an illusion. In every country in the world, a seething anger is bubbling under the surface.
Just as the subterranean movements of the tectonic plates lay the basis for sudden earthquakes or volcanic explosions, sooner or later the masses internationally will burst onto the scene in one country after another. Without dialectics, these developments would take us by surprise. But by mastering this method, we can anticipate and intervene.
The bourgeois cynics scoff that revolution is “impossible – look at the facts!” This “worship of the accomplished fact”, as Lenin put it, means they only see things as they are, or as they appear to be, and not as they will become.
The task of communists is to make a serious study of dialectics, not only to lay the basis for all of our practical work, but to “raise our sights to the stars”, as Alan put it. We are seeking not only to win this or that reform, but to win a higher form of existence. The RCI alone has taken a serious approach to this fundamental task.
The session concluded with an exciting announcement by Alan that he is working on a new book on philosophy, to draw out and explain thoroughly, but in the simplest terms that the subject will allow, the philosophy of dialectical materialism. This is a follow-up to his excellent History of Philosophy (available here). Undoubtedly this text will be an invaluable weapon in the arsenal of Marxists everywhere.
Catch up
The following fantastic sessions are all worth catching up on:
The necessity of a revolutionary philosophy
The Russian Revolution: The greatest event in human history
How the Bolshevik Party was built
What is capitalism?
Did communism really fail?
Lenin and Trotsky: What they really stood for
How the Communist International was built
What is imperialism?
Revolutionary determination
The third day of the conference culminated in a breathtaking collection, where we raised €474,000 to fund the forces of communism internationally. There was a palpable energy in the room, as cheers and applause spontaneously broke out in admiration of the comrades’ willingness to sacrifice.
Staggering donations were received from the developed capitalist countries such as Switzerland, Britain and Austria. Movingly, there were also significant donations from comrades living in North Africa and the Middle East, as well as El Salvador, Sri Lanka and Puerto Rico, where workers experience extremes of exploitation and are where the depth of the global capitalist crisis is felt most acutely.
The monumental contributions of all comrades to the founding of the RCI show our political resolve and personal determination to build the world party of socialist revolution.
Unlike the bourgeois parties, the RCI is not at the beck and call of the billionaires. Our financial independence guarantees our political independence.
The RCI is funded entirely by the generous donations of our comrades and supporters. Thanks to this, the RCI will be launched with an expanded team of dedicated, full-time revolutionaries, able to produce even more vital analysis and theory, here on marxist.com, in the In Defence of Marxism magazine, and through our publishing house Wellred Books; and to help guide and develop the forces of revolutionary communism around the world.
The unprecedented growth of our organisation (which we will detail in a future update), and the even faster growing influence and audience our ideas are reaching, means our work has become far more complex. We urgently need to increase our full-time staff to take advantage of these opportunities.
There is no more worthy cause in the world to give money to! If you would like to donate to help us in the fight for communism, you can do so here.
The founding conference of the RCI has already been an immense success – and there are still three days to go!
If you want to get the most out of the event, register here to watch the talks live. We start up again tomorrow at 9am Italian time.
And if you haven’t already, we appeal to you: join us and help us build the Revolutionary Communist International!