Austria: inspirational Communist School on the relevance of Ted Grant today

On 13 and 14 December, 195 revolutionaries from all over Austria, with guests from Germany and London, gathered in Vienna for the ‘Communist Winter School’.

[Originally published in German at derfunke.at]

The weekend was very successful, and participants reported that they gained a great deal of inspiration from the weekend to continue their Marxist education and build the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP).

We began the weekend with a plenary discussion, introduced by Willy Hämmerle, on Ted Grant, a Marxist whose selected works have now been published in German for the first time. Ted Grant continued to develop the central thread of Marxism after Trotsky's death. He provided indispensable analyses of the postwar period, from the counter-revolution in democratic form, to the role of Stalinism and social democracy, to the Marxist understanding of the state. 

These analyses are still highly relevant today as the postwar order analysed by Ted Grant is today unravelling. We must understand the era that is coming to an end, in order to be able to act consciously as revolutionaries now and in the future.

The discussion was enriched by Victor from the International Centre of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), who was instrumental in the publication of the third volume of Ted Grant's collected works, which will soon be published in English.

In two workshops on Saturday, on Austria from the postwar period to the current crisis of bourgeois democracy, and on Marxist economics, these questions were explored in greater depth.

We are preparing to further strengthen the forces of revolutionary communism in the midst of this deep crisis of capitalism, in order to intervene in future class struggles. The discussion on the perspectives for Austria, introduced by Der Funke (newspaper of the RKP) editor-in-chief Emanuel Tomaselli, provided a deep understanding of this. In future, we will begin all of our communist cadre schools with such discussions on perspectives.

The deep crisis of capitalism now has a firm grip on the formerly stable Austria. For decades after the Second World War, the working class and youth in Austria were accustomed to relative stability. This is no longer the case. The bourgeoisie has only bad options – a general problem in Europe, as comrade Alex from Germany vividly underlined. The bankruptcy of the system and the ruling class is becoming completely obvious to ever broader sections of society.

Demonstrating our internationalism, the seminar expressed its solidarity with Venezuela in the face of US imperialist aggression. A guest from Venezuela, who 20 years ago took part in the event with Hugo Chávez in Vienna organised by our International, addressed the participants on Saturday evening.

The financial appeal brought in pledges for donations totalling €45,000 – a fantastic start to our winter fundraising campaign, which has a target of €70,000. This is a testament to the deep conviction of those present of the importance of the ideas of Marxism and the building of the RCI.

On day two, we deepened our understanding of a number of topics including how women's liberation can actually be achieved, Marxist philosophy and natural science, as well as the colonial revolutions, the national question, and the harmful role of Stalinism. Across all of these different questions, Ted Grant made vital contributions in developing our understanding.

The comrades' enthusiasm for Marxist theory was evident at the literature table. Over €5,000 worth of books were purchased, including over 85 copies of the new 700-page selection of Ted Grant’s key works.

The Communist Winter School was something new for the RKP in this format. It will by no means be the last Communist Winter School in Vienna – in a big city like Vienna, it makes sense to hold a communist school in 2026 for the many new, as yet unorganised (potential) revolutionaries.

We were thus able to bring 2025 to a successful close – and this was only the prelude to 2026, which we already know will be turbulent and eventful.