Germany now has a Revolutionary Communist Party!

A growing layer of people, especially among the youth, are looking for radical answers to the crises that plague our lives. The founding conference of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) in Germany is living proof of this. From 30 November to 1 December, 260 comrades and visitors from across Germany met to launch the RKP and discuss its perspectives and tasks. 

We were able to organise a congress of this size as a result of our comrades’ impressive efforts in building the organisation, particularly over the last year. We are the only organisation to have recognised the need for a clearly communist orientation and as a result we have been boldly presenting our ideas to the world. The younger generations have only known decline throughout their lives. These are the layers we have aimed to reach through our work. 

 

 

 

 

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Since last summer, we have grown from 150 to 300 comrades in Germany. We have rented an office in Berlin, launched our new monthly newspaper Der Kommunist and, based on the popularity of our ideas, decided to found the RKP. 

Germany in crisis 

Our perspectives for the coming period, which were presented at the party congress, made it clear why the founding of our party was not done on a whim, but was absolutely necessary. The German working class has no party to act as their political weapon in the upcoming class struggles. We want to forge this weapon by organising the most radical layers of workers and youth today.

Saturday’s talk and discussion on our perspectives for Germany highlighted the fatal impact of the capitalist crisis on the country. The industrial backbone of the economy in this country is contracting and plants are being closed. To get industry out of this crisis, Finance Minister Christian Lindner presented a paper to his coalition partners in November calling for deregulation and greater austerity.

The German working class has no party to act as their political weapon in the upcoming class struggles. We want to forge this weapon by organising the most radical layers of workers and youth today / Image: derkommunist.de

The Social Democrats and the Greens, however, were not prepared to implement these counter-reforms with the rigour Lindner demanded, causing the coalition to collapse. Yet severe attacks on living standards are exactly what the ruling class is now demanding. After the elections in the spring, the next government will try to enforce these wishes for the capitalists. 

This will lead to a backlash from the working class, but it will not be able to rely on any major political force. This includes Die Linke (the Left Party), which has drifted into shallow populism and personality politics.  

The party’s founding congress also stated:

“The working class and youth need a party that truly represents their interests. That is why we are proposing to campaign during elections. But we are not standing for election on the ballot paper. While all the other parties say ‘Support us’ and mean a cross on the ballot paper, we say ‘Support us’ and mean: dedicate your life to the struggle for world socialist revolution! Because that is the only realistic alternative.”

The power of ideas 

Journalists from two major daily newspapers were also present at the congress. As was to be expected, neither of them dealt much with our political ideas in their articles. While one dismissed the congress as an amusing oddity, the other article in the supposedly left-wing newspaper taz was characterised by its pessimistic and cynical undertone.  

 

 

 

 

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What both newspapers had to admit, however, was the enthusiasm with which we defended our ideas. The delegates' contributions helped raise the political level of the party congress enormously and were better than any previous congress. They testified to the thoroughness of the discussions about our perspectives, which have taken place in our local branches over the last few months.

In the discussion on party building on Sunday, many comrades reported on the successes their branches have had in recruiting new communists. The general lesson our comrades drew from their experiences was that in order to consolidate the organisation and make it ready to achieve new goals, the study of Marxism must be a permanent focus in the building of the party. This alone can give us guidance in the class struggle and confidence in our work.

The willingness to conquer these ideas was also reflected in the fact that we sold over €2,200-worth of Marxist literature over the weekend. This is four times as much as at our last seminar!

Revolutionary sacrifice

“Time and money: these are the sacrifices that every true revolutionary has to make,” explained one comrade during the fundraiser on Saturday evening. This spirit of sacrifice was evident across the party as representatives from all of the branches took to the stage to announce what they would be donating, with the sums often exceeding their original targets. 

This money allows us to remain politically independent as a party, as we can fund the professionalisation of our work out of our own pocket. At the same time, by collecting donations from our membership and from social movements, we protect ourselves against attacks from the state, such as those currently being pursued against our comrades Alyona, Leonard and Adrian because of their solidarity with the struggle for Palestinian liberation.

Our party 

The whole weekend has shown the enthusiasm with which our comrades want to build the RKP. They know that a truly communist party is needed to lead the working class to victory. 

On Sunday, as comrades unanimously voted to found the RKP, the whole hall erupted in loud chants of, “RKP”. We will build our party with this enthusiasm and revolutionary optimism.