Revolutionary communists in Europe and beyond say: “shut it down for Gaza! For a workers’ boycott!”

Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla has sparked an eruption of mass anger across the world and particularly in Europe. In Italy, this has led to not one but two political general strikes for Palestine. This represents the decisive entry onto the scene of the powerful Italian working class. In Spain too, millions were on the streets. Many hundreds of thousands took to the streets of hundreds of cities all over Europe.

Members of the Revolutionary Communist International have intervened everywhere in the protests and strikes that have been erupting. And as the reports below show, our ideas have received a big echo. Revolutionary youth everywhere are adhering to our ranks.

Up until this point, the main leaders of the Palestine solidarity movement have played an extremely moderating, even depressing role in the movement. Their tactics haven’t gone beyond, on the one hand, a succession of A to B marches, and on the other, individual consumer boycotts of Israel.

We have been the only ones who have, from the beginning, pointed out that the working class alone has the power to really aid the Palestinian people and to apply an effective blockade of Israel.

Since 7 October 2023, we have raised the need for a workers’ boycott of Israel, for mass direct action, and for workers in western countries to fight to bring down our governments, which are complicit in genocide.

These calls have mostly fallen on the deaf ears of the official leaders of the Palestine solidarity movement. They have generally dismissed them as ‘unrealistic’. The trade union leaders have acted in an even worse manner, ignoring the question of Palestine altogether in most cases, or limiting themselves to passing a few resolutions.

The events in Italy and in Europe more broadly are a definitive answer to the sceptics who scoffed at the idea of mass working-class action for Palestine. Unbearable pressure on the trade union bureaucracies finally forced the CGIL leadership in Italy to call a massive general strike.

From France to Italy and beyond, the slogan ‘block everything’ is now being taken up by growing layers. The idea of workers’ action for Palestine and even of general strikes against complicit governments have gripped the minds of masses of workers and youth the world over.

Even in countries like Germany, Austria and the Netherlands – where there have been shrill smear campaigns raging against the Palestine movement and where the ruling class has a historically extreme pro-Israel stance – tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands are being drawn into action.

Just as we have said many, many times, there is a brewing rage against the whole system, and millions of people are connecting the dots: between the genocide in Palestine, rising militarism, and austerity, poverty and desperation at home.

Below, we present a few of the reports we have received that show how the communists are increasingly connecting with this mood.

Shut it down for Gaza!

Block everything!

For a workers’ boycott of Israel!

Italy

Between Thursday 2 October and Saturday 4 October, hundreds of demonstrations took place across Italy, involving hundreds of thousands of people, following news of Israel’s assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla. Alongside demonstrations, in some places there were blockades of railways and motorways.

At 9pm, the 24 hour railway workers' strike began, which, unlike on 22 September, saw the majority of railway workers get involved. On Friday, when the strike and demonstrations were called, there were at least a hundred demonstrations, all very well attended – certainly the most well attended in the last 50 years.

An estimated 2 million people took to the streets. Over 150,000 in Milan, 300,000 in Rome, another 150,000 in Naples and Bologna, and 100,000 in Florence and Turin. In large and small cities alike, the demonstrations were impressive. In many of them, large groups broke away from the official route to occupy motorways or stations.

There was a significant presence of young people, mostly students. The vast majority of schools nationwide took to the streets, as did many young workers. The ports of Genoa, Ravenna, Livorno, and Naples were blocked on several occasions, regardless of whether there were ships carrying goods or weapons for Israel. It is difficult to estimate how many workers took part in the strike, but it was certainly the highest turnout in recent years.

Notably, the CGIL and the grassroots unions jointly called for the general strike. This has not happened in at least 35 years. The unyielding pressure from the masses, who expressed a very strong push for unity, forced the CGIL bureaucracy to mobilise large sections of workers. The CGIL had been inundated with criticism from its members and delegates for not joining the strike on 22 September.

Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario (PCR) was present in 40 demonstrations, often outside schools and workplaces from early in the morning to promote the strike, sell our paper, Rivoluzione, and meet people interested in joining our party. In Rome and Milan, comrades of the PCR brought their colleagues, especially teachers, healthcare workers, and logistics workers, to our sections of the march.

On 3 October, comrades across the country organised extremely lively blocs in the marches. These were awash with banners, flags, megaphones, slogans, and songs. On this day, we estimate that we distributed around 1,300 copies of our newspaper and met at least 120 people interested in getting involved with the party.

The next day, the first national demonstration took place in Rome. This had a mass character, partly due to the support of the CGIL, but primarily due to the spontaneous push of thousands of people. It is estimated that over 500,000 people took part in the march.

We mobilised over 200 party members and supporters for our bloc, which was vibrant with PCR and Palestinian flags – we sold another 150 copies of Rivoluzione, and raised over €200 for our fighting fund. Since 22 September, the PCR now has over 350 potential new members, with 40-50 of them likely to join in the short term, all met in these mobilisations.

The main slogan we used was “Stop the genocide, overthrow Netanyahu and the Zionist state”. We also used slogans against the government, against rearmament, and in defence of the welfare state, education, healthcare, and pensions.

This movement shows no sign of slowing down. With each mobilisation it grows and attracts thousands of new young people and workers. We are fully involved in this, participating in demonstrations and working in schools, universities, and workplaces.

The mood amongst broad layers of society is palpable. We sold over 8,000 copies of Issue 120 of Rivoluzione, and had to reprint it! There is also great enthusiasm in schools, where students want to organise, and in workplaces where comrades have never found it easier to discuss politics with coworkers.

Belgium

Since the departure of the Sumud Flotilla – on which were a few Belgians – there have been daily demonstrations in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to ‘put pressure’ on the Minister to demand the protection of the Belgians on the Flotilla. Besides this there have been daily gatherings in the centre of Brussels of a few hundred to 1,000 participants.

In other cities there have been weekly gatherings in front of town halls or in public squares. All this comes after the 11th national ‘red card’ demonstration on 7 September with 120,000 people present.

The government’s symbolic (empty) recognition of a Palestinian state over the summer only served to increase the anger of the population, where more than 70 percent are in favor of hard sanctions against Israel, and to spur on the movement.

With union support, the luggage handlers of the Brussels National Airport resolved to boycott the flights of Israel Airlines. Their appeal finishes with those striking words: “While the government weeps and moans, the workers act”. Up to now this is an isolated initiative, as the unions generally limit their action to petitions and participation in demonstrations.

We are the only political organisation raising the demand for a workers’ boycott. This was the main slogan on our banner during the 7 September demo, which involved 30 party members. There, we sold over €600 in material.

When the Flotilla was intercepted, a number of protests were held all over the country in which we got involved, primarily in Brussels, Leuven, and Mons. In Brussels, 10 of us participated with RCO/OCR banners.

In the city of Leuven, a brand new branch of our organisation audaciously joined the march with their banners, and put up a table at the beginning and the end of the demo. Marching at the front, they sold ten copies of the paper and got the contact details of nine people who are interested in joining us.

In Mons, our comrades attended a rally in front of the railway station. One of our comrades spoke, explaining our revolutionary perspective to the 200 people present. This is mainly due to the authority we have built up at the university and our agitation for a student strike (supported by the students) that will take place on 23 October. We sold 20 copies of our paper (10 percent of the demo)!

Notably, a school student movement in solidarity with Palestine is beginning to take shape. On Thursday, one secondary school went on strike, and continued on Friday. It was followed by another school in Brussels. They are keen to spread it to other schools. We are in contact with some of the organisers of the strike.

Netherlands

5 October saw the biggest demo in the Netherlands since 2004.

More than 250,000 people marched through Amsterdam (a city with less than a million residents). As the city streets are not that wide, it took more than an hour before everybody could leave the Museum Square.

This huge demo follows two others in The Hague, with respectively 100,000 and 150,000 demonstrators. It was named the Red Line demo, as a red line has been crossed. The organisers are very moderate: namely, Oxfam Novib, alongside other NGOs.

Its enormous size shows that something has changed in consciousness. This is significant, as the Netherlands are traditionally extremely pro-Israel in its politics, as the bourgeoisie cynically plays on feelings of guilt for the many Jews deported here by the Nazis.

Seven comrades with cardboards signs and flags joined the demo. Our slogans were focused on linking the movement to the class struggle, following the example of the Italian workers, calling on the main unions to organise strikes in the ports and transport sector, etc. The main union federation, FNV, supported the march, but made it clear that strikes for Gaza are “not allowed” and “un-Dutch”.

The mood among the demonstrators and among the comrades was great. It was uplifting to see that all the bourgeois propaganda that big marches in the Netherlands are a thing of the past has been proven false.

Spain

As detailed in an earlier article, from 2 to 5 October, it is estimated that over 2 million people took to the streets in the protests across Spain. The largest was on 4 October, where over 1.3 million were out at once. Over 60 members and supporters of Organización Comunista Revolucionaria took part in this movement.

We were present in Madrid, Barcelona, Vitoria, Malaga, Pamplona, San Sebastian, Palma de Mallorca, Irun and Hendaye (French Basque Country), Zaragoza, Valladolid, and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The atmosphere was highly combative. There was a strong mood of fury against Israel and, significantly, against the EU, Trump, and the leaders of the Spanish right wing. Alongside these were demands aimed at the government of Pedro Sánchez to carry out what he had promised: an arms embargo against Israel, as well as cutting relations entirely. Whilst less prominent, there were also calls for a general strike amongst the crowds.

Our most prominent presence was in Barcelona on 4 October, where our slogans had gathered a crowd of around 20 sympathisers to form around our bloc. We received the attention of an activist of the CGT union, an organiser of the general strike in Catalonia on 15 October, who invited us to the assembly called to organise the strike.

Over the course of these Palestine mobilisations, we have come into contact with over 60 people interested in getting more involved with our organisation, over half of them in Barcelona. A further eight got in contact with us through reading our material online and, notably, through the ‘Against the Stream’ podcast.

The reasons given in these applications to join us give a taste of the mood that exists amongst workers and young people:

"I feel responsible to act against genocide";

"To stop the genocide of Palestine"

"Because I am aware of the suffering of humanity and how more power relations are what give structure to this suffering".

We already have over 20 meetings planned with some of these prospective party members, and hope to recruit at least 10 to 15 of them in the very near future.

Whatever happens with the proposed Gaza ‘peace’ deal, there will likely still be a lot of pressure from below to maintain the plans for 15 October to be a strike day, or day of struggle. We will continue to agitate to maintain 15 October as a day of struggle, and to extend these demands against militarism, war, and to class demands of housing, wages, and so on.

Ireland

The day after the flotilla was attacked by the IDF, thousands of people joined demonstrations in all the main cities across Ireland, we joined the demos in four different cities. In Dublin, a couple of hundred people blocked the port entrance for a few hours.

The main national demonstration took place on Saturday 4 October in Dublin and was the largest in a long time, if not ever since 7 October 2023. Attendance was estimated at more than 10,000, with some reports suggesting as many as 25,000.

We mobilised 20 comrades for the Dublin demonstration, which was our largest presence in a demo yet! During the demonstration, a group of mostly students attempted to lead the demo toward another occupation of the port tunnel. However, they were isolated by the trade unions – which are opposing escalating the movement – and were forcibly stopped by police.

The mood at the protest was electric. The Palestine movement in Ireland has been very consistent for two years, but this one was different. Every time Italy was brought up, the answer from young people was of enthusiasm for what is happening there, and how we need to do the same. Discussions on workers’ power, workers’ boycotts, and demands to “lock it all down” were well received.

One left group with some electoral influence is organising a lunchtime walkout later in October. Given the current mood, this initiative has the potential to gain traction. We will continue to monitor the situation and intervene as it develops.

In all, we sold 60 copies of our paper, and have met 30 people who want to join our organisation. Our priority now is working to recruit them.

Canada

On 4 October, the main Palestinian groups in Canada held rallies to commemorate two years since the start of the genocide. We intervened in force, expecting that this could mark a revitalisation in the movement, which has been at an ebb for a number of months.

Our main argument was that the Canadian labour movement needs to take concrete steps to build up to a movement like we're seeing in Italy. We intervened with the following slogans:

Only the working class can end the genocide!

Workers’ boycott of Israel! Hot cargo edict now!

Fight like an Italian! Block everything!

No to Carney’s military spending! No to Carney’s austerity!

Down with the warmongers! Down with the war criminals!

Shut down the campuses for Palestine!

In Toronto, the main demonstration was relatively small for the city, at around 2,000-3,000. This is smaller than the demonstrations at their peak which numbered above the tens of thousands, but larger than recent demos which have often been below 1,000.

45 comrades went along, selling at least 80 copies of our paper, and getting the details of over 22 people who want to learn more about joining our party.

The majority of those at the demonstration had heard about the developments in the European labour movement, though many did not immediately understand their significance. For the most part, the local Palestine solidarity leadership has ignored the events in Italy.

The general strike was mentioned by rally organisers, but in a paltry way. It was presented as just another kind of pressure tactic to use on our government, but wasn't highlighted as a significant development. Our demand for ‘hot cargo’ edicts to be taken up by the Canadian Labour Council were well supported by those we talked to.

In Montreal, thousands of people took to the streets. This was the largest Palestine demonstration in Quebec in months. Over 25 comrades and a dozen sympathisers formed our bloc. We sold over 40 copies of our recent paper, plus more literature.

Our demand to bring the European movement to Canada – with concrete demands on the student and labour movements – was very well received. The comrades could feel the palpable desire of young people and workers to escalate the movement, and take inspiration from the Italian working class.

In a clear contrast, the union leaders and activists spoke at the rally as if nothing new happened in the movement this past week. It was as if they just copy-pasted their speech from the one year anniversary last year.

Anecdotally, at one point during the speeches, the microphone cut off for technical reasons. In the silence, some comrades started to sing “Bloquons tout!”. To even our surprise, people followed us and sang with energy.

Austria

Earlier this autumn on 20 September, Austria had its biggest Palestine demonstration ever with over 20,000 on the streets. The RKP had a bloc of over 100 people, and we sold 228 copies of our paper. The mass mobilisations in the rest of Europe have served to reinforce this mood, particularly amongst young people.

The night that the Flotilla was intercepted, there were a number of spontaneous protests across the country. On the evening of 2 October, 5,000 gathered in Vienna, alongside a number of smaller protests in Graz and Linz.

In Vienna, the protest was extremely lively and youthful, with many school students and students; much more than on previous demonstrations for Gaza. It grew a lot during the march itself and was very open to radical slogans. We had a bloc of around 50 comrades, sold about 47 copies of our paper, and one of our members spoke on the platform, putting forward a revolutionary communist perspective.

On 27 September, in Vorarlberg, we organised a demonstration in support of the Flotilla, where about 250 people turned up. We arranged for a press conference with the local Palestine movement; two of our comrades spoke, one on behalf of the RKP, and one on behalf of one of the participants on the Flotilla. This was widely reported by the big media outlets.

In Innsbruch, in the region of Tirol, there was a Palestine demonstration on 3 October, in which 1,000 turned up. Our comrades put together a lively bloc and gave a speech on the platform, selling 28 papers and getting the contact details of five people.

The main, longer planned – and therefore likely larger – demonstrations will be next Saturday on 11 October, in Vienna, Graz, and Vorarlberg.

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria there was a significant echo of the mood across Europe and the world. On 5 October, there was a Palestine demonstration in the capital, Sofia, of around 3,000 people. Four comrades and two sympathisers went along. Compared to the last Palestine protest in the summer, this one was five times the size. The crowd was relatively youthful, and more radicalised than before.

At the protest itself, we met somebody who was interested in joining us. We all went to get food together after the demo to discuss politics. After eating, we then went to the university campus to distribute literature, such as leaflets on Israel-Palestine, as well as “what communists in Bulgaria should do”.

We were received positively, with multiple people directly approaching us to hear what we had to say. In some instances, passers-by wanted to take our flyers and distribute them themselves, based on the slogan and design being so striking.

Denmark

Recently, there haven’t been any large demonstrations in Denmark, but this does not mean that the movement is dead. At the end of August, the largest demonstration to date took place, with over 50,000 participants.

On Thursday 2 October, an emergency demonstration was called because of the attack on the Flotilla. Around 400-500 people showed up, and about ten comrades of the RKP attended. The organisers had planned for it to be a depressing demonstration of mourning.

We brought signs with the following slogans: “Shut down for Gaza! We need an intifada!” and “Italy shows the way! Direct mass action works!”. They were very well received and several people approached us to ask if they could hold a sign. When it ended, spontaneous battle cries began, which we sang along to on our megaphone.

The crowd actually surrounded our comrade with the megaphone, who could see that he had to give a speech. He did so with great energy, speaking to the anger felt by the participants. Everybody in the crowd (apart from the organisers) responded to this enthusiastically. We sold five newspapers and four people gave us their contact details.

On Saturday 4 October, there was another demonstration. Despite the bad weather, a couple of thousand people showed up, including 35 comrades of the RKP. Paper sales were limited due to the massive amount of water pouring from the sky. Despite this, we used it as an opportunity to discuss the question of Palestine with protesters. Doing this, we met six people who wish to join the RKP.

Placards with the slogans “Shut down for Gaza! We need an intifada” and “Italy shows the way! Direct mass action works!” resonated well with the most advanced layer at the demonstrations. People approached the comrades to talk and take pictures. The same positive reception goes for the chants comrades made connecting the mass demonstrations and strikes in Italy with the solidarity movement in Denmark.

The mood in general appears to be progressing in a more radical direction, and the slogan “There is only one solution. Intifada, revolution”, which we initially brought into the movement, is now commonplace.

Finland

On Thursday 2 October, a demonstration was held on the steps of the Finnish Parliament House in protest of Israel’s violent suppression of the global Sumud Flotilla. The protest was called by the largest organisations in the Palestine movement in Finland less than a day earlier, which makes the attendance of about 2,000 people at the demo quite impressive, especially by Finnish standards.

The speeches on the platform, alongside the ‘official’ chants, were moderate and liberal, as were the groups organising the protest. Chants like “the government has to take responsibility” were started many times by the speakers. One of the speakers even appealed to the humanity of Jussi Halla-Aho, a prominent right-populist politician and speaker of the parliament, who was defended by a row of police.

After the ‘official’ section of the protest, the most radical elements pooled at the top end of the parliament stairs, up close to the police and Halla-Aho. The crowd began chants that were far more radical, such as “down with the government!”, “Go fuck yourself, Génocidaire!” and “Nazi!” among others.

The organisers were visibly frightened about the prospect of losing control of even the small group of radical protestors that were left at this point. The crowd was eventually broken up by the police, with the help of the organisers, who shouted for the crowd to “get out”.

Portugal

The protests over the Flotilla in Portugal may not have mobilised the numbers of Italy or Spain, but they nevertheless represent an important turning point. For two years, the country has witnessed countless Palestine demonstrations, some of them very large. However, under the firm control of the main reformist organisations, these turned into a routine parade. This changed last week.

Some 5,000 people gathered at the Israeli embassy in Lisbon on Thursday. The mood was electric. The leaders gave their usual pacifist speeches to an impatient crowd. When the rally ended, a large group (perhaps 1,500) comprising mostly very young people began to march to the city centre, blocking the city’s main thoroughfares. The police did not intervene.

Impressively, the protesters marched through the pedestrian streets of Baixa, the old waterfront – a very touristy area. Large crowds of tourists, workers, and passersby began to cheer on the protest, sometimes joining in. Waiters came out of their restaurants to salute the demonstrators. A tailor even improvised a “free Palestine” banner. This raised the spirits of the protest, showing that even if the demonstration was relatively small, it enjoyed widespread support.

On Saturday, we saw similar scenes, but this time with roughly 7,000 marching through the central streets. The organisers wanted to end this march with the usual routine rally, but everyone understood this was only the beginning of the real protest. After the monotonous speeches, most of the crowd kept on marching and occupied Rossio station, the main train station in central Lisbon.

Everyone regarded the occupation as a major victory for the movement. The idea of ‘blocking everything’ has clearly spread to Portugal.

We in the Revolutionary Communist Collective (CCR) were directly involved on both days. We were the largest and best-organised group on both occasions, and had the clearest slogans. We carried two large banners, “Peace among peoples, war among classes” and “General strike, world intifada”, as well as smaller placards saying, “block everything”.

A dozen comrades intervened on both occasions, but we were able to rally larger crowds around us, including sympathisers, forming large blocs. Our megaphone proved crucial, for it allowed us to have a finger on the pulse. We put forward slogans such as: “General strike, let’s block Portugal”, “Italy strikes, what about Portugal?”, “General strike, let’s block capital”, “from Lisbon to Rafah world intifada”, and also others. These slogans really connected with the crowd, especially towards the end of the protest, when the mood heated up.

Switzerland

On Thursday 2 October, between 12,000 and 15,000 people took part in spontaneous demonstrations across Switzerland in relation to the Flotilla, this is completely unprecedented in Switzerland. For the past couple of decades, such rallies usually only muster up a few hundred people.

A week earlier, on 27 September, demonstrations of 10,000 people each took place in Geneva and Zurich. These were the largest local demonstrations in support of Palestine in the last two years. A national demonstration will take place this coming Saturday, 11 October. We expect a large turnout and are planning a large national bloc.

Notably, many present at these demonstrations had never been at a protest before, saying, “I couldn't take it anymore”. Among them are many middle-aged and older workers. The movement is going beyond the youth.

The present leadership of the movement, largely pacifist and reformist, has done little to tap into the deep mood of anger in society. Our analyses and positions are therefore met with very open ears. It is also noteworthy that the anger and radicalisation is not limited to Palestine. Conversations usually continue on to topics such as living conditions, austerity measures, the character of the government, imperialism, and the crisis of the system as a whole.

So far, we have met 26 people who are seriously interested in joining us at these demonstrations. In addition, from the first two weeks of speaking to students at universities, we have gotten an additional 70 contact details. Already, 14 people have officially joined our party in the past couple of weeks.

Poland

For a long time, the Palestine movement in Poland has been held back by its petty-bourgeois leadership. These revolve around a few activist celebrities and an ever-shrinking circle of supporters.

Solidarity demonstrations for the Flotilla had been planned beforehand, and were launched as a nationwide day of action following its capture. We joined the protests in Poznan, Wroclaw, Krakow, Katowice, Rzeszow, and Torun. Attendance varied, with a handful of people in smaller cities and more than 800 in Wroclaw. We estimate to have sold around 30-40 copies of our paper, and met a few people who are interested in getting more involved.

Whereas the organisers – who tried to coax demonstrators to go home and email politicians, and who refused to mention the great events happening elsewhere in Europe – tried to block us from speaking, this did not stop our anti-capitalist slogans from being easily picked up by the crowds. Clearly, we are not the only ones who are tired of this rubbish.

We plan to regroup and launch an offensive, linking the question of the strikes with our work at the universities. There will be plenty more opportunities for us to connect our revolutionary ideas with this mood in the future. Especially since the reformists are trying to elbow their way into the movement while still supporting western imperialism with regard to Ukraine. This means supporting rearmament, a lot of which relies on Israeli technology and production chains. We will expose this hypocrisy.

There is not currently a mass mobilisation in Poland, but the potential is there and can blow up unexpectedly, especially as students go back to the cities.