Second Congress of the Italian PCR – communists advance amidst tumultuous events

From 15 to 17 May, the Second Congress of the Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario (PCR) was held in Cervia, attended by 229 communist activists from across Italy. The congress was a resounding success and provided a vivid illustration of the extraordinary progress the party has made over the past year. But, even more important, these three days of debate offered an inspiring perspective on the tumultuous events our organisation has passed through in recent months, and the tasks that lie ahead.

[This article was originally published at rivoluzione.red, website of the Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario]

The effect of the powerful movement for Palestine, which culminated in the general strike on 3 October, still resonated among the audience of young communist activists, students, and workers. The energy and confidence in our revolutionary ideas that it imparted permeated the speeches of all our comrades, some of whom have only been active in our organisation for a few months or years. 

It could also be felt in our incredible collection. Inspired by the congress, and with a more concrete sense than ever of the historic tasks facing the communists, comrades collectively pledged €35,000 towards the building of the PCR. With some comrades still to pledge, we expect that this could reach as high as €50,000!

The PCR threw itself into the thick of the autumn events, into the mobilisation of millions of people awakening to the struggle against injustice, war and imperialism, and emerged from it tempered and reinvigorated. This explains not only the party’s growth in numbers and quality, but also the vibrant debate, involving young comrades who are building the forces of communism across the country.

After years of swimming against the tide, we can only proudly reaffirm that what has made these successes possible is nothing other than the ideas and methods of authentic Marxism and Bolshevism. In this, a regime of genuine internal democracy, centred on theory and political debate, is indispensable. It is no coincidence that the National Congress in Cervia was preceded by a full six weeks of debate across all local branches. 

These are the methods by which the Revolutionary Communist Party is preparing to build an organisation capable of rising to the historic struggles that lie ahead and to become a decisive force in the world working class’s battle for its own emancipation.

The disintegration of the world order

The first day of discussions was devoted to a debate on world perspectives. Now that the spiralling crisis of capitalism is dragging all countries into its vortex, it is more necessary than ever to relate the class struggle in individual countries to the developments unfolding at a global level.

In his introductory report, Fred Weston, of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International, described the ever-accelerating pace of the crisis.

From this perspective, Trump is nothing more than the ultimate expression of the instability of a system in its senile phase, which, as it decays, takes on an increasingly irrational character.

Uncertainty is the dominant feature of the global outlook, and this fuels the nervousness of the ruling classes. Fred cited a 2026 report by the World Economic Forum, which speaks of “growing polarisation and extremist movements”, as well as “narratives pitting the masses against the elite”, reflecting the increasingly deep-rooted distrust of the system. According to the report, inequality is the “most interconnected global risk”.

While uncertainty may indeed reign, what is certain is that the increasing turbulence is having an effect on the consciousness of the masses and producing ever broader and more radical struggles: the general strikes in Italy, France, Spain and Greece; the general strike in Minneapolis; and the explosion of the so-called ‘GenZ’ revolutions are proof.

The truth is that capitalism has long since exhausted its vital impetus and has nothing to offer the masses. In recent decades, we have witnessed a colossal transfer of wealth from the working class to the bourgeoisie. From 1970 to 2010, in the top 15 OECD countries, the share of GDP spent on wages fell on average from 67 percent to 57 percent. That is equivalent to the entire GDP of the United Kingdom. As Fred explained, this has destroyed the very foundations of the capitalist market, fuelling structural overproduction.

Capitalism has responded to this with a frenzied expansion of credit. As Fred pointed out, in 1973 global public debt stood at between 30 and 35 percent of GDP, whereas by 2025 it had reached almost 100 percent. Total debt (public and private) is 235 percent. These out-of-control levels of debt are accentuating the parasitic and irrational nature of the capitalist system worldwide and drastically reducing the ruling classes’ room for manoeuvre in the face of looming crises.

The result is that whichever government comes to power, whether right-wing or left-wing, will have no choice but to govern against the masses, as long as it remains within the confines of capitalism. This is the perfect storm for the explosion of revolutionary movements and struggles across the globe.

A window onto the future

The struggles we have witnessed in our country are just one epicentre of this broader process, which is accelerating across the globe. The autumn strike movement, triggered by the genocide in Gaza, represented a historic turning point for the class struggle in Italy, and its impact has reached far beyond our borders. For communists, this is ‘a window on the future’, a foretaste of the struggles that lie ahead.

In his introductory report on the second day of the congress, Alessio Marconi described the depth of capitalism’s decline in our country, which the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will exacerbate, fuelling a new surge in inflation.

According to Istat data, the IPCA index (which excludes imported energy goods) showed an annual inflation rate of 2.9 percent in April and a monthly increase of 1.7 percent. This after households have already lost 8 percent of their purchasing power over the last five years. This is a veritable war against the working class.

But whilst investment contracts and industrial production constantly declines, the bourgeoisie has not hesitated to cash in and flee with the spoils: over the last year, dividends have risen by a scandalous 13.6 percent to a total 44 billion euros. This money, sweated from the workers, has gone straight into the pockets of a small circle of capitalists.

If we overlook this accumulation of combustible material, it is impossible to grasp the nature of this “historic struggle against everyone and everything” waged by the workers of Italy, as Alessio described it. The autumn movement definitively proved the cynics and the disillusioned wrong and dug the grave of the Meloni government, which until then had maintained an – albeit illusory – aura of solidity and consensus.

The strike on 3 October was a spontaneous movement which mobilised new layers of the class who placed themselves at the forefront of the struggle. They bypassed both the narrow circles of activists and the barriers erected by the trade union bureaucracies. The mobilisation took the form of an open clash with the trade union leadership. As Alessio pointed out, this is “inevitable when workers want to forge a path to fight”.

While the trade union leaders are doing everything they can to erase the memory and effects of this incredible struggle, the workers, as Mario Iavazzi explained, have no intention of forgetting it. In his speech, Paolo Grassi spoke of a new working class that is drawing increasingly bold conclusions from the experience of that movement. Not all layers –  particularly workers in factories – participated in the movement to the same extent. Nonetheless, millions spoke of bringing everything to a standstill – of shutting down factories, schools, ports, and so on; they discussed what is loaded onto ships, that is, what is produced and what is transported: they discussed, in potential, workers’ control over the economy.

Students also played a vital role in those demonstrations. We are currently seeing a qualitative leap in their consciousness in the struggle against the Valditara reform [which aims to open up technical colleges to the private sector, and cut one year of schooling for two years of work], alongside their teachers. Together, they pressured the trade unions into organising the national school strike on 7 May.

The October general strike is also having a profound effect on the Italian working class, which has got back up to its feet and is beginning to realise its own strength.

Claudio Bellotti explained that this is leading to a shift in the struggle: the class issue is emerging with ever-greater force. We see this in the new role taken up by workers, who are breaking down the barriers between trade unions and imposing a unity from below, reflecting their will to fight and win without asking permission.

Alessandro Giardiello recounted how a spontaneous strike broke out at Pirelli, initiated by a representative of a small trade union in his department. He managed to rally the entire factory behind him, despite opposition from CGIL representatives, and won. Similar examples are multiplying, as we have seen at Electrolux and in the school strike. They herald a new phase in which the class struggle will be the order of the day in Italy.

Let’s build the party, let’s fight for communism!

The debate on these exciting prospects set the stage for the third day of the congress, which was dedicated to our organisational tasks. A clear picture emerged from all the speeches. The party has grown stronger, and this is due to three main factors: 

1) Our intervention in the autumn movement, which we were able to do because we provided comrades with the political tools to understand what was happening and to act successfully in building the organisation.

2) Our tireless devotion to theoretical training and political study, aimed above all at young comrades.

3) Our focus on youth and work in schools, which has enabled us to build a party full of young people who are being educated in the ideas of Marxism and are increasingly playing a leading role.

This is the secret of success, which is merely preparation for building a revolutionary party of thousands and tens of thousands of comrades across the country.

In his introduction to the discussion, Paolo provided some very inspiring figures. Over the past year, not only have we seen a growth in membership in all the areas where we were already present, we have also established the party in new cities (Prato, Pomezia, Pisa, Rimini, Alessandria) and regions (Abruzzo and Sardinia), as well as strengthening our presence where we had already laid the foundations for our work (in Sicily and Puglia).

Far from exhausting our comrades, the frenzy of the autumn mobilisations electrified the entire organisation, enabling us to launch major campaigns in the spring. In the run-up to 8 March, the party waged an important theoretical offensive with the publication of Friedrich Engels’ The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. For this campaign, we organised 24 book launch events, attended by over 650 people. Serena Capodicasa explained how dozens of female comrades took the lead, speaking and organising at these events. This forms part of the party’s broader effort to develop revolutionary work among women and overcome all the obstacles that women’s oppression places in the way of the political mobilisation of female students and workers.

The most striking achievement, however, was the qualitative leap in the professionalisation of our press, with the relaunch of Rivoluzione, our newspaper, in tabloid format and full colour. As Noemi Giardiello explained, this important step forward was made possible by decades of militant work in disseminating our communist and revolutionary press. The bourgeois press is concentrated in the hands of a handful of publishing groups linked to big capital, always ready to spread the most disgusting lies in the interests of the ruling class. Our newspaper is the voice of the voiceless, of the oppressed, of the workers, and of the young people who write it, buy it and distribute it outside places of study and work.

Our ‘new’ newspaper was launched during ‘Red Week’ – between 25 April, the anniversary of Italy’s liberation from Fascism, and 1 May. That week saw us engaged not only in distributing the paper but also in organising militant blocs, with banners and chants against the Meloni government and imperialism, in marches in Italy’s major cities. Our investment in a revolutionary communist press has paid off: on 25 April alone, more than 1,500 copies of Rivoluzione were sold.

But having a good newspaper is not enough. Marxist theory is the sharpest weapon we have. At the congress itself, the burning thirst for ideas that is driving young people and workers towards our party was expressed in an impressive €1650 worth of books and pamphlets sold. In the coming period, we will be reprinting numerous books whose stocks have rapidly depleted because of this enthusiasm. In fact, we will soon be sending out new reprints of Lenin’s State and Revolution and Imperialism, as well as The Ideas of Karl Marx, the third volume of The History of Bolshevism and Alan Woods’ History of Philosophy across Italy.

Meanwhile, our work among students is yielding extraordinary results. Francesco Cassarà reported that in Varese we now have 17 comrades across 12 different schools. The revolutionary party’s strategic objective is to take root in the working class. But it is precisely thanks to our work among young people that we are gathering the strength to intervene decisively in factories and workplaces. Francesco Esposito explained how building the party among young people in the Vesuvian towns has enabled us to develop a presence among Fincantieri workers, who are beginning to recognise us as a point of reference and are buying and discussing our newspaper.

In his concluding remarks, Paolo Grassi reiterated this point, explaining that in the coming weeks, our organisation will launch a national campaign for a sliding-scale wage system outside workplaces, involving both workers and students who are active in the party. Furthermore, in the autumn we will convene a workers’ conference in order to explore our role within the labour movement and the ways in which we should engage with the working class in the context of growing politicisation and our recruitment of more and more young workers.

The congress was an essential opportunity to bring together the experiences and analyses of the extraordinary months behind us. But, as Paolo observed, just as undeniable was the comrades’ desire to return to their areas to continue the work, armed with greater clarity and energy. This is only the beginning. Our doors are open to all young people, workers and students who are no longer willing to accept a future of war, poverty, exploitation and barbarism, who want to take their lives into their own hands and fight for communism.