Spain: RCO congress – revolutionary communism advances

Last weekend, 21-23 March, saw Organización Comunista Revolucionaria (OCR), the Spanish section of the Revolutionary Communist International, hold its first national congress. Around a hundred delegates and guests attended this important event.

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A third of those attending were participating for the first time in a national meeting of the OCR, showing what steps forward we have taken in recent months. In addition to comrades from almost all parts of Spain (Madrid, Catalonia, the Basque Country, Andalusia, Valencia, Castile-León, Asturias, Murcia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands), several international guests also participated, including comrade Jorge Martín, from the International Secretariat (IS) of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), and comrade Alessandro Giardiello, from the leadership of Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario in Italy, and comrade Caspar Oertli, leader of the Revolutionäre Kommunistische Partei in Switzerland.

Several comrades were also unable to attend the congress, because of last minute difficulties linked to the storm that occurred that weekend.

The congress was smoothly organised throughout and for this we thank the team of comrades responsible for organising everything, both before and during the Congress.

Apart from the high quality of the political discussion, and the serious attention which comrades paid to the discussion, the most remarkable thing about the congress was undoubtedly the excellent atmosphere and the feeling of camaraderie that ran through the whole event.

World perspectives

The congress began with the afternoon session on Friday 21 March with a discussion on world perspectives, introduced by comrade Jorge Martín, from the IS of the RCI. After the lead off, a discussion was opened which brilliantly covered all the main points of the world situation. We discussed the phenomenon of Donald Trump and his ilk, and the deep social unrest that this expresses. We examined the shifts now going on in inter-imperialist relations, the decline of European imperialism and its policy of rearmament, which involves savage cuts in social spending, the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and the risk of trade wars.

All of this will add fuel to the flames of the world situation, and it will impact on the consciousness of millions of oppressed people around the world. This will stir up the class struggle everywhere and will raise the task of socialist revolution sooner rather than later. Hence we must urgently accelerate the building of the Revolutionary Communist International and its national sections. In the end, comrade Jorge Martín summarised the fundamental points of the discussion.

The RCI's recent analysis has shown the superiority of Marxist analysis for grasping events like the new Trump presidency and its meaning at their root / Image: OCR

After this, the same comrade presented a brief report on the work of the RCI around the world. Although it was necessarily limited, it was nonetheless inspiring. The RCI has doubled its membership in the last four years. Our International presently operates in more than 60 countries, in 45 of which it has established national sections and groups in formation, covering all five continents. Jorge reported on the inspiring work ongoing from small groups of revolutionaries initiating political work in remote countries, to national sections with more than a thousand members in major imperialist countries.

Our sharp analysis, especially in the wake of Trump’s second presidency, has shown the superiority of Marxist analysis in acting as a guide in the face of new developments, and grasping the meaning of these events at their root. While the rest of the revolutionary left, not to mention the reformists, see a rise of ‘fascism’ everywhere, we see a fundamental change in inter-imperialist relations, an expression of deep social unrest and a prelude to the outbreak of class struggles in every corner of the world.

Unlike 10 or 15 years ago, when radical mass political movements emerged in Europe and the USA, where in general we had to be content with being mere observers, now the RCI is preparing itself to play a very important role in a large number of countries when faced with similar events to come. In August we will hold the first world congress of the RCI, for which we will have political and organisational documents available from June onwards, which we will debate at all levels of the organisation.

Perspectives for the Spanish State

In the session on the morning of Saturday 22 March, comrades held a discussion on perspectives for the Spanish State, which was introduced by comrade Roberto Zocato, from the Executive Committee. The session highlighted the extraordinarily weak foundations of the current Spanish economic ‘miracle’, which rests on the unproductive service sector, particularly tourism, with its low-quality employment and low productivity.

This consumer-led and speculative boom is driving up house prices to unattainable levels and is the source of a deep social malaise that is translating into massive demonstrations, as well as protests against the deterioration of healthcare and education, among others.

The government's rearmament policy, which Sánchez is trying to disguise at all costs, was also discussed. An interesting discussion arose around Vox and the prospects of a ‘Trumpist’ current developing in Spain. It is clear that, at present, such a movement has a smaller social base than in other European countries (France, Italy, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands), and it remains to be seen if this will change.

In any case, the outlook is the same as in other countries: the inevitability of an economic crisis, problems in repaying the debt, and radicalisation and rising class struggle, for which we must be prepared. Finally, after voting on some amendments that developed and enriched the original document, our document on the outlook for the Spanish State was approved unanimously.

The organisational debate

A central session of the congress was the debate, at the end of the morning session and throughout the afternoon of Saturday 22 March, during the organisational session, which discussed the balance sheet of the work and the orientation of the OCR. This session had the highest participation of the whole congress, with dozens of interventions. The comrades not only talked about the general organisational issues and the construction of the OCR but also presented the work they were doing in their areas.

Most revealing of all in this debate was the fact that young comrades who had never taken part in a national meeting had the opportunity to do so for the first time, which they did with enthusiasm. As a young comrade from Barcelona put it, our objective is to turn every young communist who joins our organisation into a Bolshevik.

The campaign for a revolutionary programme for youth

The final session on Sunday 23 March was one of the most important points of the event: the launch of our Campaign for a Revolutionary Programme for Youth. It was introduced by comrade Leire Rodas, from the national leadership of the OCR.

With our Revolutionary Programme for the Youth, we aim to reach the most advanced layer of youth who want to fundamentally changes society / Image: OCR

This campaign, which branches of the OCR had been preparing in the weeks prior to the congress, will be the main focus of the whole organisation between now and May, and will consist of a massive poster campaign around schools, universities and neighbourhoods; the distribution of leaflets with stalls at universities and public squares; and the distribution of the pamphlet that summarises the 10 main points of our programme for young people. These are: anti-militarism, housing, labour conditions, public services, climate change, democratic rights, repression and authoritarianism, the fight against all types of oppression, leisure, and the world socialist revolution.

It was agreed that this campaign would culminate with public events in all areas. With this campaign, we aim to reach the advanced layer of young people who long for a fundamental change in society and who are not satisfied with simple activism and empty slogans.

The importance of theory

The OCR congress also took time to set the theoretical training objectives for our comrades over the course of the coming year. We decided to focus on Marxist economics, with courses in all areas during the first half of the year, and also on the 50th anniversary of the dictator's death and the so-called transición democrática [the so-called ‘democratic transition’ of the 1970s, which saw a mass struggle against Francoism] starting in the summer. We have reprinted our old document on the Transition for this, with some updates, and have also made Alan Woods' book The Great Betrayal available. We also agreed to launch a public campaign on this from October this year.

We also endorsed the publication of four issues a year of the theoretical magazine En defensa del marxismo (In defence of Marxism), which the RCI publishes in Spanish.

As far as book publishing is concerned, in the coming weeks we are going to print Engels’ book Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, as well as Alan Woods’ book, The History of Philosophy: a Marxist Perspective, which we have sold out of, among other titles.

Over the two days of the congress, we sold €600 worth of Marxist literature, which shows the thirst for ideas, particularly among young comrades.

Bolshevik traditions

Finally, we addressed the revolutionary finances with which to sustain our activity. The congress was completely self-financing and made extra money with the sale of t-shirts, badges and raffle tickets for various artistic works donated by several comrades, with which we obtained another €600. Finally, we obtained more than €6,000 in the final collection before the closing.

If we are moving forward it is because we are firmly rooted in Bolshevik organisational traditions, with an uncompromising defence of the scientific ideas of Marxism, with the central role played by our printed magazine and our website, and secured by our financial independence.

The congress was closed by comrade Jorge Martín, who encouraged all those present to continue their revolutionary work and to strengthen the development of the OCR, as the Spanish section of the Revolutionary Communist International. To close the event, all those present gathered to sing the anthem of the world proletariat, The Internationale.

In short, this Congress was a great step forward for the organisation, and it is now up to us to put its decisions into practice and thus take the OCR to the next level in the task of building the revolutionary party that our class needs, at the national and international level.