On 24 August 2024, the Revolutionary Communist International’s group in Taiwan ‘The Spark’ held a public meeting entitled “Proletarian Class Struggle 2024” in Taipei. A total of 13 people were in attendance, seven already organised as communists. Attendees came not only from Taipei, but travelled from all across the country to participate.
Last year, our organisation held its first public meeting since its founding, and we decided to hold the same event annually thereafter. A year later, our organisation has made great progress in size, in the quality and volume of its publications, and in the political experience of its members.
This year’s event emphasised explaining the ideas of Marxism / Image: The Spark
This year’s event emphasised explaining the ideas of Marxism, including philosophy and political economy, as well as communist tactics and strategy. We also reflected on the results of a year of hard work building the revolutionary organisation, and, on the strength of our ideas, sold many pamphlets and magazines that we produced ourselves.
The event this year included two discussions: one on the political and economic perspectives for Taiwan; the other on the basic theories of revolutionary communism. Comrade TRS led the first discussion. He explained that presently all the major parties in Taiwan bicker over whether to lean on US or Chinese imperialism. However, as they are all bourgeois parties, they will all continue to suppress and attack the working class.
Right now, the pro-US DPP has gained a third consecutive term in government. But the pressures that workers face will only worsen under the deepening crisis in world and Taiwanese capitalism. The only way out is for the working class of Taiwan to organise into a party of their own, overthrow capitalism, replace it with socialist workers’ democracy, and then spread the revolution to China, Asia, and the rest of the world.
The pressures that workers face will only worsen under the deepening crisis in world and Taiwanese capitalism / Image: The Spark
Comrade TRS also reported on the activities of The Spark in the past year, which included our interventions in the Workers’ Struggle rally, May Day demonstrations, and our shows of solidarity with other struggles. He gave an overview of the results we gained from intervening in mass movements with a communist program, especially in terms of the new class fighters we have been brought into contact with. Comrade TRS also explained how we managed to successfully revive our magazine and produce new pamphlets and shared our upcoming plans including a communist recruitment drive on campuses across Taiwan.
Comrade HY led the discussion on the fundamentals of communism. Starting from philosophy, he explained how dialectical materialism, historical materialism, and Marxist economics form the revolutionary theories of Marxism. Attendees asked questions about political economy, Marx’s theory of exploitation and the cycles of capitalist crises, as well as the difference between our ideas and Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People, which were all answered by the comrades.
This year, our second public event has secured the foundations and the continuation of Revolutionary Communism in Taiwan / Image: The Spark
After the event concluded, those in attendance exhibited great interest in our organisation, ideas and activities. One attendee immediately joined us after the meeting adjourned, and other attendees have indicated an interest in keeping in contact.
Last year, the very first public meeting since our formation marked the beginning of Revolutionary Communism in Taiwan. In the year since our forces have grown threefold. This year, our second public event has secured the foundations and the continuation of Revolutionary Communism in Taiwan.
We hope that next year we can exceed the success we gained this year, to take big strides towards the Taiwanese, Asian, and international revolution.