Swedish RKP congress 2026: “We have a real chance”

On 10-12 April, 150 communists gathered in Stockholm for the congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

[Originally published in Swedish at marxist.se]

At around 11am on Friday morning, a group of Finnish comrades arrive at the RKP’s headquarters in Stockholm. Immediately, a group gathers around a table and begins comparing notes: What is the political situation like in Finland? Are the trade unions on strike? What is happening on the Finnish left?

The Finnish members proudly report that, having gained their first member during the pandemic, they now have over 40 members in Finland.

“We’ve grown by 30 percent in a year,” says one of the comrades.

But it’s clear that she believes the potential is even greater.

A force to be reckoned with

Soon the loading of the cars begins: box after box of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and other books on Marxist theory written by members of the Revolutionary Communist International (RKI). Some boxes are a bit easier to lug around: they’re filled with revolutionary T-shirts and other merchandise.

At around 5pm, the Alvik Cultural Centre is invaded by eager communists. A table is filled with Marxist literature. A short distance away, goods are being unpacked for a small shop. Throughout the venue, comrades are taping up communist banners, interspersed with schedules and other information.

Participants are now starting to pour in. Groups of 3 to 6 people stand around chatting animatedly, while one group struggles with a banner that refuses to stay up. A line about ten meters long forms to collect wristbands. Everywhere, the same expectant, slightly nervous smiles and curious questions. “How many of you are there in Stockholm?”, “How do you go about finding more people?”, “How long have you been a member?”, and so on.

At 6:30pm, over a hundred people are seated in the rows of benches. Others have to stand because there isn’t enough room. It’s time for the Revolutionary Communist Party’s congress to open.

“A warm welcome to the Third Congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party!” exclaims Oscar Gunnarsson to thunderous applause.

Over the weekend, 150 comrades from across the country are participating. He lists the cities represented.

“We have, of course, participants from our major strongholds: Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Uppsala, Umeå, Karlstad, and Borås, but we also have comrades here from Kopparberg, Kristinehamn, Landskrona, Nyköping, Lycksele, Storfors, and Västerås, to name just a few.”

We have received enthusiastic video messages from other sections of the RKI.

“Only through coordinated international struggle can we defeat imperialism,” emphasises a comrade from Mexico.

“Only through coordinated international struggle can we defeat imperialism” / Image: RKP

Now it is high time for the first discussion to get underway: on the building of the Revolutionary Communist International. Niklas Albin Svensson, who works at the International’s headquarters in London, opens the discussion.

“The organisation has never been stronger than it is today,” he begins.

Everyone listens intently. Many newcomers have previously only heard brief reports about the world party of which the RKP is a part. And what they are now hearing is truly inspiring.

In the summer of 2023, the International launched a campaign to organise the world’s communists, embodied in a message on countless posters and stickers: ‘Are you a communist? Get organised!’

“When we launched the campaign, only two sections had more than 500 members, and none had more than 1,000,” says Niklas Albin Svensson.

“Today we have six sections with over 500 members – the UK, Canada, the US, Italy, Mexico, and Pakistan – and a whole host of others approaching that mark. Two of them already have over a thousand members, and several others are on their way there as well.

In total, the International has approximately 8,400 members – a doubling in less than three years. We are organising people in some fifty countries – new ones are constantly joining, as individual communists sign up at marxist.com, impressed by the powerful analysis. By this summer, the goal is to reach ten thousand comrades worldwide.

Revolutionary perspectives

The growth of the RCI is built on the radicalisation brought about by the crisis of capitalism. The eyes of millions of people are being opened to the future that life under capitalism entails.

On Saturday morning, the focus is: ‘Imperialism, war, and class struggle – a global perspective for 2026.’ Speaker after speaker describes how the war in Iran is exacerbating the underlying crisis in all areas, starting with the economy. The result will be a global economic downturn – alongside high inflation. This means a sharp increase in poverty in the rich countries and starvation in the poor ones.

“There is an ‘us’ and a ‘them’ – the ruling minority and all the rest of us,” emphasises Jennifer Österman.

She explains how people all over the world, through all the wars, through the crises, and through the corruption of the ruling class, are drawing this conclusion.

“They don’t represent us—they’re completely alien to us; they’re against us.”

The mass movements and revolutions of recent years are just the beginning.

The ten-meter-long book table is filled with Marxist literature – books, pamphlets, and newspapers. Next to it, a group of comrades has been put in charge of a table with more unusual items: from butter knives engraved with the hammer and sickle, to a homemade communist denim jacket, which can be won through one of the raffles being held. This is one of many ways party members work to raise the funds needed for posters, meeting spaces, and much more.

During lunch, the first line forms – almost endlessly long – around the two microwaves. The small kitchen, which also serves as the weekend’s canteen, is packed with comrades engaged in lively discussion.

About fifteen minutes before the meeting, another area begins to fill up: the space in front of the book table. To change the world, one must understand it.

On Saturday afternoon, the focus is on the implications for the class struggle in Sweden: ‘The storm is approaching,’ reads the agenda.

“Sweden is following in the same footsteps as the rest of the world, but with a slight delay,” emphasises Fredrik Albin Svensson, who opens the discussion.

He lists the factors that have led to a certain political and social stability in Sweden, which has meant that the question of revolution has not been on the agenda since World War II.

“As a small imperialist power, the Swedish bourgeoisie was able to build up a strong industry under the umbrella of the American world order.” With these profits, the bourgeoisie was able to buy class peace, he explains.

“This was facilitated by the labour movement, which has been the best in the world at holding back class struggle – even amid the increasingly dire conditions of recent decades.”

All of this is now turning into its opposite. The economic crisis and the decline of the American world order are undermining everything that has underpinned the stability of Swedish capitalism.

“The fact that the labour movement refuses to voice its discontent simply means that it will be all the more explosive and uncontrollable when it finally erupts,” he argues.

“And the development of the class struggle that has been taking place in other countries for nearly two decades will be compressed in Sweden – radicalisation can happen incredibly quickly. At a certain point, the class struggle will develop much more rapidly, precisely because it has been held back.”

Revolutionary communists must prepare for this.

Financing the RKP

Between 5:45 and 6:30 pm, the party’s fundraising campaign, which it has been running all Spring, culminates in 45 intense minutes.

Once the fundraising campaign is over, there is a sense of elation at what we have achieved together / Image: RKP

Group after group announce their contributions to general cheers. A slide projected on the screen could have been taken from the Swedish soccer league, had the numbers looked a little different. The group at Stockholm University has raised 50,000 kronor. The group in Uppsala has raised 45,000 kronor. Malmö has raised a total of 100,000 kronor, and the group’s treasurer, Isak Olsson, recounts the life story of an Iranian communist in a few powerful minutes.

“This is not just Nasser’s story,” he concludes, “It is the story of an entire generation of Iranian communists who took part in the revolution, who dreamed of a different society, and who were then crushed by the regime that seized power”.

“Be inspired by Nasser’s struggle, every time you open a book by Lenin, every time you send in a contribution to the party – because we have a real chance, comrades, to ensure that there are no more martyrs, no more innocent deaths.”

Uma Fieril, a young party member from Gothenburg, takes the floor.

“We tell it like it is. What is needed is the abolition of capitalism. And for that, a party you join and spend a little of your free time on isn’t enough – we are a party that demands real sacrifices from you. We are not a party like those embarrassing parliamentary parties – we are a tool for world revolution.”

Once the fundraising campaign is over, there is a sense of elation at what we have achieved together. The party has raised 605,000 kronor.

First, this allows us to continue our efforts to build the party as quickly as possible – we have hired nine comrades and rented two offices, without a single krona in government funding. The party is entirely self-financed, which allows it to stand strong against attacks from the right. Second, this impressive result means we can send 250,000 kronor to fund the rapidly growing work of the international.

During the evening, it’s clear that the participants mean every word. All join in on battle songs like ‘Long live Palestine’ and ‘The murdered free republic’, dedicated to all those killed by both industry and imperialism. ‘The Seskarö song’ tells of the uprising on Seskarö during the Swedish Revolution of 1917.

“Once again, the authorities have proven themselves worthy of all our hatred
They send even more soldiers here instead of food
Yes, the island was besieged by power and authority
But the weapon we had was our solidarity”

The party of the future

When the clock strikes ten the following morning, discussions begin on building the party in Sweden. Before lunch, Leo Marklund delivers a passionate appeal to build the party at the universities, citing, among other things, the role students have played in the class struggle time and again throughout history.

In Serbia, the potential was clear. “The situation changed completely when over 60 universities were occupied, with discussions at mass meetings on how to advance the struggle,” he explains.

“Since the students rejected both the regime and the so-called opposition, they became a focal point for all the anger in society.” The entire Serbian society was split down the middle: do you support the students or do you support the government?

It is true that it is the working class – not the students – that actually has the power to crush capitalism. But it is the younger generation that determines the outcome of the struggle.

“In the Bolshevik Party in 1907, 22 percent of Bolsheviks were under 20, 37 percent were 20–24, and 16 percent were 25–29. Only one in four members was 30 or older.”

Many speakers describe the party’s success at the universities. Valter reports on the work in the Swedish capital:

“Last year there were 44 of us in Stockholm; now there are 60. By fall, 80 comrades will be within reach. With a strong base at Stockholm University and 80 comrades in Stockholm, we can take the next step after the fall.”

At the end of the discussion, the delegates vote to adopt an organisational resolution: ‘How we will conquer the universities’. The resolution’s final paragraph clearly summarises the party’s strategy:

“If we succeed in building a strong base among young people, we will have a springboard from which we can begin to reach the vanguard of the working class with the ideas of genuine Marxism. In the coming Swedish revolution, this is the difference between victory and defeat.”

The resolution is adopted unanimously. More applause. Now it is time to get to work.

The closing speech of the congress is delivered by Ylva Vinberg. Her final words are deeply moving. She quotes a poem by Dan Andersson.

“Two things are close but do not reach each other,
I pay for one and am a slave to the other:
the bread that silences my child’s cry
and the hunger that devours my own soul.”

This hunger is for a life that consists of more than just worrying about making ends meet.

“It is a hunger for something more than a world of war, genocide, and Epstein-like predators; a longing for a better life for one’s younger siblings; a hunger for freedom from wage slavery,” she emphasises.

“But for that, the sword of revolution must be wielded, and before it is wielded, it must be forged. So comrades, let us forge our weapons – and march forward.”