Switzerland: 130 attend Marxist school on how to fight imperialism and war

War in Ukraine, war in the Middle East and a huge global pro-Palestine movement: there is no shortage of reasons to overthrow imperialism, and no lack of willingness to do so. But, as the last year has taught us, this is anything but easy. Defeating the imperialists requires absolute political clarity and concrete perspectives.

[This article was originally published in German at kommunismus.ch, the full recordings of all the talks from the school are available to watch in German here.]

What is the nature of the world situation and what are our tasks as communists? What are the characteristics of Swiss imperialism? What is the right approach to war?

At the German-speaking Marxist School, organised by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) in Switzerland from 1 to 3 November in Bern, 130 participants addressed these pressing questions of our time, as well as other important questions, including the role of art in revolution. The answers clearly strengthened comrades’ political understanding and confidence in the party, as shown by the collection of 21,000 francs in donations at the event, exceeding our fundraising target.

The deeper logic behind the world chaos

“At first glance, the world seems to have gone completely mad,” said Niklas Albin Svensson, leading member of the Revolutionary Communist International, in the opening plenary meeting on the world situation. The stability of the past is gone, instability is on the rise everywhere: wars, climate catastrophes, inequality and mass protests, hated governments and unpredictable right-wing populists.

As Marxists, we need to understand the deeper processes beneath the chaos / Image: RKP

As Marxists, we need to understand the deeper processes beneath the chaos. The most fundamental of these is the deep economic crisis that began in the 1970s. The three main tools of the bourgeoisie for holding off crises – attacks on workers, globalisation and cheap money – have prepared the crises of today. For years, trillions have been pumped into the economy while productivity growth has declined. Capitalism has been artificially kept alive by injections of money.

Today, these attempts to manage the crisis are taking their revenge in the form of mountains of debt around the globe (currently 320 percent of global GDP), inflation, increasing protectionism and trade wars, strike waves and protests, and even revolutionary uprisings, such as those in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Revolution is brewing

A broken system cannot be managed in a healthy way. No matter who governs, the result is always the same: attacks on the working class and even more resentment against the entire establishment. This is why governments and traditional parties are collapsing by the dozen, and right-wing demagogues are rising as supposed alternatives.

The fall of Hasina in Bangladesh through a mass uprising, the collapse of the ruling coalition government in Germany, or Trump's election in the USA are different expressions of the same impasse: those in power can no longer rule as they did before and the masses can no longer be governed as they were before. These are not linear processes – but struggles and even mass uprisings will only increase in the coming period.

Building the party

“But one ingredient is missing everywhere,” said Niklas. That is the revolutionary party. A party that leads the working class to victory, i.e. to the seizure of power, rather than into ‘safe’ channels and thus into a dead end like the current reformist leaderships.

We, the RKP, are far too small today. But we are facing up to the responsibility of building this party. Party building is an art that every comrade must learn for themselves. This must be based on the method of Marxism, as Niklas emphasised, because “our task as a small party is to convince, unite and educate the most advanced layers of workers in the entire communist programme.”

Our main enemy: Swiss imperialism

The historical contribution of the Marxists in Switzerland to the world revolution lies in leading the working class to the expropriation of UBS, Nestlé and other such monopolies. Bourgeois ideology tries to disguise this much-needed task by appealing to Switzerland’s ‘neutrality’ and its ‘model democracy’. For this reason, several workshops at the school were dedicated to demolishing these bourgeois lies with razor-sharp class analysis.

In the workshop ‘Fighting Swiss Imperialism – Building the RKP’, Dersu Heri exposed Swiss ‘neutrality’, banking secrecy and its cultivated reputation as an international ‘mediator’ as instruments of the Swiss capitalists in defence of their profits. With its supposed neutrality, the Swiss bourgeoisie has tried to keep out of global political conflicts in order to be able to do profitable business with as many powers as possible.

The so-called model democracy of Switzerland actually came into being as a tool of the rising capitalist class / Image: RKP

But as competition between the major powers intensifies during the crisis, the old successful model of the Swiss bourgeoisie no longer works. With the Swiss ruling class’ support for the NATO bloc in both the Middle East and Ukraine, the ‘humanitarian’ and ‘neutral’ facade is falling away and the ruthless pursuit of profit is coming to the fore.

Bourgeois democracy and racism

Jannick Hayoz's workshop on Swiss democracy shed light on the political side of this process. From the founding of the bourgeois nation state in 1848 to the present day, he explained how the so-called model democracy of Switzerland actually came into being as a tool of the rising capitalist class and how it began to show its reactionary face in the course of the emerging labour movement from the end of the 19th century.

In his workshop on racism in Switzerland, Dario Dietsche explained why racism has been deeply rooted in Swiss capitalism from slavery in the 18th century to the present day – as a means of justifying the plundering of the world, the over-exploitation of migrants at home and the division of the working class. Only those who understand the function and material basis of racism can counter both racist demagogy and purely symbolic ‘decolonial’ politics with a programme for the unity of the working class.

These three workshops revealed the true nature of ‘neutral’, ‘democratic’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ Switzerland: it is a bourgeois state that defends the rule of the banks and corporations.

War in the Middle East

Imperialism means war and, as Lenin said, ‘horror without end’. Martin Kohler explained this in the workshop ‘Imperialism in the Middle East’, which looked at the history of western imperialism in the region. There is a 150-year history behind today's barbarism. When the USA, Great Britain and France took over as hegemonic powers, they promised ‘democracy’ and ‘peace’. But instead they have completely destroyed the balance in the Middle East.

Imperialism means war and, as Lenin said, ‘horror without end’ / Image: RKP

The result is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and a never-ending series of wars in Syria, Yemen, Palestine and Lebanon, in which regional imperialists (Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, etc.) and major powers (USA, Russia) are vying for supremacy.

This struggle for a slice of the profits, which continue to shrink due to the crisis, will only intensify. That is why the imperialists everywhere are arming themselves.

What is our position on war?

This was already the case in Lenin's time during the First World War. Then, as now, the leaders of the working class supported their own bourgeoisies in the fight for the spoils. In the workshop ‘Lenin, the Swiss Bolsheviks and the War’, Caspar Oertli explained what we need to learn from history in order not to end up in the camp of our own bourgeoisie.

It is not enough to memorise Lenin's slogans such as ‘The main enemy is at home’. We need to understand Lenin's approach to the war, which underpinned his slogans. On the one hand, this allowed Lenin not to buckle under the pressure to set aside class differences during the war and defend ‘the fatherland’ or ‘democracy’.

On the other hand, Lenin proved in practice that the Marxist method was decisive in ending wars. Based on the theoretical clarity in his works on imperialism, war and the state, the Bolsheviks led the working class to overthrow their own warmongers in the Russian Revolution. This sparked revolutions across Europe that ended the First World War.

In the workshop ‘How the British Communists fought Hitler’, Michael Wepf explained how Ted Grant applied Lenin's method in the Second World War. The founder of our International solved a complex equation – defending the Soviet Union and fighting fascism without fuelling illusions in the bourgeoisie – in a war that was filled with sharp turns. This period is rich with indispensable lessons for Marxists today.

Pacifism: a wolf in sheep’s clothing

Most proposals for achieving peace today are abstract appeals to the UN or the state. Sereina Weber explained in the workshop ‘Their Morals and Ours: Marxism vs Pacifism’ that the pacifism of the bourgeoisie and reformists may come across as harmless, but in fact plays a very damaging role. Those who equate the violence of the oppressors with that of the oppressed disguise the class antagonisms and thus ultimately help the oppressors.

Behind pacifism lies the idealistic view that violence should be condemned in principle. In order to fight for a truly peaceful world, the working class needs a way of thinking that is independent of the bourgeoisie, a philosophy that provides insight into the truth: dialectical materialism.

The role of art in the liberation struggle

For many participants, the ‘Art and the Russian Revolution’ workshop was the highlight of the school. Olivia Eschmann explained that art is something deeply human. We have always made art.

However, with the emergence of class societies, the ruling class gained a monopoly over art. The oppressed masses were and are deprived of art.

Communism means a return to primitive communism, but enriched by all the treasures of class societies, including the factories and technologies. These provide the basis for a life without material scarcity for anyone.

But communists are fighting for much more than just the end of scarcity, as the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 proved. It ushered in an explosion of artistic creativity and opened the door to art and culture for the masses.

In the words of the Russian artist El Lissitzky:

“The communists not only promised a fairer or economically better world, but – and this is perhaps most important – a beautiful one”