Spain: communists found a new Revolutionary Communist Organisation!

On the weekend 15-17 March, the founding congress of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation (RCO) was held in Madrid. This was a historic milestone for several reasons: we had the largest presence and participation of any previous congress; we launched a new organisation; and the comrades came out more determined than ever to build the forces of communism in the Spanish state and around the world.

[The following has been edited based on reporting here and here.]

Present were comrades from all the areas where we are organised: Madrid, Euskal Herria, Catalunya, País Valencià, Andalucía, Illes Balears, Salamanca, and Murcia. In addition, we had the presence of a delegation of our comrades from Portugal, a guest from the Revolutionary Communist Party (British section of the International Marxist Tendency), and Jorge Martín, a representative of the international leadership of the IMT.

This congress represented a real refounding of our organisation. With a new, clearly revolutionary profile, we will march forward more vigorously, to spread our ideas more boldly, and are confident that under this banner, wide layers of young people and workers will be drawn into the fight for communism.

Spanish capitalism

On the first day of the congress, we discussed the perspectives for the Spanish state / Image: OCR

On the first day of the congress, we discussed the perspectives for the Spanish state, discussing what we communists have to do here to fight against the bourgeoisie and its rotten system.

The global crisis of capitalism gives no respite to the working class and youth, provoking a deep sense of malaise in society. Wherever we look, all we see is precariousness in living conditions, in work, in access to housing, in healthcare.

The predatory plundering of the planet’s resources by large corporations are aggravating climate change with each passing day. Wars have become the ‘new normal’ as imperialist thieves carve up the world for exploitation.

And yet, the conditions are in place to create a paradise on earth. To achieve this, we must overthrow capitalism through the collective action of millions of oppressed people around the world, who constitute the vast majority of the population.

In Spain, 38 percent of workers suffer from job insecurity (temporary, part-time or discontinuous work). The purchasing power of wages is even 7 percent lower than it was in 2008. According to the latest figures, 89 percent of new employees hired in 2022 were paid the minimum wage or less. 38 percent of renters are in severe poverty after their rent comes out. In contrast, 10 percent of the population has 54 percent of the total wealth. The bottom half of the population has only 8 percent.

The situation of young Spanish workers is particularly alarming. Unemployment rates among the youth, at 27 percent, are more than double the official figures. The prevalence of part-time and temporary contracts is also double the average. According to the latest data from the INE’s Living Conditions Survey, 53.2 percent of under-30s live in families that find it difficult to make ends meet.

But the crisis of Spanish capitalism is not just a question of bread, shelter and work. It is a crisis of a rotten, repressive, corrupt political regime. We have a parasitic monarchy imposed by the Franco dictatorship, and supported by the leaders of the Socialist Party (PSOE) and Communist Party (PCE) during the so-called ‘Transition’ to democracy.

The state apparatus (army, police force, judiciary, administration) has remained intact since Franco’s regime, with positions being passed down from parents to children and grandchildren. They plunder the state coffers with privileges of all kinds and are irremovable by law.

They are irreconcilable opponents of all that is progressive and living in Spanish society. They viciously repress the historical nationalities (Euskal Herria, Catalonia, Galicia) that try to exercise their democratic right to self-determination. There is no possibility of ‘reforming’ this apparatus, it must be demolished to its foundations and with it, the Bourbon monarchy.

What is needed is a revolutionary leadership that can draw together all the mainsprings of discontent into a struggle for a voluntary Federation of Iberian Socialist Republics, as a first step towards a socialist Europe and a socialist world.

Our aim is nothing short of the abolition of private ownership of the means of production through a regime of workers’ democracy. Only this can provide the stepping stone to a classless society of world communism, without states or national borders that separate and divide us, in a universal and fraternal community of humanity.

Launch of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation

Our primary task is the construction of a revolutionary organisation / Image: OCR

The strength of the capitalists lies not in the enormity of their repressive and coercive apparatus, but in the disorganisation of the exploited, and the lack of a finished programme for the socialist transformation of society.

Towards this end, our primary task is the construction of a revolutionary organisation, drawing together the thousands of organised communists that exist across Spain and the world, into an organisation with a clear programme and plan of action that can connect with the wider struggles of the working class.

Towards this end, this congress delved into the lessons of our work in 2023, and the plans comrades have to redouble our efforts in spreading the ideas of Marxism and recruiting new people who are fed up with the capitalist system and want to overthrow it.

But the highlight of the weekend was the launch of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation (RCO). A vote was taken on the new name, which was unanimously approved to a standing ovation. The comrades, full of enthusiasm, showed a deep understanding that this is not a simple change of name, but a renewal of forces under a bolder and more openly communist banner. This is a necessary step, of which they are proud to be a part.

The Spanish working class has a proud tradition of militant and revolutionary struggle stretching back to the last third of the 19th century. But its leaderships has never lived up to its militancy and determination.

Today, the PSOE and IU-PCE (United Left-Communist Party) are firm pillars of the regime, joined by Yolanda Díaz’s SUMAR. Their ‘progressive’ government is fully aligned with western imperialism and limits itself to managing the crumbs that fall from the table of the powerful. If the ‘old’ left failed, the ‘new’ left represented by Podemos has also failed miserably.

However, everywhere today we are witnessing an enormously inspiring phenomenon: an unstoppable movement of broad layers of youth turning towards the ideas of communism. Indignation burns in their breast against the oppressors and the powerful. They want to fight for communism here and now, and to realise the inspiring task of socialist revolution in their lifetimes.

But at the same time, the lack of a genuine international revolutionary communist organisation is felt everywhere. That is why the International Marxist Tendency, present in 60 countries around the world, is taking steps to launch a new Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) in June this year.

[Click here to attend the World School of Communism, at which the Revolutionary Communist International shall be founded]

The comrades of the IMT in Spain are going to give it the initiative with every possible impulse and maximum enthusiasm. We therefore call on all those who want to fight for the communist future of humanity, not as ‘national’ detachments, but as part of an international army of revolutionary communist proletarians, to join us and participate in the task of developing and strengthening the organisation that the working class and youth in Spain and internationally needs.

The launch of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation, which will become the official Spanish section of the RCI, represents part of this relaunch of the international focus of communism.

Plans are now in place for a series of launch meetings of the new RCO in all regions throughout the months of April and May, with a big national launch event in Madrid in November.

You too can help us build the Revolutionary Communist Organisation. Join us today!

Commemorating Lenin

We ended the congress on Sunday with a session devoted to the life and work of Lenin, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his death. We traced the most relevant aspects of Lenin's revolutionary life and his most important contributions to the theoretical and practical arsenal of Marxism, which covered many facets. There is much to learn from this great revolutionary, to apply in our analysis and understanding of the crisis of capitalism and revolution today, and the session served to strengthen us in this.

At the end of the last day we took up a collection where we raised €6,200, over €1,000 more than last year’s collection. The contributions showed the comrades’ willingness to sacrifice and their confidence in the future of the organisation. We closed the congress with an evening of music with bassoon, viola and guitar playing the Internationale, which was followed by the singing of the Internationale by all present.

In all the sessions, there was an atmosphere of effervescence, confidence and determination to build the RCO and the International, which is our main inspiration. Join the Revolutionary Communist Organisation!