Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 27.12.2024, www.thecommunists.net

 

 

 

The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) sends its warmest New Year greetings to all activists fighting against oppression and exploitation!

 

The dramatic events in the last 12 months have demonstrated that we are living in a period characterised by catastrophes, wars and revolutionary uprisings. There is no doubt that the profound underlying contradictions of capitalism will provoke similar explosions in 2025.

 

The RCIT – an international Trotskyist organisation with sections and activists in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Israel / Occupied Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, Nigeria, Britain, and Austria – states that imperialist domination, national oppression, dictatorship, and capitalist exploitation can only be abolished by the overthrow and expropriation of the capitalist class via international socialist revolution. We call socialists to join the struggles of workers and oppressed all over the world and to advocate a revolutionary program of struggle.

 

The Syrian Revolution, which started in March 2011 and finally succeeded in bringing down the Assad tyranny on 8 December 2024, is one of the greatest revolutions in the first quarter of this century. In this long period, the masses made the greatest sacrifices as the brutal regime and its Russian and Iranian masters slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people. However, overthrowing the regime can only be the first step. The task now is to organise the masses in independent popular councils and militias, to convene a Revolutionary Constituent Assembly and to replace the al-Julani government with a workers and fellahin government.

 

The RCIT has supported the Syrian Revolution since its beginning in March 2011. Its Austrian section – the Revolutionär-Kommunistische Organisation BEFREIUNG – has being involved in numerous solidarity activities and one of its comrades recently addressed a mass demonstration of 30,000 Syrians celebrating the downfall of the regime.

 

In Occupied Palestine, our comrades in the Internationalist Socialist League – withstanding the massive pressure of the Zionist society – oppose the horrendous genocide of the Israeli terror state and support the heroic struggle of the Palestinian resistance (led by Hamas). Likewise, we side with all other forces in the Middle East which confront the Zionist state. We call workers and popular organisations around the globe to support the Palestinian liberation struggle and to organise an international boycott campaign against the Zionist state. In Arab countries, the masses need to enforce an end of any attempt for “normalization” with the Zionist monster and push their governments to help the brothers and sisters with aid and arms. We call for the revolutionary destruction of the Israeli Apartheid state and the creation of a free and red Palestine from the River to the Sea. Such a secular and democratic Palestinian state would enable all refugees to return to their homes. At the same time, it would guarantee equal cultural and religious rights for all citizens (including the Jewish minority). It should be a workers and fellahin republic as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East.

 

Comrades of the RCIT in Austria, Argentina, Britain, Mexico and Brazil are actively participating in the pro-Palestine solidarity movement. Michael Pröbsting, a regular speaker at Gaza demonstrations, had two trials in 2024 because of his public support for the armed resistance of the Palestinian people which ended with a guilty verdict and a suspended prison sentence of six months.

 

South Korea is in the midst of domestic turmoil after the failed coup d'état by President Yoon Suk Yeol who tried to suppress democratic rights and dissolve the parliament by imposing martial law and deploying special forces on the streets. However, spontaneous mass mobilization and threats of a general strike by the KCTU forced Yoon to retreat within a few hours. Our comrades in the Workers' Revolutionary Party (Preparation Group) warn against any illusions in the bourgeois-liberal opposition parties and advocate the methods of mass struggles to bring down Yoon.

 

In Russia and Ukraine our sections – the Communist Tendency respectively Spalakh – are forced to work under de facto illegal conditions given the repressive nature of the bonapartist regimes of Putin and Zelensky. Recognizing the imperialist nature of Russia and its war against Ukraine – a capitalist semi-colonial country – our comrades jointly advocate the defence of Ukraine against Putin’s invasion. At the same time, they oppose the policy of the U.S. and EU imperialism to subjugate the Ukraine as a pro-Western semi-colony.

 

The RCIT states that an internationalist and anti-imperialist program implies consistent opposition against all imperialist powers – those from the West (U.S., Western Europe, Japan) as well as those from the East (China and Russia). In any conflict between these Great Powers, we advocate Lenin’s policy of revolutionary defeatism, aimed at utilising such a conflict to weaken and overthrow the ruling class of these powers.

 

In Argentina, our comrades in Convergencia Socialista as well as in the women’s organisation Defensorías de Géneros continue to advocate the policy of independent mass mobilisations and organisations against the ultra-liberal austerity program of the right-wing Milei government. They call for the creation of self-organised grassroots organizations in workplaces and neighbourhoods in order to lead the struggle from below and without domination by the corrupted bureaucratic cliques which control the trade unions. Our comrades agitate for a general strike and call workers to force the bureaucratic leadership of the CGT and the CTA – the two main trade union federations in this country – to support such actions. At the same time, they warn against any support for bourgeois-populist Peronist party. Based on such a policy, our comrades help to organise mass struggle in several factories, neighbourhoods, schools and universities in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Corrientes.

 

In Sub-Sahara Africa, the RCIT and its comrades in the Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard (Nigeria) warn against the increasing war danger in the region of Horn of Africa which could involve Ethiopia, Somalia, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea and outside foreign powers. We oppose reactionary wars aimed at expanding the sphere of influence of individual states. However, we support just liberation wars of oppressed peoples against national and foreign oppression (e.g. in Somalia against the Ethiopia-led occupation forces) We welcome the expulsion of French imperialist troops in several Western and Central African countries but, at the same time, we warn against attempts of Russia to impose its own hegemony.

 

In the U.S. the workers movement must prepare for the looming racist offensive of the incoming Trump Administration which threatens to expel millions of “illegal” migrants. In order to stop this attack, socialists advocate mass mobilisations and organised self-defence against these attacks. At the same time, we warn against any support for the Democratic Party which is no progressive force but rather represents a faction of the ruling class.

 

Faced with massive struggles ahead, it is more urgent than ever to overcome the deep crisis of revolutionary leadership as the workers and popular organisations remain dominated by social democratic, Stalinist, left-populist or centrist organisations. Such forces usually lean towards one or the other imperialist power, look for alliances with sectors of the bourgeoisie, impose bureaucratic control over mass struggles or spread confusion with advocating non-revolutionary methods and tactics.

 

Hence, it is crucial for socialists is to unite and to aid building a new Revolutionary World Party – a party which can lead the masses towards revolutionary insurrection against catastrophic capitalism and for a socialist future! The RCIT calls all those who share our perspective to join us in order to advance the construction of such a party!

 

Unity – Struggle – Victory!

 

 

 

International Bureau of the RCIT

 

 

 

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We refer to our Manifesto which was adopted by the IV. RCIT Congress in September 2023: The Revolutionary Struggle in the Era of Capitalist Collapse, https://www.thecommunists.net/rcit-manifesto-2023/.