PARTISAN!

The Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation gives their reasoning for formally endorsing the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain’s statement on the Russo-Ukraine War.

The Central Committee of the RCO formally endorses the CPGB-PCC’s open statement on principled communist unity in the face of imperialist war in Ukraine. In line with our 2024-2024 communist perspectives document endorsed at our 2024 conference, the RCO’s position of revolutionary defeatism means no support to the ‘oligarchic’ Putinist clique in Russia nor to the imperialist NATO bloc that puppets Ukraine . The statement of the CPGB-PCC clearly and deliberately reflects this position, and as such our endorsement of it is an obvious theoretical and practical decision. It is undoubtedly true that, as the CPGB-PCC states, there is nothing remotely progressive in the cause of Russia or Ukraine, no side that represents the interests of the working class, and no way to lend support to either whilst maintaining communist class bearings and consciousness. In the face of uncertain times, communists must maintain a cautious certainty, and place their finger on the pulse of struggle and crisis. This statement represents a moment of this certainty, and a reading of the pulse, one that aligns in its core message and politics with the RCO’s own analysis and understanding of the importance of revolutionary defeatism in Ukraine. 

However, it would be remiss of us to merely uncritically endorse a statement to which we have been invited to both discuss and endorse. Despite maintaining a core of comprehensive and important politics – revolutionary defeatism, neither social imperialism nor social pacificism, etc. – the statement itself is overly descriptive in its analysis of the (rapidly changing) situation in Ukraine. The RCO supports wholeheartedly a principled unity of communists in the struggle against war and capitalism, and the CPGBs statement maintains solid foundations for this unity. However, many of the resolutions are now outdated, or bogged down in overly specific details, for this statement to represent anything long-lasting. The substantive basis for unity is clear; anti-imperialism, anti-militarism, revolutionary defeatism, and support for democratic, communist struggle.  Devoting approximately 10 resolutions to specific, time-sensitive details of the war itself on top of these points of unity is unnecessary, and impedes the clarity and potential for unity represented by this statement. 

Nevertheless, the CC of the RCO understands that the foundations of this document are in line with the foundations of the RCO’s own political strategy outlined and endorsed by the conference. The need for communist unity on the question of Ukraine (and thus more broadly on the question of inter-imperialist struggle and revolutionary defeatism) is more pressing now than it was even when the CPGB first published its statement. As volatility increases, and conflict continues, communists must break with the sectarian muddling and sclerotic argumentation of the past few decades and struggle towards principled unity through open debate, critical discussion, and programmatic politics. Imperialism must be shoved into the grave at the same time as its father – capitalism – and the organised power of the working class – the communist party – must be the one to deliver the push. No war but class war, no victory but communist victory!

In Solidarity,  

The Revolutionary Communist Organisation

Relevant context:

Establishing a principled left – Communist Party of Great Britain’s Provisional Central Committee

CC Minority Statement on the CPGB (PCC)’s Statement on War in Ukraine – Eliza MacDonald

Against Global Popular Fronts – a response to Eliza MacDonald’s Minority Statement – Edith Fischer