Portuguese comrades hold their first National School of Communism as class struggle heats up!

Our comrades in Portugal hosted their first National School of Communism over the weekend of 24-25 October. It was an excellent event that marked a turning point for our comrades in the Coletivo Comunista Revolucionário (CCR), coinciding with the start of a sea change for the Portuguese class struggle!

25 people travelled from Lisbon, Coimbra and Porto to the mountain town of Lousã, accompanied by a guest from the International centre in London. What followed was two days of intense discussion and political training, with key discussions on Marxist philosophy and two texts by Lenin: Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism and ‘Left-Wing’ Communism: An Infantile Disorder. There was also time for an inspirational financial report and an open session of the Central Committee of the CCR.

A new crop of young militants has joined our ranks in recent months. The main purpose of this school was to arm all of our comrades with the power of Marxist theory. 

Saturday morning was dedicated to the study of dialectical materialism, the culmination of 2,500 years of philosophical development and our main ideological weapon. Following a superb introduction by comrade Gabriel from the Executive Committee (EC), a rich discussion followed, focusing on the superiority of scientific socialism over the poison of postmodernism that infects the halls of academia, and even the workers’ movement.

Trotsky once said that Marxism represents the superiority of foresight over astonishment. We do not study Marxism as an academic exercise or out of abstract curiosity, but rather as a scientific tool to overcome impressionism and anticipate where society is heading.  

At the start of the year, while the Portuguese and European left were weeping at the rise of ‘fascism’, the CCR and Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) predicted that constant and increasing attacks on the working class would inevitably give an impulse to class struggle. With Europe’s Red Autumn coming to Portugal in the escalating battle over Luís Montenegro’s reactionary housing law, our perspective is being proved correct. 

Indeed, this perspective formed a very tangible background to our school. In the early hours of Sunday, three of our comrades were beaten up by cops as they brutally cleared a protest encampment in Porto. This was a blunt reminder of the stormy, uncompromising era that we have entered. Participants recorded a statement of solidarity for all those who have suffered repression for demanding their basic material and democratic rights.

On Saturday afternoon, comrade Joe Attard from the International Centre discussed Lenin’s writings on imperialism, which are even more relevant today than when they were written in 1916-7. Lenin’s method explains the historical emergence of imperialism as an inevitable expression of capitalist development at a certain stage. But his analysis also helps make sense of the tumultuous state of the world today. 

The conflict unfolding around the globe is a reflection of the relative decline of US imperialism. As the old hegemon retreats, new challengers like China and Russia rise to fill the void, leading to wars and economic dislocation as the balance of power violently shifts.

Imperialism is a global system that must be fought internationally, and there is only one truly anti-imperialist force on the world stage: the working class. We are building the RCI precisely to provide the leadership necessary to ensure victory in the titanic battles to come, and finally put an end to the horrors haunting humanity.  

At the end of the first day, comrade Dinis from the Executive Committee presented the CCR’s financial report. Finances are not separated by a Wall of Jericho from our political ideas. If we want to put our theory into action, we must be materially and politically independent. That means we must inculcate our comrades with a spirit of sacrifice.

This message was reinforced during the Central Committee. Dinis talked about Portuguese communist militants like António Gervásio and Maria Lourenço Cabecinha, who risked their lives doing underground political work under the Estado Novo dictatorship of António Salazar. They were forced to leave their two-year-old son with family, a separation that they described as worse than any torture.

For members of the Portuguese Communist Party in those days, it was usually required to liquidate all personal assets to go underground. Dins related a story of an anonymous, rank-and-file communist militant who inherited some land that he used to feed his family. He sold it in order to raise funds to keep the party’s paper in circulation. 

These were people who really understood the meaning of sacrifice. They are the giants on whose shoulders we stand.

With barely a dry eye in the room, many comrades raised their monthly contributions to the CCR. €1,000 was also collected in donations. This is in the country with the lowest wages in western Europe. All of this will help facilitate hiring our first ever full-time revolutionary, a goal we have resolved to accomplish no later than January 2027!

Finally, on Sunday morning, comrade Rui from the EC introduced the issue of ‘ultra-leftism’. He did not focus on the 1,001 shades of so-called radical or autonomist left-wing groups that exist in Portugal, but on the methods that we in the CCR must use to build our organisation.  

Lenin’s book, ‘Left-Wing’ Communism: An Infantile Disorder, is an important guide in this respect. The text describes the chronic impatience of ultra-leftists: they want to jump over the working class and decree revolution immediately, without doing the preparatory work of organising and raising the consciousness of the masses. 

For Lenin, shouting “Down with capitalism!” without a concrete plan for winning over and mobilising the working class was a waste of time. Instead, he advised the young communist parties of Britain and Germany to employ flexible tactics, underpinned by unwavering political principles.

At a time when the movement in Lisbon and Porto is accelerating, it is very important that we communists learn to operate skillfully. We do not have the strength to lead these struggles. Instead, we must learn how to connect with the anger on the streets and in the encampments, without losing focus from the need to grow our own forces. 

With the slogan: ‘For an All-Iberian General Strike’ (helped by the likes of right-wing demagogue André Ventura giving us a boost on social media) the comrades have found a bridge to the most advanced workers and youth, who are moving beyond democratic illusions in the ‘April Constitution’.

Aside from the tremendous mood of enthusiasm, the success of our school was reflected in the fact that three brand-new communists who participated joined us on the spot! One striking feature of the event was the youthful composition of the audience, many of whom were of high school age. 

This is a confirmation of what we are seeing everywhere: a new layer of youth, radicalised by the nightmare unfolding around them, is being drawn to revolutionary politics like never before. The CCR opens its doors to this new generation of class fighters. 

Help us to complete the tasks left unfinished in April 1974! Long live the Portuguese communist revolution!