In Toronto during the long weekend of May 16–18, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) held its third annual congress. Taking place at a time of immense turmoil, the 437 participants discussed the depth of the capitalist crisis and the necessity of building a party up to the task posed by history.
The hall buzzed with excitement and conversation for the three days of the congress, reflecting the fact that the RCP grew from 716 to 890 members in the last year. As Hélène Bissonnette from the Executive Committee said, “I feel like I’m facing a party I know very well, but also a brand new party.” With dozens of new members building new party cells all over the country, the future bodes well for the forces of communism in Canada!
An epoch of crisis, instability and revolution
Even though we are only halfway through 2026, one conclusion is already glaringly obvious: the world order based on U.S. hegemony is dead, and with it all the stability conferred by it onto the western capitalist countries. It was with this observation that Ben Curry, a member of the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), introduced the first session of the congress.
After ruling as the unchallenged imperialist power for decades, the U.S.-led empire is now declining, challenged by the more dynamic rising economic power of China and the military might of Russia. The most clear example of the decline of U.S. imperialism is the absolute debacle in Iran which has strikingly demonstrated that they can no longer act unchallenged as the world’s policeman.
The result of the decline of the U.S.-led world order is economic dislocation and political crisis everywhere. The Epstein scandal has tarnished the Western ruling class as a whole, revealing to everyone that we are governed by depraved monsters. Establishment parties are being discredited all over the world in favor of political outsiders as ever-wider layers of the working class and youth search for a way out.
This is the context in which there is a renewed interest in communism among a large layer of young people in western imperialist countries all over the world. This has created huge potential to replant the flag of communism and the RCI is up to the task!
Canada not immune
The second session began with a presentation by Joel Bergman of the Executive Committee on “Canada and the New World Order”. The ongoing trade war makes one thing clear: its privileged relationship with the United States is now nothing more than a fond memory for the Canadian bourgeoisie.
Desperate to attract investors and maintain the country’s position on a shifting imperialist chessboard, Carney has proceeded to bleed the welfare state dry, attack the unions, trample Indigenous rights, massively increase military spending, and tear up the Liberals’ empty environmental promises. In this chaos, fault lines in the Canadian state are resurfacing with a vengeance, to the point where it is now threatened with Alberta and Quebec breaking away. In short, the old Canada we once knew is no more.
Yet, although the failure of capitalism has never been more evident, the left is mired in a lamentable state of demoralization. This weakness is ultimately ideological. Having given up on overthrowing capitalism, the left has placed their trust in everyone but the working class. Union leaders, QS MPs, and NDP bigwigs at best beg for a few half-hearted reforms, and at worst claim the battle is lost before it even begins.
This makes a revolutionary socialist perspective more important than ever. Millions are being radicalized and looking for answers and it is our goal to reach them, educate and train them, and weld them into a party that will lead the working class to victory in the battles to come.
Are we ready?
Following the discussion on political perspectives, Julien Arseneau of the Executive Committee presented on the organizational resolution which had been discussed in nearly 100 party cells across the country.
Julien began the session asking the question, “Are we ready?” He answered by explaining that insofar as we have maintained our ideological clarity—we are ready. In fact, we belong to the most ideologically unified communist international in history. This is a massive conquest. But ideas without a vehicle for transmitting them into the class do not amount to much. This is why Julien emphasized the fact that while we have built up our party significantly in the recent period—growing by 22 per cent in the last year—we are in fact far too small to play much of a role in the class struggle.
As the resolution states, “We are a young party which needs to expand its base of cadres steeled in Marxist theory. We need to learn to connect the finished program of Marxism with the real, living movement of the masses, and thus gain authority among workers and students. This requires time and experience. And in that sense, we are not ready. This is the contradiction that needs to be solved.”
Julien proceeded to give a crash course on the building of the revolutionary party, explaining the role of revolutionaries in history and the traditions of Bolshevism as the only proven way to build a party capable of leading the masses to power.
Following this session, Hugo, a young comrade from the RCP cell at the Université du Québec à Montréal, expressed that “It was while listening to Julien’s presentation on the organization that I finally understood what Bolshevism means.”
The introduction was followed by a discussion filled with thoughtful contributions on party building from all across the country. Everywhere, brand new people are taking the party in their hands. Capturing this spirit, Louis, an RCP member from Quebec City recruited this spring, explained, “From the very first meeting, new comrades must see themselves as agents of change.”
Other comrades echoed this sentiment from across the country. Jordan, who has helped spearhead two party cells in Abbotsford—a small city in the bible belt of British Columbia with no history of communist organizing—argued that “Canada is full of Abbotsfords.” The point is that with enthusiasm, we can build anywhere.
The undeniable sentiment from this discussion was an overwhelming sense of determination to build the party at all costs. Eden from Charlottetown, P.E.I. summed up the ethos of the comrades, explaining that new recruits in the city understand that “building the party is their life’s task.” Everyone came out of the Congress determined to smash the target of 1,000 organized communists by the end of the year.
The same level of determination was seen on Saturday evening, where the recent advances of the party were explained. Among them were a new Ontario organizer and new technical full-time organizers for social media, paper distribution and paper layout. Equally important, with book sales increasing by 41 per cent, the party executive announced the hiring of a new organizer for the party publishing house.
Congress attendees responded enthusiastically to these advances and raised a record $509,000 in donations, as well as an extra $5,100 in monthly contributions!
Showing their determination to build themselves into Marxist leaders, literature sales totaled $21,600, with a total of 801 books and booklets sold—an increase of over 20 per cent from the previous congress.
Forward to 1,000 and beyond
Comrades left the congress with a renewed sense of purpose. As Alice from Halifax explained, “On a 7 a.m. flight after a long weekend, most people seemed pretty tired. Not our comrades though. Waiting to board, comrades couldn’t help but keep up the political discussion, sharing our plans for how we’d bring the lessons and energy home from congress. We joked about trying to sit next to each other so we could have a reading session and discuss questions during the flight.”
A similar mindset was omnipresent throughout the congress: a seriousness towards the ideas and a determination to stay the course and overcome all obstacles. With this, we are confident we will be smashing the 1,000-member target in no time. This would place 2,000, 5,000, or 10,000 organized communists in Canada not that far away.
The old world order is crumbling and we live in a revolutionary epoch. Millions will enter the struggle against the system. What is needed is a party of significant enough size and with the necessary experience and theoretical knowledge to guide the masses through the storm of the coming tumultuous events. We are building such a party. We are building the party that will rise to the task posed by history.
