TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) announced the formation of a Taiwanese political entity on Friday, via its online publication, In Defence of Marxism.
The “Revolutionary Communist Party of Taiwan,” or RCPT, pledged to spearhead an East Asian revolution. It supports the idea of workers overthrowing capitalism to build socialism internationally.
The website reported that “nearly 20 revolutionary communists and sympathizers from across Taiwan” met in Taipei with “comrades” from the International Centre of the Revolutionary Communist International in London.
It described the organization as a reboot of the informal “Spark–Taiwan Revolutionary Communists.” The rebirth was described as “transforming from a loose amateur collective into a revolutionary party determined to lead the masses in winning the class war.”
Though admitting its “double-digit” membership was a “drop in the ocean,” an RCI representative was quoted as saying: “We do not aim to be spectators of history, but a subjective force of revolution.”
The group's manifesto framed the RCPT's launch as a response to a rip in Taiwan’s social fabric. “Crisis piles upon crisis, cost of living pressures continue to mount, and political turbulence is accelerating,” the declaration said. It further argued that this was due to an impasse of the capitalist system.
It positioned the party as distinct from past Taiwanese communist efforts, such as the short-lived Taiwanese Communist Party of 1928, which operated under Japanese rule. Or the short-lived Taiwan Communist Party registered in 2008, after a court struck down anti-communist laws.
The declaration urged building a mass revolutionary party, criticizing both ruling and opposition forces for defending capitalism.
The meeting ended with renditions of “The Internationale,” in different languages. The article concluded with the slogan:
“Bring the international revolution to Taiwan!
Bring Taiwan into the international revolution!
Workers of the world, unite!
We have a world to win!”
In Defence of Marxism is backed by the Revolutionary Communist International, a Trotskyist political international.
No immediate government reaction to the formation of the RCPT has been reported to date.
