On the split of the “Trotskyist” RRP in Russia
By Denis Sokolov and Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 16 April 2024, www.thecommunists.net
The Revolutionary Workers Party (RRP) in Russia is undergoing a deep split shortly before its planned congress. The split runs through its long-time leadership with both sides appearing determined to operate independent of each other. [1]
According to the available documents, one faction claims: “Thus, we have a classic, according to Lenin, revolutionary situation in the country, which can be resolved either by a bourgeois coup d’etat of varying severity, or by a proletarian revolution.” It accuses their opponents of “Menshevism”, who deny such a characterisation, of “doing everything to disrupt this workers’ solidarity, and turn the working class itself into the rump of the bourgeois-liberal movement.”
In contrast, the other faction has a pessimistic outlook and believes: “Thus, it can be stated that the ruling class has the resources to keep the situation unchanged for a long time and maintain the current foreign policy course.”
Related to these differences are several antithetical assessments where the “optimists” consider the mood among the workers as more militant and the potential for rebellions greater than the “pessimists” do. Vice versa, the “optimists” think that the bourgeoisie is deeply divided while the “pessimists” assesses that the ruling class is relatively united around the bonapartist Putin regime.
The practical consequences of these differences are that the “optimists” advocate an activist policy while the “pessimists” prefer a focus on circle work and education.
Avoiding the real problems
There is no doubt that there exist deep contradictions within Russian capitalism – even more so as it expands the authoritarian powers of the bonapartist regime while it is continuing to wage a reactionary war against the Ukraine. Sharp turns in the war and/or in the rivalry with their imperialist rivals in the West or another slump in the capitalist world economy could have indeed profound repercussions for Russia and disrupt the fragile social equilibrium. But in the short term, the Kremlin has consolidated both Russia’s economy as well as its bonapartist state apparatus.
However, the main problem about the RRP split is that both sides seem, at least until now, to move not an inch away from their fundamental flawed centrist policy which has led them into capitulation to social-chauvinism.
As a result, both factions continue to ignore the imperialist character of Russia, i.e. they deny the fact that it has become a Great Power which is dominated by a domestic monopoly bourgeoisie and which plays a key in world politics. [2]
Both factions continue to capitulate to Russian imperialism by refusing to take a revolutionary defeatist position, which means calling for the defeat of Russia and the defence of the Ukraine (without any political support to the Zelensky government). [3] Quite the opposite, the above-mentioned RRP documents even confirm their notorious slogan raised in autumn 2022 that they would “support any protest movement at the front, even if the soldiers complain about the lack of lethal weapons, they have the right to demand them from the state.”
Both factions continue to advocate, at least until now, adaption to and integration into the Stalinist KPRF of Zyuganov – a party which wholeheartedly supports Putin’s imperialist war against the Ukraine, which advocates Great Russian chauvinism and which has close relations to the Kremlin since many years. [4]
And, finally, there is also no sign that either side intends to break with their shameful policy of taking a neutral stand in the Gaza War where they claim that Hamas and Israel are “equally reactionary”.
The necessity to break with Grantism
In short, both factions remain deeply committed to the right-wing centrism of the Ted Grant tradition which is notorious for its opportunist adaption to reformism and social-imperialism. [6] From what we know by now, this conflict can be characterised as one between “optimistic” Grantites and “demoralised” Grantites. Of course, optimism is better than demoralisation but if the goal is “to unite the vanguard within the Communist Party of the Russian Federation [the Stalinist party of Zyuganov, Ed.], at enterprises and among young people” – as one of the above-mentioned documents states –, such “optimism” can only serve a reactionary cause! In fact, the whole faction struggle appears as a fight between two blindfolded who desperately try to hit each other.
In order to enter the path of authentic Marxism, the RRP comrades need to break with the cornerstones of Grantism and take a revolutionary position in key issues of the Russian and the world situation. Hence, we call them:
* Recognise the imperialist character of Russia; [7]
* Take an anti-imperialist position against Putin’s war and for the military victory of the Ukraine; [8]
* Take a revolutionary defeatist position in the rivalry between the imperialist powers of East and West (U.S., Russia, China, Western Europe and Japan);
* Support the Palestinian resistance against the Zionist settler state Israel; [9]
* Break with the social-imperialist KPRF as Zyuganovs party is not a “workers party” but a bourgeois and Great Russian chauvinist party of Putin regime.
Neo-Imperialist Economism. Imperialism and the national question – a critique of Ted Grant and his school (CWI, ISA, IMT), January 2023, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/grantism-imperialism-and-national-question/
[7] The RCIT has published numerous documents about capitalism in Russia and its rise to an imperialist power. The most important ones are several pamphlets by Michael Pröbsting: The Peculiar Features of Russian Imperialism. A Study of Russia’s Monopolies, Capital Export and Super-Exploitation in the Light of Marxist Theory, 10 August 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/theory/the-peculiar-features-of-russian-imperialism/; by the same author: Lenin’s Theory of Imperialism and the Rise of Russia as a Great Power, August 2014, http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialism-theory-and-russia/; Russia as a Great Imperialist Power. The formation of Russian Monopoly Capital and its Empire, 18 March 2014, http://www.thecommunists.net/theory/imperialist-russia/.
[8] We refer readers to a special page on our website where numerous RCIT documents on the Ukraine War and the current NATO-Russia conflict are compiled: https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/global/compilation-of-documents-on-nato-russia-conflict/.
[9] We refer readers to a special page on our website where all RCIT documents on the 2023-24 Gaza War are compiled, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/
Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard (RCIT Section in Nigeria) 
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