Why we are joining the RCO and you should too

US imperialism today is jettisoning the liberal world order it erected some four decades ago, as it seeks to shore up its hegemony in the face of economic decline. This current political juncture promises an era of increasing militarism, burgeoning reaction and economic chaos. We believe this demands the boldest of initiatives if we are to overcome the impotent, fractured state of the left as a tsunami of reaction threatens to engulf the working class. It is for this reason that the Spartacist League of Australia (SL/A), established over a half-century ago, has taken the decision to end our existence as an independent entity and combine our forces with those of the Revolutionary Communist Organisation (RCO).

In the previous period leftists including the SL/A either capitulated to the dominant liberal ideology or retreated into abstract r-r-revolutionary dogmatism (or a combination of the two). If the left is not to be rent asunder by the impending carnival of reaction a fundamental political realignment is imperative. It is necessary to regroup genuine revolutionary elements today spread across various organisations as part of cohering a collective of communist cadres able to steel left and working-class militants against the coming storm. This requires a radical break with the strategy of the old left, which hitched itself to tailing the liberal politics of the leadership of the working class and various protest movements.

The comrades that came together to form the RCO in 2022-23 did so in reaction against the splintered and impotent nature of the existing left. This imprinted the RCO with a perspective to cut through the sclerotic sectarianism of the traditional left, and with a commitment to regrouping revolutionary-minded youth and others in a unified communist party organised around a revolutionary program. In this the RCO is animated by much the same appetite that impelled the recent reorientation of the ICL and drove the fusion of the SL/A with the Bolshevik-Leninists in 2024.

Recognising the urgent need to unify the efforts of a weak divided left the SL/A and RCO have increasingly joined forces to participate in an array of united-front actions, from opposing the visit of King Charles to defence of threatened Nigerian activists in 2024 and protesting French state repression of pro-Palestinians in 2025. Our two groups have marched together in anti-imperialist contingents at Palestine rallies as well as at recent countermobilisations against the right.

These actions helped draw both our groups out of a previous insular existence and led to increasing political engagement between us. This has ranged from informal discussion and political debate to Spartacist presentations at Talking Reds forums and the RCO’s Crisis and Critique conference in October. Articles by the SL/A have been welcomed in the pages of Partisan! and on its website.

Polemical exchanges between our organisations have also contributed to our mutual understanding and a growing convergence between our political perspectives. An important exchange over the question of how to advance the struggle to forge the desperately necessary mass revolutionary party helped focus debate on this critical question (see “Road to party”). What has been clear since is that resolving continuing differences and unclarity would best take place in the framework of fighting for this party side by side in the same organisation. The RCO’s open and democratic nature provides a perfect platform to air and clarify pressing questions. And the most effective path forward will only be demonstrated by together testing differing strategies in practice in the turbulent times ahead.

We understand many revolutionists would have serious disagreements with different elements of the RCO’s program or perspectives. We do too. We do not shy away from fighting to thrash these out. But we recognise that it is only on the basis of common struggle for the party we all agree is essential that these differences can be clarified and resolved.

The comrades who have been grouped in the Spartacist League join the RCO with our existing ideas and continuing support to the ICL. As such it would make sense that we constitute a distinct political tendency within the RCO. But we stand shoulder to shoulder with the RCO comrades as a whole, placing ourselves under the discipline of the majority and upholding all obligations of membership. We aim to bring all our resources and experience to bear in the service of building the RCO as the indispensable catalyst for the construction of a mass revolutionary party that Lenin would recognise as his own.

We call upon our supporters and all other leftists to follow our example and join the ranks of the RCO. We will cease publication of Red Battler and instead put all our energies into making the press of the RCO the sharpest voice for revolutionary socialism in Australia today.

We believe this move will be truly transformative for both our organisations. Further it will set itself as a powerful example to the fractured left both here in Australia and throughout the world. We believe the RCO can become the rallying point for all those who today recognise the burning necessity to forge a communist cadre capable of building a revolutionary party without which the working class cannot triumph.