Communist conversations on campus

Nathan Bergen, Contributor

The start of the fall term not only marks the start of the new school year but also offers an opportunity to see what’s new on campus. And what’s new isn’t in your usual cougar blue.

The first day of the 2026 fall term saw protests at MRU’s East Gate by members of the ‘Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP),’ not to be confused with the Communist Party of Canada (CPC).

While the CPC aligns its party views more closely with Marxist-Leninist perspectives and generally more traditional communism, the RCP rejects the ideas of traditional communism, with a greater focus on socialism. 

Who is the Revolutionary Communist Party

According to their website, the RCP is a political organisation in Canada whose focus is on “lay(ing) the foundations of a mass communist party.” 

Over 600 Communists across Canada gathered together to launch the RCP on February 17, 2024.

Shortly after, the group announced their establishment at their first annual congress in May 2024. 

The congress drew almost 400 attendees in Montreal, and was opened by Fred Weston, a member of the Revolutionary Communist International’s (RCI) international secretariat. 

Since their first meeting in 2024, they’ve been pushing for advocacy through protests, demonstrations, podcasts and digital media. 

They highlight their 10-principle program for achieving their political goals — emphasising a desire to fight for the principle of “from each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”

The RCP’s members are associated with the RCI, calling themselves the “Canadian section” of the RCI. 

Why are they protesting at MRU?

“We’re here to talk with students as we go out to talk to people everywhere about what is going on in the world and why socialism is the way forward,” says Keely, a member of the RCP who protested on Main Street in the Lincoln Park building.

“Our task really, we see, is to start to build the revolutionary organisation that can, in the class struggles that are coming.”

As they continue to organise on campus, Keely says they eventually hope to establish a club at MRU.

“We have a student club on the U of C campus, and we’re fairly well established there,” Keely says. “There’s just a lot of students here, and I think the youth these days, if you talk to anyone in this generation, they feel like the world is on fire and something needs to be done about it.”

Members of the RCP hope that this in-person, boots-on-the-ground activism will spark student interest and discussion about the ideals of their organisation. 

“We want to be out here as well to talk to people…try to talk to them about the ideas, what’s their take on the world and recruit them to building themselves up as a cadre, a revolutionary cadre and building an organisation of that,” said Keely.

They don’t consider themselves to be outright ‘communists’ but rather use the term ‘revolutionary communists,’ knowing that a communist can’t just happen with the snap of a finger.

“So as revolutionary communists, we fight for socialism,” Keely says. “We say that socialism, if successful, will naturally flow into communism, or it will fall back into capitalism if we aren’t able to succeed in really democratically planning production and outcompeting capitalism on a world scale.”

Though working towards a communist society in Canada, they don’t always see eye-to-eye with others who have ‘communist’ in their name. 

“We’re not affiliated with the Communist Party of Canada. They are unfortunately a completely Stalinist organisation that also, frankly, is just pretty much non-existent at this stage of things.” Keely says, emphasising that Stalinism is a “privileged bureaucracy” with which they do not align. 

How do students feel about the recent protests?

Students across campus expressed a common feeling of being uninformed about the RCP’s presence at MRU.

Other students are opting out of the conversation.

“I’ve never really been fond of protests on campus. There’s been a lot of controversial ones, to say,” another student says.

As the semester progresses, we expect to see more demonstrations by the RCP on Main Street as they continue to spread their message to students at MRU.