Sudan is being torn apart by a vicious power struggle between reactionary generals. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary organization based on the Janjaweed militias, are battling the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for control of the East African republic.

Since the fighting began, over 14,000 people have been killed and over seven million displaced, and 18 million suffer from acute hunger. Normal life has become impossible for Sudanese people as the generals spill their blood in a war to determine who will reap the profits from exploiting the country’s workers, peasants, and natural resources.

Reactionary generals

This disaster is the agonizing price paid for the failed Sudanese revolutions of 2019 and 2021. On both occasions, revolutionary general strikes shut down the entire country. Sudanese workers could have organized revolutionary committees to take power into their own hands. However, in the absence of a revolutionary party prepared in advance, there was no clear line of march. The petty-bourgeois leaders of the movement—who had no faith in the power of the working class—were not prepared to go all the way, and the revolution stalled, sputtered, and died.

The RSF and SAF united to drown the masses in blood. They consolidated their rule into a military regime in which RSF leader Hemedti shared power with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, commander-in-chief of the SAF. Their agreement broke down last year over the question of integrating the RSF into the official military. This threatened the RSF, which is not only a military organization; Hemedti and his brothers also use the paramilitary to control gold mines, the livestock trade, and various “middle-man” businesses in Sudan’s economy.

On April 15, 2023, Hemedti’s RSF launched an offensive in Khartoum, seizing the presidential palace, airport, and state television station. The fighting sprawled into the countryside from there, and continues in the capital city to this day. Each side claims to be “fighting for democracy.” What are they really fighting for? Control over the economy and the right to cut deals with the imperialists.

Imperialists’ cynical strategizing

The imperialist powers hypocritically decry the “humanitarian disaster” in Sudan. Yet they are the ones who empowered the reactionary generals in the first place! American and other Western imperialists worked with Hemedti and al-Burhan to “restore order” after the 2019 Revolution under cover of a sham “transition to democracy.” Only now, when the chaos of civil war threatens their profits, do they feign concern over human rights.

In the American imperialists’ cynical strategizing, Sudan is small change. Funding and arming the genocidal Israeli regime—their only reliable ally in the Middle East—is a real priority. So too is supporting the corrupt Zelensky regime’s hopeless fight against Russia. So although Washington would like to “restore order”—read: restore profits—by bringing the Sudanese generals back together, it is stretched thin on other fronts. With few direct economic investments in Sudan, US imperialism’s main interest is in “maintaining stability” in the Red Sea, through which US oil trade occurs. Of course, the lives of ordinary Sudanese workers and peasants never enter into these calculations.

While the US stands at a distance, regional powers are actively stoking the flames. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a reactionary Persian Gulf monarchy, supplies weapons to the RSF. They share a common interest in exploiting the Sudanese masses. The UAE is the main importer of Sudanese gold, and the RSF controls most Sudanese gold mines. On the other side, the US-backed Al-Sisi dictatorship in Egypt supports the SAF. Egypt has shipped drones to al-Burhan’s forces, despite pressure from Washington to avoid direct involvement.

The Chinese and Russian imperialists also have their own interests in Sudan. China is Sudan’s largest foreign investor, lender, and export partner. The China National Petroleum Corporation controls significant shares of Sudan’s oil pipelines and infrastructure. The Chinese imperialists’ rely on the “ordered” exploitation of the working class in the oil sector, which the civil war has disrupted.

For this reason, they have called on both sides to “put the interests of their country and people first … [and] restore normal order.” Like the US, the Chinese imperialists wish to restore the erstwhile alliance of reactionary generals against the people of Sudan. Russia is hedging its bets by supporting both sides. In May, Moscow promised to provide “unrestricted qualitative military aid” to the SAF. Meanwhile, Russian mercenaries stand their posts defending the UAE’s supply lines to the RSF.

None of these capitalist powers can be trusted! The imperialists relied on the generals to crush the revolution in 2019 and 2021. Now that the generals have fallen out among themselves, they circle Sudan like vultures ready to feast on the carrion of internecine war. How has it come to this?

Uprising against austerity

In December 2018, Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir abolished government subsidies for fuel and wheat. The price of bread tripled—in a country already suffering a 70% inflation rate. Protests broke out across the country. Demonstrators burned down the headquarters of al-Bashir’s National Congress Party in multiple cities.

The government struck back in January 2019, killing 19 protesters and arresting countless more. This violent crackdown only further inflamed popular anger; the movement was no longer just about the price of bread. Mass protests called for the overthrow of al-Bashir. Women flooded the streets, demanding an end to gender-based violence and oppression. The slogan, “This revolution is a women’s revolution” was embraced throughout the movement. Millions lost their fear of al-Bashir’s decades old regime.

The masses set up an encampment outside the Army headquarters in Khartoum, demanding the fall of al-Bashir. Neighborhood resistance committees formed organically to coordinate demonstrations and maintain the encampment. The Sudanese Professional Association (SPA), a union of doctors, lawyers, engineers, and other middle-class elements, became a leading force in the struggle.

The Khartoum sit-in provoked splits in the armed forces. When security forces shot at protesters, some soldiers took the latter’s side and fired back! Al-Bashir was suspended in midair, no longer able to rely on the army’s support. At this point, the resistance committees could have swept away the rotten old regime, taken power, and begun governing Sudan for themselves.

As one Financial Times journalist wrote:

One cannot know for sure what Russia felt like in 1917 as the tsar was being toppled, or France in 1871 in the heady, idealistic days of the short-lived Paris Commune. But it must have felt something like Khartoum in April 2019.

That same month, al-Bashir was ousted in a military coup. The masses rejoiced, having achieved their immediate aim.

General strikes

A “Transitional Military Council,” led by al-Burhan, stepped into the power vacuum. The SPA called on the masses to oppose al-Burhan’s power grab. In response, millions went on strike, halting factories, transportation, mines, hospitals, and utilities across the country. The government came to a standstill as 98% of government employees heeded the strike call. The SPA’s strike committee was in control of the streets, but the middle-class SPA leaders recoiled in fear at the tremendous display of workers’ power. They called off the general strike after only two days.

The counterrevolution went on the offensive. On June 3, the SAF and RSF forcefully dispersed the Khartoum encampment, injuring hundreds of civilians and murdering at least 40—their bodies thrown into the Nile.

The masses fought back against the horrendous massacre, launching an even more widespread general strike from June 9 to 11. Nearly all flights were canceled, and 72% of banks were closed. Schools were shuttered and virtually all legal institutions shut down.

“Transition to democracy”

The SPA once again allowed the regime to regain the initiative. After three days, the strike was called off, and the SPA returned to vain “negotiations” with the military for a sham “transition to democracy.”

A “Transitional Sovereignty Council” was established in August 2019. It included five military commanders and five “civilian representatives.” Abdalla Hamdok, an economist and stooge of American imperialism, became prime minister. On the orders of the International Monetary Fund, Hamdok cut even more subsidies for basic necessities. Workers quickly grew disillusioned with the “new” regime, which only intensified the brutal austerity of the old one.

The masses return to the streets

The generals sensed that Hamdok’s austerity measures were going too far and could provoke the masses back into the streets. Hamdok’s plan to privatize state-owned assets also directly affected the generals—the military and RSF effectively control large swathes of the Sudanese economy.

On October 25, 2021, the generals carried out a coup d’état against Hamdok and the Transitional Sovereignty Council. In response, the SPA called for, “the masses of the Sudanese people, their revolutionary forces, and the resistance committees … in all cities and villages to take to the streets and completely occupy them.” A million people demonstrated in Khartoum alone, many armed with sticks and other improvised tools for self-defense.

By October 30, four million workers mobilized in a militant general strike which shut down the entire country. The military responded with brutal repression, firing live ammunition at protestors. The key to revolutionary victory was to arm the masses and organize the overthrow of the military regime. Had a mass revolutionary communist party existed in Sudan, it would have immediately begun carrying out this task. Paired with a revolutionary appeal to the military rank and file, organized self-defense committees could have beaten back reactionary attacks and toppled the generals.

But the revolution was not armed. The SPA and the leadership of the resistance committees pledged “non-violence” at all costs. This bankrupt strategy allowed the military regime to consolidate itself, yet again. The generals waited out the masses, who eventually became exhausted from constant street mobilizations and vicious attacks.

Civil war

Having crushed the revolution a second time, rival elements within the military regime began vying for power. In April 2023, the civil war began. The RSF now controls about one third of the country, mainly in the Western regions. They are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Masalit people of West Darfur. Both the RSF and SAF are blocking the flow of food to areas controlled by the other, resulting in millions facing starvation.

This is the horror of capitalism. A tiny minority controls the land, factories, and oil. They enrich themselves on the backs of the workers and peasants. For the masses to prosper, this minority must be dispossessed of its property. This is a task which only the communist revolution can accomplish.

Prepare for the next revolution

While the inhuman civil war cuts across the immediate prospect of another revolution in Sudan, there remains immense revolutionary potential in the region. There is simmering anger at al-Sisi’s regime in Egypt, which refuses to do anything in defense of the Palestinians. While the Egyptian bourgeoisie works hand-in-glove with the bloodthirsty Israeli regime, the working class faces a cost of living crisis.

The Kenyan uprising in June provides inspiration and lessons to revolutionaries throughout East Africa. With the mobilization of tens of thousands to storm the parliament, President Ruto was forced to retreat from implementing his planned Finance Bill. The movement demonstrates the ability of the masses to overcome any barrier—whether the police, the security forces, or the politicians. But, as in Sudan, a revolutionary party is needed to help the masses take power.

Revolutions don’t respect borders. In fact, revolutions nearly always spill over into other countries—as in Russia in 1917 or the Arab Spring in 2011. Capitalism produces similar conditions in every country: the enrichment of a minority and the exploitation of the majority. A successful socialist revolution in Egypt or Kenya would spread, catalyzing revolutions throughout East Africa. A regional revolutionary uprising could even end the Sudanese Civil War by uniting the masses against the degenerate generals and capitalists. Revolutionaries in East Africa and around the world must prepare by building revolutionary communist parties.

The revolutions may have failed the last two times around, but the revolutionary spirit of the Sudanese masses endures. Those who fought in the magnificent general strikes and neighborhood resistance committees know that neither the RSF nor SAF fights for them.

The Revolutionary Communist International stands in solidarity with the revolutionary Sudanese people, who are living under the most difficult conditions. We know for a fact that the generals and capitalists will not rule forever. The struggles of the past were not in vain. The revolution will rise again, not only in Sudan, but across East Africa and the entire world, and the Sudanese workers will settle accounts with their domestic and international exploiters and oppressors.