On May 30–31, hundreds of communists gathered in Philadelphia—the birthplace of the First American Revolution—for the Third National Congress of the Revolutionary Communists of America. The aim of the RCA is to build the party which will lead America’s third revolution—the socialist revolution.

Nearly 650 comrades attended the Congress, a substantial jump from the 460 present at our Second National Congress a year ago. Delegates representing Party cells in 42 cities took part in the discussions, an increase from the 33 cities represented last year.

Our Party is sinking roots more widely across the country. Alongside delegations from established party strongholds like New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Los Angeles, the Congress welcomed delegates from new RCA cells in areas including Western Massachusetts; Pittsburgh; Cleveland; Memphis; Oklahoma City; Ames, IA; Iowa City, IA; Columbia, SC; Inland Empire, CA; and Portland, OR. In all, comrades from more than 70 cities attended the Congress.

The buoyant enthusiasm that characterized our earlier Congresses was apparent, supplemented by a sober, disciplined, and focused atmosphere. Discussions at our first two Congresses focused, by and large, on the political work we were preparing to do. The Third National Congress reflected a Party that has been doing this work. Our Party is being tempered through our participation in the upheavals which mark this period of capitalism’s decline—most recently, the Minneapolis general strike earlier this year.

The assembled comrades cheered revolutionary greetings from RCI comrades in Venezuela, Britain, Puerto Rico, Ireland, Denmark, Taiwan, and Pakistan. Our Puerto Rican comrades addressed the Congress via video: “Our lands and waters are infested with a growing military presence, but the people of Puerto Rico are strong and they will resist. We are inspired by our comrades of the RCI, especially the RCA.”

250 Years Since the First American Revolution

John Peterson, Executive Editor of The Communist, introduced the first session of the Congress with a Marxist appraisal of the First American Revolution. The discussion marked the launch of the new book Revolution and Counter-Revolution in America: A Marxist Perspective.

As Leon Trotsky famously explained, “The most indubitable feature of a revolution is the direct interference of the masses in historical events.” There is no question that the capitalist regime ushered in by the Revolution of 1776 rested on an uneasy, rotten compromise between the rising bourgeoisie of the North and the planter slaveocracy of the South. However, it was not these classes that drove the Revolution forward. Yeoman farmers, artisans, mechanics, slaves, frontiersmen—in short, the working masses—were the motorforce of the First American Revolution.

The First American Revolution resulted in an enormous expropriation of British landed property, the repression and exile of hundreds of thousands of reactionary Tory loyalists, and set in motion a chain of events which led to the terminal decline of the British Empire over the next two centuries.

Moreover, it directly influenced and inspired revolutions in France, Haiti, and later Latin America, which cemented the rise of capitalism across the world—laying the economic foundations for world socialism in the process.

But as Karl Marx said, “Capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” The First Revolution opened the door to the American bourgeoisie’s genocidal conquest of the North American continent, which was largely based on the institution of chattel slavery—a contradiction which required the Second Revolution of 1861–65, commonly called the American Civil War, to resolve.

As John told the Congress, “The third American revolution will make the betrayed promises of the first two revolutions and Reconstruction a reality. On this basis, we will avenge the millions of martyrs who have fought for genuine freedom.”

Before lunch, attendees filmed statements of solidarity with the Cuban Revolution and with our comrades in Gilgit-Baltistan, including Ehsan Ali, who are facing torture and imprisonment by the Pakistani state.

Comrades have thoroughly assimilated Lenin’s dictum: “Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” Throughout the weekend, there were long lines at the bookstore, underscoring the tremendous enthusiasm for Marxist ideas which permeated the Congress. In all, we sold nearly $60,000 worth of Marxist literature, including 542 copies of the new book.

A World On Fire

The Congress continued with a discussion of world perspectives. Uncertainty and pessimism define the outlook of the class enemy. Serious bourgeois analysts are worried about rising polarization of “streets vs. elites.” For example, the Carnegie Endowment for Peace reports that there have been 116 significant anti-government protests around the world this year, 68 of which are ongoing.

The relative prosperity of the three decades following World War II distorted the way many people understood the nature of capitalism, fostering illusions that the system could allow for a stable and prosperous existence. But that era ended over half a century ago. World capitalism is now in the deepest crisis in its history—characterized by wars, civil wars, and revolutionary explosions all over the planet.

The basis for this growing instability is a global economy mired in overproduction, falling productivity, and a massive debt burden. This is leading to sharpening tensions and clashes between imperialist powers competing for markets and resources. The relative decline of American imperialism is accelerating amid the rise of new imperialist powers like China and Russia. Ongoing wars in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Africa are an expression of this dynamic.

The record levels of debt, inequality, and instability are leading to a collapse in confidence in the capitalist establishment in country after country. This, in turn, expresses itself in political polarization to both the left and the right, fueling the rise of so-called “populist” parties across the globe.

But when they come to power, these forces continue to base themselves on the capitalist system, and therefore only manage its decline, making themselves responsible in the eyes of the masses. Over time, this will serve to clarify the class line in the minds of billions of people.

Revolutionary developments are impending all over the world. The class balance of forces has never been so favorable to the working class. The question is whether or not our class will be able to build the revolutionary leadership necessary to achieve victory. This is the task to which the RCI has dedicated itself.

Contributing to the discussion, comrades spoke on the political situations in Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Bangladesh, and more, as well as about climate change, our confidence in the working class, overproduction and the rise of Chinese imperialism, and the crisis of Israeli imperialism.

Perspectives for the next American revolution

The second day of the Congress opened with a discussion on US perspectives, introduced by Antonio Balmer, Managing Editor of The Communist and host of the Communists of America podcast. Antonio delivered a sweeping account of the crisis of American capitalism. Citing statements, anecdotes, and articles from a wide variety of bourgeois politicians, business leaders, and journalists, he illustrated the predicament facing the American ruling class.

Throughout his speech, Antonio returned to the question of method. Marxism shows that there is a lawfulness to the development of society, fundamentally rooted in the development of the productive forces.

Covering theoretical topics spanning the development—and shortcomings—of Enlightenment materialism to Thomas Kuhn’s theories on the structure of scientific revolutions, Antonio highlighted the need to grasp the dialectical processes of change unfolding within American society: “We are in the business of preparing for the future. Marxist theory is what allows us to exercise foresight.”

The American working class is in a state of ferment. Polls show more workers say they are “struggling” than say they are “thriving.” The University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index recently recorded its poorest results in more than 70-year history. Confidence in the job market has plummeted to a record low. All of this contributes to what a University of Chicago study calls “the happiness crash of the 2020s.”

Consumer spending is depressed, so there’s no incentive for the capitalists to invest. Since the 2008 economic crisis, capitalists have dumped the trillions at their disposal into stock buybacks, cryptocurrencies, and speculative bubbles like AI. Tech jobs, once seen as the way out of poverty and toil for entire generations of Americans, have been cut by 600,000 since 2022.

Young Americans facing a dismal job market are the least patriotic generation in US history. At the same time, their support for socialist and communist ideas is surging.

Class anger is on the rise. The de-facto general strike in Minneapolis, the public support for individual actions taken against prominent bourgeoisie and their property, and rising support for self-described socialist candidates all testify to this. This is a situation tailor-made for the RCA to grow substantially and start to win the confidence of the advanced layers of the working class.

In the discussion, delegates from across the country weighed in on topics including AI speculation, the DSA and the party question, individual direct action, US debt and austerity, the ruling class’s preparations for nuclear rearmament, the prospects for an anti-war movement, changes in youth consciousness, Zohran Mamdani, this winter’s struggle against ICE in Minneapolis-St. Paul, the decline of US patriotism and nationalism, the status of the US dollar as the world reserve currency, and the steamrolling of local governments by hyperscalers.

Building the RCA

The final discussion of the Congress focused on building the RCA. Bryce Gordon of the RCA Executive Committee traced the development of the class struggle in the US over the past decade alongside that of our forces. From a humble presence in a handful of cities, the membership of our party has grown by leaps and bounds.

This is no accident. Marxists understand that great events change consciousness and force people to look for new solutions—and the last ten years have been full of earth-shattering events! The 2016 election, the rise of the DSA, the Covid-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, the genocide in Gaza, Trump’s 2024 re-election, the general strike in Minneapolis, and the Iran war all pushed new layers of workers and young people towards revolutionary conclusions.

Starting around 2021, comrades of the RCI around the world began noticing that young people were shedding the discredited “socialist” label and actively identifying as communists. This sparked our International’s “Are You a Communist” turn and the launch of the RCI and RCA in 2024.

Since then, the party has attracted, recruited, and educated revolutionaries at a new scale. We are building our forces in every region of the country, from the East Coast megalopolis to the Deep South, from the Pacific Northwest to the Great Plains, from Minnesota to Texas, California, Appalachia, and New England.

The class enemy is starting to take notice. Over the last 12 months alone, the RCA has been featured in two articles in The Wall Street Journal, multiple articles on Fox News Digital, and a series of attempted hit pieces in the New York Post.

We’ve begun to build numerically-strong organizations in several key cities, increasing our visibility and level of activity. Our intervention in the Minneapolis anti-ICE struggle and general strike of January 23 brought valuable lessons about building the Party in a situation of intense class struggle. Comrades understand that similar explosive developments are on the horizon in every city across the US.

In Philadelphia, where our party is now clearly the largest organization to the left of the DSA, the RCA was able to organize and lead a student walkout attended by 1,000 people at Temple University. In addition, the RCA showed out across the country at this year’s No Kings and May Day demonstrations, where we sold hundreds of copies of The Communist and signed up hundreds interested in joining our party.

We now have our sights set on reaching 5,000 active, party-building members of the RCA in the coming period. Achieving this milestone will enable the RCA to position itself as a more visible factor in US politics. The main tasks ahead to reach this goal are to train Marxist cadres, through theoretical study combined with practical party-building work, while integrating them into leadership teams capable of driving forward the work of the party at all levels.

In the discussion, delegates from around the country gave reports on the progress of our work in their local areas and the lessons that the entire Party can take from their experience. Comrades spoke about the irreplaceable role of the cell as a training ground for new comrades, and about local initiatives to train up new cadres to lead local Party organizations. Comrades from our National Center also gave reports about the recent successes of our bookstore, media, finances, and the expansion of the Party’s apparatus.

The Communists march through Philadelphia

The Congress voted unanimously in favor of our 2026 US Perspectives document and an organizational resolution on building the RCA. The Party is politically united and firmly agreed on our perspectives and tasks—a factor of incalculable importance as we enter the turbulent period ahead.

After rousing renditions of The Internationale and Bandiera Rosa, we hit the streets. Assembling in front of Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed nearly 250 years ago, more than 600 comrades marched through the streets of Philadelphia, chanting revolutionary slogans and listening to impassioned speeches at Philadelphia’s City Hall.

The Third Congress was a milestone in the building of the revolutionary party in the US. The American working class has the potential power to usher in a world of prosperity, freedom, and real “equality in life”—not only the “equality before the law” which the bourgeois revolutions fought for. All that stands between us and this goal is the absence of a revolutionary leadership capable of harnessing the rising class struggle in America to a victorious conclusion. Once the revolution wins in America, the door will be open to its victory around the world.

As Trotsky wrote in June 1929:

We must not for a minute lose sight of the fact that the power of American capitalism rests more and more upon the foundation of the world economy, with its contradictions and its crises, military and revolutionary. This means that a social crisis in the United States may arrive a good deal sooner than many think, and have a feverish development from the start. Hence the conclusion: it is necessary to prepare.