Communists Launch Largest Recruitment Drive since World War II

Hundreds of communists across America held marches, rallies, meetings, and recruitment stalls on Saturday, April 6 to launch the largest communist recruitment drive since World War II.

The Revolutionary Communists of America (RCA), a new communist party, will be founded this summer as the party for the millions in the US who want to be active fighters in the class struggle. Over the coming months, comrades of the RCA will be waging a tireless recruitment campaign to organize as many founding members as possible.

The release of the first issue of The Communist, the newspaper of the RCA, coincided with the launch of this recruitment campaign. Comrades across the country energetically read the first issue in the days leading up to April 6 and used it during their activity to find, recruit, and educate new members of the party.

The experience confirms that America is crawling with unorganized communists who are ready to join a party!

Reports from across the country about the RCA recruitment efforts on April 6 are below. If you are a communist who wants to actively participate in the class struggle, apply here to join your party and start building it where you are today.

Preparing for the American socialist revolution in New York City

Comrades gathered on April 6 to begin a new era of building the forces of communism in NYC. We began with a Lenin School, discussing “How the Russian Revolution Was Won” and “Lenin and the Revolutionary Press.” Both discussions brought out the need to build a modern Bolshevik party, in order to replicate the success of the Russian Revolution in the United States and internationally in our lifetime.

Comrades then went to Union Square for a rally and agitational training session before dispersing throughout Manhattan to sell The Communist at 12 different locations! Comrades reported excellent results across the board, selling copies of The Communist and collecting contact information from many people. Several have joined the party in the days since. We look forward to organizing many more recruitment stalls across the city in the coming weeks!

Huge steps forward for the RCA in Chicago

On April 6, Chicago comrades held an area-wide meeting followed by a march and rally at the James Connolly monument in Union Park.

We discussed the national recruitment drive and called for comrades to attend the RCA founding Congress in July. We made an impassioned pitch for comrades to help us reach our financial goals to expand our apparatus and an enthusiastic speech explaining the political importance and role of the paper as a collective organizer. The arrival of bundles of The Communist was the focus of a lot of attention and excitement.

The comrades then marched through the West Loop neighborhood to the James Connolly monument in Union Park.

The day’s events enthused comrades for the work ahead finding and recruiting those millions of young communists who are not yet in our ranks, tens of thousands of whom are undoubtedly within the Chicago area.

Communist march in Minneapolis attracts the ire of the Republican Party!

The RCA mobilized for a rally and march through downtown Minneapolis—publicly launching our new party and our newspaper The Communist. We rallied in front of City Hall, denouncing the Democrats and Republicans and exposing the rottenness of these billionaire parties. Comrades gave speeches about the burning issues affecting workers and how we can solve them with a workers’ government—from the crisis of our healthcare system, to unaffordable housing, to the fight against racist oppression. We proceeded to march through the streets as comrades led revolutionary chants and gave agitational speeches, spurring on the very high energy in the crowd.

We marched to the Wells Fargo Center where a comrade gave a speech about the need to nationalize the banks under workers’ control. These banks crashed the economy in 2008 but were bailed out. We say if they’re “too big to fail,” then they’re too big to be left in private hands!

We marched back to City Hall for a speech launching The Communist newspaper and a final appeal to join the party. We recruited two new members and got a number of potential recruits as a result. Comrades regrouped afterwards to discuss next steps for building the party with our new members.

Our rally also got quite a lot of attention from conservatives. David Hann, chairperson of the Republican Party of Minnesota, issued an official statement saying that Democrats and Republicans should unite to “expose the agenda of the Revolutionary Communists of America.” This is a blatant admission of what communists know to be true: the Democrats and Republicans are united by their class interests and see communism as the common enemy.

This rally marks the launch of the RCA in Minneapolis—expect bigger and bolder actions like this in the near future! There are communists everywhere ready to be organized and we must announce ourselves to them. We must be bold and proud.

Turning Denton Square red in Dallas-Fort Worth

Dallas-Fort Worth comrades organized a full day of recruitment at Denton Square! We set up a table along with banners, flags, and The Communist. We attracted the attention of most people walking by and didn’t let a single person pass without talking to them about the party, our goals, and the paper.

Every single comrade engaged in lively discussion, finding recruits and selling the paper. In fact, one person we met was on the fence at first, but after seeing our work, they joined on the spot!

That work is only possible by applying the ideas of Marxism and the methods of Bolshevism. We are building a Leninist party—nothing more and nothing less. Only by consistent communist action, by bold agitation, can we build the RCA as the party of the workers and radical youth!

Our most successful sale ever in Atlanta

Comrades in Atlanta attended the Little Five Fest to launch the RCA recruitment drive. There were many looks of surprise to see a communist recruitment stand! We got supportive comments for having the audacity to be openly communist.

We engaged with everyone that even gave a slight glance in our direction and amassed a crowd at our stall. We told these people they’re part of America’s communist generation and urgently need to get organized.

Many of those we signed up said they’ve been looking for a way to get organized in a communist party. The Communist has already proved to be popular; this was the most successful sale ever in Atlanta!

When the communists finally arrived at Phoenix’s first Friday

Over the past year, communists in Phoenix debated whether to quit tabling downtown at First Friday, an art walk and bar crawl. Thousands of people pay $40 or $50 parking fees to enjoy the first weekend of the month here, but hardly any bought our old magazine. We learned this Friday that the problem wasn’t a lack of communists on Roosevelt Row but that we weren’t bold enough.

One comrade rightly said, “All we need is The Communist.” Communists congregated a half-mile away and marched towards Roosevelt. As we waved our red flags, comrades chanted, “1-2-3-4, We declare a class war!” The comrades manning our table (which had to be moved twice due to police harassment) later said that the mood changed as the march approached—full of communists chanting in unison and stopping pedestrians to ask, “Do you feel represented by the Democrats or the Republicans?”

A comrade reported hearing one passerby say to a friend, “God, they’re everywhere!” If Phoenix didn’t know it was crawling with reds, they know now. The communists have finally arrived!

100 copies of The Communist sold at the kickoff rally in Seattle!

On receiving the first issue of The Communist, we immediately got it in the hands of comrades who were eager to sell. Comrades held successful impromptu sales every day before our launch rally in Cal Anderson Park.

Despite bad weather and antagonistic transit cops, the paper energized comrades, giving us the confidence we needed to connect with the growing layer of revolutionary communists. For the first time, comrades fully understood the political necessity of the paper; the bold approach to leading with the paper finally clicked.

We also tried agitating on the subway for the first time. Comrades were initially nervous, but found it more successful and less intimidating than they expected. We had plenty of great interactions in the railcars.

We sold 100 copies of The Communist and recruited new comrades to the RCA.

Building the forces of communism in Southern California

RCA branches from San Diego and Los Angeles converged in LA to launch the recruitment drive and hold a rally—our largest ever!

We began with a few hours of agitation and paper selling in the Echo Park neighborhood. People reacted positively to the message and content of the paper, but most were particularly interested in the formation of the RCA as a revolutionary party.

Comrades reconvened in Echo Park for agitational speeches and a march. During the rally and march, we started to get attention—most of which was positive. There were people who had seen our fliers in their neighborhoods or had met us a short while earlier, many of whom expressed great interest in joining the RCA.

Huge kickoff for The Communist in Philadelphia!

Comrades in Philly kicked off the largest communist recruitment drive since World War II with a bang! Each of our branches started the day organizing around the first issue of The Communist, taking time in the morning to read and discuss the paper together before going out and agitating at 11 different locations across the metro area.

Comrades went everywhere—from parks to trolley cars to local businesses—and received a stellar response from workers. Across the area, we sold The Communist and connected with people interested in getting organized in the RCA!

After agitating, comrades gathered for a debrief on the day’s activities and a special financial appeal. Comrades were so inspired by rousing speeches on the need for revolutionary finances that many doubled, tripled, and even sextupled their dues rate on the spot, demonstrating how proud we are to fund the party.

This was an incredible day for the RCA in Philly. We made ourselves visible, used The Communist to connect with workers, and took a huge leap forward in the area’s finances.