The RS Collective was present at an annual conference held by the Rote Jugend Deutschland (Red Youth Germany) as part of their unity process, during the weekend of the annual LLL demonstration.
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On January 11, 2025, multiple organizations came together to hold a conference in Berlin before the annual LLL demonstration. The topic of this year’s conference was “Communists Unite!” (“Kommunist:innen vereinigt euch!”) with the slogan “War Against War” (“Krieg gegen Krieg”) and was composed of members of several different organizations: the local groups that make up the Rote Jugend (Red Youth from 17 towns and cities all over Germany), Perspektive Kommunismus (Communist Perspective—mainly based in Stuttgart and Hamburg), and Bund der Kommunisten (League of Communists from Berlin).
The backstory of these three specific groups coming together under this topic dates back to the previous year’s LLL demonstration. In 2024, these groups marched separately but in close proximity to the bloc for Palestine, protesting Israel’s ongoing genocidal campaign in Gaza and defending Palestine’s right to exist as an independent state. Unprovoked, German police quickly and viciously attacked the people who were only walking, carrying signs, and chanting slogans. Without any previous discussion, without any coordination, the Red Youth, Perspektive Kommunismus, and Bund der Kommunisten turned back together to defend the Palestinian bloc. Many were injured and some were arrested, but out of this spontaneous united action, the foundation of a more conscious desire to build a sustained unity emerged. While the groups had been in friendly contact previously and open to beginning a process towards mutual understanding and comradely debate, the demonstrated unity in a time of crisis urged this process forward.
As with every year, the Red Youth Front this year’s conference began with an evaluation of the past year to understand if and how its objectives were accomplished, and to set the goals for the coming year. This was followed by a moderated panel discussion with representatives from all three organizations, which revealed some differences in terms of practice and priorities, but no big contradictions in ideology. The panelists talked openly and frankly about the relatively backward material conditions in German for revolutionary movement building and the problems that those material conditions bring, as well as the subjective conditions that they are grappling with in building revolutionary organizations.
Following the panelist discussion, questions from the floor were about the importance of theory and about the concrete instances of difference in practice. It was clear from the audience response that many in attendance were actually clamoring for unity.
This concrete demonstration of the principle “unity, struggle, unity,” with all of its complexities, raises questions like why unity is more or less easily built between discreet organizations or within one organization, whether one organization can hold multiple different practices or even conceptions of mass work/organizing among the working class, and the importance of grasping the moment to make unity and advance toward building a party, versus letting the moment pass by.
Preparations for the demonstration the next day were detailed and thorough, addressing both logistical and security questions, as well as stoking the fire for a militant and organized bloc.
The conference concluded without any outward displays of the kinds of rhetorical posturing, petty sectarianism, or outsized egos that commonly plague such spaces. The spirit of comradeship was high, the food was excellent and prepared collectively, and the space was clean, through and through, even the bathrooms, of which there were only two for a conference of several hours and several hundred people. While outsiders only experience the ease and comfort of a well-organized event, this level of logistical organization speaks to an extremely high level of collective and political work.
While it remains to be seen what this step in the unity process yields, the process and manner in which they are struggling for it appears militant, principled, and full of possibility.