Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Acronyms :
MRO = Mouvement Révolutionnaire Ouvrier (Revolutionary worker movement)
FFPR = Front Féministe Prolétarien Révolutionnaire (Revolutionary proletarian feminist front)
MER = Mouvement étudiant révolutionnaire (Revolutionary student movement)
MNB = Maison Normand Béthune – Bookstore and headquarters of the RCP Montréal
CLAC = Convergence des Luttes Anticapitalistes (Convergence of anti-capitalist struggles)
The “status-quo” is a very common expression in Québec. Yet it’s an expression well-suited to describe the presence and the place of the RCP in the Montreal left. We think that the status-quo has lasted long enough.
The RCP is a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist political organization, present across Canada, in the form of local branches. In this text we’re only addressing the Montreal branch, which is currently in the process of disassociating from the rest of the Canadian organization.
The Montreal branch is composed of a nebula of groups (MER, MRO, FFPR,… ) that allows it to mobilize and recruit in different milieus. The RCP has a headquarters, the MNB, a bookstore situated a few steps from métro Frontenac. The RCP is a hierarchical organization with a project and political agenda well-defined by their political line: an “updated” Maoism. The “Party” consists of around 80 members and sympathizers.
The activities of the RCP are obscure and sometimes colored by semi-clandestinity. The big moment of visibility for the RCP is its activity around May Day. For several years, the CLAC has co-organized the anti-capitalist May Day demonstration with the RCP. The RCP tends to take more and more space in the organization, in mobilization and in the demonstration itself.
This year, the RCP has organized a “month of the working class” throughout April, culminating in the May Day demonstration.
If the folklore stopped there, we could be legitimately tempted to not preoccupy ourselves with the situation. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop there…
A series of problematic events were recently brought to our attention, and merit that we give them some thought. We don’t claim to have all of the information, but we suggest that you inform yourself and make up your mind yourself.
On March 4, there was the presence of a red contingent at the demonstration against racism and islamophobia. In the morning, while the fascist group La Meute met at Parc Émilie Gamelin, the maoists confronted them. There were very few police present. Why didn’t they share the information of the presence of La Meute, in order to regroup and actually prevent them from demonstrating? To be able to take nice photos of red flags in the wind?
On March 8, the group “Women of diverse origins” organized a demonstration to celebrate feminist struggles, for the occasion of International Women’s Day. The RCP split the demonstration in two, forming the largest section of the demo, with their banner at the front held by men, who were the majority in the contingent.
On March 11, a communique was published on the site of the RCP. The events it described were opaque and the communique seemed to respond to another publication. Since, we have been able to understand the thread of events by discussing with people concerned. Here’s a summary. For several months, members of the RCP were no longer welcome at the Montreal branch. We don’t know if this was an official decision of the Montreal branch or an unofficial situation. These people were considered dissidents, holding an anti-party and counter-revolutionary political line. For simplicity, we’ll call these people the “dissidents”. In fact, these people critiqued the transphobic discourses and the invisibilization of feminist and queer struggles by members of the RCP. These dissidents also critiqued a certain authoritarian direction, in particular within a clique which seemed to hold power in the RCP-Montreal.
Three dissidents came to the MNB for a public event. Four members of the RCP evicted them manu militari in a way that was “quite violent”. Following this, the four aggressors of the RCP were suspended by the central committee of the RCP (national), then reintegrated by the Montreal branch. Yet again, we don’t know the procedures or the technical terms of this organization (nor do we really give a fuck about them), but this is what happened factually.
On March 28, a member of the RCP-Montreal assaulted an employee of Café Aquin at his workplace after being told that RCP posters and flyers weren’t welcome there.
As anti-authoritarians and anarchists, we can no longer tolerate an organization with authoritarian practices and a reactionary ideology.
We denounce the practices AND the profoundly authoritarian political project of the RCP.
We denounce the transphobic discourses and the invisibilization of feminist and queer struggles.
We critique the fact that an organized political group deals with ideological conflicts with violence towards its dissidents. When we asked them the question, members of the RCP responded “what happens internally, stays internal”. This reminds us of terrible historical moments, from maoism in China and other concentration-camp ideologies.
We no longer accept that the RCP be considered an allied group, whether it’s in anti-racist and anti-fascist struggles in the streets, or during the annual demonstration on May Day co-organized with CLAC.
We ask that groups and individuals who share our analysis:
- dissociate from the RCP by no longer organizing events with this organization
- refuse their presence as a group (not as individuals) in non-authoritarian spaces and events.
Anarchist, anti-authoritarian, feminist, and antifascist comrades, the RCP instrumentalizes our struggles in order to recruit militants and to create favourable public opinion. The RCP wishes us the gulag.
The status-quo has lasted long enough! Out with red fascists!