Swiss rediscover communist zeal after 84-year hiatus

Switzerland has a communist party again, after more than 80 years. © KEYSTONE / ALESSANDRO DELLA VALLE

Over 300 participants founded the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) at its congress in Burgdorf in canton Bern at the weekend. This means that Switzerland once again has a communist party after it had been banned in 1940.

The founding congress took place from Friday to Sunday. It is high time for the return of revolutionary communism, said political secretary Dersu Heri, according to a statement from the RKP. A new generation has drawn revolutionary conclusions from the climate crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic, “imperialist wars, and inflation”.

According to the statement, a total of 342 pupils, students, and workers took part in the founding congress. Among them, ten joined the party and almost 100 were interested. The RKP is starting its work with 320 founding members and aims to double this number within a year.

The RKP declared its solidarity with the pro-Palestine protests and the occupations at various universities in Switzerland. Party members took part in the occupations at six universities. The party is fighting for the slogan “no cent, no agreement, and no support for Israel’s war machine”, it wrote.

As a next step, the RKP plans to found the so-called, “Revolutionary Communist International” at a conference from June 10 to 15. The worldwide spread of the pro-Palestine movement heralds a coming revolutionary explosion, the new party announced.

The original Communist Party of Switzerland was founded in 1921. At the time, it had around 6,000 members. In 1940, the Swiss government banned the party and ordered its dissolution. The Federal Court subsequently ruled that this step was taken because the party was in favour of a violent overthrow of the government and not because of its ideology.

In 1945, the government lifted the bans on left-wing and right-wing extremist organisations. By 1943, however, most members of the communist party had joined the Social Democratic Party (SP). After failed merger negotiations with the SP, a new collective movement of communists emerged in 1944 in the Workers Party (PdA).

Adapted from German by DeepL/dkk/mga

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