The Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) is a radical Communist-affiliated organization that advocates for the creation of a “world socialist revolution.” ¹ RCI claims to have members in more than 70 countries around the world and lists 39 national Communist parties as affiliates as of 2025. ²

RCI’s United States-affiliated entity is the Revolutionary Communists of America. ³ RCI’s manifesto rejects the Communist Party USA, alleging it is “little more than an election machine for the Democratic Party.” ⁴

Overview

The Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) was formed from several communist groups founded by the late Ted Grant, a “Trotskyist Communist” organizer whose 2006 obituary in the Daily Telegraph described him as the “founding father and undisputed eminence grise of Militant Tendency, the revolutionary Trotskyist group which almost destroyed the Labour Party during the 1980s.” ^{5 6} Grant’s efforts to infiltrate the U.K.’s Labour Party with Communist sympathizers resulted in his allies winning effective control of the Liverpool Council and three seats in the U.K. House of Commons before he was ejected from the Labour Party in 1993. ⁵

Grant and Welsh Communist organizer Alan Woods left Militant Tendency in 1992 and founded the Communist organizing group Committee for a Marxist International. ^{7 1} That organization was later renamed the International Marxist Tendency, which in turn became the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) in 2024 upon the publication of its new manifesto. ^{6 7}

Philosophy

The Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) claims to advocates for the ideals of several Communist figures including Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, and Leon Trotsky. ¹ Its manifesto claims that capitalism “has now reached the point of no return” while advocating for “expropriation of the bankers and capitalists” to create a centrally planned world economy. ⁴

RCI has advocated against dictatorial Communist leaders such as Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Fidel Castro while calling them “proletarian Bonapartists” and has described the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, as “deformed workers’ states” that were not operated under what it claims are true Communist principles. ⁶

The RCI also claims it “utterly rejects” identity politics, which it argues is used to create artificial divisions among the working class. ⁴ It has also rejected left-of-center efforts to rebrand conservative leaders and movements as “fascists,” arguing that true fascism “is based on the mass mobilisation of the enraged petty bourgeois as a battering ram to destroy the workers’ organisations.”  ⁴

Controversy

In March 2025, Las Vegas police arrested Paul Kim on suspicion of damaging a Tesla showroom using a Molotov cocktail and a firearm. Following his arrest, the police department released a statement alleging that Kim had “some very loose but self-proclaimed ties to the Communist Party USA social media group as well as social media groups called Revolutionary Communists International, Hidden Palestine, Palestine Action, and a variety of other social media groups.” ⁸

1. “Revolutionary Communist International.” In Defence of Marxism. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://marxist.com/the-imt/international-marxist-tendency/the-imt.htm.
2. “National Sections of the RCI.” In Defence of Marxism. Accessed April 7, 2025. https://marxist.com/links.htm.
3. “Revolutionary Communists of America.” Revolutionary Communists of America, April 6, 2025. https://communistusa.org/.
4. “Manifesto of the Revolutionary Communist International.” In Defence of Marxism, March 11, 2024. https://marxist.com/manifesto-of-the-revolutionary-communist-international.htm.
5. “Ted Grant.” The Telegraph, July 27, 2006. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1524889/Ted-Grant.html.
6. Giardiello, Alessandro. “Our Origins and History: The Unbroken Thread of Revolutionary Communism.” In Defence of Marxism, March 18, 2025. https://marxist.com/our-origins-and-history-the-unbroken-thread-of-revolutionary-communism.htm.
7. Marsden, Chris. “What Is the Revolutionary Communist International Proclaimed by the Former International Marxist Tendency of Alan Woods?-Part 1.” World Socialist Web Site, December 27, 2024. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/12/27/ofjx-d27.html.
8.  McBride, Jessica. “Paul Kim Is Suspect Who Torched Las Vegas Teslas, Police Say.” Men’s Journal, March 27, 2025. https://www.mensjournal.com/news/paul-kim-suspect-photos-in-las-vegas-tesla-attack.