Could you start by introducing yourself and your organisation?
My name is Roméo Bigué. I’m a Central Committee member of the Pole of Communist Revival in France (PRCF) and I’m also the International Secretary of the youth wing, the Youth of Communist Revival in France (JRCF).
How was your organisation founded?
Our party was founded in 2004 in an attempt to keep the majority of Marxist, communist elements from the PCF united and organised under principles such as democratic centralism and to maintain some sort of vanguard organisation. It’s all in our name. We’re called the “Pole” of Communist Revival in France, not the “Party” of Communist Revival in France because we believe that France currently has no class-based Communist Party and that a Communist Party doesn’t just declare itself so. Instead, it’s up to the working class to decide if we deserve to become the Communist Party or not.
What’s your organisation’s position on Palestine?
We believe that the Palestine conflict is actually one of the symptoms of this emergence of what we call the “world rift”. We believe that all these conflicts, whether its tensions between Cuba and the United States, whether it’s the conflict in Ukraine, with the Yemenis, with Iran, or even around Taiwan and Korea, are actually one single rift that is promoted by the Western-backed alliance, and Palestine is not a specific conflict within it. It should be understood as this general Western-led offensive against all the peoples of the world and all the forces that, for any reason, have decided to defend their sovereignty against the imperialist war machine. So, of course, we stand with the general Palestinian national liberation movement and all the forces that it’s composed of. It’s even stated in the principles of the UN Charter that all people that are facing the yoke of colonialism have an intrinsic right to armed struggle against the occupiers and the colonial forces.
What’s your organisation’s position on the Ukraine War?
We believe that blame for the general escalation towards the war has to lie with the NATO-EU bloc and their military offensive alliance against the Russian Federation, and we see the Russian Special Military Operation as a way for the Russian Federation to keep its unity against a malicious external force that is officially trying to divide Russia, dismantle it from the inside, and to destroy everything that’s left to promote and accelerate the general eastern expansion of NATO towards Eastern Europe and even Asia.
So, we believe that a working-class organisation should absolutely not be in favour of sending any weapons to Ukraine and should understand this so-called “defensive” is actually a movement to rearm Europe into a huge European army and not a defensive response to Russia at all. They’re using the Ukrainian conflict as a way to promote the final dismantling of all the social structures we have in order to prevent and resolve the structural decline of the Western imperialist bloc by waging wars of conquest and trying to reconquer all the former colonies that they are currently losing.
Does your organisation support the trend towards multipolarity in the world today?
Yes we do, as we believe that the general development of the USA globally is now the principal contradiction, with this Western EU-NATO bloc positioned against all the different forces against them. By that, we mean that the principal contradiction is between them and all the forces, whether they’re bourgeois, popular, or actual proletarian forces in socialist countries, and that the emergence of this project of global multipolarity is the next necessary stage towards dismantling the general, Western-led imperialist order.
Of course, we understand that multipolarity is not socialism, that it’s not a solution in and of itself, but that it’s the natural step towards dismantling the Western-led imperialist world, and we also believe that something that’s left out by a lot of other left-wing groups is that there is an industrial and economic aspect of multipolarity which means that every geographical and regional block will soon need a consistent industrial base of their own, since all of these globalised lines of production will not be possible anymore due to all these regional tensions that are emerging in the general division of the world and in the tensions that are re-emerging globally. This means that all the class-based forces, especially the communists in the class-based trade union movements, will have more room to manoeuver, because all the states will have to subsidise big and heavy industry to maintain the general economic situation in their country and this will actually allow us to reinforce ourselves and rebuild a class-based, anti-capitalist front and a general international communist world order. This is a way towards that and towards the creation of socialism itself, because it is the sharpening of this contradiction which is making a socialist way out of capitalism more viable.
You mentioned earlier that you support using the French national flag at demonstrations. Why do you feel that’s important?
As decided at the 7th Congress of the Communist International, we believe that it’s a requirement for any communist movement to try to understand the general national development in each nation, and that communists should not fear the national emblem and should allow themselves to embody the national perspectives of their country. Socialism is not just an international ideal and a way to organise, it’s the best response to all the national struggles of the people. Even in France, we believe that only socialists can be the best defenders of the popular sovereignty of the French people against all the so-called French leaders that are actively trying to dissolve the French nation. Especially, for example, Macron’s general promotion of the EU federalisation process. Macron is trying to use the European Union, which is not an international structure, but a “supranational” structure, as a way to enforce anti-popular laws and reforms on our country, so we believe that the only answer to that should be the national struggle against the dissolution of our nation by French elements that are only siding with their very specific interests as well as the general interests of the American ruling class.
The logical answer to all this is that we should not allow the bourgeoisie to bring about these so-called “patriotic” forces that fascist forces are trying to present themselves as. Instead, we should prevent the actual fascist forces from embodying the national struggle, because they are not in favour of any popular sovereignty in our country. They are actually the biggest promoters of the general, supranational EU federalisation project. They don’t care about the social conditions of the workers or anything, but since the left is now afraid of the general history of France and is completely unaware of and unable to actually understand how to articulate all these national contradictions. In the history of France especially, they are unable to identify where the progressive contradictions were in the history of France. They perceive themselves as some sort of “new” political force and since they are not able to root themselves in the national history of the country, they allow the fascist forces to be the only ones to seize those national emblems and to fool the French people into believing that they are actually defending the French people or whatever French history of our nation they want to claim.
What is your organisation’s strategy for achieving socialism in France?
We believe that the only salvation for the French nation can come from the “Four Exits,” so the first step is we need to exit NATO, we need to exit the EU, and we need to exit the euro, as these are the biggest tools which will help the French nation take control of its own history and destiny, and then we need to exit capitalism. We also believe that we have to start building and actively considering how to build socialism, actually promoting and re-industrialising our country, and preventing all the foreign capital from coming in and out of our country without any control over the general exchange of goods. We believe that our only salvation can come from the complete dismantling of the general capitalist order in the French nation that has just become a parasitic relationship between the ruling class and the general popular forces and working class.
What kind of campaigns and activities are you involved in at the moment?
We believe that the biggest issue now is to contribute in any way towards dismantling and preventing the general march towards war and the rise of fascism across the continent, so last month the JRCF launched its biggest campaign since the youth wing was created which is called “Young People Want to Live, No to EU-NATO Wars”. We are actively organising events and demonstrations, and even though we are a small organisation, we’re actively trying to polarise on these major issues because we believe that this fight should be the mother of all the different fights and that we should not allow, for example, some pro-Palestine supporters who claim that the NATO-imperialist alliance could actually become supporters of the Palestine movement. We believe that this strike against the general rise of fascism across the continent and the march towards war is actually the best response we could have to promote peace in Ukraine and peace in Palestine as well.
It would also stop the attacks on our nation’s social development. The biggest drive towards the final destruction of all the public services that we have managed to keep in France is this general surrender to a third world war. We want to state clearly that a third world war is avoidable and that the French nation has absolutely no interest in defending the general Western-led imperialist offensive that is about to destroy the nation, so that only the parasitic class that is exploiting us can actually benefit.
We also have a bi-monthly newspaper which is called the Youth of the World and we’re actively organising an event called the Week of the Youth of the World that will be a yearly in-person gathering around our summer camp that we hope will become a form of international festival for the Young Communist Leagues in Europe. We want to invite them and also organise a big discussion event with the local population in France, so that it will also be an occasion for the French people to find out the international perspectives of all the different young communists around the world.
Do you have any last words for members of the Young Communist League of Britain who are going to be reading this interview?
Visiting the YCL has been a truly inspiring experience. I have seen in the YCL a great example of what a disciplined, principled, communist youth movement can achieve. Your organisational strength, your ideological clarity, and your unwavering commitment to democratic centralism are lessons we will take back with us.
In a time when many communist youth organisations in Europe are struggling with division or drift, the YCL’s firm unity with the CPB and its Marxist-Leninist foundations stand as a vital example. We in the JRCF may be smaller, but we are proud to stand alongside you in the same struggle—and we hope to learn from your experience as we continue building our own work.
We wish the YCL even greater successes in the future and look forward to deepening our solidarity. Together, in the spirit of proletarian internationalism, we will keep advancing the fight for socialism. Thank you, comrades!
Eben Williams is the YCL’s Education Officer
