Loyalties and ideologies that had dominated the 20th century were now defunct, old conflicts were seemingly being resolved through democracy and there was a sense among some that liberal democracy was now the only game in town. For Bolsheviks, it must have felt like the carpet had been pulled from under their feet.
For the likes of Frank Furedi, Mick Hume and Mike Freeman, it was time for a rethink and a rebrand of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Writing in Living Marxism, Hume made it clear that The Point Is To Change It
…bears little resemblance to a manifesto from the familiar radical tradition. It is not a book of complaints about the problems of exploitation, unemployment and poverty created by capitalism. Don't worry, we have not changed sides on these issues. We are as fiercely opposed as Marxists have always been to the ways in which people's lives are degraded by a society that subordinates everything to the pursuit of profit. However, over the past couple of years we have come to understand that there are new barriers which need to be overcome before we can begin to convince people to act against the usual ills of capitalism. The flipside of the current problem mongering is the constant diminishing of the potential for people to do anything about it. There is now a widespread assumption that we are more or less incapable of changing things for the better, an assumption that 'There is no alternative'. The combination of these two factors is creating a paralysing atmosphere in society. We are encouraged to retrench, avoid risks, and live our lives according to the 'precautionary principle', which dictates that you should never do anything unless you can be absolutely sure of the outcome beforehand. The pervasive sense of uncertainty and caution is inevitably breeding a deeply conservative outlook across a society which often looks like little more than a collection of vulnerable individuals.
This view, which has been carried on via LM’s successor Spiked Online, has been derided by many who see it as a shift from revolutionary socialism to centre-right libertarianism. However, those familiar with the inner workings of the RCP argue that such a shift is in keeping with the beginnings of the party because of the belief in humanity, the belief in passionate debate and the belief that such conditions are necessary to freeing people, leading to revolution. Thus, they cannot be right wing as right-wing libertarians ultimately believe in being left alone.
Reading this manifesto/suicide note in 2025, what’s striking is how the fundamental issues discussed within (disillusionment over democracy, creeping authoritarianism from all fronts, a dearth of belief in human progress) are still topics being discussed today, albeit with much more vigour since 1996. While it’s easy to see why an entrenched Marxist may have found such material irrelevant to the main mission of revolution, it’s also easy to see why others gave up on revolutionary politics as the political climate in the 90’s was very different than it had been in the 1980’s (a zombie Tory party shuffling their way through the decade before being replaced by a younger model).
A product of its time for sure but as the beginning of what became Spiked, it’s key to not only understanding the ideological shift that took place in the 90’s among some but also how relevant the idea of believing and harnessing the potential of humanity to change the world via debate and free will is in 2025. While recent events have somewhat dented that enthusiasm for me, the struggle for liberation continues.
The following quote are words to live by:
We face some new and far-reaching problems, the most important of which is humanity’s lack of belief in itself – in its potential to solve the problems of society and in its unbounded power of creativity. To create a world fit for people we need to mobilise all those who are not prepared to accept today’s culture of limits.
Various, 1996, The Point is to Change It: A Manifesto Fit for a World Fit for People. Junius Publishing. ISBN: 0948392223
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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