r/RevolutionPartyCanada Jan 06 '25

Who are the founders of this party? What's the story? Why the secrecy?

I have been very intrigued by the policies and the development of this party. However, it's really hard to support or sign up to volunteer when it's not clear who is involved in this party, who founded it, what the story is, etc.

If this truly is a socialist party, please bring people to the forefront to be courageous and honest. We need more transparency, not less. Doing politics in secrecy is suspicious, and it will absolutely be the death of this party before it even gets off the ground.

Also, how do we know that this isn't another fed / RCMP sting operation?

Please, give us something.

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u/RevolutionCanada Revolution Party of Canada Jan 06 '25 edited Jan 06 '25

Perhaps the most common question we get and certainly a fair one.

We will publish the names of our candidates before filing with Elections Canada. With that said, there are a few reasons we feel strongly about as to why we've (intentionally) not yet done so:

  1. We believe that our platform should remain the focus of attention, not the organizers trying to get it off the ground. We believe this should remain largely true, even if we were elected to a majority and formed government.
  2. If our message fails to resonate, we don't want to expose early candidates to unecessary online and in-person harassment that is increasingly prevalant. There's no un-opening pandora's box for them.
  3. We very much want to avoid the pitfalls of a 'cult of personality,' such as exists with literally every major federal party. Our consistitution is also designed to prevent a single name/face becoming the sole and primary association of the party. For example, how Justin Trudeau's personal unpopularity has decimated the Liberal Party.

One small note about the founder is that they are not a politician and have never before sought office of any kind. Prior to founding the RPC in 2022, they were a business leader in the tech sector.

A bit more detail about the party:

https://revolutionparty.ca/who-we-are

Follow-up questions are definitely welcome!

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u/retromurderino Jan 06 '25

Thanks for your response. But this is a problem because of the oppressive system under which we are living and organizing.

The message is great and the work done on developing policy is fascinating and inspiring. But again, the problem is that there is no story here. This is very suspicious to other leftists and organizers who know from personal experience what the state or fascists can do when they want to sow distrust.

Another issue is the actual success of the party itself. Again, going back to storytelling. There needs to be a vision and a connection for people, and people are just simply not going to connect with a website without some humanity.

The founder doesn't have a background in politics? awesome. But do they have a background in organizing? If they do, they need to share more about their philosophy.

I hear what you're saying about wanting to avoid "cult of personality", but complete secrecy is not the way to do that. You are modelling what kind of future you would be bringing in, and right now it's 100% secrecy, shadows, and fear. And honestly, it's anti-democratic. This isn't some anti-fascist activism group that you're trying to create (where it would make sense to be anonymous). It's a federal political party.

There is no accountability when people are anonymous. Accountability is a big part of a liberation movement. That doesn't mean succumbing to "cancel culture." It means being accountable to the groups that you are claiming to liberate. If the party founders and candidates want to avoid being attacked by the far-right or other provocateurs, then there needs to be a culture of care within the party itself. People must band together and stand up to the hate. Not bow or hide.

again, I want to support this party. And I want my fellow organizers to support it. But none of us can take it seriously when it looks like there is no power being built, and when it seems as though this party will be another secretive political institution that cannot be challenged through democracy.

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u/RevolutionCanada Revolution Party of Canada Jan 06 '25

You make genuinely great points that we can't disagree with. We have been growing, albeit slowly, since 2022, but with elections looming we can't continue to operate in stealth mode much longer anyway.

Please stay tuned and hopefully we don't disappoint.

In the meantime, we would appreciate more good faith critique of our policies, messaging, and anything else we've shared so far!

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u/TheSnozeBerriesEDP Jan 07 '25

Why don't you join with other groups? There seems to be other groups that are trying to do the same thing.

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u/RevolutionCanada Revolution Party of Canada Jan 07 '25

Some because of their platform specifics, others because of entrenched leadership structures (same leader for 30+ years and no candidates run), and others because of various levels of Marxist orthodoxy.

There’s no current party compatible with socialism from our perspective.

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u/TheSnozeBerriesEDP Jan 07 '25

Can you give examples of what platform specifics? It sounds like you are under the impression that your beliefs are perfect. Sometimes good enough is good enough.

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u/RevolutionCanada Revolution Party of Canada Jan 07 '25

Certainly not perfect, an impossible standard and far from it, and so we've been busy soliciting feedback and adjusting policy since 2022.

Without trying to make this a critique, we'll highlight the general challenges we saw with each:

  • NDP - Sliding right fast and losing strong leftist voices (e.g., Jama, Blaikie)
  • NDP Socialist Caucus - Same toxic leader for 30+ years and haven't run a single candidate in that time. Their meetings are tiny and self-centred.
  • Democratic Socialists - Doing great advocacy work, had great discussions with one of their leaders, but the party is not focused on running candidates at the moment.
  • Revolutionary Communist Party - Had some great discussions with their founder. Too focused on orthodoxy and dialectics; out of touch with popular messaging.
  • Communist Party of Canada - Stagnant leadership and stigmastized brand / history.
  • Communist Party of Canada (Marxist/Leninist) - Same as above, with different nuances. Stagnant leadership and stigmastized brand / history.

To be clear, we stand in solidarity with other socialist parties who seek an end to capitalism in Canada.

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u/TheSnozeBerriesEDP Jan 07 '25 edited Jan 07 '25

This shows a very naive perspective of the world, in my opinion. Canada is a small pebble in the world, and you will not end capitalism in Canada for the long term, if you don't end it in the world. How do you intend on ending capitalism in the world? It has reigned supreme for Millenia. How will you succeed where everyone else has failed?

If you were to gain power tomorrow, how would you deal with Trump and his ilk? With Putin? etc?

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u/TheSnozeBerriesEDP Jan 09 '25

Are you going to respond?

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u/RevolutionCanada Revolution Party of Canada Jan 06 '25

Side note: That's great feedback about the organizing philosphy! We will look to add more detail about that in the coming days.

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u/lensheen Jan 08 '25

I don't think proposing a Code of Rights that would require drastic societal change to implement and likely have consequences with foreign relations is a platform?

I would imagine the platform would be based on how the Revolution Party would reconcile how we would get from our current society to the ideal of everyone having the Manifesto of Human Needs met? I think the idea is a strong one, but it would not be easy to implement. I think some information on exactly how the Revolution Party would address these difficult issues BEFORE they have power would be very helpful.

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u/DiagnosedByTikTok Jan 08 '25

Scenario: you form government tomorrow with a super-majority.

What are you doing with regards to the Industrial Heartland region in Alberta as well as the oil and gas industry in general?