Johnnie Hunter
“The supreme authority of the Party shall be the All-Britain Congress”1
The 58th All-Britain Congress of the Communist Party of Britain (CPB) was held at Wortley Hall, near Sheffield, on the week-end 14-16 November 2025. Over 120 delegates from branches, district committees and the Wales and Scottish Committees, together with consultative delegates from the retiring Executive Committee (EC), were joined by international guests from a range of fraternal/sororal parties.
For many years the Congresses have been held at Party headquarters at Ruskin House, Croydon. The decision to hold the 58th Congress at a new and larger venue, and over three days rather than two, reflected expanding Party membership and work, as well as the increasing demands of the political situation.
Wortley Hall has a fascinating and inspiring history. It began life as a stately home for the landed gentry, was requisitioned for the war effort between 1939 and 1945, and then was acquired in 1951 by individuals and organisations associated with British trade unions and the wider labour movement, to become the Workers’ Stately Home.2 In the decades since then the Hall has served Britain’s labour movement as an educational and recreational resource, with a number of Communist Party events and courses being hosted there over the last two decades.
The elected Congress delegates reflected a growing and changing Communist Party, with an increased proportion of young and relatively new members. While a number of Communist veterans were present, the Congress floor was distinctly youthful, with many first-time delegates. Over 30% of the Congress participants had joined the Party within the previous two years; over 40% had joined within the last five years; and over a quarter were under the age of 30. Whereas previously there was a dearth of delegates in the intermediate age range, this time the age profile of both delegates and the Party as a whole was broadly in line with that of the overall population. A wide range of trade union memberships was recorded by the delegates, showcasing the Party’s proletarian nature and the diversity of its relationship to the various sections of the working class.
On the other hand, only a quarter of delegates were women (albeit an improvement on previous years), while as many as 88% identified as White. Both of these shortcomings reflect the composition of the Party as a whole, an issue which was a matter of concern in debate on the floor of Congress.
The context for the 58th Congress
The Congress met against the backdrop of war raging in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan, with genocide being perpetrated with impunity in Palestine, imperialism growing more reckless and oppressed peoples around the world suffering. The New Cold War against China and the threat of nuclear war are growing more dangerous by the day. The climate crisis is becoming more acute, with the ruling class and the major imperialist powers doing nothing to address it. Here in Britain, we have a Labour Government which has delivered nothing for working people and has continued the Tory project of austerity and attacks on working-class living standards and democratic rights, all while sponsoring the Gaza genocide and driving Britain into foreign wars. The far right and Reform UK have been advancing, capitalising on the widespread hatred of Starmer and anger among working people at Labour’s betrayal.
In its draft Main Resolution to the Congress, the retiring EC sought to demonstrate the links between the international and domestic crises, and how our Party and working people in the heart of the imperialist camp can and should respond. The declared central aim of the Resolution was the determination to build a United Front in Britain against monopoly capitalism and war, to take arguments for this into the working class and the movement, and to build a Communist Party capable of constructing and playing a leading role in that front.
A new period of reaction and war requires a new period of struggle, new tactics and a fresh determination. As Communists, we must be honest, clear and self-critical. The current correlation of forces necessitates a strong Communist Party and forms the basis on which it can be built. However, we remain very far from where history requires us to be as a Party deserving of our name. The 58th Congress had to consider how this growth and development of the Party could be achieved.
The continued austerity and declining living standards here in Britain can be directly connected with the drive to war, particularly Britain’s role in prolonging the war in Ukraine and confronting Russia as part of NATO, the New Cold War against China, complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and general rearmament. This offers the Party and the broad movement the opportunity to link these struggles and mobilise millions, particularly young people.
Similarly, the false patriotism of Farage, Reform UK and the far right, so clumsily aped by Starmer, can be undermined and attacked from the left as part of this struggle. Responding to the advance of the far right, domestically and internationally, and putting forward working-class positions on the questions of immigration, patriotism and national identity were among the most pressing issues facing the delegates.
Debate on the Congress floor
In his opening Address to the Congress, general secretary Rob Griffiths highlighted “six critical events and developments” since the 57th Congress in 2023, “that could determine the direction of our society”:
- the election of Donald Trump and the Republican Party to US office – now taking a wrecking ball to the US Constitution and its Bill of Rights, and to international agreements and the old world order;
- the perpetration of genocide in Gaza;
- the revival of militarism throughout the US, Britain and the EU;
- the organisation of trade embargoes, subversion, sabotage and military coups against anti-imperialist governments in Latin America;
- the resurgence of racism and national chauvinism in the imperialist centres;
- the inability or refusal of the major capitalist powers and the giant corporate polluters to accelerate – or even maintain – the drive to curb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions.
At the Congress, debate was organised thematically, based around sections of the Draft Resolution, and proposed amendments to it, or separate resolutions, submitted by Party organisations. The main areas of debate included: Party-building and electoral strategy; the current nature of the Labour Party and its relation to the trade union movement; the new Your Party and our attitude to it; the fight against Reform UK and the far right; the nature of modern imperialism; the Ukraine War; the one/two state solution for Palestine; and the sex and gender issue. There was also a broad number of fascinating debates on resolutions dealing with issues as diverse as AI, drugs policy, food and farming, and class and culture. Overall, there was a strong sense of unity and comradely discussion – but a clear and urgent sense of needing to address the problems of Party building.
Held just a few weeks before the chaotic founding conference of Your Party, the Congress debated and rejected a motion calling for joint membership arrangements.3 Discussion also turned to the Green Party, with Rob Griffiths criticising the Greens’ policy of rejoining the European Union and their decision to end their longstanding opposition to NATO Membership.3
Comrade Marios Doucas of the Derbyshire & East Staffordshire Branch returned to the Congress floor repeatedly through debates to call on delegates to think in honest and critical terms about their progress in building the United Front locally over the past two years. He put it to delegates that “the United Front has to be more than a slogan, we all have to think about how we are actually building it in our areas along with allies in the movement.” His Branch’s amendment, which was agreed in principle, noted that:
“The development of the United Front is not just another campaign but an all-encompassing strategy. It unites existing working-class campaigns and organisations – protecting their individual and specific structures, democratic processes and purposes, and simultaneously welding them together into a unified strategic movement. It represents a higher stage of working-class organisation and resistance, in clearly stated direct opposition to the consequences of monopoly capitalism’s crisis – accelerating injustice and repression and the drive to fascism and war.”
A resolution from Hackney and Tower Hamlets Branch on ‘The Communist Party and Black Communities’, received unanimous support from the Congress floor. The resolution called on the Party to provide “clear, simple and accessible educational materials that engage people in the theoretical and practical relationship between race, racism, oppression and capitalism” and to lead “the building of an anti-racist movement on the left”. Moving the resolution, Christina Oshan called on comrades not to “address the youth of today with jargon because it is language we are comfortable with”, but instead to “speak to the youth in the language that they can understand that takes account of their experience as Black”.
A surprisingly lively, Congress debate reflected the wider discussion in society about the place of nuclear power in the era of green energy. Suffolk Branch’s ‘Civil Nuclear Power’ resolution called on Congress to recognise “the urgent need for a planned, sustainable energy transition to meet net-zero targets, ensure sovereignty, and guarantee affordability,” noting that “[s]ole reliance on intermittent renewables risks shortages and price volatility and that “[n]uclear power provides essential, reliable, low-carbon baseload capacity and must be significantly expanded.” Strong arguments were made both for and against the resolution, on the one hand focusing on the availability of green alternatives and the risk of accidents and on the other the reliability of nuclear energy and the future prospects of nuclear fusion given research in China. Congress agreed to remit the resolution to the incoming EC.
The session on sex and gender, a topic which is unfortunately generally incapable of meaningful and respectful discussion within the trade union movement and the left, came in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment on biological sex and reflected the prominence of the issue in wider society at present. To the credit of Congress, debate was focused and comradely. The Main Resolution upheld the Party’s support for the defence of single-sex spaces, and a resolution from Oxford & Berkshire Branch was passed, calling on the Party to
“[w]ork with LGBT+ comrades in the Party to strengthen the LGBT+ Commission for its important role of supporting the work of the Executive Committee on LGBT+ issues, including recommending ways for the Party to combat the discrimination and harassment of transgender men and women within capitalist society.”
Debate regarding the nature and the role of the Labour Party has been a significant feature of successive Congresses since Labour’s loss of office in 2010 and the various Leaderships of Miliband, Corbyn and now Starmer, but this time discussion was comparatively concise. The Main Resolution already committed the incoming EC to an immediate review and redrafting of the Party’s programme Britain’s Road to Socialism (BRS),4and discussion focused on how the changed stance on the Labour Party would be reflected in it. The outgoing EC’s main resolution noted that
“The prospects for Labour returning to a version of social democracy – let alone embrace socialism – have shrivelled to almost nil for the foreseeable future.”
Speakers noted that the Labour Party had now “changed qualitatively” under the Starmer leadership and government and that the organic trade union link noted in the BRS was “the weakest it has ever been in history and is set to get weaker”. In the succinct debate delegates endorsed the Main Resolution’s conclusion that Labour is “a party and government that openly supports the interests of monopoly capital at home and abroad” and “now the party of militarism and war”. Responding to the debate, Rob Griffiths cautioned against any perception that the updating of the policy on the Labour Party and the BRS was an indication that previous Party policy was incorrect or ‘revisionist’ but was an acknowledgement that the material conditions have changed and that the programme must change with it.
Bringing sororal/fraternal greetings from the Young Communist League, its general secretary Georgina Andrews stated that:
“Communists must be at the forefront in developing broad non-sectarian fronts against monopoly capitalism and imperialism to begin to change the balance of power between labour and capital. Necessarily, young communists must be trained up for this purpose to ensure the next generation of Party activists is ready to continue building the class struggle.”
The strength, tenor and unity of debate and discussion among comrades and the determination to go forward to put the decisions of the Congress into practice and to build the Party was a credit to the Party and promising sign for the coming period.
The amended 58th Congress Main Resolution is being compiled by the outgoing Political Committee at the time of writing and will be approved and published by the newly elected EC early in 2026.
Internationalism at the heart of the 58th Congress
Internationalism has always been at the heart of the Communist movement since the Great October Socialist Revolution. Here in Britain, in the heart of a major imperialist power, our Party has always had a special duty to fight against the imperialist machinations of our own ruling class and to provide solidarity and material support to the oppressed peoples and our sister parties at the sharp end of those plans. The 58th Congress hosted a wide range of fraternal/sororal guests from parties in Ireland, South Africa, Germany, Palestine, Israel, Vietnam and Cuba and elsewhere.
Cuban ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter thanked Britain’s communists for their steadfast solidarity, declaring to thunderous applause that:
“The imperialist project has failed. For 65 years now they have tried to extinguish the light of Cuban socialism. They have tried to starve us into submission. They have tried to slander us into isolation – but we are still here.” 5
Comrade Barry Gilder of the South African Communist Party, who recently completed a post as his country’s ambassador for Syria and Lebanon, paid tribute to the longstanding ties between his party and the CPB. He noted the heroic activities of YCL members as ‘London Recruits’ during the apartheid era, which were reflected in a resolution from the Suffolk Branch, which Congress agreed, calling for wider use and publicising of the film, Oliver Tambo’s London Recruits.
Jimmy Corcoran, general secretary of the Communist Party of Ireland, celebrated the historic links between the CPI and the CPB, which flew in the face of the “divisions imposed by British imperialism” and represented the best of “proletarian internationalism”. He reiterated, to loud applause, the call for a united Ireland and the withdrawal of the British state from the island.
Ofer Cassif, Member of the Israeli Knesset for Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel, attended the Congress despite being the subject of serial bans from the Knesset for denouncing Netanyahu and the slaughter in Palestine. He condemned the “rising fascism” in Israeli society but argued, contrary to outside perceptions, that “there is movement of working people within Israeli society fighting to resist fascism and the genocide”. He also mounted a passionate defence of the campaign for Palestinian sovereignty as a separate state alongside Israel:
“The Palestinians have no time to wait for one state. Those who support a one-state solution actually deny the Palestinian people … their national self-determination.”6
Comrade Cassif was followed, by video link, by Comrade Bassam al-Salhi, general secretary of the Palestinian People’s Party, who had been due to attend the Congress in person but had been denied a visa. He commended the “heroic struggle of the Palestinian people” which had “the solidarity, admiration and respect of the working and oppressed peoples of the whole world” and called for continued and more intensive campaigning for Palestine in countries like Britain which had enabled and supported the bloodbath in Gaza.
In a later debate, Congress rejected amendments which would have ended the CPB’s longstanding support for a two-state solution with a sovereign Palestine established on the internationally recognised 1967 borders.
Forward from the 58th Congress
The Congress accepted a very comprehensive Report of Work from the retiring EC, and elected an incoming EC of 33,7 with improved age, sex and minority representation, and with one quarter of the members new to the committee. It is tasked with implementing the decisions of the Congress over the next two years, including driving forward the growth of the Party and redrafting the BRS, informed by the changed conditions of struggle and political reality and the decisions of the 58th Congress.
At the close of business, first time Congress Delegate, Tiago Brandao, a young hospitality worker from Glasgow commented:
“It has been a real honour to be here and to meet comrades from across the whole of Britain and share experiences of the struggle. It has made me realise we have roots and potential across the entire country. The debate has been excellent and I was very excited to have the chance to speak at my first Congress. I’m excited to take the lessons and decisions of the Congress back to my branch and put them into practice to build the Party in the years ahead.”
Rob Griffiths confirmed in his Address that he would be stepping down as general secretary at the first meeting of the new EC in January 2026. After 27 years in post, he told the gathered comrades:
“I want to thank you for allowing me the honour to serve what Nikolai Ostrovsky called the ‘finest cause in all the world – the fight for the liberation of humanity’. In particular, I must express my gratitude to those comrades who have chaired the Communist Party, while putting up with me as general secretary: the late Richard Maybin, Anita Halpin, Bill Greenshields, Liz Payne and Ruth Styles … I end my speech with these slogans: Long live the Communist Party of Britain! Long live the international Communist movement! On to socialism and communism!”
As a Party we must be more united than ever before for the difficult and trying period that lies ahead. Our 58th Congress has cemented this unity. In those struggles that lie ahead of us, as individual cadres in our branches, districts and nations, and as a Party in the broad movement, we must lead from the front and lead by example.
Notes and References
1 Aims and Constitution of the Communist Party of Britain, Article 6.
2 ‘How did Wortley Hall become the “workers’ stately home”?’, Morning Star, 30 August 2024, https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/how-did-wortley-hall-become-the-workers-stately-home.
3 ‘Communist Party debates possible relationship to Corbyn and Sultana’s new left party’, Morning Star, 16 November 2025, at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/communist-party-debates-possible-relationship-corbyn-and-sultanas-new-left-party.
4 https://www.communistparty.org.uk/publications/britains-road-to-socialism/ .
5 ‘Cuban ambassador Ismara Vargas Walter thanks British solidarity movement at Communist Party congress’, Morning Star,16 November 2025, https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/cuban-ambassador-ismara-vargas-walter-thanks-british-solidarity-movement-communist-party.
6 ‘Knesset member describes Israel’s takeover by fascists’, Morning Star, 17 November 2025.
7 https://www.communistparty.org.uk/2025/11/17/newly-elected-communist-party-executive-committee/ .
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