WHAT UNITY MEANS The groups opposed to the racist tyranny are more varied and widespread than ever before in our history. The most important task facing the libera tion movement is to effectively harness all these forces. Revolutionary strategy must always try to increase the forces on the side of the people and to divide the enemy. But some elements behave as if we actually grow stronger when we have fewer allies and a greater number of enemies. This happened in the run-up to the banned September Anti-Apartheid conference. The conference was organised to bring together all opponents of apartheid who ac cept majority rule but who do not necessarily agree on all aspects of strategy and tactics. It was to be a step towards getting the broadest possible range of forces to move together against the regime on specific immediate issues. Two themes were on the agenda 'Unity and organisation against repression' and 'One person one vote in a united South Africa'. Yet some voices were raised against the idea of wide participation. The Unity Move ment objected to organisations such as IDASA. Azaco, (a Black Consciousness fringe group), refused to sit with NDM whom they described as 'direct representatives of the ruling class'. They also dismissed Inyandza of KaNgwane as 'collaborationist'. This type of sectarianism is not new. It has kept some of these 'purist' groups permanently on the side-lines of the real struggle. They use revolutionary-sounding language to 'justify' policies which hold back revolutionary advance. And their confusion is greatest on the question of a broad front of struggle. What is a Broad Front of Struggle? A front struggle is, by definition, made up of political groups who do not agree on everything. If they did agree on everything there would be no need for a front at all; they would all be in one organisation. We cannot, therefore, make co-operation with us conditional on the acceptance of all our objectives and our strategy and tactics. The crucial question is whether an alliance or them back into the enemy's laager by using a joint platform on a specific issue will help to clumsy 'leftist' tactics. Talking to them or acting weaken the main enemy and advance the with them on specific issues does not mean that people's cause. We should also not confuse the we abandon our independent revolutionary different types of fronts and alliances which serve policies. different purposes. Those bosses who are prepared to stand with In our situation we can point to three specific the organised trade union movement against the categories: amended Labour Relations Act have a place on 1. The ANC-led liberation alliance. This alliance a campaign platform against it. We should not is made up of organisations who share com isolate those in the bantustans who, in their dai mon objectives in the National Democratic ly actions, oppose our country' fragmentation Revolution and who agree on all the key tac and do their best to make these fraudulent institu tics and strategy to achieve these objectives. tions unworkable. We must find ways of engag 2. The fraternal relationship between the ANC ing those in white politics who are beginning to and the key organisations of the Mass grope for changes in the direction of genuine Democratic Movement. This alliance con democracy. stitutes the organised mass core of the revolu We must have enough confidence in tionary forces even though some of its consti ourselves not to fear acting with other forces for tuents cannot proclaim all the objectives of the change on specific common issues or on an African National Congress. agreed anti-apartheid programme. Not every 3. The broader forces who support democratic such embrace leads to marriage. The involve change but who cannot be counted as part of ment is one of mutual benefit. The parties do not the revolutionary camp. abandon their independence, nor do they Our approach to the third category — the necessarily merge into a permanent relationship. broader forces for change — needs to be The way forward lies in the direction of the understood. broadest possible united action against racism. Mobilising such action will make an enormous Revolutionary Forces and contribution to ending the days of the crisis- Forces for Change. ridden racist regime. The search for a way out of the crisis daily gives birth to more and more forces who seek change in the direction of anti-racism and democracy. 'Only those who are not sure of themselves can These forces for change are not part of the fear to enter into temporary alliances even with revolutionary camp with whom they have various unreliable people, not a single political party can differences on strategy and tactics. exist without such alliances.' But we must do all within our power to increase (Lenin Selected Works, Volume 1, p 103.) the distance between these forces for change and the regime. We must, on no account, push
2 TAMBO ON 1989 TASKS In his January 8th speech, President OR • The building of underground political Tambo called on our entire national liberation structures remains one of the major tasks. This movement to make 1989 a year of militant mass requires greater professionalism, proper plan defiance. "The period ahead poses many great ning and the building of effective networks. challenges to all of use ... precisely because • Every effort must be made to ensure that it contains within it the seeds for major ad a lasting solution to the ugly situation in Natal vances. The issue of a new political order has is found. Peace among the oppressed, war on been placed on the agenda.' the common enemy must be our guiding light. In his speech, Comrade Tambo underlines • The uprisings of soldiers and rural masses that the racists have been unable to fundamen in Bophuthatswana and Venda last year tally reverse our gains. The regime's humilia demonstrate the militancy in our rural areas. ting defeat in Angola, the unprecedented But these uprisings also underlined our own three-day general strike in June, and our organisational weaknesses in the countryside. popular October boycott election victory last It is crucial that we raise these rural struggles year, all confirm this basic fact. to a higher level, placing before the rural The challenge before us is to build on the masses the perspective of the seizure of land. victories we have scored, to turn the • Despite the banning last year of the plann- favourable climate into a platform for inten ed Anti-Apartheid Conference, the sified struggle. This requires the consolidation preparatory work drew together a wide coali of our forces, especially in those areas where tion of forces. This work must continue, we are weak, and where the enemy has made building the broadest possible front of anti- some headway. apartheid forces. What are the main tasks that Comrade • The Labour Relations Amendment Act Tambo has set before the entire liberation represents the most concerted attack on the movement? labour movement for many years. The com • The perspective of people's power is the bined strength of workers, the entire central question on the agenda. Our suc democratic movement and all other anti- cessful mass boycott of the October elections apartheid forces — within South Africa and in provides one rallying point from which to ternationally — must act to defeat this law. render the regime's political structures un In taking up the challenge of these tasks, the workable. All the regime's structures — the entire national liberation movement finds itself Regional Services Councils, the bantustan ad in a situation that has fundamentally shifted. In ministrations, Provincial Executive Commit the course of the 1980s, the Decade of Libera tees, the National Council and the tricameral tion, we have succeeded in shifting the parliament — must feel the full weight of balance of forces in our favour. In the words popular rejection. of President Tambo, 1989 must see us 'take ad • We must build up a spirit mass defiance, vantage of this situation and intensify our of overcoming any tendency to limit our strug fensive for people's power.' gles entirely within the confines of the regime's regulations. We must carefully select areas where we can mobilise mass defiance — like Group Areas, anti-squatting laws, the provocative regulations of the Conservative Party in a number of towns, rents and service charges, conscription into the SADF, and restrictions on individuals and organisations.
LONG LIVE THE YEAR OF MASS ACTION FOR PEOPLE'S POWER! READERS VOICE Umsebenzi is not a bible; it is a tool of struggle. Not every word we write or publish is holy and beyond criticism. We, of course, aim to speak for our Party on the important issues of the day. But we do not only want to teach. We also want to learn. And we believe that our readers, especially those in the frontline of struggle, have always got something to teach us. So please contribute to 'Readers Voice'. Give us your thoughts, but try to keep them short — not more than 300 words.
UMSEBENZI READERS' CIRCLES Dear Umsebenzi, While going through Umsebenzi I thought that it may be a good idea if those who read it could establish Umsebenzi Readers Circles. This would be specially important for young people who would be able to discuss the articles, debate and learn through trial and error-type of discussions. The sort of Umsebenzi slot that we have in cell meetings is fairly hasty and only touches on articles. We need to discuss in greater detail.
CONCERNING PEOPLE'S COMMITTEES In 'Reflections on People's Committees' organs of power. They begin to take over the ad (Umsebenzi, vol.4, no.4) a very important point ministration of their own lives. They use force is made. The writer argues that for the against those wishing to reverse their political emergence of People's Committees (PCs) it is achievements. necessary that conditions should exist 'where the PCs therefore occupy a special place in the further encroachment on people's lives is struggle for people's power. They are a higher threatened by the administration and/or form of mass organisation than our ordinary mass repressive organs of the state'. democratic organisations. Which is not to say that It is most important to consider, in this way, PCs substitute for, or replace the other mass what conditions are required to make the forma organisations. They come into being as organs tion of PCS a realistic task. It is a question ignored of the uprising. by some observers who have continued to ad In short, the following features of PCs must be vocate for the continued creation of the PCs at mentioned: a time when counter-revolution is at its height, • As organs of the uprising, PCs need their own and virtually all PCs have been destroyed. revolutionary legality, which can only be assured But the writer of the above article has still not by the presence of mass upsurge and the revolu gone far enough. For PCs to emerge there needs tionary activity of the masses. Revolutionary to be a situation of mass upsurge. The masses legality is needed for the democratic participa must have seen, through their experience in tion of all the diverse forces involved in the life struggle, that reform is not enough, that reform of the PCs. It is needed for open debates and must be supplanted by struggle for revolutionary elections. An 'unfinished PC is more or less a change. The masses of the people must have contradiction in terms. reached the limits of their patience in waiting for • As organs of alternative power, the PCs can the ruling classes to meet their demands. They not exist side by side with the old state for a long must have begun to take matters into their own time. One power has to give way to the other, hands to introduce the freedoms they want. sooner or later. If the PCs do not exist within a During such periods, the masses of the op period of upsurge, and do not have the power pressed people engage in independent activi of the masses defending them, they are bound ty. They destroy the old order, and the old state to cease functioning as PCs. DIVIDE THE ENEMY! However, it is also a way instilling greater con 'SOFT'AND'HARD' fidence in the people, a means of defence for the people under conditions of military and para TARGETS military repression and a means of undermining Dear Umsebenzi, the enemy's confidence in its military might. I had mixed feelings about this article (Issue No.3 While the strategic aim is spelt out to some of 1988). The article does not actually discourage degree, the question of revolutionary morality is the use of the terms 'soft' and 'hard' targets. I am dealt with in a one-sided way. I refer to the way not sure whether it is correct to define 'soft' the article focuses on white civilian casualties targets as bomb-blasts in city centres, although and on the question of black and white having the example of the Ellis Park stadium is used. For to live together in the future. But the question of instance, the Air Force HO bomb in Pretoria was civilian casualties and targets relate as much to also a city centre, but was it a 'soft' target? black casualties as to white. This is an important gap in the article. The article does clarify the two key elements which should guide us in the use of revolutionary force — namely strategy and morality. The strategic aim is well defined as being to weaken the apartheid regime, diminish its social support base and broaden and unify the popular democratic forces.
THE WOMEN'S QUESTION THE STATE IN TRANSITION Dear Umsebenzi, Dear Umsebenzi, The article on the women's question (Issue No.3, I liked the article 'The State in the Transition 3rd Quarter, 1988) possibly required the space Period', in Umsebenzi, third quarter of 1988, of the centre spread because it got right down although it would have been better called the to the heart of the question, but did not seem to 'defence of the revolutionary state'. I would just have the space to expand on the question of the like to emphasise that our starting point must be debate between neo-feminism and women's a democratic constitution which upholds peo liberation. The strength of the article is the way ple's power. The application of the Marxist- it stresses that women's issues are central to our Leninist theory of state power must flow from a struggle, that we need more than tokenism and reference point. This reference point will be window-dressing, and that there is an inadequate determined by how we take power and what the presence of women on the leading bodies of the character of the constitution will be. movement. Can we, for example, talk of a Marxist-Leninist The article clarifies what is meant by women's approach to the state in South Africa if we en emancipation and stresses that the solution of the visage a multi-party state arrived at through women's question cannot be postponed to a later negotiation and compromise? date. But the weakness of the article is that it does not put any meat on these points. I think it is necessary to stress that women's liberation is ab solutely bound to the anti-racist and class strug gle. We must also guard against extreme feminist tendencies which regard the women's question as a thing in itself. What is lacking is a clarifica tion of the meaning of extreme feminism and a definition of how women's liberation relates to racial and class oppression. We hope that Umsebenzi will, in some future article, put more meat on these important points. FIGHT THE NEWSPAPER BANS! WORKING IN THE ENEMY ARMED FORCES The continued imbalance in armed strength that favours the enemy underlines the absolute necessity of doing work within the enemy's arm ed forces. In the past this might have seemed like an impossible task. But events in the recent period have shown that there are real possibilities. In the face of our growing struggle, the regime is less and less able to rule without naked violence. There has been a rapid expansion of bantustan armies, municipal police, kits- Of course, we need to agitate differently konstabels and armed vigilantes. Increasing amongst ordinary soldiers and police, and numbers of blacks are also being drawn into the among black officers. As the events in regular SADF and SAP. A number of black of Bophuthatswana have shown, sections of the of ficers now occupy strategic positions in the ficer corps can also be won over to the side of bantustan armies. the people. In time, our agitation must increas This large increase in the numbers of blacks ingly shift from basic grievances to a broader within the apartheid armed forces is a sword with political perspective. two edges. On the one side the racists hope to All of this means that while we continue to call confuse our people and the world with this ap on black soldiers and police to lay down their parent sign of departing from racism. But on the arms and resign, at the same time we must other side the regime is arming blacks who still systematically infiltrate relatively large suffer the many humiliations experienced by all numbers of our own people into these forces. the oppressed in our country. Such a plan of infiltration in no way means that It is black recruits who have been used as can we suspend our all-round pressure on, and con non fodder in southern Angola, Namibia and demnation of, these forces. The morale of even in the townships. They are frequently in soldiers depends upon the support they get from sulted by white officers. In many cases they are their families, townships, churches and sports underpaid. They are used as the donkeys of the clubs. If they feel pressure from this side, the white army and police, and yet they are also ex work within the armed forces is greatly posed to the contempt of their own townships. strengthened. It is no wonder, then, that in the last period So far we have only spoken of work amongst there have been a number of mutinies of black black troops. But there are also real prospects soldiers and police — in Bophuthatswana, Trans- for work within the white army. The white SADF kei, Namibia and the Vaal Triangle. But our own consists mainly of young white males serving conscious, political work within these armed obligatory periods of conscription. It is an army forces is still very underdeveloped. that is, therefore, exposed to the growing This work means, above all, political work. The political ferment and confusion within the white long term aim is to paralyse the political direc camp. The white army is more vulnerable to tion behind the armed forces, to neutralise them public pressure and less capable, in terms of and even to win over sections into active support, morale, of sustaining losses than we sometimes arms in hand, for our liberation struggle. imagine. Like all political work, this task requires a It was very instructive how the deaths of a few careful, planned approach. Using clandestine dozen white conscripts in southern Angola pro political units actually within the armed forces, duced a large change of heart within white where possible, we need to begin by address public opinion. Even the white NGK began sud ing the basic demands of soldiers and police. Us denly to question the 'morality of the war'. ing clandestine and open forms of propaganda, Work within the enemy armed forces is a dif we must agitate around their daily grievances. ficult and long drawn-out task that demands pa The language must be simple and direct. The tience and skill. But there should be no doubt best agitation is rooted in a concrete knowledge about its enormous strategic importance and the of the specific group being addressed — their real possibilities. DEFEAT THE NEW LABOUR LAW!
The fight against the new law the bosses at the workplace. law, should be made to feel the must unite the broad workers' While it is beneficial to seek wrath ofthe people through all movement and activate the agreements with specific com forms of struggle. mass of the workers and com panies and individual Where negotiations are in munity at large. employers, this should not be progress or become a possibili During the course of last year, allowed to distract us from na ty, we should pursue them. But we engaged in various actions tionally co-ordinated program they must complement rather around this issue: the June 6-8 mes and actions. We must ac than substitute mass actions. general strike and other actions tivate the mass of the workers And we must consciously at local level. As a result the — at national, regional and local guard against talks which are regime offered to negotiate to levels — to bring pressure to aimed at fooling our member repeal part of the legislation. bear on the bosses and the ship and diverting our Many bosses also started to regime. Of particular impor energies. negotiate. And some of these tance are the efforts to unite the The threat we face calls for a talks have borne fruit. Agree broad democratic union move many-sided response. If we ments have been reached with ment — in particular COSATU gear our forces properly, we some companies not to imple and NACTU — in action. With shall generate a campaign ment sections ofthe new labour out such joint efforts, our offen which will dovetail with other law. But the reality is that the sive will be disjointed and actions and strengthen the regime went ahead to pass the much less effective. The agree general offensive against the bill. Some bosses are dangling ments we reach in this regard apartheid regime. Like the tri- this sword against democratic should be painstakingly follow cameral parliament, rent in unions and others are already ed up. creases and other provocations implementing its provisions. The Labour Relations Amend of the regime, the new labour ment Act affects all sectors of law has the potential to help the oppressed people. It is part spark off intensified popular ofthe continuing campaign by revolt. Let us turn the op the regime to destroy all pressors' and exploiters' democratic organisations. In weapon against them. addition, this law deprives workers and their families, and the broad communities from which they come, of the avenues to fight for a living wage. They are prohibited from actively supporting other workers and the rest ofthe com munity when the need arises. W It- What lessons do we draw The fight against this law is, from this experience? The offer therefore, the duty of all to talk — on the part of the patriotic forces. The trade regime and the bosses — was union movement, in consulta the product of our actions. But tion with other democratic Ilia* • too much of our energies were structures, including the focused on these 'talks'. This religious community, should left the army of the union mobilise the mass of trie people membership largely inactive, into action on this issue. This ap passively awaiting the results of plies also to the international the talks. Not enough attention campaign that we should was paid to following up the generate. Further, those bosses decisions ofthe COSATU Con who have started attacking gress to continually confront trade unions on the basis of this
DEFEAT THE NEW LABOUR ACT! HARRY GWALA MAN OF THE PEOPLE
Harry Gwala — a leading member of the Communist Party, the ANC and Sactu — began organising workers in the 1940s in the distributive, chemical, building and brick in dustries. He laid firm foundations for worker organisation in Pietermaritzburg. Manage ment in Howick, where Gwala organised rub ber workers, will not forget the workers slogan when demanding higher wages: 'Rub ber Burns'! Together with Moses Mabhida and Memory Vakalisa, Gwala helped develop Sac- tu's Natal structures. Repeatedly detained and banned, in 1963 Gwala was sentenced to nine years' imprison ment on Robben Island. But those long prison years did nothing to dilute his commitment. Upon release he was at the centre of attempts to revive Sactu. Detained again in 1975, he was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment for ANC activities. Thami Mkhwanazi, fellow prisoner, said: Unswervingly committed to the fight for 'Gwala's main occupation on Robben Island liberation, Gwala's voice is again heard. was teaching the theories of Marx and Lenin. Speaking of unity, he said: 'The people today His insight into revolutionary politics and his are united in the struggle against apartheid. uncompromising Marxist beliefs made him The only unity can be that based on action. All the idol of many youths, especially guerrillas.' those who talk about unity must be seen to be Extensively paralysed, suffering from an in involved in the struggle against apartheid, and curable motor neuron disease, described by not in rhetoric' Gwala as a 'rotting of the nerves', he was un A grandfather, Harry Gwala now lives in conditionally released from prison at the end Dambuza, a section of Edendale township m of 1987. Pietermaritzburg.
In his message to the people on 8th January, 1989, President OR Tambo said: 'We welcome that great stalwart of our revolution, Harry Gwala, whose contribution to our cause has been of great significance. It is a great pleasure for me to announce ttie decision of the National Executive Committee of the ANC to invest Harry Gwala witn the highest award of the struggling people of our country, Isitwalandwe-Seaparakoe.'
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Amilcar Cabral helped form the MPLA of Angola and, in 1956, was a founder member of the PAIGC — the African Party of Independence of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde, which led the war of national liberation against Por- tuauese colonialism. Cabral was its secretary general until his assassination in Conakry Guinea in 1973. ONE DEMOCRATIC, UNITED SOUTH AFRICA! THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH . THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH HOW TO MASTER SECRET WORK 16. NON-PERSONAL COMMUNICATION Comrade A has been mainly relying on personal series). The arrangement was that he pretend forms of communication to run the underground ed to dial a wrong number. This was the signal unit. With the police stepping up their search to meet at a pre-arranged place and time. for revolutionary activists he decides to increase Up to now he has been meeting with her to the use of non-personal communication. collect propaganda material. He now wishes to These are forms of secret communication car signal her when to pick it up herself, but prefers ried out without direct contact. These do not to avoid phoning her at home or work. If she replace the essential meetings of the unit, but takes lunch regularly at a certain cafe or is at a reduce the number of times the comrades need sports club at a certain time or near a public to meet, thereby minimising the risks. phone, he knows how to reach her when he wishes. The Main Forms: A simple call such as the following is required: These are telephone, postal system, press, 'Is that Miss So-and-So? This is Ndlovu here. I signals, radio and dead letter box (DLB). The believe you want to buy my Ford Escort? If so, first three are in everyday use and can be used you can view it tomorrow/ This could mean that for secret work if correctly exploited. Signals C must collect the propaganda material at a cer can be used as part of the other forms or as a tain place in two days time. The reference to a system on their own. Radio communication (cod car is a code for picking up propaganda ed) will be used by higher organs of the Move material; Ndlovu is the code name for the pick ment and not by a unit like A's. The DLB is the up place; tomorrow means two days time (two most effective way of passing on material and days time would mean three days). information without personal contact. Comrade A introduces these methods Post: cautiously because misunderstandings are This can be used to transmit similar messages possible. People prefer face-to-face contact so as above. A telegram or greeting card with the confidence and skill must be developed. message that 'Uncle Morris is having an opera tion' could be a warning from A to C to cut con Telephone, Post and Press tact and lie low until further notice because of These are reliable means of secret communica possible danger. The use of a particular kind of tion if used properly. Used carelessly in the past picture postcard could be a signal for a meeting they have been the source of countless arrests. at a pre-arranged place ten days after the date The enemy intercepts telephone calls and mail on the card. Signals can be contained in the form going to known activists and those they regard the sender writes the address, the date or the as suspicious. Phone calls can be traced and greeting. 'My dear friend' together with the fic telexes as well as letters intercepted. Interna titious address of the sender — 'No 168 Fox tional communication is especially vulnerable. Street' — means to be ready for a leaflet distribu For example, a phone call from Botswana to tion and meet at 16 hours on the 8th of the month Soweto is likely to arouse the enemy's interest. at a venue code-named 'Fox'. What is required are safe phones and addresses through which can be passed innocent- Many such forms of signals can be used in let sounding messages for calling meeting, re ters. Even the way the postage stamp is placed establishing contact, warning of danger, etc. can be of significance. Press: This is the use of the classified ads sec Telephone: tion: 'Candy I miss you. Please remember our This allows for the urgent transmission of a signal Anniversary of the 22nd — love Alan*. This could or message. The telephone must be used with be A's arrangement for re-establishing contact a reliable and convincing coding system and with C if she has gone into hiding. The venue legend. Under no circumstances must the phone and time will have been pre-arranged, but the be used for involved discussion on sensitive advert will signal the day. Such ads give many topics. possibilities not only in the press but on notice Comrade A has already used the phone to call boards in colleges, hostels, shopping centres, C to an emergency meeting (See No 14 of this and so on. ORGANISE, DEFY AND ADVANCE! THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH * THEORY AND PRACTI NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
5. The Industrial Zone Last issue Comrade Masodi spoke about his day- the zone. In a small way, these discussions can to-day work as an underground Party militant in be the beginning of contacts for the longer term his trade union. We also asked him to speak building of an underground network. about the strategy for underground organising 'Of course we must be realistic. We are still he has begun. a very long way from even building a network, We have written down his comments: never mind launching insurrectionary struggle Building an underground network needs a plan. in the industrial zone. But if you begin by ask Too often we build new units without any ing the right questions from the start, then the guiding idea. If you are given the task of whole direction of your work can be very much recruiting, the first thing that jumps into your improved. mind is simply to approach your closest friends. 'For instance, as we have begun to give But a vanguard Party is not just a circle of friends. answers to our questions, so the recruitment It has to be built with a clear, revolutionary plan. priorities have become clearer. Too often in the The first question we discussed in the unit was past I have thought of underground Party work if I should concentrate on my township, or on in the trade unions as simply reinforcing their the industrial area where I work. We agreed that above-board leadership. This is only one task. I must concentrate on the industrial zone. Our But I never asked how this was leading to our Party needs to carry its structures into the very ultimate goal of seizure of power. heart of the ruling bloc's power centres. 'By approaching the industrial zone with our Next, I drew the comrades a map of the in more strategic questions, I have begun to see dustrial zone, showing which factories are plac building the underground in a much broader ed where. Then we asked ourselves how many way. Our aim is to have a solid party network that workers did each factory employ? Which fac criss-crosses over the whole zone. That builds tories had strong trade union organisation? What strong cores in factories with the greatest factories had the greatest strategic importance? strategic value and potential. Does any of them supply the SADF? Which make 'All of this throws a much clearer light on the essential goods for other factories? approach to recruitment. It is no longer just a We also asked ourselves which factories were question of recruiting key unions leadership and involved in the production of chemicals. We shop stewards. must investigate whether there are chemical And another thing — there is no way that we supplies that can be used for the manufacturing are going to make a revolution just in one in of explosives for our combat work. dustrial zone. We need city, regional and na Then there were a whole number of questions tional co-ordination and underground com connected with the physical layout of the zone. munications systems. This leads us to another What are the main access roads and rail-lines to recruiting task, and to another question. Can we the industrial zone? Where is the nearest police identify workers who, in their daily work, travel station and army camp? How possible would it within our city, and even nationally? These are be to barricade the whole zone with delivery lor comrades who can eventually play a key role in ries. If yes, where should these lorries be communications tasks. located? Where would be good storage places Well, so many questions, and some ambitious for arms within the zone itself? plans! But I firmly believe that unless we think 'Some of these questions I could easily of our longer term objectives, our immediate answer. But many questions left me without a underground work will always be, as one com reply. I need to discover much more about my rade put it, the movement of legs without for operational area. This means speaking (careful ward motion. ly, of course) to workers from other factories in STRENGTHEN THE UNDERGROUND! THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH . THEORY AND PRACTICE . KNOW PROBLEMSOFTHETRANSITION PERIOD 8. People's Education — The Link Between the Present and the Future
The slogan 'People's Education for People's cupation by the police and army of the Power*, which emerged from the National townships and schools. In this situation, the Education Crisis Conference of December 1985 NECC and the mass democratic movement was and March 1986, marked an historic turning point faced with the question of how to continue the because it led both to a change in the strategy, struggle for people's education in the face of and a revolutionary advance in the content, of state repression. the education struggle. Outside of the schools, in the trade unions, During the entire period from the passing of adult education organisations, and some organi the Bantu Education Act in 1953 to the end of sations of the mass democratic movement, liter 1985, the content of the education struggle con acy classes, adult education and training courses tained two main features. First, opposition to have continued and, indeed, expanded great bantu education. Second, support (both implicit ly. In this sphere, many aspects of people's and explicit) for equal access to white education education find expression in the content, for Africans. The underlying basis for this posi organisation and teaching methods used. tion was the belief that white education was the But in the schools, the obstacles erected by means to skilled and professional jobs and that the regime make it much more difficult for the all that was needed for black advancement was organisations to find the correct tactics to carry access to that education. No critique was ad forward the struggle for people's education. As vanced of white education itself, except for its a result, a tendency has arisen in the education racist content, and no conception of a radically struggle to concentrate predominantly on the alternative education system was formulated. theoretical elaboration of the concept of 'peo The demand for 'people's education' represents ple's education'. a major advance because it goes beyond the narrow limits of these demands — it starts with the rejection of not only bantu but also white education because it is reactionary, authoritarian and elitist and it propagates competitiveness and individualism. But, people's eduction goes further to define a new objective of struggle, construction of an educational system, democratic in content, teaching and organisa tion and aimed at developing the 'new person' able to contribute to, and participate fully, in a democratic, non-racial South Africa. Clearly, only a revolutionary transformation can provide the conditions which will make it The concept of people s education is crucial possible to build such a system of people's but the over-elaboration of a theoretical defini education. tion of a future people's education is of little But, as the NECC recognised, the struggle to value since the way in which people's educa establish elements of people's education — tion will actually be constructed will depend on democratic organisation and curricula, for exam the concrete conditions at the time of and after ple — must be conducted in the present period the defeat of apartheid. The general definition as part and parcel of the liberation struggle. To of the 1986 NECC conference which was sum begin with, the NECC mounted campaigns for marised above, provides the guidelines. The the recognition of SRC's, for the democratic ad urgent task for the mass democratic movement ministration of the schools by parents, teachers is to develop the tactics which will enable it to and student committees and to win time in the challenge in action the claims of the state and schools in which newly prepared, alternative private schools that they are implementing alter syllabuses could be used for teaching. native education, and to renew the struggle to These initiatives were quickly blocked by the put in place, within these schools, the basis of regime's use of emergency powers and the oc a future genuine people's education. STOP THE NATAL KILLINGS! THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE 15 STRENGTH • THEORY AND PRACTICE * THEO UNDERSTANDING EVERYDAY ECONOMICS 11. The International Monetary Fund One of the most powerful institutions trying to same for each debtor for, says the IMF, they are run the capitalist world economy is the Interna the only policies that will cure the balance of tional Monetary Fund or IMF- In the past ten payments deficit and enable the country to years it has concentrated much of its attention repay the loan. When the country accepts the on African countries. Leading Frontline States conditions, the IMF then acts as a policeman have come under great pressure from the IMF supervising the government and monitoring its to change the way they run their economies, the compliance. South African regime has received credit from Usually the IMF requires a cut in state spend the IMF, and after the regime is overthrown we ing. It particularly requires the government to will have to decide how to relate to it. cut the amount of money it spends on subsidis What is the IMF? What policies does it push ing the food workers buy. As a result govern on to African countries? And what impact do ments accepting an IMF loan are often faced they have? with riots as the masses rebel against the rise in The IMF was set up in 1944 by the leading food prices. In addition, the cuts demanded by capitalist states as an inter-government organisa the IMF often mean less can be spent on educa tion. It was given the task of helping member tion, health and welfare services. For years the governments to regulate foreign exchange Tanzanian government attempted to resist these markets, especially by lending them foreign cur conditions and tried to negotiate toughly for rency when their balance of payments was in terms that would enable it to continue to build deficit. Some of its founders thought that this its welfare system. availability of finance would give governments One of the most painful conditions the IMF re greater freedom to choose their own policies. quires is that the government should devalue its They could choose to spend more on health currency. This makes dollars more expensive in care, for example, without having to worry about any temporary increase in imports that resulted. terms of the country's money so imports cost But the opposite occurred, for the IMF became more, again pushing up the cost of living. a body that imposes conditions on what borrow At the same time restrictions on imports have ing states can do in their own economy. to be reduced (the first result of which is often that the country is flooded with imports of lux Most countries now belong to the IMF ury goods for the rich), and restrictions on although, until recently, few socialist countries foreign capital have to be relaxed so that joined. The money the IMF lends comes from multinational corporations can operate profitably a pool composed mainly of the subscriptions or in the country. This gives a clue to the real role quotas each country pays to belong. Each of the IMF. Its job is to create a world where member has a direct or indirect vote in IMF deci states, particularly governments of developing sions, but these are related to the amount they countries, put no local obstacles in the way of have subscribed, so the rich capitalist countries the free operations of multinational corpora have the largest votes. The allocation of votes tions across the world. And in each country ensures that the USA has been able effectively where its conditions depress workers' living to control IMF policy. standards they boost profits. That policy has turned the IMF into a body The South African regime borrowed from the which controls developing countries through IMF in 1982. Whenever conditions are imposed the conditions that are attached to IMF loans. on other countries the IMF says they will help Countries such as Tanzania and Zambia have the country by enabling market forces to operate turned to the IMF to borrow dollars when the more freely. When South Africa borrowed, no goods they sell abroad do not produce enough condition was attached to say that apartheid money to pay for goods the country needs to im should be dismantled, although that is the big port. They are entitled to draw a small amount gest example of state interference with market without any conditions, but they could only ob forces in a capitalist-oriented country. tain useful amounts by agreeing to conditions After liberation, if external finance is needed imposed by the IMF. The loans are generally for to construct our new society, the IMF would be a short term only. The conditions are broadly the a dangerous ally. DEFEND TRADE UNION FREEDOMS KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH * THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH MARXIST PHILOSOPHY 11. Varieties of 'Marxism' In studying the work of any philosopher, we writings. The latter, they argued, were truly should always ask ourselves three questions: scientific works and the foundation of an entirely 'What is he saying?', 'What does it mean?' and, new science — Historical Materialism — which finally, 'Is it true?' In other words, there are three constituted the discovery of a new 'continent of connected stages involved in a rigorous reading knowledge'. Althusser, in particular, compared of a philosophical text: exposition, interpretation Marx's achievement of that of the founder of and critical evaluation. None of these tasks are psycho-analysis, Sigmund Freud, and even easy. But in the case of the philosophical writings made use of Freudian concepts in his attempts of Marx, Engels and Lenin, the first two tasks are to explain what he took to be Marx's central particularly different. One reason for this is that philosophical ideas. Marxism-Leninism has become the most potent As a result, the picture of Marx the humanist and influential doctrine of our time. and moral philosopher began to fade before the The influence of Marxism-Leninism has spread picture of Marx the scientist. It is noteworthy that far beyond the confines of the international com in these debates little was done to stress the con munity of communist parties and beyond the tinuities as well as the discontinuities in Marx's borders of countries where such parties are in thought, so that it became hard to understand power. The result has been that a variety of ex how a single thinker could have arrived through positions and interpretations of dialectical a process of self-criticism at the scientific world materialism have sprung from the brains and picture Marx left for us. pens of thinkers and scholars, thinking and An even more significant school of Marxian writing from many different perspectives and in scholarship began to establish itself in the countries which are at different stages of socio English-speaking world in the late 1970s. This economic development. tendency has become known as analytical Marx For instance, in the 1960s there sprung up ism or rational-choice Marxism. Its leading ex among philosophers in capitalist Europe and the ponent at present is the Oxford political United States an intense interest in the writing philosopher, GA Cohen, whose book, Karl of the 'Young Marx', particularly the Economic Marx's Theory of History: A Defence, provides and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844. an extremely rigorous argument in favour of the Philosophers like Theodore Adorno, Herbert basic cogency of Historical Materialism. Marcuse and Jurgens Habermas stressed the im However, Cohen interprets Marx entirely along portance of the early Marx's ethical concerns, positivistic lines and in accordance with the his affinity with Hegelian ideas and his thoughts tradition of British analytical philosophy, large on the notion of man's 'self-alienation' and loss ly ignoring the dialectical character of Marxist of humanity in capitalist society. However, these thought. interpretations tended to underplay the In our next issue we shall discuss the work of theoretical achievements of the mature Marx and a Soviet philosopher who strove precisely to em paid little or no attention to Lenin's contributions. phasise and to understand the dialectical They portrayed Marx as a moralist and humanist, character of Marx's thought and to come to grips rather than as a social scientist and political with Lenin's considerable contribution to the organiser, and their attitudes to the party tend philosophy of dialectical materialism. ed to be hostile and suspicious. An important counter-tendency to interpreta tions of this kind was set in motion in the late '60s Read the AFRICAN COMMUNIST and early 70s by the writings of the French com The theoretical quarterly journal of the munist philosopher, Louis Althusser. Althusser South African Communist Party. and his collaborator, Etienne Balibar, stressed Available from the importance of Marx's mature work, especial Inkululeko Publications ly Capital itself. PO Box 902, London N19 3YY The Althusserians spoke of a radical break or 'rupture' between the early texts and later FORWARD WITH THE SACP! THEORY AND PRACTICE * KNOWLEDGE IS STRENGTH * THEORY AND PRACTICE *
PARTY LIFE 6. The Party Meeting Many of us might have experienced the feel on. The worst meetings are when comrades ing of attending too many meetings, some of 'think aloud', rambling around the topic. which have even seemed fruitless, repetitive and which seem not to take things forward. • The convenor and secretary in particular Some comrades may even spend most of their must have thoroughly prepared for the working time in meetings, allowing very lit meeting, knowing what matters have been tle time for other tasks. Of course we cannot carried over, what new matters will be do without meetings — in the mass discussed and what the aim of the meeting is. democratic movement, in our unions, in the Thus they must set goals and tasks for the underground, in MK and in our Party. meeting, informing the members what has to Meetings are the means by which we imple be discussed and what must be decided ment our collective approach at all levels. upon. This is not to suggest that they take Without meetings we cannot plan, review and decisions in advance of the meeting, but that assess work and progress, effect accoun they give the meeting direction. Each tability and build our structures. meeting must be purposeful. But how can we make our meetings really assist rather than slow us down in our work? • Meetings must have continuity. Decisions How can we make the meetings a short, must be followed through to learn from cor sharp weapon of struggle? How can we en rect decisions and rectify incorrect ones. The sure that our meetings are constructive and Party Unit meeting must make individual com short especially in conditions where securi rades accountable for assigned tasks and ty demands this? There are no ready-made assign new ones. The Unit meeting must answers but there are some basic principles monitor collective and individual progress. which we should try to observe in our Party For this purpose all meetings should begin meetings. with a check-up on previous decisions. • The Party meeting must discuss only those • Even in the most difficult conditions the matters which cannot be resolved outside of Unit meeting must be formal. There must be the meeting by individual initiative or in con office bearers — convenor, secretary and sultation with one or more other comrades. treasurer — with specific duties and tasks Yes, the Party must encourage and assigned to each member. Each meeting strengthen a collective approach to work, must have before it a report/discussion on bat collectivity must not be at the expense security. Meetings or a part of one meeting of real work or stifle individual initiative. must deal with operational or practical tasks Neither must collectivity be just for the sake and another with ideological matters. of it. Collective work, both ideological and organisational, must build a common • At the conclusion of the Party Unit meeting democratic approach, strengthen organisa the date and subject of the next meeting tional capacity and harness the collective should be set. The principles of secrecy have ability of all (See the centre-page article by been dealt with in another section of Cabral in this issue). Umsebenzi and are not dealt with here, but obviously they must also apply. • Each and every meeting must be We must sharpen our weapons of struggle thoroughly prepared for. A meeting is as in struggle. The Party Meeting is a weapon in good as the preparation that goes into it. Each our arsenal — it must be sharpened until it is comrade must know what is to be discussed like Ushaka's stabbing spear and MK's Scor and what he/she must account for and report pion machine gun — short and sharp. BUILD THE PARTY! NO PARTNERSHIP WITH CAPITALISM Profit Related pay schemes (PRP) or Employee sells the idea of share ownership to the workers, Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPS) have a clear pur they will help intensify their own exploitation. It pose. They are designed to make employees is also a way of influencing the workers to sup work harder. ESOPS and PRP are posed as alter port the idea of fewer employees so that their natives to trade unionism and ultimately to the share is not diluted across too large a workforce. social ownership of the means of production. In ESOPS are also offered in the context of divest no sense are they workers' control. ment — when foreign companies like Ford and These projects try to make people believe that Coca Cola sell their shares to local purchasers. capitalism and apartheid are unrelated. The aim This neither gives workers control over their is to guarantee the economic power of private firms nor enables the new purchasers to raise the capital, irrespective of the fate of the apartheid necessary capital to carry on the firm. regime. But PRP does not abolish the racial divi Trade union activists and workers have to be sion of labour. on the alert against the false notion of 'profit- The Anglo American Corporation, which owns share' and its consequent identification of the more than half the shares on the Johannesburg workers' interests with those of capital. There Stock Exchange, leads the campaign which were 18 companies with ESOP-style arrange pretends to dissociate apartheid from capitalism. ments in place at the end of 1987, and since then The free shares they are offering their workers there have been a few more. But most of the trade (4% of the total) will not make the slightest dif unions have reacted with commendable hostili ference when it comes to who is to have control ty to these schemes. They have recognised that over the ownership of that giant monopoly. they offer little more than an ideological sop to The evidence (from countries which operate continuing apartheid and class oppression. As profit-related pay schemes) shows that they are capital depends for its profits on the payment of designed to make it easier for employers to only a portion of what the workers produce, there manipulate wages, reduce pay during a slump can be no equality until the workers really share or when the company is in trouble. in the ownership of the means of production. For Significantly, reformist ideas involving profit- that, they will have to win socialism first. sharing plans have involved companies like Chrysler and Pan Am in the US — both under threat of bankruptcy. In return for employee share ownership, the workers have had to agree to wage cuts or pay restraints. In Britain, West Germany and Japan PRP and ESOPS have been encouraged for the last ten years, but have had little effect on performance or the level of wages and work conditions. 'People's capitalism' has turned out to be a contradiction in terms. Management control remains holy. The schemes are, in truth, wage payments by another name. Even in Sweden, where Welfare Capitalism is most advanced, pay-related reforms have achiev ed very limited change. The employers would like workers to believe that ownership of a few shares means that workers become part owners of the means of production. Far from wresting control from capital, it gives workers a false sense of security in their jobs and creates the illusion that they are participating in the decision-making of the firm. In fact, they are just as threatened by unemploy ment, ill-treatment, poor job safety and dismissal as before. Capital also hopes that if it successfully STRENGTHEN THE REVOLUTIONARY FORCES! NO SOVIET RELATIONS WITH SOUTH AFRICA Not long ago the Washington Post wrote that con South West Africa by political means. tacts between Moscow and Pretoria are alleged Q: Does this mean that the USSR will advise the ly being maintained in several forms. The ANC to halt military operations? In what way can newspaper claimed that these include secret the Soviet scholars' statements cited by the meetings within the framework of the talks on newspaper be estimated? peaceful settlement in Angola and deals con nected with gold and diamonds. A: X don't know whether they were exact cita Yuri Yikalov, head of the USSR Foreign Ministry tions. But scholars can hold their own views dif Africa Department, gave the following replies to fering from official ones. I welcome the these speculations. pluralism of opinions. Let scholars argue, Q: Will SA open its embassy in Moscow in years search for new approaches, and hold non to come or is the Washington Post mistaken? standard viewpoints. But one thing is certain. A: Yes, it's mistaken. Sadly, the newspaper cites The USSR will continue backing the democratic not eyewitnesses but people who just heard of forces in South Africa, who combat apartheid certain events. So in such a situation concoctions under ANC leadership. are inevitable. The Soviet stand on the apartheid Q: Do you declare for revolutionary violence? regime remains unchanged. We'll never estab lish diplomatic relations with that regime in its We've never absolutised armed struggle and call present form. for relying on political wisdom and not on the force of arms while settling acute conflicts. The Q: But did the USSR and South Africa maintain ANC leadership also doesn't consider violence any 'secret contacts'? a preferable and sole way of establishing a A: There have been no 'secret contacts', at least democratic and civilised South African state. It's during the talks on settlement in South West only a reaction to the racist regime's violence Africa. The Soviet observer always played an ac against its citizens, both black and white. The tive role at these talks. All negotiators, Pretoria apartheid regime has elevated this violence to and Washington included, noted our construc the rank of its official policy. tive contribution to the attainment of the Q: Does the USSR maintain any economic ties agreements. It's only natural that we had also with South Africa? contacts with Pretoria officials within this The USSR strictly observes the UN Security Coun framework. Neither advertised nor concealed cil and General Assembly resolutions on sanc these contacts, regarding them as a normal way tions and declares for comprehensive sanctions of solving such a complicated problem. against Pretoria to promote the earliest elimina Several years ago closed contacts took place. tion of apartheid. We've never violated sanctions But they were aimed at releasing Soviet and did not conclude any secret deals with SA. geologists captured by MNR units in Mozambi que. Izvestia covered this problem in detail. Then Q: What about reports regarding 'spheres of in we had to be cautious and avoid publicity. fluence' on the diamond and gold markets? Q: Have you any new information on this score? A: The Washington Post, incidentally, wrote that no one can prove this. One can maintain anything A: Sadly, we still don't know anything about he likes and give no evidence, but it's empty Gavrilov and Istomin's fate. business, especially as far as economics and Q: So the USSR continues holding its consistent politics are concerned. stand and believes that diplomatic relations with (?; What's your attitude to Soviet newsmen's the apartheid regime are impossible. But has trips to South Africa? anything changed in the Soviet views on the A: The Soviet public needs to be provided with south of Africa? detailed information about developments in SA. A: The restructuring and new thinking made it Such trips have nothing to do with political ties possible to more realistically appraise the situa and recognition of the apartheid regime. Many tion in the region and search for a new approach readers, USSR foreign ministry officials includ to it. One of the examples of such an approach ed, displayed keen interest in the dispatches of is the Soviet role in unblocking the conflict in your correspondent from South Africa. UNITE ALL ANTI-RACIST FORCES! PINOCHET ON THE WAY OUT At the end of last year four leading members of the Communist Party of Chile (CPC) publicly an nounced their plans to hold a clandestine con gress, later this year, inside the country. They were arrested and are now on bail. At the time of the Pinochet coup in September 1973, the CPC had 200 000 members and 67 000 ftufrMAy in the youth section. The fascists murdered many leading communists, including 17 members of the central committee. But they could not kill the ideas of Marxism-Leninism, nor destroy the CPC. Over the past 15 years the CPC worked strenuously to develop unity in action of all anti fascist and anti-Pinochet forces. These forces defeated the Pinochet regime in the October 1988 referendum. The slogan of the Congress is 'Towards the Winning and Deepening of Democracy. The Struggle of the People in Unity until Victory'. In the draft documents for congress the CPC points to the achievements of the Salvador Allende government and also to the serious weaknesses and mistakes which made the coup possible. The Party calls for Leninist norms of party life 'to bear on our daily activities'. Congress is call ed on to 'define the efforts, short-comings and Salvador Allende deformities which limit our vanguard capacity' and to 'confront resolutely all signs of bureaucratism, conservatism and dogmatism.' Whilst their immediate aim is to secure peo The document deals with the catastrophic con ple's 'basic needs in health, food, housing and sequences of privatisation and the external debt. employment', they call for re-nationalisation Unemployment stands at 30% and wages have However, the economy will still be a mixed one. dropped in real value by 40% since 1972. Chilean At the present time the strategic objective is the communists are determined to strengthen the winning of an 'advanced democracy with a Chilean United Trade Union Centre which in socialist perspective.1 cludes socialists, communists, Christian The party document recognises that sister democrats as well as workers who have no par Marxist-Leninist parties are active within the ty political affiliation. working class. It also applauds the selfless and The CPC calls for 'an anti-imperialist, popular significant contribution of Christians, sections of and democratic revolutionary alternative.' the church, human rights groups, citizens com Chilean communists insist that fundamental mittees and organisations of women. It pays freedoms are essential if free and fair elections special tribute to international solidarity which are to take place. To fight the coming elections has helped sustain the Party over the last 15 dif the left-wing have created PAIS—the Broad Party ficult years. of the Socialist Left. During 15 years of fascist rule, with its killings, The CPC calls for a mass campaign to force imprisonment and torture, the CPC has remain Pinochet to resign and for all those guilty of ed ideologically and politically cohesive. It re crimes against the people to be punished. They mains a powerful political force in Chile and Latin argue that the military must be democratised and America. The CPC can never be destroyed. Its that the state 'should once again take a central roots are deep in the soil of Chile. Their victory role in guiding the economy.' is our victory.