JIED. . R South Alrica How much longer can South Africa stand? The ruling class is increasingly left with nothing but force to rely on, while never have the masses been so una- l'raid to die for liberation. Front u number ol'angles. this situa- tion is dissected and the chal- lenges it presents analysed. What witl it take to kill this monster? Page 4 r98s/3 Peru As the Peruvian counterre'uolu- tion prepares to install a nerv chief executive executioner, the SOUTH AFRICA PCP carries out an election boy- Summoned by Revolution 4 cott and unleashes new military Azanian Revolutionaries-Link Up With the RIM! 15 blows against the regime. A new The Political Economy of Apartheid 16 pamphlet by the PCP Central Interview: Commitlee, Ihe rnost importarrt Always 25 document frorn the PCP in the "Growing Up in Azania Means You're Angry" last three years, analyzes how things stand with the revolution PERU and the counterrevolution. An PCP Central Committee: historic May I message from the "Don't Vote-Step Up Guerrilla Warfare!" 52 PCP to the Revolutionary Inter- Expand Strengthen the Movement to nationalist [\4oVernent declares to and the worlcl the irrternationalist Support the Revolution in Peru 60 content and aims of this revolu- Peru Support Sprouts Everywhere 6l tion. Page 52 The Italian Campaign... 62 Peru's New President of Counterrevolution 66 Reggae

Ibrahim Kaypakkaya On Armed Struggle 38

PCP Salutes the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement 30

I I Never Forget the Lessons of Vietnam 32 : I Message to the TKP/M-L 34 7 TKP/M-L Seizes the Air Waves 36 I U.S.A.: "No Business As Usual" 50

Reggae: Jamaica's Rebel Music 74

A World to Win ,s a quarterly published by World to Win, whose address is: "What is it about Jamaica, the BCM World to Win times, the world, that gave us London WCIN 3XX, U.K. reggae music?" sweeping A era- 1 985. mination of the soil from which fhis issue was printed by Russell Press, Bertrand Russell House, Forest Road West, this rebel niusic arose. Page 74 Nottingham, U.K. July 1985 2

STEP FOR.WAR,D!

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6,.+.$*siq ffiffitr ffiffi#ffiflffiffiH*tu $4f, WffiWffi ruffi i+.L14S# "s;$u "'&e:.#ri6t uaru..p-,_f The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends con 6**# ffi be ottained only by theforcible overthrow ofall existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble ff**,.$ at a Communist revolution. The proletorians have nothing to lose but their chains. They qr,$sji # hove a world to win. M WORKERS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE! \1*# Communist Maniftsto 1848 W -The "'+lk You have in your hands the third issue of A World to Win, a new quarterly dedicated *#ru# to an "old" idea: the proletariat of all countries faces the task of wrenching the world away from those who currently dominate, distort, and even threaten to destroy large parts ."h* i ffi of it; that those who up until now have been the victims of history must become its masters; i;?,li % that exploitation, oppression, and class-divided society, far from being the natural order .E',te st"f." of things, stand as the barrier to the further advance of humanity. 3-: -{; P#ft r.;$ An "old" idea certainly, and one for which millions of martyrs have given their lives on *q&;d & battle fronts all over the world since Marx and Engels issued their famous call. But an #ek*;B -*d idea which has lost none of its vitality or urgent necessity and continues to correspond ffie's, (q to the reality of the contemporary world. }t.1 A World to Win contributes to the revolutionary process by providing analysis and com- "*n f, $ffi mentary on vital developments in the world and in the revolutionary movement. It gives no quarter to imperialism reaction, ffi and and its exposure will aim at East and West alike. I S*r* A World to Win will not remain aloof from the key struggle to rebuild the unity of the 4++** exploited and oppressed the world over, to overcome the crisis in the international com- munist movement which came to a head following the reactionary coup d'etat in China after Mao's death, and to create the political expression of this unity, a Communist In- ]".-,:J,# fu/ ternational of a new type based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao &M Tsetung Thought. In this sense lBis?'6 .j FeFe A World to lVin has been inspired by the formation of the Revolutionary Internationalist &&/ Movement, announced on March 12, 1982, which has regrouped many Marxist-Leninist ii'--'--tsi parties and organisations from around the world. World Winreports F* "*- A to on the develop- ment of this movement and on its participating parties and organisations and will strive * *klM to assist this movement in becoming a more powerful force throughout the world. i; tu#w Se Bu.t A World to Win is not an official organ of the RIM and its pages are open to all those "4&s# on the same side of the barricades in the fight against imperialism a i1 6 $tE and reaction. It is journal which reflects the growing unity of the Marxist-Leninist forces, but which ffisY recognises that for such unity to grow stronger, vigorous debate and struggle will be =*sftQffi necessary. It is a journal of combat against those condescending saviours who, mas- t ffi4 querading in the name of "socialism" or "communism," betray the aspirations of the oppressed and try to suppress their struggle (or turn it into a battering ram to replace one clique of exploiters by another), but which knows that opportunism cannot merely be de- ffi ,r#1^+r #M nounced; it must be dissected, analysed and exposed. EM 'g*+ a' *W A World to Winboldly proclaims its heritage and its ideology: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin wffi and Mao are the great leaders of the world proletarian revolution. Marxism-Leninism- _i;,". Mao Tsetung Thought remains our tool for analysing the world. But and changing 1 i:'::..-.* M lltorld to Win will never rest content to simply reclaim the glorious moments of our move- "*r*.o" #@ ment or to simply analyse mistakes of the past-however important both these tasks are. fl;:.:' *mffilW Developments in the world constantly pose new problems demanding new analyses, new 1i,.^'"' debates, and, above all, new solutions. A World to lYin strives to be the indispensable i***,.*, W tool for all those engaged in proletarian revolution. ,**d\"i {e%N{$ A World to W'in is currently published in several languages and plans call for it to be ffi published in many more in the near future. Its network of contributors stretch over all M six continents, and what A World to Win Iacks in financial means, official distribution M channels, and technique are more than compensated by its greatest asset-the active and #$ffiffi enthusiastic collaboration men women ;lsfffi; of and engaged in revolutionary combat in all its ffiffis forms, be it in the guerrilla zones in Peru, the struggle to develop the mass moyements *M against imperialist war preparations in the West and direct them against the system itself, % or the efforts to take advantage of the developing revolutionary situation in India and W# prepare to launch a People's War that could reverberate throughout the world. dffi A World to Win has nothing to rely upon except the masses: and so we call upon class ru# conscious workers, peasants, revolutionary intellectuals-all those throughout the world &# who refuse to accept the old order and are contributing to building the new-to step for- #@ ward and help sharpen and wield this new weapon.

#F-ry ffi #fue E--$"h$ .eeq# f+ il.t*"-: ti.,*-- t*tjja r-l*r.:llt ;,;:. iii ij 4 SOUTH AFRICA BY The ripping sound of the rotting What South African President canvas of apartheid is unmistakable. P.W. Botha has warned is a "dra- And so is the sight of the oppressed matic escalation of the revolutionary straining to break free not just of the climate " is for the proletariat and bloody clutches of white minority oppressed worldwide truly a fine rule, but of the chokehold of impe- development. rialism as well. From urban ghettos to rural townships a revolutionary A Political Crisis Unfolds explosion of the black masses has Over the last year the Azanian mas- spread across South Africa that is as ses and the apartheid authorities righteous and long-time coming as it have faced off in a growing number is furious. Like a wounded beast, the ofclashes, over everything from the regime has struck back with a vicious higher cost of living to police mur- arrogance, killing and wounding ders and repression to the host of hundreds, and arresting many more paltry reforms polishing the terms of during the same period. white domination. But as the bullets Rebels everywhere are eyeing these of the state have brought down vic- upsurges eagerly. They are a taste to tim after scores of unarmed victims, the oppressor of what is in store for gradually a picture has emerged of him, not just from the crevices of the a situation much more acute than at badly eroding facade of his fortress the time of previous major rebellions in South Africa, but more and more against the South African govern- from the masses in tinderboxes of his ment. The shifting political and eco- making worldwide. The crisis in nomic workings of South Africa South Africa is deep and thorough- 1985 translate to deepening crisis in going. It is a situation ablaze with both arenas. # prospects for revolution, one in A subjugated population straining which people are looking for ways to migrate to the relatively better and means to fight, from the tools potential for survival in urban areas of resistance to the political and is colliding head on with the neces- theoretical weapons needed to make sity and the limits of naked political Defiance has become the order of revolution. And from behind this control to keep those areas as white the day for the masses. Each time canvas you can hear the accelerating as possible. The government's resort they set foot in the street, they know pitch of further battle in prepara- to their forcible removal has this someone, or dozens, are likely to be tion. Both sides are looking around, time around-at Crossroads in this killed. The only thing the ruling class fixing their sights, and all forces, past February-provided a glimpse can hold out in return is even grea- including those running panic- of a higher level of organised strug- ter terror. Certainly these develop- stricken in between, are sizing up gle and determination to resist the ments are fundamentally rooted in their strength and organisation, and enemy's tanks and bulldozers. The the savage weight of decades of the testing out their leaders. Who and rapid sequence of events in February most bitter national oppression and what road will take the masses for- and March, including especially the imperialist domination, lifetimes of ward to demolish the intolerable regime's replay of the Sharpeville suppressed rage multiplied geometri- oppression of apartheid and its massacre in Uitenhage, brutally esca- cally and thrown against the back- imperialist grip on the Azanian peo- lated a process already set in motion drop of economic crisis and a parti- ple...or, who can smother the fires through the long series of back and cular chain of events over the past and generate smoke to choke or con- forth incidents over the year : each year. It is in this Iight that the poli- fuse the masses, and above all slow funeral of victims from the last poli- tical crisis this has generated, and in down the "alarming" speed of tical protest became the next round short why these upsurges are posing events challenging the old order. of battle with the regime. the most serious challenge to apar- 5 SUMMONED REVOLUTION

*,f;il % Street fighting at Crossroads, late February 1985. theid's system of rule, becomes clea- had been photographed shaking the transparent. Black students organi- rer. But as we will see later, this is hands of imperialist leaders on their sed a series of school boycotts and laced up with the crisis of the impe- seven-nation tour of Europe, protests, which spread rapidly. The rialist system overall, in which South although a similar tour of Africa elections backfired, boycotted by Africa plays no minor political role. brought few such opportunities with more than 8090 of Coloureds and black heads of state. Indians. During election week, hun- The Momentum... By the time elections were dreds of thousands of black and The South African government had announced for August 1984 for a coloured students boycotted classes, already begun to launch a halfhear- new three-chamber parliament with and when the new, meaningless ted campaign to clean up its image one chamber each for whites, constitution was adopted in early to the outside world by early and Indians, and coloureds (as people of September, townships in a number mid-1984, passing a few petty mixed ancestry are officially classi- of states rebelled. domestic reforms and making some fied), the word " reform " had By August 1984 and in the follo- diplomatic safaris that ruptured with become synonymous with provoca- wing months, the social seams of the past twenty years of official iso- tion. In a country where 4.8 million South Africa were bursting in nearly lation. The newly incarnated whites rule nearly 23 million blacks, all spheres of society : the schools, " moderates " (President Pieter and needless to say, where the issue mines, black towns and some rural Botha and Prime Minister P.W. of the right of blacks to vote was not areas. The townships around the Botha) now running the government even on the agenda, the effort was cities-particularly the industrial areas around Johannesburg and those of whites. Unemployment has clubs, it has repeatedly demolished Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape reached at least 3090 among blacks. them, burning anything in sight that Province-erupted daily. When the Underlying this is the system of could be used to rebuild a dwelling. government announced increases in political control over the black popu- One resident told how he dismant- bus fare, water, electricity and rent, lation, based on the premise that les his house nearly every day to keep the state of Transvaal blew up, and blacks are not citizens, in fact that the authorities from destroying it. by mid-September, 45 youth had they have no political rights at all. " If I don't take it down and they been killed in clashes with the South This is enforced in a set of modern come that day, they seize it and burn African police. Forty thousand peo- leg irons called pass laws, which it. At 3 or 4 in the afternoon, we ple came out to their funerals, and determine where black people can build it again, always before from there it spread to Soweto, work and live, and are the justifica- nightfall. " Crossroads, Evaton and other tion for countless " identity " checks townships. Boycotts became so and arrests. One of the major func- Crossroads and the Further widespread that the schools were tions of the pass laws is to keep Upsurges practically shut down. blacks out of the cities unless they The wave of rebellion that had been In mid-October, the South Afri- have a permit to work there. A picking up speed since September can army was called in. Seven thou- whole administrative structure refer- 1984 started to crest in the squatters sand soldiers alongside police com- red to as the "homelands policy " town of Crossroads near Cape Town bed through the townships of Sebo- has carved up the country into in February 1985, exactly over this keng, Sharpeville and Boipatong. A townships outside the cities and ten explosive situation. The government half dozen municipal black council- bantustans (see map) in the more had been threatening for a long time lors administering the townships on outlying areas. Together with the to tear down the shacks of this town behalf of the apartheid regime were pass laws, this structure, backed up (iterally an intersection of two roads killed in anger by the masses in by open armed terror, exists to rigo- originally) which houses nearly December, and dozens of others rously control the black masses. 100,000 people and forcibly move began resigning. Their homes and Entrances and exits to townships and them out to the bantustans and to a businesses became targets of politi- bantustans are guarded by police new township sitting on a sand dune cal rage. In some cases local admi- fortresses surrounded by three-metre some 45 miles from the city of Cape nistrators backed down off the rent high fences, barbed wire and sand- Town. When word came that the hikes. Miners' unions which until bagged barricades. eviction preparations were under- then had confined their strikes to To contain the flow of blacks to way, the people of Crossroads err) a strictly economic issues carried out the cities and rid themselves of stayed home from work and school o\ major one-day strikes in solidarity unwieldy urban sprawls it can't for two days to defend the camp, with funeral protests. The black easily control, the government has throwing up barricades and attac- trade unions pulled off their first driven millions of blacks out of the king government vehicles and = action against the government, a cities and into the barren land allo- anyone or thing they suspected = general strike in November. cated in which might be approaching to move them ot\ two-day to them bantustans, a On the regime's side, when killing take up only 1390 of the land, and out. In the end, police sealed offthe {q dozens, massive arrests and the ban- the worst land at that. But millions area and more than a dozen blacks o ning of indoor and outdoor politi- of blacks keep pushing back towards lay dead and 150 injured from the cal meetings didn't stop the explo- the cities to try to make a living, to battle. The government temporarily = sion from building, heavier repres- escape the overpopulated, drought- backed down from its eviction plans. sion was brought down. stricken, economically depressed Shortly afterwards, in the towns- reservations. Huge make-shift sett- hip of Katlehong, near Johannes- Economic Crunch and Whips of the lements around the cities have mush- burg, thousands fought with police State roomed despite the arrests and after residents organised themselves South Africa is facing its deepest deportations of those caught in these to protest a rent hike. In the Orange economic crisis since apartheid was "influx control " checks. Outside Free State, long a stronghold ofthe instituted, largely a function of the Durban, for example, the squatter Afrikaaners (the descendants of the dropping price ofgold and other key population is estimated at original Dutch-speaking white colo- exports, along with reduced foreign 1,440,0000, that is, double the popu- nisers) where blacks had tended to investment over the past few years, lation of the city itself. In these be isolated from the rebellions in the which has required bigger loans squatters camps, there are no sewers, cities, 3,000 youth took on the South from abroad. (See accompanying and running water and electricity are African police. But a major turning article in this issue.) In a country scarce. Shelters are most often of point came on March 21st, when the where some of the highest profits in corrugated metal, scraps of whate- spectre of the Sharpeville Massacre the world could be made, exactly ver might serve to make a wall. was resurrected with bloody ferocity because of the apartheid system, the Because the very existence of these in the industrial town of Uitenhage, effects of the crisis weigh heavily on squatters towns is illegal, they have near Langa township. In 1960, a black population already driven become both centres of resistance police had fired on peaceful anti- down, living in conditions that con- and special targets by the regime. passbook protests in Sharpeville, trast grotesquely on every front with Armed with bulldozers, tear gas and murdering some 80 people, woun- 7 ding hundreds and gaoling dozens of POPULATION BREAKDOWN IN SOUTH AFRICA leaders. The 25th anniversary of this mas- Blocks 22,803,688 72.8o/o sacre became a calculated reminder Whites 4,822,745 I 5.40/o of what is on the line in South Coloureds 2,803,17 4 9.0o/o Africa, stunning world public opi- lndions 873,000 2.8o/o nion and raising the ante all around. Totol 3.I,302,607 Police, who had prepared for this annual event because of the recent unrest, attacked the 4,000-strong commemorative march and funeral procession for victims killed in rebel- lions in early March as it tried to cross into the white suburbs just out- side the city of Port Elizabeth. Forty-six new corpses lay in the Coloured streets. The people struck back with whatever was at hand, some fighting with spears and machetes against the lndion guns and whips of the highly milita- rised state. do',,'lJ The masses reacted swiftly and bitterly as townships all over Azania i,,,i,.' blew up, concentrated around the Port Elizabeth area, but stretching to the Cape Province and to the *Officiol Kimberly diamond mining area in figures show the block populotion living in home- the Orange Free State. The govern- londs ond non-homelond oreos (lorgely lownships oround ment responded with more repres- the moin South Africon cities| lo be qbout 53o/o to 47o/o, bvl sion, pulling out the army to guard ihe octuol rotio is probobly closer to 35o/o lo 650/o becouse white areas, ordering private doctors of the ropid shifring towords urbqn qreos. L to refuse to treat wounded blacks so E they could be arrested if they went o to a hospital, conducting house to provoked discussion on all sides of Apartheid's Strategic Role t house searches and in some cases the potential for civil war in South The history of South Africa is a his- o carrying out summary executions of Africa. For 1985, not surprisingly, tory of African struggle against Azanian activists on the streets. The has revealed a different situation and foreign domination and national o government tried to ban the organi- higher level of struggle than at the oppression, a reflection of its conti- E sed funeral protest on March 24th, time of the Sharpeville massacre in nuous occupation for centuries by a z but could not, and in the Uitenhage 1960, or during the round ofrevolts series of invading colonialist fortune \o area, more than 35,000 marched, in Soweto and other places in 1977 seekers, starting with the Dutch sett- (,ra openly defying the armed forces. (which targetted the compulsory tea- lers and continuing under British In fact the masses stepped up the ching of Afrikaans in the black colonial rule. In other African coun- L\ delivery of some immediate punish- schools). And for the ruling class tries, the colonial empires have evol- ment of their own, striking out at clamping down in frenzied alarm to ved into some form of neo- targets they could get their hands on try to stop the movement as before, colonialism to pursue the same basic since they were unable to reach the it is also no longer 1960. This grea- social relations. The historical deve- white culprits of the ruling class test of political crises yet furiously lopment of South Africa as a settler directly. A number of black collabo- staring at them is linked closely with state with a substantial white popu- rators with the regime, particularly the apartheid regime's political role lation has been somewhat different. local administrators and black in relation to the larger imperialist Although different classes have police, were killed, sometimes set on interests they are a pillar for, impe- ueveloped to some degree among fire in the streets. This particular act rialists whose crisis worldwide is each of the three officially defined has greatly alarmed those who are spinning towards a much bigger poli- " races," the country's defining fea- supposed to be doing the tical confrontation that they also ture is white rule, in which the white intimidating. must prepare for-world war with population as a whole makes up a It is this picture of the masses no their Soviet social-imperialist rivals. social base (and provides the gun- longer willing to accept the daily life It is worth taking a closer look at men) for the indirect domination of of apartheid, breaking out in new South Africa's importance to Wes- the country by imperialism, espe- and broader dimensions, drawing tern imperialism to see why reining cially British and U.S. interests. The people from all sections of the black in this political instability is as cru- elaborate and insane system of racial population into the struggle, that has cial as it is difficult. classification concocted in order to justify and disguise this situation power, chemicals, transportation, oil world," as Botha recently put it. defines Africans as blacks in order and coal). The intelligence complex at Silver- to bolster the notion that the descen- Beyond the extremely lucrative mine is also being modernised and dants of the white colonisers are economic holdings that the apartheid equipped to monitor and control the equally African and thus have an system has ensured, there are larger sea and airspace from the South Pole equal claim to this piece of Africa, interests and bigger plans for the to the Tropic of Cancer. It will have as though the fact that white settler Western imperialist bloc at stake. In the capacity to carry out surveillance rule has lasted a long time somehow the face of the biggest economic cri- of more than 50 countries. changes its character. sis in South Africa in 50 years, and The national oppression of the the social instability a system like The Familiar Clash of East and West vast majority of the population is the apartheid inevitably engenders, the To describe South Africa as a regio- source of the privileged position of compulsion to pursue what has nal gendarme captures only one of the whites, of the tremendous super- become risky business in South its military duties. It is important to profits extracted from Azania's wor- Africa only highlights the greater the whole Western-bloc strategy of kers which has been an important imperative : the strategic position waging and winning nuclear war. source of sustenance for the impe- and the role this client state plays in Plans have long been (secretly) rialist system worldwide, and of the the deadly contention between impe- underway to integrate it into the misery of the vast masses of the Aza- rialist blocs East and West. design and strategy of the NATO nian people whether they labour in As preparations towards world alliance, through the creation of a the mines and factories or starve war escalate, this southern flank has South Atlantic Treaty Organisation slowly in the countryside while white indeed a crucial part in them, from (SATO) along with Argentina, farmers monopolise the best land. several angles. The list of industries Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia Thus apartheid is the invention of pumped by foreign investment along and Brazil. the modern slavemaster, refined by with the rich supply of key resour- This role for South Africa has a host of western imperialist archi- ces and minerals figure heavily in sharpened up since the mid-1970s tects as recently as the mid-1900s, this war machine. South Africa is when the Soviet Union gained a solid who while easily qualifying as social basically the only place the Western foothold in Angola and important neanderthals in most every respect, bloc can extract a number of these influence in Mozambique after Por- were quite conscious that their bar- minerals necessary for waging both tuguese colonialism limped out of baric laws backed up by an armed conventional and nuclear war. In Africa in the period when the U.S. white minority were simply the most addition, control of the shipping was still feeling the effects of its crus- etf) 6 efficacious route to superexploita- lanes around the Cape of Good hing defeat in Vietnam. Shortly q\ tion. That is to say, they are not Hope, where South Africa strategi- afterwards, Ethiopia fell to Soviet merely blind racists uninitiated to the cally sits, means control of supplies control as well. In each of these ways of the civilised world : their and materiel to the surrounding sta- countries, the reins of power were = system of apartheid rs a feature and tes in the southern African penin- taken up by bourgeois forces which o= a prop of their imperialist civilisa- sula. This is already a major ques- degenerated into neo-colonial for- a tion, serving in particular to main- tion since the Soviet Union has con- mations, failing to break economi- q tain their position of domination trol of Angola, with Cuban troops cally with Western imperialism while o within it. Its logic is their logic. stationed there, as well as significant to a greater or lesser degree falling It is principally foreign capital that influence in Mozambique. Further, under the political and military sway = has developed the South African nearly 8090 of oil and 7090 of raw of the Soviet bloc as well. In this economy and financed apartheid's materials used by NATO countries period the Soviets also gained impor- highly militarised repressive appara- of Western Europe pass through tant influence in the liberation strug- tus and all of its government bodies, these sea lanes. The other route from gle in Namibia (South-West Africa), from the Army, Navy and Air Force the Middle Eastern oil fields to Wes- which is occupied by neighboring to its costly state administration. Its tern Europe, the highly vulnerable South Africa. police and torture specialists were Suez Canal, is incapable of handling Although by any stretch of the trained by the best U.S. and Israeli larger supertankers. (imperialist) imagination South academies, and its arsenal has been In this situation, South Africa has Africa is worth coveting in the glo- stocked with the most modern wea- willingly complied with its Western- bal conflict shaping up, Soviet joc- pons from the latest arms shows in imperialist assigned responsibilities. keying with the U.S. so far has been France, West Germany, the U.S. For instance, although South Africa centred primarily on Mozambique, and around the imperialist world. has no public agreements with Namibia and Angola. The U.S. and South Africa represents not just NATO, the port facilities at its South Africa have extensive ties with abundant profits for the imperialist Simonstown naval base-originally the economies of these countries, but countries which have considerable constructed by the British before the Soviets have been able to acquire trade dealings there or invest in its World War II and totally renovated military and political power that has private sector (mainly banking, in 1975 to become one of the most enabled them to use these countries mining and manufacturing) and advanced facilities in the southern as springboards for extensive state corporations (arms industry, hemisphere-are available, when manoeuvring. iron and steel, electricity and nuclear needed, to "any country in the free Inter-imperialist rivalry heated up 9

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Heads of NATO countries meet in South

in southern Africa with the invasion e of Angola by South Africa in 1981, €l,a) and the subsequent period of offen- o\ sive by the U.S. which needed to pull together an alliance between the z apartheid government and various pro-U.S. neocolonies in the region. o= A series of gangster diplomatic alliances forced on South Africa's a neighbors were in turn used to bols- q ter the apartheid regime's legitimacy. o This is partially what lay behind the U.S.-instigated accords in Lusaka, = Zambia between South Africa and Angola in February, 1984 and the Nkomati agreement between South Africa and Mozambique one month later. Under the terms of these agree- ments South Africa was to imple- ment a ceasefire with the Angolan government and gradually withdraw its forces from Angola. In Mozam- bique, it was to stop its support for right-wing guerrillas attacking Samora Machel's FRELIMO government, while increasing its eco- nomic "aid " to that country, inclu- ding the enlargement of Mozambi- que's ports to handle the rising volume of South African imports. In return, the pro-Soviet Angolan ruling party, the MPLA (and ll

the revolutionary masses through pro-Soviet organisations such as ANC and SWAPO whichthe Soviets have helped build up. They are pus- hing for some sort of " historic com- promise " power-sharing agreement in Namibia while digging in and hol- ding onto what they've got in the other countries, including maintai- ning the ANC as a sort of a pro- Soviet outpost (and bargaining chip) behind South African lines. Even if this requires some concessions, it is a decision based on viewing the situation from their strategic posi- tion in the region as a whole, not just in individual countries. For the bot- tom line is, even if they can't replace the U.S. as the dominant imperialist power in the region, they must posi- tion themselves so as to be able to significantly interfere with their rivals' ability to use South Africa (and eventually the region) as a giant and key military headquarters for waging world war, while manoeu- vring to some day be in a position Africa to discuss " Meaningful Reform of Apartheid Today." to seize control of the region as a result of an overall change in the Cubans) agreed to stop the Nami- which have repeatedly raided Ango- balance of forces in the world. bian guerrillas of SWAPO (South lan territory. Hardly shocking anyone, the West African Peoples Organisation) Although some of the guerrilla South African government never E from operating out of neighbouring groups bought and sold in these even pretended to withdraw its for- o Angola. Mozambique pledged to cut deals may not have liked it, they ces from Angola, while continuing FE off aid and sanctuary to the pro- could not object too strenuously to provide arms and help step up the tr Soviet African National Con- since they have staked their own work of its puppet guerrillas in - gress(ANC), a South African orga- political futures on that of the two Mozambique. But on April l5th, o nisation operating partly out of imperialist blocs on a world scale. As 1985, more than a year after extrac- Mozambique's territory. for the black regimes which signed ting these agreements from Angola, = These accords also definitely put these accords as well as other front their = " they once again announced \o the Soviets on the defensive and line " states which have made simi- intention to pull out of Angola, 6 along with the heightening of con- lar arrangements with South Africa, openly seeking the withdrawal of rn tradictions internationally added to it seems that like the Soviets them- Cuban troops from that country in 6\ the internal destabilisation within selves they are not capable of envi- return. already crisis-ridden Mozambique sioning and waging a war to the While South Africa may be forced and Angola, in fact jeopardising the death against the apartheid regime. to retreat from Angola during this Soviets' position in the former. Instead they use their need to build period of internal upheaval and rela- The social-imperialists were not up their own forces as an excuse for ted international pressures on South giving up, however. While MPLA strategic capitulation to South Africa's imperialist mentors, any troops were sent to make an ugly Africa's continued existence, which such withdrawal can only be tempo- spectacle of themselves patrolling the is the only possible price for any rary. South Africa itself declined to country's southern border jointly long-term peaceful coexistence bet- " rule out a re-occupation of Ango- with South African troops, they ween the black "frontline " regimes lan territory. " The bombing raids remained adamant about the conti- and South Africa. into Botswana and Lesotho shortly nued presence of 25,000 Cuban com- This suits the Soviet strategy in the afterwards, supposedly to rout out bat troops in Angola until South area rather well, since its orientation ANC strongholds there, illustrate Africa gives up its occupation of at the moment is not to mount a their intentions clearly. Namibia. These Cuban troops are decisive challenge to U.S.-bloc con- supposedly to guarantee Angola's trol of the region, through agree- Alternatives : Of Limp Carrots and security against South Africa, yet ments or through force of arms, but Stouter Sticks have actively avoided directly enga- to gain influence there precisely on The apartheid regime and the bour- ging the South African army units the basis of their ability to control geoisies of the Western bloc which t2

Sharpeville, 1985. stand behind it (those " backstage While this is mainly a response to to a few " excesses " by their police diplomats," as the British press likes the upsurges of the Azanian people, and proposed some legislative to call them) are in very deep trou- the renewed support for the Azanian reforms. On the same day it announ- ble in South Africa. The heat being revolutionary struggle abroad, par- ced the " intended " withdrawal of generated by the masses in South ticularly in the U.S. as well as troops from Angola, the regime Africa, which has in turn inspired throughout the world, is also casting threw out the laws forbidding inter- militant protest in the imperialist an accusing light on their own direct racial marriage in South Africa. This countries, has thrust an uncomfor- role in keeping apartheid afloat. sudden overturning of the noto- table international spotlight on the Thus the sudden clamour for rious " Immorality Acts " would ugly imperialist plantation down in " overdue, meaningful reforms " send the average observer of South southern Africa. While Botha and from the Western bourgeoisies, Africa's obscene behavior on every Company alternately wince from themselves up to their armpits in front into hysterics, if it weren't for this bright light and thumb their complicity and blood, are to divert the sobering and degrading premise noses, the Western imperialist bour- the spotlight back to southern that underlies apartheid : the inequa- goisies behind them can be seen in Africa. The shortJived flurry of lity of the " races. " Hypocrisy small huddles throughout the hemis- threats coming from the imperialist doesn't get close to describing the phere racking their brains, consul- capitals of levying economic sanc- perverse logic behind this : the ting their counterinsurgency specia- tions " to bring Pretoria out of the courts have dropped a few pending lists and scanning their computer Stone Age, " etc. never had any such " criminal " cases against people systems for a solution to this distur- aim. Of course the Western imperia- whose marriages have crossed the bing turn of events. lists could cripple South Africa vir- forbidden colour bar. But the bars The sickening chorus of adjectives tually overnight, if they wanted to themselves still stand. Internal emanating from these imperialist violate their own interests at the Affairs Minister F.W. deKlerk reas- ruling circles abroad in shrill har- same time. If South Africa were in sured parliament that " facilities for mony has undoubtedly already con- the Eastern bloc, well then the world the different races and residential verted many to the anti-apartheid might witness a serious embargo, areas would remain segregated.', movements. Tragic ! shudders Bri- freezing diplomatic ties, and so on Thatcher and Reagan began tish Prime Minister Maggie That- until the proper response came. Ins- applauding these "hopeful signs." cher...Abhorrbnt ! shrieks U.S. tead, the British press, for instance, That is the point, after all. The rapid Secretary of State George argues that "the real pressure to plastic surgery being performed on Schultz...Long live the struggle ! change is to be made in the sports apartheid is of course precisely to cries French " Socialist " Prime arena, right on the rugby field where enable the regime to keep things run- Minister Laurent Fabius. But it really hurts.... " ning just the way they are, to cement beyond this expected demagogic dis- To accommodate their partners' the Western alliance further, and get play of shock over the injustices sud- demands for a facelift, the Botha on with business as usual. denly discovered " down there, " the government is trying, for the As ugly as it is, the sight of the main password put into circulation moment, to change its image to the South African ruling class dressed by the imperialists is reform. outside world. They have admitted only in machine guns and the smal- t3

,,,& nalities in the clergy and business lea- * ders such as Harry Oppenheimer, a " liberal " capitalist in his own r @** right). ffi W The abysmal failure of Kennedy's y" crucial departure speech in Y+ Soweto-where hundreds of demonstrators chanted " Reject Kennedy, Reject Imperialism, " lite- rally driving him out of the country-also dampened Kennedy's message that there are really strong allies in Washington that will help straighten out apartheid. This series of actions was organised by the Aza- nian People's Organisa- tion(AZAPO), which has been active in the current upsurges. '*'.2**:: Some within the bourgeoisie pre- fer less " radical " figures, and pro- mote instead Chief Buthelezi of the Botho's "Law and Order." Zulus, who is head of the one- million strong Inkatha organisation in Kwazulu Homeland. The London lest of fig leaves is both highly ins- banquet tables is the Anglican bis- Finoncial Times characterised him as tructive and a tremendous spur to hop of Johannesburg, Desmond a ' 'fierce but reasoned critic of apar- further exposure and revolt for the Tutu, who comes from the small theid, " who "recognises white masses. It is in this light that the black middle class forces the South fears of being swamped by a one- scrambling has begun in earnest for African government has been half- man, one-vote system, and advoca- qualified demagogues, turncoats and heartedly building up. tes a form of federalism...with built- sleeping pill vendors. Tutu was recently awarded the in guarantees for minorities, inclu- peace (As Nobel Western imperialist ding the white minority. " if E Job Openings in the Black prize for his continued appeals for whites have any legitimate interests o Opposition non-violence, patience and faith on at all as whites.) His refusal to - " The dilemma for the Government the part of the Azanian masses. Like declare Kwazulu an " independent " tr is acute, to say the least," wrote the most of the forces of the bourgeois bantustan, and thus deprive six mil- London Financiol Times. "Out opposition, he has embraced the lion people of their South African o there lies a great majority, hungry " one-man, one vote " formulation citizenship, has won him some cre- E for meaningful reform which will as a way to reform apartheid instead dibility among the masses, though he z improve their lives. But how can it of violently overthrowing it. " We is at the same time hated for his role find black leaders with real autho- must not proceed too rapidly, " in organising migrant workers to o5 rity to accompany it along the path Tutu has declared, or "the white attack the school boycotts back in (lt of reform without losing control of minority might lose ils identity. " ! 1977 in Soweto. d\ the speed and direction of change Perhaps white passbooks could do and without provoking a possibly the trick ? The ANC violent white reaction ?...Indeed, do In August 1983 Tutu and the head Another force, the African National such black leaders exist, or have they of the Dutch Reform Church, Reve- Congress, operates under the highly already been frightened off by the rend Allan Boesak, founded the inaccurate title of national liberation fate of black councillors and others bourgeois opposition alliance called organisation granted it by the Orga- who have become victims of violence the United Democratic Front (UDF). nisation of African Unity. Although against so-called'sell-outs' ? " When the U.S. (as if to underscore long dependent on Soviet support A rhetorical question, but as in their political crisis in South Africa) and promotion, the ANC has also any complex heightening of social dispatched none other than the bour- become somewhat attractive to some contradictions, forces step forward geois liberal senator Teddy Kennedy Western imperialist liberals looking to represent the interests of every in December 1984, it was Tutu and for cosmetic experts. Kennedy, for class, and there are always those who Boesak who officially invited him. example, met with ANC president offer peaceful routes ensuring One of the main reasons for the Ken- Oliver Tambo in Lusaka, Zambia nothing fundamental will change nedy visit was to bolster forces after being taunted out of South when conditions are ripening and the within the UDF and its social base Africa. political mood is volatile. in general (which also includes some Formed back in l9l2 as a refor- One such person much in the news petit bourgeois whites, coloured and mist vehicle to improve blacks' con- and being jetted around to different Indian groups, a long list of perso- dition within the structure of existing l4

society, since the mid-1950s the a group of revolutionary nationalists at large in South Africa, as in the ANC has been run by the largely who had split off from ANC back incredible announcement in June by white and thoroughly revisionist in 1959. In opposition to the refor- the white " extreme right " that it South African Communist mism of the Freedom Charter, this intended to form its own separate Party(SACP), which has long denied organisation, called the Pan Africa- " White Republic" (awhiterepublic that Azania needed national libera- nist Congress(PAC), called for libe- within a white republic ?) based in tion and instead sought to insure ration of the Azanian nation. It the city of Orange. A hardly veiled some continued role for whites as denounced the Soviet Union and was threat by the South African rulers to whites in South Africa. The ANC associated with then-revolutionary any overzealous reformers that too and the SACP crystallised their non- China. much too fast might indeed bring violent, non-revolutionary pro- While accepting Chinese revolu- worse violence. gramme in a document called the tionary military aid, and for a time This does not cut away from the Freedom Charter in 1955, still the waging struggle independent of both fact that the ruling class is very wor- heart of their political line. The sta- imperialist blocs, the PAC never ried and quite aware of the social ted goals of this " charterism," as took up Mao's political and ideolo- dynamite it is piling up under it. it's referred to by Azanian revolutio- gical line and thus proved incapable From the mouths of the British naries today, are the right to vote for of providing consistent leadership to press : " It is impossible to ignore blacks and the nationalisation of Azania's national and democratic the increasing radicalisation of minerals and key sectors of the eco- revolution. It also seems to have township blacks, and especially stu- nomy "by the people," with the been unable to surmount a series of dents, trade unionists and the young. strategic outlook that "South Africa splits that took place in the 1970s, Religion and black nationalism may belongs to all who live in it, black although some forces which came be the dominant ideological strands and white. " out of the PAC were later very active in black politics, but the Marxist The ANC formed an armed wing in the Black Consciousness Move- ideas of socialism and Lenin's ideas in 1961 after it was banned in the ment and the Soweto revolts when of the role of the organised avant- wake of the Sharpeville Massacre in the murder of BCM leader Steve garde are falling on fertile ground 1960. Its armed efforts over the past Biko became a symbol carrying for- among the young." 20 years have been "marked by res- ward the struggle. This touches the heart of the mat- traint," as a very generous writer ter. For the bastion of reaction, of for the unofficial U.S. State Depart- Revolution is Summoning South imperialist domination and national e ment magazine Foreign Affairs des- Africa oppression in South Africa, must be sv't cribed it. The ANC has limited its The structures of apartheid are being shattered-now, or later. And if that S " armed struggle " to sporadic, strained everywhere, and in a few will become possible has a lot do mainly individual acts of sabotage places, the rotting floor boards are with whether a revolutionary party against buildings, railways and being punched through. The revolu- wielding Marxism-Leninism-Mao = power lines. The ANC even prides tionary situation that exists in South Tsetung Thought is fought for. o= itself on being responsible for a total Africa is more apparent than ever South Africa represents an impor- a of only 22 casualties, including today. Forces on all sides with tant flank in the proletariat's world- q hardly any whites, in a five-year various political lines and interests wide advance, and a revolutionary o period until early 1983, which saw a know it and are responding breakthough there would certainly limited ANC offensive in retaliation accordingly. quicken the pace of struggle around = for South African government raids White rule is being shaken. Yet the the world, standing as a tremendous against ANC houses in Maseru, only way for South Africa to conti- impetus and inspiration to the Lesotho. This is testimony to the fact nue to play its strategic and econo- oppressed to wage similar warfare. that the ANC does not seek to deve- mic role for Western imperialism is No wafers or preachers will bring lop the armed struggle of the Aza- for white minority rule to stay right this about. Revolutionary leadership nian masses themselves to seize poli- where it is and be reinforced. The is at the top of the list on the sum- tical power, and does not seek step U.S. and British bourgeoisies as mons being issued today in South by step confrontations with the reac- much as admit this outright. The Africa. tr tionary armed forces to build up the reform train has no tracks ; it's people's armed forces, but only going nowhere because it has now- employs violence to pressure the here to go. More white minority rule apartheid regime to negotiate. Even means more repression. For the at this recent height of its military bourgeoisies, it means blood will activity, the ANC's military line has run, the blood of the masses. continued to reflect its counterrevo- Another element in South Africa's lutionary political goals. calculations is the reaction of its From 1965 until fairly recently the white social base, which is a factor ANC virtually ceased to exist outside not totally under its control. Howe- of Soviet promotional activities and ver, this is generally used to pretend various diplomatic circles. During the government is somewhere to the this period it was overshadowed by " left" of its untamed nazi cowboys t5 Azg,niqn Revolutionqries- Link Up with the RIM!

Azania has erupted. The reactio- derous setback, which the wolves of being overthrown by the nary white settler regime ruling reaction already show signs of pre- imperialists or themselves South Africa today is increasingly on paring, the guiding political forces becoming a new reactionary ruling politically rocky ground, with few must seek to replace the partial power in league with imperialists." options ahead aside from still grea- truths gained so far with the revolu- Who is going to lead the armed ter repression. How much longer tionary science, Marxism-Leninism- struggle for political power in South until a revolution really ls in the Mao Tsetung Thought. And in par- Africa, and on what basis ? Does making, until conscious forces fully ticular, the development of the anyone expect those forces seeking emerge and analyse the revolutio- Revolutionary Internationalist to reform apartheid to launch a nary situation and class relations Movement can be of immeasurable serious armed struggle ? The revisio- there as part of firmly seizing hold assistance in this. Many of the ele- nists of the African National Con- of the opportunity at hand...this is ments needed to forge a correct line gress are also unlikely to launch an a question that revolutionaries and in each country to lead a revolution armed struggle to the death against communists worldwide are asking as to victory already exist in the Decla- the apartheid regime, because they they watch with anticipation and joy ration of the Revolutionary Interna- lack strategic confidence in the abi- another pillar of imperialism under tionalist Movement. The key lines of lity of the Azanian masses to tho- serious assault. The revolutionary demarcation and critical summation roughly defeat the white settler stirrings in South Africa represent a of experience it delineates are crucial regime which is backed to the hilt by very welcome development for the to being able to formulate a specific Western imperialism. These revisio- proletariat and one to support who- analysis and programme to guide the nists are guided by interests and leheartedly. However, they are also Azanian revolution through twists goals which can only be hindered by cause for soberly assessing the and turns to victory. unleashing the revolutionary war of E strengths and weaknesses of our Mao's statement that the cor- the masses required. o class, the international proletariat, in rectness of ideological and political Only a party guided by Marxism- - the class struggle raging there. line determines everything was not Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought can o The conditions are ripe for fan- a moral injunction. And neither is lead the uncompromising, protrac- ning the flames of rebellion in this the urgency to embrace the revolu- ted struggle necessary to smash white o struggle for national liberation. tionary line forged by the RIM and rule and carry out a national and s Although tearing down South Africa apply it to conditions in South democratic revolution to free Aza- z is long overdue, now both the Africa crying out for revolution. nia of imperialism and its local props political part proleta- \o regime's crisis and the strug- As the Declaration warns, as of the international a gle by the masses contributing to it demonstrates the riat's advance on a world scale. (,t are assuming broader and deeper "history This is not cause for alarm or bankruptcy of an'anti-imperialist b dimensions than past upsurges. But demoralisation, but on the contrary, (or similar 'revolutionary more, much more is required. In front' for picking up the tools and linking which led a particular, conscious forces must front') is not by up with the organised revolutionary party, even when step forward form vanguard Marxist-Leninist forces which can aid this decisive to a within party, based on Marxism-Leninism- such a front or forces it process of forging revolutionary lea- (actually pseudo- Mao Tsetung Thought, which can adopt a 'Marxist' dership. A correct political line mer- fully grasp and act upon the social Marxist) colouration. While such ging with the ripe revolutionary con- contradictions unraveling, train the revolutionary formations have led ditions that exist today in South advanced political elements surging heroic struggles and even delivered Africa could unleash extremely rapid forward, and lead the armed strug- powerful blows to the imperialists developments. Whether a new stage gle against the enemy towards the they have been proven to be in the struggle will be born in the seizure of political power-on behalf ideologically and organisationally tempest challenging the outmoded of the international proletariat. incapable of resisting imperialist order in South Africa or whether this The revolutionary masses are and bourgeois influences. Even upsurge becomes a bloody and tra- capable of making giant forward where such forces have seized gic loss for the world's people, ano- strides in the quickened tempo and power they have been incapable of ther bitter lesson for the internatio- politically charged climate of carrying through a thorough-going nal proletariat, is a very pressing battle. But to lead this in a revolu- revolutionary transformation of question. tr tionary direction and not to a mur- society and end up, sooner or later, t6 The Politicql Economy of

Reprinted from the Moy I, 1985 issue of the Revolutionory Worker, lhe weekly newspoper o{ the Revo- lutionory Communist Porty, USA-AWTW The purpose of this essay is twofold. First, to demonstrate that the apartheid system, far from being anachronistic or irrational, is an historically constituted form of superexploitation that is functional from the standpoint of capital ac- aLf) cumulation, and that for this and a strategic reasons the United States o\ and other Western imperialists have a critical interest in the maintenance = of white minority rule in South Africa. Second, to make plain that =o whatever the permutations of o s uperexploitation and t neocolonialism in South Africa, the o salvation of the black masses lies in the destruction of the South African = state and all forms of imperialist rule. To carry forward this kind of analysis, it is necessary to introduce concepts with which some readers may be unfamiliar and to integrate a great deal of data. The apartheid system has its originsin a particular form of settler colonialism and has its /ogic in the capitalist mode of production. Capitalism in South Africa has developed in a very specific context: it has utilized and transformed the rural African economy and has developed under the protective um- brella of and in close conjunction with imperialist capital. Like the European settlers in the United States, the white settlers in South Africa sought to subjugate the in- t7

Apqrtheid

digenous peoples. But while the pression, and enslavement of the rights. In fact, any African residing whites in North America exter- majority of the indigenous popula- in a city, for whatever length of time minated the better part of the Native tion. and even if born there, remains of- American population, the whites in A system of racial segregation has ficially an alien. South Africa did not wipe out the long evolved in South Africa, It is often suggested that South African peoples. These Europeans codified in a body of law dating Africa is a society in which ideology were and have remained a small rul- back to 1913, which has two objec- has run amok. In other words, the ing minority. With the discovery of tives: to preserve the white racial restrictions and prohibitions diamonds in the mid-nineteenth cen- monopoly on political power and to are out of synch with the re- tury, and later gold, the demand for provide a reservoir of cheap and quirements of modern industrial cheap labor stimulated the large- coercible labor for industry and growth. Or it is sometimes argued scale and despotic employment of agriculture. To these twin ends, the that the very imperatives of blacks in the mines. The profits country has been divided ter- capitalist industrialization will gob- generated by the mining industry ritorially. The Land Acts have allot- ble up apartheid. Such arguments ted percent E laid the basis for subsequent about l3 of the country overlook one overarching fact: the o capitalist development and the as "reserves" or "homelands" for extraordinary growth of the South E emergence of a South African the African majority. But these African economy in the postwar capitalist class. densely populated and impoverished period not only rested on apartheid o Like Israel, South Africa is a homelands were never intended to but reinforced it. The lives of black o strategic battlement-a regional sustain the majority of the popula- people are incomparably worse, the E settler-type gendarme for Western tion. Only by working outside these terror they face never more per- imperialism. But whereas the Israeli areas under a migrant labor vasive. Have the practices of U.S. z economy lacks practically any in- system-administered by labor corporations mitigated any of this? \o dependent economic viability-it is bureaus which assign workers to No, as we shall see, they are ac- 6 largely a military machine depen- specific industries or employers- complices, the more criminal for (.!e dent on external assistance-South can the Africans earn enough to pro- their honeyed and pious words; and, Africa has developed a modern vide for themselves and their at this stage of crisis, they play an capitalist sector. Yet while the in- families. Subsequent legislation has all-important role in preventing the dustrial base of the South African regulated the flow of black labor regime from collapsing. The economy is similar in many respects into the mines and industrial authoritarian conscription of and to that of developed capitalist coun- regions: when the contracts of discrimination against black labor tries, and while the white workers miners are fulfilled, they can be sent have yielded average rates of return enjoy living standards that are com- back to the reserves; male workers that rank among the highest in the parable with those of European and are discouraged from bringing their world available to Western capital North American workers, the families with them (many are housed since the end of World War 2. The specific dynamics of capitalist in carefully segregated and police- modalities of superexploitation are development and the structural divi- controlled areas); and of course the real issue lurking beneath the sion of the working class in South there is the pass system. Such influx rhetoric and lies. Africa condemn the vast majority of restrictions have not prevented the the population to the grinding im- growth of an urban Af rican Understanding Superexploitation poverishment that characterizes the underclass. But the territorial prin- In the first volume of Capital,Marx Third World. At the heart of these ciple of segregation has been utilized constructs his theory of exploitation particularities is apartheid-the to effectively deprive blacks of the by drawing the distinction between systematic superexploitation, op- most minimal civil and political the value of labor power and the t8

value produced by that labor power Toble I when it is set in motion by capital. EMPLOYMENT AND AVERAGE MONTHLY WAGES IN SOUTH The benchmark according to which AFRICA wages are paid is the laborer's necessary consumption fund, that is, Mining, Moy 1983 No. Employed Av. Monthly Woge the cost of sustaining and reproduc- ing his or her labor power and rear- Africon 613,452 s 250 ing a new generation of proletarians. White 78,020 r,395 Yet under specific historical cir- Coloured 9.581 430 cumstances, it becomes possible to lndion 659 690 pay labor power below its value, not only for a time and exceptionally but Manufocturing ordinarily and as a rule. Such superexploitation is a predicate of Africon 7 48,700 S szo 1,290 imperialist rule in the colonies and White 3t 6,600 neocolonies. Coloured 240,800 365 lndion 86.400 460 To see this, one only has to look at the superexploited labor that can be found in the assembly plants set Source: Republic of South Africo, Centrol Stotisticol Services up by U.S. companies on the Mex- ican side of the U.S.-Mexico border, in the export processing zones of Toble 2 Asia, on the agricultural plantations SOUTH AFRICA'S RESERVES OF SETECTED MINERALS Latin America, South in and in (percentoge of world reservesl Africa. What are some of the defin- ing characteristics of the labor pro- cess under conditions of superex- Minerol commodity World ploitation? -Firsl, lower wages, Ronk o/o substantially longer working hours, Mongonese ore 8l and a significantly higher intensity Plotinum group metols 72 work per hour (people work e of Gold 49 6rr) harder) than prevail for comparable Chrome ore 58 o\ activities in the advanced countries. Vonodium 2 29 part Second , of the costs of sustain- Andolusite, sillimonile I 38 ing and reproducing this capitalist Fluorspor I 34 = wage is pre- labor often borne by or Vermiculite 2 28 non-capitalist relations of produc- o= Diomond 2 22 tion, such as the "informal" Uronium 2 l6* a economy of the cities (or shan- q Zirconium 2 I tytowns) and, especially, the rural Cool 2 t0 o sectors, where the "household" Phosphole 3 9 plays pivotal labor of women a role. Antimony 3 7 = Third,the workforce is often subject to extreme extra-economic *excluding COMECON countries coercion-be it hired thugs of Source: Republic of South Africo Yeorbook, 1984 latifundistas, tightly controlled labor compounds, or repressive legislation-which enhances the ap- propriation of surplus value. It must Toble 3 be emphasized that these are not RATE OF RETURN ON TOTAL BOOK VALUE, U.S. FIRMS' residual features of the labor process DIRECT FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN MINING AND SMELTING, but elements that profoundly condi- 1953-72 (percentoges) tion the profitability of capital in the world today. Lotin Americo Conodo ond the Coribbeon South Africa Apartheid As a Form of Superex- ploitation 1953-57 8.3 10.4 25.7 20.8 Table l, based on official South 1958-62 5.9 14.5 African government statistics, 1963-67 9.9 19.9 43.3 5.3 12.8 3',I.6 shows the extreme disparity between 1968-72 wages of blacks and whites in South Africa. What, then, is the economic Source, U.S. Deportment of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, vorious issues t9

Toble 4 tion of these so-calledhostels is anin- RATES OF RETURN ON U.S. MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS dication of the regime's commit- (in percent) ment to the migrancy system. The state subsidizes substandard hous- ing, while other costs of sustaining I 967 I 974 I 980 the workforce are thrown back onto Conodo 8.0 14.1 r 0.3 the reserves. Europe 9.5 13.2 13.7 The apartheid system is enforced South Africo 16.2 17.1 31.3 by the most savage means. Since 1960, the South African government has removed 3,500,000 Africans, Accounting procedures between yeors nol strictly comporoble. Coloured, and Indians from white Source: U.S. Deportment of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, issues vorious to designated areas. At least one million more Africans have been and social basis of cheap migrant women on the reserves is an impor- lorcibly relocated within the ban- labor in the South African tant pillar of this subsidy to capital. tustans. A further 1,700,000 people economy? In part, it is the ad- In 1981, 1.3 million blacks from are under threat of removal. All ministrative control of wage levels, the bantustans were working in Africans over the age of 16 are re- which results in a totally different white areas as migrant laborers quired to be fingerprinted and carry and lower wage structure for blacks. under contract. An additional a pass book at all times. A series of ln part, it is the pressure on the 745,000 were commuting from the laws outlaw public gatherings and migrant worker: he or she has bantustans on a daily basis. This ar- resistance organizations, provide for limited time to find a job and if fired rangement presumes a certain level indefinite detention without trial may never secure gainful employ- of production in the reserves. and random police searches. South ment in the cities again. In part, it is Enough must be produced as a Africa has the highest per capita legislation that up until recently lbr- necessary supplement to wages so prison population in the world, and bade unionization among blacks. that the subsistence requirement of of the 130 people hanged in 1980, But all of this interacts with, and is the migrants and their families can only one was white.r directly linked to, the specific be met, but not so much as to lessen The racial restrictions and the of- framework of the production ond migratory pressure to seek out work. ficial violence rest on a definite reproduction of labor power. The The system known as influx control economic foundation. The con- migrant laborer in South Africa has sees to the expulsion of rural blacks tradictions within this foundation E access to means of subsistence out- who try to find urban employment and the increasingly mass and o E side the capitalist sector. More without coming through the of- organized resistance to apartheid F specifically, the indigenous system ficially designated channels. have jolted a system that many tr of peasant production has been Two fundamental features of the thought was impregnable. The transformed into a cheap reservoir cheap labor system now come into declining productive capacity of the o of labor reproduction. focus: the tight control exercised reserves has contributed to upward € The extended family in the over the movement and residence of pressure on wages and accelerated z very process. reserves-by caring for the the black labor force, andthepreser- the urbanisation Struggles \o young and very old, the sick, and the vation of forms subsistence have erupted against rural im- of (rt6 laborer during times of rest, by pro- economy in the reserves, which poverishment and urban control. viding education (for which enables capital to assess black living And the youth, particularly in the 6: Africans must pay) to the young- standards at a lower level than townships, have played a vanguard relieves the capitalist sector and the whites. In point of fact, the family role in defying authority at every state of some of the expense of car- holdings in the reserves are grossly level and in every sphere of society. rying out and paying for these func- inadequate. The growing squalor But why the stakes are so high only tions. Thus the relationship between has produced a tidal flow out of the becomes clear when the apartheid wages and the cost relationship bet- reserves. The economic planners system is seen in a larger, global ween wsges ond the cost of produc- have responded in part by dispersing perspective. tion and reproduction of labor industrial development to new power chonges: the worker can be "growth points" away from the ex- II. APARTHEID AND IM- paid below the value of labor power. isting industrial centers and closer to PERIALIST EXPANSION SINCE At the same time, the reserves fur- rural blacks whose job hunger has 1945 nish capital with an optimal selec- steadily worsened. Blacks from the By the 1970s, multinational corpora- tion of workers to replenish a reserves who do find urban employ- tions owned about 40 percent of brutally driven and rapidly ex- ment can receive authorization to South Africa's manufacturing in- hausted labor force (labor turnover live in the townships like Soweto, dustry. One third of the growth in has been quite high in South African which is outside of Johannesburg. domestic product over the past two industry, and the lifeexpebtancy for In these overcrowded townships, decades has been attributed to black men is 55 years). The single men may live in state-owned foreign capital. In 1983, the value of household and subsistence labor of barracks-the continuing construc- U.S. direct investment was put at 20

$2.2 billion. America accounts for as the imperialist chieftain in South cess was the role of state planning about 20 percent ofthe total foreign Africa. Let's take a closer look at and state investment. Targets for an- direct investment, trailing both Bri- this involvement and put it in nual production were set and a tain and West Germany (see Chart historical perspective. highly integrated network of state A). But it is strong in the growth and corporations created a modern in- technologically advanced sectors: it Laying the Foundations dustrial infrastructure, with large- controls about 40 percent of the oil In viewing developments in the scale investments in iron and steel, market, 33 percent of the car South African economy, it is possi- power generation, oils and market, and 70 percent of the com- ble to discern three distinct periods. petrochemicals, and railway and puter market.2 The big surge in The first, dating frorn the accession harbor development. From the multinational manufacturing in- to government of the Nationalist beginning, this "parastatal" struc- vestments came in the 1960s and Party in 1948 and continuing ture was heavily penetrated by 1970s. Two British banks, Barclays through the Sharpeville Massacre of foreign capital, particularly loan and Standard, are the largest foreign 1960, is marked by the systematic capital and principally from official banks operating in South Africa- elaboration and enforcement of a lending institutions. In 1951, a con- their domestic affiliates controlled system of racial segregation suited to sortium of U.S. banks extended a about half ofthe assets ofthe twenty the requirements of modern $10 million credit to the railways and largest South African banks. But by capitalist growth, and the provision $30 million to the state electrical the 1970s, the U.S. Citibank had of the necessary infrastructure and utility. The World Bank loaned emerged as the fourth largest foreign heavy industrial investment to spur South Africa some $200 million in bank in South Africa. The foreign capital expansion. The second the 1950s for similar endeavors. The banks have played a critical role in period, dating from the aftermath of purpose of these loans and public channeling international and Sharpeville and continuing up to capital outlays was to induce invest- domestic capital into South Africa's Soweto in 197 5-76, is the period of ment by providing low-cost in- "growth machine," and these banks the South African "rniracle." dustrial and infrastructural inputs. have mobilized international credits Organised resistance to apartheid The imposition of apartheid would for the apartheid regime during its was temporarily drowned in blood provide low-cost labor. most perilous moments. Further- and the instruments of repression The South African "miracle" of more, given South Africa's position perfected further, foreign capital the 1960s and early 1970s was ap- as the world's preeminent gold pro- flowed massively into the country, propriately inaugurated by e ducer, the banks have also been ma- and capital-intensive industrial Sharpeville. Fittingly, a year before lr) jor actors in South Africa's interna- development saw the increasing in- Sharpeville, Chase and Citibank led a tional gold dealings.3 terpenetration of different capitalist a consortium which extended $40 : A few observations can im- sectors. South Africa's rate of million of revolving credits to the z mediately be made about the scope growth in the 1960s was exceeded regime; while in the immediate wake and character of foreign investment only by that of Japan. The third of the bloodbath, Chase made a o= in South Africa. To begin with, period, dating from the mid- and much-publicised loan of $10 million, h South Africa has been a major outlet late-1970s to the present, is marked and soon joined a consortium to a for investible capital in the postwar by economic contradictions and lend the regime $150 million. q period. Fully 60 percent of the social conflict generated by the American bankers saw the chance to o U.S.'s total investment in Africa is structural conditions of cheap wage get on the "inside track" and push concentrated in South Africa. Se- labor-all interpenetrated by the the British into a subordinate posi- = cond, these investments have been world economic crisis and mounting tion. What followed was an incredi- highly profitable. A 1983 surYey tensions between the U.S.- and ble inflow of foreign capital. suggested the rate of return in min- Sovietled imperialist blocs, rivalry Substantial American and Canadian ingwas 25 percent against 14percent which has found sharp expression in investments went into the mining in the rest of the world, l8 percent southern Africa. and processing of South Africa's against l3 percent in manufacturing. The immediate postwar years in non-gold minerals. At the same Third, these investments are marked South Africa saw a boom based time, American and European by a high degree of collaboration largely on developments within gold capital entered the hig;h-growth, with South African capital, both and uranium and in which the capital-intensive, and local banks and firrns like Anglo- British were the principal technologically advanced sectors, in- American, which is itself a transna- beneficiaries. More important, the cluding chemicals, electrical tional corporation, and by con- 1950s set the basic patterns for machinery, auto, and computers. In siderable interpenetration between South Africa's economic develop- general, U.S. investments in South units of foreign capital. Fourth, ment. The migrant labor system of Africa have been more concentrated these investments from the outset cheap African labor, and its in manufacturing than those of Bri- have had an important strategic superstructural overlay, was put in tain, and have more often taken the dimension, linked to the expansion place. And on this basis, a series of form of direct ownership and con- and defense of the Western alliance. initiatives were taken to encourage trol, although for political and And, finally, the U.S., though not and facilitate investment in economic reasons this has changed the dominant investor, has emerged manufacturing. Central to the pro- recently. 2t

Chort A Foreign capital has thus played FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA the criticol role in the development Origin of foreign investment, I 983 and configuration of the South African economy. It has not only pushed forward the strategic and Europeon Economic Community 50.2o/o technologically sophisticated sectors but also provided the linkages bet- ween manufacturing, mining, and Rest of Europe 12.8o/o agriculture. Moreover, the repressive capabilities of the regime are very much a function of foreign capital. As a UN-commissioned North & Souih study pointed out in 1979: Americo 25.1o/o "A crucial element in the South African regime's military 11.9o/o minority planning is the expanded capacity to transport military equipment and personnel rapidly at low cost over widespread geographical areas. Large bodies of the limited numbers Source, The Economisl 30 Morch, 1985 of white troops need to be able to shift rapidly from one potential trouble spot to another. Transna- Chort B U.S. DIRECT INVESTMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA tional corporate investment... has (in billions of dollor) helped build up the most modern transport industry on the conti- t'4 s2.5 nent.

In addition, the sheer magnitude of 2.0 foreign investment, including timely D loans, has cushioned the regime, E freeing up resources for an awesome o military machine (ARMSCOR, the - 1.5 F public-sector arms manufacturer, is tr now the third largest corporation in - South Africa). To sum up, foreign o 1.0 capital, "sometimes in competition, E sometimes in consortia, col- z laborated with the parastatals and \o mold 0.5 mining finance houses to (rr6 South Africa into an increasingly 6\ dominant regional subcenter. "5 0 By now the reader should have 1950 '65 ',70 ',7 5 ',80 ',83 some sense of the Western bloc's Source, U.S. Deportment of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, enormous economic role in South voflous rssues Africa. But the implications for im-

Chort C FOREIGN CAPITAL AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REGIME lN THE I970s

Soulh Afri co n Gove rn m e nt Stote Corporotions " P ri vately " H el d Corpo roti o n s Administrotion ARMSCOR (militory) Anglo-Americon Corporotion, plus six other Police ISCOR (iron ond steel) mining finonce houses Army ESCOM (electricity ond nucleor Multinotionol corporoiions: 40 percent of Airforce SENTRACH EM (chemicols) South Africon monufocturing Novy SAH&RR (horbors ond roilwoys) Multinotionol corporote bonks: 50 percent SASOL (oilfrom cool) of 20 lorgest South Africon bonks NATREF (stote oil refinery) IDC (stote developmenl corporotion) Etc. 22

perialist accumulation deserve fuller Africa. In 1976, all but about l0 per- from cheap black labor (even when examination. International capital cent of Union Carbide's African they do not directly employ it). The has, on the one hand, been able to workers earned less than a minimum state corporations have sold basic in- profitably tap South Africa's health and decent living standard for puts to foreign enterprise at or below mineral resources, and, on the other, a typical South African family. In cost. ISCOR, the state steel corpora- been able to sustain high rates of 1976, mineworkers in the United tion, has sold cold rolled steel at 25 return in capital-intense sectors and States were earning on average percent below British prices. And operations in that country. South almost six times the average wage of low wages for black workers Africa has figured prominently in black workers employed by Union employed in the iron and steel in- the postwar expansion of Western Carbide in South Africa.6 dustry are a major reason it has been capital. Let's begin with the question Capital is always eager to exploit possible to hold prices down or keep of minerals. cost advantages. And in the postwar t hem at internationally competitive period, the increased demand for Ievels: the average monthly wages of The Minerals Connection raw materials, given the exhaustion black workers in 1976 were less than Table 2 highlights South Africa's of domestic supplies and new in- a quarter of those of whites share of the total world reserves of dustrial requirements, heightened employed in the industry. ESCOM, selected minerals. South Africa is a the search for mineral resources, the state electricity corporation, has veritable storehouse of strategic while advances in international charged lower rates to industry and metals. Consider the case of transport rendered overseas invest- mining than to private consumers. chromium (sometimes called ment even more profitable. on the Here, too, low wages to African chrome). It is used to harden steel, foundation of superexploitation, it employees have been a significant and mixtures of chromium are used was possible for a time to obtain factor. In 1982, blacks in the con- in armor plate for ships, tanks, high profits from such raw materials struction industry earned on an safes, and the cutting edges of high- investments and to pass on benefits average monthly basis, l8 percent of speed machine tools. The average jet in the form of lower input costs to what whites in the industry did; in engine contains 5000 pounds of the other capitals using these materials. the electrical industry blacks earned metal. Europe and Japan have no Furthermore, one of the specific 26 percent of what whites did.? In- domestic sources of chromium, and features of the postwar alliance terestingly, both ISCOR and U.S. import reliance amounts to erected on the ashes of World War ESCOM received substantial loans about 90 percent of domestic con- 2 is its highly integrated economic from American banks in the 1970s. sumption. South Africa is the character. Thus West Germany and Thus, even where individual firms e!o a number one supplier of chromium Japan, both heavily dependent on employ a largely skilled white labor and other major strategic minerals: imported raw materials, oriented force (receiving relatively high t antimony (which strengthens lead), economic development to a new wages) or where firms have offered = manganese (important industrial spatial configuration of capital that token upgrading and equal pay to metal which removes impurities and included, importantly, wider access blacks a la the Sullivan Principles o= strengthens steel), platinum to Third World raw materials (of which more, later), they benefit a (valuable heavy metal which resists (Japan obtains about 50 percent of from the fact that low-wage African q heat and is used to speed up its chrome from South Africa and labor reduces the costs of local in- o chemical reactions), and vanadium Zimbabwe). Cheap raw materials frastructure and inputs (as well as (which resists attacks by chemicals were an essential ingredient of the some foodstuffs originating from a = and whose alloys do not rust, also postwar boom. The story is etched, highly developed agriculture, which conducts heat rapidly and can be in part, deep in the veins of the also makes use of cheap labor). Fur- used to toughen other metals). South African mines, if not in the ther, corporate taxes can also be But import dependency is not the veins of the black mine laborers. held down, since the state does not only issue here. Fabulous profits undertake any significant social in- have been reaped in the mining, Profiting From Apartheid vestment for the black majority. At smelting, and refining of these The systematic depression of black the same time, the local privileged resources. From the 1960s through living standards, as part of a system white minority constitute a substan- the mid-1970s, U.S. investments in of coerced wage labor, has direct tial domestic market for durable mining and smelting grew rapidly. and indirect effects on profitability goods. ln the 1968-73 period, this invest- in a way that is perhaps clearest in Foreign investment is undertaken ment grew at an annual rate of l5 the manufacturing sector, where the and dominated by the largest and percent, compared to 5 percent for U.S. has the bulk of its investments. most strategic units of capital of the the rest of Africa. Table 3 provides To be sure, manufacturing capital imperialist economies. The pro- some explanation for the robustness has sought to avail itself of low fitability and stimulating effects of of this growth in the expansionary wages, a factor of obvious impor- this investment, particularly in the phase of the postwar spiral. Rates of tance to labor-intensive operations. Third World, contribute vitally to return ranged between 20 and 43 But firms and sectors marked by the reproduction of interna- percent over a twenty-year period. sophisticated technologies and tionalised capital. This is a major In the mid-1970s, Union Carbide capital-intensive machinery and theme and thesis of America in opened a chrome refinery in South equipment derive important benefits Decline.* One concrete example: in- 23 vestments in the South African But the price of gold has plummeted transport sector were the leading over the past four years, as have the edge of foreign capital's manufac- prices of other export commodities, turing expansion in the country in mostly minerals. This is a principal the 1960s and 1970s, and the ability contributing factor to the country's of this investment to lower their current l4 percent rate ofinflation. total, worldwide costs facilitated At the same time, South Africa their competitive expansion in depends heavily on the rest of Africa Europe and North America in that as a market for intermediate and ad- period. vanced goods: over one-half of its Table 4 compares rates of return chemical exports and about three- on U.S. manufacturing operations quarters of its machinery and equip- in Europe, Canada, and Latin ment manufacture exports were sold America with the performance of its to the rest of Africa at various times manufacturing investments in South of the 1970s. But the crisis gripping Africa. And these figures understate the continent has dried up many of both the true level of U.S. invest- these markets. Now if we stop to ment, since some U.S. capital is in- think about the role of cheap and vested in South Africa through the brutally treated black labor in the firms of the United Kingdom, South African mining industry and France, and West Germany in which the relationship between the system U.S. capital participates, and the of apartheid and the fact that the true level of profits, since U.S. most advanced operations of foreign overseas firms have devised all man- capital on the continent of Africa ner of accounting practices to under- are concentrated in South Africa-a report profits. Although GM, GE, phenomenon which, in the context Mobil, and IBM are trumpeting of overall imperialist domination of their new found sense of the continent, has contributed to im- brotherhood, apartheid is the real balanced development in Africa- music to which they dance. The pro- then we see that South Africa's ex- blem is they've never been in deeper port difficulties are linked with the trouble. very logic and structure ofthe South E African economy. o III. CRISIS AND THE STRATE- The second major cause of the - GIC DIMENSION. economic slowdown concerns o foreign investment. The private sec- Economic Slowdown tor has not been gaining as much o South Africa is in the throes of the foreign capital over the last few most serious economic crisis since years. Actually, net foreign invest- the 1930s. The regime also faces, in ment in South Africa's private com- = \o the tempest of the black masses, the panies fell by $360 million between 6 most serious challenge to its ex- 1976 and 1984. That capital inflows (5 istence. These are hardly unrelated begin to taper offin 1976 has rather ar. facts, although one must be careful obvious significance. Soweto is not to reduce them to one another. erupting and the global crisis is tak- ::11,11rr1;;1n,,1r11i;:,lll1,j,l::'ll::t, llri:i rl'l'i:ir::' I:"j'':I The economy grew by only 3 percent ing its toll on capital exports. In- ''t"I:':' 'l: a year between 1978 and 1984; there vestments in South Africa now bear was an actual decline in gross a greater risk premium and interna- vast structure of military, ad- domestic product in 1982-83, and tional capital has less freedom to ministrative, and financial control. economic growth is likely to fall this restructure globally. Nevertheless, This is perversely apparent in South year. At the level of external South Africa has managed to Africa, and increasingly costly. State economic linkages, there are two preserve a net surplus of capital in- spending is about 25 percent ofgross major causes of the slowdown. The flows. This is mainly because the domestic product. The state must first involves the country's export government and nationalised in- spend on white farmers and civil ser- position. Exports account for about dustries have dramatically increased vants to maintain its social base; 25 percent of gross domestic pro- their international borrowings. But, over one-third of the white workers duct, and gold accounts for almost as we shall see, these loans have a are employed by the state. It must one-half of the country's exports.s decidedly and increasingly strategic cocoon and prop up certain in- South Africa was able to ride out cast. dustries for economic and strategic some of the storms of the global Imperialism thrives on superex- reasons. And it organises immense crisis of the mid-1970s by taking ad- ploitation internationally. And its military force. By 1978, South vantage of skyrocketing gold prices. economic network is overlaid by a Africa had an army of 55,000 regulars and 130,000 reserves, been pushed out of the reserves, vital quartermaster as well. By the equipped with 362 planes,9l forced to lead a shadowy and early 1970s, South Africa could helicopters, 170 tanks, and 1600 ar- desperate existence in the urban manufacture a wide range of ex- mored cars. The defense budget for areas. Yet the institutional and plosives, ammunition, small arms, 1984-85 was twice its level of only economic arrangements that have napalm bombs, guided missiles, air- four years ago.e One of the con- been discussed in this article remain craft, radios, mine detectors, and tradictions of the apartheid system at the foundation of the South other classified electronic equip- is that in the past period it has grown African economy. ment. This had been made possible more difficult to increase the inflow It has been necessary to "moder- through licensing agreements with of capital and raise the rate of ex- nise" this system of Western firms, while the auto plants ploitation to a level commensurate superexploitation-limited attempts in South Africa can be rapidly con- with the needs of holding the entire have been made to upgrade the skills verted over for military production. enterprise together. Which brings us levels of black workers, to expand Further, the Americans, French, to the conditions of those upon education, and to increase mobility. and West Germans all played parts whom that enterprise rests. But such changes remqin within the in helping develop various aspects of framework of apartheid. This is not South Africa's nuclear capability. Crisis and the Black Masses a matter of irrationality or stubborn- South Africa is intended to function The combined effects of capital- ness but of things turning into their both as an economic rear and for- intensive development and the cur- opposite: one of the safest in- ward staging area for military opera- rent recession have produced an vestments in the world is now rated tions in a global confrontation bet- unemployment rate among black as one of the riskiest; a highly pro- ween the two imperialist blocs. people admitted to be in the range of fitable system is now bursting at the And so the West has sought to 30 percent. It is probably higher, seams. The regime is making a show bolster the regime even, and since official statistics do not ade- of concessions while mainly tighten- especially, in the face of mass quately capture the employment ing up and clamping down. It must resistance and mounting economic status of black women. Only about reinforce restrictive measures that difficulties. U.S. support for the a third of the black population ac- limit black numbers in the urban regime is as predictable as it is tually lives in the bantustans; and of areas in order to safeguard its rule obscene. Five months after Soweto, those who do, only about one-tenth and deflect the demand for majority when the gold price rvas falling can eke out a living from the land. rule in a unitary state. The result, precipitously, South Africa asked e Figures for black income in the ban- however, has been the further the International Monetary Fund ab tustans declared independent are not discrediting of its tribal col- for a new loan. Not only did that s available (although it is known that laborators and homeland schemes, loan go through, but during 1976 they contributed 2.3 percent of and an unprecedented wave of and 1977 , when the regime was fac- = South Africa's total gross domestic strikes, protests, and violent ing protest and pressure, South product in 1980). But for the ban- rebellions. Africa received more money from o= tustans not declared independent by the IMF than any other country ex- 1980,5,163,150 people had no The Geopolitical Context cept Britain and Mexico. And "the a measurable income. The infant mor- The growing crisis and instability IMF loans, as it happened, almost q tality rates for blacks in some rural within South Africa must be seen exactly corresponded to the increase o areas are among the highest against the canvas of its geopolitical in South Africa's arms spending = anywhere in the Third World. importance to the Western alliance's during that time."rr What is called Malnutrition has grown even more preparations for war against the "constructive engagement" and acute in the countryside due to the Soviet-led imperialist bloc. The what has come to be known as the severe drought. In the cities, where region's mineral resources are part Sullivan Principles (governing the majority of the black population of the lifeblood of the imperialist employment and pay practices of lives, the estimated percentages of countries; the West cannot lose con- American firms in South Africa) are black households with incomes trol over them. Further, huge quan- but the latest efforts to fortify and below the Household Subsistence tities of Persian Culf oil travel prettify the regime. On their own level were: Johannesburg, 62 per- around the Cape of Good Hope at terms, the European Community cent; Pretoria, 58 percent; Durban, the tip of South Africa on the way and Sullivan measures to 65 percent; Port Elizabeth, 70 per- to Europe and the Americas. The desegregate are pitiful: less than one cent. In real terms, Africans' wages South Atlantic sea lanes are of im- in three British companies have are decreasing.ro mense economic and military impor- desegregated their lavatories, and To really get at the contradictions tance. The Soviets have been only .007 percent of blacks working of the apartheid system of cheap and building up their naval presence; the for U.S. signatory companies hold coercible labor would require fuller Western Alliance used the Falklands jobs that involve supervision of investigation and analysis. But this War to test and improve its naval whites (yes, the decimal point is in much can be said. As a result of capabilities. South Africa is not only the right place).rr Through torture, declining productive capacity and a gendarme of Western interests in economic assistance, and deception, deteriorating social conditions, in- Africa-as was made evident in the West is trying to prevent South creasing numbers of blacks have Angola and Mozambique-but a (Continued to poge &8) Crossroacls. lnterview with Azonion Revolutionories "Growing Up in Azo,niq Meqns Yott're Alwqys Angry"

Following is the edited text of o J.: I would see the current situa- Congress (PAC) in the early 1960s, recent inlerview with four Azonion tion as being the weak point for the you had a state of fear at home, revolutionory octivists tempororily regime because I see oppression be- where people were scared even to living obrood.-AWTW ing two-fold. First of all, ir is talk about what they would call psychological, and there is the brute politics let alone mention the letters Q: For almost a year now Azania physical force of the state. When the ANC, PAC, POQO-which was the (South Africa) has been the scene of government loses that hold, that military arm of the PAC. So with tremendous upheaval; Western im- psychological hold on the people, it that kind of state, or with that kind perialism's apartheid "fortress" has is very weak. Like for instance, if of hold on the people, it ensured the been under siege and severely you take the period after the bann- continuation of oppression. But shaken. What does the situation ing of the African National Con- when you lose that kind of look like in Azania today? gress (ANC) and Pan Africanist psychological hold over the people 26

and all you have to maintain power much time talking about these things funerals, that is a fact. But when the is the physical force, I think that is at home because she was not always going gets rough, the Boers get out when the state is most vulnerable. I there-either she would be at work of town. I remember in 1976, see the situation at home being at or I would be at school and when we around August-you know the that state right now. People have were both home we were tired and unrest started in Soweto around been made psychologically con- rarely talked. Also my mother was June 16, and then in July in the scious and they are psychologically in a trade union but there was never Western Cape and then ready to fight the government. That really any outward activity as such mushroomed all around the coun- is why I would say that at this stage on her part-I mean our parents try. In Port Elizabeth it began the South African government is would encourage us in certain things around August and I remember that vulnerable to civil war, to a suc- but they did not engage in that much for two days you could say that the cessful revolt. outward activity themselves. I think townships were almost virtually Q: How does this breakdown of that the students and the activities of liberated in the sense that the police the government's psychological hold the students have had an effect on were afraid and unable to come into over the Azanian people manifest our parents-not only are the the townships.... itself today? students ready to fight but they are J.: So far everything said has been J.: The clearest examples are the influencing the parents. overwhelmingly on the side of depic- uprisings all over the country. These ting the country as bordering on civil are not only happening in certain Can This Upsurge Be Stopped? war. But there are other difficulties areas that one might see as the Q: Is the open defiance of the that should not be forgotten. "politicised" areas like Soweto, government by the Azanian masses Although the psychological hold Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. a new development? over the people might have been These are urban areas where people H.: I wouldn't exactly call it broken, the South African state will have more of a political and interna- something new because it has been still concentrate on using its brutal tional outlook, places where there going on for a while. I'lltake it back physical force. And with that, they are generally more intellectuals. to l9'76, when the funerals started to might be able, if the people cannot These are areas one would see as be- be really political funerals. I challenge it sufficiently, to hold the ing the areas with a political flow of remember that for a while you had line and might even be able to not conversation and action. But when funerals of key political figures and just hold it back but to actually go you have very remote and little areas they were never really made that back to a state of intimidation of the around the country responding to political. You had exceptional cases people again. That might be possi- elo the oppression without necessarily that were funerals of leaders, known ble. For instance if you look at the a having had people come to address leaders like the funeral of Steve Biko 1950s, the people were mobilised S them and what not, then the hold is and the funeral of Sobukwe in and organised by the various clearly broken. People are respon- Craaf-Reinet. It was a given that organisations. You had the cam- = ding spontaneously. There have those funerals had to be political paigns all over the country-the De- =o been attempts to coordinate the ac- events. But the funerals of other fiance Campaigns, the Women's tion but a lot of the action is just political figures, maybe even people Campaign of 1956 and so on. But o local effort. So when people are ris- who had been known to have been when the government clamped down q ing up all over the country like imprisoned in Robben Island, the in the early '60s they were successful o that-although not in unison so families always tried to make the in causing the lull that there was far-that is a manifestation of the funerals just funerals and leave the after 1963 with the arrest of the = hold breaking. philosophy out. From 1976,'77 ,'78 leaders and the banning of organisa- Q: Can you provide some ex- and onwards, funerals have really tions. I don't know if they can be amples of this mood change among been transformed into political back to that kind of thing now. To- the Azanian people? funerals. The government used to go day it is not only a concentration of R.: One good example is a conver- in after the funerals and arrest a few intellectuals as it was in the sation I recently had with my individuals-maybe those who had 1960s-that is what the organisa- mother. I knew that she was con- spoken during the funeral and a few tions seemed to be at the time, a few scious about our political situation others who had just attended the doctor so and so's in the leadership. but never did I actually hear her say funeral-in order to intimidate the The rebellions today do seem to be that there were amongst us sell-outs people so that you didn't have that much broader based. I don't know and collaborators-those town many attending the funerals. But if the government can do what it did councillors and people who work for right now the people are prepared to in the past, but that might be a the government in the townships- go out in large numbers, you have possibility.... and that it is not brutality between many thousands attending those H.: I would like to comment on blacks and blacks but that it was bet- funerals. It is an expression of the this point. As successful as the ween those who are conscious defiance of the people and the level government was in the '60s, when among us and those working with of their defiance. And to a certain they again clamped down on the the system, eliminating those work- extent it is a sign of the weakness of people's organisation in the '70s, ing with the system. It came as a sur- the regime. The Boers do come in there was not the same kind of lull. prise to me. We never spent too and shoot and arrest people at the When the 1977 bannings occurred il l. i 27

the first thing people did was tions and killings, it is an instrument you have no way of finding out what organise again. The rebellions that they can no longer use as a threat happened to her until three days or are occurring today have been sim- over the people. a week when you will either hear a mering since the 1970s. There were R.: It used to be that "hippo"- neighbor say that your mother has many areas where rebellions occur- an armored car that is called a hippo been picked up or hear from so- red but were not reported. I'm also and is just as huge; it probably looks meone just released from jail that sure that today there are many areas more like a German tank-was the they actually saw your mother in where the situation is very, very state symbol of fear. But as was prison....This is growing up in that serious, where the contradictions mentioned earlier, people reached a system-your parents are never sure with the system are very sharp, but point where they no longer feared that when you leave in the morning there are no reports on what is go- that. In terms of the force they use, you will be back at night. When ing on there. There has been a lot of I just wanted to bring out how many you're growing up if you crave to go revolutionary activity that has gone people don't have a concept of what to the zoo, you cannot. Today they on since 1976. Between 1976 and the state does. In the'60s, after the want the world to believe that bar- 1978 there was a period of confron- leadership had been arrested, every riers have fallen down, now blacks tation with the government, con- time there was a court case you knew can go to the zoo. But there is still tinuous confrontation. At this time that at the end of it some people the Group Areas Act and if you are they might try, in fact they have tried were going to be killed. In 1976 most black you can't be in Johannesburg banning meetings and gatherings- people who had been shot would be after hours and if you are you have and they might even try banning picked up in open trucks. In the to have that pass again. But even organisations again-but I think trucks there would be people who having the pass is not enough that at this time they will not be able were alive thrown in with dead peo- because the police have to open the to suppress the people and their ple and people whose bodies had pass to find out if you are allowed to determination. The question of been mutilated. The trucks would be in that area of Johannesburg ac- preparation is important. As much take the people, dead and alive, to cording to section l0-lA. Section l0- as the people have conquered fear the police stations and dump them. lA says that you are in Johan- and the situation is ready for engag- If you were alive and did not scream nesburg because your parents sell ing in a full scale confrontation, and yell there was no way you would their labour in Johannesburg, you there also has to be preparation. The be picked up, and I am actually sure were born in Johannesburg, or you people have to be armed because we that there were people who were are in Johannesburg because you don't need people to be sacrificed in buried alive. yourself are selling your labor. suicide missions. The people need to Otherwise you cannot be in Johan- E have more than just stones. There Growing Up Angry nesburg. It is not enough to just have o must be preparation. Q: What is "daily life" in South a pass, ifthat pass does not have that n Africa? stamp you will find your way into a tr "Hippos" No Longer Intimidating H.: ...Daily life means seeing your van that will take you someplace Q: What kind of actions has the parents helpless when their children else. So the Group Areas Act covers o government taken to suppress the are being chased by the police in and you while you are in white areas. E current upheavals? out. It means seeing your door Growing up in that system is know- P.: is = One thing that now that they kicked in at early hours of the mor- ing that you are not free, that you \o have used the army the only thing ning, seeing your kids picked up and are not settled in your own country. a really left for them to fall back on is beaten in front of you, seeing your There is no piece of land that you Ut d\ help from outside the country-for parents being abused and called can call your own. There is nowhere instance bringing in the U.S....The names-your mother being called you can feel that you belong except greatest influence on this generation, bitch and your father called this and where they decide you belong-on I would say, has been the South that and assaulted. That is daily life? the reservation. Growing up in African Students Organisation, Daily life means seeing all these Azania means knowing that if you SASO, an early Black Con- Western capitalist countries using all are white that somehow you are sciousness organisation. In the 1960s this rhetoric about freedom and free superior, you are intelligent, you they arrested and killed the leader- enterprise and all this nonsense when have the right to everything in life- ship of the organisations and con- they are conniving in our oppression in fact, you can make decisions for tinued like this up until the 1976 under the name of fighting oppres- blacks because they cannot make uprisings. After 1976 nothing they sion and communism.... their own decisions. Growing up in could do, none of the brute force R.: ...Growing up in that society Azania, especially during the times they could use, was able to stop the is knowing that maybe your mother where you have reached a height of people. It's not that the government won't come home because when she consciousness and know that did not do what they did before, it's came home there was a police van at something is wrong, means that you that they could no longer contain the the station and people were being are angry all the time. You cannot struggle and revolutionary fervor of asked to show their passbook. contain your anger because everyday the people. The people can no longer Growing up in that society means you are reminded that someone else be intimidated by the power of the that if your mother is picked up at is running your life, that someone state. Even with continued deten- the bus station or the train station else is sending you off to the mines 28

to dig for gold and diamonds and live in cities, are l5 to 20 miles away sold your labour to some white there is no return for you or your from the cities and those rich areas. employer. So your status seems sort family and your people. So you are Another feature in the townships of permanent but it never is. Now this volcano that is ready to erupt. that we need to mention are those there is supposed to be discussion in houses where the elite live. What the Botha regime about making Peo- Townships and Cities happens is that when outsiders, ple who live in the township more Q: Much of the upheaval in South especially Americans, when they go permanent and making laws that say Africa today has been centred in the to Azania they always go to this part you can lease a house for 99 years urban townships. Can you describe o[ the township. To paint a picture and stupid things like that. But none what these townships look like? of how the township actually is, we of this changes the basic physical J.: Under the Group Areas Act need to say that before you get into separation. each city in South Africa is supposed what we call the boondocks, or the to be divided up into an area for centre of the township, you will find Beer Halls, Gas Stations and Police whites, an area for Africans, an area those elite. Most of them have been Stations for Coloureds and an area for In- in professions like teaching, nursing. J.: ...1 wanted to talk about one dians....Most of the physical divi- These are the ones who have been other aspect of the townships aside sion of the people was developed in able to take the four room matchbox from the police station, that is, the the 1940s and '50s. This is when you and add on rooms to it. So these beer halls. First of all, these are used had the physical separation of peo- households look much nicer. In to generate revenue for the ple who until then had often been Johannesburg, every Wednesday townships. It is like the ghettos in the living together. This process of there are bus tours where foreigners U.S. where there are so manY liquor separation is also what is going on are taken on tours of Soweto and are stores. The conditions of the masses with the relocations. I know that in shown these houses. The strange are exploited even more. It is just the the'60s in the place where my grand- thing about these houses is that they same in the townshiPs in South mother lived there were mixtures of are built along main roadways. So Africa. One other feature you'll find people, Africans and Coloureds, when you are a foreigner or a in the townships is that around every and they were broken up and tourist, you tend to see those since corner there is achurch. So you have moved. This is the general picture. you stick to the main roads.... the police station, the church and the Physically even the houses in the dif- Another feature is that in every beer halls. In riot situations people ferent townships are different. Just township, when you enter the burn up these places and the first a by looking at them you see the steps township there is a police station, a structure that the government will €rft of legal status of the people. If you beer hall and a gas station. None of rebuild is the beer hall. TheY will o\ go to the white areas you have some these are ever owned by us. The even put up a temporary structure of the most beautiful mansions. whites own them and they find before the beer hall is rebuilt. They z They do have houses for poor whites Africans to manage them. So when have even hijacked this certain and they have the same kind of you walk in there you get the impres- brew-a home brew that is PoPular o= uniformity that you see in our sion that these beer halls and gas sta- in the townships-theY have hi- t\ townships, but they are much bigger tions are owned by the blacks. Away jacked it and made it even more a than anything you will find in the from the beer halls and the gas sta- dangerous to drink. lt might take q townships. In the lndian and Col- tions are what are called hostels. them years to rebuild us another o oured areas you will find smaller This is where they house migrant post office or to rebuild us any other houses but they still have greater workers. They are migrant in the valuable structure, but they always = lacilities than the African sense that they have just come into start with the beer hall. It keeps peo- townships, things like water systems the townships. Those of us who have ple away from rationalitY and Pro- and electricity.... lived in the township came into the motes things like alcoholism and so R.: I want to add something about township as migrant workers but the forth. These beer halls are used and how the cities are set up. The struc- tendency is that you live in the owned by the municipalities. I think ture of the cities is such that the rich township, you have kids there, and that they have now been given over whites live the farthest away from then because you have lived in the to these town councillors. They use everybody else. These are the township for X number of years you it to generate revenue.... suburbs and then there are the are qualified to stay in there. This R.: ...Another thing that I reallY downtown areas and the shopping makes you different from the cur- want to pick up on is the hostels, areas. Poor whites live around these rent surge of people who are moving those structures that house migrant areas. Then you have a distance of in. It feels like you are settled but labourers. Before, hostels used to about eight miles from the you are not, because the just house male labourers. But now downtown and this is where the In- passbook-which Africans carry, recently you find hostels, especially dians live. About five to eight miles no one else but Africans carry a in an area called DiePkloof in away from the city is where the Col- passbook-states that you are born Soweto, where you find female oureds live-also separate from the of migrant parents who came to the labourers who live in these hostels. Indians. Furthest away are the township to sell their labour and The conditions there are so bad, they Africans. African townships, which have been there for ten years, and are worse than prison. You find that are not cities because only whites can since you have been there you have maybe 4 to 8 women are housed in 29

a room, an 8 by l5 room where they political groups, or they are otten will have stacks and stacks of beds. political groups. This is what they sleep in at night, and then they will have lockers in a Getting Socialised separate room. The locker is where J.: You get socialised to your situa- you put your clothes, your toiletry tion as a black person very early. and everything else that is personal. You are black and because of that The living condition itself is so you live in this township. There are inhuman-it is hard to make a rela- certain things you are told from a tionship as it is with strangers-but very young age-you cannot sil. the situation in which they live there, that's a white man's place and makes life even harder. First of all, you can't go in there, that's a white they actually never live in there ex- man's place-you are told these cept over weekends when the boss is things by your own mother even "nice" enough to have given the before the white man tells you. So women a day off. They wake up in from a very young age you become the morning and go to work and, aware of the political situation. I like it was said before, housing in the mean to the extent that you don't township is more a place where you even say anything to a white kid that put your head after a long day's goes by. You are even scared at some ;i;+i work. Another thing I want to stages, a white kid could slap you fii+ highlight is that the hostels, even and the first thing that strikes your though they are in the townships, are mind is that if I slap him back I will structured in such a way that they be arrested. You will feel that way as are farthest away from the township a five-year-old... itself physically. Secondly, the R.: I just remembered something system makes it such that the people very strange, well it is strange now in the townships feel that those peo- but I remember it used to be fun. On ple who live in the hostels do not Saturdays we would go to town to belong in the township... do the weekly grocery shopping. Q: People from Azania always There was this one store we used to refer to "township life." You all go to-the OK Bazaars-a chain E grew up in various townships-what store. We used to get a kick out of o was it like being a youth there? going into the supermarket and buy- - P: You found things to do. Most ing a lot of tin stuff and packing the o of my friends were from my area, I tin stuff in such a way that the cor- didn't know many people from ners of the carrier bags would be all o other parts of the township. Most of tin. When you walked downtown E my friends were workers, I was the you would target a white coming in group the opposite and you posi- = only student in my of friends. direction \o The biggest thing in Soweto was soc- tion your bag in such a way that you qra cer, people looked forward to Satur- would hit the white person on the day and Sunday to watch soccer ankle and you would go on without b matches. Another thing about South looking back. African youth is that there is a great Q: What kind of relationship ex- ,l+.1,.i.';.l:r.:,ir1ti:irii::il l:::i"illr::l':i';'ii: curiosity about other places. You ists between the different African, l|ii.J..,'i1 would spend time reading about Coloured and Indian townships? Do other places and talking about other you find a situation where the townships. Africans have African places. It is important to say again various townships participate in the schools in their African townships. that alcohol becomes a major outlet rebellions and support one another? So there is really no reason for You lor entertainment in the South R.: That kind of stuff goes on, to go to the other Place. SPorting African township. There is very lit- especially now. Remember when I events bring us together. There is tle else to do for entertainment. was talking about the physical this one stadium, Orlando Stadium, Violence is another part of township separation of the people and how the where people would go for soccer life. tn part it comes from alcohol. Coloureds were closer to the matches. The one difficulty I found But mainly it comes from the op- Africans than the Indians or the was between Indians and Africans' pression itself, having so many peo- whites. So there is, between these The only reason an African goes to ple in a clamped-down area. South two, that freely going in and out of the Indian townshiP is to go to the Af rican youth become very each others'townships. But again, movies, or to go to the stores politicised. You belong to groups the structures, you have to see what because most Indians are merchants. like a dance club, a karate club or a the structures do. Coloureds have They have it somewhat better, theY civic group and they are all actually Coloured schools in their Coloured (Continued to page 86 ) rffiS::j

:34 I$tcs'fhe ry I nctio* liss', m6nt

,. .,,Ta{ilr{c,prmittce of .tha[*-ol,u. ,war which threatens hurn,mitlr wirh Marxism and revisionism, to unite ifionsryr,Inte3oati o,na-lisl,lvonemoiit a new, , eye$ more'murderous lhose whose reason for existence is disaster, wbile the baekward areasof that communism may shine around Cornrades;, ,. the globe are turned into an arena of the globe, who are for the dietator- , i:. Our, erveat,and:rnilitant gr.eetingg rwar full cf unending daily slaugh{cr; ship of the proletariat, for revolu- ''lo.,yAu;:, and : t hrough you,'to :e}-Lthia and along with all this a rea,c.tionary, tionary'violence, t6 unite thr:se who f m.cmbcJs o f rth e M o.vernerrt,,, o,n jhi$ decadenl bourgeois ideslogical of- are f0r.the organised international .:oe.casiox:af the first aunivexary. 'ftnsivr unlsashed handinhand with unity of the comrnunists to fight as

r th* r fsundihs al the &evoluf,lo,$ary, a growing, systematic persecution, a clast which has one single general ' .I niefnatiqn*iisl,Movemeat 6n$thd distortion and: negaiion of Marxism, and'universal interest. eelebralib{I;i todai;,of:thaeay$m whose most sinister expression is ,, This is the,great lask which the ,,,iff crriladiortti-l.proletaii t,:,b. riit rrevidioni;ru rvhieh lakeq aim dire.etly Revolutiboary lnternationalist ,', le*i*al*, f :r oonrb at,, rfiir',ihg.esrn' al the ideology of'the ifiterilational Moyement is raki,ng up and carying , ,.. t}l*ist*;,rrtrie,-,.i. Iass..i:,,.:th$,,,,ievrilrr: proletar:iat,,Marxism. Leninism- out aad to which oui Party adheres, ,.!i.qnt{ti€s,,rat d.:, :bppfs$bed.,, of ihi Maoism. But amidst the destructive ceriaiil of the imBortame a$d world. eollapse of imperialism, a eollapse necasaity of lhis task and ready,, to, The world situation increasingly involying a long histor,ical proees*, day as before, to fulfill'lhe obliga: r,tev$1,qlh4rexirten*e {rf an qll.ev,s-f ii} the exploited masses are arising, the tions demanded by proletarian inter- ,,{le,.ehgiaii; .$itia n#tsitua{i{}n, ,working class with its great historieal nafionalism- Today the PeP is years psople ls , rThe'opp1e$sCd-.a$d ixplditdd.t1f ,b$ 'mission, the oBpressed nations in a finiqhing sff five of p-owerful ;ior.a,rad-i*a,i andrrreal rra*s,LUim*': ' rliberatlcn raoverrnl, the war,; Through the course of these :!igtti:ior6.h0tiir:at.&,iauglitl,., ; revolutionaries, the communist par- five'years it has,carried out around 11@s'er}rillh,el.b$16rn rref use,to*o orr ties,faithfuI to the elassand tc Marx- 25,000 armed ,actiongr ir, whose ' livi.4g'611ir-oL0:Geyl,aad t'h e, the ism, parties wfrich anrid*lthe sJorm forgeit has formed a People's Cuer.' .,foB. lan..nd,toagerr,r.ale,iii,the:.ol ,conliaue malching iesqlutely rilla Arrny which is the backbone of :1.1-q.ay ;: Th_*s:t main ire*d ir, r.erolUi towards the great goal of com. ihe,,ba$e flreas of the New Slate '.Jisfijr bsea{i$ei...ou$.;revolr}tig$. drirl munism. i Foryei,, : of ,,:the,,r,New, rDemocr&cy :rf Clojve&e:&iasi* pr $blem$, ihqwo rld . ,This iS lhe,panorama,,.within which,is rnaking,its way arnongsl our ::]fdcestod,ar:;{tis- wi.th.&;$].F $pfs: ,lvhish,:ihg,Beva-ll*iona Interna- Feople,,The difficultlt af thi$ strug. .rliiitr.exd.:,,1,:eon1r*died tionalist Movement is rising up, un- gle io.,eqnciseJ,y.txpresged by, .its- ctlsl evaluate the class struggle interna- furling the three gieat banuers; ol.,l0,@0 fallen ia qornbat or .,ti$ua$ $ofo*nd,and., pgtrigen't Marx, Lenin and Mao Tsetung,,lak- l'disa$.peared. " Nevertheless, ,impeiialistr,erisi$, aggiavati'ng,stiti .ing lhe far-reaching step of uniting despite, the inteqsification of this rnore the hunger, ignorance, misery, t&9@rnmunist fighters, parties and genocide beug carried,out by the ,,oppreision and rnassacres snffeied 'qi:ganis&tisns faithful to great Mnrx:: reaetionaiy armed forces, during the , hy the.masses cf pqople,espeeially, ,ism and*e,prolgtarial, laking,up lasf yes,lsug rry61k has expanded into j,nrihs- ,.' oppaested natio nq, inrensif ied tfte {ask ,of regrgilping. the world rew zone$, as well as pqrsilting,in the rgqllusion ertdrslr*gdle:bslween lhe ranks of the commrrnists, the i&tsr: zone$, wherg,we began,,so tha{ we are ,,imperi4list*,.w.hoirt$r.mai&teirt their naticnalists, the ranks of tho$e who carryi{rg. :out the r otis.nta:tion sf ,tule, rand,espe(ially,, to,,,sgiile,,,lhe with their firm adherence to theun- lislo'ke, the bqnfire, :splead ,the dispute for world hegemony bet- : fadio.g motto lllVsrkerEo,f.all coun. ftames,. develop the s{ruggle of the :,ween Yaqkes i.rnBgfi 6l6111.aad.R*sl triis, unite" were and are ready to qrqsses ,,prineipelly., as .ran armed sian social-imperialism, in collusion serve the world revolution, to unite stru$gle,,a8d let,the rgpreqeion spur

with native reactionary cliques, those who reject and combat the lx:g,qE4rd, : L In ttrii w*ylhg, peoplel s: unleash wars which are unjust, s.lj6]-,, ;tevisio nism, ol., :thE.r' S'or.-. war in our country continues to against the masses of people, anti- .'b&etrevs, the Deng$; the t{oxhasand hlAre r,defiantl}l., , expanding, ,:natiolral and, gounterrev,aluti*pry; tl tir lower:; and uphsld-dsfend s,pieadfurg it$,r,ogts a*d plepari8g f*r, sinister war preparations with plans *nd,raipiy .Marxism, I etBecjally. ite newer and higher tasks, guided ,'*nd, i-tr,alegiq,.,and,,,ionv.entj.gna.t ihi{d,stogq,iM...flq,TJetq,.ggr,,today's, qlwqgs' by :Ma-rxism.teninisnrr .W'e.epon5 t6 !a(fl o,ut :a t hird ws,rtrd, to*ch!rOne.,i*,llie,. itrng$ei bqtqee,u Ma,6igll'r;.brrtlir:g fisr,lhe,emanciBa. l':r t.,' f: lr, t t. i 3t tli*n of oui,people for the purpose of and at the, service of the world , Declaration of the revolution. Thus we are contributing anS :rlryill trca$tfibute to, th-e ta*ks:r$if:i:l Revolutionary Internationalist ,the RIM, nroreand mare willing aad,,, able to aid in every possible way our Movement glorious common cause: the eman- cipation of the proletariat and com- rnunism prevailing throughcuf .the ., earth. Comrades, the Communist Partyi ol Peru is part of the Revolutionary I nternationalist Movement and feels The Declaration of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement was honoured to be so, honoured to adopted in March 1984 by the delegates and observers at the Second In- serve in such a far-reaching andl: ternational Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organisations historic vanguard battle, as wetl as which formed the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement. The follow- to have the comrades in arms found ing are the participating parties and organisations of the RIM: in our Movement's ranks; and fui..l.', Central Reorganisation Committee thermore, the Party feels fortified:,: Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and augmented by the repeated ei;,,. Ceylon Communist Party pressions of support, of proletarian Communist Collective of Agit/Prop Italy] internationalism, which it receives Communist Committee of Trento lrom the very outstanding fraternal Italy] Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist-Leninist) (M-L)] communist parties and organisa- [BSD tions, and very especially from the Communist Party of Colombia (Marxist-Leninist) Committee of the Revolutionary ln- Mao Tsetung Regional Committee ternationalist Movement to which Communist Party of Peru rrye extend cur reyolUliOnary,,, Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist giatitude for its canstanr,eneotr,ag*+,.i Haitian International Revolutionary Group ment and $upp{}rt. All ,:this;iaom;r': Nepal Communist Party [Mashal] rades, increases our proletarian in, New Zealand Red Flag Group ternationalist responsibility.and our Nottingham and Stockport Communist Croups IBritain] unshakeable commitment to the Proletarian Communist Organisation, Marxist-Leninist Italy] world reyoluiion"and iitg ,daincietei, Proletarian Party of Purba Bangla (PBSP) [Bangladesh] form today; the' Revolutionary l1;,, ., ternationalist Movement. Revolutionary Communist Group of Colombia Today as around the world we Revolutionary Communist Party, lndia Revolutionary Communist Party, USA celebrate &{ay lst; the dayr 6f t:[ie ia;, 1, ternational prolstariat;: r{e:feel,ouf.'i Revolutionary Communist Union lDominican Republic] forces streagthened by the powerful,', Union of lranian Communists (Sarbedaran) workers and peoples movement NOTE which once again is beginning to shake the globi,wilh the thunderin*,,,., The Information Bureau of the Revolutionary Internationalist Move- clasS,strugglb rryhiah theco$rmuriists;,,,:' ment has made the following announcements: under therleadership of ''the Move-;,' l)A new organisation has arisen as a result of a merger between the ment, are fighting to lead forward Organising Committee, Revolutionary Communist Party, India and the with the unfading banners of Marx, Leading Comittee, Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of ln- Lenin and r&fao; This r€affirmr our:' dia. The new organisation is called Leading Committe, Revolutionary eommitmentard auriirad a$ paft6I.. Communist Party, India. It is a participating party of the RIM. the irrepreseib-le.march ef tr*manity:, 2)The Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist-Leninist), known in through revolution towards com- Bengali as the Bangladesher Samyabadi Dal (M-L) or the BSD(M-L), munISm, has been accepted as a participating party of the Revolutionary Inter- nationalist Movement. Long Live May lst! :, .l Develop the,,&etorut'--.-, [*ter.'.'l' Available in the following languages (partial list): Arabic, Bengali,Chinese, Creole, Danish, nationalist Movement! English, Farsi, French, Cerman, Cujarati, Hindi, ltalian, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali, ,Glory fs:,.,,N{,6il(isrn-Leaiaisrn.,.,., Punjabi, Spanish, Tamil, Turkish. I f plus 50 p handling. For more information write the Maoism! Information Bureau of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement at the following ad- dress: Central Commitlee, BCM RIM Communist Party of Peru London, WCIN 3XX i r' U.K. May.; 1985, .:r '' ,'.,- .,ir":i'irr,.i'li:'i [J,-.r.i 32

Never Forget the Lessons of Vietnom

e aro o\ This April marked the tenth an- A few facts are worth recalling. rotting and eventually they were z niversary of a great event in human At the height of the war 500,000 stolen from the people. The Soviet history-the utter defeat of U.S. im- U.S. soldiers were arrayed against Union was to replace the U.S. as the o= perialism at the hands of the peoples the people of Vietnam. Over one real master of Indochina-complete of Indochina. Much has been writ- million people were killed in Viet- with its own neo-colonial war, this o ten about this momentous anniver- nam alone. More bombs were drop- time waged by the Vietnamese army q sary, especially in the press of the ped by the U.S. on North Vietnam against the people of Cambodia. o United States for whom the Vietnam than had been used by both sides The problem was that the leader- war, and especially its outcome, re- during all of World War 2. The ship of that struggle, the Vietnam = main a giant nightmare. napalm, the concentration camps, Workers Party, was not led by a Few who were politically con- the whole villages massacred. Yet strong Marxist-Leninist line. When scious at the time can forget the last despite all this U.S. imperialism was Mao Tsetung led the great exhilarating moments of that con- decisively defeated. ideological struggle between flict when the U.S. ambassador All over the world attention was Marxism-Leninism and modern mounted the helicopter, clutching focused on the people's war. revisionism, a polemic that began the bloody American flag that had Revolutionaries everywhere, in- drawing in all the world's revolu- flown over the embassy, while cluding the revolutionary com- tionaries with the publication in thousands of reactionaries- munist forces of the time, came to 1963 of the famous polemics of the collaborators with the U.S. army of the defense of the Vietnamese peo- Communist Party of China against aggression, torturers, drug dealers ple's just struggle. The flames of Khrushchevite revisionism, the Viet- and brothel owners-scurried in Vietnam proved contagious as namese Party sought out an illusory, panic as the revolutionary army revolutionary struggle sparked off in centrist path. It called the great closed in on all sides. Nothing can first one, then another corner ofthe struggle "divisive," and for the sake ever erase the victory that was won world. of an unprincipled "unity" between by the masses of people on the bat- The fact that Vietnam incarnated Marxists and revisionists called tlefields of Vietnam, Laos and Cam- the hopes of revolutionaries made upon the Marxist-Leninists to aban- bodia, against the most heavily the disappointment all the more bit- don the struggle against modern armed military force ever to swagger ter. Even before the victory was revisionism. Pragmatism and na- on the planet earth. complete the fruits of victory were tionalism were substituted for pro- 33

:r & dffiltnirY+' "'tg!t:,': :F"b. *{

U.S. and lackeys flock to leave Vietnom ot end of wor. E o letarian internationalism. Later, the Thus Vietnam, besides being an the tragic consequences in Vietnam n lessons of the Great Proletarian outstanding example and proof of with which we are all familiar, with o Cultural Revolution then raging in the ability to wage revolutionary war regard to those forces in today's o! China under the leadership of Mao against imperialism, is also a tragic world who have rediscovered Tsetung were never really example of the kind referred to in socialism in the USSR or who E understood and upheld by the lhe Declarqtion of the Revolu- believe that Soviet aid is justified- = VWP. Having refused to draw a t ionary Internqtionqlist Movement, even necessary-in the face of a U.S. \o clear line between Marxism and revi- which says "the revolutionary imperialist "main enemy," one can a Ur sionism, the Vietnamese party also masses in these countries have only repeat the words of Karl Marx: 6\r' refused to recognise that, as Mao waged heroic struggles, including lirst time tragedy, second time farce. said, "the rise to power of revi- wars of national liberation, which Today the situation really is more sionism means the rise to power of have not led to the establishment of and more favourable for the laun- the bourgeoisie." Imperialist political power by the proletariat ching of revolutionary warfare in predators were prettified as and its allies but where the fruits of many countries in the world. "socialists." This line had extremely the victories have been picked by The twin lessons-the possibility bad consequences not only for the new exploiters usually in league with of waging revolutionary warfare struggle in Indochina but in the in- one or another imperialist against imperialism and the ternational communist movement as power(s)." necessity that the revolution be led a whole. Today the world situation is even by a genuine party upholding The results of this is that once more complex than it was at the Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung military victory over the U.S. im- beginning of the Vietnam War. As Thought-are extremely important perialists was achieved the leader- the Declarstion puts it: "The current in the light of the conditions today ship of the VWP was neither able intensification of world contradic- in the world, ten years after the nor inclined to mobilise the masses tions while bringing forth further defeat oi U.S. imperialism in Viet- of people to begin to build a new possibilities for these movements (in nam. T Vietnam based on self-reliance, let the oppressed countries) also places alone begin the long march toward new obstacles and new tasks before a genuine communist world free of them." If the refusal to recognise the class division. character of the Soviet Union had 34

Messqge to TKP'Mt

e slrD : MESSAGE TO THE COMMU. twelve years after his death, old revisionist parties, which had NIST PARTY OF TUR. thousands of revolutionary com- long abandoned even the pretense of = KEY/MARXIST-LENINIST ON munists from Turkey, certainly, but revolution, and the creation of new THE OCCASION OF THE 12TH flrom many other countries as well, revolutionary parties based on t\=o ANNIVERSARY OF THE continue to revere his memory and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung MARTYRDOM OF ITS FOUN. learn from his teachings. Thought. a question q DER, IBRAHIM The of upholding In Turkey, it was Comrade KAYPAKKAYA Ibrahim Kaypakkaya's contribution Ibrahim Kaypakkaya who led this o to the revolution in Turkey is of no process in all its aspects. He = Dear Comrades, mere historical or academic developed a lusid and devastating Twelve years ago Comrade interest-it is very much connected critique of revisionism on a whole Ibrahim Kaypakkaya was the victim to life and death questions for the series of fronts and, furthermore, of a cowardly assassination while in advance of the proletarian revolu- took the lead in putting this political the custody of the reactionary tion. line into practice-specifically by in- Turkish regime. At the time of his Ibrahim Kaypakkaya's brief but itiating the first serious attempt to death Comrade Kaypakkaya was extremely rich life was integrally launch a genuine People's War in only 24 years old, yet he had already connected to the world-wide strug- the history of Turkey. Ibrahim made great contributions to the gle taking place in the 1960s between Kaypakkaya was the most thorough development of the revolutionary revolutionary Marxism and counter- and ardent defender in Turkey of the movement in Turkey. His death was revolutionary revisionism on a line of Comrade Mao Tsetung and a serious loss to the proletariat in world scale. Under the leadership of was quick to grasp the world-historic Turkey and to the international Comrade Mao Tsetung and inspired importance of the Great Proletarian communist movement which was to a large degree by the Cultural Cultural Revolution and the deprived of a leader and teacher who Revolution that Comrade Mao development of the science of was making important contributions Tsetung had initiated, revolu- Marxism-Leninism carried out by in practice as well as theory to the tionaries throughout the world laun- Mao Tsetung. proletarian revolution. ched a fierce struggle against revi- For all these reasons Ibrahim The strength of the proletarian sionism on the ideological, political Kaypakkaya has always been, in line of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya is il- and organisational fronts. In most death as well as life, the target of all lustrated by the fact that today, cases this meant a rupture with the sorts of enemies of the revolution. 35

Those who oppose the development Marxist-Leninist movement which Movement to which the Communist of the revolution have found it helped lay the basis for further ad- Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist necessary to attack the line of vances." Such an attitude and ap- is a signatory. Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, either directly proach is the only correct one to Today, in a way unknown for a or shamefacedly. On the other hand, summing up the great contributions long time, the revolutionary pro- the further advance of the revolution of Comrade lbrahim Kaypakkaya. letariat is able to develop its in Turkey has been shown to be Comrades, today the revolu- ideological, political and organisa- directly linked to the defense of the tionary movement of all countries is tional unity. Of course, as the line of Ibrahim Kaypakkaya. Some confronted with a world situation Declarqtion points out, the crisis of who, because of the high prestige of fraught with both great danger and the international communist move- Comrade Kaypakkaya, great opportunities. The danger of ment is not yet resolved. Never- hypocritically claim to defend his world war is menacing but the theless the corner has been turned legacy while criticising "shortcom- development of the revolutionary and the process of further ings," such as the self-proclaimed struggle is also on the rise again. disintegration and collapse has been "Bolsheviks" and other renegades, This puts a great burden on the ge- replaced with one of higher unity have actually launched an all-out nuine Marxist-Leninist forces to rise and the growth of the revolutionary assault on the line of lbrahim to meet the challenges and oppor- forces. Kaypakkaya. tunities of the current period and This is particularly evidenced by The current sorry state of affairs f,ulfill their responsibilities. the rapid and inspiring development of these "Bolsheviks" is a clear war- In Turkey the fascist regime con- of the armed revolutionary struggle ning to all ol where this line leads. tinues a reign of terror over the in Peru led by the Communist Party It is certainly true that the first ex- masses of people and the revolu- of Peru, which proudly proclaims its periences of the rupture with revi- tionary forces. The followers of participation in the Revolutionary sionism and the launching of the Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, the Com- Internationalist Movement. Suppor- people's armed struggle for power munist Party of Turkey/Marxist- ting and learning from this impor- could only have been and were ac- Leninist, continues to be hunted and tant revolutionary struggle is an im- companied by weaknesses and pursued and large numbers of com- portant task for the revolutionary shortcomings. But such is true of all rades have been martyred or im- communists of all countries. new and correct things. As the prisoned. Nevertheless the fascist Comrades, the most important Declaration of the Revolutionary In- rule is far from solid. Indeed, their way of honouring the memory of ternationolist Movement puts it: terror is a response to their isolation Comrade Kaypakkaya is by "ln the 1960s and early 1970s from the masses. The situation in the persevering and advancing along the E Marxist-Lenionist forces in a great region, despite the existence of reac- revolutionary road. Marxism- o many countries, under the influence tionary regimes everywhere, is in- Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought is - of the Cultural Revolution in China creasingly favourable for the peo- the basic compass which charts the u and as part of the general world- ple's struggle for liberation. The road ahead. It is this basic orienta- wide revolutionary upsurge, joined reactionary regime can and will be tion that is embodied bythe Declara- o with sections of masses in waging defeated! Continuing forward along tion of the Revolutionary Interno- E armed revolutionary warfare. In a rhe path charted by lbrahim t ionalist Movement. By persevering ? number of countries the Marxist- Kaypakkaya is essential to bringing on this path, strengthing the unity of Leninist forces were able to rally about this long-awaited victory. the proletariat on a world scale as o\o considerable sections of the popula- Comrade lbrahim Kaypak kayadid well as its contingents in each coun- (h tion to the revolutionary banner and not live to see the great advance and try, by striving to correctly b maintain the Marxist-Leninist party great victory for the world pro- assimilate the lessons of the past, we and armed forces of the masses letariat that is represented by the can march ahead victoriously! despite the savage counter- creation of the Revolutionary Inter- LONG LIVE THE MEMORY revolutionary repression. It was in- nationalist Movement. The Revolu- OF IBRAHIM KAYPAKKAYA! evitable that these early attempts at tionary Internationalist Movement, LONG LIVE THE CRIMSON building new, Marxist-Leninist par- together with other Maoist forces, PATH OF MARX, ENGELS, ties and the launching of armed are the inheritors of Marx, Engels, LENIN, STALIN AND MAO! struggle would be marked by a cer- Lenin, Stalin and Mao Tsetung, and WORKERS AND OPPRESSED tain primitiveness and that the formation of this Movement is a PEOPLES OF THE WORLD ideological and political weaknesses precious fruit of the struggle of the UNITE! would manifest themselves, and it is, proletariat and oppressed people of course, not surprising that the im- throughout the world. The ex- Committee of the Revolutionary In- perialists and revisionists would perience of the proletariat and op- ternationalist Movement tr seize upon these errors and pressed peoples of Turkey, of the weaknesses to condemn the revolu- struggle of Ibrahim and of his suc- tionaries as 'ultra-leftists' or worse. cessors, is reflected, along with the Nevertheless these experiences must, struggle in different corners of the in general, be upheld as an impor- world, in the Declaration of the tant part of the legacy of the Revolutionary Internstionalist 36

TKPTML Seizes the Air Wqves 8 P.M. News ,Bts,EAK

On Moy 17, l9B5 os mony os working class and oppressed people sciousness that illuminates our path e one million television viewers in of Turkey, the founder of our party, in the dark. slrD lstonbul heord o highly unusuol mes- Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, in the torture He is our unsilenceable voice. It is o\ soge coming over the very oir chambers of fascism. Comrade with his voice that we loudly shout: woves of the foscist regime. As the Ibrahim Kaypakkaya dedicated his "Hard but lofty days of struggle are evening news wos being shown the whole life and energy to the libera- lying before us. Let us leap into this = soundtrock wos reploced by the tion of the proletariat and oppressed sea of class struggle with our whole = o following messoge. - AWTW people, to the struggle for people's existence ! democratic revolution, socialism "ln this struggle, let us have in- o Attention ! q ! Attention and the lofty cause of communism. finite confidence in our working The Communist Party of Tur- He displayed the utmost sacrifice in class, our self-sacrificing and suffer- o key/Marxist-Leninist is calling on this direction, and while he was right ing peasantry, our heroic youth! = you.... in the middle of this honourable This is the Voice of Partizan.... struggle, wounded he fell captive to LONG LIVE THE BRIGHT Attention ! Attention ! the enemy on January 29th, 1973 in ROAD OF MARX, ENGELS, This is the Voice of Partizan.... Dersim. Comrade Kaypakkaya car- LENIN, STALIN AND MAO TKP/ML is calling on you.... ried on his dedication to com- TSETUNG! munism and the cause of the people Workers, whom they want to in the torture chambers of the fascist LONG LIVE THE LABOUR- silence through suppression, dictatorship. He did not give in, and ING PEOPLE OF TURKEY OF savagery and brutality; poor beat fascism right where it is sup- ALL NATIONALITIES!'' peasants, whom they want to posed to be strongest. frighten through fascist operations He is the burning heart under tor- Labourers: with commando bayonets and ture, the unbowing head in the The democracy game staged by landlords' whips, dungeons. the September 12 [980-AWTWI Patriotic intellectuals, He is the red spirit of rebellion in fascist junta, through such Youth, the gallows, the bloody traps, the hypocritical measures as the con- Revolutionary friends, massacres. stitution, the general and local elec- Comrades! He is the daring that stands up tions, is a total farce. These are the Once again we are com- against the unbridled attacks of im- masks put on the bloody faces of the memorating May 18th...May lSth perialism, feudalism and exploita- pro-American gang of generals. 1985 is the twelfth anniversary of the tion. Only the outfits have changed. death of the communist leader of the He is the communist con- The speeches like "we've passed 37

to democracy" as soon as the against the trends that tail behind has also shown that those who government of the pro-American and beg democracy from DSP and dream of an easy revolution through enemy of the people , Ozal, came to SODEP which pose as democratic parliamentary, peaceful means will power-what can they disguise? alternatives to the government, that be greatly disappointed. We have Everything is out in the open. The try to make the masses abandon the harder days ahead of us. We should wheel of exploitation is turning all revolutionary alternative. Here is the be prepared for them and accept the the more brutally with the daily price call of TKP/ML: Neither the junta, terms of the fight. Those who are hikes. The loyalty of the fascist nor the fascist dictatorship with a waiting for comfortable times to get comprador-boss-landlord state to parliamentary mask-the only way into the struggle are only dreaming. imperialism and its International is the People's Democratic Revolu- Legal, hollow, clumsy organising Monetary Fund are an increasingly tion. will lead to nowhere. For revolution, heavy burden on the backs of the Labourers of Turkey of all na- it is necessary to take up the fun- labourers. Torture machines are tionalities! damental weapons of: the militant, working continuously. The fascist We have a common enemy. fighting and iron-disciplined party offense is continuing at full speed Gather under the battle-tested red armed with Marxism-Leninism and through military operations. The na- tlag of the working class against the organised on an illegal basis; the tional oppression of the Kurdish na- common enemy. Stand up against people's army under the party's tion and the minorities is becoming the national oppression practiced leadership, which will grow and increasingly unbridled; the Kurdish against the oppressed Kurdish na- develop-from small to large and poor peasants in Dersim are being tion and other minorities. Defend from simple to complex-in the sent into exile. They want no voice the unconditional right of the Kur- course of armed struggle; and the raised against oppression and ex- dish nation to establish a separate revolutionary united front of the ploitation. Wherever revolution state. people which rises up based on the stirs, they attack with tens of The imperialists are preparing to worker-peasant alliance and thousands of army troops to destroy hurl the world into the flames of a represents the unity of all revolu- it. But their strength does not and new war of division to serve their in- tionary classes and strata. In our will not suffice to accomplish that. terests. The Turkish state, lackey of country, no revolutionary force Workers, peasants, youth, patriotic imperialism, is making plans to which does not follow the road of intellectuals don't accept slavery. waste the lives of our people in the armed struggle has a chance for suc- The freedom fighters in the interests of NATO led by the USA. cess. Today, opportunism, for dungeons do not drop the revolu- Just like they did in Korea in the whom fascism only consists of tionary flag of rebellion in the face past, you junta, they will drag to death for Evren's is trying once again to E of the utmost brutality. They refuse the interests of the imperialists. pin the opposition of the people to o the laws of repentance, all kinds of Stand up against the murderous the tail of the bourgeoisie. Our peo- - traps and hypocrisy; they refuse sur- moves of the two imperialist blocs of ple saw and got to know the parties o render and demoralisation. Except NATO and the Warsaw Pact. Raise disguised as democratic, populist l for a handful of traitors they are us- the struggle for revolution, in the and leftist in the period before o ing for their bloody aims, they are ranks of the TKP/ML, against im- September 12. E and will remain unsuccessful.... perialist war. The only genuine alternative to Labourers, Strengthen the ranks of the the system is people's democratic = TKP/ML, which has not dropped Revolutionary Internationalist power under the leadership of the 6s the flag of rebellion against oppres- Movement, of which our party is a TKP/ML. The claims of the fascist (h sion and exploitation, is calling on part. generals, that we're destroyed and 6\ you. Revolutionary Friends, Com- done away with, are totally empty. The only way to overthrow the rades, They cannot destroy us unless they lascist dictatorship is to liquidate The experience of the September destroy the people of which we are imperialism and feudalism through l2 coup has once again confirmed a part. people's war, to establish people's the correctness of our Party pro- democratic dictatorship and without gramme. Practice has shown that LONC LIVE MARXISM. stopping, to move on to com- without protracted armed people's LENINISM! munism. The only thing that the rul- war, which incorporates surroun- LONG LIVE OUR PARTY, ing class parties, like the Democratic ding the cities from the countryside TKP/ML! Left Party, SODEP, The True Road and seizing political power piece by LONG LIVE OUR ARMY, Party and "TKP"-a lackey of piece, it is not possible to achieve TIKKO! Russian social-imperialism-want is liberation. Practice has also shown STRENGTHEN, JOIN AND a fascist dictatorship under that without following the shining SUPPORT THE COMMUNIST parliamentary disguise in which they path of Mao Tsetung, emancipation PARTY OF TURKEY/MARXIST- will have a few rights. is only an illusion. This is being pro- LENINIST AND TIKKO UNDER None of these parties are opposed ved by the People's War carried out ITS LEADERSHIP! to the essence of the present order. under the leadership of the Com- LONG LIVE PEOPLE'S WAR!T The fight among them is a fight munist Party of Peru, and it will be among self-interests. Stand up proved time and again. And practice 38

Excerpts: o lbrqhim Koypqkkoyle a ,a t1 to\ On Armed = o= a c Struggle o = The following text is excerpted from o lengthy polemic written by lbrohim Koypokkoyo entitled The Roots ond Development of Our Differences with Shofok Revisiorrism : General Criticism of the Tl I KP. I n April 197 2 Comrode Koypokkoyo led the genuine Morxist-Leninists in splitting with the TIIKP (Revolutionory Workers ond Peosonts Porty of Turkey) ond in forming the Communist Porty of Turkey/Morxist-Leninist. ln June 1972 the polemic, Ihe Roofs of our Differences... wos completed.

An.l973 officiol report of the Turkish Notionol lntelligence Orgonisotion (MlT) in mode the following remorks which serve os on excellent introduction: "Within the communist movement in Turkey the ideos of lbrohim Koypok- koyo ore the most dongerous. The views he presents in his writings ond the methods of struggle he odvocotes ore, we con soy without hesitotion, the opplicotion of revolutionory communism to Turkey."

lbrohim Koypokkoyo wos mortyred on Moy 18,1973 in Diyorbokir prison.

These excerpts ore tronsloied from the collection of lbrohim Koypokkoyo published by Ocok Yoyinlori, lstonbul, 1979. 39

E o - o o E = \o (Jr6 6\

;r" 1t; ,1 *ssr, :S: 40

The Organisational Policy of the Shafak Revisionists is to Organise the Workers and Peasants into Study Groups. The legal study sessions which, in the past, were conducted around the jour- nal, have been started this time in a semi-legal fashion among the workers and peasants. By having the workers and peasants organised in study groups, they attempt to train intellectuals severed from class struggle. Besides the fact that study groups cannot be organs of armed struggle, they don't possess the capacity to survive the suppression that would increase with the launching of the armed struggle. Consequently the fear that these groups will dissolve has continuously hindered the armed struggle....Criticising this backward policy on getting organised, the Marxist-l,eninists advocated the following: The link that should be grasped in organising forces is to organise guerrilla units under the leader- ship of the party. All other groups and cells should be taken up within the context of the guerrilla activity and in a manner that can support and further develop it. And everyone should be organised in accordance with the needs of the move- ment and his/her own skills and always around specific tasks. Organisation where everyone does every task and which is not based on a division of labour is contradictory to Leninist principles of organisation. Such organisations are good for nothing but raising an awful din. Hence, study groups, besides their lethargic and pacifist character, have this particularity as well: "On the other hand, they will also perform practical tasks when our revolutionary struggle makes it necessary."

Confronted with these criticisms, the Shafak revisionists manoeuvred to write: "Names such as 'reading groups' and 'study groups' must be abandoned. Because such appellations could prompt backward thinking" ! And the name "study group" was replaced by the name of "peasant committee." These bourgeois gentlemen think that by changing the name of a thing one can change e() form. has been a its nature-instead of changing the essence, change the This o\ the policy followed by the Shafak revisionists since the very beginning.

As for certain members of this revisionist clique, they make the following state- = ment, with the mechanical thinking typical of the bourgeoisie: o= a "First, study groups should be established; those who take part in these groups q must grasp Marxism-Leninism in general outline, gain experience against the o police, be tested in these groups and only after all this, those considered as wor- thy must be organised in guerrilla groups." {= Breath-taking indeed! Whichever way you look at it...an absurd theory. Were one to comply with this theory, it would be necessary to restrain all those peasants who are full of hatred for the class enemy from head to toe and who want to join the armed struggle under the leadership and discipline of the party, by saying, "No, first learn Marxism-Leninism and gain experience against the police." If hundreds of thousands of peasants, who don't know how to read and write and are benumbed by feudalism, want to take up arms against the landlords and the central authority, it will be necessary to disarm them, to slap them in the face a few times for their audacity(!) and then to grab their collar and drag them to study groups. The reactionary nature of the above theory is quite clear. Moreover, by way of peaceful study group work, very few peasants will have been trained even after years. And since some of them will be dropp- ing out, only a very few will remain to join the guerrilla groups. What is this, if not rendering the armed struggle impossible? If this is not standing in the way of peasants who want to take up arms, soothing their anger, blunting their hatred and pacifying them, what is it then? 4t

Besides, it cannot be said that a person who is successful and appears good in the study group would definitely be useful in the armed struggle. That is, testing through study groups is not a correct testing method. Furthermore, in study groups, in general, literate, well-to-do peasants, educated elements, teachers, etc., come forward; poor peasants tend to be unsuccessful.

Because we reject this rightist, bureaucratic, sluggish and pacifist organisational policy, they claim that we say, "there is no need for revolutionary mass work. " Thus we come to learn that what they understand by revolutionary mass work is to engage in intellectual gabble, divorced from class struggle, with the well- to-do peasants and those with education. Yes, for such revolutionary mass work(!), we say, there is no need....

Are "peasant committees" party committees, organs of armed struggle, reading groups, newspaper distribution groups? It is not clear. As can be seen, the revi- sionists with a snap of the finger solve all of the problems of organisation among the peasants by means of "peasant committees"!

It goes to show that the Shafak revisionists are complete ignoramuses when it comes to how to organise the peasants. They show complete incompetence about this most important problem of our revolution and are in a pitiful state.

The policy of the Marxist-Leninists on getting organised among the peasants is clear: Organise a party committee in every village. Again in every village, organise armed contingents, namely peasant militia, from the ranks of revolu- tionary poor peasants, connected to the party or not, who continue to engage in production. Organise from the ranks of those connected to the party or other- wise special task units and cells tied to the village party committee. In addi- tion, organise professional guerrilla units connected to the regional party com- E mittee independent of the village structure. The purpose of all this organisational o work is to build the party and the people's armed forces among agricultural E workers and poor peasants. This party building will not take place peacefully U but in the course of armed struggle. And the key link for the party organisa- o tion to grasp in organising the peasants is to organise guerrilla units and village militia. Organs of peasant power are a completely different matter and not a E question of the day. z \o In order to launch the armed struggle, the Shafak revisionists make it a prere- 6(a quisite to be organised on a countrywide scale and to be in a position to com- 6- mand all the masses. We have previously pointed out that gentleman B.Y., one of the gang leaders of the revisionist clique, had already perverted the meaning of a ''strong party, " one of the preconditions put forward by Comrade Mao Tsetung for the sur- vival of red base areas, into "a party organised on a country-wide scale." Since the bourgeois leadership considered the conditions required for the existence of red power to be one and the same as the conditions required for the laun- ching of the armed struggle, it erected the above-mentioned perversion as a bar- rier in the face of the desire to launch the armed struggle....

The latest document of this rightist, pacifist thinking, which postpones the laun- ching of the armed struggle for years, is the piece entitled, "On the Question of Establishing Red Political Power." ln order to justify this rightist and pacifist approach, it is packed with a load of nonsensical and distorted formulations and contradictions. It is said that: 42

"The development of the revolutionary movement on a country-wide scale"....''Comrade Mao Tsetung points out that the ability of the red political power to survive depends on the country-wide development of the revolutionary movement, too....

"What we particularly stress here is the question of the development of the revolution on a country-wide basis. Certain friends had the illusion that by dispersing the communist movement and through carrying out the work in a few villages, as if disappearing into rat holes, the revolution could be achieved. However, it is imperative that a political movement exists that can make itself heard throughout the country. This can only be the political party of the pro- letariat....To negate the party is to negate the necessity of uniting the struggle on a country-wide scale and of directing it towards a single target. They im- agine that the people will spontaneously follow the armed struggle initiated by a few isolated intellectuals....The existence of the revolutionary movement on a country-wide scale does not mean that it takes up work in every part of the country, or that it devotes equal attention to every region. But it means that as a political party it demonstrates its existence to and makes itself felt by the people of the whole country and that it sets out to establish revolutionary state power on a country-wide scale. For instance, a peasant movement which is not supported by the struggle in the cities is doomed to be suppressed. Or, for in- stance, a peasant rebellion in the Eastern region cannot preserve its red political power if it is not supported by the struggles of the Aegean and Chukurova peasants and by the movement of our working class in our main industrial cities, under the leadership of a proletarian party. Because only a revolutionary move- ment that develops on a country-wide basis can tear apart and weaken the reac- tionary state power and its main strength, the army.... at{) "As a conclusion it can be said that red political power can be established and € o\ maintained, not by a struggle waged on a positional basis but by a struggle unified and conducted on a country-wide scale by a party of the proletariat." z ln this writing: =o I - ''The development of the revolutionary situation (my emphasis) on a country- o wide scale," which is put forward by Comrade Mao Tsetung as a precondi- q tion for the "existence ofthe red base areas," has been consciously distorted o as "the development of the revolutionary movement (my emphasis) on a country-wide scale. = 2 - By distorting it one more time, the phrase " the development of the revolu- tionary movement on q country-wide scole" has been turned into "the com- munist party being organised on a country-wide basis. " As is known, the con- cept "revolutionary movement" includes the spontaneously developing mass actions and the political movements of other classes among the ranks of the people as well, in addition to those of the proletariat. 3 - On the subject of "being organised on a country-wide basis," a number of contradictory views are put forward. An absurd position has been invented, that "being organised on a country-wide scale" does not mean to "take up work in every part of the country," but "to demonstrate its existence to and make itself felt by the people of the whole country'' and " to set out to establish the revolutionary state power on a country-wide scale" (my emphasis). Besides, in the examples given, the idea of being in fact organised in every part of the country has been expressed by "being organised on a country-wide scale." 4 - "To be organised on a country-wide scale and to be in a position to com- mand all the masses" has been put forward as a precondition both for laun- ching the armed struggle and for the existence of red base areas. Thus Com- rade Mao Tsetung's teaching on "why is it red political power can continue 43 to exist" has been once again perverted. All these distortions and absurd and preconcocted theories riddled with contradictions have one purpose: to try to justify, by relying(!) on Comrade Mao Tsetung, the rightist view that "the armed struggle cannot be launched without being organised on a country-wide scale. " Since Comrade Mao Tsetung says that unless the communist party is organised on a country-wide scale the red base areas cannot exist(!), and since the precon- ditions for the existence of the red base areas and for launching the armed strug- gle are identical(!), then it is clear that the armed struggle cannot be launched without the communist party being organised on a country-wide scale(!). This is the logic. What Comrade Mao Tsetung says, however, is totally different: "whether it is possible for the people's political power in small areas to last depends on whether the nationwide revolutionary situation continues to develop."

"To negate the party is to negate the necessity of uniting the struggle on a country-wide scale and of directing it towards a single target. " Through this sentence, it is revealed that they consider that country-wide organisation is in- herent in the concept of the party. "Uniting the struggle on a country-wide scale" is only possible by having country-wide organisation and thus comman- ding the masses; if the negation of the party is the negation of this, then the very concept of the party is meant to include having achieved country-wide organisation and thus commanding the masses. This view is at least as absurd as the above-mentioned theory, because this view negates the fact that it is through a relatively long process of struggle that the party will expand to every corner of the country and be in a situation to command the masses....

In the article, it is said that "they imagine that the people will spontaneously follow the armed struggle initiated by a few isolated intellectuals." What is the issue that our revisionist gentlemen are discussing here? Is it not the launching D of the armed struggle? Yes indeed, the people will not spontaneously follow E the armed struggle launched by a few isolated intellectuals. Neither is it cor- ot rect that those who launch the armed struggle be isolated and stand as a few F intellectuals. But this is not what really concerns our revisionist gentlemen. They tr posit the weakest of the contending arguments, caricature it a bit, and thus try o to justify their warped theory. And as can be seen from the sentence, this is E how they let the question of the "launching of the armed struggle" be the sub- z ject of discussion. \o 6 ln the article, it is said that "a peasant movement which is not supported by l.i the struggle in the cities is doomed to be suppressed." What is meant by "a b peasant movement"? Certainly it is the armed peasant struggle. In that case, unless it is organised in the cities ond in a situation to command the mosses, "a peasant movement," that is, the armed struggle of the peasantry, "is doomed to be suppressed." "Doomed to be suppressed," that is, since it would be stupidity to engage in a movement the outcome of which is evident before its start-then there should not be a "peasant movement" and/or an effort to create such a movement before we are orgonised in the cities and in a situation to commqnd the mosses.

The article claims that "for instance, a peasant rebellion in the Eastern region cannot preserve its red political power if it is not supported by the struggles of the Aegean and Chukurov peasants and by the movement of our working class in the main industrial cities under the leadership of a proletarian party." The meaning of this characteristically ambiguous statement of opportunism is the following: I - The revisionists envision "a peasant movement," i.e., "the armed peasant 44

struggle," to be only a wholesale peasant rebellion. 2 - They envision that an armed peasant rebellion will immediately lead to red political power and preserve it. 3 - And, therefore, in order to have a peasant rebellion lead to and preserve red political power, they make it a precondition that it be supported by the strug- gles of the peasants in the other regions and by the workers' struggle led by their party in the main industrial cities. "Because only a revolutionary move- ment that develops on a country-wide basis can tear apart and weaken the reac- tionary state power and its main strength, the army."

For the emergence of a red base area, the revisionists do not deem it necessary to have protracted guerrilla activity developing from small to large, from weak to strong, and from simple to complex; within this activity to build up the peo- ple's army step by step, to develop the guerrilla units towards regular army units; and to transform guerrilla warfare into mobile warfare. In fact, they don't even think about this. They require a full-scale peasant rebellion for the emergence of a red base area in that region. And for such a rebellion to lead to and preserve a red base area, it is necessary to be organised in the other rurol regions and in the moin industrial cities of the country and to be in a position to be able to commond the mosses in all these ploces(!); otherwise, a "peasant rebellion" in a single region "cannot preserve its red political power"(!). Therefore, beware-the peasants should not attempt to rebel and we should not try to organise such a rebellion either, etc.

On the other hand, the party is necessary to launch the armed struggle. As for the party itself, it is something that unites "the struggle on a country-wide scale" and directs it "towards a single target." Therefore, without the existence of a a party "unifying the struggle on a country-wide scale and directing it towards 6rr) a single target," the armed struggle cannot be launched. This is what the writer o\ is saying in his opportunist style.

The Shafak revisionists negate the fact that the party, in its founding years and = for a relatively long period after that, cannot get organised on a country-wide o= scale and consequently cannot unite the struggle throughout the country, that, a in our conditions, it will achieve this only during the process of armed strug- cra gle and that, nonetheless, in the period prior to achieving this, it can launch o the armed struggle in advanced rural regions....

= After advocating the rightist and pacifist thesis both verbally and in writing for a long period, the revisionist leadership started to look for an escape in the face of attacks from the Marxist-Leninists....

In reality, the revisionists have not changed their views. The rag that they published to criticise us is the proof of this. In this rag, they claim that we are in favour of waging a "positional" (they mean to say "regional") struggle. This is what they say: "Since the ruling classes will mobilise all-their forces there and this can not be broken up by struggles in other places and cities, it will lesd to the annihilation of the struggle being waged" (my emphasis). First of all, we are not in fqvour of a regional struggle-the conditions we face necessitate such a struggle. Because today it is not possible to be organised in every cor- ner of the country and also because it is more harmful than useful to disperse our forces in places where the revolution cannot develop early on, we advocate that, to the extent that our capacity permits, we get organised in those regions where the revolution will develop earlier and engage in the armed struggle. And we explained all this many times. To be organised on a country-wide scale would certainly have a positive effect on the development of the armed struggle. In 45

Turkish woman weaving rug turn, the fact that our organisation has not yet expanded on a country-wide basis certainly will have a negative effect on the development of the armed strug- gle. However, contrary to what our revisionists claim, the launching of the armed struggle prior to achieving country-wide organisation would not in- D escapably lead to the annihilation of our forces. Provided that a correct policy E is adopted, even when our organisation is very limited it can engage in the armed o struggle and expand, diversify and strengthen itself and our forces through the - process of the armed struggle. A reliable organisation can be created in this tr manner. Cetting organised on the basis of peaceful struggle is a holiow organisa- tion. Even if such an organisation were to embrace the whole country, it would o not be able to lead the struggle of the people, to carry out the armed struggle, E and in a period of rising white terror, it would collapse like a house of cards.... z \o 6 In order to launch the armed struggle, the Shafak revisionists demand that the q prairie be dry. qt "Before the advanced section of the basic worker-peasant masses are prepared for the armed struggle and before the idea of the armed struggle gains a cer- tain popularity among the masses, the armed struggle cannot be started, even ifdirected against correct targets. For the spark to start a prairie fire, the prairie must be dry."

There is no room for forced interpretation or repudiation. In order to launch the armed struggle, our gentlemen demand that the prairie be dried. This is yet another theory invented for the purpose of postponing the armed struggle for years.

Against this rightist theory, the Marxist-Leninists upheld the following: The prairie must be set ablaze from those regions (we are not saying a region) which are dry. That is, in those regions where the conditions are favourable, the armed struggle must be launched and launched immediately. Those regions of the prairie which are not yet dry will be scorched by the fire of the armed struggle 45

raging in other regions. And as our organisation grows bigger and stronger, it will extend into those regions and undertake the armed struggle there. To first wait for the whole prairie to dry up is defective thinking. It does not com- ply with the truth that "the revolution will develop unevenly. " Moreover, the armed struggle will be a hundred, a thousand times more effective than the work conducted through peaceful propaganda and education. Both Comrade Lenin and Comrade Mao Tsetung repeatedly pointed to how the armed struggle brings about leaps in the consciousness of the masses....

The Shafak revisionists' line is not a "Revolutionary Mass Line" but a line that hinders revolution. The Shafak revisionists adapt themselves not to the people of the advanced regions but to those of the backward regions. Suppose that today in certain regions of Turkey the peasants are ready for the armed struggle, and in some others they are not yet ready for this. The revisionists' concept of mass line deems it necessary that they go along with the backward region and break away from the advanced region. This is yet another conclusion that the theory of drying the prairie arrives at. And in the regions where the peasants show im- patience to take up arms, they lag behind the advanced peasants and adapt themselves to the backward elements. To hinder the peasants ready for the armed struggle with the logic of "first learn Marxism-Leninism, then you can join the armed struggle" will certainly lead to distancing oneself from these forces and, in the end, falling back to the level of the backward elements. In a rural region, we observed with our own eyes how the revisionists obstructed the advanced peasants. These traitorous bourgeois gentlemen were left behind by the peasants because they stood in the way of those peasants who wanted to immediately annihilate their class enemies. elrD Such a mass line is, of course, not revolutionary but a hindrance to revolution. 6 o\ A revolutionary mass line is: among the various regions, unite with the people of the most advanced region, raise the level of the intermediate regions and = win over the backward regions. As for the most advanced region, unite there with the most advanced elements, raise the level of the intermediate and try o= to win over the backward. That is: always be at the head of the most advanced a but do not sever ties with the masses behind them; pull them forward. As for q what the Shafak revisionists do, it is the following: adapt themselves to the most o backward elements of the most backward regions and, for those advancing for- ward, trip them up and push them backwards. = In the article 40 of the Draft Programme the following is put forward: "By defending all the immediate demands and needs aimed at improving the liv- ing conditions of the people, gaining democratic rights and forcing the retreat of imperialism, our movement...."

It is clear that this understanding would under certain circumstances lead one into the deepest hole of reformism. If tomorrow, in order to strangle the armed struggle of the peasants, the reactionaries initiate the implementation of a partial land reform, Shafak revisionism will support them. Such a thing would be a step backward taken by imperialism-in order not to be dislodged from all of its positions. It would bring partial improvement of living conditions. It has been observed many times that the ruling class , without touching the foun- dations of the system, have undertaken partial readjustments when they con- sider their power in danger. In our history, most of the peasant rebellions have been suppressed in this manner. Today the fascist martial law regime parades around with the slogan of "land reform" and might very well distribute a bit of land too, in order to protect itself from even greater dangers. A reactionary 47 regime coasting in the wake of Soviet social-imperialism could do even more than that. Contrary to being impossible, these are quite plausible things...under conditions and in places where the masses take up the gun to overthrow the current system itself, it would be a straight-out reformist and reactionary stand to hide behind such pompous slogans as "defending immediate demands and needs." That would be nothing but sticking a finger-full of honey to the lips of the people in order to soothe their anger and would be on the same level as those reactionaries who want to save all of the beehives. Further, in times and places where the conditions are favourable for mass uprisings of workers in the cities and for taking up arms, etc., it is again rank reactionary charlatanism to tell the workers tales of "immediate demands." It is tantamount to appearing in front of slaves who have grasped the evil of the slave system and are in mo- tion to tear it down and saying "your living conditions must be improved." A conscious worker, pushing such overly-knowledgeable charlatans aside with the back of his hand, would say, "hey you, clear out of our way."

Immediate demands cannot be defended or supported under all circumstonces. Marxist-Leninists defend and support immediate demands on the condition that they are tightly integrated with our political demands and with our revolutionary agitation among the masses, and that they never be put to the forefront replacing our revolutionary slogans....Not "under all circumstances" as our revisionist reformist traitors do.

Again in article 40 of the Draft Programme, it is said that, "by defending all immediate demands and needs, our movement mobilises masses for struggle, raises their consciousness and tries to win them over to the ranks of the armed struggle. " D masses is raised by defending "im- The sophistry that the consciousness of the E mediate demands and needs" is, in Comrade Lenin's words, "an old song," o a song of Economism. The lyrics of this song belong to the late Russian a economists who appeared at the end of the l9th and the beginning of the 20th tr century but who were finished off by Comrade Lenin's antidote, What is to o be Done? Our friends(!) once again peddle an adaptation of that song in the market. What a pity! Their efforts are in vain! For these are no longer worth u= a nickel. Defending "the immediate demands and needs" of the masses in order \o to mobilise them for struggle, to raise their consciousness and to win them over 6 to armed struggle, is indeed Economism's theory of "imparting consciousness Ut stage by stage." A cruder version of this theory had been upheld by the revi- b sionists in the past: "In our view, the masses' acquiring consciousness occurs stage by stage." (PDA, Proletarian Revolutionary Line and Some Erroneous Tendencies.)

Not to be unfair, we should point out that the Economists held that they would raise the consciousness of the masses by defending only economic demands, namely "concrete demands." Our revisionists claim to raise the consciousness of the masses by defending "immediate demands and needs" whose scope is somewhat wider than "economic demands." However, they themselves are not aware of the difference of scope between the two either, and in many places they use these two concepts interchangeably.

The consciousness of the masses develops by defending neither "immediate demands and needs" nor "concrete demands." Consciousness can be imparted to the masses only through exposing all of political reality and conducting com- prehensive exposure campaigns that cover every aspect and arena of social life. ln What is to be Done?, Comrade Lenin thrashes the Economist theory of developing consciousness by stages from pillar to post, and, after pointing out that the theory of raising consciousness by stages reflects an opportunist stand, goes on to say that: "Why is it that the Russian workers as yet display little revolutionary activity in connection with the brutal way in which the police maltreat the people, in connection with the persecution of the religious sects, with the flogging of the peasantry, with the outrageous censorship, the torture of soldiers, the persecution of the most innocent cultural undertak- ings, etc.? Is it because the 'economic struggle' does not 'stimulate' them to this, because such activity does not 'promise palpable results,' because it pro- duces little that is 'positive'? (In other words, is it because the struggle for immediate demands does not raise consciousness to this level?-1.K.) No. To advocate such views, we repeat, is merely to lay the blame where it does not belong, to blame the masses of the workers for one's own philistinism (which is also Bernsteinism).....But the Social-Democratic worker, the revolutionary worker (and the number of such workers is growing) will indignantly reject all this talk about fighting for demands'promising palpable results,'etc., because he will understand that this is only a variation of the old song about adding a kopek to the ruble."

Further on Lenin gives the following answer to these economist gentlemen, in the words of a conscious worker: "The 'activity' you want to stimulate among us workers, by advancing concrete demands promising palpable results, we are already displaying and in our everyday, petty trade union work we put forward these concrete demands, very often without any assistance whatever from the intellectuals. But such activity is not enough for us; we are not children to be fed on the thin gruel of 'economic' politics alone; we want to know everything that others know, we want to learn the details of el,f) a// aspects of political life and to take part octively in every single political 6 event. In order that we may do this, the intellectuals must talk to us less of : what we already know, and tell us more about what we do not yet know and = what we can never learn from our factory and 'economic' experience, that is, you must give us political knowledge, etc." (Whst is to be Done?, Lenin) =o o The Shafak revisionists pit the political struggle against the armed struggle. q Under the flag of "political struggle" they reject the armed forms of the political o struggle. They reject armed propaganda and agitation.

= Because we uphold that the key link to be grasped in organising the peasantry should be guerrilla units, and all other types of groups and cells must be taken up and handled in order to serve the needs of the armed struggle and develop it in the very process of waging it, they accuse us of rejecting the political strug- gle. They say we have a purely military outlook.

"According to them, since our people have already grasped the political and ideological aspects of the problem, the issue has been settled and now the whole problem is the military movement."

This nonsense that is being attributed to us has never been advocated anywhere. Since the revisionists draw this conclusion from our statement that the armed struggle must be the principal form of struggle, they reveal the fact that they consider the armed struggle as excluding the political struggle. They expose the fact that they consider the armed struggle and the politicalstruggle to be things that contradict each other.

The "purely military" outlook is the outlook of those who fight for the sake 49 of fighting. We want to wage warfare to accomplish the political tasks of the revolution. We uphold the armed struggle in order to create the people's ar- my in the countryside under the leadership of the party, to establish the peo- ple's power through step by step tearing apart the regional and central authority. This is the way Comrade Mao Tsetung puts it: "Some people ridicule us as advocates of the 'omnipotence of war.' Yes, we are advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good, not bad, it is Marxist. The guns of the Russian Communist Party created socialism. We shall create a democratic republic. Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the labouring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords; in this sense, we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed. " ("Problems of War and Strategy," Mao Tsetung)

One wonders whether a "purely military" outlook prevails here too? Aren't these gentlemen aware of the fact that the armed struggle, that is, warfare, is a form of the political struggle? Armed struggle is not the only form of political struggle but it is a form of it, nonetheless. "War is the continuation of politics by other means" and "since ancient times there has never been a war that did not have a political character. " (Mao Tsetung) These are ABC's of Marxism- Leninism.

From our demand that the armed struggle should be principal, the Shafak revi- sionists again draw the conclusion that we reject agitation and propaganda work among the masses. Evidently they think that armed struggle contradicts agita- tion and propaganda. No, bourgeois gentlemen! Armed struggle does not con- tradict agitation and propaganda work, they are the opposite of each other. Mao Tsetung had this to say about that point: Chinese Red Army is an "The D armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution. Especially E at present, the Red Army should certainly not confine itself to fighting; besides o fighting to destroy the enemy's military strength, it should shoulder such im- - portant tasks as doing propaganda among the masses, organising the masses, tr arming them, helping them to establish revolutionary political power and set- ting up Party organisations. The Red Army fights not merely for the sake of o fighting but in order to conduct propaganda among the masses, organise them, E arm them, and help them to establish revolutionary political power." ("On = Correcting Mistaken Ideas in the Party," Mao Tsetung) \o qs In our country too, the guerrilla units which will form the embryo of the peo- ar ple's army will not rest content with just fighting. At the same time they will have important tasks such as conducting agitation and propaganda among the masses, organising them and arming them. Since these gentlemen consider political struggle the opposite of armed struggle and political struggle to be a purely publishing house activity, they accuse us of rejecting political work, re- jecting agitation and propaganda and mass work. In reality, they themselves recognise only the peaceful forms of agitation and propaganda and of the political struggle. They reject the armed forms of the political struggle and agita- tion and propaganda. 50

U.S.A.3 "No Business As Usudl" April29th, 1985 was No Business minutes") enacted the realities of significance in the context of the As Usual Day in the U.S. It was an nuclear war on the streets of necessity for the proletariat and the important outpouring of mass Chicago, New York City, advanced masses to broadly in- resistance to the major powers' drive Washington, Houston and others. fluence the political programme and towards world war, an effort to seize These actions were marked by the direction the middle forces in society the initiative now to heighten the participation and often take up, so as to create the most struggle of the masses to prevent it. predominance of teenaged youth. favourable conditions for mounting In cities and towns across the U.S., Feminists in a number of cities a revolutionary struggle that can thousands of people from varying called for their own actions at "right prevent world war. classes and strata with differing to life" (anti-abortion movement) While small, there were some im- political views united to take up the centres and armed forces recruiting portant actions on the part of pro- Call To Act To Prevent World War offices. An internationalist peace letarians who joined the mass street J- camp was set up for the day in actions, hung banners, did graffitti This Call said, in part: "Crisis downtown Cleveland. (some raising the slogan "World lollows crisis in a spiral that cannot In San Francisco, the day began Revolution, Not World War") and go on without resulting in the with an attempted quarantine of called for "mass inductions" and gravest ofconsequences. Such an ex- Treasure Island, a naval head- marches on armed forces recruiting traordinary situation requires an ex- quarters located in the middle of a stations. In this aspect, as well as in traordinary response....Only the in- major bridge connecting the cities in other aspects of building a united dependent action of millions the area. Although short of com- front action on NBAU Day, the stepping onto the stage of history to plete success, the action snarled traf- Revolutionary Communist Party, resist can realistically speak to the lic for over an hour as cars stalled U.S.A. played an important role. enormity that looms before us.... and tires and stuffed radiation suits This past year has seen the were dumped in the roadway. It unleashing of an unprecedented "They won't listen to reason, ended with a major disruption of the wave of patriotism, ugly chauvinism They won't be bound by votes downtown area as demonstrators and reaction in the U.S. Integral to The governments must be stopped took to the streets, stopping traffic, this ideological preparation have From launching World War 3, "dying-in, " calling for "mass been the efforts of the bourgeoisie to No matter what it takes!" evacuations" of stores, buses and manufacture, hype up and strictly cable cars, and generally leading the enforce (particularly through its There were mass street actions as police on a chase through the streets media) an overall image of social well as events on over 25 college for hours. peace and prosperity, of a U.S. stan- campuses. "Ground zero" actions Beyond the street actions were the ding tall and united, monolithic and in major cities gathered together numerous means found by a broad invincible. It is an act of desperate hundreds at hubs of social life and range of people-including religious theatre which underlines the acute activity to disrupt business as usual people, teachers and professors, ar- necessity they have for the masses to in innumerable creative ways. Hun- tists, ecologists, anti-nuke activists, submit to their rule as well as their dreds of people sat in in front of the feminists and nationalists from essential weakness and vulnerability gates of Atlanta's Fort McPherson, among the oppressed nationalities in going into war. a major military base also known as the U.S.-to express the political It is not yet the case that there is the Pentagon of the South. "Five thrust of the Call To Act and to open or widespread rebellion in the Minutes" crews (as in Reagan's make April 29 aday of No Business U.S. But the cracks in the facade are "joke," "We begin bombing in five As Usual. This was of great beginning to appear. Developing among certain sections of the masses, particularly the youth and women, there is an element of active refusal, of determined opposition to the U.S. imperialists' political pro- gramme for the 1980s. The recent upsurge of sit-ins, building takeovers and strikes on college campuses across the U.S. in opposi- tion to apartheid in South Africa in- dicated the explosiveness of the situation. The more the ruling class actually succeeds in creating the im- age of America as strong, smiling and philistine-and ready to unleash unlimited violence for the sake of empire-the more disgusted some elements become and the more they begin revolting. April 29 was a major rupture lrom the "dissent as usual" protest which seeks to define and confine resistance within the limits of what the bourgeoisie finds acceptable and olten even necessary in order to channel mass anger and ffii upheaval in ,-:.W' directions which never fundamen- *8 ,,".* tally challenge their rule. In fact such "business as usual" protests can be a{i used as yet another excuse to fight and die to save the empire-"for the right to dissent." The objective line of demarcation between those who propose independent historical ac- tion against the governments and those who would appeal to and "reason" with the governments to change their policies was underlined by another set of major demonstra- tions April 20th "lobbying" (pressuring) Congress. As the menace of world war looms large, it is a major advance of great potential significance that thousands of people are taking ac- tion aimed squarely at the U.S. rul- ing class, and that the various political programmes of the day are manifesting themselves as distinct actions involving sections of the peo- ple. Looked at in their totality, the April 29 actions not only sharply raised and forced many to confront the real and pressing threat of world war and the urgent necessity to act, they also concentrated the strategic confidence of the masses, especially the youth, to meet the governments head on and defeat them, "no mat- ter what it takes." n 52

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By the Central Committee of the I. The General Crisis of Peruvian but rather, at most, to evolve it. Communist Party of Peru (PCP) Society Most importantly, it is a capitalism Contemporary Peruvian society is in completely subjugated by im- "Strengthen the People's Commit- a general crisis. This society which perialism, in our case mainly Yankee tees, develop the base areas and arose at the end of the nineteenth imperialism, and therefore does not advance the New Democratic Peo- century is gravely and incurably develop the potentially great pro- ple's Republic"-PCP sick; it can be transformed only ductive forces of our country, but "All reoctionories try to eliminate through armed struggle, and this is rather squanders them, fetters them the revolution through moss slaugh- what the Communist Party of Peru or destroys them, and in no way ters and think that the more people has been leading the people in doing. develops a national economy but on they kill the more they will weoken There is no other solution. the contrary is completely at the ser- the revolution. But, despite their wis- Contemporary Peru is a semi- vice oI imperialism's increasing ex- hes, facts show thot the more peo- feudal and semi-colonial society in ploitation, and completely opposed ple they kill, the stronger the revo- which bureaucrat capitalism is to the national interests, the interests lution becomes and the closer the developing. It is a belated capitalism of the vast majority, and even the reoctionaries come to their doom. tied to the interests of the lan- basic and most urgent needs of the This is on irrefutable lsys."- downers; as a result, it doesn't in any masses of our people. Chairman Mao way seek to destroy semi-feudalism, The modern Peruvian economv 54

was born defective and is sick in its point, through their landlord- the reactionary government of very roots. It arose tied to the worn- bureaucrat State based upon their Belaunde and his sinister gang with out semi-feudal system, which reactionary armed f orces, its policies of starvation and despite the much-touted agrarian relentlessly exercising their class dic- genocide will go dorvn in history as laws, deceitfully called "agrarian tatorship (of the big bourgeoisie and the government o[ starvation and reform," continues to exist and to the landowners), whether through a genocide. brand the country f,rom its deepest de facto military government, of loundations to its most elaborated which we've had many, for example, lI. To Vote Is To Endorse the Social ideas. The question of the land re- Velasco and Morales Bermudez:, System and Choose Another, Even mains a giant problem, in essence; it just to cite the most recent, or More Starvation-Ridden and is the motor of the class struggle of through elected, so-called constitu- Genocidal Government the peasantry, especially the poor tional governments, like the present Under what conditions are the new peasants who make up the great ma- Belaunde government. general elections taking place? jority. But furthermore, this Thus the governments of Peru, Economically, everyone agrees cconomy arose subjugated by im- whether civilian or military, elected that the country is undergoing what perialism, capitalism's final stage or not, are no more than cliques is at least its greatest crisis in the last masterfully characterised as which take turns exercising dictator- hundred yearsr; furthermore, the monopolistic, parasitic and mori- ship over the people, over the pro- outlook for the future is bleak. It bund. Imperialism, while consenting letariat, peasantry, petit bourgeoisie will take almost until the year 2000 to our political independence as long and even over the national or before the country will be able to as that serves its interests, controls medium bourgeoisie itself, on behalf once again attain the economic levels the entire Peruvian economy: our ol the big bourgeoisie (especially, to- of 1976; in other words, a quarter of rtatural resources! exports, industry, day, big bankers), of the landowners a century ol this country's much- banking and finance. In short, it (manifested especially through the praised economic development will sucks our people's blood, devours authority of local feudal tyrants to Itave been lost. But the problem goes the energies of our nation in forma- exercise political power in the coun- lurther than that. Since World War tion and today in particular squeezes tryside), on behalf of the ruling 2 the country has regularly us by means of our foreign debt, as classes and Yankee imperialism and undergone a crisis in the second half it also does to other oppressed na- completely against the interests of of every decade and each new crisis tions. As a result, the modern the people and the nation. This re- is worse than the preceding one. The cconomy, bureaucrat capitalism, is quires no further historical discus- next crisis is already underway. The e!f) 6 tied from its very birth to the un- sion nor examples, since the proof is reactionary economists themselves o\ buried corpsei of semi-feudalism and before our eyes: the current govern- paint the coming years black. subjugated by dying capitalism ment of Belaunde and his gang, an What's more, the f,oreign debt and which increasingly lives off the elected government, chosen at the the country's inability to pay even = blood ofthe oppressed, obtained by polls by the "sacred" electoral the interest make it impossible to = ot\ exploitation guaranteed by the force system, has done more than any count on foreign capital, which is a of its arms and those of its flunkies, other government to sell out the always presented as something q while dispute takes place amidst in- country to imperialism and has sunk wonderful, while at the same time o cessant crisis and contention for Peruvian society into the greatest internal savings are falling, in- world domination waged principally crisis of its modern history. It has dustrial production is in a recession, i by the two superpowers, the United plunged the people into the most in- agriculture is in crisis, the prices of { States and the social-imperialist satiable hunger and has persecuted, our exports will continue declining, Soviet Union. In conclusion, we are jailed, tortured and murdered them, f'oreign markets are shrinking, etc. experiencing a general crisis of Peru- and even carried out massacres and In sum, a dark future in which there vian society and this crisis means the genocide, because the people, with is no real solution in sight, much less crisis of bureaucrat capitalism which the Communist Party, have dared to one that can satisfy the grorving has entered its final stage, thus rise up in arms, unfurling the banner basic needs of the masses, which are bringing to full maturity the condi- "lt is Right to Rebel," the in- rnore unfulfilled every day, a future tions for the revolution's develop- alienable right of every people which offers only more unemploy- ment and triumph, because the plunged into exploitation and op- ment, a longer work day just to sur- general crisis suffered by the old pression, the irrevocable right of vive, lower wages and salaries, less society grips it overall and in each of every people and every class which rights and more cutbacks of benefits its aspects. reluses to be slaves. and gains. Thus outworn Peruvian This is our reality. This is the This is the reality of the country, society offers only bleak economic foundation on which Peruvian of Peruvian society and of the func- perspectives and greater exploitation society rests and the material roots tion of the rotating governments, and oppression. of our problems and our people's and so it will be until we overthrow Politically: The 1979 constitution, misfortunes. And this is the social the reigning order by force of arms like all those of its type, takes back system which the ruling classes and through people's war. World history every right it guarantees, and their Yankee imperialist master en- and our own have proved it and to- doesn't even satisfy the various fac- joy the use of and defend at gun- day it stands before our very eyes: tions in the reactionary camp, much 55

rvith super-ministers who do what and sometimes real clashes, between (hey want like the aristocrats of old, a hand[ul of demagogues with ill- using their wide and increased concealed interests and unbridled repressive powers daily, from clubs, ambitions like Alva Orlandini, bombs and bullets to decreeing a Bedoya Reyes, Morales Bermudez state of emergency even to deal with and AIan Garcia, the candidates, a strike, and of course the state of respectively, of Popular Action, the siege whose application has been so Democratic Convergence, the iNO VOTAR! SINO, rlemanded. Finally, the reactionary Democratic Front of National Unity iGENERALIZAR armed lorces and police have lully and APRA, all well-known LA GUERRA DE GUERRILLAS shown their hatred ol the people and defenders of the reigning order, and PARA CONQUISTAR the brutality that is the main among them the slimy and obliging EL PODER PARA EL PUEBLO! characteristic of their actions, as well Barrantes Lingan, that phony as their clear "authorisation" to Maridteguist and real and faithful commit any outrage, even murder, defender of the ruling system, the against the sons and daughters of the representative of the so-called people. And the Armed Forces, who United Left hatched up by its leaders

COTITf, CENTiAL continue calling themselves "guar- as the most unbridled expression in PARTIDO COMUNISTA DDL PERU dians" of society (as though the this country of the old electoral op- Peruvian people were made up lrortunist road, ol parliamentary solely of children), are as ex- cretinism. perienced in being defeated by But the rotten legacy does not end less the people. The question of' foreigners as they are in using their there. The class struggle oI our peo- rnodifying it is and will continue to guns to drown our unarmed people ple has gone over to developing as an be a lield ol contention. But besides in blood. Today they even more ob- armed struggle against the old social allowing for the direct participation viously express the interests of the order, the old State and its reac- of the armed forces and police in ruling classes they def'end and all the tionary armed forces and police, a every aspect of social li fe, class hatred contained in their in- revolutionary war which has now strengthening their predominance, tervention againsL the victorious been going on for almost five years, building up the powers of the Ex- armed struggle, while their leader- including two years of combat ecutive while organising the most ship, the Joint Command, the Na- against the old armed forces L police-ridden and repressive system tional Defense head Council and its themselves, and this historic fact has E in our history, and despite their Belaunde himsell, in their impotent radically changed conditions, has o t'ilthy rhetoric. the current constitu- and desperate fervour, trying vainly shown how by means of arms the E tion is in bloodier and more violent to distance the masses from the worn-out system can be overthrown o contradiction with our reality than armed revolution, have found no piece by piece and a new State power any other in our history, as shown solution but the monstrous and in- l'or the people, the oppressed, o by its so-called "right to life" and famous genocide which has un- created. This new and irreversible E the sinister genocide carried out by masked before our people and the process will continue unfolding the armed forces in the Ayacucho world their sinister antiguerrilla ac- more and more as the Peruvian = \o region, shamelessly, with impunity, tions, their fraudulent Peruvian State's main problem, since it is that s and led by Belaunde himselfl. democracy and Belaunde himself, State's negation and destruction, (h How are the sacred bourgeois- that phony democrat and cunning and the Peruvian State must more 6\ democratic institutions working? demagogue. and more concentrate on attacking The parliament abdicated its Presiding over these bleak this process to defend the exploiting legislative functions on behalf of the perspectives are worn-out and reac- classes and their imperialist master, Executive; the judiciary is incapable tionary institutions which survive while ever greater numbers of the of trying the thousands of people only through the force of inertia and people, ol the masses, especially the who have been indicted, and even of arms that uphold them, increas- peasantry, will continue to join the more incapable of complying with ingly spilling and bathing in the in- peasant war now being waged. As its own laws-it approves and pro- cendiary blood of the unarmed and Lenin said, hunger itself leaves them tects the plan to wipe out prisoners cruely oppressed people who have no choice: "In the West, tens of of war in the concentration camps already begun to say, Enough! and millions of people are suftering the known as "El Fronton" and the who believe less and less in the old torments of hunger. This is exactly secret camps in Totos, " Los State and expect less and less from what makes the social revolution in- Cabitos," the Huanta stadium, etc., the government. In conclusion, evitable, since it arises not from pro- with the complicity of the Public discredit, disorder and chaos, and grammes but rather from the fact Ministry. The Executive has become corruption and the most shameless that tens of millions of people are the real legislative power, with the cynicism corrode the landowner- saying, 'Before living in hunger, we country's basic laws in the hands of bureaucrat State. Its government is would rather die for revolution.' " greasy bureaucrats and imperialist- the object of renewed and frivolous The question should be asked: trained and advised technocrats, contention, with verbal skirmishes what is the meaning of these elec- 56

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:U) 57 tions? Do the people need to go to starvation, because that's what's the Peruvian revolution and who do the polls? Is voting in the people's demanded by the necessities and so more than ever now that the interests? Looking at the experience class character of the State of which armed struggle has concretised their of Peru, what revolutionary it is a part. To vote is to help install centuries-old hopes into an inex- trans[ormation have the people ever an even more genocidal govern- tinguishable blaze. won through elections or parlia- ment, because this too is determined As Chairman Mao says, "When ment? Every gain has been a product by the old State's necessity to defend its existence is threatened the ruling of the people's struggle, snatched its decrepit society in the face of the class always resorts to violence. As lrom the enemy, and it is on the developing people's struggle and soon as it sees revolution arise it basis of such deeds that these laws especially the surging armed strug- strives to exterminate it by force of have come about. Either the law has gle whose rifles are tearing down the arms...and when the people rise up limited these gains from the very old and building the new: the forms to seize political power, right away start or else there has been a process of New Political Power, of the New it uses violence to suppress the of restricting and annulling them. Society, based upon the people ris- revolutionary people. " Or, as said in The development of labour legisla- ing up in arms. the second quotation at the beginn- tion is an example of this. The same The people cannot serve their ex- ing, "All reactionaries try to also applies to the winning of ploiters and oppressors, they cannot eliminate the revolution through political rights. All this is said, of help them solve their problems, they mass slaughters.... " course, without even mentioning the cannot endorse their social system, The Peruvian State, the old State, seizure of political power, since for nor still less help elect yet another has acted according to these laws. a revolutionary political power can government which will cause more F-irst it used its police forces, the GC, be won only through revolutionary starvation and carry out more CR, PIP, and its specialcorps: Sin- violence, which in Peru simply genocide, because this road does not chis, the self-proclaimed "Llapan means armed struggle from the serve the people's interests. The only Atic," Dircote, etc.r. They carried countryside to the city. But let's ask fitting response today is NOT TO out their usual persecution, torture, ourselves, furthermore, what have VOTE! This is the only response in imprisonment and murder with the been the real benefits for the people the interests of the people to the cruelty and brutality that is their from participating in the Consti- genocidal, hunger-producing and essence. They went over to patrols, tuent Assembly and the l98o reactionary State's elections. searches and incursions in the coun- General Elections? The former tryside and the city, especially the served simply to carry out the third IIl. Step Up the Guerrilla War to lormer, carrying out the reactionary L restructuring of the reactionary Seize Political Power for the People! rule "steal all, burn all and kill all." E Peruvian state in this century, with The Communist Party of Peru, a At the height of their actions these o results already exposed, while the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party, a forces carried out three operations, - latter simply gave rise to the communist party rebuilt in the fight in January and October l98l and o Belaunde government, which is one against revisionism, including within March 1982, highly touted and exag- of the worst betrayers of the its own ranks, a party of a new type gerated in the press, which despite o fatherland in our history, a govern- to seize political power for the pro- the leadership and support of the E ment which has plunged the people letariat and the people, assumed its armed forces ended in resounding z into darkest cruel the and most role of carrying out revolutionary lailure, suffering humiliating \o hunger and genocide. violence with the initiation of the defeats at the hands of the revolu- (,r6 And furthermore, given these armed struggle on the lTth of May tionary armed forces, as even their perspectives, what can the people, 1980r, and with this the protracted own reactionary press admitted. b the masses, expect from par- process of the class struggle of the Thus the police were used as cannon ticipating in the 1985 general elec- Peruvian proletariat and people has fodder and guinea pigs because of tions, since simply and concretely, to taken a qualitative leap: the continu- the contradictions within the reac- vote is to endorse the social system ing political struggle went over to tionary camp. and elect another government to im- revolutionary warfare, with armed The armed forces of the Peruvian pose yet more hunger and genocide! struggle as the main form of strug- state did not enter directly until the To vote is to help the landowner- gle and the revolutionary armed end of 1982, despite the clamour bureaucrat State replace, according lorces as the main form of organisa- demanding their participation in the to its own laws and on its own terms, tion. In this way our party cast off antiguerrilla struggle, because the authorities who exercise its class the dead weight of more than 50 Belaunde opposed it, fearing that dictatorship over the people, in years and overcame the shameful the military would use its interven- order to maintain the semi-feudal and rotten electoralism imposed tion to carry out a coup or take over and semi-colonial character of upon the masses, and began to write Iittle by little. So that they would all society within which bureaucrat the people's real liberation with be equally responsible, all three chpitalism is developing, forthe dynamite and lead, together, from armed forces, the Army, Navy and benefit of the ruling classes and their the beginning of the armed struggle, Air Force, came in together, main master, Yankee imperialism. with the masses of people, especially although the first two were the main To vote is to help establish a govern- peasants, masses who have always forces. None of them wanted to be ment that will cause even greater supported the most heroic actions of alone in suffering the discredit that 58

their counterrevolutionary work brutally murdered people appeared hamlets" of Vietnam or, taking a would inevitably bring about. But in the area around the city of closer model, the "peasant organisa- from the beginning these self- Ayacucho. The "disap- tions" formed in Guatemala under proclaimed "tutelary institutions of pearances"-foul and unpunished Yankee advisors. The struggle has the fatherland" used vigilante bands murders-began. become much more intense and (made up of traditional feudal July 1984 saw important measures widespread, especially in the coun- authorities, lesser feudal authorities adopted by the State, although they tryside where the Armed Forces and their henchmen), and acted were not made public, which is in have to confront a real peasant war themselves under cover of such itself another violation of their legal led by the Communist Party, and [orces, including disguising system. The Armed Forces Joint their ridiculous plans to separate the themselves as peasants or Civil Command was given the right to in- guerrillas from the masses are fail- Guards, committing atrocities and tervene any and every place in the ing despite their sinister genocide. massacres in a vain attempt to country to fight the guerrillas, to They cannot claim victory; recently separate us from the masses. They establish, at will, emergency zones the Minister of War himself spoke of committed innumerable cowardly and political-military commands to the necessity of enough time and pa- and cunning massacres such as those carry out their orders. Thus the tience to fight the guerrillas, and of in Huambo, Huaychao, Iquicha, whole country is under the Joint the urgency of more powerful Sacsamarca, etc., including the Command and the Executive gives measures and the support of all massacre of the reporterss, all ac- the Armed Forces carte blanche to Peruvians in this. This is a candid tions approved by the National act as they so loyally know how. confession of the di{'ficulties they've Security Council with the explicit This is so-called Peruvian encountered in fighting against an authorisation and congratulations democracy today. Under this armed struggle that is guided by the of Belaunde himself. But with the authority they are carrying out new principles of people's war. These flailure of their evil plans due to the plans: first scorched-earth thrusts difficulties of the reaction found ex- resounding blows of the revolu- and then, under pressure and the pression even in the concerns of the tionary forces and because of threat of death, the concentration of Pope in Ayacucho, in that papal necessities arising from the sections of the masses, to make it mass meeting mainly of soldiers and November 1983 municipal elections, look as if there were a struggle policemen, preceded by more than a the Armed Forces began generalised among the masses themselves going month of intense persecution and slaughter. In less than two months on, when what they are really doing round-ups. After blessing the e the bodies of more than 800 is simply imitating the "strategic murderers' arms, consecrating the srr) o\ "Long Live the Poor Peasants. Land to the Tilter. Guerrilla Warfare."

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IlihlffiffiJ; 59 infamous mass graves, sanctifying strengthen it, destroying the old perty of bureaucrat capital, an the counterrevolutionary war by worn-out and reactionary political armed struggle which serves the blessing the genocidal armed forces power more and more, bit by bit. In world revolution and enjoys pro- and police, especially their blood- these nearly five years we have car- letarian internationalist support, thirsty chiefs, exculpating and even ried out more than 20,000 actions especially from the Revolutionary supporting the Belaunde govern- (up to the beginning of 1985); the Internationalist Movement of which ment, calling upon it to annihilate us party has grown in membership our party is a part. We rely on the expeditiously, in a high-sounding many times over and enjoys prestige masses of people in this country who voice the Pope warned us to change as never before, within Peru and support us, especially the poor course, to abandon the revolution, abroad; we have built a People's peasants, and we do not submit in particular to submit ourselves to Guerrilla Army of several thousand ourselves nor will we ever submit the established order and betray the fighters; and most importantly, hun- ourselves to either superpower or people. We replied to this warning dreds of People's Committees have any power, because we unreservedly immediately and firmly on February been formed and we are fighting to support revolution, guided by 4th with the massive blackout that develop the base areas and advance Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the plunged Lima and the whole central towards the formation of a New guiding thought which is the ap- region ofthe country into darkness. Democratic People's Republic. In plication of Marxism to our condi- What has the armed struggle ac- other words, a New State Power has tions. Today, our immediate goal is: complished in almost five years? arisen and is developing by carrying Step up the guerrilla war to seize Nineteen-eighty could be defined as out real state functions. State power for the people! the year of getting started, l98l and In synthesis, the Communist 1982 as the beginning of the develop- Party of Peru is leading a successful Long Live the Armed Struggle! ment of guerrilla warfare and of the and growing armed struggle guided Don't Vote! formation of the first People's Com- by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the Long Live the Communist Party mittees, the initial forms of the new only real communist ideology, an of Peru! State power, and from then through armed struggle to carry out a Long Live Chairman Gonzalo! today the struggle has been centred democratic revolution, guided by Eternal glory to Marxism- on re-establishment and counter- Chairman Mao's New Democracy, Leninism-Maoism! reestablishment, that is, counter- aimed at breaking imperialist revolutionary war to destroy the domination, destroying the per- Central Committee, New State Power and revolutionary sisting feudal landowner property Communist Party of Peru war to defend relations and confiscating the pro- February 1985 it, develop it and E -o U Footnotes attack on the polling station in the village of 5. Eight reporters murdered in January 1983 l. General Velasco Alvarado, leader of the Cuschi in Ayacucho, is often given as 18 May, near the village of Uchuraccy in Ayacucho. o self-proclaimed "revolutionary" military PCP had chosen the symbolism of launching Despite the efforts of a government-appointed junta which overthrew Belaunde in 1968. it on the day before the elections to make clear investigating committee headed by novelist E General Morales Bermudez, who led the 1975 their complete opposition to the entire elec- Mario Vargas Llosa to throw the blame for within the coup" which overthrew toral arena. this murder directly or indirectly on the PCP, = "coup G Velasco, and which in turn gave way to a new 4. Peru's police corps : the paramilitary Civil recent court testimony has shown that the 6 civilian government headed by Belaunde in Cuard which patrols the rural area and the commission's report deliberately falsified evi- la 1980. Repubtcan Guard which is supposed to guard dence and that, in fact, the reporters were b 2. Since Peru was declared bankrupt in 1879 public buildings, prisons and borders; the murdered by a government-organised vigilante and subsequently defeated and dismembered regular urban detectives; two brigades of squad, led by a former army officer. The by Chile in the War of the Pacific. counter-insurgency troops modeled after the international press which gave the Vargas 3. The day before the national elections which U.S. Green Berets (this in addition to armed Llosa report a great deal of publicity has blac- brought Belaunde back into office. Although forces units used for this purpose) ; and lastly ked out these latest developments. tr the date of the PCP's first armed action, an the "antiterrorist" police. 60 Expqnd qnd Strengthen the Movement to Support the Revolution in Peru

The following stotement wos for- duty bound to make support for this tionary forces, it is also correct and worded Io A World to Win by the revolution an integral part of their necessary that this on going work be lnformotion Bureou of the Revolutio- own revolutionary work. punctuated by periods of more in- nory lnternotionolist Move- The Revolutionary Interna- tense and concentrated effort. For ment.-AWTW tionalist Movement and its par- all these reasons, the Committee of ticipating parties and organisations the Revolutionary Internationalist has a particularly important respon- Movement is calling for a coor- sibility in building support for the dinated, International Campaign to The March 1984 Second Interna- struggle led by the Communist Party Support the Revolution in Peru. tional Conference of Marxist- of Peru which is a participating This campaign should involve not Leninist Parties and Organisations party in our movement. Everywhere only the participating parties and called on the revolutionary pro- the parties and organisations of the organisations of the RIM but should letariat and the oppressed peoples to Revolutionary Internationalist draw in all revolutionary and pro- etl) support the People's War being Movement are active they should gressive forces who wish to unite to 6 o\ waged under the leadership of the take up the tasks of building a solid support the Peruvian revolution Communist Party of Peru. Since base of support for the Peruvian under the leadership of the PCP. We z this call was adopted, important revolution. are hereby extending the hand of the work to build support for this vital Despite a worldwide media cam- Revolutionary Internationalist o= struggle has been carried out by the paign of hysterical slander joined in Movement to all such forces, both in participating parties and organisa- by the revisionist "left" around the countries where there are presently a tions of the Revolutionary Interna- world, the enthusiasm of the class RIM organisations, and elsewhere. q tionalist Movement, together with conscious workers to support the Although the exact timing and dura- o other revolutionary forces. Peruvian revolution is irrepressible. tion of the campaign will have to be But the level of support built up to The advance of the armed struggle decided in every country by the par- = now, while extremely important, is itself and the deep support of the ticipating parties and organisations not adequate to fulfill our interna- masses of people in Peru that it relies of the RIM along with other forces, tionalist responsibilities. Further upon, together with the work of in general the campaign should steps must be taken, and urgently so. revolutionaries outside Peru, has begin in October and finish on As the Declarution of the Revolu- made it impossible for the reac- January l, 1986. tionary Internstionalist Movement tionaries, try as they will, to com- Support the Revolution in Peru! puts it: "internationalism is not pletely suppress the real nature of simply the support rendered of the the struggle. The truth has already All those who are interested in proletariat in one country to another been glimpsed by millions around participating in the International but, more importantly, a reflection the world who are beginning to see Campaign to SuPPort the Peruvian of the fact that the proletariat is a behind the frantic attacks of the Revolution should contact Par- single class worldwide with a single enemy. The Peruvian people are ticipating parties and organisations class interest, faces a world system standing up, under the leadership of of the RevolutionarY Interna- of imperialism, and has the task of a genuine vanguard party guided by tionalist Movement in their country liberating all of humanity." the beacon of Marx, Lenin and Mao or, where this is not Possible, write The People's War in Peru is the Tsetung, as part of the world revolu- directly to the lnformation Bureau sharpest expression in the world to- tionary movement. of the RIM in London at the follow- day of this struggle "to liberate all While building support for the ing address: of humanity." Thus the genuine Peruvian revolution is an on-going BCM RIM, London WCIN 3XX, Marxist-Leninists of all countries are task for all the genuine revolu- u.K. tr 6t

Peru Support Sprouts Everywhere

"There is no room for doubt: in "Senderista International." These PCP is receiving money and arms its struggle Sendero Luminoso en- "reports" have been replete with all from abroad-without the slightest joys growing international sup- kinds of fanciful articles about evidence or claim that such evidence port." Thus wailed Olga, Peru's various imaginary RIM meetings exists-Olga concludes that "The leading newsweekly, in one of a re- and other concoctions. struggle against Sendero and other cent series of major articles. "It is no Late Iast year the Peruvian seditious organisations can no accident that this propaganda cam- government denounced Britain for longer be confined to the national E paign has been stepped up, in an harboring a "centre for interna- level. It must take place on the inter- o organised way, since the middle of tionalist terrorism," apparently national level." In a previous issue, E last year....The explanation for this referring to support for the PCP be- Oiga had even presented a world U is to be found in the Declaration of ing built there, a charge sparked map filled with spots to show how t he Revolutionary Internqtionalisl among other things by activities of the contagion of support for the o Movement issued in March 1984." the Revolutionary Internationalist revolution in Peru is spreading. E For once, this Peruvian pro- Movement and its Information Various reports about the impact z government mouthpiece spoke the Bureau in London. This past 2l that this international support for \o truth. But it was quite a change of May, in a Lima press conference the revolution in Peru is having 6 tune. given in the waning days of his term among the revolutionary masses q From the start of the armed strug- in office, President Belaunde blasted there can be considered confirmed il\ gle in Peru in 1980 until only support for the PCP in Paris and by this public squirming by Peru's recently, the Peruvian authorities New York. ruling classes. Of course like all at- used as one weapon in their arsenal Not very coincidentally, the day tacks by the enemy, this has two of lies (along with their other before Oiga had published the aspects: it should be taken as con- arsenal) the charge that the PCP was results of its "investigation" into the gratulations on a job well begun, "completely isolated" from the Peruvian revolution support move- and in that sense as a call to step up worldwide revolutionary movement ment in the U.S. (an "investigation" and strengthen support work, but is and that its outlook was "na- based mainly on public activities and also, as usual, a lie, in that support tionalistic." This went along with leaflets). Rhetorically the magazine activities for the revolution in Peru their habit of onlyreferring to the demanded to know if the U.S. have already broken out on a far PCP as "Sendero Luminoso," government is too preoccupied with wider scale than these reactionaries "Shining Path," as if it were some Central America to arrest people in have indicated. kind of sect and not a communist the U.S. for carrying out such ac- Delhi, India, on October 8th, party at all. But in the last year rhe tivities, "at least for disturbing the 1984 was the scene of a mass rally Peruvian reactionary press began to peace or hostile actions against near the Peruvian embassy to de- run screaming headlines about the (Peruvian) government represen- nounce the Peruvian government "Sendero's International Connec- tatives." Then, after repeating the and declare solidarity with the fions," or what they've called the Peruvian government's lie that the revolution in Peru. About 200 peo- 52

The ltolion Compoign...

The following is taken from in- of posters, leaflets and documents dominated by anarchists and the formation submitted by the Com- on Peru translated into ltalian, the Autonomiq movement. In other mittee for lnternational Support to tour began in Taranto, an industrial words, it is a city where Maoists have the Strugg le of Oppressed city on the "heel" of southern ltaly. faced hard going for a long time, Peoples, formed in November 1984 The building of this meeting had unlike some other places where the by the Communist Collective of been concentrated principally pro - M arxi sm- Lenini sm - M ao AgitiProp; the Communist Com- among the workers at the giant Tsetung Thought forces of the six- mittee of Trento; the Proletarian Italsider steel complex, as well as ties and seventies were able to win Communist Organisation, Marxist- among high school students. wider influence. In this sense, the Leninist; and supporters of the The next meeting was at the meeting there represented an offen- Union of lranian Communists who university in Bari, a commercial cen- sive by the RIM forces, who found live in ltaly. - AWTW tre on the Adriatic coast to the north themselves debating with the pro- of Taranto. Students from a number Soviets and others on the difference Seven cities, covering nearly the of organisations against repression between the strategy of protracted whole length of ltaly, were hit by a look part. A particularly sharp people's war in the oppressed coun- national tour in support of the Peru- theme of the discussion that tries and armed insurrection in the vian revolution in February 1985. followed was on the differences bet- imperialist countries, and the unity The Committee for International ween the PCP and other organisa- of these two types of revolutions as Support had decided to take it up for tions in Peru which have taken up part of the world proletarian revolu- two reasons. First, in order to break armed struggle recently and the tion. the press blackout which in Italy, as PCP's conception of building a The University of Padova, in the elsewhere, has meant that little is united front. north, was gripped by an intense known about the revolution in Peru In Perugia, in central Italy, the climate of repression, including among the broad masses of people, meeting took place at a university police interrogation of some of the while various other struggles in the famous for its large number of organisers of the Peru meeting and oppressed countries have become students from all over the world, other people in the city. There had etr) 6 well known due to the efforts or which allowed for a broad discus- been a series of arrests aimed at an o\ designs of various reactionary forces sion and comparison of experiences organisation against political repres- who seek to use them for their own between Peru and other liberation sion in Italy. Not only was the = ends. Second, to underline the par- struggles. Students from Eritrea, meeting held there despite police ef- S ticular character of this war, an where there is a national liberation forts to stop it-efforts that took o armed struggle led by a communist war being waged against the Ethio- place in nearly every city and which a party (the Communist Party of pian government, played a promi- dif ferred in Padova only in q Peru-PCP) guided by the teachings nent part in the discussion. degree-but also there was an ap- o of Marx, Lenin and Mao Tsetung, a The meeting in Bologna was par- pearance on a local radio talk show, war to build a New Democratic state ticularly significant because this city despite strong opposition from some = as the first and necessary step has been a stronghold of the revi- "leftist" forces, which led to a long towards socialism. There is no other sionist Communist Party of ltaly and lively on-the-air discussion ongoing people's war like it in to- and allied organisations which run about the Peruvian revolution in day's world. the city council, while the rest of the which all kinds of callers par- To the accompaniment of a flurry political movement has long been ticipated, many very enthusiastic in

ple from Faridabad, Panipat, Pun- munist Party (Mashal); Communist also known as comrade Meche, who jab and Delhi as well as Nepalis who Worker, organ of the Revolutionary is being held by the Peruvian live in India and Afghan refugees Communist Centre, India (Marxist- authorities on charges of being an marched to the site past the U.S., Leninist); Central Reorganisation important member of the PCP. Soviet and Afghan embassies, where Committee, Communist Party of Many of those who signed could not they took the opportunity to chant India (Marxist-Leninist); Revolu- write; they signed with their finger- slogans against both sets of im- tionary Communist Party, India; prints. perialist butchers and denounce and the Afghan Students Associa- In Paris, ongoing activities by the Soviet crimes against the people of tion. Comite Sol-Peru included a week Afghanistan as well. The Also, in Punjab, 800 people from of activities during the first week of demonstration, organised by the all walks of life, including pro- October 1984 in celebration of the Committee to Support the Revolu- letarians, peasants and intellectuals, anniversary of the founding of the tion in Peru, was addressed by signed a petition demanding the im- PCP. speakers from the Nepal Com- mediate release of Laura Padilla, A very significant mass meeting 63

ference between this and the armed struggles now going on in Central America? How is an armed struggle launched? What has this one ac- complished? What does the PCP think of Pol Pot, liberation theology, European imperialism, the United Left in Peru? What is go- ing on with women in this revolu- tion? What does the PCP mean by the term "Maoism?" Who is Com- rade Gonzalo and what is meant by the term "guiding thought"? What's the PCP's position on the elections? The Committee for International Support to the Struggle of Op- Meeting in Bologno, Italy pressed Peoples which had organised this tour met afterwards to sum it up. Despite some short- their support for the revolution in participation of a large number of comings, they judged it a resounding Peru. employed and laid-off workers from success, above all because of its The meeting in Trento was met by the city's giant FIAT auto complex. broadness, which had made it possi- a strike of high school students in the The meeting involved some serious ble to mobilise many local groups city in support of the revolution in discussion about questions of and forces on a national scale, with Peru. There has been nothing like revolutionary strategy, and as in real international significance, in this anywhere in Italy for a long several others, a discussion that order to support the revolution in E time. About 400 high school strongly emphasised the role of Peru. It had been able to explain the o students took part in the meeting in women in Peru's armed struggle and PCP's ideological and political line, - a local movie theatre, where they the revolutionary significance of in confrontation with that of other o sang a song written by one of them that. forces, including from other armed in honor of the PCP. This was A list of the most common ques- struggles in the oppressed countries, o recorded so that somehow it could tions that came up in this tour gives and in this way launch a real revolu- E be sent to the revolutionary some of the flavour of the broadness tionary countercurrent in the Italian z prisoners of war in Peru's El Fron- and depth demanded by those political years who scene after several of \o ton prison island. The support for came to listen, discuss and debate. difficult going for the forces that 6 this meeting involved the broadest They include: What is "Sendero follow Marxism-Leninism-Mao Ot political forces of any of the Luminoso" and who leads it? What Tsetung Thought. 6= meetings of this tour. relations does it have with Russia, This Support Committee plans The Torino meeting was China and Albania? What's the more actions around the revolution especially important because of the history of the PCP? Whar's the dif- in Peru and other campaigns. D

took place that week in Rome as nationwide speaking tour (see ac- India, Iran and elsewhere. It was well, attended by a rich mixture of companying report). organised by the Nottingham Com- veteran revolutionaries from a wide On 26 January, a similarly suc- munist Group, supporters of the variety of Iocal collectives in cities up cessful mass meeting took place in Union of Iranian Communists and down Italy as well as some London, which also created a bit of (Sarbedaran) and individual RIM younger people, including activists stir on the political scene. Here too supporters. from the Autonomia movement. it was apparent that the revolu- On Peru's election day, April 14, This event, sponsored by the three tionary armed struggle in Peru has as Peruvian residents in the UK were participating organisations of the given heart to quite a few people due to file into the Peruvian embassy Revolutionary Internationalist who once considered themselves ac- in London to cast their compulsory Movement in Italy, was the first held tive Maoists, as well as bringing ballot, RIM supporters held a picket under their auspices in the capital forth new forces. A broad array of line and distributed copies of a PCp city, and in turn served as the people participated, including peo- leaflet calling for a boycott to those prelude to an extremely successful ple from other European countries, entering the building and passers-by. 54

.\: N \\\ N]J\I :i-\

,llt t,

c0l,tuN!5TA

,,SOON MILLIONS OF PEASANTS WILL RISE LIKE A MIGHTY STORM ALL THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTIES AND COM- RADES WILL BE PUT TO THE TEST BEFORE THE PEASANTS AND Agosto'84 WILL HAVE TO CHOOSE WHICH SIDE THEY WILL TAKE". Mao Tsetung Quechuo, " Let Us Rise Up Together "

Local people from Peru's loyal op- the traditional May Day labour USA dedicated the May Day ac- position, the "United Left," were parade. Parade officials, linked to tivities it led in areas across the U.S. completely scandalised at such Sweden's ruling Social Democratic to "all the revolutionary people of disrespect for Peru's deathsquad Party, sent in thugs to stop the con- the world, but most especially to the "democracy" in "democratic" Bri- tingent. But it drew enough support heroic revolutionary struggle being tain which has profitted so well from from other participants and waged by the people of Peru and the the oppression of nations. Also go- onlookers to repulse the attack and Communist Party ol Peru." ing more than a little berserk were continue marching. The same day, in front of the the official embassy officials, who In the U.S., on May Day the Peruvian embassy in New York, mounted a veritable forest of Committee to Support the Revolu- about 30 people picketed and gave cameras in their windows to record tion in Peru held a "night in out leaflets in support of the revolu- all those responsible for such deeds. solidarity with the revolution in tion in Peru. A representative of the This same kind of leafletting and Peru" in the San Francisco Haitian International Revolutionary picketing in front of the Peruvian Women's Building. Representatives Group proclaimed, "Our comrades embassy in conjunction with the of the Revolutionary Communist in Peru are in the forefront of the in- PCP boycott also took place in Party, USA; the (Azanian) Black ternational struggle and we are look- Stockholm, where there are many Consciousness Movement, U.S. ing to them, not only we here, but Peruvians and other Latin Region; and the General Union of throughout the world. The im. Americans exiles. Several weeks Patriotic and Democratic Afgans perialists, they dream of crushing later, on May lst, about a hundred addressed the 200 or so participants, that struggle. We, the people, do not people gathered around enormous who also gave an enthusiastic recep- want that struggle to be crushed; we banners in support of the PCP and tion to poems and songs in support want that spark to light up the entire the RIM, forming a contingent in of the revolution in Peru. The RCP, world." 65

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EN INCIES y qn.ll.6 .. r.nd.n y di.triblyen .lich.t @yo l.mu .!: iApoy.. l. tu.rr. Fpul.r .tr el P.rir SENDERO

EN ( NUEUAYORKpor rnlLlo r.t,c(ial: t Ell \,\\ ll() t l.OR Us ,\lL,\OZ \'lA AltlOPllll L,) ,'\ r,N', cn l.s pnn(,palei cap,rr"u.sl,,, cs I \{ han rccibido co.raill.s Uanralr! ,1, h!5r3 hoy con indile'er(i! cr .n,il L .!i,ras Lmb,.n cr los tsDd"s , ci.n,.as y ncnsajes tdra y n(' han delenido. n,n8(na pc6o L nido\ de \oileunlac! viene rea /adorc\ ,,a n, i.t,,(n por altersr.l ord.n tnblr l'ltr.J(,t uilx lcrrva camprna d. prcpa- ltro. 0n los nltinN mclcs. 13 oiinsi ro J" hdnlnr r k,s rcprcscrt3rtri d. un tlia.\ \ dr (rpia!on d. fondos cn iavor ea d. inrinidacidn ) d? popatand, s€n- Sobicnro o de un prrS ron .l que J. lr luchl annada quc d.erolla eo el denila r ha mtensificado.,nclLy(ndosc 8uardon cordules rclaciones drplonrdli. l!',u U org.nraciai lcrodsrr Sendcro cn Ix opcati!os manifcsl!cn)n.s catte. aas y d. anrhud Lun' io!) reras tEnte a 1os tdates dc nlcntus $ lia.c dos Fnrlnas. "dcs L! .arnpaia F ha lenrdo desplegan diplo,ndticas. Encapuchados. cubir. Bosk)n. r produjo una m3nilcnacfir. do inen,iriean,enr, dc5de nediados ros sus ,u*ros con paiamontaras. sn. Y diez dias aftis. en plena tcrcera avcrL d.iriopasadocnEsrido!Unidos.Co- ,.'n d.nnasysurJiadosnoil..nrcdcanos iideNu.raYork,trxpropJ&ndisr.sdu '.. b,r-, .uJnJ.,u.8rup.d. d"c\,rc;a,/qdf,dah!ncrc.rJJI.f., \.nJc.u,rr,^-n,". p..;..,,,,,,.r. .(, r \rrs coiur,, un krrcnr .r la pue!lr {csrar ciflrrca! contri el Brherno dc Jl (i,nrulddo Cccrll d.t p.ri Lri. (Ii Jeli.,'.uladop(ruanolrclklcropu.,a.,crir,(u;lelPeru.s,,truJ.)a.ub.,,,!,,vn,te{!ciunfuep,,n1,,1ruO",,,. d,'.1.M el.!e{o$ru,ent.- .onr,aL ..^,o^cnnu.*,opi" rLslraJr pu, t. o,piu'nac'a bu(rralrca sendero n,r Las auroidades noileimeri.anas. at rJtc\[i6il y il€86 ! kansn)irrrsc";lu"i^.1 .il P.id,trr'. pilec€' s6lo preocupadas por el p(rblc cl C.6d 2 ;e Li;a. ruvo rai (\ ..ulfrro ieuiEn 1 parrir de esa pnm.rr acc,dn. 1," ru mas cei!ano que tiencn .un \r.ara !,, ,.nal d;,odnrLu" odr.- d'r',n;ricos peruano( ,crcdilado. ,r E,:) (ubrenCenrroanrdncr.ldnrlid rpu;rtrpig,.rjiurnr"r OIGA. I de MM d. 1985

Committees to Support the minded masses of people stimulated the world revolution, giv- Revolution in Peru have also been themselves. Apparently something ing heart to old and new revolu- formed in the Dominican Republic really revolutionary, a struggle not tionary forces and oppressed people and in three cities in Spain, where a subordinated to some bourgeois end everywhere. It has greatly increased great many people have come to or power but instead determined to the prestige of Marxism-Leninism- lollow the news from Peru and a win real liberation and push forward Mao Tsetung Thought and aided the variety of forums on the subject the world-wide proletarian revolu- regroupment of the world's genuine have been held. In Colombia, Spain, tion until classes and class society are Marxists. Now the increasing sup- New Zealand, Denmark and other abolished all over the earth, an port for the revolution in Peru has countries, leaflets and newspaper ar- armed struggle carried out by the begun to have an impact on the ticles in the revolutionary press have masses themselves, guided by the political situation in its own right. helped rattle the walls of silence and most revolutionary of ideologies, It is against this backdrop that the slanders with which the imperialists pushing forward vigorously and effectiveness of the efforts launched and their various flunkies have at- irresistibly-apparently a great so far have to be judged. As one tempted to contain the revolution in many people have found this revolu- Londoner remarked about the Peru- Peru. tionary war led by the PCP to be a vian government's sputterings about These events have revealed a little ray of light in today's world and support in Britain, "Thanks for the of the potential. All kinds of people have proved their willingness to encouragement, but really there's have stepped forward to support the welcome it with broad and abundant rather a lot to be done yet." tr revolution in Peru, with varying support. views and viewpoints, impelled to The revolutionary people's war take action by the sentiments and being led by the Communist Party outright demands of revolutionary- of Peru (PCP) has greatly 66

Peru's New President of Counterrevolution

Peru has had its elections and the civilian president, to set up more rape, mass executions and elections have had the desired result: emergency zones wherever it wants systematic efforts to rid whole areas a new face has been chosen to and to direct the police and other of the countryside of their in- preside over the armed counter- repressive forces involved in the habitants have all been discussed, revolution. anti-guerrila struggle. decided and wholly blessed by the Well over 100,000 troops and In fact, the constitution itself, executive, legislative and judicial police poured into the streets of the written in 1979 under the tutelage of branches of the government and all cities and towns April l4th-one for the armed forces, declares the armed the appropriate government organs. every 80 registered voters who faced forces to be the ultimate arbiter of Other participants in this general harassment and even the possibility the country's destiny. This is a for- orgy of democratic approval have of death if they failed to obtain an mal declaration of the reality made included the U.S., the "socialist" official mark in their voter's book clear by Peru's history of repeated governments of France and Spain, and an official stain on their voting armed forces coups and even clearer as well as the ruling Socialists and finger. The democratic whirling of by the last five years in which the Christian Democrats of ltaly, and of helicopters filled the skies of Lima, counterrevolutionary war against course the Pope, along with Peru's Ayacucho and other cities, while ar- the guerrillas has increasingly taken "United Left" opposition and its moured cars and tanks kept on the character of a war against a admirers in many countries, and last "democracy" safe down below. broad section of the people, but not least, Fidel Castro. What kind of democracy is this? especially in the mountain coun- Lenin once wrote that the rule of tryside as well as the shantytowns of Election Boycott and Offensive capital, which often clothes itself the big cities. Two months before the elections the with the sham of bourgeois The revolutionary forces report Communist Party of Peru (PCP, democracy in the imperialist coun- that the number of those killed in called Sendero Luminoso or Shining tries, stands naked in the countries combat or made to "disappear" in Path by the press) put out the oppressed by imperialism. Here in the secret mass executions that have slogan, "Don't Vote-Step Up Peru, which after all was supposed become a hallmark of the Peruvian Guerrilla Warfare to Seize Power to be a big success story for armed forces has reached 10,000. In for the People. " The purpose of the democracy in the backyard of U.S. the department of Ayacucho, the boycott was to oppose electoral illu- imperialism, 29 of Peru's 153 historic centre of the revolutionary sions with a clear conception of what provinces-the central mountain armed struggle, l9o of the popula- Peru's problem is and how to solve areas where the revolution is tion is said to have been killed since it, to wage a political campaign strongest-are now emergency the armed forces occupied the region against the elections to increase sup- zones under direct military rule. ln at the end of 1982, according to the port for and participation in the these provinces Peru's constitution International Movement of Catholic guerrilla war. In some areas where it and all pretense of rights have been Jurists. is particularly strong among the formally suspended. In the rest of The armed forces cannot be said masses, the PCP did try to stop the the country, since July 1984 the to have acted against Peru's elections; in many others where it military has enjoyed legal authority, "democracy," however, Their mass was not actually able to prevent the given to them by the duly elected roundups, death squads, torture, elections from taking place it 67

n-__=-----4 AE IORERA {rrcoron := I z'2, [\eraxcA \ w [------=5 €J' .e,liXrtit il

los oprlmidos ee les;uiotira p;ra oeiia;r-!-ii vez cad a varlos aios lque miembros de la clase opresora han de representarlos y aplastarlos en el parlamentol' CARLOS MARX

The Morx quote at the bottom of the cartoon says: "the oppressed ore authorised to decide once every.few years which member of the ruling class is to represenr ancl repress the people in parliament. "

front," o ploy on the term "natio- nal front", 8)the Army, 9)Marines, I0)Air Force, I I)peruvian Investiga- tions Police (detectives) t2)Civil Guard (rurol police), l3)Republicon Quord (of prisons, borders, public buildings, l5)"connon fodder,', Armed Forces controlled vigilante Sangs l6)Jesus Oro- pesa, Notional A grarian Confedero- tion leader burned alive by -Moyorpolice, I7)Huancayo United Left Munoz, killed by the government, according to his local supporters quoted in the Peruvian press. This contradicts the government's c loim - w ide ly q uo ted by pro- LIn i ted Left types abroad-thot the pCp This cortoon, entitled "],985 Elec- 3)outgoing president Belaunde, was responsible, I8)the national tions Carnival," v,os widely circulo- 4)APRA's Alan Gorcia, S)the Uni- flag, turned into the white flag of ted as a teaflet by the PCp during the ted Left's Alfonso Borrantes, seuted copitulation, l9)the government;s year before the elections. Pictured beside other candidates 6)Armed new banners, 2|)children killed in o ore : I)Uncle Sam, 2)the Soviet beor, Forces head Julian Julia 7)"criminal g ov ern me nt -orga nised massoc re. 68

unleashed military blows to inflict spectacular series of attacks on key when she was running for mayor- damage on the enemy. power pylons demonstrated the but "there is no security for the In two widely circulated pam- government's increasingly embar- voters, the elections should be phlets, one addressed to the people rassing inability to control large cancelled." In essence, this was a of Ayacucho (see A llorld To lltin areas of the countryside through call for more military presence- No. 2) and the other signed directly which these power lines pass, more "security"-while at the same by the Party's Central Committee especially in the mountains. That time, as an exercise in shameless (see this issue), through wall posters night a parked car filled with demagogy, a kind of anti-election and handbills particularly aimed at dynamite blew up in front of the campaign stunt to further her own peasants who are often illiterate, and presidential palace in the centre of political career, her gesture gives a through spoken agitation carried out Lima, producing panic among the glimpse of the strength of the elec- in the countryside, the villages, on swarms of police and other security tion boycott. buses temporarily seized by the guer- forces stationed there. Two of them rillas and in the urban shantytowns, were reported shot and wounded in "Chronicle of an Election the PCP exposed the underlying the course of the evening's confused Foretold" nature of the Peruvian society which events. The car was later reported to Long before these elections the PCP these elections were meant to have been stolen from Peru's AI- had predicted that the regime's preserve: a society dominated by im- torney Ceneral. In the darkness, strategy would be to declare the perialist capital, semi-feudal lan- dynamite is said to have resounded holding of any elections at all a vic- downers and bureaucrat capitalism in explosions at the Ministry of tory for the government and a sign tied to both of these pillars of the Defense, the court building the PCP of rhe weakness of the guerrillas. reactionary order. has labeled the "Palace of In- This is just what happened. On the On election day, two polling sta- justice," the embassy of Argentina morning of election day, a tions in affluent areas of Lima were (whose chief of state was at that mo- spokesman for the U.S. government bombed and the Aviation Ministry ment conferring with President pronounced the holding of elections attacked. Telephone exchanges were Belaunde in the presidential palace), itself the real victory while express- reported bombed in Huancayo and and once again, the U.S. embassy. ing apparently genuine unconcern Huanta, in the department of There are no accurate figures about the outcome. This judgment Ayacucho. available at this writing on the extent was duly repeated throughout the On April20th, six days after the of the election boycott itself. There ranks of the legions of foreign and e elections, six electric power pylons have been complaints from election domestic reporters. r{) on the eastern outskirts of Lima officials quoted in the press which For instance, much fuss has been 6 were blown up, plunging the city in indicate that up to l89o of the made about the fact that an election I total darkness while the hills above ballots cast were blank or spoiled station was placed on the campus of the city were lit up with the now- (for instance, marked with revolu- the University of San Marcos, = familiar bonfires forming the shape tionary slogans). There are no despite the omnipresence of PCP =o of a hammer and sickle. reliable figures available at all on anti-election slogans on the walls of h Major attacks were reportedly how many people abstained from the university; But if the govern- a launched in the mining area of Pasco voting, although even the most pro- ment's ability to put a polling booth q during the first week of May, pro- government estimates have not in an area in the middle of the capital o mpting the authorities to announce dared put this figure at less than city, for at least a few hours, amidst that the PCP was beginning to 2Oo/0, and other equally uncon- an all-out display of military = mount an offensive. Despite the firmed estimates run at over twice strength-if this is a question, then roundup and detention of 10,000 that. There have been as yet uncon- how strong can the government people in Lima May 9th, the official firmed reports that the government really be? residences of the ambassadors of the was unable to hold elections in hun- Much is also made of the fact that U.S., the USSR and China were at- dreds of villages in the central and for the first time since World War II tacked. (The PCP has denounced south-central mounlains and some one Peruvian civilian regime was the current Chinese regime for urban areas. about to be followed by another, betraying Mao's line, overthrowing It is revealing, however, that without a military interregnum. It the revolution and imposing a new Leonor Zamora, the mayor of seems that this is supposed to mean reactionary dictatorship.) A week Ayacucho, long a bitter enemy of that the countrv's armed forces have later an important paper factory was the PCP and the revolution, an- undergone some chang'e ofl heart or burned down. Major clashes bet- nounced that she would spoil her that the U.S. under Reagan has ween guerrillas and the army were ballot "in solidarity with the strong repudiated the brutally open also reported that week in Trujillo, current in the emergency zone." In military means that up to now have in northern Peru. other words, nobody else was going periodically reinforced U. S. These revolutionary military ac- to vote and she wouldn't either. Of domination. In fact, the desperation tivities have continued in the months course, her complaint was not that with which they grasped at the straw since the elections. On June 8th the elections themselves were a reac- of a scheduled polling shows how Lima and six other major cities were tionary farce-she violently op- much they needed some new faces to blacked out simultaneously. The posed the PCP's boycott in 1983 shore up the counterrevolution, 69 both to renew the increasingly tat- APRA's "Modern" Servility tionalisation of foreign enterprises. tered banner of "democracy" wav- Garcia's APRA party is well-suited This led many Apristas, along with ing over the regime's concentration for the role it is being called upon to much of the so-called left today camps now infamous the world play. It has proven its abilityto com- united behind Barrantes, to provide over, and to get rid of a president bine "nationalist" demagogy with the new government with many of whose isolation was dramatically il- pro-imperialist and reactionary its cadre. APRA's alliance with the lustrated when his party could barely politics, a style in vogue in several military and its increasingly in- muster 590 of the votes in the April Latin American countries lately, in- dispensable role for the ruling class elections, obviously lacking the con- cluding Venezuela (whose ruling was symbolised by the fact that fidence even of Peru's propertied party is linked to APRA) as well as APRA brokered the military's classes. Argentina and Colombia. Such a reinstitution of civilian politics and A Lima newspaper entitled its fashion suits U.S. imperialism's pre- helped engineer a civilian stamp of election coverage, "Chronicle of an sent needs well right now. It is a kind approval on the new armed forces- Election Foretold," a play on the ti- of nationalism characterised by such inspired constitution l2 years later. tle of the best-selling Gabriel Garcia thin tricks as the Venezuelan govern- Belaunde returned to office in 1980 Marquez novel, Chronicle of a ment's "independent" declaration as a consequence of this move. Death Foretold, in which a whole of an economic austerity pro- Without trying to summarise the town becomes reduced to mere spec- gramme the equal of any imposed by evolution of the relations between tators to the unfolding of a murder the International Monetary Fund, APRA, Belaunde and the armed announced long in advance. Well then turning around and "refusing forces themselves, this history cer- over a year ago, the "opinion polls" to negotiate" with the IMF. This is tainly makes it clear that in Peru it and the opinion-makers (such as one particular trick which Garcia has always been the armed forces often-quoted unnamed U.S. State may well imitate, according to a whose vote counts. Department "analysts") had an- New York Times article written to APRA once enjoyed something nounced the inevitability of the elec- reassure confused American of a "populist" reputation as a party tion's outcome. bankers who exhibited unfounded whose offices were always open to a Nevertheless, it took seven weeks jitters around Garcia's election. man looking for work or even just a of counting before the figures came APRA was founded in 1924 under free haircut. This has a lot to do with out acceptably and Alan Garcia of the influence of the bourgeois Mex- its efforts to build up a political the APRA party was declared the ican revolution and the then- machine in better-of f , more winner, despite the inconvenient fact bourgeois revolutionary Kuomin- capitalistically-developed areas of that he failed to meet the constitu- tang in China, although unlike the the country and among somewhat tional requirement of winning over KMT at that time, the APRA has better-off strata, both through ex- 5090 ofthe votes (he was reported to always been violently anti-. tensive patronage and its demands have won 45Vo). To make Garcia's communist. More recently, it for nationalisation. The other side victory possible, the runner-up can- became a member of the Socialist of the coin is that it never won any E didate, Alfonso Barrantes of the International. Today APRA is af- significant support in the coun- o F- United Left coalition, who'd been filiated with the "socialist" govern- tryside. When the nationalisation of tr reported to win 2190, withdrew from ments of Spain and France whose U.S. oil companies and other enter- - the race. The Electoral Commission loyalty to the U.S. bloc is in- prises was finally carried out in 1968 o announced that its reasons for contestable. (In fact, Garcia, who at by the military, it did not in any way E dispensing with the legally-required age 36 is said to be bringing about a lighten U.S. imperialist domination z run-off elections were two-fold: to "modernisation"-that is, of Peru-which has tremendously avoid "wasting money," and to Europeanisation-of Peruvian increased according to any objective \o avoid giving the guerrillas "a new politics, was trained in Madrid and economic standard-nor even much (n6 occasion to show their violent Paris.) effect the particular financial in- 6\ hostility to all popular consulta- The much-publicised talk about terests involved, such as the tions." Or, as Garcia warned in the the possibility of the elections Rockefeller interests, which con- face of the Belaunde-controlled resulting in a coup was based to tinue to rake off superprofits Congress' initial reluctance to some extent, on the fact that the through loan capital instead of change the election rules and allow armed forces had launched several direct industrial investments. the Electoral Commission declare coups, most recently inl962, to keep Robbed of much real point in him the winner, "Let's not shake up APRA out of office. It was this 1962 demanding more democracy too much." coup which after an interval of nationalisations-although he . What else can this be considered military rule brought Belaunde to did-Garcia's call for a "na- except a confession about the power for the first time, the next tionalist, democratic and popular fragility of the whole political struc- year. government" rested upon one main ture and the need to move on quickly However, in 1968 the Armed programmatic promise: that he before the whole charade collapsed Forces turned around, threw would stand up to the "foreign in the face of the revolutionary Belaunde out, and proceeded to banks that profit from our misery" armed struggle and its political and steal-that is, to implement- by forcing them to accept a limita- ideological strength? APRA's historic programme of na- tion on Peru's payments of its 70

foreign debts to no more than 20Vo surprise a couple of people is that detailing how it proposed to deal of the amount brought in by the sale Barrantes, that "socialist," also with the armed struggle-all the bet- of exports. never mentioned the armed forces ter to rope in the gullible. But Bar- Peru's $13.5 billion debt to im- during his campaign, not even utter- rantes, like Garcia, appeared before perialist governments and banks is a ing the hypocritical wishes for a the armed forces' "school of higher consequence and reflection of its more constitutional counterrevolu- studies," in other words, its political enslavement to foreign finance tionary war sometimes expressed by command, to explain his pro- capital. This debt has jumped by others in his coalition. Instead Bar- gramme. The scholarly generals pro- 5090 in the last five years, while the rantes seemed to compete with Gar- nounced themselves fully satisfied. country has plunged deeper and cia in presenting himself as an im- The Navy-the Navy that includes deeper into economic disaster. Now placable foe of the PCP and the the Marines, the Navy whose actions theoretically Peru is supposed to pay revolution it is leading. in the mountains have given birth to 8090 of its export earnings to the The question of the counter- the new word among the peasants U.S. and other imperialist govern- revolutionary actions of the armed for strategic hamlets-"navalisa- ments and banks. But for almost a forces, like the question of Peru's tion"-awarded Barrantes a medal year it hasn't been able to pay a subjugation itself , was simply just before the elections. single cent. For all practical pur- covered over by a conspiracy of The bottom line for Peru's ruling poses the country is bankrupt. Gar- silence entered into by these two self- classes and their armed forces was cia's proposal could only be styled "leftists" carrying out an elec- expressed by Armed Forces head welcomed by any realistic im- tion campaign while the armed and Minister of War General Julian perialist. forces were carrying out the most Julia, who said that no matter which Gold-Medal Revisionism bloody carnage in Peru's history. party won, "there is no possibility of APRA's partner in this passionless A Peruvian liberal writing in the a military veto. A United Left election drama was the United Left Spanish press cried out in amaze- government would be a great ex- candidate, Lima mayor Alfonso ment when Garcia went so far as to perience to go through, and as for Barrantes, who easily matched say that Amnesty International's the APRA, our dilferences with APRA in the vagueness of his documented charges of what it them are past history." rhetoric and the viciousness of its in- called "human rights violations" by Julian also said, "For us the com- tentions. His campaign slogan, the Peruvian armed forces "re- munist danger is represented only by "against imperialist exploitation, mained to be proven"-a stand Sendero Luminoso and not by the e lor defense of life and the that, as the columnist pointed out, United Left. The eventual triumph lr0 fatherland" came down to deman- not even the most pro-government of the United Left would not mean a ding that Peru declare a total press in Lima had dared take-while any danger because its Marxism is : moratorium on debt payments-in Barrantes didn't even take Garcia up developed within the framework of other words, making a slogan of the on this unbelievable assertion. And the democratic institutions." The = status quo under Belaunde. This, these men were supposed to be armed forces, of course, are Peru's =o from a "socialist" whose coalition rivals! most important "democratic institu- includes pro-Soviet, pro-Chinese One could conclude, as some peo- tion. ' ' o revisionist and pro-Albanian par- ple charitably disposed towards the The differences between APRA q ties, in other words, nearly the entire Garcias and Barrantes of this world and the United Left are perhaps best o legal "left" of Peru, and which in have done, that they avoided the explained by Garcia, who told a turn has been much touted as an ex- subject out of fear that the armed news agency that he and his "good = ample to follow by opportunism of forces would otherwise block their friend" Barrantes actually shared various stripes all over the world! way into office. But there is more at the APRA programme. Recalling Of course both candidates were stake here than personal oppor- that Barrantes was once an APRA alike in their attitude towards that tunism. The whole election charade member, Garcia remarked that the revolution and the party leading it, these men were partners in had no real problem with the United Left is since they were in agreement on con- other purpose than to politically and that Barrantes does not have control tinuing Peru's subjugation in the ideologically strengthen the counter- over all the forces within his coali- first place. No one was shocked that revolution and its murderous ef- tion. This later point seems to have Garcfa, in a "surprise" visit to forts. been a slap at the pro-Soviet forces Ayacucho (made a "surprise" Without a Barrantes, Garcfa's in- and other elements whose main dif- allegedly for security reasons, which evitable election just wouldn't have ference with the APRA is a relieved him of having to explain been the same. The political aims of preference for Soviet imperialism why few came out to welcome him) the counterrevolution required the over the U.S.-bloc variety. confined his criticisms to "small- participation of this counterrevolu- time corrupt judges and bad tionary "revolutionary" in order to Blessings Expected and Otherwise policemen" without mentioning the play out the electoral farce to the In the weeks before he assumed of- armed forces who have directly car- fullest. To enhance it, some masks fice, Garcia did everything possible ried out the bulk of the bloodbath were necessary. When the United to m'ake clear what to expect from and who are legally in charge of all Left released its presidential pro- his government. He made his the other forces involved. What did gramme it suppressed the section pilgrimages: to Spain, to discuss 7t

possible Spanish-government sup- port for his proposed "reduced" IMF payments; to ltaly, for similar talks with the Italian government and to receive, lrom the Pope, the same blessing the Pope had just given Belaunde; to France, which owns 3590 of Peru's foreign debt, where he "just went to buy some books." After that Carcia was to head to the U.S. for the ultimate blessing. But the strangest benediction came from Fidel Castro. In an inter- view in the Madrid newspaper E/ Pais, given in January 1985-three months before the Peru elections- Castro delivered a Latin American foreign policy lecture to the U.S., advising it not to push its weight around too much, or else "a social outbreak could occur in Latin America, where there are large masses of peasants, workers, students, intellectuals and middle strata in an increasingly desperate situation. One would have to be blind not to see that....Look at Peru: what will Alan Garcfa find when he receives the presidential sash? An insupportable economic b situation, insoluble social problems E and guerrillas in the mountains. o Nobody can explain the increasing - activity of these guerrillas because U nobody knows very well what Sendero Luminoso thinks, what it is o and what it wants." Castro can read and knows very z= well what the PCP thinks of all forms of revisionism, Castro-type 6\o included. The PCP has made it plain Ur to all who care to know that it is b leading a revolution to liberate Peru lrom imperialism and serve the world revolution and not to follow Castro in trading one imperialist master for another. Perhaps here Castro is following a policy noted before among some pro-Soviet forces, ofon the one hand attacking and defaming the PCP and on the "Long live lhe First Anniversar.v of the Ayacucho Prison Breakout! Long Live tlte other leaving the door open to try to Guerrilla l4'ar! Long Live the Communist Party of Peru!" seek some advantage by dressing up as possible allies of the revolution. But with this offer of sympathy and understanding to Peru's future chief executive executioner, faced with what is apparently the most horrible thing Castro can imagine, "Sendero Luminoso," Castro is certainly making a contribution to clarifying 72

pro-Soviet revisionism's position in Amnesty International, which Now Garcfa has announced that relation to the Peruvian (and all studied information available to he will carry out a policy proposed other) revolution. them about the 600 "suspected guer- under Belaunde, to remove the rillas" that the armed forces under revolutionaries from Fronton and First Bloody Measures H uaman's command repo r t ed killed scatter them in other prisons around "My government will have the in the emergency zone during those the country. This plan has been de- authority and the energy to combat six nronths, "a great many" of the nounced in a letter smuggled out of terrorism," Garcia proclaimed as he dead "were killed after surrendering Fronton. Such a move might well in- prepared to wrap the presidential or being captured," and as for the volve serious clashes with the sash around his belly, "it will be us rest, "a great number had nothing to prisoners, just as the removal of the or them." At the same time he an- do with the guerrillas." So when prisoners to Fronton from other nounced the first measures he in- Huaman says "military means are prisons in the first place was accom- tended to carry out upon taking of- not enough," he apparently does panied by beatings, assaults and the fice July 28th. not mean that any drop of blood shooting of one prisoner. The plan's First, the return to his post of should be spared. He simply means purpose, the prisoners say, is to General Huaman, "political- that in any war, no matter how isolate them and make it easier for military commander" of the area counterrevolutionary, the reac- them to be selectively killed or Belaunde had put under military tionaries' military efforts must "disappeared." Belaunde was not rule, until Belaunde replaced him. always be accompanied by efforts to able to carry out this plan that Car- Huaman, politically linked to win the "hearts and minds" of their cia is now promising to fullill. But APRA and the United Left, had victims and others. after all, being able to do more to try been fired for publically complain- Secondly, Garcia announced, to smash the revolution is what this ing that "military means are not members of the police and armed "reformer" was chosen for. enough" to crush the revolution. lorces accused of "violating the Garcfa and his government may Apparently he thinks that with the rights of man" would be brought to think that the elections and dumping elections and Garcia in its arsenal, court-sent to the same courts that Belaunde has won them some the armed forces can do better now, have so far failed to take any steps authority, but they have some pro- although he will find that the against any of them no matter how blems to solve-problems for which "emergency zone" has more than flagrant the evidence and admis- they have no real solution. And as doubled since he last commanded it, sions, and sent by the same man who far as the armed forces being the ar- (D due to the successes of the PCP's of- declared that any such accusations biter of the country's destiny, to do L\s fensives of the last year. of the "rights of man" "remained that they have to win the war. Just o\ Huaman's civilian fan club is [o be proven." who will arbitrate Peru's destiny- fond of pointing out that he speaks its long-time oppressors, with all Quechua and comes from Huanta, Target: Fronton their tricks and guns, or the armed = a province in the northern part ofthe Lastly, the Fronton island prison masses of people, led by the pro- = department of Ayacucho. He's even near Lima has become an embar- letariat and its party-is a question oL a referred to abroad as a sort of "peo- rassment to the government because that will be settled on the field of rlc ple's general." A lawyer for a pea- of the intense and determined battle. T o sant organisation, however, has political activities of the nearly 400 been quoted as saying it would be suspected revolutionaries kept there. = better to compare him with In April 1982, after the PCP began Pizarro-the conquistador who led carrying out its "jailbreak policy," in subjugating Peru's Indians and most notably in the taking of the wiping out eight million. departmental jail in Ayacucho, Under Huaman's command, dur- Belaunde had suspected revolu- ing the first six months of 1984, tionaries from jails all over the coun- when he was in charge of all ad- try concentrated in this closed-down ministrative and military matters in island dungeon. Later, this govern- the emergency zone, the Marines set ment policy turned into its opposite, up their notorious concentration because despite vengeful conditions camp in a Huanta sports stadium, imposed by the government, such as organised paramilitary death squads cutting off water for drinking, cook- and carried out large-scale search ing and sanitation, the murder of six and destroy operations which of the prisoners and the shooting resulted in the depopulation of en- and wounding of 30 more, and tire areas of the province. It was countless other attacks, the revolu- toward the end of his command that tionaries became even more the first of a series of mass graves of dauntless, treating the prison as a the armed forces' victims were un- place to train politically, covered in Huanta. ideologically and physically for In addition, according to future combat. Subscribe to A World to Win

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(n ro\ 6 o\ tz o a q o =

Kingston 75

Reggqes Jomqicq's Rebel fUlusic

By Rita Forest*

"On the day that Bob Marley died from which this burst forth, has I was buying vegetables in the mar- been described as a "very small con- ket town of Kasr El Kebir in nor- nection that's glowing red-hot" bet- thern Morocco. Kasr El Kebir was a ween "two extremely heavy cultu- E great city with running water and res"-Africa and North America. ot streetlights when London and Paris But reggae (and its predecessors, ska were muddy villages. Moroccans and rock-steady) came sparking off U tend not to check for any form of that red-hot wire at a particular o western music, vastly preferring the moment-a time in the mid-1960s odes of the late great Om Kalthoum when Jamaica was in the throes of a or the latest pop singer from Cairo mass migration from the country- z= or Beirut. But young Moroccans side to the city. These people, driven 5 love Bob Marley, the from green a only form of the hills into the hellish Ut non-Arabic music I ever saw country tangle of Kingston shantytowns, d= Moroccans willingly dance to. That created reggae music. afternoon in Kasr El Kebir, Bob This same jolting disruption of a Marley banners in Arabic were centuries-old way of life has also strung across the main street. . . ." shaped the existence of many mil- (Stephen Davis, Reggoe Internatio- lions of people in cities around the nal, 1982). world today. And the best of reggae, Reggae, a music barely 20 years which righteously confronted the old, has penetrated remote deserts in horror that is "modern" life for the Mali, is played by aborigines in Aus- masses in these citadels, quickly tralia, has hit the top ten in countries found an international audience of all over Europe, and has influenced youth overripe to climb to some hig- musicians on every continent. When her heights: these sounds get carried around the planet to places where there are only *Rita Forest is a member of the batteries to power the rare tape Revolutionary Communist Party, player, it is certain that a very deep U.S.A., and an activist in the chord has been struck among the cultural sphere. This article has MASSCS. been slightly edited for publication Jamaica, the Caribbean island in AWTW. 76

"Burning and a-lootin' tonight the former home of Maas' Nattie, culture. Burning all pollution tonight the man who'd raised him like a fa- As it happened, a musical storm Burning all illusions tonight." ther, and discovered that two Ame- of such gigantic proportions and "Burning' and Lootin"' The rican tourists had taken over the deep roots among the oppressed was Wailers- backyard and were lazily smoking growing up from below that it would ganja and sunbathing, stark naked. spin out of their grasp. . . . By any calculation reggae has Ivan watched while one of them There is more than symbolic signi- been a huge musical explosion com- tried to milk a male goat, then jum- ficance to the story of the son of a parable in some ways to the birth of ped on his motorbike in disgust and white Jamaican ruling class family rock n' roll in the U.S. Kingston, for sped away over the mountains and who was born in the U.S., gradua- example, has grown to be the largest through the foothills choked with ted from Harvard (and not Britain's producer of singles per capita of any bauxite dust, back down to Kings- Oxford) in the late 1950s, and retur- city in the world-and almost all of ton. From that moment on, he refu- ned home to Jamaica to do anthro- it reggae. sed to look back, and with nothing pological work among the peasants, What was it about Jamaica, the ti- to lose, he shot cops and sang his investigating folk practices such as mes, the world, that gave us this way to fame and notoriety. He was obeah and musical traditions asso- music? an outlaw, and a fearless hero to ciated with Pukkumina religion. He In Michael Thelwell's novel The those being ground up in this new soon moved to Kingston, set up a Harder They Come,adapted from urban "promised land"-a concrete small recording company to docu- the film of the same name, Ivan, a jungle where you couldn't even find ment this culture, then turned his at- Kingston "rude boy" (ghetto youth a clean glass of water, let alone a tention to the music scene in the in and around the Jamaican music day's work. West Kingston ghettos and became scene) tries lo visit his family's home one of Jamaica's first record produ- in the mountains after several years 1962: Jamaican "Independence" cers. This young music entrepreneur of living in the city. "Nothing was In the late 1950s, the Jamaican was none other than the current Ja- familiar....Bush-bush full up countryside was getting ripped apart maican prime minister and man-on- everywhere. But...dis coulden the by U.S. capital more intensively the scene for U.S. imperialism, Ed- right place after all? Right down than almost any other Caribbean is- ward Seaga. dere should be the tin roof. You land. They took over from the Bri- When he entered politics in 1959, mean say bush-bush grow up, cover tish plantation-style rule after disco- Seaga secured a constituency in one it?. . . vering bauxite there during World of the toughest new ghettos in West rr)e 6 "There was no evidence of the War 2. Major U.S. and Canadian Kingston with his music credentials, : passage of his generations, the an- aluminium companies appropriated and introduced guns onto the street cestors whose intelligence, industry huge areas of land from the peasants along with systematic gangster-style z and skill had created a self-sufficient and left gaping strip-mined valleys violence to force "loyalty" among homestead here. None-at aII...." of the burning red dirt all through this very angry and volatile section grandmother who had raised Jamaican hills. More people of the population. He also put to full =ot\ His the a him up there had died several years were forced off the land with the sta- use his earlier study of peasant reli- q earlier; his mother was back down in gnation of the British sugar planta- gious practices and superstitions in Kingston working at starvation pay tions, as well as the growth of tou- his political rallies and slogans. This o as a washerwoman; his uncles were rism. They flocked to Kingston to is the man, head of the Jamaican La- = long gone off the land and had met survive, pitching tin shacks on a re- bour Party, who came to be known their ends all over the globe. One claimed garbage dump in the har- internationally as CIAga for his died in World War 2 fighting for the bour. There were a few jobs on the mafiosa-style services and overall British; another went to cut cane in docks and in some new U.S. plants, political assistance to the U.S. Cuba and was never heard from but for most the pickings were slim bourgeoisie-which has continually again; another was serving a life sen- and many kept going. In the 1950s manoeuvred for a tighter hold on its tence in the Kingston penitentiary and 1960s, one-eighth of the popu- backyard island-and who was pu- for killing his wife.... lation emigrated. (Today only 2 I /2 blicly denounced for running guns "Ah shoulda did stay an' tek care of the 4 million Jamaicans in the for the CIA into Jamaica in the late of de place, he thought. The worst world actually live on the island.) 1960s. Exactly how much his early insult that people has was sneering, As Jamaica lurched from British career was sculpted along these lines 'Cho, you no come from crown colony to U.S. neo-colony, with outside interests is not entirely nowhe'.'...He wanted to go get a the island's local bourgeoisie got a clear. machete, to cut a path to the graves lift as they hitched themselves to this For the next two decades and con- and clear the bush away. But...what new capital and the freshly-stirred tinuing today Seaga and all rival de raas is de use. ..What's the fucken waves of nationalism that surged up bourgeois politicians, particularly use? He felt empty, and frightened, off the "independence" celebration the up and coming "socialist" lea- futile, miserable, and very alone. He in 1962. They had a new style of der of the People's National Party, would never, he swore, come back rule, and a greater freedom and ne- Michael Manley, would be forced to ever." cessity to promote and especially to deal in the currency of the "suffe- He continued down the road to try to gain control of a "national" rah," the sufferers in the city-and 77

reggae would figure large in this. Baton sticks get shorter/ horrified at. these rebels wearing Rudie gets taller their hair in thick "natty" dread- The Rise of Reggae ...Can't fight against the youth/ locks (long, tight curls) who were The first strains of the new music Cause it's wrong also beginning to gain a little noto- arose as transistor radios cropped up Prediction: riety internationally as well. on the streets of Kingston and the Them people a-going wild The country was further polari- rude boys started popping their fin- Dem a rude rude people... sing in all ways. By 1969, Jamaica gers to the tunes of Fats Domino, What has been hidden was listed as having the most une- Brook Benton, the Drifters and From the 'wise' and the polluted qual distribution of income of any other rhythm and blues singers who Will be revealed country in the world-truly a "black were being blasted out from U.S. ra- In the heat of the summer sun man's hell in a white man's para- dio stations in nearby New Orleans Oh Rudie, be wise..." dise, " as reggae artist Gregory and Miami. At the time, the locally- "Jailhouse," also called"Rudie"- Isaacs would sing it. produced music scene was relatively The Wailers Huge numbers of youth, with no barren, at least compared to Trini- jobs, no future and in most cases, no dad's calypso or the Latin beats of Rarely has a song so captured the way to ever get off the island, were the Spanish-speaking islands. For brooding and insolent confidence of being bombarded with American the youth, an evening's entertain- youth coming of age in an uninha- goods, culture and enticements via ment was provided by the roving bitable place which is itself "new," the English-speaking media and re- disc jockeys (DJs) holding court but already a virtual bomb-site. The latives returning from abroad. Reg- from trucks stacked with monster musical response at the end of each gae came like a blast of fresh fury speakers: the "sound system" line came like a threat and a state- blown back in the face of U.S. im- dance. Competition among these Ie- ment of fact-sung in the sweetest of perialism. It was another stunning gendary figures was ferocious, each harmonies. example of the fact that for all its ef- DJ vying for the attention of the This type of thing was not at all lorts to forcibly recruit the world to crowd who demanded the hottest what the local bourgeoisie had in the American way, those people they and newest releases from the U.S. mind for their "post-lndependence" oppress are just as likely to take such When, in the early 1960s, this pop Jamaican culture, and all along the U.S. exports and transform them in music became slick and soft and way they tried to redirect it-with their own manner. In the case of reg- their audience required something Seaga often as pointman. At first the gae, they were beaming back a fierce new and tougher, DJs like Coxsone Skatalites were ridiculed for playing new music which turned the beat Dodd and Duke Reid opened recor- "bongo" music, but as early as from abroad onits head. ding studios, and by 1963 anew Ju- 1964, Seaga, as Minister of Develop- Browsing through bins of old reg- oE rnaicqn sound was in the air. Ska ment, tried to take over ska, intro- gae singles, you come across a com- - was a brassy, jumpy blend of ducing it at the New York World's mon graphic theme-a clenched fist rhythm and blues, jazzriffs, rock n' Fair with a hand-picked delegation in several variations-with label na- u roll, mento (a calypso-influenced Ja- of musicians, passing over the mes to match: "Voice of the Peo- o maican folk music), gospel, universally-acknowledged rude Latin boy ple," "Bullet," "Wail 'M Soul E and big band horns, and the African originators. These youth had lately 'M," "Tit for Tat," "Hungry beat of the Rastafarian burru drum- become even more outlawed because Town," "Clinch." The upheavals = mers. The originators of this sound of their association with Rastafarian of the world were starting to make \o included the Skatallites, made up of (and ganja-smoking) musicians who themselves felt in Jamaica in brutal (n6 the cream of Jamaica's jazz men were neither respectable nor willing ways. The influence of the Black Li- b who had grown tired of answering to be hired thugs for either of the beration Movement in the United tourists' requests for "Yellow Bird" two major Jamaican political par- States also arrived in Kingston where and bastardised calypso on the ho- ties. The official policy on these un- many people found it decidedly un- tel circuit. Beginning in 1963, an his- ruly "seeds": "Kill it, before they foreign. The Wailers wore their hair toric collaboration took place in grow. . . ' ' as one famous song would in Afros back in the late 1960s be- Coxsone's Studio One between the put it. fore growing dreadlocks, and their Skatalites and the Wailers, who But in the next few years, as ska "Soul Revolution" album featured were one of the expert harmony slowed down into the "rock steady" them decked out in guerrilla gear re- groups then springing up in the go- style and finally around 1967-68 to sembling uniforms worn by the vernment yards (housing projects) reggae, the music became tho- Black Panther Party at the time. among the toughest youth in Kings- roughly dominated by the rude While reggae, like any musical ton. The astonishing music that is- boys. The music took over the sound form, has also produced its share of sued from these sessions would soon system dances and jukeboxes, selling insipid love songs and boring pop re- put the new generation of rude boys huge numbers of singles-but all the makes throughout its history, what like Ivan on the stage for the first while it was almost completely ban- is striking is that most of the best time. ned from the radio. The national reggae musicians have always consi- culture was definitely splitting in dered themselves "warriors against "Jail house keeps empty,/ two, with polite society (to say no- Babylon," as they refer to the op- Rudie gets healthy thing of the tourist board!) properly pressor's system. And the sound of 78

the music has from the beginning "In our days everything seems within the reggae scene). attracted the ears of thousands of pregnant with its contrary. Bob Avakian, Chairman of the youth like Ivan who know from Machinery, gifted with the wonder- Central Committee of the Revolu- torturous experience that there is ful power of shortening and fructi- tionary Communist Party, USA, no going back to "simpler times." fying human labour, we behold star- has compared the Rastafarian And most wouldn't want to ving and overworking it. The movement to that of the Jewish peo- anyhow.r newfangled sources of wealth, by ple at the time "Revelations" was So the stage was set for the rise of some strange wierd spell, are turned written (around 60 A.D.). This New reggae in Jamaica-including the into sources of want. The victories Testament book, often quoted by fact that Kingston had developed of art seem bought by loss of Rastas, predicted the destruction of economically to the point it could character. At the same pace that the Roman Empire and "reflected support an embryonic record in- mankind masters nature, man seems the position of the Jewish peo- dustry, an unlikely eventuality in to become enslaved to other men or ple...in that period...a people sore- neighboring Haiti, or the Dominican to his own infamy."-Karl Marx, ly oppressed by but in many ways Republic at that time. "Speech at the Anniversary of the marginal to the Empire." He adds But another ingredient was added People's Paper" that the Rastafarian movement to- rnto this new musical mix. day "to a significant degree finds its basis among sections of society that The Rastafarians " Rastaman first bring civilisation have been reduced to a largely on ya..." goes a reggae tune called marginal existence by the workings "...Cause I feel like the "History of Captivity" by of imperialism-particularly Bombing a church Carlton Jackson. So it seemed to peasants land in jungle driven off the Now that you know many in the of Kingston Jamaica into the cities, or even into whose centuries The preacher is lying. history consisted of other countries such as imperial Bri- So who's gonna stay at home of slavery, colonial rule and neo- tain or the United States, finding When the freedom fighters colonial "modernisation"-all of it themselves in a declassed or semi- Are fightin'?" bearing the stamp of approval of the declassed situation, That, however, preacher gruesomely "Talking Blues"-Bob Marley Christian so is not the whole picture, because for depicted in The Horder They Come. one thing in a period like the im- Most reggae musicians hold to the But, as has happened before in mediate one, where in most coun- people Rastafarian world view. This mili- history when an oppressed tries and on a world scale the forces e preparing !o tant turning of Christianity upside mount the stage, to over- of the proletarian revolution are still held o\s down has had its own odd results- throw much that has been weak and still recovering from re- clearly not all of them negative. sacred, the pull to at least make cent and devastating defeats (above peace your Right at the moment when Seaga with god sometimes all the loss of socialist China), more = and Manley & Co. had hoped to becomes irresistible. Rastafarianism than a few oppressed proletarians o= gather the masses around in a considers itself a religion of libera- will be drawn toward movements L respectable congregation of "freed" tion, doing battle against both real like the Rastafarians." (From "Pro- a colonial subjects content with the and "spiritual" chains, but relying vocations, " Revolutionary Worker, q new terms of their enslavement, on much of the mysticism and non- October 28, 1983) o boom! up pops natty dread who scientific explanations that bind The "semi-declassed," or semi- wants none of it. Most significant- one's origin and to some degree proletarian sector is quite vast in q= ly, the Rastas had no patience for one's destiny to a Creator and his Jamaica because, as in many op- planet Christian promises of the good life emissaries on the earth. In pressed countries, the development when you're dead and gone. If the this case. the Christian enforcer of of the proletariat has been severely god times were "dread," the possibility impenalism was replaced by a stunted by imperialism, confined of overthrowing the whole order was and tradition from Africa, largely to miners and workers in the also alive in the world, if presently complete with a neo-colonial tourist industry or government- out of reach-and this new creed lackey, Haile Selassie.2 Rastas also many of whom are relatively well demanded black redemption here on held closely to the Bible which was off. Both ofthe national bourgeois earth. Africa, the scene of recent often the only book Jamaicans political parties were strong in the struggles against imperialism, was owned and read, and many of its miners' unions, for instance, while where it was to be found-quite precepts have gone unquestioned, the more radical Rastafarian move- logical for a people stolen from that becoming mingled with African ment grew up among these landless continent as slaves and stranded on traditions "from anciency" in an peasants forced to hustle in the an island which was becoming in- attempt to explain and resist the city-very tough people with creasingly intermeshed with the assaults of this modern world. nothing to lose, not even a plot of world, but on the most savage terms. Coupled with this is the tendency to yams, but (partly because of their They were confronting the violent incorporate and extol the conditions of life) still fettered with intrusion of capitalist relations into widespread smoking of ganga into superstitions and practices of an peasant society which Marx describ- Rastafarianism (whose mysticism earlier time. This has meant that ed 100 years earlier: finds a variety of interpretations while most have some understan- 79 ding that it is the tentacles of im- perialism which are choking off their lives, many have come to the conclu- sion that bringing down this monster can only be done with the help of a force outside this world. This contradictory position has led on the one hand to the creation of songs like the following which mockingly puncture Christian illu- sions that affect the outlook and struggle of the oppressed:

"Well they tell me of a pie up in the sky Waiting for me when I die. But between the day you're born and when you die They never seem to hear you when you cry. So as sure as the sun will shine I'm gonna get my share now, what's mine And then the harder they come The harder they fall, one and all. Cos I'd rather be a free man In my grave Than living as a puppet or a slave." - Jimmv Cliff

Yet, the pull of feudalism weighs heavily, and nowhere more brutal- ly than in the "sacred" sphere of relations between men and women. The Rastafarians generally uphold peasant customs regarding the woman as childbearer and obedient mate. In Kingston, less than one quarter of the mothers are legally married, but pressures are so intense in the ghetto thal a whole vocabulary has sprung up to describe the most common familial relations: "baby-mother" or "baby- father" referring to the parent. And :::lji : 'iil conversation is littered with expres- :!r-:. sions like "He bred her," "He con- trol her," "He rule her" to describe "normal" love relations. Among Rastafarians these prac- tices are only modified with attempts to sequester the woman further, "honouring" her as a "queen" while maintaining hegemony in the household. The enraging twist here Bob Marley is that this reaction to the degrada- tion of urban capitalist society ends up being yet another excuse to tighten the chains on women, this 80

time in the name of "African tradi- cannot indiscriminately or blatant- reggae musicians, as Rastafarians, tion." And even some of the best ly snuff them out without suffering are also widely looked to as spiritual reggae groups put these byzantine great political damage. Yet the leaders, and their music as spreading sentiments embarrassingly to music: strength of the art makes the protest the message of "Jah" to people cast of the artist all the more compelling out of their African homeland. "She's my queen/ to the masses. I'm her King man This situation is full of contradic- "Cause the wicked carried us away ...I a warrior tions for the oppressed as well, par- in captivity with my comforter ticularly in these times when Require from us a song, Behold how good throughout the world revolutionary But how can we sing and pleasant it is leadership is lagging behind what is King Alfa's song* She'll stand by me needed, and people have come to In a strange land?" Birds of a feather look towards the most radical public "Rivers of Babylon"-The Melo- We worship Jah together... figures around for some direction. dians Sitting on a throne of gold." These have often been artists, in "Throne of Gold"-Steel Pulse part, ironically, because the (*King Alfa led an army against bourgeoisie is forced at times to Nebechadnezzar, the ruler of The kicker comes when the watch its step with them. But the Babylon.) "ministers of the western shitstems" problem here lies in the fact that ar- as Peter Tosh describes them, are tists are simply not equipped to lead As Peter Tosh often puts it: "The said to "design it that the woman see the revolutionary movement, at least singers and players of instruments herself as the dominant figure" not os ortists. The demand that they are the only true prophets in this when it's the Rastaman that is the do so only undermines the process time. " This confluence of contradic- rightful "king of the jungle." by which actual revolutionary tions raises the ante on these musi- Ironically, these Old Testament dic- leadership is developed, and cians, making their art and lives the tums circulating among the oppress- simultaneously tends to drag down subject of intense scrutiny among ed only serve to keep those rulers in their art to the level of tedious the Jamaican masses who demand power, and once again go to prove pedagogy: people need real pro- much from individuals they consider Marx's comment: "Everything that paganda and agitation on the political and spiritual guides. But the exists has this much worth, that it political problems of the world, and contradiction cuts both ways. Under e will perish." instead get an article set to music. pressure to "lead a movement," or €v') While all art is political because all at least be "more" than an artist, o\ Politics and Religion artists, like everyone else, have a many of these musicians have political worldview, and will by nonetheless created soaring works of "Fighting spiritual wickedness necessity bring this to their crea- art. = In this concrete wilderness... tions, art fulfills a different human How can this be? Marley was once o= It's not my intention to be a warrior requirement than political educa- asked if "Dem Belly Full" was a h But constant aggravation make I tion. Confusion on this question has tract on starvation and wealth. He a man rude. reigned for decades, partly due to answered, no, not exactly. "...Food q That's why I'm a warrior, revisionist dictates that the artist might be in your belly but there's o Reggae warrior...Rasta warrior" function as educator and leader. more to life than just filling it." The "Reggae Warrior"-Pablo Moses Marley understood this contradic- very strivings of many reggae musi- = tion a bit better: "These songs, peo- cians for something higher than By many estimates, over a million ple understand them, or they cyann more food in the belly, even if those people, almost half the population (can't) understand them, but ya aspirations take religious form, have of Jamaica, attended the funeral of have fe sing them just the same. Ya propelled the best of reggae into a Bob Marley in 1981. On his deathb- really have fe sing them. What the realm beyond the pedestrian "pro- ed, Marley was given the Order of people want is the beauties, mon." test music" which typically com- Merit (Jamaican version of Reggae won its place in the hearts plains and "educates"...and never knighthood), and Prime Minister and minds of people on the strength takes you higher. Seaga presided over the funeral of of the "beauties," but in the volatile This spiritual outlook also tends this man who five years earlier his Jamaican political scene of the 1970s to veer away from some of the nar- own Jamaican Labour Party had, it where the masses were courted by rowness of the Pan Africanist vision is widely believed, tried to murder.l demagogic "socialists" and the among many Rastafarians. It seems that great contradictions more open U.S. lackeys, both of Although this philosophy has chiefly are in store for a ruling class when whom ultimately maintained neo- been one of bluck redemption, tak- an artist rises to world renown status colonial rule through naked force, ing as its legacy the Garvey back-to- and remains at the same time a people increasingly Iooked to reggae Africa movement in the 1920s as sworn enemy (or even serious critic) artists as their political represen- well as the African liberation strug- of their rule. They have on their tatives. gles of the 1960s, this sentiment of hands what they would like to claim This situation was further com- reggae band Big Youth is as a national treasure, and so they plicated by the fact that a great many widespread: "It's a peoples' music. 8t

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I just deal with no one people. I deal reggae artist extremely hazardous. least a dozen have died under with people throughout the earth." While it often appears that they can suspicious if not murderous cir- With this philosophy, Jamaican na- "chant down Babylon" with im- cumstances. And despite rhetoric to tionalism carries even less weight: punity (especially if they can be the contrary, Manley's "socialist" "We like Jamaica, but Jamaica is harnessed to someone's political regime from 1972 to 1980 provided spoiled as far the Rastaman is con- campaign as, for example in 1972 no safe haven. Bob Marley in 1978: cerned...when we check out the when Manley used the song "Better "These things are heavier than system here we see death. And Mus Come" by artist Delroy anyone can understand. People that Rastaman seh, life." (Bob Marley) Wilson), further down the road they are not involved don't know it..." But if the sights of many reggae could be found rotting in General and "A man look at me and say, musicians go beyond the "fussing Penitentiary or dead in a ditch. The 'Bob, you need protection.' Can you and fighting" of Jamaican international music press does not tell me what that means...I am walk- bourgeois politicking, they still usually find it "newsworthy," but ing on the streets and a big politician figure large in the class struggle there many, many reggae artists have been going to call me and tell me say I exactly because they command beaten nearly to death by the cops, need protection. Now they ruln the batallions among the masses on the spent time in jail or had their records country and they call me and tell me basis of their political and spiritual banned from the radio as subver- and say, 'Bob, you need protec- authority. This has made life as a sive. Within the last few years at tion. "' 82

"\ile're Bubbling Up on the Top Britain, went down to Jamaica in Virgin's New York offices besieged 100, Just Like a Mighty Dread" 1976 with fists full of money and by furious dreadlocked musicians There is something to be learned signed a number of acts to try to get demanding what was due them. The from the course which reggae took the edge over Island which always Mighty Diamonds, for example, within the U.S. market. On the face had the lion's share of the reggae whose 1976 Right Time album sold of it, the promotion of someone like market internationally.a in the hundreds of thousands Marley or Peter Tosh might be the Virgin meanwhile hooked up huge throughout the world, were told by last thing one would expect from the direct sales of certain reggae records Virgin that their royalties had all corporate tycoons in 1976. This was, to Africa-sending, for example, gone to "expenses" and instead have after all, the "height" of the lull, hundreds of thousands of copies of recently been sent a bill by the politically speaking, in the U.S. No a U-Roy album to Nigeria. This company ! mass movement was propelling such strengthened their capital base tre- Meanwhile, the American press characters onto the stage as had been mendously (which, according to was hailing reggae as the next big true in the late 1960s. most accounts, had originated with sound, and after years of being con- Yet this was exactly when major South African money). But when fined to a kind of cult following promotion of reggae acts first occur- several West African countries clo- (mainly on college radio, in the West red in the U.S. Island Records, who sed their borders to record imports Indian communities, and wherever had first signed Bob Marley (and the in 1978 to stem the flow of currency, the film The Horder They Come Wailers) back in l972,beganin 1976 Virgin abruptly phased out reggae, played), reggae broke through to to throw the tens of thousands of using the profits amassed from this land on big radio playlists. dollars into the backing of Rastoman "fad" to move into mainstream Explanations for this surprising Vibrotion which was needed to get rock. (Ironically, the reggae- turn of events are complex. It is it played and to push reggae off the influenced group, Culture Club, is often noted that the pop music scene ground. It was also around this time their latest gold mine.) Bootleg reg- internationally at that moment was that the U.S. media giant, Colum- gae albums continued to sell in mas- dead in the water, dominated by bia Broadcast Systems (CBS) did its sive numbers throughout Africa. tired stadium rock acts-and anyone first significant promotion of reggae Royalties due to artists from that with ears had them to the ground for with Peter Tosh's Equal Rights. And period of killer contracts have been something new, including the music Virgin Records, a recent split-off systematically denied, and in the Iate industry. Simultaneously, develop- from the Island label based in Great 1970s it was not uncommon to see ments in Jamaica had given rise to e slro 3

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Bob Marley's record factory 83 the unusual appearance of more were, undoubtedly, in the true cor- comparues were pumplng masslve than one first-rate musician. Reggae porate tradition, but rarely has that promotional money to the stations. had started attracting the attention overridden the compulsion to pull a The pressure from below also began of artists like the Black American profit-at least not for long. Profi- to mount, as some determined popu- Stevie Wonder who celebrated and tability was certainly the reason they larisers helped to make the power of borrowed from Marley, and others produced such incendiary music in this music felt through concert pro- like British rock singer Eric Clapton the first place, and why they actually motions, smaller radio airplay, and who had their own style of "borro- did make significant, though largely almost hand-to-hand record distri- wing," taking Marley's songs and unsuccessful, efforts to break into bution. The artists, too, tried to con- cashing in on hygienic versions. the U.S. Black youth audience which nect with Black audiences, playing, (Amazingly, Clapton's version of the buys vast numbers of records and for example, Harlem's Apollo Thea- song by Bob Marley, "I Shot the often sets trends that cross over to tre, one of the main venues for Black Sheriff ," received much heavier the even more profitable Top 40 music in New York City, when they radio play than Marley's original, mainstream. could have easily filled an arena even in Jamaica-one of the many People like Percy Sutton, who ran downtown instead. tactics used there to keep Marley's the Inner City Broadcasting Corpo- However, the Black bourgeoisie's influence in check.) Quite signifi- ration controlling major Black radio opposition to reggae cannot be said cantly, the punk movement which in New York and other cities formed to be the main reason for its failure blasted out of England beginning in one major obstacle. Sutton's upward to "cross oYer," or take root among 1976 made common cause with the social climb was part of the U.S. a Black audience in the U.S.. For spirit ofreggae, eventually even crea- ruling class effort to bolster the one thing, most everyone in the ting a music which was a wild kind Black bourgeoisie in choking off the U.S., Black or white, had grown up of hybrid of the two-the "ska" Black liberation movement of the listening to popular music not cha- sound of the mixed Jamaican and late 1960s. The strata he became part racterised by the underlying white "2-tone" bands like Selector of was marked by a profoundly con- rhythmic "beat " found in reggae and English Beat. servative and provincial all- and similar sounds. Then too, the Of course, the U.S. bourgeoisie as American outlook, who saw Pan- atmosphere of upward social mobi- a whole could hardly have been Africanism, for example, as a means lity that was promoted off the wides- happy with the dominant reggae to exploit African goods and mar- pread confusion and disillusionment artists of the mid-1970s, "chanting kets (a principal source of Sutton's over the results of the movements of down Babylon" to such an infec- personal fortune). Their greater poli- the 1960s affected how some Blacks tious beat. But it seems they may tical interests lay in directing the received the rebel spirit of the music. E have been temporarily prevented attention of the Black masses in the Added to this was the historic anta- o from clamping downs on the music U.S. to the most narrow of indivi- gonism and competition among E in the interests of maintaining illu- dual concerns, all in the name of West Indians and Blacks in the U.S., U sions of American pluralism in the "taking care of business for real, based on earlier years of migration - arts, with the U.S. playing host to forget the violent pipe-dreams of the by more upper class West Indians o world cultures and democratic aspi- '60s." They were naturally in a rela- who often filled "Black" positions E rations. They were, however, assis- tively better position to deliver this in universities, opened small shops, ted in holding reggae in check in a message than the bourgeoisie as a etc. = less obvious way by a junior set of whole, who were happy to see them s (n6 cops in the U.S. cultural scene- take on the job. Rat Race namely Black radio, which was lar- This brand of Black nationalism ar gely owned and operated by power- was not compatible with much of "Dem a go tired see me face ful members of the Black bourgeoi- Kingston reggae, to say the least, and Can't get me outa ro\fff{.*^n", sie in the U.S. the Black playlists, discos and media were not opened to this music, which Black Radio Blockade was labelled Reggae's chance at the U.S. ttundanceable,""white," "unintelligi- A peculiar situation arose as ble," "jungle mainstream was also relatively short- "white" multi-national corporations music." It got so bad that, of all the lived. The big promotional money like Island Records and CBS, which major national U.S. publications, which had been supporting Marley had a product and a potential mar- including Time and Newsweek, the (and was de rigeur for any major ket, came head to head with Black only magazine which never wrote a rock act) was cut off by Island bourgeois forces who had no inten- word about Bob Marley was around 1978. (After this, Marley put tion of seeing their market invaded Ebony-the quasi-official voice of his own money into U.S. promotion, by unruly foreigners singing about the Black bourgeoisie. (This, even especially trying to batter down the "blackman's redemption" and "It after interviewing Marley extensively doors to Black radio.) Other reggae takes a revolution to make a solu- in their offices.) groups with Island got an even worse tion...." At the time it was popularly The blockade was penetrated deal. All the reasons for this are believed that Island was simply racist slightly in the late 1970s when Mar- cloudy, and Island executives are not and ignorant about marketing any- ley and others were climbing up the talking, but strictly on the business thing but white rock. Racist they pop music charts, and the record level, they may have been wary of 84

overextending themselves in this January 1981, his first foreign visi- cheaply, turn a profit without doing music whose U.S. market was ting head of state was Edward anything for the music-and move seriously (if artificially) circumscri- Seaga. Jamaica was from then on to on to the next big sound. So reggae, bed. And the musicians themselves become the "showcase of demo- which had always been Island's were not easily "manageable" com- cracy" in the Caribbean, with U.S. financial bulwark used to support modities. Marley, for instance, had gunships to back it up. It was now the much more expensive rock acts, refused to continue the U.S. leg of "safe" to "come back to Jamaica," continues to be milked for that his Exodus tour in the summer of the TV ads crooned to the tourists. purpose. 1977 after his toe had been diagno- And it was time to show the unruly In Kingston, though reggae still sed as cancerous and he was having elements in this backyard of the U.S. has a shockingly difficult time (and trouble even walking on it. Island just who was running the show. increasingly so) getting on radio had urged him to have it cut off so In the spring of 1981, Bob Mar- playlists jammed with American and he could continue to do the promo- ley died of cancer. British pop, it is no longer on the tional tour. Marley is also one of the The truth behind his death has fringe of things. It has become big few people on the planet to have tur- never been satisfactorily revealed, business, a regular "national pro- ned down an interview with U.S. but it is beyond doubt that having duct" on the order of bauxite, tou- television "superstar" Barbara him out of the way was advanta- rism and ganja-and has attracted Walters. geous to all bourgeois interests con- numerous uninspired producers and By 1978, Virgin Records had vir- cerned, including both Jamaican con-men chasing fortunes. Not that tually finished producing reggae, parties. Eight years of Manley had rip-offs are anything new in Kings- and the other major companies did not made the route of pallid ton reggae business, nor that the out- not sign many new acts after that, reforms, backed by a "heavy man- law artists who originally put reggae even though great music was still ners" police state under Cuban or on the map are out of the race. But coming out of Kingston and Great Soviet auspices, any more attractive as competing paths develop in the Britain, and the audience overall was to many politically awakened music and as the audience broadens growing. New small companies like people-including Rastafarians and out, the powers-that-be have been Schanachie and Alligator stepped Marley. And no amount of sugar- compelled to increase their influence into the gap, as well as the more esta- coated bullets or outright intimida- within this scene as well. blished independent labels in Britain, tion had been able to soften him Other developments have also but their distribution couldn't begin up-his music at the end was as worked to temporarily dampen the to reach the potential audience. strong as ever. In fact, it is signifi- situation. In Kingston, live concerts a1.l 6 Simultaneously in Britain, reggae cant that most of the major musi- have always been a rarity because it o\ hits had mysteriously stopped cians remained "warriors against was too expensive and there were no e making it up the pop charts even Babylon" ; reggae had yet to pro- proper facilities. The music met its though they were selling like crazy duce a renegade on the order of Bob audience in the sound system dances, in the stores. This was particularly Dylan, the U.S. singer of the 1960s and in recent years the "DJ style" =o suspicious in a country where reggae who deserted the revolutionary (artists toasting-rapping-and sin- had been widely popular for over a camp. ging over recorded tracks) has come a youth e decade among proletarian of In some ways, the shock of Mar- to be a very popular form itself. The o all nationalities who listened to it on ley's death put reggae on people's events of the day, the motions in the neighborhood jukeboxes. This minds internationally more than dance, the comical strivings among rather blatant purging (which would went =<( ever. Sales up temporarily, but the masses to ape foreign ways...are eventually hurt reggae sales signifi- even after that very few record con' all talked about over a version of a cantly) came right on the heels of the tracts with new artists were signed. traditional reggae rhythm track. 1981 riots in Brixton and other cities Increasingly, Island has sat back and Those artists who can do this with in England that were marked by the gotten fat on posthumous Marley style have become the new stars with serious collaboration between the releases. And currently, their only the dance hall crowd, and Jamaican white punks and West Indians. other reggae projects are re-releases, producers, who are often dreads In 1980, any breaks that might compilations and live albums of operating on a shoe string, have hap- have existed from the vantage point established artists like Gregory pily turned to the inexpensive pro- of the U.S. bourgeoisie for the music Isaacs and Steel Pulse. One of their ductions involved in this kind of to be promoted were closed up. All top executives recently revealed, music. seductive overtures to Manley had "We're not putting any more money This dance hall style rises directly been called to a halt when they into promoting reggae-the music from the masses in Kingston, and couldn't wean him of the Soviet bloc sells itself." (A quote which Musi- DJs and singers make it or break it sufficiently to swallow a very bitter cian magazine edited out of its inter- by way of the live (and at times bru- IMF austerity deal. Classic CIA des- view with him, for "space reasons," tal) response from the audience. This tabilisation tactics were used to put the author was told.) They've fired music is also rather hard-going for him out of office, while 600 youths the people who were capable of fin- most non-Jamaicans since it gene- were murdered in the streets by the ding, developing and marketing new rally relies on rapid-fire patois for its rival Manley/Seaga parties. When acts, and apparently their current punch. It has gone almost unmarke- Reagan became U.S. president in strategy is to put out old reggae very ted in the U.S. with some exceptions 85

like Yellowman and Eek-a-Mouse known to have hooked more than talent. However, the depth of any who, a couple ofyears ago, took to one musician on cocaine and other given trend in literature and art is competing for lewd lyrics (called hard drugs. The results are all too determined by its importance for the "slackness" by Jamaicans) and got evident in the music, as well as the class or stratum whose tastes it plenty of airplay from Kingston to violent incidents that accompany all expresses, and by the social role New York. big-money drug dealings. played by that class or stratum ; here Some observers look to the work too, in the last analysis, everything ofthe "dub poets" as the inheritors The Root Is There depends upon the course of social of the "Marley tradition," but these development and on the relation of radical poets who set their words to "You can cut down the tree, social forces." music have rarely risen to the artistry But you'll never, "The Role of the Individual of the reggae masters, largely You'll never succeed, in History" because they tend to take on the Cause-The root is there. "mission" of spiritual and political And you cannot get rid of Certainly the last has not been leaders in the most literal fashion, AII of I and I now..." heard from the "sufferahs" in giving lessons not art. And unfortu- "The Root is There"-Mighty Jamaica whose tastes this music con- nately, some of their fans and critics Diamonds tinues to express. Nor from the actually demand this of them. Said rebels from Japan to Poland who one of Mutabaruka : "One danger While the reggae runnings have have taken this music as their own. I see is that he is...considered an been rough in the last few years, clo- It is a sure bet that Marley and the entertainer. He is not, he is a revo- sing the book on this music is mani- rest of the reggae greats, the "crea- lutionary." Since when are these festly absurd. In 1898 G. Plekhanov, tion rockers," will find their way mutually exclusive ? when he was still a Marxist, com- into the hearts and cassette players One insidious imperialist contri- mented : of the Ivans of the world, right on bution to the entire scene has been through to when the "right time" what can only be described as the "A given trend in art may remain really does come..."If a egg, natty systematic introduction of hard without any remarkable expression inna de red.*" u drugs into Jamaica. In recent years, if an unfavourable combination of heroine and cocaine have appeared circumstances carries away, one on the streets of Kingston, not unlike after another, several talented peo- the situation in the wake of the Black ple who might have given it expres- * "Natty Dread" by Bob Marley, people's rebellions in Harlem and sion. But the premature death of from a folk proverb meaning : If it E Watts in the U.S. in the 1960s. This such talented people can prevent the is an egg, natty is in the yolk, at the o had taken its toll on reggae ; certain artistic expression of this trend only centre of the storm. Eggs in Jamaica E "hangers-on" in the business are if it is too shallow to produce new are fertilised-and red. U o E l. The amazing sounds created by Jamaica's participation in what was considered a pro- observers, this rather anarchic flood of foreign intrepid "dub" engineers have also raised Manley concert. They may well have had the capital, doled out by people with little unders- = world standards for studio production...this, tacit approval of Manley forces who would tanding or genuine interest in the music, also \o in a city where the water or power might be also ultimately benefit from getting this irre- resulted in Jamaican producers witholding 6 cut off any time of the day or night. pressible rebel out of the way (the gunmen some of the best music from their studios just (^)e 2. Selassie, a spiritual figure for the Rastas were never apprehended by Manley's police to keep it out of the hands of these grubbing had a certain historical appeal be'cause in addi- for instance). And the U.S. bourgeoisie also soul brokers. ("They want shit, give them tion to being the first BIack head of state in appears to have had its fangs in this, one indi- shit.") the twentieth century, he resisted Mussolini's cation being the fact that Carl Colby, son of 5. This is not to imply that reggae artisls were invasion, making Ethiopia one of the last CIA director William Colby, showed up as a not subject to inordinate harassment, having African countries to succumb to imperialism. "cameraman" at the retreat Bob was secre- their concerts mysteriously sabotaged, or while He was also originally promoted by Marcus ted to by the Manley government after the just walking the streets of Brooklyn and the Carvey's early Pan Alricanisr movement, shooting. Bronx in New York City. Peter Tosh was once which formed part of the roots of Rastafa- 4. Virgin's reggae ventures present in micro- arrested in Miami customs for impersonating rianism. After the African colonies were yan- cosm the international financial and political Peter Tosh! Nor does it counter-indicate CIA ked away from Italy at the end of World War thicket which reggae artists were required to participation in such harassment in Jamaica 2, however, this "Lion of Judah" ruled his penetrate in order to be heard beyond the itself. Bob Marley appears to have been under Black "subjects" for the greater U.S. impe- rather small market of Kingston. After signing constant CIA surveillance for years...just rialist empire with a brutal and bloody hand. many groups at bargain basement rates, Vir- minutes before he was to play a major con- Before his death, Carvey, too denounced him gin proceeded to promote only a handful, cert at Madison Square Garden in NYC, an as a Black slavemaster. hoping to find a hitmaker like Marley or Cliff, invading army of undercover agents cleared 3. Biographies of Marley make a variety of and shelved most of the others. This strategy his dressing room of his entire entourage and speculations as to who conducted the shoot- brought the company quick profits on the big interrogated him alone on some murder sup- out at the Marley compound in 1976, and acts and starved out some of the best groups posedly committed by dreadlocked masked why. But all evidence from inside sources indi- to keep the competition from making money men the night before. tr cates that JLP thugs actually carried out the on them, and to keep a stranglehold on the dirty work in retaliation for Bob's planned development of the scene. According to some 85

(Continued from psge 29) tions. Again, the person at the top is will do on whatever white face is have suburbs. But I would be failing white, is a Boer. He uses the blacks seen in the township. People will at- if I said that Indians didn't mix with that serve under him. The way the tack white-associated business Africans, particularly today where police station is positioned the trucks, like a bakery truck. If there in AZAPO (the Azanian People's system can still have whites running is none of that around and it is Organisation-AWTW), for in- it because they are out there known that so and so's business is stance, you will find Coloureds and overlooking the township so that actually a white-owned business and Indians and Africans in the their presence is distant in that form. only black-managed or is a shared organisation. S oyes, boundaries are But more recently control is through business, then that becomes a target. broken. the army. What the system has done People vent their anger in the J.: ...It was the Black Con- is go to these reservations and pick townships. It is very difficult to go sciousness Movement that as a mat- out its police force and the people to outside the townships in these situa- ter of policy put all of these groups serve in the army from there. They tions because you will be intercepted of people together and said that you are playing on what they call dif- by the police miles away from are the oppressed people, you are all ferences. They will go to anywhere. oppressed, you are black. Hence the Bophuthatswana and come back use of the word black in Azania, with Tswana-speaking people to Peasants and Labour Reserves which meant that you were not bring them to Soweto. I think there Q: The South African government African or Coloured or Indian, but is something I missed saying about states that one of the most wor- that all of these groups are bound Soweto. The government is trying to risome aspects of the current together by their blackness and that say that we Xhosa see ourselves as upheaval is that it has spread to the their exploitation largely stems from different from the Zulu, from the rural areas. What's the significance their blackness. It was then, after Tswana, from the Vendas. It is not of this? Black Consciousness, that you saw true in Soweto. For one thing, most R.: First I'll talk about the dif- a lot of cooperation. In 1976 there of our parents are mixed. For exam- ference in the living conditions in the was a lot of cooperation between the ple my mother is Sutu, my father is rural areas and the urban areas. different groups of people. Col- Xhosa. Our neighbors, the wife is Most people who live in the rural oured schools would rise up in Xhosa and the husband is Zulu. So areas live on some white man's solidarity. There were even meetings people don't really see themselves as farm. The whole family works for conducted together and that goes on such-in tribal terms or this farmer. The families in the rural right up to now. nationalities-except in the reserva- areas are isolated. In Soweto we are ato tions. So, the army and police in the all bunched together, so whatever a Forms of Control townships are made of people from East as a township o\ affects Orlando Q: How much control does the the reservations, a group of people affects Dube as a township. So in government actually have over the that can say we come from this Soweto the reaction of the people = townships and how do they exercise group and these others are the and the townships is more spon- = ir? enemy or we don't have anything in taneous or quicker to come about as o R.: It used to be that the whites common with them. But then again, opposed to the rural areas. In the a ran the townships directly, the guy the system has found some problems rural areas dependency is even more q at the top would be white and so you because the same people that are in than the urban areas. The Parents o would see these white faces in the the army have at certain stages said will work on this farm so it depends municipality. After 197 6 itchanged NO, we are killing our own people. onthe baas, the boss, whether or not = because the first targets in the upris- This is another thing that you will they will eat. Most of the time they ings were th rse whites who were ser- never find reported in the don't get a wage but get wages in ving in the townships. People's newspapers. kind, they will get food, clothing anger was so much that they took it J.: Another way they control and so on. So yes, it must shake the out on the one white presence that things is the separation, the actual country and shake the government they saw. After 1976 the whites came distance between townships to know that the resistance has come back into the townships but the ones themselves and between the to the rural areas.... who came in were under heavy townships and the downtown areas. J.: Life in the rural areas is two- guard. These whites were given com- It is very difficult in most of the fold. That was just one aspect of the pensation salary for serving in the townships to walk to the downtown rural area where you have white townships. But as the resistance con- area. It is quite some distance. So it farms. The other part of the rural tinued the system realised that they is not only the force inside but also area-way out in the Transkei, the could not do it this way. So now in the fact that the townships are Ciskei and some of the other terms of running the townships they almost like some kind of island. We reservations-is where people live have those black councilmen. They are away from everything, even the on land and plant what they eat. too are under heavy guard because industrial areas, although we are They attempt to sustain themselves the people have realised that they close enough to the industrial areas from planting. My grandmother have to remove those people to get all of the fumes and tox- used to have a small plot in these physically too. It used to be that the ins....So whenever there is a areas. You still have this kind of life control came from the police sta- rebellion, whatever people do they in South Africa. And this is the 87 source of poverty in these J.: They are the barren areas at their own pace. This is how they homelands because you will have where people live in peasant-like justify the existence of the this land which is barren and very conditions. These are areas that the homelands policy. unproductive. Where in the past government has collected and put these people might have been able to together as the homelands. They are Role of Urban Youth sustain themselves, today they just ruled by brutal regimes-the Sebes, Q: Can you talk some about the role can not. Their land is unproductive. the Matanzimas and so on. In some of Azanian youth in the struggle? The people living on the farms are ways they are more repressive than J.: This role of youth in the strug- tilling on the white man's land and their master the South African gle goes back beyond even the '60s it is very fertile. In the barren rural government. They can just blatantly in Azania. Even the ANC was areas, you still have the old colonial beat up people. I remember in 1980 catapulted into the actions they took setting, you have in the same area when we had a student walkout in by the formation of ANC Youth the church, the police station, the the Ciskei. In Port Elizabeth, when League. The youth got frustrated white man's big shop, the school and the walkout occurred the chairman with the ANC at the time, in the so on-all in the same area, in the and the vice chairman of the '40s, and they formed the Youth middle of this area. Every now and organisation leading the walkout League. Its members included peo- again at this central place you have were detained. But in Ciskei all of ple like Robert Sobukwe, Anton the contractors coming in to con- the people in the walkout were ar- Lembede and Nelson Mandela. The tract the people out to Johannesburg rested and brutally beaten. The ANC has been around since 1912, and the mines or wherever....So in government has put up these brutal but it was only in the '40s, under the these rural areas you have people puppet governments to maintain impact of the Youth League, that it trying to till the land and being un- their control there. The bantustans started to be more active. Youth also successful and starving in the pro- are just reserves for cheap labour played an important role in breaking cess, and then you have people which can be dipped into whenever with the ANC and in the formation waiting to become migrant it is needed. It also helps to keep the of the PAC. with the banning of the labourers. You also have others cost of production down because two organisations in 1960 you find escaping out to the urban areas on should people strike for better wages the youth in the late '60s in the their own to form those squatter or conditions, the government can forefront of the formation of the camps. The government is worried just put them on buses and dump Black Consciousness Movement. about the rebellions spreading to them into these areas. At the same You had people like Steve Biko in these areas because first, they are time they can just ship some of those the early '70s again beginning spreading. They are not confined to eager to work in the bantustans back political action. Some of the things E five or six areas around Cape Town, replace that the BCM was the celebra- o to the city to the striking did T Port Elizabeth and Johannesburg. workers. The government has called tion of the victories in Mozambique F Usually the government just sends these reservations "independent na- and Angola. In the '60s we were U out its army and police to those ur- tions." Why? Partly because it totally deprived of any political in- o! ban areas. And they have other areas answers international criticism-in formation. Our parents wouldn't to contend with too-they have to this day and age you have a govern- talk at all about politics. You had s be in Angola, they have to be in ment that has no franchise for the this reign of fear. So I was thinking z Namibia and they have to guard the majority of people it controls. Now that this contributed to the activity, 5 borders. So the rebellion spreading the government can claim that we because here you had people who 6(,l out means that the government has vote, we have our own Prime could see that they were oppressed b to spread out also, they won't be Ministers and this or that. The and yet it was difficult for them to able to concentrate in just the usual government divides our country into talk about it or even to understand. areas where they have other forms of white South Africa and other na- At least our parents understood that control like informers and town tions. The ethnic groups that we they didn't want to talk about it and councils. Also, in these rural areas it have are supposed to be nations, they didn't want to be active because is much bushier than in the they call them nations. Therefore they had suffered in the early'60s, townships and the government those homelands are supposed to be a lot of people were arrested. People would have to deal with this terrain nation-states in themselves. The pro- were sold out back then, they had if they were to go in and out. Which ductive and industrial parts of South high hopes, they really expected also means that if guerrilla war were Africa are what the government says liberation in the mid-'50s and early to intensify people could hide in is white South Africa. They claim '60s. They had high hopes and big those areas without the government that this has a basis in history, that disappointments. So at least to them being able to successfully track them when the whites first came to South there could be an understanding down. So spreading out ofthe unrest Africa the Africans were just com- about why they were inactive. But means a spreading out of the terrain ing down from the north and these the youth didn't have all that infor- they would have to deal with. homelands are where they mation, all they knew was oppres- Q: The bantustans are one of the established themselves. Their sion. So that made for even more pillars of the apartheid system. ideological justification for impos- anger which was an incentive to What are they, and what are the con- ing separate development is that they organise and mobilise the youth. It ditions faced by people there? want people to supposedly develop was such that when they burst into 88

action in 1916, they never stopped. taking care of kids and so on. In fact quiring great physical strength. They that is why they allowed women to have also begun hiring women as Women : Urban and Rural be in the urban areas-to take care drivers. Even though the man and Q: What kind of things do Azanian of their houses because that is a the woman can do the same job, women face? serious job and the Azanian woman they pay women far, far less than R.: An Azanian woman who is in becomes the housewife of the house. they do the man. an urban area is there most of the Back in the rural areas you find that R.: As to the woman in the rural time because she is married. The law with the man going away on these areas again, you get to see your hus- is such that as far as your husband contracts, it is the woman that is left band once a year when he is away on is concerned you are a child. The to deal with that difficult soil and try contract labour. You see your hus- house that you live in is under your to keep the family eating, whatever band when he gets that leave from husband's name. There are things family is left back there. It is the the mines....But the worst thing for that you cannot just do in- woman who tills the land, it is women is that every time your hus- dependently as a woman. The laws women who do all these things. My band comes home from the mine he are structured to ensure this. For ex- grandmother used to do this. They leaves you, when he goes back to the ample, when you get married, your have to take care of the children, mine, he leaves you pregnant. The passbook is taken and changed to they have to be doctors, they have to system actually determines when name your husband as your guar- do everything. They have to feed the you can bear children. I don't blame dian. If you lose your husband, if he kids, educate them. And also, when this on the male as such because, as dies, then the woman loses her right men are out on these contracts, after we mentioned earlier, to tr-,- and sell to the house. This remains true even the passage of time some of these their labour the men always have to though the government today is try- men will just break their marriages. leave the reservations because there ing to say things have changed, that I mean sometimes if a man has been is no work there. So they get back women can now buy houses. But in Johannesburg for six years he will and they have raised a certain this has been the standing law.... just stop sending th6t check at the amount of money so that they can J.: ln the urban areas you find end of the month. In some cases you get married-the men traditionally women just traditionally holding know somebody in the township pay the dowr;". So after they have these very menial jobs, mostly who is sitting there nicely married done that they r.lant to make sure domestic servants. For instance, the and you hear that he left a wife and that they will at least come home and position of a teacher is not tradi- family back in the homeland where lind their wife there. The one way tionally the job of a woman. Look he used to be. That happens a lot of they do it is to get the wife pregnant at{) people a at even the language use, times. And lately the government everytime they come home.... tr o\ when they talk about teachers they has begun to realise that women can say a teacher and a "lady" teacher. do other things too, and of course If youare a woman you are a "lady" can be paid very cheaply. When I -= teacher, not just a teacher. But left, a lot of women were beginning o= mostly the jobs for women are to be employed in jobs like running domestic servants, cleaning houses, gas stations and other jobs not re- o q o (Continued from page 24) IMPERIALIST RULE IN SOUTH Economist,23 July, 1984, p. 55. Africa from exploding. AFRICA! 9. The Economrsl, 28 July, 1984, p. 56. = DEATH TO IMPERIALISM! 10. Data from South Africa Fact Sheet. IV. CONCLUSION I L Anthony Sampson, The Mone-v Lenders (New York: Viking, l98l), p. 170. This article has argued that the Footnotes 12. The Economist,23 March 1985, p. 8l; economic, political, and social con- Africa, l Data from American Committee on "At a Crossroads in South Africa," New exercised over the black ma- Sheet, January 1984. trol South A/rica Foct York Times.6 November 1983. jority of South Africa flow from a 2. "America and South Africa," The specific model of capitalist ac- Economisl, 30 March 1985. cumulation, which is inextricably 3. See United Nation Centre Against Apar- bound up with the interests and im- theid, Tronsnational Corporations and lhe peratives of imperialist capital. The Sou t h AJ-rica n M i I i tory- I ndust ria I Co mplex, 45-48. requires September 1979, PP, abolition of apartheid 4. lbid., p.18. nothing less than the complete and 5. Ann Seidman and Neva Makgetla, Oal- total destruction of the South posts of Monopoly Capitalism (Loncion: Zed African state and its economic foun- Press, 1980), p. I77. This work has been a dation; to end subjugation, im- valuable source in the preparation of this ar- ticle. perialist rule must be shattered. aAmerica 6. lbid., p. l l l. in Decline: An Anolysis of the 7. lbid., p. 138; South Africa 1984 (official Developments Toward Ll/ar ond Revolution, Yearbook of the Republic of South Africa, in the IJ.S. ond Worldwide, in the l980s,by DEATH TO APARTHEID! Johannesburg, 1983), Table 20, p. 485. Raymond Lotta with Frank Shannon DEATH TO ALL FORMS OF 8. The Economisl. 23 March 1985, p. 8l; Tfte (Chicago: Banner Press, 1984). tr