Inqaba ya basebenzi, No. 16/17

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Page 1 of 98 Alternative title Inqaba ya basebenzi Author/Creator Marxist Workers' Tendency of the African National Congress (London) Publisher Marxist Workers' Tendency of the African National Congress (London) Date 1985-01 Resource type Journals (Periodicals) Language Afrikaans, English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, United Kingdom Coverage (temporal) 1985 Source Digital Imaging South Africa (DISA) Rights By kind permission of the African National Congress (ANC). Format extent 48 page(s) (length/size)

Page 2 of 98 Nos. 16/17 January-June 1985 Price 75cYA. BASEBEJournal of the Marxist Workers' Tendencyof the African National Congress;~ 983AZAPO 000 General strike *010 Sudan East Germany

Page 3 of 98 INQABA47Special supplement with this issueSOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES:Workers' revolution orracial civil war The economy --basis of perspectives Character and tasks of the revolution Reform, reaction and civil war Strategy and tasksComrades are urged to read and systematically discussthis document in study circles. Make photocopies andpass Ingaba and the supplement on to others.helped to foster an atmosphere ofhope lacking in earlier years.Western capitalist leadersunderstood very well that the EastGerman working class were notdemonstrating for the return ofcapitalism. The West Germangovernment was content to makepropaganda points on the.radio butcertainly not to offer any real supportto the workers.The leaders of trade unions in theWest were also unwilling to offer anysupport. When East Berlin workersmarched through the Brandenburggate into West Berlin, they receivedthe sympathy of the working classand gifts of cigarettes and chocolates.In Magdeburg, railway workerstold East German workers, "Wenegotiate neither with Adenauer(Chancellor of West Germany) norwith Ulbricht but only withOllenhauer (the leader of the SPD)."Ollenhauer was following the lead ofthe West German and the Americanruling classes, who would prefer,whatever their differences with theRussian bureaucracy, for them tomaintain control of the East Germanstate, rather than to have genuineworkers' democracy.Although the Berlin uprising wascrushed, it showed the bureaucracythat it could no longer treat the work-ing class with contempt. When Polishworkers came onto the streets in1956, the East German bureaucracyrapidly acted to lower consumerprices by up to 50%, to ward off anyworkers' protest.In the 1960s there were growthrates of 5-6% in East Germany, andfar more was spent on the improve-ment of living standards than in mostother East European countries, withlarge subsidies for consumer goods.But regardless of these reforms,East Germany remains a state in crisisand the development of society willcome up against the obstacle formedby the bureaucracy with all its waste,incompetence and mismanagement.Eastern Europe needs workers'democracy to develop fully, like a liv-ing body needs oxygen.The memory of the 1953 uprisingwill serve as an inspiration to EastGerman workers as their struggles in-evitably impel them towards politicalrevolution, the successful overthrowof bureaucratic control of society,and the implementation of realworkers' democracy, in East Ger-many and throughout all EasternEurope.

Page 4 of 98 CONTENTSEditorialZimbabwe: socialists detainedGEMWU campaignInterviewsInternational protestAZAPOBritish school strikeSA: general strikeANC . suspensionsPesticidesObituary: L.J.NothaSelibe Phikwe strike, 1975SudanEast German uprising, 1953page 2page 8page 14page 17page 18page 22page 26page 28page 33page 34page 36page 3 7page 41page 43For security reasons, fictitious names have been used by writers of articles in thisissue of lngaba ya Basebenzi. In every case, however, care has been taken not togive a misleading impression of the background and experience' of the comradeconcerned. Details about writers are provided only when security considerations makethis possible.lngaba ya Basebenzi, BM Box 1719, London WC 1 N 3XX, BritainPrinted by Eastway Offset Press (TU) Ltd3/13 Hepscott Road, London E9 5HB

Page 5 of 98 ingah'aYA BASEBENZICan negotiations bringmajority rule?- Editorial Board statementcirculated in South Africa,9 February 1985Scarcely a year ago the new con-stitution, with its coloured and Indian"parliaments", was presented to thewhites as a way of securing theirpolitical privileges, by definitely ex-cluding the African majority fromthe vote. Now, in the very first ses-of the new "parliaments",M. Both. is forced to concede thatthe question of the political rights ofthe African people cannot beavoided.The new constitution has had astill-birth. The magnificent move-ment of all sections of the blackworking people-on the politicalplane even more than on theindustrial-has ensured this.Intended to divide the colouredand Indian people from the Africans,it provided instead a focus for unityin action between the coloured, In-dian and African workers and youth.Instead of avoiding the issue of ma-jority rule, it has accentuated thequestion, intensifying the struggle ofthe Africans and all oppressed peo-ple for democratic rights.Faced with deepening economiccrisis; with the growing challenge ofthe black workers; with the revoltwithin the communities and amongthe youth; faced above all with theprospect of mounting political strikeaction headed by the organisedworkers-all sections of the capitalistclass are having to recognise that thenew constitution is impotent.Botha's January 25th speech hasbeen hailed as the most "reformist"of his career. It has been made,moreover, against the background ofan apparent shift in the regime's posi-tion on the question of negotiationswith the ANC and the release ofNelson Mandela.But the proposals contained inBotha's speech share with allprevious schemes one common pur-pose: to prevent majority rule.Whilst the regime officiallyacknowledges that the Verwoerdiandream of a "white South Africa"free of blacks is unrealisable, it pro-poses yet another device for wardingoff the demand for one-person-one-vote in an undivided South Africa.It also hopes to create a climate ofacceptability amongst whites for theidea that Africans would have to beincluded in the future governing ofSouth Africa. But which Africans?Not the majority.The regime seeks a formula forfragmenting the African majority bydividing "legal" urban Africans fromthe "illegals", and dividing thoseconsidered "permanent" from thoseconsidered "temporary", as well asfrom their fellow-Africans in the"homelands". Conceivably, somesuch African MINORITY might thenbe conceded rights to the administra-tion of their so-called "own affairs",with some,,yoice in the apparatus ofcentral government. Plainly, onlystooges and sell-outs would col-laborate in any such scheme.The political representatives ofcapitalism in SA may have their dif-ferences but over one question all areunited: the Africanjnajority shall notbe allowed to bring to power throughtheir votes in an undivided SouthAfrica a government whose charactercorresponds to their numericalweight. This is the basis of all the"confederal", "federal" etc schemesof the ruling class.This is not accidental nor the pro-duct merely of the vile prejudicesamong the whites.Black working people who con-stitute the majority in South Africademand majority rule in order tosolve the problems of starvationwages, unemployment, housing,health, education, etc. Capitalism inSouth Africa, weak and crisis-ridden,suffering acutely from the convul-sions of a diseased world capitalistsystem, is utterly incapable of satis-fying these demands.The ruling class knows full wellthat, were a government electeddemocratically, the demands placedon it by mass pressure would presentan irreconcilable challenge to the pro-fit system itself. Capitalism is theenemy of democracy in SA. Tqachieve majority rule in an undiviJded SA, it is necessary to break thepower of the capitalist class.In a vain attempt to conceal theanti-democratic character of the pre-sent initiatives from the maises, theruling class is fuelling spelculationabout negotiations with the ANC andthe release of Mandela. In this waythey hope to present their presentproposals as part of an "evolutionaryprocess" of "power-sharing" thatwill culminate in a peaceful settle-ment with the ANC.Were a peaceful negotiated st?lu-tion of the democratic question possi-ble, every worker would welcome it.But, behin' every new constitutionalscheme, the real power of the rulingclass rests ultimately on its statemachine-i- in essence armedbodies of men making up the armyand the police, aided by the judiciaryand the bureaucracy of the public ser-vice. . This same state defends, andmust defend, white domination also.In South Africa capitalist power andwhite domination are bound togetherin the state.There is no route to democracy,therefore, except through disarmingand dismantling this state-andreplacing it by a democratic workers'state. Only a revolution can achievethis.There can be no sharing of statepower-no "power-sharing"-between two classes whose interestsare irreconcilably opposed to eachother. There can be no democraticsharing of power among the peopleof South Africa irrespective of race

Page 6 of 98 ,an[; 11 Issue 16/17YA BASEBENZISupplementSOUTH AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES:Workers' revolutionor racial civil war-nney 1985

Page 7 of 98 In the volcanic movement of the black working classin the townships of Uitenhage and Port Elizabeth can beseen the outlines of South Africa's coming revolution.General strike action; mass marches and demonstra-tions; unbridled massacre by the police; in response, aflaming fury of revolt spearheaded by the youth and fan-ning out to wider areas; ferocious popular revenge againstblack collaborators, business sharks and policemen; con-tinual police retaliation, provocations and brutalities; avirtual insurrectionary situation in the townships; troopmobilisations to reinforce the police; "sealing off", oc-cupation and searches of townships by huge forces ofpolice and troops.So the battle lines are drawn, and so the fundamentalproblem defines itself again and again in action for thegreat proletarian mass of the black people: how to over-throw this murderous, monstrous apartheid regime.The Eastern Cape is not unique. The revolt there hasmerely raised to sharp relief the features revealed in theheroic resistance in the Transvaal, the OFS, the WesternCape, the Border region and now also in parts of Natal.And this is only the beginning. What happens inUitenhage can happen... anywhere, everywhere.As each convulsive wave of the movement passes andtemporarily subsides, the militant workers and youth whohave confronted the state in action are forced to do bat-tle again in the arena of ideas, grappling with the mostintractable problems of theory, strategy and tactics.There is no doubt about it: the South African regimeis the most formidably difficult regime on the planet tooverthrow. More so than in any other country, the SArevolution can succeed only if the revolutionary forcestake a scientific and professional approach to their tasks.The violence that has broken out repeatedly in the re-cent period between supporters of the UDF on the onehand and of AZAPO on the other; the threats, allegedlyby some UDF elements, to burn homes of FOSATUmembers in the Eastern Cape; the divisions among theyouth organisations; the splitting of the trade unionmovement oft he black workers according to `ideological'divisions among the leaders-all this signals deadlydanger for the working class and all oppressed people.It will be impossible to overcome these divisions andmobilise a united mass force against the regime and theruling class unless a unified revolutionary cadre-withinthe unions, the youth organisations and the communitybodies-is fused together on the basis of clear and cor-rect ideas.The great strength of the mass movement which hasarisen over the past ten or twelve years derives from anelemental awakening of the giant black working class.The organising initiatives of tens of thousands of activists,young and old, in every part of the country, have togetherinfused ever deeper layers of the masses with a growingsense of their own power.While this has given rise to the mightiest organisationsof the working class ever known in South Africa (mostnotably, though by no means only, the trade unions), thisfirst stage in the awakening of the mass movement isnonetheless mainly characterised by spontaneity and im-provisation. Improvisation of ideas and improvisation oforganisations and strategies.This is inevitable and healthy in the development ofevery genuine "people's" movement which boils up tramthe depths of unbearable oppression. But the reliance onspontaneity and improvisation has definite limits whichthe activists in the movement are constantly battling toovercome. In this they come up against the obstaclesresulting from the long isolation of the South Africanproletariat, the predominance of' middle-class leadershipand the weakness of the forces of Marxism.Marxism-the revolutionary experience of the interna-tional proletariat over its ~ hole history, consciously col-lected together and summed up-has for several genera-tions been thrown back to a repository ol' very smallforces world-wide, as a result of a whole series of defeatsof the working class, the rise of Stalinism, and thestrengthening of reformism during the long post-warupswing of world capitalism.In the popular understanding, 'ti1arxism', where it hasnot become discredited and defiled, is todav encrustedwith confusion and muddled up with resurrected petty-bourgeois delusions which the great teachers of Marxismhad long ago decisively laid to rest. Only by long and per-sistent work, patiently explaining the fundamental ideasin the course of many struggles in which the working classpasses again and again through the harsh school of ex-perience, will it be possible for Marxists to establish theirideas once again as a mass force.This process is to a greater or lesser extent under wayin a growing number of countries. But if time and tidewait for no man, neither do the convulsions of the classstruggle wait for Marxism. Time is of the essenceeverywhere.Clear perspectives neededIn South Africa the very spontaneity and improvisa-tion which has been the strength of the movement in thepast period will more and more hamstring its further pro-gress if clear perspectives, and clew. revolutionary strategyand tactics, are not brought rapidly to the fore.The more mightily arises the movement, the morevicious and cunning will be the enemy it confronts, andthe more difficult the obstacles which will be strewn inits path.Intense and vital as the clash of ideas now is amongthe leading tendencies of the UDt`, the National Forum,the youth organisations and the trade unions, it bears stillan air of sterility. It does not yet come solidly to gripswith the real questions to be clarified.`Ideologies' are bandied about; rival 'principles' andprecepts contend. People are 'Charterists' or 'anti-Charterists'; for `non-racialism' or 'anti-racism'; so-called `workerists' or `populists', etc.Increasingly however-and this is a real step forwardof historic importance-the most advanced and activelayers of the workers and youth in all the rival camps of

Page 8 of 98 on the basis of genuine equalityunless state power is in the hands ofthe working class.In their attempts to promote theutopia of peaceful settlement, thecapitalist press in South Africa haspublished reports by journalists giv-ing their version of informal discus-sions held with ANC leaders, andsuggesting a measure of "commonground".It is a vital task of the leadershipto clear up the confusion which couldbe created by these reports.The leadership must make clearthat the ANC will accept nothing lessthan majority rule in an undividedSouth Africa, and rejects all schemes(such as "federalism") for frustratingthis aim.The only basis for a peaceful set-tlement by negotiation in SouthAfrica would be for the state to laydown its arms and surrender powerwithout a fight. It is the implacablehostility of the whole South Africanruling class to democracy, enforcedthrough its ruthless state machine,which rules out the possibility of apeaceful negotiated settlement.The ANC must make clear that itis only the conscious movement ofthe working class, leading all the op-pressed, which can develop thestrength to take on and defeat thisstate, and establish in its place ge-nuine democracy on the basis ofworkers' power.It must make clear that all theenergies of the masses need to bedevoted to building this movement,around a programme for democracyand socialism. This will not only bethe most powerful rallying point forall the oppressed, but the only wayto split the whites, and to prepare theground for a mass armed insurrectionwhich will defeat apartheid andcapitalism.The basis for this movement isalready arising in the explosion ofclass consciousness among theworkers and youth in the recentstruggles, and in the enormous thirstthat exists for the ideas of Marxism.By building on this the way can beprepared for victory.Na lipuisano 1i ka flisaPuso Ea Bongata?Selemo ha se so fele ho fanoe kaengolo IH Motheo ho makhooa, leCreletsang menyetla ea ona ea/~poloti'xi, ka ho lumella bat ho ba:- ata le ma- Inliea ho kena.-lamenteng; feela le khetholla,ongata ba ma-Afrika ka ho se a fe'natla a ho vouta. Joale, qalehong eaterra ea pele tlebetsong eaParlamente e ncha, P.W. Botha otlameha ho lumela ho re litokela tsalipolotiki tsa ma-Afrika li ke ke tsaqobuoa.Lengolo Is Motheo le lecha lefololitse. Hobane tsisinyeho e kholoe entsoeng ke lihlopha tsohle tsabatho ba batho ba basebetsi e bon-tsitse ho re lipolotiki ho feta lemafapheng a mesebetsi li matlafalitsetsisinyeho ena.Boikemisetso ka lengolo lena, e nee le ho arola batho ba 'mala le ma-Inliea ho ma-Afrika; ho na le hoetsa joalo le bakile t1isinyeho e kopa-nyang batho ba 'mala, ma-Inlieahammoho le basebetsi ba ma-Afrikale bacha. Bakeng sa ho qoba puso eabongata le chorisitse cheseho ea pusoe ananeloang ke bongata, lematlafalitse boitseko ba ma-Afrika lebatho bohle ba hateletsoeng, holoanela litokela tsa puso e sakhetholleng.Ho talimana le moruo o tebetebengea tsietsi; o futuhetsoeng ke basebetsiba bat o; bofetoheli ka hara metse;bofetoheli ba bacha; ka ho fetisisa,ho talimana le lipolotiki tsekukutullang literaeke tse etsang peleke basebetsi ba nang le makhotla-tsena tsohle li supa ho re linoamali litlameha ho ela hloko ho re Lengolola Motheo ha le na matla.Puo ea Botha khoeling ea peleselemong ha e le matsatsi a 25, ea naea amoheloa ka litlatse ho thoe e tlisa"liphetoho", tsa bohlokoa tse kholot9ebetsong ea hae. E entsoe ke'Musoho bone a ho sutha ha ona boemongba khale e itfetlehile ka lipuisano leAfrican National Congress (easechaba) mabapi le ho lopolla NelsonMandela.Empa seo Botha a faneng ka sonapuong ea hae se tsoana le mecha eakhale e ban a nang le puso eananeloang ke bongata.Le hoja 'Muso o amohela ho retoro ea Verwoerd e mo bontsitseng"Afrika Boroa e leng ea Makhooafeela", e se nang ma-Afrika, e le Whoe ke keng ea etsahala, o tsitlelletse kaho phephetha kopo e hatellang ho remotho ka mong a be le voulu e le'ngoe, Afrika Boroa e saarohanngoang.O leka ho thea lebatama le kaamohelehang mahlong a makhooa,ho re ma-Afrika a tla amoheloabobusing ba Afrika Boroa eakamuso. Empa ke ma-Afrika a feng?Ha se a bongata.'Muso o batla mokhoa o arolangbongata ba khokana phiri ea ma-Afrika ka ho arohanya metselitoropong ea ma-Afrika a tsitsitsengka khaho e le ba molaong kabajaki-le a bajaki ba satsitsang ka molao; esitana le hona hoarola ma-Afrika a etsang maha-boona ka thoko ho a mang fee" alitoropong. Ho bonahalang ke ho remakumane a tjena, a bonyenyanengka palo, a tla fuoa litokela tseamanang le boitaoli ba makumane ajoalo feela, e seng boipuso-empa ae na le monyetlana oa lentsoekhubung ca 'Muso; ke manyekathipa le barekisi feela ba ka lumelangmokhoa o tjena oa puso.Baemeli ba linoamali lipolotikingtsa Afrika Boroa ba ka'na ba fapanamahareng a bona, empa ntlheng e le'ngoe kaofela ba kopana: e leng hore bongata ba ma-Afrika bo feke-etsang, bo ke ke ba lumelloa ho nkamatla ka livoutu Afrika e Boroa e satsekolloang, pusong e lumellanang leboima ba bongata ba bona. Hona kemotheo oa mokhoa le mecha e sebeli-soang ke fapha la babusi ho ahalikhatampinyana tsa litsiketsi tse kakopaneloang ka lilekane tsa litsiba

Page 9 of 98 the movement are drawing the conclusion that"capitalism is our enemy", that the fight is to end apart-heid and capitalism together.But to identify the enemy is only the first step of a con-scious policy. It is necessary to identify by what meansthe enemy can and will be overthrown.Yet where is there, on the part of any tendency or ele-ment of the leadership of the movement today a clear con-ception of the general path of the struggle ahead; a map-ping out of the way the revolution will unfold; a graspof the objective processes at work in their totality, andnot just the problems of this or that partial sphere of ac-tion; in short, a scientific perspective to guide themovement?Yet, without such a perspective there can be no clarityas to the revolutionary tasks and programme, no realunification of the working-class movement, no effectiveworkers' leadership of the mass struggle, no scientificstrategy, no comprehensive action programme, and noconsistent tactics.Having a correct perspective means being prepared, soas not to be taken by surprise by sudden changes andturns in events; it means understanding the general pro-cesses and not being diverted by a superficial reaction to_this or that event.It is to the mastery of perspectives as a guide to actionthat the most determined revolutionary activists musturgently turn their attention.The economy-basis ofperspectivesAs with all societies, we will find the roots of the pre-sent political crisis in South Africa in the soil of theeconomy: in the way the productive system has developedand in the contradictions and crisis which grip that systemnow.The interlinked crisis of all sectors of the world todayhas been explained in previous material-e.g., SouthAfrica's Impending Socialist Revolution (1982) and TheComing World Revolution (Supplement to InqabaNo. 14). These documents should be reread as abackground to South African perspectives at the presenttime.In the modern epoch it has been impossible for anycountry simply to repeat the `organic' all-round develop-ment of capitalism, step by step, from small-scale to large-scale production, which the nations of Western Europeand later North America passed through a century ormore ago.National markets are dominated to an ever-increasingextent by the world market, and the world market by thepower of the giant monopoly corporations of im-perialism. In the stranglehold of world monopolycapitalism, the development of the colonial or ex-colonialcountries has, notwithstanding formal independence,been partial, uneven and distorted. The dreadful stagna-tion of most of Africa today results from this fact.To the extent that capitalism has developed in thesecountries, and to the extent that a national capitalist classhas grown up, this has invariably taken place not as anindependent development, not `on their own feet', so tospeak, but in a relationship part parasitic upon the im-perialist monopolies and part one of manoeuvre andresistance to loosen their grip.Considered against the international background, it isclear that South Africa is one of the few countries of thecolonial world to have had a significant national capitalistdevelopment. It is correct to say `national capitalist' eventhough the capitalists are whites and not black Africans.Descended from settlers, most whites are `settlers' nolonger but now an indigenous part of the society with nomotherland anywhere else. As second-, third- and fourth-generation immigrants to America are Americans, sothese are South Africans.Moreover, in the past they (particularly the Afrikanernationalist middle class) organised and campaignedpolitically and economically, to wrest part of the surplusfrom the international monopolies in order to developdomestic industry. If this has not amounted to a nationalcapitalist development, and the rise of a national capitalistclass (however deformed), then what would?South Africa's exceptional industrial development, ina world economy already dominated by the greatmonopolies of the imperialist powers, was possible fun-damentally for two reasons. On the one hand because ofthe mineral wealth of this country, which produces three-quarters of the gold of the capitalist world. Because goldis readily exportable, it provided a source of easy foreignexchange with which to import machinery, and at leastpart of the surplus from gold mining could be turnedtowards investment in industrial development.But the basis of that development depended equally onthe fact that there came to exist within SA , settlerpopulation of whites, a sufficiently large minorit, so thatin the course of time it could be organised and developedinto a privileged elite to act as policeman over the massof the black population, who were torn from the landand turned into a massive working class.In this way it was possible to enforce a system of cheaplabour based on the exploitation of the black workers.This, indeed, is the essence of the apartheid system, whichhas been developed into a monstrosity with no parallelanywhere else.With the African majority, 73016 of the population,robbed of all but 13016 of the land; with an enforced racialdivision of society in almost every sphere; with systematiclegislated inequality; with the denial not only of the fran-chise, but of all civil rights to the Africans, who have beenstripped even of their citizenship; with 18 million blackpeople arrested under the pass laws and other influx con-

Page 10 of 98 feel..Hona ha se kotsi feela kapa kotuloea bokhopo le khethollo e hlahisoangke makhooa.Basebetsi ba batho bao e leng bonabongata ba matsoele Afrika Boroa,ba tsena ho busa ka puso ea bongateho re ba felise mathata a ho phela kameputso e bolaisang tlala, ho felisaho se be le mesebetsl' matlo, bophelobo botle, thuto, joalo joalo.Bonoamali Afrika Boroa, botebetebeng ea litsietsi tse bakoang kekhanyapetso. Bo hlekefetsoa ke li-qakabetsi tsa boleng ba bonoamali,Ho hang bo ke ke ba khotsofatsatakatso tsa basebetsi.Babusi ba tseba ka ho phethahalaho re hoja'Muso oa bongata o no oka khethoa ntle le khethollo ea 'mala,litakatso tse hlahang ho matsoele lika imela linoamali, tsa li hlolisa hoetsa liphaello khoebong. BonoamaliAfrik. e Boroa ke sera sa puso eabongata e se nang khethollo. Hofihlella puso ea bongata AfrikaBoroa e sa arohanngoang, hohlokahala ho pshatluoa ha fapha lalinoamali.Ba lefapha la puso ba lekile kabohohle ho pata bonokoane ba hositisa puso ea bongata. Nakong ea hamonyenyetsi oa lipuisano tsa bona leAfrican National Congress li rarollamehoasa e amanang le ho re NelsonMandela a ka lopolloa. Taba ena ekukutollotse mehoasahali ea tse etsa-halang ka lenyele. Ho pata ha ho bathuse letho. Ka mokhoa ona ba tsenaho re seo ba lekang ho fan a ka son.se tla ba atlehisa ho liehisa puso eabongata, e tla getella e le tumellanoea bona ea ho arolelana boipuso leAfrican National Congress.Ha e ne e ba lipuisano tsa khotsoe ka felisang mathata a ho thea'Muso oa bongata li ne li ka etsahala,mosebetsi e mong le e mong o ne aka li amohela. Empa, ka sekhukhulengolo le fe kapa le fe le lecha laMotheo, le na le methathi e baballangmatla a ba seng ba le pusong; ke hore, litsiea tsa'Muso: sesole, sepolesa,le litsiea tsa makhotla a molao le bo'mampoli ba puso. 'Muso o tjena osireletsa 'me o tlameha ho baballabompoli ba makhooa. Afrika eBoroa matla a khanyapetso amatahane le bompoli ba makhooahammoho le litsiea tsa puso.Ha ho na tsela ka lebaka lena, ntlele ho heletsa'Muso ona-re o amohele libetsa. Ke ntoa ea bofetoheli feelae ka fihlellang qeto ena.Ha re lumele karolelano ea matlaa puso-kapa ho arolelana matla-mahareng a mafapha a mabeli, ke hore: a bahanyapetsi le bahanyapetsuoae leng mafapha a hotolelanengmahlo, ha ho na kutloano. Ha ho nakarolelano ea matla mahareng alichaba tsa Afrika Boroa ntle le ho rematla a puso a be matsohong abasebetsi.Makhobonthithi a linoamali hoaha khotso e therekelang AfrikaBoroa a bonahala ka ho phatlalatsoalikuranteng, ba bontsa ho ikemisetsaho kena lipuisanong le AfricanNational Congress-ba bokakutlosoo.Baetapele ba tlameha ho hlakisa hore litlaleho tsa likuranta li fupile eng,ho felisa pherekanyo e bakuoang kelikuranta.Boetapele bo tlameha ho hlalos.ho re ANC e ke ke ea lumela lethole sa lekaneng le boipuso ba bongata,Afrika Boroa e sa arohanngoang. Uho re bo banana le ho tsekolla nabslitsibana kapa ho aha boipuso bolekang ho kopanya tsibana tsena, boqhale makhobonthithi ana.Tsela e 'ngoe feela ea hophethelana ka khotso ka lipuisanoAfrika e Boroa, ke ho re 'Muso okhaohane le libetsa o nehelane katsona o sa loane. Khalefo ea 'Musoe ke keng ea rithibanngoa ke eon. esitisangpuso ea bongata. O buso kalere la t epe, e leng boemo bo sitisanglip uisano.African National Congress etlameha ho hlakisa ho re ke basebetsifeela ka kutoisiso ea ho eta pele bathobohle ba hateletsoeng, ba entsemakhotla a bona a basebetsiselelekela seo ka sona ba ka .hangmatla a ka hlolang 'Muso, 'me bathe. 'Muso oa bongata o busang kamatla a basebetsi.E tsoanetse e hlalose ho re matlaa matsoele a tsoanetse ho bokellanaho aha makhotla ana ho ntsetsa pelelethathamo la puso ea hoja 'moho.Ntlha ena ho feta ho kopanya matso-ele ka matla a ona, e tla be e a rolemakhooa e she bofetoheli bo nkanglihlomo, e be e felise 'khethollolichabeng e fenethe bahanyapetsi.Motheo oa tsusumetso ena o so 0qalelletse ka ho babunyeha halefapha la basebetsi le backlameferefereng ea matsatsi a sa tsoafeta, le ho nyoreloa ha bona ho tsebalithuto tsa Karl 'Makese. Ha reikhaha ka mokhoa ona re tla hlola.Ingaba ukuthetha-thethana kuzakuzisa inkuluieko na?Kwisithutyana nje sonyaka0phelileyo imigag0 yo mthethoomtsha, kunye "neepalamente" zayozamakhaladi nama-Indiya, ibelwephambi kwabelungu ngenjongoyokomeleza amalungelo abo om-buso, ngokushiya amAfrika nga-phandle k- .Ii ngokucacileyo.Ngoku nje, kweyo kuqala kanye in-tlanganiso "yezipalamente" ezintsha,uP.W. Both. uye wanyanzelekaukuba avume ukuthi inkingayamalungelo obupolitika amAfrikaayinako ukuphepheka.Umthetho omtsha uphunzile. In-tshukumo enobugagawuli yamaqelaonke abantu abantsundu aba-sebenzayo-ngakumbi kwidabilobupolitika kunela semashi-shinini-ithe yawuphunzisa.Lo mthetho onjongo zokwahlula-hlula amakhaladi nama-Indiya emaAfrikeni, uthe endaweni yokowalungiselela isenzo sokulwela uma-nyano phakathi kwabasebenzi nolu-tsha lamakhaladi, lama-IndiyanolamAfrika. Endaweni yokuphepha

Page 11 of 98 trols since 1916; with 3'/z million forcibly removed fromurban areas and from `white' farming areas to the ruraldumping grounds of the bantustans; with the apparatusof a police state, political prisons, detention without trial,tortures and massacres-these have been the meansnecessary for the development of capitalism in SA to itspresent level.Enjoying the twin advantages of yellow gold and `blackgold' (as the crude bourgeois in SA put it), the SA rulingclass has been able to withstand the competitive windsof the world market and gain some room to breathewithin the stranglehold of the international monopolies.Over the years, funded by taxation of the gold minesand later also by foreign loans, the state was used to in-vest massively in industrial infrastructure-for examplein transportation, in steel, in producing oil from coal,in electricity supply and so on.The state sector, together with the privileged standardof living of the whites, at the same time provided a cer-tain domestic market for the development of manufac-turing. This development was aided by protective tariffsand import quotas, for example to protect the textile in-dustry; and by a `local content' program, so that in thedevelopment of the motor industry, for example, a cer-tain percentage of the components of every car (up to65016 by weight) has had to be locally produced.So a basis was laid for a certain take-off, mechanisa-tion and development of. modern industry. So it is thatSA has developed as the industrial giant of the Africancontinent-with nearly half the motor vehicles, half theelectricity consumption, and three-quarters of the railwaytrucks of all of Africa south of the Sahara.South Africa is a colossus in Southern Africa-with14 times the production of Zimbabwe (the second mostindustrialised African country per head of population),and 80016 of the production of the whole region.By this development, SA capitalism has brought intobeing a massive industrial proletariat which almost mat-ches that of the advanced countries in terms of its socialweight within society.But in world terms South Africa is a third-rate in-dustrial power, with many of the features still of a `ThirdWorld' economy. It exports mainly minerals andagricultural products, and depends upon imports for ad-vanced machinery, transportation equipment and so on.Thus SA is affected by the same kind of squeeze (par-tially alleviated by gold) as the whole of theunderdeveloped world suffers through the terms of tradeweighted against it by the monopolies' domination of theworld market.South African industry developed especially in the Se-cond World War and in the decades of the post-war up-swing of capitalism-linked in other words to the progressof world capitalism. In 1946 the SA capitalists werediscussing the production of their own packagingmaterials, so that they would not have to import bagsand sacks. Now they claim to be able to produce 80-85016of their own armaments (although this is, of course, withthe assistance of the Western powers).But SA's national capitalist success has in no sense im-plied economic independence. The more successful theyhave become the more integrated they have become withinternational monopoly capitalism.Within SA itself there has come about the integrationof the Afrikaner and English capitalists together in part-nership in giant monopolies-in mining, in finance, inindustry, in agriculture and in commerce. In fact oiie ofthe underlying causes of the split within the Afrikanernationalist movement (with the emergence since the 1960sof two parties to the right of the ruling NP) has been thefact that the working-class whites and the lower middle-class whites feel deserted now by those bourgeois na-tionalists whom they previously raised to power.In turn, South African capital has become more andmore integrated with the big banks and multi-nationalcompanies in the USA, Europe, etc.With the development of the monopolies, and with thefusion together of the Afrikaans and English bourgeoisie,the state, at least at the topmost levels of command, hasbeen shaped into a more responsive instrument for thedictatorship of big capital.Extreme polarisationThe main feature of SA society is the extreme polarisa-tion of white capitalist wealth on the one `:and and blackworking-class poverty on the other.A study by M. McGrath of Natal University in' 1983showed that there is a phenomenal concentration of theownership of the means of production in a few hands.The richest 5016 of South Africans owned 88016 of all per-sonally owned wealth-double the proportion in theUSA.This concentration of wealth (calculated on the basisof 1975 statistics) was described as "more concentratedthan in any other Western nation."Whites owned 98016 of all farms, 93016 of (private) fix-ed property, 99,7016 of quoted shares, and 95,7016 of un-quoted shares.Recently it has emerged that no less than 80016 of theshares on the stock exchange are owned or controlled bysix South African-based monopoly corporations. In ad-dition, the state owns 58016 of fixed capital.That degree of state and monopoly ownership is, fromthe revolutionary standpoint, a tremendous advantage,because it will immensely simplify the task of taking thecommanding heights of the economy into the hands ofthe %vorking class in the future. In that sense it could beconsidered an `achievement' of the bourgeoisie!South Africa's economic development has also involv-ed a greater dependence upon the world market: infinance, and also in South Africa's reliance on the worldmarket for exports and for importing advancedtechnology.Quantitative changes accumulate and produce-qualitative change.Particularly within the last decade or two decades, thepoint has been reached in the expansion of industry inSouth Africa where the capitalists must increasingly ex-port manufactured goods in order for the economy toadvance-even, in the long term, to survive. Ironically,this stage in the development of SA capitalism has co-incided with the onset of the world economic crisis andthe suffocation of world trade.Why has this change happened?Like all capitalist countries, South Africa is encounter-

Page 12 of 98 inkinga yombuso womndilili, uthewagxinmisa lenkinga, waginisa um-zabalazo wamalungelo amAfrikanawabantu bonke abacinezelweyo.fEjongene nengxaki zendyebo-yesizwe; nomngeni oginayo waba-ebenzi; abantsundu; no vukeloabantu nolutsha; ejongene,ngaphezu koko, nengomso lokuqinakomzabalazo wobupolitika ukho-kelwe ngabasebenzi-onke amaqelaoongxowankulu aza kugonda ukubalomthetho umtsha ulikhoba.Intetho kaBotha ngoJanywari 25ibabazwe nje ngenyona "yenguqulo"ebomini bakhe. Le ntetho, ngaphezukoko, yenziwe phantsi kokushenxaokucacileyo ngurhulumente kwimoyokuthetha-thethana neANC noku-khululwa kuka Nelson Mandela.Kodwa izindlululo zentethokaBotha zihambisana namayelenqean gaphambili enjongo enye:yokuthintela umbuso womndilili.Ngelixa urhulumente evuma ukubaiphupha lika Verwoerd 'le SouthAfrica yabelungu" enganabantuabantsundu lingamampunge, ubekafuthi isindululo secebo lokuchithaibango levoti-enye-ngumntu-omnyekwiSouth Afrika enye.Uthemba futhi ukwenza isimosengcamango ezokwamkeleka eba-lungwini yokuba amAfrika nawoaqukaniswe ekulawuleni eSouthAfrika. Ngawaphi la mAfrika?Asingomndilili.Urhulumente ufuna icebo lokuhle-kehlekeza amAfrika angumndililingokwahlula ahlala "ngokomthe-tho" ezidolophini kwahlala ezidolo-phini ,ngokungekho mthethweni",nakuba ntakwabo abahlala "ema-khaya" emaphandleni. Ngengca-mango, amAfrika AMANCINCI kanjalo anganikwa amalungelo okula-wula okubizwa "imicimbi yabo"kunye nelizwe ezikweni likarhulu-mente wombindi- Ngokucacileyo,ngabangcatshi, naba thengisiabangavuma ukuhambisana neye-lenge elinje.Abameleli bombuso wobungxo-wankulu eSouth Africa banganakoukungevisisani, kodwa bamanyenengento enye: ukuba amAfrikangobuninzi bawo angavunyelwaukungenisa emagunyeni ombusongevoti yawo kwiSouth Afrika enyeurhulumente osimo salatha ubunya-hiso bobuninzi bawo. Esi sisisekosawo onke amayelenqe oongxowan-kulu "ekhonifedelesi" nawe"fedelesi".Oku akunge ngangozi okanye uku-ngcola ngxam'ngwebe ebalungwini.Abasebenzi abantsundu ekungaboabangumndilili omkhulu eSouthAfrica bafuna umbuso olawulwangobuninzi babo khona ukuzebacombulule iingxaki zemirholo,zendlala, zokungabikho komsebenzi,zamakhaya, zempilo, zemfundo,njalo njalo. UbungxowankulueSouth Africa, obubuthakathaka,bubanjwe zmgxaki, obugula sisifosokuwa Ubungxowankulu emhlabeniwonke, abonako ukwanelisaezimfuneko.Oongxowankulu bayazi kakuhleukuba xa urhulumente engonyulwangokomasilingane womndilili, iimfu-neko eziza kubekwa phezu kwakheyimfumba yabantu ziya kudala um-ngeni kwisimo sepolofithi ngokwaso.Ubungxowankulu eSouth Africabulutshaba lombuso womndililiwomasilingane. Ukufumana inkulu-leko phantsi kombuso womndililiwomasilingane kwiSouth Africaengahlekehlekezwanga, kuyanyanzela ukuba kwaphulweamagunya oongxowankulu.Ngelinge elingenamsebenzi lams-nyathelo agalisiweyo ngoku njeokufihla ebantwini isimo sobungxo-wankulu esichasene nombuso wo-mndilili womasilingane, oongxowa-nkulu baphephezela ingcamangoyokuthetha-thethana neANC noku-khululwa kuka Mandela. Ngalendlela bafuna ukubeka izindululozabo nje ngenxenye "yenkquboyenguqulo" neyo "kuphathisanaemagunyeni" eza kuphelela esivu-melwaneni ngoxolo neANC.Ukuba ngaba inkinga yombusowomndilili womnasilingane ibinoku-conjululwa ngokuthetha-thena ngo-xolo, umsebenzi ngamnye ubezakuyamkela. Kodwa, ngaphayakweyelenge ngalinye Iomthethoomtsha amagunya ngenene oongxo-wankulu agamelele phezu kwesi-gqeba selizwe sabo-oko kukuthi,umongo waso ngumkhosi oxhobileyowamajoni namapolisa encediswazinkundla zemithetho nomaqhuzubakarhulumente. Esisigqeba selizwesona kanya sikhusele, kunyanzelekilesikhusele, futhi umbuso wabelungu.ESouth Africa amagunya oongxowa-in4ahaYA BASEBENZInkulu abotshelelwe kunye nombusowabelungu esigqebeni selizwe.Ayikho indlela eya kombusowomndilili kamasilingane, ngoko ke,ngaphandle kokoyisa nokuphahlazaisigqeba selizwe songxowankulu-endaweni yaso kwakhiwe isigqebaselizwe sabasebenzi somndililiwomasilingane. Yintshukumo yengu-qulo kuphela engenza kufumanekeoku.Akungeke kubekho ukwahlulelanangamagunya esigqeba selizwe-akukho ukwahlulelana ngamagunyaokulawula-phakathi kwendidizabantu ezinemidla echaseneyo.Akungeke kubekho ukohlulelanangamagunya ombuso womndililiwomasilingane phakathi kwabantubase South Africa, ubuhlangabucala, phezu kwesiseko sokulinganangenene, de kube igunya lesiggebaselizwe lisezandleni zabasebenzi.Emalingeni awo okukhuthazaintsomi yemvumelwano ngoxolo,amaphephandaba oongxowankulueSouth Africa apapashe iingxelozamajenalisi enika okwawo uku-gonda ngengxoxo ebeziphethweneenkokheli zeANC, ephakamisa"ukugondana".Ngumsebenzi kanobomi weenko-kheli ukucacisa le mbidaniso edalwezezingxelo.Iinkokheli ma ziyibeke icace intoyokuba iANC aynakwamkela ntoengaphantsi kombuso womndililikwiSouth Africa enye, ma zikhabefuthi onke amayelenqe (anje ngawo"bufedelesi") athintela le njongo.Isiseko ekukuphela kwaso sentlaloyoxolo ekungathetha-thethwanangaso eSouth Africa siya kubakukuba isigqeba selizwe songxo-wankulu sibeke phantsi izixhobosinikele amagunya ombuso ngaphan-dle kokulwa. Bubutshaba bongxowa-nkulu bonke eSouth Africaobuchasene no mbuso womndililiwomasilingane, obunyanzelwa ngesi-gqeba selizwe esingenanceba, obenzakungabikho ndlela ekungathetha-

Page 13 of 98 ing the limits imposed on the further development of theproductive forces by private ownership on the one handand the national state on the other. This is the fundamen-tal basis of the present epoch of crises, wars, revolutionsand counter-revolutions-the most disturbed period inworld history (which we have discussed in previousmaterial-see especially The Coming World Revolution).But in addition there are the special limitations of thesystem on which the South African bourgeoisie's wholesuccess was founded, namely the apartheid cheap laboursystem, the chief source of their profitability in the past.By systematically impoverishing four-fifths of theSouth African population, they have have created a situa-tion where the home market is extremely limited. It can-not absorb the products of expanding industry.Now dialectically the basis of their success turns intoan obstacle. But they cannot break their dependence oncheap labour.In the 1950s, the Stalinists (showing how completelythey had broken from Marxism, and how little they haveunderstood) actually appealed to the employers in leafletsto raise the wages of their workers, from the standpointof the employers' own self-interest! They argued that thiswould expand the market so everybody would be betteroff. Of course that is impossible because every individualcapitalist has to struggle in competition to keep his costsas low as possible against the next producer. And in com-petition with the advanced capitalist countries, it is allthe more important that labour be kept as cheap as possi-ble in every national capitalist economy.As practically every trade union member knows fromexperience, wages can only be raised, or real wages evenmaintained, by vigorous struggle against the capitalistclass.Even in the most technologically developed countriesthe bourgeoisie is now screaming for wage cuts, precise-ly because of the stagnation of world trade and the in-creasingly desperate competition between the capitalistpowers as a result. Yet wage cuts further reduce the sizeof the market and so further increase the squeeze.Acute contradictionToday we see this contradiction in South Africa in themost acute form. The chief capitalist in the motor in-dustry points out in the national press that there is noway the motor industry can develop further in SA on thebasis of the white consumer market. Already there are424 cars for every thousand whites, almost the figure ofthe United States. Among blacks the figure is 33 cars perthousand.So he says: it's obvious, if we are to develop and sus-tain the motor industry, we shall have to develop ourability to sell cars to the blacks. What he doesn't say iswho will offer the wage increases to put the blacks in theposition to buy these cars!-or how, in any event, thatcould be done without destroying the underlying pro-fitability (such as it remains) in South African industry.At the very same moment the textile bosses are com-plaining about the opposite side of the contradiction!They are complaining that their cheap labour is no longeras cheap as labour in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore,South Korea and so on. (More than likely they have cook-ed the figures to come up with this argument. If they can-not now face the breeze of Far East competition, it isessentially because they have failed to invest in newtechnology, having sheltered instead behind quotas andtariff walls.)Today these vultures are screaming for real wages tobe driven even lower in South Africa to rescue theirprofitability!The insoluble predicament of the bourgeoisie is express-ed in the fact that at least half of the retail turnover inthe Johannesburg central business district, for example,now depends on black spending. The contradictions oftheir system oblige them to seek both to expand and tocut black spending power at the same time. In neitherdirection can they find any way forward.Imperialist foreign policyAs South African industry has begun to overstep thelimits of the domestic market and become increasinglydependent on exporting manufactured goods, so we haveseen the change also in South Africa's foreign policyunder the Nationalist government from `isolation' to in-creased imperialist aggression against the neighbouringstates of Southern Africa. Pretoria's secret arms deal withSomalia, reported recently, shows SA's ambitions todayas a continental power.The ruling class feels threatened by any advance of therevolution in Africa-by the effect of that on the blackpopulation at home. It wants, of course, to eliminateANC guerilla bases in other countries-but those are real-ly an irritation rather than a serious threat to the regime.South Africa pursues an aggressive foreign policy inthe vain hope of subduing black working-class rebellionat home: t, prove itself `invincible' by forcing theneighbouring tates, already economically dependent, in-to obvious political dependence upon it. Hence thepressure for `agreements' like Nkomati.At the same time, and bound up with its political aims,SA imperialism pursues a deliberate policy of increasedeconomic domination over Southern Africa.The states around South Africa are hoping to escapethe grip of SA imperialism by means of SADCC. Thisis intended as a kind of economic community of statesaimed at reducing their dependence on South Africa.SADCC is, however, utopian on a capitalist basis,already tending to fall apart through the inevitable com-petitive struggle between its members over stagnant ordeclining home markets and scarce investments. At thesame time the SA monopolies are penetrating further in-to the SADCC countries.Nevertheless, Botha's dream of creating a so-called`constellation of Southern African states' orbiting aroundwhite-controlled South Africa will not succeed either. Itwill time and again be frustrated and cut across by revolu-tionary mass pressures welling up all over the region.Overall, South Africa's policy in regard to SouthernAfrica is to try to have it as a captive market for its owngoods and keep at bay competitive exports from the ad-

Page 14 of 98 thethwana ngayo ngoxolo.IANC ma iyicacise into yokubayintshukumo ngokuqonda yabase-benzi kuphela, ikhokele bonkeabantu abacinezelweyo, engenzakukhule ukomelela okuza kutha-thana koyise isigqeba selizwe songxo-wankulu, yakhe endaweni yasoumbuso wenene womndilili womasi-lingane phezu kwegunya lombusowabasebenzi.Ma kucace mhlophe ukuba onkeamandla abasebenzi kufuneka alahle-lwe ekwakheni lentshukumo, phezukwengkubo yombuso womndililikamasilingane nesoshiyalizim. Lengongoma ayizuba nje kuphelaibenamandla okuhlanganisa bonkeabacinezelweyo, kodwa futhi yiyonandlela ekukuphela kwayo yokuca-zulula abelungu, ilungiselele umhlabawokwakha uvukelo ngeAphanga le-mfumba yabasebenzi, oluza koyisaumbuso webala nobungxowankulu.Isiseko sale ntshukumo selesiphakamile ekudubuleni kokuqondangobudidi phakathi kwabasebenzinolutsha kwimizabalazo yakutshanje, nasekunxanelweni okukhuluokukhoyo iingcamango zeMakisizim.Ngokwakha phezu koku, indlelayempumelelo iza kulungiseleleka.Kan onderhandelingemeerderheidsregering bring?Skaars 'n jaar gelede is die nuwegrondwet, met sy kleurling- en IndiEr-"parlemente':, aan die blankesvoorgele as manier om hull,politieke voorregte to beveilig, deurdefinitief die swart meederheid vanStemreg nit to sluit. Nou, in dieallereerste sessie van die nuwe"parlemente", word P.W. Bothagedwing om to erken dat die kwessiean die politieke regte van die swartbevolking nie ontvlug kan word nie.Die nuwe grondwet is doodgebore.Die manjifieke beweging van alle delevan die swart werkende bevolking-op die politieke vlak selfs nog meeras op die industriele vlak-het ditverseker.Die nuwe grondwet, wat bedoelwas om die kleurling- en Indier-bevolking van die swart bevolking toverdeel, bet in plaas daarvan 'nbrandpunt vir eenheid in aksie tussendie kleurling-, Indiese en swartwerkers en jeug verskaf. In plaas vandie kwessie van meerderheidsregeringto vermy, het dit juis die vraagstukbenadruk, en die stryd van die swartbevolking en alle onderdrukte groepeom demokratiese regte verskerp.Gekonfronteer met 'n verergerendeek0nomiese krisis; met dietoenemende uitdaging van die swartwerkers; met die opstand in die ge-meenskappe en onder die jeug;gekonfr0nteer veraI met dietoekomsbeeld van groeiende politiekestakingsaksie onder annvoering vandie georganiseerde werkers-moetalle geledere van die kapitalisteklasnou insien dat die nuwe grondwet im-potent is.Botha se toespraak van 25 Januarieis begroet as die mees "reformistiese"toespraak van sy loopbaan. Bowen-dien het dit plaasgevind teen dieagtergrond van 'n skynbare verskui-wing in die regering se standpunt oordie kwessie van onderhandelinge metdie ANC en die vrylating van NelsonMandela.Die voorstelle in Botha setoesp~ak bet egter een doel, in ge-m een met alle voorafgaande planne:om meerderheidsregering tovoorkom.Terwyl die regering offisieel toegeedat Verwoerd se droom van 'n"blanke Suid-Afrika" sonder 'nswart bevolking onmoontlik is, steldit weereens 'n ander plan voor omdie eis om een-persoon-een-stem in 'nonverdeelde Suid-Afrika of to weer.Boonop hoop die regering om 'nklimaat van aanvaarbaarheid onderdie blankes to skep vir die idee datswarlmense in die toekomstigebestuur van Suid-Afrika ingesluit satmoet word. Maar watterswartmense?Nie die meerderheid nie.Die regering soek 'n formule omdie swart meerderheid toversnipper-deur "wettige" stedelikeAfrikane van die "onwettiges" toverdeel, en deur die wat as "perma-nent" van die wat as "tydelik"beskou word, sowel as an hullemede-Afrikane in die "tuislande" toverdeel.Dis denkbaar dat so 'n tipe swartMINDERHEID dan regte om hulsogenaamde "eie aangeleenthede" tobehartig toegestaan son kan word,met een of ander inspraak in die ap-paraat van die sentrale regering. Disduidelik dat net handlangers van dieregering en verraaiers saam sat werkin enige plan van die soort.Die politieke verteenwoordigersvan kapitalisme in Suid-Afrika hetonderlinge verskille, maar op eenpunt staan hull' saam: die swartmeerderheid sat We toegelaat wordom deur hul stemme'n regering in 'nonverdeelde Suid-Afrika aan die magto bring wat ooreenstem met hullegetalsterkte nie. Dit is die grondslagvan al die "konfederale", "federate"e. d.m. planne van die heersende klas.Dft is nie toevallig nie, en dis ookme alleenlik die gevolg van van dieveragtelike vooroordele onder dieblankes nie.Swart werkende mense, wat diemeerderheid in Suid-Afrika vorm, eismeerderheidsregering om die pro-blemevan hongerlone, werkloosheid,huisvesting, gesondheid, opvoedingens. op to los. Kapitalisme in Suid-Afrika, swak en deur krisis geteister,ly in hewige mate onder die stuiptrek-kings van 'n versiekte kapitalistiesewereldsisteem, en is absoluut We instaat om hierdie eise to bevredig nie.Die heersende klas weet baie goeddat, as daar'n regering demokraties

Page 15 of 98 vanced capitalist countries. But domination of theSouthern African countries, a market of 60 million peo-ple, nevertheless provides no way out out of the crisis forSouth Africa.Although 49 out of 52 African countries trade withSouth Africa, even the African market as a whole canprovide no way out. It is a market of the poor, of theunemployed, of the homeless and the starving. In 1984it absorbed less than R 1 billion of SA's more than R23billion exports.Now, for their development, modem productive forcesrequire a world market.Scale of productionFor SA capitalists to produce manufactured goodscheaply enough to gain a real foothold in the worldmarket, or even to hold on to their own domestic marketin the long term, they would have to be able to increasemassively the scale of production in South Africa in orderto reduce unit costs.But that is ruled out, on the one hand, because of thelimits of the domestic market already mentioned, and,on the other hand, because of the limitations of the worldmarket and of world trade which is a basic feature of theinternational crisis of capitalism.The avenues for major new industrial developments arecorrespondingly narrowed. As Anglo American Corpora-tion chairman Gavin Relly expressed it: "The country isstill dependent almost wholly on a mixture of oldtechnology and raw materials.,'As an example,' says the Financial Times (1/ 11/84),`he quotes South Africa's reserves of high-quality ironore, which could be beneficiated into high-grade steel andshipped to the U.S. for rolling, perhaps through SaldanhaBay...` "However," he concludes, somewhat despondently,"we had these ideas for twenty years now, and we havenot yet been able to make them work."`Nevertheless, this is still seen as one of the possibleareas for expansion, given that the small size of the SouthAfrican economy does not allow for economies of scalein the production of finished steel products. "Widgetstend to be more expensive here than in Widgetville,U.S.," he says.' (Our emphasis.)For these reasons there is a long-term decline evidentin South Africa in the proportion of the surplus whichthe capitalists are re-investing in industry, and thereforea stagnation in productivity. In consequence, theeconomy is becoming diseased to the roots.In the ten years from 1972, the annual rate of growthof productivity in South Africa averaged only one-tenthof Japan's; one-ninth of West Germany's; one-sixth ofthe USA's; and one-fifth of Britain's (one of the mostrapidly declining capitalist economies in the world).Although the choice of statistical basis for calculatingproductivity in SA whether GDP or GNP is used)affects the figures to some extent, it does not alter thefact of South Africa's declining competitive position-certainly not as far as manufacturing is concerned. Inmanufacturing, productivity actually fell about 4,770from mid-1982 to mid-1983. A year later the FinancialMail (20/7/84) summed up the predicament of thebourgeoisie: "We are no longer seeing even the minimalgains in productivity achieved between 1972 and 1982."One of the biggest lies peddled by the bourgeoisie inevery country is that workers are responsible for low orstagnant productivity. This is nonsense. To an over-whelming extent it is investment which determines pro-ductivity, or output per unit of labour-time: investmentin machinery, technique and expanded production. Thatis in the hands of the bosses.In South Africa the monopolies, incapable of under-taking the expansion of domestic industry as in the past,and having already carved the joint among themselves,are turning their greedy eyes more and more towards in-vestment opportunities and profit-making abroad.According to Clewlow of Barlow Rand, for instance,"Barlows is already a dominant force in many areas ofthe South African economy and it has become necessaryto expand internationally in order to maintain our longterm record of growth and profitability." (FinancialTimes, 18/10/84.)For over a decade now the monopolies have been seek-ing ways of exporting capital from South Africa. By 1981,South African companies already held foreign assetstotalling R13,5 billion (a figure which, despite exchangecontrols, had increased more than threefold in thepreceding six years).Anglo American, for example, has operations now in45 countries and is pursuing profits in Latin America,Europe and even the United States.All this expresses the impasse of the South Africaneconomy, the limits to its development on the basis ofprivate ownership and within the confines of the nationalstate.Investment and inflationThe economic impasse is expressed also in the grow-ing difficulty South Africa finds in attracting foreign in-vestment. While the regime has found it relatively easyto obtain foreign loans, the international financiers havegrown shy of risking their capital directly inproduction-as much because the profitability of in-vestments in SA is increasingly in doubt as through fearof the country's `instability'.The sale by foreign corporations of their shares on theJohnnesburg stock exchange reached major proportionsbefore the current `disinvestment' furore in the USA. Inthe past the US and every other bourgeois never lost awink of sleep on moral grounds over their South Africaninvestments. It is the change in SA's economic andpolitical situation, and hence in the assessment of theirmaterial self-interest, which has tipped the scales amongthose sections of the American bourgeois now hasteningto identify themselves opportunistically with the anti-apartheid campaigns of the tabour unions and the blackcivil rights organisations.The fear of the SA regime and ruling class thatdisinvestment could become a flood, flows from theirknowledge that the economy cannot regain the old

Page 16 of 98 verkies sou word, die druk van diemassa eise daarop son plaas wat 'nonversoenlike uitdaging vir diewinssisteem self son beteken.Kapitalisme is die vyaand vandemo krasie in Suid-Afrika. Ommeerderheidsregering in ' nonverdeelde Suid-Afrika to behaal, isdit nodig om die mag van diekapitalisteklas to breek.In 'n vergeefse poging om die anti-demokratiese card van die huidige in-isiatiewe van die massa weg to steek,moedig die heersende klas bespiege-ling oor onderhandelinge met dieANC en die vrylating van Mandelaaim. Op so 'n manier hoop hulle omhul voorstelle to laat voorkom as deelvan 'n "ontwikkelingsproses" van"magsdeling" wat sal uitloop op 'nvreedsame ooreenkoms met dieANC.As 'n vreedsame oplossing van diedemokratiese vraagstuk deuronderhandeling bereik kon word, sonelke werker dit verwelkom. Maar,agter elke nuwe grontwetlike plan,berus die werklike mag van dieheersende klas uiteindelik op systaatsmasjien-d.w.s., in wese,gewapende liggame wat die weermagen die polisie vorm, bygestaan deurdie regterlike mag en die burokrasievan die stantsdiens. Dieselfde staatverdedig ook blanke oorheersing, enmoet dit verdedig. In Suid-Afrika iskapitalistiese mag en blanke heer-skappy saamgebind in die staat.Daar is dus geen manier omdemokrasie to bereik nie, behalwedeur hierdie staat to ontwapen en ditof to breek-en to vervang deur 'ndemokratiese werkersstaat. Slegs 'nrevolusie kan dit moontlik maak.Daar kan geen verdeling vanstaatsmag-geen "magsdeling"-plaasvind tussen twee klasse wie sebelange onversoenlik teenoorgesteldis nie. Daar kan geen demokratieseverdeling van die mag onder diebevolking van Suid-Afrika ongeagras, op basis van werklike gelykheid,plaasvind tensy staatsmag in diehande van die werkende klas is nie.In hul pogings om die utopie vanvreedsame skikking aan to moedig,het die kapitalistiese pers in Suid-Afrika verslae gepubliseer deur joer-naliste wat hul eie vertolkings van in-formele samesprekings met ANC-leiers gee, en die indruk wek dat daar'n mate van "gemeenskaplike grond"bestaan.Dis 'n noodsaaklike taak van dieleiding om die verwarring wat hier-die verslae kan skep, op to helder.Die leiding moet duidelik maak datdie ANC niks minder as meerder-heidsregering in 'n onverdeelde Suid-Afrika sal aanvaar nie, en alle planneom hierdie doel to verydel (bv"federalisme") verwerp.Die enigste basis vir 'n vreedsameskikking deur middel vanonderhandeling in Suid-Afrika sonwees dat die staat sy wapens neerle ensonder weerstand die mag oorgee. Disdie onwrikbare afwysing van die heleSuid-Afrikaanse heersende Was vandemokrasie, afgedwing deur sy me e-doenlose staatsmasjien, wat diemoontlikheid van 'n vreedsame skik-ingabaYA BASEBEI1Qfking deur middel van onderhandelinguitsluit.Die ANC moet duidelik maak datslegs die bewuste beweging van diewerkersklas, aan die hoof van al dieonderdrukte mense, die krag kan ont-wikkel om hierdie staat aan to pak ento verslaan, en in sy plek regtedemokrasie op basis van werkersmagto vestig.Dit moet duidelik maak dat al dieenergie van die massa daaraan gewymoet word om hierdie beweging opto bou, rondom 'n program virdemokrasie en sosialisme. Dit sal niealleen die kragtigste saamtrekpunt virdie hele onderdrukte bevolking weesWe , maar ook die enigste manier omdie blankes to verdeel, en die wegvoor to berei vir'n gewapende massa-opstand wat apartheid en kapitalismesal verslaan.Die basis vir hierdie beweging ont-staan reeds in die uitbarsting vanklassebewussyn onder die werkers enjeug in die stryd van afgelopemaande, en in die geweldige begeertevir die idee van die Marxisme watdaar bestaan. Deur hierop to bou,kan die weg na oorwinning voorbereiword.Are you a subscriber?Inqaba ya Basebenzi normally appears quarterly. Postal subscriptions canbe ordered from this address:BM Box 1719, London WC 1 N 3XXSubscription rates, including postage, for 4 issues:Surface mail (all countries) - 2.80Airmail (all countries) - 7.90Cheques or postal orders in Sterling, payable to Inqaba yaaccompany all orders.Basebenzi should

Page 17 of 98 relatively high rates of profit which alone could attractinvestment back.The declining competitive position of SA capitalismmanifests itself also in a rate of inflation persistently twoor three times higher than the average in the advancedcapitalist countries, and in a tendency for the value ofthe rand to depreciate against the major currencies.Because the bourgeoisie cannot look the organic diseaseof its system in the face, its most authoritative economicspokesmen have for years refused to admit that there isany "structural" cause for South Africa's inflation rate.Apparently it is all a matter of the money supply. Curbson public expenditure, "if only" sufficiently stringentlyapplied, would succeed in reducing inflation to the levelsunavoidably imported from the developed countries.Then South Africa would be on the road to economichealth. This is sheer quackery.In a pamphlet to be published later in the year, Inqabawill deal fully with economic issues. Here it is enoughto make the central point:Because of the interlinking of economies through theworld market to a greater extent than ever before, thelaw of value explained by Marx operates ever more im-periously through the world economy.Lagging productivity in a national economy, due to lowinvestment, means that more labour is required to pro-duce goods locally than the equivalent goods on the worldmarket-and this must reflect itself, in the final analysisover time, in a tendency towards inflated domestic pricesand a weakening currency. Even the cheapest of cheaplabour cannot overcome this in the modern epoch of com-puter technology and automation.The same was proved in Chile despite all the potionsof the monetarist witchdoctor Friedman and his `ChicagoBoys'.1 n the face of a catastrophic collapse of industry,in fact, the Pmochet dictatorship was forced desperatelyto swing back to policies of deficit spending, which inturn have only made matters worse.Throughout the world capitalist economy, prices con-tinue to rise even during the worst recessions-a condi-tion which, fifty years ago, used to cause prices to fall.Now only the rate of inflation can be curbed, and thenonly here and there for temporary periods.Directly or indirectly, 500 monopolies control about90010 of capitalist world trade. To the extent thatmonopolies can ward off competitive pressures, they raiseprices at the stroke of a pen in order to reap super-profits.State expenditure has continued to rise relative to pro-duction in all the main capitalist economies, even in That-cher's monetarist Britain, necessitating continued deficitsof vast proportions.A thousand billion Euro-Dollars-money without realbacking in production or gold-float around the Euro-pean and North American capital markets. Mountainsof international debt continue to accumulate, now alsoin the region of US$I 000 billion. World arms expen-diture is now approaching a similar figure-every year.All this adds up to massive inflationary pressuresthroughout the capitalist world economy.Only brutal deflationary policies have held down therate of price rises in the advanced industrialised coun-tries in the recent period. But these policies have resultedin turn in the wholesale slaughter of old industries, ris-ing mass unemployment, decaying infrastructure, andpressures towards protectionism and trade war whichwould precipitate a major world depression if resortedto on a big scale.Any massive reflation, on the other hand, would rapid-ly lead to galloping inflation.. The bourgeoisie is hauntedby the spectre of Latin American rates of inflation, shouldthey be forced to swing back to Keynesian policies. (By`Latin American' inflation is meant prices which rise, notby tens of percent, but by hundreds or thousands of per-cent annually. In Argentina, for example, a 1 million pesonote, which could buy a car twelve years ago, buys lessthan a packet of cigarettes today. In Bolivia, inflationhas now reached 8 200%. Elsewhere, for example,,Israel's inflation rate topped 500010 in 1984.)In the United States, the dominant capitalist economy,the recent boom was based on record budget deficits andastronomical arms spending. However, for exceptionalreasons which cannot be repeated elsewhere, price in-creases slowed below 5010 at the same time. Now the signsare that a new recession in the US is beginning againcoupled with rising inflation. The chickens are cominghome to roost.Diseased systemWorld capitalism is now an organically diseased andtotally reactionary system. It staggers on at appalling costto mankind only because it has not been overthrown,because the proletariat internationally has yet to raiseitself consciously to the position of ruling class and carryout the revolutionary tasks which history poses before it.To free itself from exploitation and solve the problemsfacing mankind, the working class has to take the pro-ductive forces into common ownership and, linking upinternationally, organise a planned economy, underworkers' democratic control and management.In this way all the vast resources of the earth, all themodern technique created by science and labour, can beput to use-not for the private profit of a few, but tomeet the needs of all. In this way, easily within the spaceof a generation, it would be possible to end unemploy-ment, homelessness and mass diseases throughout theworld, while lifting all humanity out of the nightmare ofignorance, competition for survival, and war-to beginfor the first time a really civilised human existence anddevelopment.Only the bourgeoisie, whose system has outlived itself;or inveterate reformists for whom the socialist revolutionis too ghastly to contemplate; or Stalinist bureaucrats whoknow that democratic workers' rule anywhere will tollthe end of their own dictatorship and privilege-onlythese can continue to place hope in the regeneration ofcapitalism in the West.Capitalism is bankrupt. What is the case on a worldscale is the case ten and a hundred times over in a coun-try like South Africa.In the past, the mainstay of SA's economy has beengold, and that remains the case to an important degree.Gold production does serve at least partially to cushionthe economy against the effects of world recession. Inparticular, the capitalists can export all the gold produc-ed, and this tends to ease what would otherwise be very

Page 18 of 98 ZimbabDETAINEDS. Nyarnhunga- President ofGeneral Engineering and MetalWorkers' Union, chairman of L. H.Marthinusen workers' committee;M. Mashayamombe-Chairman ofKwekwe regional executive ofGEMWU, former vice-chairmanLancashire Steel workers' commit-tee, local ZANU(PF) leader, ar-rested under the Smith regime in1971 for leading ZANU oppositionto the Pearce Commission;Mrs E. MashayorTfombe- DistrictCommittee member, Kwekwe,ZANU(PF) Women's League;Rabi Down-activist in theWorkers' Campaign for aDemocratic GEMWU;Nicholas Mlauzi-member ofHarare Municipal Workers' Union;James Kachisi-executivemember, Harare region of theengineering union, secretary ofTandem Engineering workers'committee;Patrick Musona-ZANU localleader in Kwekwe;John Mahara-secretary ofKwekwe regional executive ofGEMWU, Birch and Molloyworkers' committee office bearer;Brothers Chikwekwete; A.Tagwirayi; and Makusha inKwekwe;David Hemson-teacher, formerbanned SA trade unionist, afounder of SALEP (a project con-ducting socialist education in theSouthern African workers' move-ment), British Labour Partymember;Darcy du Toit-teacher, refugeefrom South Africa, co-worker ofSouthern African Labour EducationProject, British Labour Partymember;Anneke Poppe-teacher, Dutchcitizen, co-worker of SALEP, Dutchand British Labour Pam member.'Socialist' Mugabedetains fourteensocialistsOn 1 March this year, fourteen trade unionists,socialists and ZANU(PF) members were detainedwithout charges in Harare and Kwekwe. They were heldby the CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation) under`emergency powers' taken over from the white minoritySmith regime.Among those detained were thePresident and other leaders of theGeneral, Engineering and MetalWorkers Union, a number of localZANU(PF) leaders, and co-workers of the Southern AfricanLabour Education Project. (Seebox)Some were severely beaten indetention, and at least one of themsubjected to electric shock torture.Their `crime', in the eyes ofMugabe's ZANU(PF) government,was that they were campaigning fordemocratic trade unions and organis-ing socialisMorkers' education. Allsupported the socialist aims on whichthe ZANU(PF) government waselected to office by the masses at in-dependence in 1980.CondemnedThese detentions were widely con-demned at all levels of the labourmovement internationally. In a lettertypical of the protest, a British Na-tional Union of Public Employeesbranch wrote to the ZimbabweanHigh Commission: "Your govern-ment came to power on a `socialist'ticket. What sort of socialists are youto imprison trade unionists?"As a result of the flood of protestsall the Zimbabweans were releasedwithin two weeks. The two womendetainees, Anneke Poppe and ErnesiMashayam6mbe (both of whosechildren had been placed in achildren's home by the CIO), wereBy L. Reedreleased after a week.David Hemson and Darcy du Toit,both refugees from the SA apartheidregime, were held for seven weeks,and then deported with their families.For 26 days the Zimbabwe govern-ment was silent over the detentions.Then, in London, Minister of Infor-mation Shamuyarira issued a"justification" riddled with distor-tion, falsification, and contradic-tions. (See box, page 10.)Again, on May Day-internationalworkers' day-Prime MinisterMugabe repeated these shameless 'ex-cuses' for his government's action toan audience of 30 000 workers inRufaro Stadium, Harare.Among the "offences" of the de-tained comrades, according to theZimbabwe government, was theirbelief in a workers' "utopia"!What lies behind these actions?Why is Mugabe's ZANU(PF)government moving so viciouslyagainst workers within its own ranks,and against trade unionists cam-paigning to democratise their unions?In fact the detentions are just onepart of an ominous, spreading pat-tern of repressive actions by theregime-against workers fighting forbetter conditions; against landlesspeasants struggling for land; againstpolitical opposition among theNdebele national minority.The regime has unleashed politicalthuggery and military violence

Page 19 of 98 serious balance of payments crises.But what has become clear is that gold no longer pro-vides a means of sustaining the development of industryas in the past. That was shown in 1979-80 when the goldprice reached record levels. An absolute bonanza of pro-fits resulted, which could not be profitably invested inproduction.At the same time the ups and downs of the gold priceon the world market-a feature of the world crisis-nowintroduce a factor of tremendous instability in the finan-cial system of South Africa. Very rapidly a high gold priceproduces an excess of `liquidity', of money that cannotfind a productive home.It has become characteristic now that there can bebooms on the stock exchange, booms in bank profits,bubbles of property speculation as massive amounts ofmoney change hands among the rich-at the same timeas industry is stagnating or actually declining.This is a mark of the sickness of the productive system.It also accelerates the tendency towards inflation, furtherundermining the competitive position of the economy andthe position of the rand on world currency markets.It is an expression of the contradictions inherent in theeconomy that the regime has been obliged to move, bya series of steps over the past ten years, towards easingforeign exchange controls and `floating' the rand onworld currency markets precisely as the difficulty of at-tracting funds into productive investment in SA, and thetendency towards excess `liquidity', has increased.Capitalism is an anarchic system, governed by privateprofit, and cannot be otherwise. Thus the capitalistregime could not simply direct funds available locally intolocal productive investment. It had to allow capital, whichcapitalists did not want to invest locally, to flow out ofthe country. At the same time, foreign investors were allthe more wary of investing in enterprises in SA if theycould not bank on being able to withdraw their capitalagain at will. Uninvested local funds fuelled inflation andnecessitated a foreign outlet; a lack of foreign investmentwas threatening further to weaken the country's produc-tive base and thus add to the spiral of competitive declineand inflation.Under these and related pressures the government in-troduced, for example, the `managed float' of the randin January 1979. This was soon followed by the high goldprice of 1979-80, which in turn increased the pressure forfurther easing of controls. Against the background of arising gold price in 1982-3, the regime abolished exchangecontrol over non-residents on 7 February 1983, allowingforeign investors to withdraw funds from SA without ob-taining prior approval from the reserve Bank.There was a massive outflow of capital. In the first ninemonths of 1983, for example, foreign investors alone soldR1 billion worth of shares on the stock exchange inJohannesburg.The boom in the United States, together with a partialrise in the gold price, contributed to a short consumerboom in South Africa from late 1983 onwards. But thedepth of the organic crisis is shown in the fact that thatboom lasted no more than six months. A combinationof factors rapidly turned it into a recession once again.Because American interest rates were high, and becausethe dollar was rising also on the basis of the US boom,the gold price fell.This, together with doubts about the economic andpolitical viability of SA capitalism, caused the interna-tional speculators to turn away from the rand. Rapidlythe rand plunged in value from $1.30 to below 60 UScents. The rand also fell sharply against sterling and othermajor currencies, showing that its weakness was due on-ly in part to the exceptional rise of the dollar.The SA capitalists found themselves in an impossibleposition. Although the gold price was low in dollars, therand fell even lower against the dollar-and therefore thegold price actually rose in rands, in fact to record levels.So they found themselves with excess `liquidity' again-on top of a collapsing rand. Inflation, which neverwent below 10016, again approached 14016 or moreofficially.Meanwhile, the South African `boom', fuelled bymassive increases in consumer credit, was sucking in im-ports at rapidly rising prices (measured in depreciatingrands), so giving a further twist to inflation.The dangerous consequences were rapidly outweighingthe advantages the SA economy would derive from thecheapening of its exports abroad.Therefore very rapidly the government had to takemeasures to induce a recession, to attempt to rescue therand and prevent hyper-inflation by jacking up interestrates to a record level of about 25076. This is nearly dou-ble the level at which `high' interest rates have been run-ning in the USA.Effect of these measuresWith a prime rate of 25070, interest on hire-purchasehas been raised as high as 32016, sharply hitting the carmarket. Interest on mortgage bonds has gone above 20076,inevitably affecting construction. Whites accustomed tocheap mortgages now face the little problem of findingR10 000 or more a year just to pay the interest on theirR50 000 houses! The high cost of borrowing meanwhilesqueezes investment still further and deepens therecession.But high interest rates alone are not sufficient to sup-port a currency whose basis in the productive economyis in decline. It was notable that, despite the extrememonetary measures taken by the SA government, the randcontinued to fall, at one point dropping to 42 US cents.It has only partially recovered since (currently to 51 cents)with some improvement in the gold price and an easingof the dollar. Significantly, it has not regained lost groundagainst sterling, etc.The most spectacular consequence of the devalued randso far has been the 40076 hike in the price of petrol. Moreprice shocks are sure to follow.Not to have induced the recession in this way wouldhave led to even worse inflation. Yet, by crash-diving theeconomy and throttling production in an attempt torescue the rand, the ruling class is merely ensuring byanother route the long-term decline and instability of itscurrency and financial system.Whichever economic policy the bourgeoisie pursuesnow, it is a question of alternative roads to ruin.There will continue to be temporary recoveries in theeconomy-continued cyclical phases in the life of world

Page 20 of 98 Five of the detained: from left to right, James Kachisi, M. Mashayamombe, Nicholas Mlauzi, Rabi Down and S. Nyamhungaagainst the Ndebele masses, pointingat the need to counter the terrorismof armed `dissidents'.All the opposition parties-exceptIan Smith's `Conservative Alliance ofZimbabwe' (formerly the RhodesianFront)-face systematic intimidationby pro-ZANU gangs. Hundreds oftheir members have been arrested andtortured by the police and CIO.Now the repression is being turn-ed against ZANU members also.These moves towards police dic-tatorship are the real meaning of theofficial policy of setting up a 'one-party state'-a regime that will givethe ZANU(PF) leaders unbridledpower, at least in theory.CompromiseAll these developments can only beexplained in the light of the basicpolicies of the ZANU(PF) leadership.Their increasingly repressive actionsare the inevitable result of their policyof compromise with the capitalistclass--a policy that has turned this`socialist' government into thepoliceman of the decrepit capitalistsystem in Zimbabwe.The independence of Zimbabwe, ahistoric victory, fuelled the expecta-tions of the masses. It- was greetedwith huge enthusiasm by the oppress-ed throughout Southern Africa andthe labour movement internationally.30 000 lives had been sacrificed inthe liberation war, which the masseshoped would bring to power agovernment able to solve the pro-blems of land, jobs, housing andhunger.Tragically, this hope was to provefalse.ZANU(PF) was voted to power ona programme promising many vitalreforms. But the leaders of all the na-tionalist parties, includingZANU(PF), had agreed withrepresentatives of imperialism atLancaster House in 1979 that, in anindependent Zimbabwe, the capitalistsystem would be guaranteed.This has left the ZANU(PF)government responsible for imposinga neo-colonial profit system in all itsharshness on the workers andpeasants of Zimbabwe. It left thegovernment unable to carry out mostof its election promises.In the short economic boomfollowing the lifting of sanctions thegovernment was able to grant sometemporary reforms to working peo-ple, such as a legal minimum wageand improvements in health care andeducation.In education, for example, thenumber of youth at school increasedfrom 800 000 in 1980 to 2,5 millionby 1985. Secondary school enroll-ment rose from 72 000 to 420 000.Nearly 1 000 new secondary schoolshave been built in the last 5 years.However, the government has beenunable to sustain these reforms.Increasingly, since independence, ithas bowed under the pressure of thecapitalist class, and of capitalism inincreasing crisis within Zimbabweand world-wide.Thousands of workers have beendismissed in the last two years in keyindustries, eg. engineering, miningand textiles. "The jobs are very fewnow," said one worker. "It will notget better."Nearly one million workers areunemployed and every year 80 000new work seekers enter the jobmarket, with very little prospect ofgetting a job.Since 1980 the cost of living for ur-ban workers has doubled. Prices arecurrently rising, officially, at :7% ayear. Basic goods such as cooking oilare often in short supply and price in-creases for basic foods are running at2007o a year.Real wages fallenBut wage increases have not keptpace: real wages have fallen over thelast two years.One quarter of a million childrenare officially described asmalnourished, and more and morechildren between 8-11 years scavengein- the streets.House-building programmes havealmost come to a standstill. The ma-jority of workers do not have theirown homes, and tiny houses arecrammed with lodgers.Since independence thousandshave moved into the urban areas hop-ing for jobs, or have been forced offthe land by drought. Many have nooption but to become "squatters", inself-erected dwellings.The government has a simplepolicy to deal with these squatterscalled, officially, the "bulldozerpolicy". As in South Africa,thousands of shacks have beensmashed on the orders of theauthorities. Local Government andTown Planning Minister, EnosChikowore, as a result has gained the

Page 21 of 98 and SA capitalism. But these will be like the temporaryremissions of disease in a cancer victim. The generalcourse will be downhill. The reason for this lies in thefundamental contradictions we have outlined, for whichthere is no capitalist cure.Even future leaps in the gold price, inevitable in thecontext of extreme instability in the world monetarysystem, will confer only limited advantages on SouthAfrican capitalism. As already explained, whether thegold price is high or low, damaging consequences followeach fluctuation. It is now impossible, on a capitalistbasis, to rejuvenate the productive system.ProtectionismAs the limits of the domestic market have driven thecapitalists onto the world market to find an outlet formanufactures, so the limits of the world market and SA'sweak competitive position drive them back to thedomestic market again-which, meanwhile, has beenmore extensively opened to foreign goods.A section of the bourgeoisie-those dependent to asignificant extent on manufacturing-have begun talk-ing of the need for major new protectionist measures toinsulate industry from foreign competition while a pro-gramme of expansion is undertaken.But, by employing more expensive materials and lessproductive technique, and by sheltering the SAmonopolies even further from competition, this wouldsoon lead to further leaps in domestic prices. There wouldbe an explosion of demands for wage increases, fromblack and white workers alike. Costs throughout theeconomy would rise further, undermining in particularthe profitability of exports.Already the government has had to move to dismantlepart of the previous protectionist devices-notably im-port quotas--as a measure against inflation.Even if a protectionist policy had a temporary effectin boosting SA manufacturing, it would soon be met withretaliation against South Africa's exports by countrieswhose exports to South Africa had been cut off. This atprecisely the time when SA capitalism is desperate tobreak new ground for the marketing of its productsabroad.Already heavily dependent on foreign loans, the SAruling class is worried that exports will soon not be suf-ficient to finance the country's rising debts. SA's foreigndebt is now R40 billion, of which R17 billion is very short-term.Meanwhile exports have declined as a proportion ofGNP from 30016 in the late 1970s to about 25010 in 1984(15010 if gold is left out of account). Although gold en-joys a virtually guaranteed market, the SA bourgeoisiecan scarcely afford to risk retaliation against its other ex-ports, by gambling with protectionism.Nevertheless, it may resort to such self-defeatingmeasures under the impact of the crisis in the comingyears. Marxists must combat any illusions which maydevelop in the trade unions that this would provide a wayout for the economy, or for employment.Whether on the road of protectionism, or an `opendoor' policy in trade, or a combination of the two, thebourgeoisie is leading SA deeper and deeper into theswamp. At each and every step, the effects of the crisisare loaded onto the already bent backs of the black work-ing class.The present sharp recession has come against abackground already of 3 million or more blackunemployed, most of whom have no social welfare pro-tection whatsoever. For the small minority entitled to thepittance from the UIF, payments end after 6 months.Many survive only by sharing the meagre income ofthe aged in their families, whose pensions were recently`raised' to a mere R79 a month.Job losses continue apace. Now even plant closures,hardly known in SA previously, have become a featureof the situation. Press reports claim that 45 000 black jobshave been lost in steel and engineering alone. In a newturn of immense significance, 20 000 white jobs have alsodisappeared in this industry.In the three months to October 1984, an estimated10 000 jobs were axed in the motor industry. Most motormanufacturers were down to a three- or four-day weekby the end of the year. On top of that has come themerger of big motor corporations and the closure of theFord plant in Port Elizabeth.Employment in other manufacturing sectors haslikewise been hit by the recession. In a survey reportedin Die Beeld (12/12/84), 22010 of blacks said a familymember had been hit by retrenchment. 5010 of whites saidthe same.The point we have to stress is that even during the longupswing in the development of South African industrysince World War 2, capitalism was incapable of raisingthe living standards of the mass of black people. Theonset of the world crisis and the crisis in SA has had ashattering effect on the living standards of the blacks.These fell persistently in the second half of the 1970s,even during the few `boom' years. Then there was a fallof at least 20010 in the past four years. In Die Beeld'ssurvey, 39010 of whites said their living standards haddeclined in 1984, while 64010 of blacks in the PWV andPort Elizabeth areas said so.Barclays Bank calculates that living standards of allSouth Africans, white and black, will fall an average of6010 this year. At least half the black population alreadylive in what newspapers term `absolute poverty'. Theburden of poverty on the black proletariat has becomeintolerable.Nightmare situationit is impossible in a few lines to describe adequatelythe nightmare situation of poverty, of homelessness, ofhunger which is faced by growing numbers of the blackworking class and unemployed masses in the rural andthe urban areas.Food prices are rising much faster than the official rateof inflation, which is currently above 16010. In 1984 alonethe price of maize rose 30010, bread 25010. In the twelvemonths to February 1985, the price of goods in householdbudgets rose 21010, when the official inflation rate was

Page 22 of 98 Zimbabwe Trade Unionists Defence Campaign:Press statement 271311985After 26 days of silence over thedetention of 14 trade unionists,ZANU(PF) members, and socialistsin Zimbabwe, the Minister of Infor-mation has issued a "justification"of the government's actions which isfactually false and absurd.The claim that those detained wereorganising workers for "a generalis-ed insurrection against the govern-ment and state of Zimbabwe" iscompletely without foundation.Their sole activity has been to assistin the organisation of workers in theunions and the factory committees,and to promote socialist workerseducation.All believe that the implementationof real socialist policies will be the on-ly way to preserve the unity of thecountry, defend the gains of the in-dependence struggle, solve the pro-blems facing working people, and putan end to the economic blackmailwaged against Zimbabwe by SouthAfrican and Western imperialism.For this purpose, they have arguedthat the organised workers shouldassert conscious leadership within theruling ZANU(PF) party to carry outthe socialist promises on which theZANU government was elected andwhich the mass of workers andpeasants still look to the Mugabegovernment to carry out.To call this "a subversive role ofdestabilisation" is a shamelessslander against socialists, designed tothrow a smokescreen around thefailure of the Zimbabwean govern-ment to honour its promises to themasses while carrying out instead apolicy of compromise withcapitalism.Twelve of the fourteen detainedhave been released without anycharges being preferred. The Zim-babwean government would not beable to produce a shred of credibleevidence to support its claims-despite reports of the beating and tor-ture of the comrades underinterrogation.The two who are still detained, andthe others still being continuallyharassed and intimidated by thesecurity police, are presentlyprevented from giving their owncomplete rebuttal of the Minister ofInformation's statement.Will the Zimbabwean governmentpermit them a press conference inHarare with full guarantees of nopersecution as a result? Whatcredibility can the Minister's state-ment have while the government con-tinues to.prevent its prisoners fromanswering!The Minister should at least havetaken the trouble to check his facts.Fourteen, not "eight" persons havebeen detained.The detentions and investigationhave taken place not only in Hararebut also in Kwekwe.How can the Minister say thatthose arrested "have no direct con-tact with the party or the tradeunions"? One is the President of theGeneral Engineering and MetalWorkers' Union. Three others serveon regional executives of theengineering union. Another is amember of the Harare MunicipalWorkers' Union. Several are office-bearers of officially recognisedworkers' committees.A number of those detained areleading office bearers in ZANU(PF)in Kwekwe. One of these has been aZANU member since he was 16, andwas arrested in 1971 under the Smithwhite minority regime for leading op-position to the Pearce Commission.His wife, also detained, is aZANU(PF) District Committeemember, an elected leader of 10,000ZANU members.How could eleven Zimbabweans,the overwhelming majority of whomhave never left the country, have been"sent to" Zimbabwe by anyone, asthe Minister claims?The three non-Zimbabweans areco-workers of the Southern AfricanLabour Education Project, andmembers of the British Labour Par-ty. Two are exiled from South Africaas the result of persecution by theapartheid regime, and one of thesewas banned for playing a key role inthe organisation of non-racial unionsamong the black workers in Natal inironic nickname: "the Action Man."Land is an urgent priority for thepeasant masses, and was the centraldemand on which the war wasfought. However, land for resettle-ment is only taken over from thecapitalist farmers on a "willingbuyer, willing seller" basis. So far,even according to official claims, nomore than 35 000 families out of the350 000 needing land have beenresettled in the last five years.At this rate it will take another 50years for even the existing landlessfamilies to be resettled-let aloneallowing for increase of population.The capitalist press in South Africaand elsewhere has blamed the pro-blems of Zimbabwe on the"socialism" and "Marxism" of thegovernment. In reality these pro-blems are the result of the govern-ment's failure to break withcapitalism, which has inevitablydriven it to the right, to a policy ofcounter-reforms rather than reforms.Socialist?Asked recently by white commer-cial farmers "Is the countrysocialist?", Prime Minister Mugabereplied:"I honestly don't know. There arenon-socialist modalities in the coun-try which must be promoted andgiven incentive. The state must enablethem to have funds to keep themgoing."Government policies, the PrimeMinister continued, "are not meantto disrupt the economy"-and wenton to draw the conclusion: "na-tionalisation would lead to that kindof disruption". (Financial Gazette,1/2/85)This revealing statement sums upthe position of complete dependenceon the capitalist class into which thegovernment has manoeuvred itself-abjectly tamed, and actually en-couraging capitalist development. Itspromises of `socialism' are becomingmore and more cynical, intended topacify the masses with falseexpectations.In fact, with hardly a word even ofprotest, it has put the economy evenmore under the control of the inter-national banks and their policeman,the international Monetary Fund.

Page 23 of 98 14%-and that was before the petrol price went up.There has been a 20% fall in the volume of maize con-sumption without any corresponding rise in the consump-tion of other foods.Meat has become a luxury. Only 11 % of black urbanhouseholds can afford to eat fruit.In the Durban area every year 8 000 newborn babiesare dumped by parents who cannot keep them. In therural areas there are now 820 000 people dependent fortheir food on charitable relief. `Active malnutrition'among children in the Ciskei is estimated at 89%-andthe probable figure for other bantustans would not bemuch lower.Thus the hideous system in South Africa-the systemof capitalism and apartheid bound together-nowdevours the very foundations of society, forcing grow-ing numbers down towards an animal existence, murder-ing human beings with poverty and hunger as surely aswith the policeman's gun.Crisis in state expenditureWith the productive base of the economy weakening,increasingly we see the inability of the state to financeits expenditure out of taxes on companies, incomes andprofits. The white population and the monopolies areproving to be an extremely narrow tax base.The cost of internal repression and external aggressionis rising. This year R4,3 billion will be spent on `defence'.There is the occupation of Namibia to pay for: amoun-ting to R1 031 million between 1982 and 1984, accordingto Pik Botha. There is the structure of puppet bantustans,the stooge councils, the administration boards, etc-thiswhole edifice costing at least R2 billion a year to finance.Then there are the salaries of the 660 000 provincialand central government employees. And, of course, thepoliticians don't want to forget about themselves. Bothatook the precaution, when he `retired' as Prime Ministerand became President, to pay himself a R300 000`gratuity'!Finally, and most annoying of all to the bourgeoisie,is the rapidly expanding human need for social services.There is now a persistent tendency to rising deficits.State expenditure has gone over the budget in every oneof the past five years-sometimes dramatically-anddespite monetarist stringency. As a result the regime hasbegun to shift the burden of taxation from companiesand the richer individuals towards taxes on the poor.Black workers have been brought into the income taxnet. General Sales Tax has been introduced, and now rais-ed to 12%. Only basic foodstuffs are exempt. That is atax on the workers, on the youth, on the aged, on thehomeless, and on the unemployed.The contribution of the individual taxpayer, as opposedto companies, has gone up from 31% in 1980 to 58%now.Nevertheless, the ruling class faces the impossibility ofkeeping public expenditure within bounds which theirsystem can `afford'.The Star (24/9/84) bluntly expressed the cold calcula-tion of the bourgeoisie: "These can only be the firsttremors (of the crisis in public spending), since the de-mand explosion in housing, education, health services,social pensions, infrastructure, and the provision ofenergy and safe water will, in competition with othermore legitimate (!) state functions like defence, law andorder, foreign affairs and public administration createa bill we (!) cannot meet."With South Africa's rapidly rising population, "pre-sent stresses could reach crisis proportions... To financethese cost explosions from taxation in a tottering economyis out of the question."Even South Africa's prized national roads grid isthreatened with breakdown because of cuts in essentialmaintenance spending. R2,5 billion is needed just torepair rural roads.Just how "out of the question" it is that SA capitalismcan ever meet the basic needs of the working people isshown by the present backlog of 700 000 houses. Onemillion houses need to be built for black people by1990-yet only 20 000 were built last year. State spen-ding on black housing this year is to be a paltry R265million (less than one-sixteenth of military spending).Meanwhile, massive increases for rents and electricityand water supplies are being loaded onto the township-dwellers, who find it impossible to make ends meet.Now the SA ruling class, displaying even more lunacythan Thatcher in Britain, wants to privatise the state cor-porations, or the profitable sections of them. This, theyfigure, will kill two birds with one stone: raise easy moneyto finance state spending for a temporary period withoutimmediate tax increases, and give the capitalists newavenues for private profiteering.The regime plans to sell off part of ISCOR, possiblyby the end of this year, and there is talk even of theprivatisation of electricity supply.This would mean turning over the vital infrastructureof the whole economy to the anarchy of the market, andwould prepare the way for an even more fundamentalcrisis in future.There is an old saying that `those who. the gods wishto destroy they first drive mad.' Some of the money-crazed bourgeois in South Africa now go so far as to de-mand privatisation of services-health, education, etc-so that these will only be available to people with themoney to pay for thertl.Even the lower middle-class and working-class whiteswould not tolerate this for long. And it would be a sureroute to yet more massive revolutionary explosionsamong the blacks. Yet even this madness on the part ofthe ruling class could not be ruled out, because of theimpossible dilemmas that will face them.The connection between racial domination andcapitalism, between the bosses' apartheid dictatorship andtheir exploitation of the black working class, now standsnakedly exposed in every sphere of life.There is a simultaneous economic, social and politicalcrisis going so to the roots of the entire system that thereis no possible way out except a social revolution.This idea has begun to grip the consciousness of massesof black working-class people.

Page 24 of 98 the 1970s.They gave wholehearted support to .the liberation struggle against the,white Rhodesian regime, alwaysfighting against the internationalcapitalist class and right-wingelements in the labour movementwho gave underhand support toSmith and Muzorewa.They have wholeheartedly sup-ported the British mineworkers'strike, and every demand on theBritish labour leadership to back thestrike by mobilising mass action.The Minister of Information's at-tempt to smear these comrades withassociation with the Rhodesianregime or betrayal of the Britishminers' strike is the grossest slander.The implication that they "want toinstall a neo-colonial coalition ofreactionary tendencies in Zimbabwe"could not be further from the truth.This claim is in any case completelycontradicted by the Minister's allega-tion of a connection of these com-rades with the "Militant Tendency ofthe Labour Party."The attitude of those detained tothe Militant newspaper in the BritishLabour Party is for them to say. Butit is clear that they share the view thatthere is a need for the workers'organisations in all countries to bebuilt and transformed in the strugglefor the socialist transformation ofsociety.It is precisely because the Zimbab-wean government has drawn backfrom the task that it finds it necessaryto persecute socialists and invent themost incredible amalgam offalsehoods to hide its shame.Faced with a budget deficit ofZ$691 million for 1984-85 the govern-ment has been forced to turn onceagain to the IMF whose conditionsfor loans entail continued cuts inpublic spending, wage freezes, etc.Now a point has been reachedwhere Finance Minister Chid ero candeclare without fear of contradictionfrom his colleagues that there is "noreal disagreement" between thegovernment and the imperialist IMF!(Africa News, 25/3/85)Inevitably, under these cir-cumstances, the government is plac-ing itself in increasingly open opposi-tion to the aspirations of the workersand peasants.Occasionally some of the most ar-rogant upstarts in the ruling elite willreveal their contempt for the work-ing class quite unashamedly. In thegovernment-controlled Herald(9/3/85), for example, an editorialscandalously put the blame for thenation's problems not on thecapitalists squeezing the workers forprofit, but on "workers who are lazyand generally lack a sense of direc-tion". It adds: "they are the scum ofthe nation in a hurry to develop"!These crudities reflect the govern-ment's approach to labour policy incoarse but accurate terms. Underpressure of the capitalists, the chiefconcern of the government is to pro-vide employers with `labour peace'and `responsible' trade unionism.Labour BillIn 1982 the government publisheda draft Labour Bill which was final-ly enacted, after many `im-provements', in late 1984. This is adraconian measure which makes vir-tually all industrial action illegal andlays down vicious penalties for `il-legal' action.Negotiated agreements can beoverruled by the Minister of Labour.Under the Act, the Minister also hasalmost unlimited powers to interferein and control trade unions, withoutregard for the members' wishes.The situation now faced by tradeunions in Zimbabwe is a vivid con-firmation of the arguments put for-ward by Trotsky on the character oftrade unionism in underdevelopedcountries:"The trade unions of our time caneither serve as secondary instrumentsof imperialist capitalism for thesubordination and disciplining ofworkers and for obstructing therevolution, or, on the contrary, thetrade unions can become the in-struments of the revolutionary move-ment of the proletariat." (TradeUnions in the Epoch of Imperialism)While the bosses and the govern-ment attack the living standards ofthe masses, the whites and the blackmiddle class enrich themselves. Im-mediately after independence thewhites feared the government's"socialist rhetoric"-but now theyrecognise that it is just talk.Whites who fled to South Africaare now-as the crisis worsensthere-even returning to Zimbabwein increasing numbers.At the same time they justify theirown continued privilege by pointingto the hypocrisy of the ZANU(PF)elite. As one white farmer said of thenew state and party bureaucracy:"They're capitalist to a man. I meanall this `every-comrade-will-have-his-little-plot'...500 acres by theway... and `co-operate in the nationalinterest' is just a laugh."A `Leadership Code' had to beadopted at the 1984 ZA?1U Congressas a gesture against the corruptionand privilege rife at the top levels ofthe government and party.Among examples which have sur-faced, Minister of Transport Kangai. was involved in a Z$4 million misap-propriation of maize intended forfamine relief during. the drought.The former Zimbabwe High Com-missioner in London used 104 000of public money to buy himself ahouse there. Discovered, he wasrecalled-and given another officialjob with the same grade!This reckless search for self-enrichment by many of the leaders ispolarising opinion in the party andthe country as a whole, as the eyes ofworkers and youth are increasinglyopened to the need for genuinesocialist policies.Seeing the accelerating swingtowards capitalism by their leaders,there is growing disappointment,frustration and bitterness among themasses. As one former guerrilla isreported to have said recently:"We were the ones politicising peo-ple during the war, but what thepeasants see happening is now dif-ferent from what we told them. Wetold the people they would have landand many things, but the people stillhave nothing."Mounting discontentInevitably, in time, the mountingdiscontent against harsh conditionswill turn into anger against thegovernment and its policies. It is thisfactor-its fear of mass opposition inthe future, and its greedy determina-tion to cling to the spoils of office-that explains the increasingly dic-tatorial policies of the ZANU(PF)government.The harshness with which it hasclamped down on even the beginn-ings of socialist criticism in the ranksof the ruling party is a measure of itsuneasiness.But, on the other hand, there arehuge problems for the masses in

Page 25 of 98 Character and tasksof the revolutionThe character of a revolution is determined by twothings. On the one hand, by the problems which havebrought society to a revolutionary impasse; by the realobstacles standing in the way of social progress; by thenature of the changes that must be carried out in orderto clear those obstacles away.On the other hand, the character of a revolution isdetermined by the class forces which inevitably enter in-to conflict with each other, and must fight the fundamen-tal issues out.The coming revolution in South Africa is, by thesecriteria, clearly and inescapably a proletarian socialistrevolution.Is this not contradicted by the fact that democraticdemands, and above all the demand for national libera-tion, are to the forefront in the revolutionary struggle?Not in the least. The key to understanding this lies in thetheory of the `permanent revolution'.This theory, originated by Marx and elaborated in par-ticular by Trotsky, is completely borne out in relation toSouth Africa-but with a difference from the way inwhich it applied to Russia.The objective tasks of the Russian Revolution, in 1905and again in 1917, were bourgeois-democratic tasks.These were: to expropriate the land from the feudallandlords, and distribute it among a free peasantry; tofree the national minorities, oppressed within the `prisonhouse' of the Russian Tsarist empire; and to break Russiafrom its dependence upon the Western European im-perialist powers, particularly Britain and France, which,in 1917, meant above all ending Russian involvement inthe First World War.Capitalism had developed late in Russia; but then ithad developed rapidly, transplanted in a concentratedform by foreign capital, inter-linked with the Tsarist-bureaucratic state, and interwoven with the feudal classesand institutions.Russia participated in the world war both as a semi-colonial dependant of the other `Entente' powers and asan old imperialist power in its own right.To carry out the bourgeois-democratic tasksnecessitated the revolutionary overthrow of Tsarism andthe clearing away of all the feudal rubbish. In and of itselfthis did not necessitate the overthrow of capitalism-buton the contrary would have been necessary precisely toallow the all-round development of Russian capitalism.On a world scale capitalism, having entered the stageof monopoly, was more than ripe for overthrow. On aworld scale it was choking the development of the pro-ductive forces, and this was manifested in the inter-imperialist world war of 1914-18.But its bankruptcy was relative and not absolute;uneven and not uniformly felt. There was undoubtedlystill economic `room' for the further growth of Russiancapitalism, in a backward country the size of a continent,covering one-fifth of the globe.Nevertheless, the circumstances of Russia's belatedcapitalist development had left the bourgeoisie weak andincapable of playing any revolutionary role againstTsarism. The proletariat, though a small minority of thetotal population, was concentrated in large industries,fresh and revolutionary. For protection, the bourgeoisiesheltered under the Tsarist state. Of necessity, leadershipof the revolutionary struggle against Tsarism passed tothe proletariat, which placed itself at the head of the massof poor and oppressed peasants.Inevitably, as a result, the bourgeoisie played a counter-revolutionary role against its `own' bourgeois-democraticrevolution.Understanding this, Lenin and the Bolsheviks foughtimplacably to rid the workers' movement of any illusionsin a progressive role of the liberal bourgeoisie, and toassert the proletariat's leading role and political in-dependence. Any revolutionary government capable ofcarrying out the bourgeois-democratic tasks would haveto break the power both of Tsarism and of the bourgeoisieitself.Trotsky's analysisTrotsky, as early as 1904-5, carried this analysis to itsfull logical conclusion. He explained that the workingclass would have to take state power into its own handswith the support of the poor peasants, and that, havingdone so, it would be compelled to pass over without in-terruption from the bourgeois-democratic tasks tosocialist tasks also.This would be necessitated by the inevitable clash bet-ween the material demands of the working class and thematerial interests of the capitalists. The workers' regimewould find itself compelled to begin the expropriation ofbourgeois property and thus the overthrow of capitalism.Lenin adopted this position fully in 1917. The firstrevolutionary victory, in February, had not placed theworking class in power. The workers led the overthrowof the Tsar, but power passed into the hands of refor-mist leaders, who in turn handed it to the bourgeoisie.The bourgeoisie used this advantage to attack the work-ing class, and try to turn the revolution back.The October Revolution, led by the Bolsheviks, wasnecessary to bring the working class to power in orderthat the bourgeois-democratic tasks themselves could becarried out.Land to the peasants; the liberation of the nationalities;an end to the war-these tasks were carried out not bythe February regime but only after the October victory.But the October Revolution, carrying out first andforemost bourgeois-democratic tasks, was in charactera proletarian socialist revolution-and was compelled toproceed on to socialist tasks. This gave clear historicalconfirmation to the ideas of the `permanent revolution'.Proletarian revolution in backward Russia would havebeen considered absurd by all the Bolsheviks, includingLenin and Trotsky themselves, had they viewed the mat-ter solely within the confines of that country. But they

Page 26 of 98 neworRers' housing in Zimbabwe. 1 ne mineworkers Union says most of its 68not be classed as housing"-many paying rents of up to Z$S4 a month.organising to express their discontent.ZANU(PF) is controlled with increas-ing rigidity from the top. The tradeunions, already little more than emp-ty bureaucratic shells, are beingbrought under even tighter statecontrol.Despite the many important paststruggles of Zimbabwean workers,the history of the trade union leader-ship is largely one of class-collaboration, contempt for themembership, and corruption.Under the Smith regime, the ma-jority of trade union leaders made noeffort to struggle for improved con-ditions in the workplaces or for ma-jority rule. For the most part theycooperated with the bosses againstthe workers, and supportedMuzorewa or other political hangers-on of the old regime.At independence in 1980 workersenthusiastically looked forward toliberation from the old colonialsystem, and a wave of strikes follow-ed. High hopes were invested in their`socialist' government, whom theyexpected to support them against thebosses.But these hopes were dashed.Employers, conservative trade unionleaders and the ZANU(PF) leadersformed a common front to attack thestrikers and their "excessive"demands. The Labour Minister,Kangai, warned: "I will crack mywhip if they do not get back to work.They must go back to work now."However, the strike wave did winthe workers some gains. It also led tothe formation of workers' commit-tees in many workplaces. The govern-merit encouraged these committees,hoping to use them in isolating thenon-ZANU union leadership.But, on the other hand, the govern-ment did not intend to encourage thedemocratisation of the trade unions.Instead they attempted to construct,from the top, new unions dominatedby ZANU(PF) supporters. Theseunions would then serve as 'transmis-sion belts' for the policies of theregime.But the new "splinter unions" fail-ed completely to get off the ground.The leadership of the government-created Zimbabwe Congress of TradeUnions proved an absolute farce anddisgrace. The government's plansback-fired as the ZCTU lurched fromone c?isis of corruption andmismanagement to the next.ScandalsIn July 1984, for example, it wasreported that tire ZCTU sold bicyclesand a car wort?i Z$6 500 donated bythe French CFDT (socialist tradeunion federation). In October morescandals came to light over financialmismanagement, no accounting inthe books, scholarships from theUSSR going to relatives and closefriends, and cheques being un-constitutionally signed.Top ZCTU officials were found tobe on the pay roll of internationalcompanies as personnel officers, or'advisers'.What has been the case at the verytop has characterised the trade unionleadership almost across the board.Time and again the leaders have sold000 members live in"structureswhich couldout the workers to the bosses. Insteadof mounting campaigns againstredundancies, they have simply sign-ed redundancy agreements behind thebacks of the workers.Elections of officials, report-backmeetings and congresses are heldeither very irregularly or not at all.Some leaders regard the dues whichare collected from the workers astheir own personal property.In disillusionment and disgustmany workers refuse to join theunions, or have left them. Less than10% of Zimbabwe's 1 millionworkers are presently members ofunions.The Department of Labour (whichby law is meant to check on financialmismanagement) has now settled ona policy of tolerating the old leader-ship, and ignoring complaints or sug-gestions for change-unless mattersthreaten to get out of hand.To protect their positions theZCTU bureaucrats have ensured thatno Congress has been held since itsformation in 1981. There were fewmeetings even of its General Counciluntil late last year.But eventually the corruptionbecame too blatant to be hidden any.more. After prolonged in-fighting,the General Council on 10 March1985 suspended the General Secretaryand three other top officials.After further delays, new ZCTUleaders have been elected. But this onits own will not resolve the crisis ofthe unions-where the pattern ofbureaucratic leadership has becomedeeply entrenched, and where thegovernment is determined that the

Page 27 of 98 saw the Russian revolution as the first in a chain ofrevolutions, which would link Soviet Russia to the powerof the working class in the advanced industrialised coun-tries of Europe.Colonial liberation strugglesIn relation to the countries of the colonial world, Lenintook the view that the liberation movements againstcolonialism-termed 'bourgeois-democratic' movementsuntil then-should now be termed 'national-revolutionary' movements.This was to give expression to the bankruptcy, vacilla-tion and even downright counter-revolutionary role ofthe national bourgeoisie '.n the colonies-and to em-phasise the potential of the proletariat, even in the mostbackward countries, to lead the nation to liberation, link-ing its own struggle for power to the progress of theworkers' revolution in Russia and the West.In the same way, what were previously termed the'bourgeois-democratic' tasks of the revolution in the col-onial world could now be termed `national-democratic'tasks, to emphasise that the bourgeoisie could play norole in their solution-that their solution, in fact, wasconnected with the victory of the proletarian revolutiondeveloping on a world scale.However, as a result of a whole series of terrible defeatsof workers' revolutions in Europe in the 1920s, the Rus-sian Revolution remained isolated and eventually suc-cumbed to the- bureaucratic counter-revolution ofStalinism. This substituted the dictatorship of a privileg-ed elite of state officials for the workers' democracy of1917-1923, although remaining on the basis of nationalis-ed (i.e., state-owned) and planned economy.The `Communist' parties abandoned the ideas ofLenin, of the class-independence and leading role of theworking class. The term `national democratic' wasfalsified to imply the `unity' of the proletariat with thenational bourgeoisie. The proletariat in the colonial worldbecame subordinated for a whole historical period tobourgeois and petty-bourgeois leadership.Where capitalism collapsed or was overthrown in thecolonial world, this took place in the most backwardcountries and without the proletariat playing any leadingrole. Power passed into the hands of petty-bourgeoiselites, who have modelled their regimes on Stalinism, i.e.on bureaucratic dictatorship resting on a basis of plann-ed economy.In the main, however, the passage of the colonial coun-tries to independence has taken place without the over-throw of capitalism-hence leaving these formally in-dependent countries subject to an ever more stifling neo-colonial domination by the imperialist powers.Without workers' power, fundamental national-democratic tasks remain uncompleted: on the land, wherepre-capitalist and capitalist exploitation remain intertwin-ed; in the continued oppression of national minorities;and in the abject dependence of these countries onimperialism.Entirely bearing out the prognosis of Trotsky, it re-mains for the proletariat in the underdeveloped countriesto raise itself to the leadership of the nation and com-plete the national-democratic tasks by the method of pro-letarian socialist revolution, linking up with the newperiod of advance of the proletariat and of revolutionarystruggles in the industrialised world.In South Africa, which has had an exceptional nationalcapitalist development, equalled or surpassed by fewother ex-colonial countries, there has been a partial car-rying through of social tasks of a 'bourgeois-democratic'character. This may appear an extraordinary thing to sayin a country ruled by an ex.-settler racial minority, wherethe regime has long earned itself polecat-of-the-worldstatus for its suppression of democracy and the nationalrights of the majority.It is important to remember that what was essential toeven the most classical of the `democratic' (more precise-,Y, bourgeois-democratic) revolutions in history was notthe institution of political democracy, but the carryingthrough of fundamental social changes necessary tobourgeois advance.The (qualified) democracy of the French Revolution,for example, was soon succeeded by the dictatorship ofNapoleon Bonaparte-who nevertheless consolidated the'bourgeois-democratic' revolutionary gains againstfeudalism.In Germany, the 'bourgeois-democratic' tasks werepartially carried out under the Bismark dictatorship.Writing in October 1945 on the Character of the Euro-pean Revolution, Ted Grant answered writers who hadlanded themselves in confusion"simply because they have not understood, or have forgot-ten, the social content of the `democratic' revolution: thecreation of the national state; the overthrow of feudalismand the introduction of bourgeois relations; the separationof Church from State; the agrarian revolution."What they imagine is the basic content of (bourgeois)`democracy': freedom of organisation, speech, etc, is in reali-ty a by-product of the class struggle of the proletariat againstthe bouzgeoisie." (Reprinted, Militant International Review,N o.26, 1984.)Precisely the same applies to the democratic franchise.Historically, universal franchise has been won for socie-ty not by the bourgeoisie, but against it-by the struggleof the working class.Tasks in South Africain South Africa, the `bourgeois democratic' tasks par-tially carried out under white rule relate to the transfor-mation of the country into a modern capitalist society.This transformation is shown in the development ofdomestic industry and capitalist agriculture; in theelimination of precapitalist forms, such as the wiping outof the basis of tribal society as well as almost all vestigesof semi-serf relations on the land; in the creation of acentralised capitalist state and a unified market.Yet, what remains to be fulfilled, what cries out to befulfilled, what can only be fulfilled in struggle to the endagainst the white bourgeois regime-is a fundamentaltask of a national-democratic character: the nationalliberation of the African majority.

Page 28 of 98 unions should be under state control.Moto, a monthly publication mild-ly critical of the government, wrotein March 1985: "A weakness in Zim-babwe's liberation struggle was thelack of union input. This meant thatZimbabwe entered independencewithout unionists seasoned in strug-gle, negotiations, and organisation,or able to articulate clearly aworking-class position from thestruggles of the shop-floor.Weakness"For socialist transformation, astrategy to rectify this weakness in thetrade union movement as quickly aspossible is necessary."But genuine trade unions will notbe constructed from "the top". Theworkers will have to struggle to buildthem-against the combinedresistance of the bosses, the govern-ment, and the k,adership of most ofthe unions themselves.At present very few workers regardthe bureaucrats' `unions' as organisa-tions that can in any way representthem. However, many excellentworkers' leaders have emerged in theworkers' committees, and the best ofthese committees have beentransformed into organisations ofstruggle.But the workers have no means ofcombining their struggle across thedifferent workplaces except by tak-ing up also the struggle to transformthe trade unions.It was their involvement in thisstruggle that led to the detention ofthe 14 trade unionists and socialistsby Mugabe's police.The full details of the struggle inthe General Engineering and MetalWorkers' Union are contained in twodocuments reprinted here: the 1984Report of the President of GEMWU,and a background to this reportpublished by the Workers' Campaignfor a Democratic GEMWU.What they reveal is:* the collaboration of the GeneralSecretary of GEMWU and hiscronies with the engineeringemployers;* financial mismanagement and cor-ruption by the officials of the union;* protection of their position by theofficials by means of bureaucraticand unconstitutional intrigues;* that, under threat of removal fromtheir positions by the membership,they sought (and were readily given)the protection of the regime's police.In the end, unable to sustain theirposition within the General,Engineering and Metal WorkersUnion, they simply "wound up" thisunion unconstitutionally, and createdanother one!The government connived at thisunlawful manoeuvre and registeredthis union-while those in the leader-ship of the struggle to bring GEM-WU under democratic workers' con-trol were detained!There could be no more definite in-dication to workers that the regimedoes not intend to tolerate genuinelydemcratic trade unions- and that, inreality, it will use its police powersagainst workers who struggle for this.Clearly, the struggle fordemocratic trade unionism, whetherin the engineering industry orelsewhere, has been declared "il-legal" and can no longer be con-tinued in an open form.While the new National Engineer-ing Workers' Union that has beenformed by GEMWU's previousGeneral Secretary is a purely ar-bitrary creation, it will be the onlyunion permitted by the governmentto exist in that sector-and this, indue course, will compel the workersto join.But, in the future, workers will in-creasingly be forced to struggle forcontrol over the new union, to use itas a weapon in the fight for jobs anddecent living conditions. Whatevermethods they resort to, in the endthere is no escape for the `leaders'from the revolutionary pressures ofthe workers.The regime's attacks against anyform of opposition will also beunleashed against any form of op-position in ZANU(PF) itself. But inan atmosphere of brutality and in-timidation, "excesses" occur-goingfurther even than the party leadershipwants.In the Herald (4/4/85), it wasreported how a loyal ZANU-PFyouth was beaten to death, despite hisundisputed party loyalty, simplybecause he spent too much time do-ing homework and not in YouthLeague meetings.The ZANU leadership has nosocialist policies to solve the problemsof the masses, and no answer tosocialist criticism. That is why itresorts to totalitarian `solutions', andopenly flouts the more radical resolu-tions passed at party congresses.Last year's ZANU(PF) YouthCongress, for example, called forsocialist study circles among workersto be established on the widest scale.The Youth Congress also called forthe purging of the CIO which is riddl-ed with survivors from Smith'sdays-such as its head, D. Stannard.As a Security Branch officer boastedto one of those detained: "We work-ed for Smith, we worked for Muzor-ewa, and now we work for Mugabe."Yet the government, far frompurging the CIO, instructed it to de-tain local leaders of its own party,who were involved in organisingworkers' socialist education and cam-paigning for a ZANU victory in thisyear's elections!To further intimidate opposition,in case the arrests and beatings werenot severe enough, some of the de-tainees have since their release beenexpelled from their trade unions onthe orders of the CIO and threaten-ed and victimised in ZANU(PF).The international response to thedetentions-from capitalist spokes-men on the one hand, and the labourmovement on the other-is dealt withelsewhere in these pages (see pages18-21).Workers' oppositionOne perceptive commentator in thecapitalist UK Sunday Times(17/3/85), however, pointed out thatby his actions, Mugabe was bringinginto the open the fact of workers' op-position in his own party. For thefirst time workers were being armedwith genuine Marxist ideas and notmerely fobbed off with `socialist'rhetoric."It was criticism that led to the ar-rests of the left-wing unionists. Theyhad been leading a campaign for `freeand democratic' trade unions, andhad begun to criticise the Zimbabwegovernment for betraying the socialistideals on which it swept to power in1980."The report added:"Mugabe, already meeting opposi-tion from rival political parties, nowfaces what looks like a seriousrebellion from the left-wing of hisZANU Patriotic Front party. Theresults of his wrath against tradeunionists who voice opposition to hisone-party goal have damaged Zim-babwe's socialist image abroad, com-

Page 29 of 98 The political system inherited and elaborated from thebasis of colonial domination in the past-the system ofwhite minority rule-now confronts its revolutionarydemise.In a certain sense, the relation between white and blackin South Africa, the domination of the privileged minorityover the voteless, rightless majority, does resemble a kindof `internal colonialism' (ai the Stalinists put it).In a certain (and, we may add, more profound) senseSouth Africa's social relations resemble those of the an-cient slave-based `democracies' of Greece and Rome-democratic rights and privileges for a citizen minority,depending on the systematic exploitation of a mass ofchattel slaves. In our case, however, a system of collec-tive wage-slavery of the oppressed black majority, onwhich the privileged existence of the whites, their fran-chise and `liberties' depend.Nevertheless `all analogies are lame'. It would take anidiot to conclude that the concrete tasks facing blackSouth Africans are to be deduced without further adofrom such a comparison.Even if South Africa was a fully-fledged colony, andnot, as the Stalinists argue, a case of `colonialism of aspecial type', this would in no way justify the conclusionthat anything le-- than a proletarian revolution is requiredfor its liberation.For reasons already explained, South Africa hasalready passed through whatever `stage' of nationalcapitalist development it could achieve. Yet the middleclass in the movement still hanker after the illusion that,if it were possible to have black capitalists instead of whitecapitalists ruling South Africa, this could lead to aregeneration of the economy. Their idea is ludicrous oneconomic grounds-and also ruled out as a politicalperspective for reasons explained later in this document.Amongst activists, this idea is already overwhelming-ly rejected. Nevertheless, the South African situation stillleaves plenty of scope for misleading misconceptions.National democratic tasks confront us-that is beyonda shadow of doubt. But it is complete scholastic nonsenseto say that the South African revolution is therefore"not" a socialist revolution "but" a national-democraticrevolution. This idea, invented by the Stalinists, is veryinfluential among radical intellectuals. Unfortunately, ithas also gained a certain confused currency among theyouth.The Russian Revolution fully bore out the ideas ofMarxism concerning the class character of the state. Thereis no such thing as a 'non-class' or `multi-class' state. Themodern state is, in the last analysis, either proletarian inits class character or else it carries out the dictatorshipof the bourgeoisie.If proletarian rule was needed in Russia to carry outthe bourgeois-democratic tasks of that revolution, whatabout the national-democratic tasks facing us in SouthAfrica? The Stalinists are completely wrong to argue thatthese tasks can or will be carried out under some im-aginary state of `national democracy'-something thatis neither fish nor flesh, neither a capitalist nor aproletarian regime.The South African revolution is a proletarian socialistrevolution from the outset. From the outset it inevitablydevelops as a struggle of the black proletariat directedagainst the bourgeoisie and the bourgeois state. Never-theless, it is a proletarian socialist revolution in which thecarrying through of a national-democratic task is the firstitem on the agenda.This task, let us repeat, is the national liberation ofthe African majority. It goes hand in hand with all thedemocratic changes demanded in every sphere of society.Because of the impasse of world capitalism in generaland SA capitalism in particular; because of thedependence of the SA bourgeoisie on repression, on dic-tatorship, and for generations on apartheid-thebourgeoisie is obliged to be the enemy of democracy.The democratic tasks can be fulfilled only by break-ing the power of the bourgeoisie. This must become theconscious purpose of the mass movement if the revolu-tion is to succeed.To recognise this does not weaken in the least the thrustof the struggle for national liberation and democracy, buton the contrary will invest it with redoubled revolutionaryvision and power.Every attempt to separate the issues of apartheid andcapitalism; every attempt to deflect the struggle againstthe state and the bourgeoisie from a conscious strugglefor workers' power, can only lead to confusion, to theweakening and division of the black working-class move-ment, and can so serve only reactionary ends.Three determining factorsThe course of the coming revolution in South Africawill be determined fundamentally by three facts:by the weakness and senility of capitalism, which can-not afford to transform the conditions of existence nowintolerable to the broad masses;by a bourgeois state dictatorship whose foundationsare cemented in white domination and privilege; andby the unstoppable demand for national liberationand democracy in a situation where the oppressed blackproletariat makes up the overwhelming majority ofsociety.For black people in SA, there is no longer any real sub-sistence possible from the land. The African peasantryin this country has been all but completely eliminated-a process which has been going on for generations. Thebulk of the African population was displaced by colonialconquest and by land-grabbing on the part of the whites,backed by legislation.What remained of peasant farming in the reserves hasbeen undermined and smashed by the combination ofdeliberate state policies designed in the past to expandthe labour supply; by forced over-crowding as a resultof removals and the pass laws; and by the operation ofcapitalist economic laws which ruthlessly drive out of ex-istence small farming conducted on the basis of im-poverished and primitive technique.Now even the small white farmers, with all the advan-tages of the Land Bank, etc, behind them, are having togive way to the monopolies in agriculture. The big cor-porations have extended their tentacles very thoroughlyinto all the most lucrative spheres. Agriculture is indebtedup to the hilt, to the tune of R10 billion at the presenttime.The 8 000 white maize farmers coy. lain of "virtual

Page 30 of 98 ing on top of the prime minister'sbloody military campaign againstdissidents in the southern province ofMatabeleland."These early signs of opposition willgrow in the future, within the tradeunions and ZANU, to massproportions-as the regime shows itcan offer nothing else than further at-tacks on the conditions of the masses.Nevertheless, in the forthcomingelections ZANU will be overwhelm-ingly re-elected, except inMatabeleland. The masses have. noalternative but to vote for ZANU,since any alternative being presentedat the moment would have a reac-tionary character.Muzorewa is openly capitalist;while the ZAPU leadership, puttingforward essentially the samebankrupt reformist programme asMugabe, has nothing to offer to theZimbabwe masses.The votes ZAPU will win inMatabeleland represent a sirongly-felt but futile protest vote againstMugabe's national oppression of theNdebele.But victory for ZANU in the Juneelections will not bring 'peace' forMugabe. The economic crisis willworsen and workers and peasants willbe compelled to struggle.SpearpointsWorkers' committees in the fac-tories will become the spearpoints ofresistance as they move into struggleagain and again against the reac-tionary bosses. In the course of thesebattles they will have no option butto struggle also to democratise andtransform the trade unions.In ZANU-PF also, in the yearsahead, there will be moves toestablish control by the working peo-ple who form the mass of itsmembers, and commit the party to afighting socialist programme. Arm-ed with correct ideas to combat thenational oppression of the Ndebeleminority, this could act as a pole ofattraction for workers in ZAPU also.One of the most important tasksfor the independent .-ton-racial tradeunions in South Africa and activistsin the ANC will be assist this strug-gle, to build direct links betweenworkers, and take forward the com-mon struggle for a socialist federationof Southern African states, ruled bythe working people.M WORKERS' CAMPAIGNThose detained were all active inthe Workers' Campaign for aDemocratic GEMWU, establishedin the course of last year.The two documents reprintedhere (the first one cut to avoidrepitition) were first issued in Zim-babwe in January 1985.They describe the struggle whichtook place between the membersand the corrupt leadership of GEM-WU during 1983-4, and the aimswhich the campaign had setitself-to build GEMWU as afighting instrument democraticallycontrolled by its members.By the detentions and public at-tacks, the government has now ef-fectively declared the campaign il-legal, forcing it to stop functioning.Also, by registering the NationalEngineering Workers Union in placeof GEMWU, the government hasendorsed the unconstitutional win-ding up of that union. This meansworkers have no option now but tojoin NEWU, and struggle as theyare able to, to transform it.BACKGROUND TO THECRISIS IN GEMWUThe crisis in GEMWU has its originsin the real problems of the workers.Despite the officials' attempts to interpretthe struggle for democratic control as 'apersonality problem', the division bet-ween officials and workers has opened uparound the question of job grading,worker participation in official negotia-tions, and democracy in the union.In the engineering industry job gradingis a burning question, as employersstrongly resist the upgrading of experienc-ed and capable black workers to keeplabour cheap. Workers who qualifythrough the government trade testingschemes are either shown the door orforced to carry on at the old rates.The GEMWU worker leadership in theNational Industrial Council (NIC)negotiations insisted that the skills of ex-perienced workers be adequately reward-ed. When the employers rejected thesedemands, instead of a report-back tomembers being made, the trade union of-ficials concluded that the outspokenPresident of GEMWU; BrotherNyamhunga (a winder) should be remov-ed from the negotiating team.In the struggle between officials andmembers which followed, grossmismanagement of the union wasrevealed:* Withdrawals were being made from theunion funds without authorisation;* No financial report had been made since1980 and it was estimated that $65 000had been spent without authorisation;* Officials of the union had been ap-pointed and dismissed without the agree-ment of the National Council; and, mostseriously* Secret meetings were being held with theemployers.UnconstitutionalUp to that time (March 1984) theworkers did not even know these practices=completely unconstitutional as ac-cess to the constitution was denied to theworker leaders.Late in 1983 mati,:rs came to a headwhen the General Secretary of GEMWU(D. Chimusoro) complained that thePresident (S.N.Nyamhunga) was 'in-terfering' in the local affairs of the union.The President offered to resign asChairman of the Harare Branch of GEM-WU to avoid being too involved in branchaffairs, but then discovered that accor-ding to the constitution (denied to himuntil he made efforts of his own to geta copy) he would not be able to continueas President once he was no longer Chair-man of Harare Branch.A full story of the struggle whichfollowed would fill a book, so a simplechronology of the main events nowfollows:Feb 1984: Standpoint of President ongrading repudiated by Chimusoro at NIC.On 22 February President is replaced onthe negotiating team.17/3: National Council of GEMWUagrees to amend the Constitution to allowthe office of President to be held by anordinary member of the union and notnecessarily by the Chairman or ViceChairman of a branch.28/4: This decision was not carried outby Chimusoro. National Council meetingheld in Kwekwe appoints committee toamend the constitution and to call a Con-gress of the Union.2/5: Press statement appeared inHerald that elections had been held at aKwekwe `meeting' and that an ActingPresident had been appointed inNyamhunga's place.June: Study circles of engineeringworkers formed to learn more of tradeunionism and how to defend jobs.

Page 31 of 98 bankruptcy", going so far recently as to threaten towithhold deliveries if the government persisted with itsattempted producer price freeze. In an unprecedenteddevelopment, the government threatened to cancel theirsubsidy and even use troops to break the white farmers'boycott and bring in the maize.If they are bankrupt, how much the more impossiblewould be any regeneration of African small farmingunder a capitalist regime.Paradoxically, however, under a regime of workers'power-which nationalised under workers' control andmanagement the commanding heights of finance, in-dustry, mining, commerce and big farming-redistribution of considerable areas of land and state sup-port for a growth of African small farming would be en-tirely viable. This would be a transitional stage to volun-tary collectivisation.Roughly half the African population on the land arean agricultural proletariat working on capitalist farms.The bulk of the rest of the African population on the landare the families and dependents of wage labourers, whoare compelled by the apartheid system to rot in thereserves.To an overwhelming extent, therefore, the Africanpopulation in South Africa is proletarian in character.Altogether the black proletariat, in all its segments, makesup roughly two-thirds of the country's entire population.This is a proportion without parallel in the colonial andsemi-colonial world.Whether in the cities or on the land, the liberationstruggle of the black masses enters into immediate andinescapable class conflict with the bourgeoisie, withbourgeois property and with all the institutions of con-trol designed to secure the property of the bourgeoisie.The development of capitalism in SA, by concentratingthe productive forces in a few capitalist hands, has con-centrated immense social forces against capitalism.It has produced vast concentrations of black popula-tion dependent on wage labour in the urban areas.Soweto, for instance-some `township' this!-has anestimated two million people.The biggest concentration of the urban population isin the `PWV triangle'-Pretoria, the Witwatersrand, andVereeniging (including Johannesburg, the gold mines, thebig concentrations of the metal and engineering industry,etc). This area accounts for nearly 80% of all mineralproduction and nearly 60% of industrial production inSA.The country's population, presently about 33 million,is expected to double in the next 25 years. The percen-tage in urban areas is predicted to rise from its present35% to at least 70%. Already, if you take a circle witha radius of 25 km from the Johannesburg city hall, 70%of the people in that circle are black.Despite all the attempts to establish a `white SouthAfrica' where blacks would be merely `temporary so-journers', government policy-which has for decadesbeen to reverse the tide of urbanisation and send it backto the rural bantustans-has proved a complete failure.So too has the attempt to develop industry in the ban-tustans as a foundation for the break-up and scatteringof the African population, despite all the incentives of-fered to the capitalists. Increasingly the policy has becomea defensive one, aimed above all at preventing the con-centration of the black proletariat in the PWV triangle.The emphasis has switched to creating economic`growth points'-East London is a typical example-where incentives for investment are provided, and wherethere is a bantustan right on the edge of the city. Thusthe black workers sleep in their so-called `homeland' andevery day migrate to employment in `white SA'.The pattern is repeated in the OFS, in Natal, in thePretoria area, and so on. Included in the `homelands' arethe urban townships, the industrial proletarian townships,of the so-called `white' cities themselves. So increasinglythe whole thing is exposed as sheer political manipula-tion, to fend off the demand for equal political rights.Purpose of democratic struggleThe whole point of the democratic struggle in SA isthis: that the black masses are asserting democraticdemands not for the sake of being able to make a crosson a ballot-paper every five years, but precisely for thepurpose of clearing away the obstacles for the assertionof their proletarian class interests, their material demands.They want not `principles' of den. :.racy, but itssubstance, its fruits-jobs, homes, decent education,transport, a living wage.While many of the black petty-bourgeois are deludedon this question, the capitalists themselves are quite clear.They understand that the demand for the democratictransformation of South Africa presents a mortal threatto them. It threatens not only the continuation of thecheap labour system-the necessary basis of their pro-fits and economic power-but the capitalist dictatorshipas a whole.Hence all sections of the bourgeoisie, from the mostliberal to the most right wing, agree in their implacableopposition to majority rule.Hence the declarations of Oppenheimer against a`numerical democracy'. Hence the statement of ProfessorLombard, who in 1980 spelled out the predicament ofthe SA bourgeoisie: "If an unqualified one-man-one-voteelection was held today in the Republic, a non-whiteleader with a communistic programme would probablyattain an overall majority on a pledge to confiscate andredistribute the property of the privileged classes."If the very idea of democracy spells "communism" tothe bourgeoisie, what else can a democratic revolutionspell to them?Yet democracy is impossible in South Africa withouta revolution-as we shall go on to show. That fact, asit realises itself in action, will drive even the most liberalsections of the bourgeoisie into the camp of outrightreaction.We can see the evolution of the big bourgeoisie towardsthe right in the statements of their spokesmen, both onpolitical and economic questions.When troops were sent in to Sebokeng in Septemberlast year, the statement of PFP chairman Colin Eglin wasa typical reflection of the monopoly interests this partyrepresents. He criticised the move as undermining "theeffectiveness of the SADF as a shield against external ag-gression." If the police were inadequate to quell thetownship riots, they should be reinforced for the purpose.(Star, 15/10/84.)

Page 32 of 98 FOR A DEMOCRATIC GEMWU3/7: Mass meeting of Harare Branchrepudiates press statement of 2/5.Members report officials chargingmembers $10 to take up complaints. Of-ficials call police and allege that theBranch meeting was a cover for a politicalmeeting. Chairman of meeting taken forquestioning. Meeting disrupted.5/7: President ordered to report toCentral Intelligence Organisation (CIO)for questioning. CIO allege that membersof GEMWU are being `forced' to join aminority party, and admit that their`evidence' came from an official of theunion. At the same time CIO refuses toinvestigate corruption of union officials.6/7: Assistant General Secretary un-constitutionally dismissed for associatingwith President.14/7: Mass meeting of Harare Branchreceives resolutions from 34 factories call-ing for dismissal of officials. Resolves tosuspend the officials until the NationalCouncil meeting of 21 July.21/7. National Council meets to get ex-planation of press statement and reportof elections. Doors of office locked, andChi= says police have ordered theoffices closed. He refuses to attend themeeting. National Council held in near-by hotel. Police deny ordering officesclosed.National Council resolves that officialsbe dismissed and that keys and books behanded over to the President so officescan be used and books audited. It wasagreed that legal action should be soughtif officials obstruct this decision.23/7: Chimusoro refuses to hand overkeys and books, and produces falseminutes of National Council meeting of28/4.26/7: Legal advice sought and interdictapplied for to put books in hands ofauditor and keys in control of President.Interdict made by judge on 31/7 putsbooks and keys in hands of CourtMessenger.Demonstration9/8: Interdict opposed by Chimusoro'slawyer. Judge returns books and keys toChimusoro as he considers issue toocloudy to decide, but hopes NationalCouncil meeting of 18/8 will resolve thequestions. Employers' Association lawyerassists Chimusoro. Demonstration heldoutside Herald offices to force press toreport on struggle for democratic union.18/8: National Council meetingfrustrated by Chimusoro, who locks of-fices and says an alternative meeting willbe held in Bulawayo. He later calls policeto disperse the delegates. Police told to`expect a disturbance' and order delegatesand members to leave the vicinity of theoffices.20/8: Press statement appears that a`merger' has been agreed between GEM-WU and ZEISWU (a union which splitoff from GEMWU in opposition toChimusoro 's leadership) on the day thatNational Council was meant to have met.Statement promises immediate elections,formation of branches, and a Congress.This `merger' receives support fromZCTU and Department of Labour,whosays they are making arrangements forelections, but workers remain complete-ly in the dark.CampaigningSept: Workers involved in the strugglefor a democratic union meet to form acampaigning body: the Workers' Cam-paign for a Democratic GEMWU. Thecampaign receives support from a numberof Harare, Mutare, Chinoyi and Kwekwefactories. Campaign meetings held todiscuss crisis in union, job grading, sickbenefit schemes etc.13/12: President taken in by CIO forquestioning. They claim to have a reportthat he was organising political meetingsunder cover of the Campaign. He isthreatened with detention.A shocking state of affairs was reveal-ed when Chimusoro boasted that he hadread the CIO report (marked `Secret')which led to the interrogation of BrotherNyamhunga. To the supporters of theCampaign for a Democratic GE MWU, itseems quite clear that the CIO (or sectionsof the CIO) openly supports the currentleadership, and is assisting it by threaten-ing the lives and freedom of workers'leaders who dare to oppose corruption,mismanagement, and a complete lack ofdemocracy in the union.A disgraceful situation now exists in themerged National Engineering WorkersUnion. Thousands of workers haveresigned from the union because of acomplete absence of any defence of theirinterests.Chimusoro now boasts that he hasmanaged to secure the finances of theunion despite these resignations by apply-ing successfully through the NIC for alevy on every engineering worker, whethera trade union member or not!Workers' leaders who have gone to theunion offices to find out what is happen-inghave been assaulted.No elected leadership exists at any level.An `Interim Executive Committee' ofthe `merged' union reportedly has not metsince the merger was announced, and nobranch executive committees exist. Theelections promised in August last yearhave not taken place and there are noplans for them to take place.Officials are now saying that becauseworkers are not joining the `merged'union, no elections are possible!Despite assaults by officials, threats ofdetention by the CIO, and poison pen let-ters to employers suggesting workers'leaders should be dismissed, the Cam-paign continues.The Campaign is demanding electionof branch executive committees, an im-mediate convening of the National Coun-cil thereafter, and a Congress to be heldin March. A meeting is being planned toput these demands to the `Interim Ex-ecutive Committee', but it is obvious thatthe officials will never agree to any formof elections or democratic control unlessa mass campaign is conducted nationally(as is being developed) andinternationally.The Campaign for a Democratic GEM-WU has set as its aims not only improv-ed wages, working conditions, gradingand pensions in engineering, but thebuilding and strengthening of GEMWUon a democratic basis as a weapon of theworkers.We believe that unless the Campaignsucceeds, GEMWU will be destroyed, andthe engineering workers, and theengineering industry in Zimbabwe, willsuffer.The Campaign for a Democratic GEM-WU deserves the support of all whobelieve in genuine trade unionism.ANNUAL REPORT OFGEMWU PRESIDENT1984 has been a difficult year for theengineering workers of Zimbabwe, but ithas also been a year of hope.We have suffered a terrible blow fromthousands of workers being made redun-dant and factories closed. Wages havestood still while prices have risen quickly.Everywhere the workers have had tosuffer the blows from a sick capitalistsystem, which is forcing the workers outof jobs.But 1984 has also been a year of hope.In many factories the workers' commit-tees were able to defend jobs where theleadership was strong. Many more jobscould have been saved, and bankrupt fac-tories taken over by the government, ifonly the union leadership had fought a

Page 33 of 98 Now we have the spectacle of Zac de Beer-this one-time Progressive MP and presently Anglo director, whohas always fancied himself as one of the most civilisedliberal gentlemen in South Africa-calling for the scrap-ping of minimum wages (Rand Daily Mail, 28/2/85).Apparently it is necessary mercilessly to grind the poorinto starvation to avoid South Africa's deterioration in-to a "banana republic".In the past de Beer called for higher minimum wages."Today I am pleading for people to be allowed to workfor any wage, no matter how low, that they are preparedto accept." Otherwise, he said, SA's inflation rate wouldcontinue to be three times that of its major trading part-ners. Previously South Africa was "tolerably pro-sperous" and could afford minimum wages. This is thecase no longer.If other bourgeois liberals today criticise de Beer'sstatement, it is because their hearts are lagging behindtheir heads. Given time, they will catch up.In similar vein, we have the aggressive tactics of the`liberal' Anglo American Corporation managementagainst the National Union of Mineworkers. Afterdismissing 92 union shaft stewards who had beennegotiating with the Vaal Reefs management over variousgrievances, they proceeded to dismiss more than 16 600black mineworkers who went on a protest strike.Riot police were called in with dogs, tear gas and rub-ber bullets, to enforce the deportation of,the workers tothe bantustans and prevent re-occupation of hostels inthe mine compound which the bosses had closed. At leastone miner was reported killed.Although the reinstatement of most of thesemineworkers was negotiated later, many union militantshave been victimised. These tactics of the employers areobviously preparatory manoeuvres for the big confron-tation that is looming in mid-year between the Chamberof Mines and the NUM over the annual wage claim.Attitude to unionsAfter implacable hostility towards trade unions forblack workers, the SA bourgeoisie has retreated in recentyears to a position of grudging toleration of unions-but only under the pressure of tremendous workers' strug-gles and tenacious organising efforts which have broughtthe independent unions to around 500 000 members.Some SA employers have even come to see `virtues'in trade unions, as they enable negotiation to take placeover issues that would otherwise have resulted in suddenexplosions of mass action.But it is necessary to see the process dialectically, andnot imagine that it can develop in a straight line. Still onlya minority of black workers are unionised. As the unionsgrow the workers' sense of power, industrially andpolitically, grows geometrically. It will be impossible forthe SA bourgeoisie to tolerate for any length of time amilitant trade union movement in which the majority ofthe black proletariat is organised.Inevitably, they will resort later to more and more reac-tionary measures against the unions. Nevertheless, theywill not be able to destroy the basis of organisation inthe factories, mines, shops, etc, which has now been laid.Outlook of proletariatThe industrial proletariat is, by its nature, a modernclass, a civilised class. In South Africa the basis of tribalsociety has been destroyed, and irrevocably left behindby the great mass of the working class.Significantly the migrant mineworkers in the NUM nolonger refer to each other as Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho,Tswana, Pedi or Shangaan, etc. "It is just comrade",they say. "The union brings us together."Where sections of SA migrant workers in their con-sciousness and their conduct still manifest tribalism, thisis a shell of the past still to be sloughed off. It reflectsstill the early stage in the awakening of the proletarianmass movement, which in time will draw even the mostbackward sections into common struggle.With the rise of the proletariat has come inevitably therising demand for its full inclusion into civil society, forfull, civil rights equal with the whites. There is no waythat this demand can be diverted for any length of timeby the conspiracies of the ruling class.Because the Africans are the great majority of thepopulation, they do not and cannot seek national libera-tion by the route of separation. The so-called `national',so-called `homelands' constructed for them and impos-ed upon them by the SA government are plainly seen bythe African masses as a device to obstruct their nationalliberation.This will likewise be the fate of all the more elaborateschemes for balkanising the country and dividing up theAfricans so that any `political rights' conceded to themwill have no weight.So long as the African majority do not have the powerto determine by their franchise the shape and composi-tion of the central government of the whole of SouthAfrica, they will continue to attribute every hardship,every suffering, every indignity to that fact. Thereforethey will render unworkable all the `federal' and `con-federal' schemes which may be introduced by the rulingclass in the coming years.The central demand of the South African revolutionis for 'one person-one-vote in an -divided SouthAfrica'. Nothing short of this expresse., the aspiration ofthe African people for national liberation.Against this central democratic demand of the majorityall the powers of resistance of bourgeois society and thestate will be concentrated in future.The movement in South Africa must set as its consciousgoal to overthrow the state, and with it the bourgeoisiewhose property and power that state has been created todefend. Only the black proletariat, its forces united andmobilised to the full, organised, armed and fighting withclear aims and a fully conscious leadership, can drawbehind it all the other strata of oppressed society andcarry this battle through to victory.But a victorious proletarian revolution-breaking thepower of the bourgeoisie, disarming and dismantling thebourgeois state machine-can create in the place of thatnothing other than a new state built upon the organisa-

Page 34 of 98 campaign to defend the industry.In other factories where workers metin study circles, there were successfulcampaigns to win benefits like propercanteens, recognition of workers' com-mittees and Christmas bonuses. In thesefactories many workers were saved fromvictimisation and redundancy.The tragedy was that officials in GEM-WU did nothing to assist defend the jobsin engineering.A trade union is a defence organisationof the workers, and every redundancyshould have been fought to the finish. In-stead we have had the terrible situationwhere union officials have signed redun-dancy forms without even telling theworkers what they were doing.No struggleWorkers have been charged $10 by of-ficials for complaints to be handled, butnothing is done. There has not been onestruggle against redundancies which hasbeen actively supported by union of-ficials. As a result workers have resignedfrom the union in their thousands.The Department of Labour also hasdone nothing to assist the struggle to de-fend jobs. It is not surprising that theMinister of Labour, Comrade Shava, hasreported that some 54 officials of theDepartment of Labour have resigned.These officials, especially those at the top,have been given jobs with fat salaries inthe big companies.Many workers feel that those who haveremained are in the bosses' pockets, andunless workers elect strong leaders tomake sure that their union is truly inworkers' hands, 1985 may meet the worst.All this has reflected badly on theleadership of our union.By rights, the workers are the bossesof the union, and yet they find that thereare no financial reports, job grading hasnot been changed, and their jobs andskills are not defended, let alone transfer-red from Paterson plan to classes 1,2,3and 4.This year there has been a crisis in theleadership and a strong struggle to putpower back in the hands of the members.Instead of the officials obeying the in-structions of the workers, there has beena fight between members and officials.When the leaders were suspended after aresolution was passed by 34 factories inHarare Branch on 14 July 1984, theyrefused to obey the workers' decision.This decision was confirmed by aMeeting of the National Council ofGEM WU held on 21 July 1984, whichauthorised action to be taken to imple-ment its decisions.Instead of appearing at these meetingsand obeying the instructions of theworkers, the officials refused to attendand ignored these decisions. Every effortwas tried by the National Council to getthe decisions carried out.Eventually the National Council wasforced to take legal action. Although weknow that judges are not known forfavouring the workers and the poor, legalaction was taken on 26 July 1984 to getthe union office keys in the hands of theworkers, and the finance books in thehands of an auditor. Legal action was nottaken to put officials in prison!All the National Council wanted wasto have the power to carry out its deci-sions and let the union defend the in-dustry from employer domination.As many workers now know, thedemocratic decisions of the union werefrustrated by clever lawyers employed bythe officials. These lawyers did not defendthe way the union is being run. But theystirred up so much mud that the judgecould not make up his mind about whowas right without a full trial.The workers had no money for alongtrial, and the officials got the keys andbooks back. No meeting of the NationalCouncil has been held since then.Instead, the offices were locked and noworkers allowed in. On 18 August 1984no meeting could take place because ofthreats by police called by the officialsand the offices being locked. Insteadworkers read on 20 August that a mergerof GEMWU and ZEISWU had takenplace in Kwe Kwe that day!No electionsElections were promised for GEMWUwhich was now to be called the NationalEngineering Workers Union, but up tothis d"dy no elections have been held.Workers! Do not be confused by theseevents! Keep in mind the followingpoints:* No executive committee exists in theengineering industry;* There are no financial accounts to showhow the money of the workers has beenspent;* Trade union officials are not defendingthe workers against the bosses.In order to put the struggle fordemocracy and decent conditions on anorganised basis, the Campaign for aDemocratic GEMWU was formed inSeptember. The Campaign has alreadygot support from factories in Harare,Mutare, Chinoyi and Kwe Kwe, and israising money also to pay for the courtcase last July.Late last December a meeting was heldbetween myself and Brother Chimusoroin the presence of Brother Mawere of theAgricultural Union, to try and revive ourunion. I did not give the whole history ofthe struggle, but asked for the followingpoints:* That branch elections be held in everytown in January;* That a congress of the union should becalled by March;* That the finances should be checked byan auditor.Chimusoro said that he thought themain problem was the struggle amongworkers, and not between himself and theworkers!DissatisfiedHe did not want to agree to any pointsbut said that the leaders of the workerswho were dissatisfied with the way theunion is, should meet his `Interim Ex-ecutive Committee'. This was agreed on.We are now trying to arrange a date onwhich delegates from many Harare fac-tories, from Chinoyi, Kwe Kwe, Mutareand other industrial towns can meet withthis `Interim Executive Committee'. Thedelegates will be demanding firm dates forbranch elections, the National Council,and a congress of the union.At the same time we will be demandingthat the books of the union be audited sothat the workers can find out just whathas happened to their subscriptions.Workers may have seen in thenewspapers of 14 January 1985 that threenew agreements have been negotiated inthe engineering industry. The workersknow nothing of agreements and we hearthat one of them is an agreement to takea levy (a deduction) from every workerin the industry to. support the union,whether they are members of the NationalEngineering Workers Union or not. .Workers must voice their strongest pro-test against this.Workers! Do not believe the story thatthe problems of the engineering union arebetween two individuals.The supporters of the Campaign aredemanding:* An immediate increase in wages to $150a month, fair grading and good wages forskilled workers;* h[o redundancies;* Nationalisation of bankrupt companies;* 40 hour week;* A national pension scheme underworkers' control.These are demands every worker in theindustry supports; the problem is that theofficials are not prepared to fight forthese demands.Workers unite to fight against exploita-tion, and for a democratic engineeringunion!S.N. NYAMHUNGAPresident18 January 1985

Page 35 of 98 tions and armed power of the proletariat itself. Thatmeans a workers' state.Then and then alone will the democratic revolution inSouth Africa triumph-through the establishment of aregime of workers' democracy which, from the veryoutset will be obliged to take into its hands the owner-ship and control of the main means of production andcarry through, together with the democratic transforma-tion of society, the first steps in its socialist transforma-tion also.Reform, reactionand civil warFor most of this century the policy of the SAbourgeoisie, in all its conflicting sections, has been deter-mined above all by the need to control the rising blackindustrial proletariat.White domination and racial segregation has, ofcourse, been characteristic of South Africa since colonialconquest. The relationship of master and servant, andthe separation of the European settlers and administratorsfrom the native people under them, was typical of Britishand indeed all colonial rule-in Africa, in the MiddleEast, in India, in semi-colonial China, etc.However, in South Africa, there has been the erectionof this unparalleled state structure of white minoritydomination, under which South Africa moved to self-government and state independence, and which has beensystematically developed as apartheid during the long ruleof the National Party government since 1948.That development was not accidental, nor has the crea-tion of the apartheid system merely been the product offanatical racist theories of the Afrikaners-which is theway it has been presented by the liberals, and by theStalinists, who have no understanding of (and do not wishto understand) the way in which apartheid and capitalismare inseparably bound together.Although the liberal bourgeoisie always objected to theapartheid policies of the Afrikaner nationalists, they hadlaid all the foundations for that policy under their UnitedParty and other earlier regimes of white domination andsegregation-reserves, pass laws, etc. Moreover, by 1948they could offer no convincing alternative policy to dealwith the black proletariat flooding into the urban areasas the result of the industrialisation of SA.When apartheid appeared to `work', they basicallyreconciled themselves to it. At the same time they havebeen able to maintain the luxury of `opposition', disclaim-ing all responsibility for the horrors and atrocities of theregime-the inevitable outcome of their exploitativesystem which it is the state's foremost business to defend.The rigidity of the system in SA, and the fact that thesame apartheid regime has been in power without inter-ruption for 37 years, is an expression of how limited arethe alternatives available to bourgeois society for thedefence of capitalism.The tremendous drawn-out mass struggles of the 1950swere a demonstration that a qualitatively new stage hadbeen reached in the rise of the urban proletariat, and inits struggle for political rights. Even with the minimumof real organisation, it constituted a revolutionarychallenge to the ruling class and to the state system.By this we do not mean that all the conditions necessaryfor a successful revolution had matured in the 1950s. Thepoint is that the working-class movement demonstrateda revolutionary character, and was moving in actiontowards revolutionary conclusions. This was understoodby the ruling class.It is for this reason that the movement was met by theturn of the regime to massacre, to mass arrests and therepression of all the mass-based organisations of the blackpeople.In the 1950s, as Ingaba has explained in issue No. 13,the Stalinist and middle-class leadership of the Congressmovement totally failed to appreciate the class issues thatwere at stake in the struggle for democracy. Thus, whilebasing themselves on the mass movement, they repeatedlycrippled it by calling off effective actions and rushing tomake `peace' with the liberal bourgeoisie.Their belief was that the ruling class was fundamen-tally split between its racist and liberal fractions, and thatby encouraging the liberals- and not `frightening themaway'-it would be possible to turn state policy in SAtowards a programme of democratic changes. Thus, lit-tle by little, the African majority would gain its rights.They failed utterly to understand that the wholebourgeoisie was inevitably driven by the spectre ofworking-class power to demand a strong government andvigorous repressive measures against the mass movementwhenever it began to gain a sense of its own potentialstrength.Liberal deceptionThe liberal capitalists, being more sophisticated (hanthe crude racist right-wing, simultaneously employedmeasures of deception against the movement-cultivatinghopes that reforms could be undertaken `if only' themasses refrained from violence and waited upon thegenerosity of their masters instead of making 'impossi-ble demands'.As always, the liberal bourgeoisie relied upon thefoolish sincerity of bishops and humanitarian do-goodersof all kinds to convey this impression to the masses. Theseworthies employed as their conduit the CP and Congressleaders who were always falling over themselves for signsof favour from this quarter of official society. Having

Page 36 of 98 Interview with two ofthe d eporbed comrades0 David Hemson, who was de-tained in Harare, says:"I've been involved in the tradeunion struggle in South Africa and Ihad the knock on the door there, andnow the same experience in Zim-babwe. There is a difference ofcourse-one is under a white regimeand one a black regime-but thesecurity forces in both countries aredefending the rights of property, thecapitalist system itself, against theworkers.Cowboy attitude"The attitude of the CIO was ex-tremely hostile. There is a cowboyattitude-reeking of privilege andrepression. They have complete con-tempt for ordinary people, askinghow can 1, as an educated man,associate with these `povo'. They'revery proud of their walkie-talkies andall their paraphenalia of power. Theyare the mainstay of the regime. Theyknow the difference between thepublic `socialist' rhetoric of thegovernment and what they are enfor-du as the government's real policy."In Harare, they tortured com-rades quite badly-beatings, and inone case electric shocks. The mainway they softened up people beforequestioning was to hold them downand pour water into their mouthswhile holding their noses closed, andjump on them, forcing them tobreathe in the water."In the police cells and again in-side Chikurubi maximum securityprison there was a very warm recep-tionfor us from other prisoners."In prison we taught classes. Manypeople, especially the youth, wereformer guerillas. They had sacrific-ed everything during the war to winagainst Smith. Many started off asguerillas at 15 or 16 years old and arenow 24-25 years old after havingspent all their time in the struggle orin prison under Smith. Now they arein prison under Mugabe without hav-ing been tried or convicted."Some are trade unionists. One ofthe ZAPU stalwarts had spent 13years under Smith and virtually sinceindependence only one year out ofdetention. This is the bleak outlookthey faced when they'd given theirblood to free their country.."The situation in Zimbabwe is achallenge to the SA independentunions. It shows what happens toworkers if they are not involved indetermining a government, a state,and actually controlling that state.Build links"We feel it is essential for SAworkers to have links, not so muchwith the trade union leadership inZimbabwe (at which many SAworkers would be quite aghast)-theworst is outright gangster unionismunder the thumb of the state-but tobuild up links in the factories, for ex-ample AECI and Dunlops."Zimbabwe workers are facing aheavy burden under the governmentwhich should have brought them fullfreedom and all the materialadvances-jobs, houses, education,instead of the dead-end workers feelled into. From these links they cangain the confidence the workers havegot in South Africa and the unionscan be built and transformed."Now the regime thinks it hassmashed the voice of Marxism inZimbabwe, but in the future they willhave to eat their words."0 Darcy du Toit, who was de-tained in KweKwe, says:"We came off fairly lightly whenyou look at people who have spentmonths in solitary confinement, peo-ple who have been detained for threeyears, people who've had their teethknocked out and covered with elec-tric burns."The question is why we got off soeasily. Most of our comrades werereleased within two weeks, and all ofus within seven. They could have keptus there forever. It is obvious that theregime is totally opposed to our ideasand what we stand for."Probably the most important fac-tor isthe international support we gotfrom the labour movement. We werevery much heartened by the reportswe got of the messages of support, inparticular from SA trade unions. Wethink it is really magnificent for theSA unions to see the issues so clearlyin class terms and to have no hesita-tion in seeing which side representstheir interests, and to say to this in-dependent black government: `Weprotest against you detaining tradeunionists in Zimbabwe.' That is thereal spirit of internationalism whichvindicates what we stand for."The conditions in the cells inKwekwe were identical to what theyhad been under Ian Smith. Allprisoners, with very few exceptions,were being mistreated with somehorrible tortures. There the CIOspecialised in beating people on thefeet, using what they called rubber`candlesticks', little rubber rods."In one case a man's feet were laidopen, with flesh hanging out, swollento twice their normal size. He wasabandoned there to sit in a two-metrepool of blood with flies gatheringaround the wound. He was not givenany treatment. When we objectedand offered to bandage his feetourselves, the police refused, sayingit was none of their business as it wasa CIO case and they dare not touchit."Eventually after 4-5 days he wasfinally treated. That man was accus-ed of not reporting dissidents.Although others were detained andbeaten for having reported dissidents!"We were up to ten to a cell withseldom more than three sleeping bagsto share. The blankets were infestedwith lice."A complete social revolution willbe needed to begin to change thesehorrors of colonial society which the

Page 37 of 98 not a revolutionary but a reformist outlook, these leaderswere keen to take the counterfeit promises of the liberalsat their face value and pass them on to the mass move-ment as good coin.Barely a year before the Sharpeville massacre, theCommunist Party's leading theoretician published an ar-ticle in which he asserted that South Africa could be oneof those "examples in history" where a democratictransformation of society could take place withoutviolence; where, by a combination of other means the rul-ing class could be compelled to "give way for urgent andoverdue changes, without dragging the people throughthe agony of civil war." (Africa South, January-March1959.)if this was the `theory' of the 'Communists'-imaginethe hopelessly confused outlook of the middle-class Con-gress leadership in general. Nor did the PAC leadership,which split from Congress with an ostensibly more radicalposture, have any clearer an idea.Unfortunately, in a serious class struggle, even the mostoutstanding and necessary qualities of personalcourage-which have not only been present in abundancein the fighting rank-and-file, but have characterised manyof the movement's leaders then and since-cannotsubstitute for clarity of understanding, perspectives andstrategy.Thus the mass movement was unprepared for thesavage wave of reaction on the part of the state whichopened with the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March 1960.There followed a decade of dark reaction in which everyimaginable form of oppression and segregation was in-troduced, tightened and refined.Even the trade union organisations of the Africanworkers were eliminated-not banned formally, buteliminated in reality. The cause of this lay mainly, thoughnot solely, in the arrests and bannings carried out by thestate. In a disastrous move, with complete blindness, theCP and ANC leadership took the best working-classcadres with them into exile, with the notion of waginga guerilla war along the lines of Algeria.Now, with the Nkomati agreement between SA andMozambique, the leadership's guerilla strategy-whichwas always based on false premises-has been more clear-ly exposed than ever before as the blind alley which Marx-ists have always pointed out it would be.But the main factor which gave strength to the reac-tion of the 1960s was the long upswing in the develop-ment of capitalism. However, as capitalism grew, so allthe more rapidly grew its future gravedigger, the blackworking class.In the early 1970s there was the revival once again ofthe working-class movement. This revival was spear-headed not by the exiled CP, ANC or PAC leaders (whoin fact, after going into exile, had turned their back onthe working class and denied that anything could genuine-ly be done in South Africa at that time), but by the in-dependent initiatives of rank-and-file militants at home.This, in fact, is what has given the reawakened move-ment its enormous revolutionary vitality. Of historic im-portance has been the building of the working-classorganisations by the workers and youth themselves, nolonger dependent as in the past upon petty-bourgeoisleaders for every instruction, for permission to do thisand permission to do that.The revival was heralded by the black student move-ment under the banner of `black consciousness' from thelate 1960s. Then followed the industrial strike wave inNatal and the Transvaal, and on the mines, in 1973, '74and '75. There was the beginning of the rebuilding of in-dependent trade unions.Then came the youth revolt of 1976-beginning withthe Soweto uprising. Following that were the politicalgeneral strikes in 1976 and '77, but so far without realorganisation underlying them.Now the systematic building of trade unions has ad-vanced to the point where half a million African workersare organised in unions under their own control. The useof the school strike has been developed as a tactic of theblack working-class youth-to the point where, in August1984, the number boycotting schools reached a peak ofone million. In the black townships there have been thetremendous mass struggles over rents, over fare increases,and so on, during the past few years.The mass movement taking place today is absolutelyunparalleled in its depth, its strength and its sweep. Eventhe lulls over the last ten years can be seen in retrospectas pauses for the catching of breath. For the first timeit has begun to take on a fully nationwide character, ex-tending from Pretoria to East London, from the Capeto Natal, from Vereeniging to formerly sleepyGrahamstown, from Uitenhage to isolated Beaufort-West.The township and youth struggles draw strength fromand in turn reinforce the strike movement of the workers.In 1984, despite the deep recession, South Africa hadits record year for strikes. According to governmentfigures, 378000 worker-days were lost in 469 strikes. Butthese figures cover only the 180 000 workers involved inaction over industrial disputes. The figures do not includethe 800 000 or more workers who took part in the two-day Transvaal general strike in November-the most im-portant political strike in the history of Africa, and thehigh point of the movement so far in the way it combin-ed the organised actions of workers and youth.A qualitative new stage was reached also in 1984 whenthe newly-formed National Union of Mineworkers (thenonly two years old and already with some 80 000members), confronted the Chamber of Mines with thefirst organised strike action on the mines since 1946.Skillful tactics by the NUM forced a climb-down by theChamber, and gave the union a partial victory in a situa-tion where it was extremely dangerous to launch an all-out strike for which they were not yet adequatelyprepared. Now an even bigger confrontation with theChamber looms.Character of the stateThroughout the past decade, the state has continuedto show its murderous character as the armed instrumentfor the preservation of ruling-class `power and propertyagainst the black proletariat. The massacres of the youthin 1976, in which possibly a thousand were slaughtered;the repeated police shootings and other brutalities againstmineworkers in struggle; the Sharpeville-Day massacrein Uitenhage this year-these are only the most outstan-

Page 38 of 98 Smith regime and the Britishestablished. To their shame the pre-sent government has done nothing toimprove things."We were questioned in officeswhich did not have books or pens ly-ing around, but instruments of tor-ture on the shelves. Some comradeswere beaten, but not the whites. Themorale of all the comrades in deten-tion was high. At night there wassinging of the Chimurenga ZANUsongs, as well as socialist songs, likethe "Red Flag.""In Chikurubi what struck me wasthe morale among the detaineesdespite the really terrible experiencesmost of them had been through.Many of them could have no hope ofany release because they had beenthere for years. Every six months itis back to the tribunal for the rubberstamp for another six months' deten-tion, and so on indefinitely.Organised"The detainees had organisedthemselves well. They'd organised aschool. In an organised way theywould take up their grievances andproblems with the prison authoritiesand send delegations to discuss theproblems they had and puttingpressure on the Minister."We are very worried about someof our comrades who have beenreleased-particularly some of thelocal ZANU(PF) leaders in KweKwe.We have reports that not only thosewho were detained but many otherswho were seen as sympathetic to theideas of Marxism have been paradedin front of mass meetings and false-ly denounced as `Super-ZAPU' ter-rorists. In the Midlands this is an in-vitation to gangs of the YouthBrigades to visit their homes to beatthem up, to set their houses on fire,to even kill them."We've heard they are being con-stantly humiliated and attacked. Ithink that shows the total hostility ofthe pro-capitalist leadership towardsthe rank-and-file."If news reaches us of further vlc-timisations there will be more protestsand the government will not get awaywith this kind of thing. We want thecomrades to know they will be vin-dicated in the.eyes of the workingclass."Workersinternationallyprotest detentions- but right-wingbacks MugabeNews of the detentions broughtwidespread protest from the labourmovement internationally-fromtrade union and party branches, shopstewards, left-wing trade unionleaders and parliamentarians, and insome cases from the leading bodiesof the mass organisations. Lettersand telegrams went to the Zimbab-wean authorities from South Africa,from Britain, from other majorEuropean countries and the UnitedStates, and from further afield.Immediate pickets and demonstra-tions were mounted in London,Bonn, Brussels, Copenhagen,Stockholm and Dublin.The list opposite, supplied by theZimbabwe Trade Unionists Defencecampaign which was formed tomobilise m support of the detaineesand of trade union and democratic"As an active member of theLabour Movement in this country Idid attend a number of rallies overthe years in respect of politicalfreedom and democratic rights forZimbabwe workers and we expectedthat any incoming government wouldsupport basic trade union rights andpolitical freedom in complete distinc-tion to the odious policies that werecarried out by the Smith regime..."Such actions that have recentlytaken place can only be a severe blowto the aspirations of working peopleinternationally and particularly tothose committed brothers and sisterswho are struggling in their countriesagainst exploitation."-Bill Connor, National Officer, andcandidate for General Secretary, ofUSDAW, Britain.rights in Zimbabwe, gives an impres-sion of the extent of the protest.The capitalist press in South Africaand internationally was taken abackby the scale of the protest. Comingfrom the organised labour move-ment, this far exceeded the interna-tional outcry against the Zimbabweregime's brutalities in Matabeleland.The SA press in particular notedthat the voice of Marxism was beingraised in the Zimbabwe workers'movement-in opposition to a so-called "Marxist-Leninist" regime."Mugabe hauls in exiles from SA"In reponse to one picket, Zimbab-wean officials were quite blatant .about the class interests they weredefending. Belgian Young Socialistsprotesting outside the Zimbabwe Em-bassy in Brussels were told by thoseinside: "So, you are young socialists.Well, we are young capitalists."headlined a report in the Johan-nesburg Star (25/3/85), whichhighlighted the detentions of DavidHemson and Darcy du Toit.It noted that Hemson had been a"key figure in organising black tradeunions in Natal in the mid-1970s",and had been "suspended from theANC" for favouring "a class-basedrevolutionary outlook." He was,they claimed, one of the founder-members of the Marxist Workers'Tendency of the ANC."In Marxist terms", the report ex-plained, "it is the proletariat, or wagelabouring class, which should be themain driving force in a socialistrevolution.""But in Zimbabwe", it continued,,,the trade unions have been in disar-

Page 39 of 98 ding of the horrors perpetrated daily against the blackworking people. This is the reality which the mass ofblack people face.It would be the most serious mistake, in any perspec-tive on future developments in South Africa, to lose sightfor an instant of the nature of the SA state as a for-midable, ruthlessly engineered killing machine uponwhich the whole ruling class relies for its preservation.The capitalist class is fully conscious of the need to haveat its disposal effective, organised `armed bodies ofmen'-in short, a powerful state apparatus-to holddown the working class. It can never agree to weaken,let alone dispense with, this apparatus.Nevertheless, the inability of the ruling class now tohold down and cow the movement by repression aloneis every day demonstrated-in the townships, in the fac-tories, and by the militant youth. This fact has propelledat least the major section of capital to seek the road ofso-called `reform'.It is important not to dismiss as irrelevant or minimisethe significance of the shifts in the policy of the rulingclass that are taking place. But their importance lies main-ly in bringing to light the essential bankruptcy of thebourgeoisie's position; the underlying splits that begin totear them apart; and the contribution that these changesmake towards emboldening the mass movement, therebystirring to action more and more of the social forces ofthe revolution.Nature of 'reform' strategyIt would be utterly naive to see in these `reforms' thebeginning of a progression towards genuine democraticrights for the black majority; to think that from thesebeginnings can come an evolutionary transformation ofsociety, or transformation in the character of the state.The important thing to understand is that the `reform'policies of the bourgeoisie represent a development in itsstrategy of counter-revolution-to be combined with allthe repressive forces available to it, and with the purposeof buying time for capitalism by diverting the proletariatfrom revolutionary goals.Although today's `reforms' are said to be directedagainst the failed policies of Verwoerd, in a sense it wasVerwoerd who pioneered `reform' as a counter-revolutionary measure against the African people. Putforward as a supposed `alternative' to naked witbaasskap, his policy was to create so-called `self-governing' bantustans as an `outlet' for African politicalaspirations.The tribal bantustan policy was originated in the 1950sprecisely in response to the rising movement of thedetribalised urban black proletariat.Now, because the mass movement has flooded over theramparts of the sand-castle erected by Verwoerd, the rul-ing class rushes to find new means of diverting, dividingand obstructing the proletariat.If the SABC now refers to Verwoerd's conceptions as"nonsense" it is only because the regime and ruling classnow need new methods to accomplish essentially the sameclass aims.As already explained, it is impossible for the ruling classto concede a genuinely democratic constitution: one-person-one-vote in an undivided South Africa. That can-not be achieved this side of the overthrow of thebourgeoisie; this side of the victory of the proletarianrevolution.Horror of horrors to the bourgeoisie is the fact thatthe black workers and youth in the forefront of the strug-gle naturally and immediately combine their democraticdemands with the stated aim of taking into commonownership the means of production.Recent opinion polls, contrived to show a `majority'of blacks opposed to nationalisation, scarcely convincethe ruling class which uses them as propaganda againstsocialism. The answer given in opinion polls dependslargely on how the questions are posed, who poses them,and in what circumstances they are posed. Apparentlymost blacks would even be opposed to nationalisationunder a future `black government'!But once the hitherto passive layers of the black work-ing class are themselves stirred to action; once the ad-vanced workers and youth explain clearly to the wholemovement the realities of monopoly power in SA, explainthe real causes of the poverty of the working people, andexpound a programme of revolution through which themain productive forces and resources are taken into thecommon ownership of the people under democraticworkers' control and management-then there would bea tidal wave of support for that idea.Already in the 1950s, the Freedom Charter, under thepressure of the advanced workers, proclaimed as its goalthe common ownership of the mines, banks and monopo-ly industries, together with the expropriation andredistribution of the land. This was seen as a necessaryfoundation for democratic change.If that was the understanding then, what is theunderstanding now?At the launching of the UDF in August 1983, at a massgathering attended overwhelmingly by working-classblack people, the most enthusiastic response, greeted byfive minutes of applause, chanting and revolutionarysongs, was for a speaker who called for the working classto take power in South Africa and take into commonownership the productive forces.In November 1984 one of the leaders of the Transvaalgeneral strike, Thami Mali, and another militant SiphiweThusi, spelled out the same view in an interview with aJohannesburg journalist:"I (Graham Watts-the reporter) ask what it is they want.Is it one-man-one-vote in a unitary SA? Yes, but that's notenough. It must be a `workers' state' based on the principlesof the Freedom Charter, which they call `a set of minimumdemands'. The Freedom Charter is ... all about how `thepeople shall govern' and how the land `shall belong to allthose who work it '. So you want a socialist SA? `Exactly.' "(Sunday F_xpress, 11/11/84.)What is understood now by the advanced active layerof the masses will be understood and communicated intime to come to the masses as a whole. An awareness of.this has already struck into the marrow of the bourgeoisie.Thus they wail in the press that the blacks do notunderstand the `laws of economics'-which means theydo not care about the need of the employers to make aprofit. They have `no stake' in the free enterprise system.

Page 40 of 98 ray for years... There have been ac-cusations of corruption and misuse ofunion funds... What role, if any,Hemson and du Toit have been play-ing in trade union affairs in Zim-babwe had not been made clear. Butit seems there is a suspicion that anoverlap of trade union activities intothe political sphere was at the root ofthe detentions..."...it is said that Hemson and duToit had been taken in for question-Labour movementprotestThe following list of protests againstthe detentions of trade unionists andsocialists by the Zimbabwe govern-ment contains only those about whichinformation was received by the Zim-babwe Trade Unionists Defence Cam-paign. Indications are that several timesthis number of protests were mounted.SOUTH AFRICA:From unions in different federations,including the National Union ofMineworkers.BRITAIN:Trade unions: Trade UnionCouncil; General Secretary, BIFU; Na-tional Communications Union; GeneralSecretary, NUPE; General Secretary,NALGO; National Executive, TGWU;TUC Women's Conference: petitionwith 98 signatures, from members of31 trade unions;Kevin Mullins, NEC, COHSE; NECmember, Fire Brigades Union;W.J.Connor, National Officer,USDAW;AUEW: Ashton-under-Lyne DistrictCommittee; North London DistrictCommittee; Manchester North DistrictCommittee; Divisional Organiser, No.1 1; Keighley No. 6, West Yorkshire;Lincoln 15; Ryde, Isle of Wight;AU EW-TASS: No. 10 Division,Salford Branch;APEX: Brighton;ASTMS: Brighton;Shipping;COHSE: Pinderfields Branch,CPSA. Blackpool; Brighton. Con-troller of Stamps, Cardiff; LondonNorth; DHSS Branch Executivemember, Poole; office representative,Poole;GMBATU: Cambridge 2 Branch,Senior shop steward, Hamworthyengineering, Poole;NALGO: Knowsley, Liverpool;NGA: Liverpool;NUM: St John's Lodge;NUPE: Poole Health District Branch;Tower Hamlets Health District Branch;NUT: Poole branch secretary;TGWU: Sussex District Committee;1 /1647 International Hotel and Cater-ingWorkers' Union; 6/897 LancashireWest; members at Metal Box, Poole;members at Millers Pie, Poole;LiverpoolTrades Councils: Edinburghand District; Keighley;Joint Shop StewardsCouncil: Hackney; London Bridge.Labour Members of Parlia-ment: Early day motion mov-d byDave Nellist and seconded by ErnieRoberts, sponsored also by TerryFields, Tony Benn, Joan Maynard, MaxMadden, Robert Parry, Allan Rogers,Allan Roberts, Tony Lloyd, Jeremy Cor-byn, Bob Clay, Peter Pike, John D.Taylor, Gerald Bermingham, Ted Gar-rett, Martin Flannery, Eddie Loyden,Terry Patchett, R. Kilroy-Silk, HarryCohen; Bill Richie; Martin Redmond;Labour Parties: National Ex-ecutive; NW Region annual conference;Manchester District City LP's; ArmleyCLP, Leeds; Blakely CLP, Manchester;Briggs and Cleethorpe (Humberside);Brighton Kemptown CLP; BrightonPavilion CLP; Bristol CLP; Chorley lLan-cashire); Dingle ward (Liverpool);Gill-ss ward (Liverpool); HackneySouth CLP; Heywood and MiddletonCLP; Hove CLP; Maesteg ward (SouthWales); Moorside (Newcastle); OxfordEast GMC (petition with 62signatures); Peckham CLP; Poole CLP;Riverside (Liverpool) CLP; Selby ward;Shipley CLP; Stafford Labour Party;Westdene ward (London);Labour Party Women'sSections: Manchester Women'sCouncil; Bootle; Chorley; Gorton;Labour Party YoungSocialists: National Executive; S.West and Wales National Committeemembers; at least seven branches;BELGIUM:Socialist trade union federation;Young Socialists National Committee;CANADA:Teaching staff support union;CYPRUS:Socialist Party members;DENMARK:Aarhus Dockworkers Union;Building apprentices, Copenhagen;Bricklayers union, Aarhus, Apprenticeschool members, Aalborg,Copenhagen; petition of 60 signaturescollected on labour movementdemonstration, Aarhus.FRANCE:CFDT (Socialist trade union federa-tion); CFDT, St Denis area;GREECE:PASOK (Socialist Party) members;Presidents of Ambulance Workers'Union, Michalisis Factory WorkersUnion, Velka Factory Workers Union;Executive members of Softex FactoryWorkers Union, Berkshire FactoryWorkers Union, Olympic AirwaysStewards Union, National Bank ofGreece Workers Union.HOLLAND:FNV (Socialist trade union federa-tion); General Secretary, PvdA (LabourParty);IRELAND(South) Irish Distributive and Allied!Trade Union; Irish Labour Party; IrishLabour Youth; (North) Derry TradesCouncil;PORTUGAL:Oporto District Young Socialists;SPAINPSOE committees, Campanillas,Malaga;SWEDEN;Swedish Council Workers Union,Section 14, Stockholm; SwedishMetalworkers Union; 10-15 other pro-test letters from labour movementrepresentatives;UNITED STATES:American Federation of State, Coun-ty and Municipal Employees, Local444, District Council 57, California;United Auto Workers, District 65,Boston.(Footnote: SACTU leaders in exile, ap-proached by the Campaign to protestthe detentions, stated that they "didnot interfere in the domestic affairs ofother countries.")Continued support and donatic. sneeded by Zimbabwe TradeUnionists Defence Campaign, c/o28 Martello St., London E8.

Page 41 of 98 Need to change race systemThe racial system which stabilised South Africancapitalism in the past has now turned dialectically intoa source of tremendous revolutionary conflict and of ir-reconcilable class struggle.The bourgeoisie is compelled to try to move away fromthat racial system.For economic and political reasons, the big capitalistswould like to be rid of apartheid altogether and rule onthe basis of a `non-racial' dictatorship. They dream ofbeing able to break up the black proletariat, politicallyand geographically, and hold it down by a combinationof state repression and a formally `non-racial' but essen-tially undemocratic constitutional system incorporatingblack middle-class leaders. But dreams are one thing;facts are another.The ruling class is unable to move decisively away fromthe racist system precisely because they would be unableto stabilise their rule on any other basis.When, in decades past, the advance of their economicsystem and the relative weakness of the proletariat wouldhave provided more room for constitutional reforms, theyrevelled under the racist dictatorship, greedily squeezingevery drop of profit out of the oppressed black workersthat they could. Now when they need to change theirmethod of rule-when they have no alternative but tochange-change is no longer a workable alternative.Botha, speaking for the capitalist class, dezlared thatit was necessary to "adapt or die". But in fact "adaptand die" will turn out to be the reality for capitalism.The sickness of their economic system on the one hand,which necessitates material counter-reforms against themasses, and the accumulated power of the black work-ing class, on the other hand, is what makes revolutiona certainty.This is why, alongside all the talk of `reform', the realpolitical changes remain so measly, so miserly, so ob-viously anti-democratic in purpose, while repression bythe state forces is all the time stepped up.Still the challenge from below forces the capitalists totry to go further in the direction of political reform ofthe system-much, much further. But, having no con-fidence in any reform, finding their predicament at everystep worse than it was before, they must again and againrecoil from it, all the time increasing the savagery ofrepression. Finding themselves in complete disarray, andwith the dawning awareness that there is no viable wayout for them, the ruling class will again and again splitunder the hammer-blows of the mass movement.It has taken the regime more than ten years to movefrom the policies of Verwoerd to the present policies ofBotha-and even that has necessitated a split of the rul-ing party. This is an expression of the difficulties facingthe ruling class.The fate of Botha's new constitutional scheme of racial,parliaments' for the whites, coloured and Indians, showsthe fate that awaits future manoeuvres of the ruling classwhich do not go (because they cannot go) to the root ofthe masses' demand for real political power.It is clear that Botha turned to this new constitutionwith essentially four aims: firstly to incorporate the col-oured and Indian middle classes into the system to rein-force white supremacy; secondly to divide blacks againsteach other by drawing Indians and coloureds to the sideof the whites; thirdly to construct a bonapartist executivewith tremendous powers, more able flexibly to manoeuvrebetween the racial groups and the classes and less tieddown directly by the control of the white parliament; andfourthly, to provide a basis from which he could con-duct further experiments in the direction of some politicalrights for Africans.From beginning to end there has been nothingdemocratic about it.The structure of the new constitution ensures that thatparty which has majority support amongst the whites con-trols the Presidency and the whole system. The colouredand Indian `parliaments' are permitted to look after theirso-called `own affairs'. The President's Council,dominated by the whites and the nominees of thebonapartist President, decides everything of `general'significance.But even on the basis of this undemocratic bonapar-tist structure, they could not afford to have a `parliament'for Africans. The reason is obvious: if 73010 of the popula-tion were permitted to elect their `parliament', what possi-ble moral pretext could the white minority advance forretaining overall control in the structure?Any form of directly elected parliament for the Africanmajority would threaten to become a focus of even moreexplosive discontent against the rule of the presentgovernment. Coming up against the concrete obstacle ofthe white-based state machine, unable for that reason andbecause of the limitations of capitalism to carry throughany of the essential material changes demanded by themasses, it could only have the effect of spurring on therevolutionary struggle for a complete overturn of the statepower.Policy of divisionIt is impossible for the ruling class to concede direcirepresentation to the Africans, at the level of centralgovernment, in proportion to their numbers. Therefore,essential to the bourgeois strategy is the maintenance andextension of tribal and local divisions-and the break-ing up of SA for political reasons.Yet this is bound to be rejected by the increasingly con-scious black working class-masses, demanding their na-tional and social emancipation.The coloured and Indian `elections' in 1984 were metby a tremendously successful boycott. In the colouredelections less than 20010 of the 18-year-olds and abovevoted. In the working-class townships less than 1001ovoted. A similar thing happened in the Indian elections.What was especially significant was that the tradeunions came forward, alongside the UDF, and theorganised African workers played a leading role togetherwith the youth in approaching coloured and Indianworking-class families in their homes and canvassing forthe boycott.The result is that no thread of respectability attaches

Page 42 of 98 "The Oporto YS joins its voice andsolidarity to the international labourmovement for the unconditionalliberation of the 15 trade unionistsimprisoned, who are members ofMugabe's own party, ZANU(PF),that committed the "crime" of op-posing the one-party-state dictator-ship and "accusing" the Mugabegovernment of batraying socialistideals."-Oporto Young Socialists,Portugal.ing after word got around of discus-sion groups that had been organisedat which the failure of Mr Mugabe'sgovernment to implement socialismcame under heavy fire."The detention by Mugabe ofsocialists was taken as a signal for"guarded optimism" by the right-wing British Tory newspaper, theDaily Telegraph, (3/5/85).This paper, previously an opensupporter of Smith's white minorityregime, has been bitterly hostile to theZANU(PF) government for its pro-claimed "Marxism-Leninism". But,now detaining Marxists, Mugabe hasshown himself, in the eyes of thisnewspaper, a more secure defender of"We demand immediate and un-conditional release of arrested tradeunionists in Zimbabwe. Defense oftrade union and all democratic rightsin Zimbabwe." --Dockworkers Union, Aarhus,Denmark.capitalism."The expulsion of these men", itstates-in reference to the deporta-tion of Henison an3"Tu Toit -"hinfstoo that_ in many ways he (Mugabe)is not am ail of the far Left hiiinself.Hemson and du Toit were evidentlymade unhappy by the absence of realsocialism in Zimbabwe. They foundonly the appurtenances. Perhaps theycould not easily bear the prosperityof the country's thriving whitefarmers and of white-ownedbusinesses.",One up for Mugabe", was theeditorial headline!The fearful reaction of thecapitalist press to struggles-for the. democratisation of trade unions andthe organisation of socialist workers'education is unsurprising. But it wasnot only from these quarters thatthere came a defence of Mugabe'sactions.What, for example, was theresponse of the InternationalMetalworkers' Federation-the bodyestablished to represent and defendthe interests of metalworkers world-wide, such as those detained inZimbabwe?Under pressure from its affiliates,the IMF sent an official from Kenyato "investigate" the detentions. Butthe report he submitted was a purelyuncritical defence of the govern-ment's actions. It was quite explicit-ly based on the "arguments" of theformer GEMWU General SecretaryChimusoro-the very ringleader ofthe clique of officials suspended bythe GEMWU National Council forcorruption, mismanagement andanti-democratic behaviour; the veryperson who had then defended hisposition by calling in the police, andby unconstitutionally dissolvingGEMWU!Many of the allegations in the IMFreport could have come, whetherdirectly or indirectly, only fromMugabe's security police.Not once throughout. the report isthere even the suggestion that thosedetained, who included the electedPresident of GEMWU, had a case topresent, or a right to present it-eventhough, at the time of the investiga-tion, some had already been released.The history of events in the unionis completely distorted, suppressingeverything damaging to the rotten lit-tle officiqlclique. Instead a scurrilousattack of gross slanders is launchedagainst the detained union President.The report totally ignores the classissues involved-the struggle of"British AUEW activists followclosely the affair5-of our brothers andsisters throughout the world. The oldsaying that an injury to one is an in-jury to all applies whether it's againstworkers in Britain, Zimbabwe, or anyother country."What causes us most surprise ishow a `socialist' government can im-prison trade unionists some of whombelong to ZANU. The traditions ofthe labour movement have alwaysbeen to resolve differences ofpolicies, strategies, etc. by debate.We sincerely hope that the transitiontaking place in Zimbabwe is in thedirection of Socialism and notStalinism."-Keighley No 5. branch, AUEW,West Yorkshire., Britain.union members against a leadershipcollaborating with the capitalists-and instead misrepresents the crisis inGEMWU as a "power struggle ofpersonalities."On the basis of this completelyone-sided and falsified account of theevidence, the report concludes-quoting from CIO sources-that thecampaign to democratise GEMWUwas "a cover-up." The organisers, itsays, "were in the process of -form-ing or had formed a political party tobe known as Lenenist-MarxistWorkers' Party." (sic)This comes as news to the detaineesthemselves. Nevertheless, the IMFreport alleges the existence of "aCentral Committee composed of 23members"-10 blacks, 6 whites, 4coloureds and 3 Asians. This is allfrom "scanty information one was"Workers in the United Stateslooked with hope to Zimbabwe as anation that would finally bringequality, democracy and justice to itspeople. But instead we hear aboutrepression of workers... and deten-tions of those who speak out.Thousands did not die in Zimbabwe'sstruggle for independence so that in-justice and persecution would live on."With the voice of internationalsolidarity we call for the immediaterelease of our brothers and sisters youhave unjustly imprisoned."-United Auto Workers, USA,Boston District 65.able to gather"-gathered, needlessto say, not from the detainees, whowere not asked.Written in March, the reportclaimed that some of those detainedwere "likely to face criminal chargesfor indulging in secret andunauthorised political activities, pluspublishing documents, hostile andlikely to bring into disrepute the legal-ly established Government of Zim-babwe. By the time I left, the chargeshad not been fully framed up, butthere was a strong feeling among in-.formed sources that charges may bebrought against the top leaders.""Framed up" is precisely thephrase! But in fact the CIO found itimpossible to "frame up" anyevidence to support these hystericalallegations against those they had de-tained and tortured. The regimewould have looked ridiculous havingto present-as a document "likely tobring into disrepute" the Mugabegovernment-SALEP's June 1983

Page 43 of 98 to these puppets who have become `honourable members'of the coloured `House of Representatives' or the Indian`House of Delegates'. Quite the contrary, they arediscredited and disgraced as stooges, as much among theirso-called `own' people as among the Africans.They can achieve nothing of significance to provide abasis of popularity. Hendrikse may be `prime minister'of the coloureds. But, as a student journalist put it, whathas he got for his `own affair'? 180 000 homeless col-oured people!If a member of the Indian House of Delegates wantseven to question the law in the OFS which prohibitsAsians staying there longer than two months, it hasbecome a matter of doubt whether this would be an `ownaffairs matter' (in which case he could raise it) or a`general affairs matter' (in which case he would be ruledout of order). `General affairs' are for the President'sCouncil.Such is the absurdity of the situation that, for exatn-ple, opposition members in the white parliament can ap-parently no longer ask the government for its per capitaspending figures on white, coloured, Indian and Africanpopulation groups. It can only ask about its `own af-fairs'-and about the affairs of the unfranchisedAfricans.The real measure of the changes brought about by thisnew system is shown in the fact that eventually, after alot of resistance, coloured and Indian MPs are now be-ing allowed to dine with white MPs as the latter's guestsin the white parliamentary dining room!Forced to go furtherSuch is the fiasco of the new constitution; such is itsrejection by the vast majority of the population; so sure-ly has it inflamed the anger of the oppressed people-that Botha at the very opening of the new parliamentshad to announce plans to proceed further with constitu-tional change.The necessity of this, he said, was to give recognitionto the permanence of at least `some' of the Africanpopulation within so-called `white South Africa'-andthe hopelessness of attempting to accommodate Africanpolitical aspirations solely within the framework of thebantustans.He has announced the creation of a new `nationalnegotiating forum', through which he hopes to achievethe incorporation of unelected African `leaders' intoresponsibilities of government at national level. Yet evenGatsha Buthelezi has dismissed this as a meaningless sop!That does not mean, however, that Buthelezi wishesto entrust his fate to the democratic will of the Africanpeople. Professor Lawrence Schlemmer, who acts as aventriloquist's dummy for the Inkatha chief, has in factwarned the bourgeoisie not to attempt the establishmentof a fourth parliament for Africans. That would merelylead to an explosion of frustrations and release moreresistance. So it should be "avoided".But, says Schlemmer, "some form of incorporation (ofAfricans) into a joint body at parliamentary or Cabinetlevel dealing with general affairs is essential." (Rand Dai-ly Mail, 26/11/84.) Buthelezi, in other words, wants tobe appointed a Cabinet Minister without having to beelected! Until Botha is ready to offer him that, he main-tains his `democratic' intransigence.Yet for Buthelezi to enter any position of central stateresponsibility would lead to the evaporation of any basisof popular support, even among the most backwardstrata, which he presently retains. And Botha for his partwould not be able to move this far without stirring tipa big backlash of conservative revolt among the whites,fearing that their privileged status will vanish.'Regionalisation'Botha's grand plan is believed to involve the develop-ment of new regional authorities, based on the eighteconomic regions in the government's development plan.It is not clear whether or to what extent these authoritieswill intersect with or incorporate existing `independent'bantustans. Probably that is still a riddle to Botha himselfat this stage. However, it is most unlikely that the regimewould be able or willing to actually dismantle the ban-tustan political structure.The government is reconsidering the Buthelezi Com-mission's 1982 proposals for the joint administration ofKwaZulu and Natal-and their possible extension toother areas. This commission advanced a plan of `con-sociational' administration for the region.This idea is critically_ examined in a recent article in theSA Labour Bulletin (April 1985) on `Regionalisati.n,Federalism and the Reconstruction of the South AfricanState', by Cobbett, Glaser, Hindson and Swilling." `Consociation'," they write, "refers roughly to thenotion of a `grand coalition' government between dif-ferent groups which retain a high degree of autonomyand enjoy proportional representation and minority vetopower. Consociation ... is thought to be appropriate tomaintaining stability in societies 'deeply divided' bylinguistic, cultural, racial, ethnic and other divisions."(p.112.)The `brilliance' of this bourgeois political concept isshown in the fact that one of the more notable 'successes'claimed for it in the past has been the Lebanon! Thestrategists of capital in South Africa can have few illu-sions in its viability, even temporarily, in a society grip-ped by irreconcilable class antagonisms in which issuesimmediately become reduced to the language of nakedpower.Least of all, for this reason, could `consociation' beseriously adopted by the SA ruling class as a method ofreorganisation of central government. It is not acciden-tal that there is nothing `consociational' or subject to`veto power' in Botha's bonapartist Presidency. That isthe whole essence of the new constitution.However, the application of a 'consociational' schemeto regional administration is now being seriously con-sidered. This would entail the working together of dif-ferent authorities, in some cases from different, raciallysegregated areas.But it should be borne in mind what the (unspoken)real basis was which underlay the consensus reached bet-

Page 44 of 98 analysis and critique of the repressiveand anti-trade union Labour Rela-tions Act!Not content with this, the IMFreport goes so far as to echo the viewsof the SA regime on one of the de-tainees. David Hemson, it states,"fled South Africa for creatingunrest (sic!) among the blackworkers". If this is a reflection of theattitude of the IMF to the heroicstruggles of black SA workers againstthe apartheid regime, its affiliates inSA (particularly MAWU) will beappalled.Metalworkers internationallyshould reject this crude whitewash ofthe Zimbabwe government's actionsand call for a genuine inquiry into theattack on trade union rights.But, unfortunately, the IMF's wasnot the only apology for the Mugabegovernment's actions within theleadership of the international labourmovement.Shamefully, and in defiance of a"We express our grave concernthat the socialist policies on which thegovernment was elected should betarnished by this attack on campaign-ing trade unionists. We recognise thenamage such actions will do to thereputation of ZANU. Therefore wewish to record our protest...''-National Executive, British LabourParty.resolution of the National Executive,,British Labour Party GeneralSecretary Mortimer "blamed" thedetentions, not on the government-but on the detainees themselves!The NEC pointed out "the damage(Mugabe's) actions will do to thereputation of ZANU." Mortimer, incontrast, claimed that the activities ofthe detainees-of campaigning fordemocratic trade unions and socialistworkers' education-were"detrimental to Britain's relations inSouthern Africa." (Guardian,3/5/85).But "Britain's relations" withSouthern Africa are the relations ofBritish imperialism. The relations ofthe British labour movement withSouthern Africa should be the rela-tions of workers and comradesresisting dictatorship and fighting ina common cause.How did Mortimer justify hisstatement?He was responding to the absurdcharges made by Mugabe on MayDay at Rufaro Stadium that theBritish Labour Party-and par-ticularly its "Militant Tendency"-had "infiltrated" some of those de-tained into Zimbabwe with "subver-sive" intent.Instead of defending thedemocratic rights of campaigningsocialists internationally, Mortimerwashed his hands of the matter bystating that Militant "receives nobacking or support from the nationalexecutive of the Labour Party".Moreover, he continued, SALEP (co-workers of whose had been detained)was "Militant-linked", and "theNEC was advising its affiliatedorganisations to have no contact withthe group."For this he quoted the authority ofa hostile "report" on SALEP endors-ed by the right-wing majority of theNEC on March 27, 1985-at thesame time that SALEP co-workerswere in prison in Zimbabwe.In Britain, the right-wing leaders ofthe Labour Party virulently opposethe ideas of Marxism put forward bythe Militant newspaper in the labourmovement, and are terrified of thegrowing support for them. This is atthe root of their witch-hunt againstLabour Party supporters of Militant.But what has provoked the exten-sion of this witch-hunt to anorganisation-SALEP-conductingsocialist workers' education inSouthern Africa and encouragingdirect links between workers inSouthern Africa and internationally?As explained by SALEP in theirreply to the NEC's scurrilous report(Salep's socialist education work-why does the Labour Party NEC"We are appalled that yourgovernment, which claims to speak inthe interests of the workers of Zim-babwe, should have taken this draco-nian action against people trying todefend the rights of Zimbabweanworkers."-Hotel, Allied and RestaurantWorkers' Union, Johannesburg.want to ban it?, SALEP, May 1985)the right-wing is here the battering-ram for an attack initiated by theSouth African Communist Party andits supporters in the British labourmovement.The SACP, putting forward theutopian programme of achievingdemocracy in South Africa withoutalienating the "progressive"capitalists, is implacably hostile to theINQABA 21conscious socialist development ofthe workers' movement, or to thebuilding of direct links amongworkers internationally:Thus, in their attack on genuineMarxism, these so-called "Marxist-Leninists" place themselves in thesame camp not only as the "Marxist-Leninist" Mugabe, but as the right-wing of the international labourmovement.Labour movement activists in Bri-tain and internationally will be ap-palled by Mortimer's apologetics forMugabe's repression and torture. Themagnificent international labour"Members of the British Labour Par-ty have strong links with Zimbabwe,supported the struggle against whiteminority rule when it was Rhodesia,and welcomed the election of theZANU government on a socialistprogramme. Equally, today, we callfor the defence of trade union anddemocratic rights in Zimbabwe andthe release of these detained tradeunionists."-NW regional conference, BritishLabour Party;Manchester Labour Women'sCouncil;No. 10 District, AUEW-TASS;and other labour movement bodiesin the British North-West.movement response to thedetentions-instinctively defendingtrade union and democratic rights-will be carried forward in strengthen-ed support of the struggle fordemocracy and socialism throughoutSouthern Africa.How clearly even this one episodein the working-class strugglehighlights the conflicting class posi-tions taken up in the movement in-ternationally, on the one hand bydedicated socialists rooted among therank and file, on the other hand byright-wing officials leading isolated,privileged lives at the top.Workers worldwide moving intostruggle to oppose capitalist attacksand to bring the leadership of theirorganisations into line 'th thedemands of the active rank and filewill be at one with the strugglingmasses of Southern Africa. Side byside, building links, they will gain thepower to end once and for all the hor-rors of capitalism and establishworkers' socialist governments inevery country of the world. ,

Page 45 of 98 ween Buthelezi and the white capitalists in his commis-sion report. The latter could only consider sharingregional `power' with even a committed bourgeois flunkylike Buthelezi because two very important conditions werefulfilled.On the one hand he himself could hold out some pro-mise of disciplining KwaZulu through the mafia-apparatus of Inkatha, which has been consolidated withimmense capitalist funds over the past decade. And, onthe other hand (and more importantly still), they couldcontinue to shelter under the power of central govern-ment and the armed apparatus of the state, which wouldcome to their assistance if ever their vital interests werethreatened.In fact, for every step in the direction of decentralisa-tion of administration in SA, we see two steps towardscentralising and reinforcing even further the military-police repressive power and the bonapartism of the cen-tral bourgeois state apparatus.Centralisation of power is certain and primary, decen-tralisation uncertain and secondary, in the policy of theSA ruling class. Thus the powers of the white ProvincialCouncils, now to be abolished, will be transferred firstto central government, and only later to new regionalauthorities as and when these are established.A continued effective monopoly of central state powerwill remain for the bourgeoisie the necessary conditionfor any moves towards a system of joint black-white ad-ministration at regional levels. But that in itself does notguarantee the workability of the scheme. -Where else than in KwaZulu do the ruling class havean Inkatha or a But helezi to lean on? No doubt there areaspiring Buthelezi-type traitors, but none with the samebase, none with the same muscle. Even in KwaZulu/Natalall Buthelezi's dictatorial measures have been unable toprevent mass explosions in the recent period.No viable basisMoreover, how could regional authorities of this kindpossibly be effective unless there were viable lowerauthorities underpinning them?The proposed `regional service councils' to jointly ad-minister water supplies, electricity and sewerage arethemselves to be based on the existing racially segregatedlocal authorities. Yet, in most African townships, theselocal authorities have already either been demolished bythe masses or face the imminent prospect of the same fate."Since the unrest began on 3 September," writes AllisterSparks in the Observer (12/5/85), "109 councillors havebeen attacked and five killed, including a mayor and twodeputy mayors; 66 have had their homes burnt down; and147, including the entire councils of seven townships, haveresigned."In Sebokeng, 16 homeless Lekoa councillors are nowliving in a protected compound, behind a high securityfence of barbed wire with heavily-armed guards at thegate. They are refugees from the people they are suppos-ed to represent. The locals refer to them disparaginglyas "the government in exile".Moreover the council, which had begun its life by rais-ing rents, is financially crippled by a rent strike main-tained solidly since September by more than 90% of the350 000 residents of the area.In the Eastern Cape, puppet councillors have been hur-riedly resigning their positions in order to escape deathat the hands of the enraged populace. This is a symptomof the revolutionary polarisation which has taken place.In the main, the government will be compelled to main-tain direct control over the administration of thetownships, and will be unable to establish to any signifi-cant degree stable locally-elected councils for these areas.Thus how can the `tiers' of regional and sub-regionaladministration be made viable? Throughout, the regimewill be able to staff the structure only with the mostdisreputable black stooges. Even now these have to thinktwice, or rather ten times, before going in for collabora-tion, since the burnt homes and businesses and the char-red bodies of councillors have shown that the fruits ofoffice do not consist entirely of perks.As, f these were not sufficient obstacles to its scheme,the government is determined to add more. So afraid arethey that any measure of real power in determining policycould pass into the hands of the black people, even atthe level of the `regional service councils', that Botha istaking steps to render this impossible.In the composition of these authorities, apparently, thevarious townships together with the white suburbs, etc,are to be given representation in proportion to their con-tribution to the revenue! (Where, we might ask, is thebrotherly `consociation' here?!)Black workers in SA have taken up the cry of theAmerican Revolution: "No taxation without represen-tation!" Now Botha discovers a slogan for the bourgeoiscounter-revolution against democracy: "No representa-tion without taxation!" This can only ensure the evenmore determined rejection by the masses of this scheme.It is necessary to see the whole process dialectically,and not to give credence in an empirical way to the newinitiatives and ingenious subtleties of the bourgeoisie asthey search desperately for ways to `reform'.The authors of the article in the Labour Bulletin areright to point out that the `reforms' are designed to enablethe ruling class to move "beyond formal racialismwithout capitulating to what is termed `ma-joritarianism'." (p.108.) This is precisely what will makethem unworkable. The whole crux of the issue in SouthAfrica is majority rule-not `formal' departures fromracialism but the demand of the black majority that realpower to determine the government of the country shouldpass into their hands. By whatever pretext, this cannotbe evaded; by whatever route, all evasions will fail.The above-mentioned writers have put togethervaluable research on the developments in SA towardsfederalism-and in particular on the regime's`regionalisation' policy. But they are quite wrong whenthey conclude:,This reconceptualisation and re-organisation of spatialforms, if synthesised into a coherent policy programme, assome reformers in the state and capital envisage, could pro-vide a basis for a long-term strategic offensive aimed atreconstituting the relations of exploitation and dominationin South Africa." (p.107.)There is no room now for a "strategic offensive" ofreform by the bourgeoisie. They are incapable of "syn-thesising a coherent policy programme". Their policies

Page 46 of 98 Protestors, mainly from AZAPO, against Senator Edward Kennedy at Regina Mundi.Historically, youth havebeen at the forefront of everygreat movement for change.In the Russian Revolution,Lenin was mocked by his op-ponents for leading a party of`boys and girls'. In the recentBritish miners' strike, it wasespecially the young miners whoprovided the backbone of thatmagnificent struggle.In South Africa the black workingclass youth have been in the vanguardof the struggle over the past ten years.Nation-wide schools boycotts haveinvolved a million students at theirheight. Through fearless action theyouth have been at the forefront ofmass campaigns against rent and fareincreases, for example-and havenow succeeded in crippling two-thirdsof the regime's community councils.Most significant has been the in-volvement of youth organisations inthe Transvaal two-day politicalgeneral strike last November.By initiating and then vigorouslymobilising support for the stayaway,the youth showed their tremendousadvance in tactics and organisationIs AZAPO away forwardfor socialistyouth?by Alan Greensince 1976.Recognising that it is only theworking class which has the power totake on the state, the youth made adirect class approach to the unionsand got an overwhelming responsefrom the workers.Typical was the statement of oneof the 6000 workers fired fromSASOL: "As a parent I felt I had tosupport the call of COSAS."The militant black youth are nowsearching for a clear revolutionaryprogramme which can mobilise theworkers and rally behind them all theoppressed people.Behind this is the recognitionwhich even bourgeois newspapers arepointing to: "In the eyes of theyoung, apartheid is equated withcapitalism." (London FinancialTimes, 26/3/85.)This understanding is shown in themovement of the youth towardsocialist ideas.At the' founding conference of theUDF in August 1983, youth delegatesenthusiastically applauded speakerswho attacked capitalism and calledfor workers' power in order to takethe means of production into com-mon ownership.But the UDF leadership has nottaken this socialist understanding asthe basis for action campaigns. At thesame time the unions have not giventhe lead-which they could havedone by going into the UDF with aworked-out plan to mobilise thepower of the organised workers in aseries of actions along with the youth.This has disappointed the expecta-tions of many of the most militantblack youth.

Page 47 of 98 constitute a defensive response to the rising threat ofworkers' revolution. Their real nature was summed upin a recent Rand Daily Mail cartoon showing Botha inthe role of King Canute, facing an advancing tide of blackinflux which had clearly ignored his orders to stop. "Wellin that case I order you to come in only half way," hedeclares!Effect of recent 'reforms'The recent scrapping of the Mixed Marriages Act andSection 16 of the Immorality Act, which prohibited sexbetween people of different races, is clearly understoodby the majority to be mere cosmetic change. Neverthelessthis has been enough to give a propaganda handle to theultra-right.The right to freehold tenure in place of mere leasehold,recently `granted' to urban Africans with permanentstatus in the townships, is likewise generally seen as apathetic sop. Even the thin stratum able to afford to buytheir homes will not thereby be given any `stake' (as thebourgeois imagine) in the `free enterprise system'.Firstly, the socialist revolution does not threaten to takepeople's homes away from them. On the contrary, italone can guarantee all people a home. Secondly, as ex-amples in many countries have shown, homeowners withmortgage debts are just as much threatened withhomelessness when unemployment and economic reces-sion hit. In Britain's Broad Green constituency, for ex-ample, a high level of home-ownership among workershas not deterred them from electing an avowed Marxistand Militant supporter as their Labour M.P.To South Africa's impoverished working masses, infact, this `reform' by the regime only adds insult to in-jury. The `right' of some Africans to own property is con-ceded when the substance of property has vanished fromalmost all Africans.The same applies to the concession that, after all, aminority of the African people are to be allowed to keeptheir South African citizenship. Blacks are now left toponder which is worse-no citizenship, or citizenshipwithout citizens' rights.Of more immediate impact is the government's intend;.ed amendment to the Mines and Works Act to permitAfricans to qualify for blasting certificates. Coming ata time when the NUM had placed the issue squarely onthe table in this year's dispute with the Chamber ofMines, this concession will be felt by the blackmineworkers as a recognition of their potential power.They will be emboldened by it. While only momentarilygiving relief to the mine bosses, this change will furtheralienate support for the government among white miners,and so can only deepen the contradictions it faces.The pending repeal of the Improper Interference Actto allow mixed-race political parties is hardly an earth-shattering change as far as the black masses areconcerned-for their genuine political organisations arebanned or otherwise persecuted and, in any event, haveturned their backs decisively on the puppet `parliaments'.The most immediate impact of the repeal is expectedto be that it will allow fusion between the white PFP andco-thinking bourgeois collaborators in the coloured andIndian `parliaments'. There is press speculation that thismight even put the PFP in a majority in the Indian`House of Delegates', thus giving it a seat in the cabinet!The most likely effect of that would be to underminestill further remaining illusions among the blacks in thebeneficence of the white PFP liberals. Possibly Botha iscalculating on such a development to implicate the PFPindirectly in governmental responsibility and deepen theincipient split already evident within it.Despite the minimal nature of all these `reforms' fromthe standpoint of the masses, it would, nevertheless, bewrong to conclude that the ruling class can introduce nomore than token changes or changes of trivial importancepolitically.The government's `suspension' of forced removals(although no reliance should be placed on it) is a step ofgreat significance-because it is an acknowledgement ofthe power of the mass movement and expresses the fearof the regime to provoke that movement further. Similar-ly significant is the campaign now going on among a sec-tion of the big bourgeoisie for doing away with the passlaws.Capitalism has been built in South Africa on a foun-dation of migrant labour, on total state control of themovement of the black proletariat as a necessary measurefor maintaining the system of cheap labour. Influx con-trol has also served to weaken the pressure for social spen-ding in urban areas, and the pressure of the working classfor political rights, by confining the families of millionsof workers to the rural dumping grounds of the reserves.However, the inevitable process of urbanisation hascontinued all the same. Industrial labour has increasing-ly become settled in the cities. Black workers have securedthrough struggle at least some basic trade union rightsand recognition, and migrant workers themselves havebecome organised in the unions. Despite all the pass ar-rests and forced removals, `squatter' settlements ofworking-class families have mushroomed on the edges ofthe `white' cities. In all these respects influx control hasmiserably failed, or at least begun to fail.A Financial Times survey on South Africa (10/5/85)comments:"If the reality is that millions of blacks ignore the passlaws ... and the rest of the influx control laws like water pass-ing through a sieve, would it not make sense to scrap them?Nothing would do more to improve the image of SouthAfrica abroad or to convince South Africa's black majoritythat talk of reform was more than mere rhetoric."Studies by the Urban Foundation and by academicsargue that influx controls have become so ineffective thatthey will make a difference of only about 2 million inthe total urban black population of SA by the year 2000.Thus, argue the liberals, they should be scrapped in anattempt to pacify the blacks and the `internationalcommunity'.This view is finding some support within thebureaucracy. The director of the so-called PopulationDevelopment Programme has concluded that the best wayto deal with SA's rising population is "rapid urbanisa-tion of the impoverished black population and the subse-quent upgrading of living standards with particular em-phasis on education, health and housing."According to the Financial Mail (21/9/84), "Mostleading SA businessmen seem cautiously in favour of

Page 48 of 98 After the successful boycott of the`elections' in 1984, a powerful massaction campaign could have beenbuilt countrywide-for example,round a demand for R120 a week na-tional minimum wage; over jobs andunemployment benefit; or to cripplethe pass laws.PlatformsInstead, having organised plat-forms for the US Senator Kennedy,the UDF leadership decided toprepare mass opposition to... the AllBlacks rugby team! Without havinggiven clear direction to the massmovement-and while opposingrevolutionary socialist ideas from amiddle-class standpoint-the UDFleaders are nevertheless facing trialnow for treason.Some sections of the youth, look-ing for a `left' alternative to the UDF,have turned to the National Forumand to AZAPO.Those who take this path however,will find themselves travelling in theopposite direction to the mass move-ment. Their revolutionary energieswill be squandered.Black working people are beingpractical in wanting unity in onepolitical organisation, against themurderous power of the state.It into the ANC, the established,traditional movement, and thereforealso to those organisations in itstradition, that the great majority ofthe black working class will inevitablyturn, looking for a way forward inaction.This is where conscious socialistsneed to work, if they are to gain sup-port for the Marxist policies uponwhich the succesful outcome of therevolution will depend.At one time AZAPO and its BlackConsciousness forerunners couldclaim the allegiance of the youthmovement. But that was up to themid '70s when the movement was stillreawakening from the defeats of the1950s and early '60s.The black youth blamed thosedefeats on the ANC leadership'sfraternisation with `whites'. This wasonly a half-truth since, as Inqaba hasexplained (`Lessons of the 1950s"Issue No. 13), it was class-collaboration which lay at the root ofthe problem.The failures of the ANC leadershipwere at root the product of reformistpolicies put forward by the blackmiddle-class leaders and the SACPStalinists alike. This led them into asearch for `allies' among the whiteliberals, and into holding back theblack working-class movement forthe sake of it.The black youth, determined toprevent any dilution of their struggleagain, declared "Black man, you'reon your own."Initially, BC had a positive in-fluence by raising the self-confidenceof black youth. It began to turn intoits opposite however, revealing petty-bourgeois features of its own, oncethe youth movement began to link upwith the organised working class.The current support for the Na-tional Forum and its main ideologicalforce, AZAPO, is because of the in-creasing `socialist' rhetoric spoken bymany of its leaders. But what doesthis speechifying amount to inpractice?Incredibly, AZAPO's Fifth Con-gress late last year was characterisedby denunciation of the Novemberstay-away.Delivering a central committeecritique, AZAPO's `laboursecretary', Rev. Joe Seoka said:"The two-day stayaway, far fromadvancing the working class strugglein the country, had antagonised andalienated a sizeable portion of theworking class." (Sowetan,19/12/84).That general strike was the biggestmobilisation of the working class inour history-in the industrialheartland of South Africa. Even thebourgeois press was forced to note itssignificance because of "the active in-volvement and leading role oforganised labour." (Star, 26/11/84)A series of town-wide generalstrikes had been the stepping stonesto this regional action; as had massmeetings involving workers andyouth to discuss their demands andplan what action to take.400 000 leaflets and 5 000 posters,the production and distribution ofwhich was a marvellous achievementin the circumstances, agitated for thestrike.The strike had - revolutionarysignificance. In days it illuminatedfor millions of working people theirpotential strength, but also whattasks would have to be undertaken toprepare the movement for futurebattles.Thami Mali, a local UDF leader,INQt)BA 23was chairman of the Stayaway Com-mittee. Interviewed in the. Sunday Ex-press (11/11/84), he said his objec-tive was a "workers', state" based onthe Freedom Charter: ' So you wanta socialist SAT' he was.asked. "Ex-actly," Mali replied.Mali explained: "...the-.economyof a country is its backbone no mat-ter how powerful it may be' political-ly. It depends on the working classwhich comes predominantly from theAfrican areas in which the stayawaywas called."How this power was to be used,and to what end the movementshould work, Thami Mali made clearwhen he said: "More than everbefore people have realised that theirstruggle ... will never be solved until.the whole system of government ischanged." (Financial Mail,16/11/84.)These ideas, once they are taken upby the mass of working people as theexpression of their own needs andwill to change society, will become anunstoppable force.The Transvaal strike ended with asense of achievement and purposeamong the workers and youth whohad participated.Transvaal shop stewards have toldInqaba that the workers were saying:"We've fixed them (the employers)in Transvaal, let's do so elsewhere."Inspired by the action, workerswere prepared to make sacrifices. Asacked worker boarding a bus for theTranskei said: "There is no time forus to feel sorry or afraid. We mustshow SASOL we are brave."Hob-ilityAZAPO's hostility to this magnifi-cent action contradicted their oftenrepeated statements that the blackworking class are "the driving forceo_f the revolution".`Disgusted Black, KwaThema', ina letter to the Rand Daily Mail ask-ed: "AZAPO, if you write offboycotts as non-events, then how doyou propose (besides your liberationof the mind) to achieve liberation?"(9/1/85)This sarcasm was fully deserved.Just as the Africanist leader PeterRaboroko condemned the stayawaycalled by SACTU and the ANC in1958, so today the black middle classleaders of radical nationalism haveshown their remoteness from and

Page 49 of 98 abolishing influx control-given adequate preparationand infrastructure in the urban areas, plus increaseddevelopment in the rural ones." (Our emphasis.)But here lies the rub! What they take as "given" isprecisely the thing which is not given. If they could"upgrade living standards" all round in South Africa,there would indeed be very significant scope for `reform'.But, as our economic analysis has shown, and as will in-creasingly dawn upon the whole bourgeoisie itself, theyare compelled by the imperative logic of their profitsystem in crisis to further attack the already unbearableliving standards of the blacks.Cynical calculationIn fact Anglo American's Gavin Relly, who favoursdoing away with influx control, cynically emphasises thatmore unemployed in the urban areas will help theemployers to drive down wages. Once the capitalistsfavoured pass laws as a means of preventing organisa-tion of the workers and thus holding down wages. Nowthat the working class has established its permanence inthe urban areas and begun to consolidate its unions allthe same, this exploiter's main concern has become tobreak their bargaining power through unrestricted influx!However, that will not work either. 'Whether with or without influx controls, thebourgeoisie faces a revolutionary movement of the blackproletariat in the urban as well as the rural areas. It isthose among the big business spokesmen who still retainthe most ludicrous illusions in the `wonders' of the `freeenterprise system' who are most fulsome in their calls forthe scrapping of influx control. Others, however, are farmore cautious and realistic from their class point of view.Thus a spokesman for Assocom says: "Assocombelieves there must be complete mobility of labour. Thus(!) influx control in its present form must be abolished.However, this could give rise to various socio-economicproblems which need to be borne in mind. Our view,therefore, is that the influx of people into the cities shouldbe dependent purely upon housing and employment (be-ing available) and, once there, those people should be freeto move anywhere in SA."So much, by the way, for `complete' mobility oflabour!The FCI president says: "The FCI takes a verypragmatic view of the effects of influx control and alsoof the consequences attendant upon anything less thanan orderly transition to unrestricted mobility... From abusiness viewpoint the capacity of SA's urban areas toabsorb large numbers from rural areas will put pressureon existing resources; an unplanned movement un-doubtedly will over-burden transport, health, housing,law and order and other services" -law and order' a `ser-vice', that's a new one!-"and depress living standards."The president of the AIrikaanse Handelsinstituut saysbluntly: "The immediate phasing out of influx controlis unacceptable in the light of the present economic,labour and social conditions in urban areas. Influx con-trol serves an essential and beneficial regulatory purposeuntil such time as housing and employment can be pro-vided for the influx of thousands of blacks into the ur-ban areas... Any reconsideration of this policy under pre-sent depressing economic conditions is totallymisplaced."The president of the SA Foundation and chairman ofGencor says: "At this juncture, I do not believe that weshould be increasing the potential for conflict in the coun-try. I therefore feel I should not comment." (All thesequotations from Financial Mail, 21/9/84; our emphasisthroughout.)Here we have a really classic expression of the impassein which the bourgeoisie finds itself. On the issue of in-flux control, as will be the case with more and more fun-damental issues in future, the bourgeoisie is unable to pro-duce a coherent policy. Each side is able to prove con-clusively that the other's policy will not work. And in this,both are right!In the immediate aftermath of Sharpeville, in 1960, theregime felt it necessary to suspend the enforcement of thepass laws for about six weeks. This was because theyfeared to provoke a revolution. It is entirely possible thatwe shall see such suspensions-and much longersuspensions-of these laws again in future, under thepressure of the mass movement.Indeed, were there now to be a really determined, well-organised and resolutely led mass campaign of pass-burning, the complete defiance of influx control laws, andattacks on pass courts and records offices, this systemcould be thoroughly wrecked. However, to the extent thatthe matter is left to the ruling class to decide, it is mostunlikely that they could move to the abolition of thesemeasures.Fear to show weaknessThe main reason is the one implied in the above quota-tions. They will fear to give such a signal of their weaknessand disarray to the black working class, because thatwould stir it to even more vigorous struggle and the asser-tion of ever more far-reaching demands. This fear willincrease as the mass revolt intensifies-as will thepressures towards abandoning the pass sytem. So thedilemma of the ruling class will become more acute.We should not be surprised if,' in the coming period,even some of the most vociferous bourgeois spokesmenin favour of abolishing influx control change their posi-tion once again on this issue. But somersaults vice versaare also possible.iOn the other hand, what is likely is that the regime willattempt to modify the operation of the pass laws by par-ial exemptions, and by tying it in with the plans forregionalisation' of administration. Recently, they haveslightly broadened the conditions for Section 10 rightsand extended the mobility of the minority who qualify.But the idea that we can be entertained to a period ofgenuine `free mobility' of black people in SA through thegood offices of the ruling class is shown to be absolutelyludicrous at a time when townships are being surround-ed by troops, and people entering and leaving are stop-ped, checked and searched.Again, for every move in the direction of changing or

Page 50 of 98 hostility to the real class movementof the workers.Despite their rhetoric, they areafraid of any independent movementof the working class, and the fact thatsuch a movement inevitably raises thestandard of a socialist democracy; ofreal working-class power, and pressesforward to its practical achievement.Clearly socialist policies arenecessary to smash apartheid andcapitalism. But, to rally and mobilisethe overwhelming numbers of theworking class, these policies must beraised and struggled for within themass organisations-the organisa-tions into which the majority of theworkers will turn to take forward thestruggle.Thami Mali's statements areevidence of a left wing within theUDF which will more and more makeits presence felt at rank-and-file level.This confirms the perspective ofMarxism that it is within the massorganisations that the key debates onprogramme, strategy and tactics aregoing to take place.Conscious socialists among theyouth only waste precious time andenergy by trying to cultivate theirideas on the fringes of the working-class movement-in the radical petty-bourgeois milieu of Azapo and theNational Forum-instead of plung-ing into the mainstream of the massorganisations.There have been many oppor-tunities to develop a strong left wingwithin the UDF, opposing in a con-structive way the confused class-collaboration policies of the middle-class UDF leaders, and putting for-ward a clear alternative.PolarisationThere was evidence of a polarisa-tion within the UDF with the visit ofthe US Senator, Edward Kennedy. Inthe Western Cape, the UDF generalcouncil refused to be associated withhis visit.But the opportunity to galvanisethe mass of UDF supporters-especially among the workers-intoopposition to the visit, and so shiftthe whole movement decisively to theleft, was lost because of the senselesstactics used by the Azapo/NationalForum supporters in their campaignagainst the Kennedy visit.They succeeded in gaining muchmedia attention-not least from thepro-government press. But did theysucceed in turning this into a con-scious understanding on the part ofblack workers as to why the UDFleaders were wrong in inviting Ken-nedy? Did they succeed in explainingwhy a liberal bourgeois and represen-tative of imperialism like Kennedyshould never be dignified with a plat-form in the movement even when hedenounces the apartheid regime?We think they failed, because oftheir sectarian approach, to make useof the opportunity to get clearsocialist ideas across to the mass ofworkers marching under the UDFbanner. Instead, their tactics playedinto the hands of the organisers of theKennedy visit-as was shown at themeeting at Regina Mundi on 13January.The agitation of the Azapo/Na-tional Forum contingent at thatmeeting that Kennedy should not beheard, failed to gain the support ofthe majority present. Tutu was ableto outmanoeuvre them by putting theissue to the vote. Then the vocalminority proceeded to try to break upthe meeting! A fine advertisement for`socialism'! Not surprisingly, theywere sharply dealt with by theassembled crowd.Nor should the eventual calling offof the meeting by Tutu be counted asuccess. Many hundreds of workers,who would have been sympathetic tosocialist arguments, were alienated bythe behaviour of the `left'.How different the position couldhave been if, as a section within theUDF itself, the socialist youth haddemanded the right to be heard fromthe platform, either before or afterKennedy spoke. Probably a majori-ty of the audience was scepticaltowards Kennedy, and would havewelcomed seeing him put on the spotin this way.With a little preparation and sometactical sense, Kennedy could havebeen well and truly exposed in thisway. The arguments against giving

Page 51 of 98 dismantling an old measure of state control over the blackpopulation, there will be two or three new measures ofrepression and control introduced.Essential barrierAgain and again to the fore comes the essential bar-rier to the transformation of society-the racist capitaliststate machine itself.The big capitalists-the so-called `liberals'-would like,and indeed need, to change the racial character of thestate. They are frightened half witless by the spectre oframpaging white soldiers and riot police, carrying out 'un-necessary' provocative massacres and so whipping up therevolution. They want to give the state a `broader base'among black people, in the hope of making its repressivefunction more `acceptable' to the masses.But they are caught on the horns of a contradictionfrom which there is no escape.Marx and Engels explained that the bourgeoisie rules,in the final analysis, by relying on `armed bodies of men'together with their appendages in the shape of courts,prisons, the bureaucracy, etc. This is what the statebasically is.But the bourgeoisie, having created a state in one form,cannot simply at its discretion exchange it for another.If there were a hundred years of peaceful capitalist evolu-tion ahead of them in South Africa, who knows whatchanges they could gradually bring about in the racialcomplexion of the state? But the reality today is that theyare facing a revolutionary challenge to capitalism.The state which they have built is founded in whitedomination and privilege. It is a state whose whole essenceis to defend capitalism against the black proletariat bythe method of guaranteeing and defending the privilegesof the whites.It has been shaped and honed over generations for thispurpose. This is reflected in the character and composi-tion of all the commanding strata of the bureaucracy, thejudiciary, etc, and in the make-up of the armed forces.Half of the police force may be black; coloured, In-dian and later even African people may be drawn intothe army-but essentially the army rests and will remainresting on white working-class and lower-middle classtroops, organised by a commanding hierarchy of whiteupper-middle class and bourgeois officers. And it is thearmy which, as we have seen increasingly in thetownships, is the ultimate weapon of power and repres-sion wielded by the ruling class against the blacks.Because of the challenge of the black proletariat frombelow, the ruling class have to try to reform the statesystem; they have to try to change the state itself. Butthey cannot afford to weaken the repressive power of thestate in the face of this black challenge.To the limited extent that they can `blacken' the stateforces, they render the state potentially unreliable tothem; and at the same time this drives to disaffection thereliable white forces they have.With everything in turmoil around them, they have nochoice but to keep the snarling wolf-hounds of the whitestate apparatus in readiness for action, and again andagain unleash their ferocity against the people.The feebleness of the black middle class, and the ad-vanced stage of racial and class polarisation and conflict,makes it all the more impossible to extend the basis ofthe state to incorporate blacks on any reliable founda-tion. This has been shown by the fate of the collaboratorcouncils, for example. Now the black police themselvesare under pressure from the masses to resign their jobsor face grisly reprisals.The regime cannot recruit `popular' black figures intothe system, because the system is obliged to carry outopenly anti-working class and counter-revolutionarypolicies and actions which guarantee that any `popular'figure who entered would become unpopular.Thus they have all the more to retain the old white basisof the state in its essentials, and step up repression. Itis imperative that we never lose sight of this fact throughall the twists and turns of events that will unfold.The policies and manoeuvres of the regime and the rul-ing class will become increasingly chaotic. There will befurther `determined moves' and `new initiatives' in thedirection of reform; there will be false starts, retreats,savagely increased repression, temporary retreats fromthat, attempts to combine reforms and repression in newways, new failures of that, and the long-term undermin-ing of morale and cohesion in the camp of the bourgeoisieand of the whites generally.White living standards attackedAt the same time that capitalism is compelled to drivedown the living standards of the mass of black people,it is forced also to attack the material privileges of thewhites.Now even white living standards are persistently fall-ing or showing a tendency to fall. Where they can bemaintained at their old levels, this is only by runningdown savings, or running up debts.Four years ago whites were saving 11 cents out of everyrand in their pockets; now they are saving 2 cents.Reliance on hire purchase and other forms of consumercredit has gone up astronomically. The majority of thebank credit in SA is consumer credit, and in the recentperiod it has been growing by R 1 billion per quarter.Bank overdrafts and Hl' debt now total R14 billion.In 1984 there were 385 065 civil judgements for debt-the amount involved having increased 60010 in a singleyear. This year a record number of families are goingthrough the courts, filing for bankruptcy.Pockets of real poverty are now beginning to reappearamong working-class whites as a result of recession,necessitating in some cases feeding schemes at whiteschools.At the same time the imperative need of the capitaliststate to cut public expenditure has driven the regime totry to take back the relatively large wage increase givento civil servants in 1983-4, and to begin to drive downtheir real incomes.One-third of economically active whites are employedby central government or the provincial administrations.If parastatal corporations are taken into account, thisfigure rises to an estimated 60010. Whether directly or in-

Page 52 of 98 4 Cbti~ active in the election boycott lastr:If we vote high rents low wages..,,,apartheid education, Group.~ rtemployment, rotten housing- c'tV''.kkrjemain. Boycott elections! For--' ta, a workers' republic of Southr .4frisa~Azania. "Kennedy a platform would have beenoverwhelmingly accepted andundFrstood if they had beenpresented properly, instead of beingreduced to a few shrill slogans.,terror Lekota justified Kennedy'svisit on the grounds that "... on theimmediate question that is eating ourpeople today-that of apartheid-theKennedy's have taken a stand."(SPEAK, March 1985)But what does it mean to take averbal `stand' on apartheid? The`liberal' bosses in SA do this all thetime. Should they be given a platformin our movement to help themdeceive black working people intothinking they can be `trusted'?,The real question is which are thefakes that have the interest and thepower to overthrow apartheid-andthose include neither the liberalcapitalists at home nor the imperialistKennedy's abroad.Terror says the UDF does not4"cjestion the fact of American im-pdri$lism and even the involvementof, the Kennedy family as a whole inATyrican imperialist design." Sowhy..bvite him? This is the equivalentof g9ving a known arsonist a cer-tificate as a fire warden!He may be on the left wing of the~nerican Democratic Party, but thati5~..;a_apitalist,party. Whatever itsterm interests might be, or the' disi~ements it may have with otherapitialists, its defence of private pro-perfi!,and the US imperialist `nationalint~rebt' are fundamental in the finalarolfsis. ,t oston University in 1979, Ken-escribed himself as "aned partisan of our owni and economic system". In~ . ed States the system ispli which forces 34 millionpeople to go to bed hungry each nightin the richest country in the world.A year earlier, he supported -Presi-dent Carter's policy of wage controls.In 1983, Kennedy voted in favourof Reagan's policies on four out ofevery ten occasions.On international issues, Kennedymay have a different `style' to otherAmerican bourgeois leaders, but hispurpose is the same.When he opposed the lifting ofsanctions against white-minority rul-ed Rhodesia as it was then, this wasbecause doing so would "set back our(i.e., US imperialism's) political andeconomic interests throughoutAfrica, including those with Nigeria,which is our second largest supplierof oil."This great `democrat' said in 1966:"I am 89% in favour of the JohnsonAdministration's policies inVietnam."What possible consistency canthere be in his opposition to apar-theid, when he voted in favour of theUS marines' occupation of theLebanon; voted in favour of a grantfor the counter-revolutionaries op-posing the Sandinista government inNicaragua; visited the Shah of Iranin 1975; and continued to supporteconomic aid and military grants toTurkey after its occupation of nor-thern Cyprus.LoyalKennedy is also one of the mostloyal supporters of the Israeli rulingclass. The ANC leaders spend enoughtime twinning apartheid andZionism, and yet they and the UDFleaders are prepared to support a visitto South Africa by such a man.Kennedy can appear at present asa great moral crusader againstapartheid-but the US imperialist in-terests he defends do not allow himto campaign against the national op-pression of the Palestinians.'These are the facts upon whichsocialists should have campaigned toexpose the opportunism of Kennedyand of those who organised the visit.Had these arguments been put acrosswith the right tactics, Kennedy wouldhave slunk off without a grain ofcredit in the eyes of the masses.By their policies and methods-whether on the question of theTransvaal general strike or the Ken-nedy visit-the National Forum andAZAPO reveal themselves as essen-tially sectarian groupings.By this term we mean no abuse,nor simple reference to theirnumerical size. Lenin once descirbeda Communist Party 300 000 strong asa sect.For Marxism, a sect is a politicalgrouping that is unwilling or unableto build strong links with the mass ofnon-Marxist workers. Remainingaloof from the real living movementof the masses, with all its `warts' andimperfections, in the name of pro-claiming `profound' and abstract`principles', a sect condemns itself toinevitable degeneration andirrelevance.The militant youth have too vital-ly important a part to play in thestrategy and tactics of the revolutionto hitch themselves to the bandwagonof the National Forum and AZAPOleaders.At the same time it must be addedthat the problems that exist in themovement today-whether of thereformism of the UDF leaders, or thesectarianism of AZAPO-will not besolved by physical assaults or petrol-bombs. These methods only play in-to the hands of the regime-which isalready making propaganda use ofthem.Nor does the answer lie in apatched-up `unity pact' among theleaders, whether sanctified by Tutu'sprayers or otherwise.Neither of these approaches dealswith the real political questions whichunderlie the differences. The answerlies in the development, among theyouth and among the workers, of aconscious Marxist cadre, armed withthe perspectives, the programme, thestrategy, and the methods ofMarxism-willing and able to pa-tiently explain and struggle for thesepositions in the ranks of the massorganisations.In the UDF today, and the ANCtomorrow-as well as in the tradeunions-there is very fertile groundfor a conscious Marxist youth move-ment. It would play a very importantpart in the transformation of theseorganisations into vehicles of revolu-tionary working class struggle.Inqaba supporters need to devoteas much attention as possible to theyouth movement. Comrades shouldsend in to the editorial board manymore comments of the youth andreports about their activities.Lenin said: "He who has the youthhas the future."

Page 53 of 98 directly, all attacks on the living standards of the whitesinevitably introduce instability into the foundations ofthe state itself.When, in March this year, Botha unced a one-third cut in the Christmas bonus for s=oempemployees-measure affecting about one million people-there wasan immediate outcry by white railway workers, postalworkers, teachers, clerks, etc.An angry meeting of 1000 white railway workers inJohannesburg on 5 March (typical of many across thecountry) threatened labour unrest if the cut was notrescinded.The workers were unimpressed by Botha's appeal totheir `patriotism'. "The time has now come," he said,"to do what we sing in our anthem: Ons vir Jou, Suid-Afrika." It is beginning to dawn on the white workersthat the bourgeoisie's `nation' and `country' are not inreality theirs."This is a case of the rich getting richer and the poorgetting poorer," declared a leader of the white transportunions. The Minister of Transport was accused of"treating the railway workers like his farmhands."The bonus cut was described as the worst setback forwhite workers since the 1922 cuts-the occasion of theonly serious white working-class revolt in the history ofSA. The 1922 revolt was a key factor leading to the state'sstrategy of buying the loyalty of the white workers withjob security and material privileges. Now the ruling classhas no choice but to undermine these privileges.The era of the tame white working class is coming toan end. But because an independent class movement isimpossible among a privileged aristocracy of labour seek-ing to defend their position against the demands of thelow-paid and oppressed mass of the workers-this revoltamong the whites inevitably falls at first into the clut-ches of the most reactionary bourgeois and petty-bourgeois nationalist politicians.A typical headline in the HNP's Die Afrikaner reads:"Wegbeweeg van diskriminasie die oorsaak vanekonomiese krisis" (the move away from discriminationis the cause of the economic crisis). Treurnicht's Con-servative Party puts precisely the same line.With a declining economic `cake', they point out, anymaterial advances by or political concessions to the blacksmust be at the `expense' of the whites. This argumentmakes crude but clear `sense' to the majority of whitesremaining trapped within the blind alley of capitalistsociety.One of Treurnicht's favourite platform tricks is to tellhis audiences that, when they see the President on televi-sion wagging his finger, it is because he is counting thefurniture in their living rooms to give it away to theblacks!This filth flourishes nonetheless in a situation wherea white child can expect to use ten times the financial andphysical resources available to a black child. This whenthe state, in 1984, spent R1 385 on the education of eachwhite child, and R192 on the education of each Africanchild. Yet a Conservative MP can gain popularity bydeclaring in the House of Assembly (12/2/85): "The or-dinary white person is sick and tired of being the milk-cow (for the blacks)."Here is summed up the absolute impasse and revoltingsickness of bourgeois society; the horrible polarisationand race conflict which has been engendered by capitalismin SA. From this there is no way out except revolution.As the crisis of society intensifies, and as the move-ment of the black masses takes on a more and morerevolutionary character, inevitably the great majority ofsmall farmers, urban middle-class and working-classwhites must be propelled in the direction of ultra-rightracist reaction. So far we have only seen the beginningsof this process. It affects not only the Afrikaners, butthe English-speaking whites as well.The process exhibits many contradictory features. Itwill develop not in a straight line, but through suddenturns and sharp changes, and while there are tendenciesin the opposite direction at the same time.Among the white workers we can see, simultaneously,moves in some sections of their unions even towards theproposed new non-racial federation, while in politicsTreurnicht is gathering white worker support.The overall line of development will be towards theright.Botha, it is true, secured a 66Q1o majority in the whitereferendum of 1983 for the introduction of his new`reform' constitution. This was despite the National Partyitself having only about 50% support in opinion polls,and against the combined opposition of the PFP (on thegovernment's left) and the Conservative Party/HNP (onthe extreme right). The explanation for this is twofold.On the one hand, the great majority of whites sensedthe unviability of the old system in the face of the risingmovement. of the blacks. On the other hand, they werereluctant to weaken the government in the face of thischallenge and were prepared to give an opportunity toBotha to test out the programme to which he had com-mitted the government.However, at the same time, most whites (including allsections of the bourgeoisie and probably even Bothahimself) had no genuine faith in the long-tern; viabilityof the new scheme either. To get the necessary supportBotha had to present the constitution to the whites as aneffective guarantee against having to make concessionsto African political demands. Now already, this is shownto be nonsense. The discrediting of Botha's `reform'programme-including its rejection by the blacks--nowrepels increasing numbers of former government sup-porters towards the right.Depth of revoltThe depth of the revolt now beginning in the subsoilof white society is shown in the rough reception givento NP politicians in the white working-class and lower-middle class constituencies. It is shown also in thedesperate tones in which these politicians appeal for con-tinued support.A report in the Rand Daily Mail (28/2/85) illustrateswhat is taking place:`Addressing a rowdy meeting in Mayfair, Mr Meyer (Na-tional Party MP far Johannesburg West) ... said SouthAfrica was becoming more and more difficult to govern.` "It is the responsibty of every person to remember that.11 we are not going to solve the problems of this country,fires are going to start that we won't be able to put out.

Page 54 of 98 BRITAIN: SCHOOL STUDENTS STRIKEOn April 25th, a quarter ofa million British schoolstudents revolted! They cameout on a half-day strike to ex-press their dissatisfaction withthe Tory government and thecapitalist system it represents.They went on strike to show theirpupil power, and let everyone elseknow that they are as much affectedas the rest of the working class by theeffects of capitalism in crisis and themeasures of Thatcher.For years the youth have been feel-ing the effects of cuts in education-as well as watching unemploymentrise unchecked and thousands ofschool leavers each year join, and re-main on, the unemployment queues.Now they say enough is enoughand start to fight back.ConscriptionThe Tory government is not stop-ping short at robbing the workers ofa proper living standard, but is nowonto the youth as well. It is trying toforce school leavers to serve for twoyears on the so-called Youth Train-ing Scheme.The YTS was set up, it was said,to "combat unemployment". All itmeans is that those on YTS are farm-ed out to the bosses as cheap labour.They either do the `dirty jobs' thatother workers won't do, on poverty-level wages, or else they are used toreplace older, better-paid workerswho are made `redundant'.Very little `training' is involved-and after two years on the scheme,those who have passed through ithave very little chance of a jobanyway, with unemployment stan-ding at over four million.Now the Tories want to compelschool-leavers to go on thisscheme-by refusing to pay themsocial security benefits if they refuse.The Tories have destroyed youths'job prospects by their savage attackson Britain's industrial base-andnow they go even further by kickingout workers and employing youth athalf or less their wages.But the school youth know what isBy Anna Svovsein store for them-hence thefightback. They are no longerprepared to be exploited on slave-labour schemes or be the nextpackage on the dole.In cities and even small townsthroughout Britain thousands ofschool students marched to differentrallies and shouted out theirdemands: an end to the Tory's YTS;an end to slave labour; no cuts ineducation; support for the teacherson strike for better pay; for the rightto vote at 16.Once again the call "Maggie, Mag-gie, Maggie, Out, Out, Out!" rangloud and clear across the country-now from the voices of a new andeven more angry generation.The school youth had learned thelesson from the struggle of theminers-the only way to fight againstTory policies is to organise and act.In one town in Wales, the youth mar-ched to the NUM office, and calledon a miners' leader to head the marchand give a speech at the end.The strike was overwhelminglysuccessful despite all the condemna-tion it got. The Tory press wenthysterical-launching a concerted at-tack on the strike for days ahead.They tried to place the blame onsmall groups of `agitators', andwarned `decent children' not to betaken in!After the strike, they tried to claimthat it had `failed' and that those onstrike didn't know what they weredoing and were just playing truant."What a giggle!" said one headlinein the press.But then one wonders why thepolice were called in in a number ofplaces-using the same brutalmethods they ' used against theminers.`Small groups' could have had noeffect at all. The truth is that 250 000came out-despite all the propagan-da of the media and the actions ofschool officials and the police.In at least one town the headmasterof a school wrote around to theparents to try to get them to condemnthe strike. Instead they wrote backsaying that they supported it!Unfortunately the political maturi-ty and determination of the schoolstudents did not extend to the leader-ship of the British labour movement.Both the General Secretary of theBritish Trade Union Council and NeilKinnock, leader of the Labour Par-ty, condemned the strike.Kinnock thought he was veryclever when he called the strikeorganisers `dafties' (mad). But whois the real `daftie'?He is so `daft' not to even see thatit is the Tory government and thecrisis of capitalism that is forcing thestudents to come out. Only `dafties'like Kinnock and the other cynics inthe Labour Party leadership don't seethat a real fight is needed to solve theproblems of the youth.Ever. the fact that these youth aretomorrow's workers and votersdoesn't seem to register with theLabour leadership, so out of touchwith the mood and aspirations of themasses have they become.BlindThey are blind to the importanceof the fact that these youth havebegun to fight back even before theyhave joined the labour market-or,more correctly, before they have join-ed the ranks of the unemployed.The youth will be as disappointedin this attitude as were the miners inthe failure of the TUC and LabourParty leadership to throw themselvesfull-bloodedly into a victory for thatstrike.The fact is that the workers as wellas the youth are ready to be organis-ed and fight against capitalism, butthe labour leadership is failing toorganise the masses through all theirstruggles.The School Students Action Com-mittee, the Youth Trade UnionRights Campaign, and the LabourParty Young Socialists who organis-ed and supported the strike are to becommended on what was achieved.So are those Labour M.P.s whostood up against the Labour leadersand supported the strike.Most of all it is the Marxistsgrouped round the Militant

Page 55 of 98 ` "We all know the explosiveness of the situation, evenin this suburb, as a result of the tension between races. Thisis true for all of South Africa.` "The tension in black areas is high, the economy is ata low point... It is the responsibility of the Government tosee that we have the maximum chance of stability and peace.` "Don't set things alight when we will all burn," he said.'It is in areas such as this that the erosion of the GroupAreas Act is beginning to take place. The white workersand lower-middle class have long accepted the argumentof the ultra-right (formerly used by the Nats)-an argu-ment couched cynically in pseudo-class terms-that theliberals only oppose apartheid because they do not needit. They have the money to buy their separation. Insteadof catching buses, they ride to work in limousines. If theyhad to rub shoulders with the blacks, they would seethings differently... etc.Now the worthy citizens of Sea Point, well-to-doEnglish-speaking liberals in the main, who elect a PFPMP and councillors, have demonstrated the correctnessof this argument to the white workers. When blacks beganto ignore beach apartheid and came in busloads to usethe beaches of Sea Point, a flood of protests from thewhite residents ensued.Letters to the Cape Times complained of blacksurinating in the sand, running about naked, smokingdagga, drinking and vomiting, and of women swimmingin bras and panties.The few `saner' voices were swamped. A PFP coun-cillor mented: "We whites finally got a chance to seehow the commente d:other half lives, and it's been a shock."More of the reality of South Africa's race- and class-divided society is summed up in these events than in allthe preachings of the liberal politicians, academics andclergy. As Boraine, the PFP MP admitted, for whites"going into the township situation is like going into aforeign country."The transformation of South Africa into a non-racialsociety, democratically governed and controlled by itspeople, cannot take place peacefully or `underanaesthetic'-the patient will be fully awake, kicking andscreaming throughout the operation.Because, when it comes down to it, the class issues areso inseparably bound up with the race issues, the greatmajority of whites will inevitably recoil from the implica-tions of real change and tr, to cling onto their presentprivileges so long as it is at all possible to do so.Trying to avoid and delayMost of those who support `reform' today do so mainlyto avoid and delay the advent of fundamental change.A similar thing motivates those who believe that `reform'is but a slippery slope to disaster. Surveys have shownthat a majority even of HNP supporters believe thatSouth Africa will have a black government in theirlifetime. But they want to put off the evil day as longas they can, hoping that perhaps it will not come!It is because `reform' will fail and turn into chaos thatthe prospect of an increasing swing from the N.P.towards the Conservative Party becomes a virtual certain-ty. This will take place among English as well asAfrikaans-speaking whites.At some point the revolt of the whites is likely to in-duce a revolt among the backbench N.P. politicians.While Botha may manoeuvre to the right to head this off,a further split of the National Party is entirely possible-which could put Treurnicht in a position to capture a ma-jority in the white parliament.Fearing electoral setbacks which would suggest aweakening of the government, Botha has used the in-troduction of the new constitution as a pretext for ex-tending the life of the parliament to 1989. The last whiteelections were in 1981. Now the English press has mootedthe possibility that each further stage of `constitutionalreform' could provide an opportunity to defer electionseven further.If a white election were held under the present constitu-tion, the governing party need lose only 35 seats in orderto forfeit its outright majority. Recent by-election resultshave suggested that at least 50 NP-held seats arevulnerable to the Conservatives.Such a situation could lead to the PFP holding thebalance of power in the white parliament. Already thereare marked signs of a trend in the right-wing of the PFPtowards coalition with the left wing of the Nationalists.A coalition strategy has been in Slabbert's mind alreadyfor several years. If coalition became a real prospect,however, the PFP would almost certainly split.Moreover, a split in the Nationalist Party would notnecessarily depend upon an election or a move by the`verligtes' towards a deal with the PFP right. In perspec-tives, it is nec:,:ssary to guard against what Marx termed`parliamentary cretinism'. Even if Botha could contriveby redelimitation or other legislative manoeuvre toforestall a Treurnicht electoral victory, once the right-wing backlash among the whites reached sufficient pro-portions and became a powerful extra-parliamentaryrevolt, large numbers of Nationalist politicians would goover. A series of fiascoes in the government's `reform'programme could easily lead to such a situation.The bourgeoisie would fear a Treurnicht government,mainly because of the provocative signal this would giveto the blacks, and because there would be correspondinglyless control over the white reaction. It would lay in ruinsall present plans for further `reform', and increase thetendencies towards racial civil war.They would therefore manoeuvre furiously to preventTreurnicht coming to power. But would they go over toa direct military government as a means of forestallingthis? That cannot be ruled out, but it is not the most likelyperspective.When faced with the situation concretely, the capitalistswould realise that Treurnicht himself would not be ableto proceed on an uncontrolled course of reaction. Afterall, what further repressive power would be at his disposalthan the government possesses now? A Treurnicht regimewould still, in the final analysis, have to defend capitalismand respond to the almighty pressures of the worldeconomy and the SA economy in the grip of crisis. It isimpossible in this epoch for any bourgeois governmentto achieve real autonomy from the dictates of financecapital.In fact, even a Treurnicht government would probablyhave to employ many of the same devices of `reform' andoperate within the framework of the existing constitution.

Page 56 of 98 Terry Fields, Labour M.P. and supporter of Militant newspaper, add-d striking school students at a rally in Liverpool.10 14'.`45'", II-VA i `.newspaper in the British LabourParty-leading the YTURC and theLPYS, and with supporters inParliament-who understand thedespair, frustration and anger of theyouth, and the vital role they can playin changing society.Without organisation, and a clearprogramme around which to organiseto solve their problems and those ofall working people, the anger of theyouth would just be channelled intofruitless rioting-the frustration in-to crime, and the despair intoalcoholism, drug addiction andsuicide.But instead of commending thestrike organisers, the Labour Partyleaders are attacking them! Beforethe school strike, the Labour Party`tops' were wanting to become spon-sors of YTURC because of the roleit was playing in campaigning onyouth unemployment.But now it has helped to unleashthe force of the youth in battleagainst the Tories-the Labour Par-ty leaders have launched an `enquiry`into YTURC and banned it fromLabour Party headquarters! Thisgoes along with a general witch-huntagainst supporters of Militant.But the youth will draw from thistheir own conclusions. They will seethat they share with the Marxists theunderstanding that it is only throughthe organised power of the labourmovement, fighting on class lines,that their problems can be solved.They will see more and more thatthere is no way out under capitalism.RallyDespite the attitude of the Labourleadership, the youth will rally to theLabour Party and force the questionof the youth on its leadei ship. Theywill fight for the election of a Labourgovernment that will bring in votesfor 16-year olds, will guarantee a jobfor all school-leavers, and finance adecent education system. This meansa Labour government committed tosocialist policies.Tomorrow's power depends on theworking-class youth and whateversteps are taken against them, theyouth will have that power.The Labour Party Young Socialistsnow has the task of transformingitself into a mass organisation, andof winning the fight for the interestsof youth in the programme of theParty.The LPYS is helping the studentsbuild up a national school studentsunion which will represent the viewsof school youth, and be a campaign-ing organisation to impress on thewhole of society that the youth aredetermined to have a better futurethan what is offered to them today.Postscript: Since the schoolstrike, the Tory government hasbacked down on its plans to makethe YTS compulsory. -_ '-- -,

Page 57 of 98 But it would be even more ludicrous and unworkable asa rest.,tut, he same time, to resort to military dictatorshipagainst the will of the whites-to prevent the replacementof a failed N. P. government with one further to the rightwhen this was demanded by a clear majority of whites-would be a course fraught with immense dangers for thebourgeoisie. Even if all the senior officers could be reliedon, their power would prove to be a phantom if they wereunable to rely on the loyalty of the rank-and-file troopsand police.The army is a reflection of society-in SA's case areflection mainly of white society. To use the state againstthe whites would be impossible except within very nar-row limits.Thus such an adventure could lead to crippling splitsin the apparatus of the state itself. That in turn wouldspur forward the revolutionary movement. For thesereasons it is unlikely that the bourgeoisie would attemptto keep Treurnicht out by means of a military coup.In a serious constitutional crisis affecting the whites,the first concern of all the bourgeois politicians will benot to open the door to the black revolution. Thus, ifthe parliamentary road is denied to Treurnicht by theN.P. regime's manoeuvres, it would not followautomatically-indeed it is unlikely-that he would leadan extra-parliamentary bid for power.More likely, he would try instead to control his ownranks and manoeuvre behind the scenes for a deal. Butin that event a split of the Conservative Party, with a sec-tion moving further to the right, would become a distinctpossibility.It could not be ruled out that, at some stage, possiblyeven with the agreement of the Conservatives, thebourgeoisie might have to turn to a military regime-inan attempt to combine repression and `reform' more ef-fectively against the blacks, while trying to hold the whitestogether through military discipline. But it would leadeventually to the same inevitable splits, and begin to af-fect the army itself.State as instrument of change?If the state machine cannot be used effectively againstreaction, conversely it cannot be used as an effective in-strument of reform. Yet this is precisely the idea put for-ward by such luminaries as Van Zyl Slabbert of the PFP,and his echoes among the academics. Apparently a"strong Defence Force" etc is needed for the very pur-pose of bringing about "peaceful change"! Thishypocritical nonsense of the liberal bourgeois is reallynauseating.The Afrikaans academic, Hermann Giliomee, hasbecome an interesting writer to watch as a weather-vaneof the ideas of the left wing of bourgeois society. Hav-ing had the courage to break with Afrikaner orthodoxy,he often expresses matters in terms of their fundamen-tals to a greater extent than the woolly English liberals.Thus, in an article in the Rand Daily Mail (16/4/85),he sets out a list of sound reasons showing that the basisfor viable political reform in South Africa has beendestroyed. But when he approaches the awful implica-tions of this fact, suddenly he can go no further. Hessprings back. He must find some "solution to gloom atthe top"! Thus he offers a conclusion in complete con-tradiction to what he has just proved:"It is silly to suggest that any attempt to reform SouthAfrica will be `too little, too late'. The basic structuresof the South African state are still stable." Ouremphasis.)But the stability of the SA state is precisely the resultof the cohesion built up between the different classes ofwhite society over the past decades. The basis of thatcohesion is racial domination and privilege.For the state to undertake reform, the state itself hasto be reformed. Precisely because there is no objectivescope for viable reform of South African society, at-tempts to reform the state can only render it unstablewithout any prospect of it regaining stability on a newbasis. Stability of the South African state therefore standsin contradiction to reform.But the bourgeoisie, for its survival, requires bothstability and reform. In attempting to reconcile this con-tradiction, as it must, it will end up moving from `reform'to counter-reforms and from a `stable' to an unstablestate.The class struggle has an imperious logic. Radical criticsof the bourgeoisie and of the regime, if they do not breakdecisively with bourgeois society and cross to the stand-point of the black working class, can only end up as ab-ject apologists of the blood-soaked state machine itself.Incipient civil warTo a certain extent, the movement of the black work-ing class has begun to make South Africa `ungovernable'by the regime. But it would be totally naive to concludefrom this that conditions are emerging for a negotiated`settlement' of the question of power.The reality of the matter is that South Africa hasentered a period of incipient civil war. At the present time,however-and it may appear strange to say this in a coun-try notorious for violence and massacre-we are still ina relatively peaceful period compared with what liesahead.Although the situation is characterised by viciousviolence of the state against the black working people,it has not so far been characterised by direct inter-racialviolence between the white and black communitiesthemselves. This is mainly because the whites can still lookwith confidence to the state to subjugate and repress theblacks on their behalf. So far the violence of the systemremains `institutionalised'.But once the mass movement of the black people beginsto overwhelm the capacities of the state forces-andalready troops and even railway police have to be usedto reinforce the police in the townships-this situationwill begin to change. It will change all the more with thesplits of the bourgeoisie and in the camp of the whitesgenerally, resulting divisions within the state, and the par-tial paralysis of its striking power.This will be a situation on which the ultra-right reac-

Page 58 of 98 THE GENERAL STRIKE:- Viral weapon in our struggleWorkers at the May Day 1985 rally in Maritzburg.Once again-in the Transvaal in November, in theEastern Cape in March, and then again in the Transvaalin May-the stay-away (or general strike) has beenbrought to bear as a weapon in the struggle.The two-day November strike in particular, involv-ing up to a million workers in SA's industrial and finan-cial heartland, was the most important ,political actionin the whole history of the labour movement.These displays of the power ofthe working class have terrifiedthe bosses and the government-even forcing concessions, such asthe settlement of the Simba-Quizdispute and the temporary freezeon rents.Taken together with the generalferment in society-the uncertaintyof the ruling class, and the huge andnear-insurrectionary mass strugglestaking place up and down thecountry-they are a clear indicationof anew stage in the unfolding of theSouth African socialist revolution.But many battles have yet to befought-by organised millions ratherthan hundreds of thousands-beforethe revolution can be victorious. Inthe process, the general strike willbecome an increasingly vital tactic. Itwill be indispensable for the workers'movement to have a crystal-clear con-ception of how to use this weaponmost effectively, and its place withinthe struggle to transform society.Its increasingly obvious impor-tance is already provoking intensedebate about general strike tactics inthe unions and among the youth.Thus, despite the huge success ofthe November action, some unionleaders have expressed caution aboutrepeating it, or extending it on awider basis. On the other hand, manyworkers argued for carrying forwardthe mome,-,um with an `all-out'general strike.In November, the unions, youthand community organisations com-hin,pd in a concerted mobilisation.But in the Eastern Cape strikes manyBy Richard Monroeof the unions held back from officialparticipation-leaving the initiativeto PEBCO.Uncertainty over tactics has alsobeen revealed in the protest at themurder of Andries Raditsela. Atfirst, the unions called a two-hour na-tional stoppage; at the last minute,under pressure from below, theFOSATU regional committee extend-ed this, to a call for a one-day strikein the Transvaa1.Stored within the fighting tradi-tions of the labour movement inter-nationally is an immense wealth ofexperience on the use of the generalstrike-on successes and setbacks.Every activist in the workers' andyouth movement should try to gethold of this experience, study, ab-sorb, and apply it. Here we can onlydraw out some of the main lessons.Just as the strike is an indispen-sable weapon in the daily struggleagainst the employer, so mass andgeneral strike action is indispensable

Page 59 of 98 tion feeds.After the November general strike, the right-wingspread rumours among the white communities that blackswere planning to embark on a campaign of terror andviolence directed against them. Stickers and leaflets forg-ed to appear as though they emanated from the move-ment, declared: "Rape a white woman; kill a whitechild!" and called for armed attacks on white schools andthe firebombing of white homes.,The result of these damn rumours," wrote PercyQoboza in the Johannesburg City Press, "is that manywhite people, particularly in this town, were movingaround the streets with loaded guns."A gun dealer in Johannesburg's northern suburbs toldthe press that there had been an upsurge in orders,especially during the previous two weeks. "Usually peo-ple want handguns," he said, observing that pistols areas commonplace in white homes as toasters. "But all ofa sudden we have customers wanting shotguns, pump-action shotguns. That's how I know people are scared."(Guardian, 28/11/84.)During the recent unrest at Vaal Reefs Mine, NUMgeneral secretary Cyril Ramaphosa reported that whiteminers were going underground with loaded pistols andpointing them at the black mineworkers. Most probably,black mineworkers in this period will be discussingmeasures of self-defence against the police and racistwhite miners-measures which will eventually have to in-volve obtaining and using arms.The whole logic of the developing situation will leadinevitably to the arming of the revolutionary movementof the black workers and youth for their defence. Thatin turn will precipitate more vicious state attacks and soadd to the spiral of civil war.Already the fascist AWB leader, Terreblanche, has seiz-ed the opportunity to announce that his white storm-,troopers will be available to act alongside the state inmurderously repressing the blacks. At this stage, ofcourse, that would not be permitted by the regime,because it would lead to the blacks arming themselveseven more rapidly. Nor is there any question in SA ofthe fascist forces ever obtaining state power. But we cancertainly envisage, over the next five or ten years, situa-tions in which they will act, as in Chile and other coun-tries, as jackals running at the heels of the army andpolice. Already they have penetrated significantly into thelower ranks of these state c;rgans-.Perspectives always have to be very conditional, andall the more so in the extremely complex situation ofSouth Africa. We have to be especially cautious on ques-tions of timing, for it is impossible to forecast the preciseconjunctures of all the factors and events that will oc-cur. Nevertheless, it is quite possible to draw out inperspectives the basic lines of development which are in-herent in the South African situation.There will inevitably be a serious further developmentin the direction of racial civil war. It will not be a warfought by great armies from opposing territories (as, e.g.,in the American Civil War), or between opposing regimes(as, e.g., between Republican and Nationalist Spain), butrather the development of a state of `siege', of armedcamps and no-go areas, of street fighting, of massacres,of reprisals, of bloody inter-racial clashes, of chaos, decayand disintegration.In all this the main bulwark of the bourgeoisie will con-tinue to be the state, the organising force of capitalistreaction.Once the real issues and interests at stake in the SArevolution are starkly posed, the main body of thebourgeoisie will resort to the most extreme measures ofcounter-revolution. At the same time, because that reac-tion will inevitably be racist in character, the bigbourgeoisie will manoeuvre in order to disclaim directresponsibility for it.But the full force of the state-including its massivearmoury of aircraft, bombs, tanks, artillery, machine-guns, etc-will when necessary be wheeled into action.We should be under no illusion that the ruling class willshrink from slaughtering hundreds of thousands, andeven millions, once the chips are down.The horrors we have seen in the civil war in theLebanon will seem like a picnic in comparison with whatcan happen in South Africa.Nor will the `opposition' of US imperialism to themethods of the SA regime continue on their presentcourse indefinitely and under all circumstances. In thefinal analysis, it is the threat of the black workers gain-ing power-the spectre of communism-which will dic-tate the policy of imperialism.The SA ruling class will say, "We tried to reform, butthe blacks want communism!" Inevitably the UnitedStates will find ways, mainly underhand ways, short ofdirect intervention, of materially assisting and reinforc-ing the SA state.The Soviet bureaucracy, fearing a healthy proletarianrevolution anywhere in the world (and particularly in thisdecisive industrialised country of Africa), and fearing tocomplicate its search for `peaceful coexistence' with USimperialism, will hold back from direct involvement whileurging the leaders of the movement in SA to find a com-promise settlement with the capitalist class and with thewhites.Negotiated settlement?Already a section of the capitalist class has moved tothe position of advocating `talks' with the ANC. RecentlyAfrikaans journalists and academics have gone on safarito Lusaka to test the ground for possible future negotia-tion. Although Botha has repudiated these initiatives, itis probable that he gave at least tacit approvalbeforehand. Meanwhile, Anglo American bosses havebeen eagerly keeping up their contacts with ANC exiledleaders abroad.Tony Bloom, chairman of Premier group, argues thatour new dispensation" will not achieve credibility unlesscredible black leaders like Mandela and Tambo can bebrought into it."A dramatic move towards the establishment of credibilitywould undoubtedly be the opening of tentative dialogue, onthe proviso (and I stress this proviso most strongly) that itrenounces violence as an instrument of policy, with theAfrican National Congress (ANC). It is difficult to establishjust how great the support for the ANC is among the blacksin SA, but I venture to suggest that it is very, verysubstantial...

Page 60 of 98 for the working class in preparing tolead the struggle for power.Not only can mass and generalstrike action wrest concessions fromthe ruling class. More important still,they give a sense to the working classof its own strength, and at the sametime'test the forces of the enemy.Through mass strike action, as thegreat Marxist Trotsky wrote,"various groups and strata of theproletariat announce themselves(and) signal to one another... Onlythrough these strikes... does the pro-letariat rise to its feet, assemble itselfas a unity, begin to feel and conceiveof itself as a class, as a livinghistorical force."Fresh layersThe recent general strikes have alsoreaffirmed how a lead taken by theorganised workers (particularly withthe assistance of the youth) can drawhuge fresh layers of the unorganisedinto action-and, through that, intoorganisation.But any generalised strike action isa serious matter for the workingclass. The collective power of theworking class to withdraw its labouris a fundamental threat not only tothe profits, but also, ultimately, tothe survival of the ruling class.Because the SA ruling class hassuch limited room for manoeuvre inmaking concessions to the workers'movement- because it must defendthe cheap labour system at allcosts-it views general strike actionwith the bitterest fear and hostility.Hence the same threats arerepeated time and time again: dock-ing of wages, mass sackings-and,behind them, the threat of themurderous state machine.In the struggle to end oppressionand exploitation, the workers areprepared to make huge.sacrifices-provided that the purpose of eachcollective action is explained, andlinked to a clear strategy and goal.This is what needs to underlie theworking out of general strike tactics.It would be fundamentally wrong,for example, in preparing andorganising general strike action, todraw any distinction between so-called progressive and reactionarybosses-or between the bosses andthe regime. On the contrary, the col-lective responsibility of the whole rul-ing class for the system in SouthAfrica needs to be emphasised andemphasised again.The apartheid regime is the fun-damental defence of the bosses'system of cheap labour, and any at-tack on it is inevitably an attack onthe bosses also.Only on the basis of thisunderstanding, and all the implica-tions which flow from it, can theworking class prepare itself to leadthe struggle for power.On the lessons of the Novembergeneral strike, "Fosatu sources" arereported by the Financial Mail(26/4/85) as saying, "the organisingcommittee was too small, and itsmembers did not have sufficientlyclearly defined ideas of their func-tions, responsibilities and limits.Fosatu will in future be wary of theterms on which it co-operates withorganisations made up of activistswho are not directly answerable to aconstituency..."...the stay-away weapon isunlikely to be used by Fosatuagain-except in the case of an 'ab-solutely immediate, clear-cutobjective.' "It would be entirely correct for thetrade unions to maintain that the ac-tions of the working class cannot bedetermined by the requirements ofmiddle-class political leaders. In the1950s middle-class Congress move-mentleaders called thevorkers intostay-aways, and then called off theactions-turning- on and off the tapof the workers' movement in vain at-tempts to arrive at political com-promises with the `liberal' bosses.But in the case of the Novemberstrike, the middle-class UDFTransvaal leadership did not initiatethe strike call-it merely gave it sup-port after it had been called.Moreover, the only guaranteeagainst attempts by middle-classleaders to manipulate the workers'movement for its own ends, is for theorganised working-class to establishits political leadership in the strugglethrough assuming control of theUDF on the basis of a programmeand strategy to rally all the oppressed.In' fact the real pressure for theNovember action came from theunion membership (as Fosatu sourcesthemselves state in the same Finan-cial Mail article): "its constituencyhas also widened to include increas-ingly politically-concerned workers.The federation structure made It in-evitable that workers concernedabout the roots of township andeducational unrest would pressuretheir leadership to act." (Ouremphasis)If there was additional pressurefrom outside the union movement, itwas the pressure of the youth organ-isations-who, in that, were reflec-ting the urgency felt by the workingclass masses themselves, and par-ticularly the non-unionised workers.The youth movement is a pricelessasset for the working class move-ment, with its fearlessness and adven-turousness complementing the solidfoundations of organisation whichhave been built in the factories,mines, docks, etc.It was the combined strengths ofthe organised workers and the youthwhich made the November strikesuch a success in raising the con-fidence of the working class in itsown power, thus fuelling discussionabout further and escalated action.It would be a big mistake for anyleader of the democratic unions toimagine that it will be possible to re-nounce the weapon of the stay-away.Indeed, attempts to do so by theunions themselves would only driveworkers and youth to find otherleadership for political strike action.It will be useless to complain, in thatcase, that the leadership concerned is"not directly answerable to aconstituency".Wells upIn the nature of things, the moodfor general strike action cannot betested by calling national referenda orputting matters to the vote in con-ferences well ahead of time. It wellsup among the unorganised as well asthe, organised, and is reflectedthrough the activists in the workers',youth, etc. organisations. Despite thedifficulties involved in assessingmood and working out tactics, theleaders of the trade unions cannotescape that responsibility.In the Eastern Cape it was in thecontext of a near-insurrectionary fer-ment in the townships that a moodfor general strike action asserted itselfand, because the unions stood asidefrom mobilising it, expressed itself inPEBCO's call.The Eastern Cape general strikeswere also successful-but they didnot have the same force, or leave thesame sense of a new and higher

Page 61 of 98 "There is an historical inevitability about talking to theANC-it is not a question of if, but rather Mien." (Articleby Bloom in Financial Mail, 16/11/84.)What Bloom's `proviso' in reality means is that theANC must openly renounce the revolutionary overthrowof the state and agree to knuckle down under a systemin which the capitalist class retains the monopoly of powerdefended by the present state monopoly of armed force.This no black leadership could possibly accept withoutimmediately appearing as sell-outs before the people. Itis noteworthy that Botha's manoeuvre in offering torelease Mandela was made conditional on a similar`renunciation of violence'. Quite correctly, Mandela re-jected it decisively.It is not `violence' which is at stake, in reality, butpower. No ruling class surrenders its historical positionof power without a fight. The ANC leadership cannotyield to the bourgeoisie's claims without losing its ownmass base of support and rendering itself impotent.Because a transfer of power to the black majority can-not take place without the revolutionary overthrow of thestate in SA, it will be impossible for talks to succeed. Thatwill remain the case even if the ANC leadership, on theone hand, and the SA regime on the other, wished toachieve a negotiated settlement with each other. Quiteprobably Botha himself-even while he puts the UDFleaders on trial for treason-dreams of reaching such asettlement eventually!It is impossible because the constituencies, the respec-tive class bases, on which the two sides rest are irrecon-cilable, even temporarily, in South African conditions.However, that does not mean that talks at some futurestage will not take place. The question of `talks', the`urgency of talks', the `imperative need for talks', willhang like a ghostly light over all the successive phases,turns and zig-zags in the developing situation of civil war.Receding at times from sight, it will again and againreassert its presence.The more the revolution clutches at the throat of theruling class, the more desperate will they become to finda negotiated way out. But all the attempts will break downunder the objective impossibility of reconciling even tem-porarily the real material class-conflicts and racial an-tagonisms in this way.It could not be ruled out, at some future juncture, thatright-wing elements will split off from the ANC in searchof a compromise. Opportunities for negotiation may openup also during the inevitable periods of lull, despair, andeven severe partial defeats which will be suffered by themass movement during the long struggle ahead.At some stage, even semi-official and perhaps officialtalks directly between the regime and ANC leaders couldnot be ruled out. But agreement could not be arrived at,or be made to stick.Why not like Zimbabwe?There is a prevalent myth in South Africa, which hasa hold also within the workers' movement, that this coun-try can go the route of Zimbabwe-that there can be anegotiated settlement on the lines of Lancaster House.But the objective conditions that made that possiblein Zimbabwe are not present in South Africa; on the con-trary SA conditions rule it out.The vast majority of Zimbabwe's population arepeasants, scattered over the country, and not urban work-ing class. Moreover, the independence war was foughtas a rural guerilla war, based on the peasantry. For thisreason (and others which we have dealt with elsewhere-see, e.g., South .Africa's Impending Socialist Revolution),the proletariat remained passive during the decisive stagesof the struggle leading up to independence. In the revolu-tion so far it has played no role.On the other hand, the Rhodesian state rested on aweak foundation of a white minority making up only onein twenty of the total population. Financially and in-dustrially weak,' it was crucially dependent upon SouthAfrican backing, and the latter depended in turn uponthe secret support of the imperialist powers (particularlythe USA during the war itself) to sustain the Smithregime.It was when Kissinger went to Vorster and together theythreatened to pull the rug out from under Smith that hewas compelled to give way to the Muzorewagovernment--a nominally `elected', nominally `black'government but on the basis of the old state remainingessentially intact.The guerilla war continued to the point where the statewas stretched almost to the limit. Whites began to leavein significant numbers. South Africa would either havehad to commit troops directly to the war, or accept theultimate collapse of the Rhodesian state after perhapsanother five or ten more years of attrition.These were the main factors which provided the basisfor the Lancaster House agreement.Only by a whiskerEven so, that agreement was achieved only by awhisker. The initiative, let its recall, was by that stagein the hands of South African and British imperialism(supported by the USA). Smith and Muzorewa, lackingreal independent power, were forced to play along.Even without a mass movement of the working class,the caoitalists were afraid to concede majority rule andthe transition of power into the hands of the PatrioticFront (ZANU and ZAPU) because of the weak socialbase of capitalism in Zimbabwe. They feared that a massmovement could easily break out and, finding supportamong the guerilla fighters, compel the nationalist leadersto carry through the overthrow of capitalism.However the assurances of Mugabe and Nkomo thatthey would, if they won the independence election, main-tain capitalism as the basis of the economy and state,eventually satisfied them. The main "assurance" in thisrespect, however, consisted in confining the guerillas to`assembly points' preparatory to disarming them. Thusthe existing capitalist state apparatus could remainbasically intact, at least as the skeleton for the post-independence state.But had there been a revolutionary mass movement ofthe working class, it would have been absolutely ruled

Page 62 of 98 achievement of unity in action, aswas the case in the Transvaal. Hadthe trade unions involved themselvesfully in preparing and organising theactions, they could have had a moretangible direction, and clearerdemands. The outcome would havebeen a greater sense of organisedpower and common purpose amongthe workers and youth.Victimisationit is true that the state, by its vic-timisation of the Transvaal regionalstrike committee in November,signalled that, in future, members ofsuch open committees are likely to bearrested before, rather than after,organising a strike. Undoubtedly thetrade union leadership-which is ofnecessity wholly in the open view ofthe repressive state-must protectitself against unnecessary reprisals.At the same time it is vital that thetrade union movement is fully involv-ed in deciding on, preparing, andorganising, general strike actions-along with the youth and other ac-tivists. The means must be developedfor representatives of the tradeunions, youth organisations, etc., tomeet systematically, but secretly,together to plan coherent strategy.The importance of this mobilisa-tion of combined strength of workersand youth is shown also by the resultsof the strike call to protest AndriesRaditsela's death. Called by theunions alone, and not with the add-ed forces of the youth, etc., it fellshort of the success of the actions inNovember and March.Undoubtedly, against the pro-paganda of `failure` in the capitalistpress, Joe Foster was correct to pointto the measure of success that wasachieved at short notice-with atleast 130 000 workers responding na-tionally to the call, and the funeralattended by many thousands ofworkers.But the response of the workingclass was by no means so overwhelm-ing, whether within the Transvaal oroutside it, as was the case inNovember. In November even thecapitalist press could not hide theoverwhelming success.The lesser response of the workerswas not because the bosses or theregime were taking a tougher attitudethan in November. On the contrary.Knowing that mass struggles werecontinuing unchecked, more or lessnation-wide, despite the viciousrepression of the police and the ar-my, they realised that they must sup-plement repression with subtler tac-tics of trying to `limit the damage'.In fact spokesmen for SATS, oneof the toughest employers in the land,.admitted before the strike in Maythat they would be unlikely to takereprisals-of the kind meted out bythe SASOL bosses in November. Thebosses were hoping that the unionleaders themselves would play therole of limiting and containing themovement.StrengthBut in any event, if the need forgeneral strike action arises, the onlyrecourse at the disposal of theworkers against sackings, shootingsand massacres is to their ownorganisation and strength-and in nowise to the goodwill or `restraininghand' of any section of theemployers.The statement, issued by theFOSATU regional Transvaal ex-ecutive together with the one-daystrike call, for one additional day ofstrike for every worker shot was en-tirely correct.But for that threat to be effective,An unusual sight since the Second World War: two unemployed white families, with less than R.? in their pockets, arrive inJohannesburg from PE to look for work. The workers' movement, to neutralise and defeat racist reaction from whites hit bythe economic crisis, needs to put forward the alternative of a struggle for non-racial socialist equality.r.

Page 63 of 98 out for the imperialists and capitalists to make this con-cession. On the other hand, had the guerilla war con-tinued to the end and resulted in the collapse of theRhodesian state, Zimbabwe would have ended up in thesame way as Mozambique and Angola-with capitalistproperty expropriated. This prospect, with all its likelyrepercussions internationally, was the main inducementto the bourgeois to settle.So slender was their `success' however that, if Mugabehad merely raised his little finger-had merely called,after his election victory, upon the workers and peasantsto seize the factories and land, and defend the revolu-tion arms in hand-capitalism would have been finishedin Zimbabwe. Only an invasion by South Africa-a veryrisky venture-could have possibly rescued it, and thenonly temporarily.Moreover, as transpired later, officers of the Rhode-sian army, headed by General Walls, were conspiringbefore the elections to take power by means of a coup.Had they done so, it would have compelled a revolu-tionary response from the black nationalist leaders andprobably led to the overthrow of capitalism.Thus we can see that even in the conditions of Zim-babwe, the Lancaster House agreement was possible on-ly by virtue of a peculiar conjuncture of circumstances.That conjuncture was in turn only possible because, inZimbabwe, the proletariat remained passive and allow-ed the social or class issues at stake in the struggle to beseparated, partially and temporarily, from the politicalissue of `majority rule'.This is what has allowed the establishment of a blackgovernment on a capitalist basis. Now, having recon-solidated the capitalist state, the `Marxist' Mugabe findshimself obliged to attack the rights and standards of theworking class, preside over a process of counter-reforms,and move towards a viciously repressive one-partydictatorship.SA conditions differentIn South Africa the whole situation is and will be com-pletely different. The SA revolution is from beginningto end a proletarian revolution. Every advance in thestruggle is achieved through the rising strength and massaction of the black working class. Reformist leaders, anx-ious to compromise with capitalism, are not a sufficientguarantee to the ruling class that the masses can be heldback.On the other hand, the white minority, making up justless than one-fifth of the population, is a much strongerbasis for the state than was the case in Rhodesia.Moreover the SA state is less directly reliant on outsideimperialist support.Although significant numbers of middle-class andbourgeois elements will leave South Africa when thestruggle really heats up (thus reducing, incidentally, thenumber of white `democrats' in SA), the majority ofworking-class and lower-middle class whites who providethe fighting forces of the bourgeois state will havenowhere else to go.So long as the SA bourgeoisie has the weapon of a for-midable state power to lean on, it cannot resort to gambl-ing with its own fate. At the same time, for the reasonsexplained, the forces of white reaction will be strongenough to prevent any concession of real power to theblack majority-until the movement of the black majority(the working-class movement) is strong enough to takepower by force.No 'Popular Front' governmentIt is for these reasons that we would go so far as tosay that there could never in South Africa be a coalitiongovernment between the ANC and the bourgeoisie-though many ANC leaders might earnestly desire it. Putanother way, we cannot conceive of conditions whichwould permit the creation of an ANC government on abourgeois basis.Because the capitalist state in SA cannot be transform-ed into a democratic non-racial state, but will remain astate of white domination and reaction, it follows thatthere can be no ANC or any other genuinely `popular'government ruling on the basis of this state. An ANCgovernment would first necessitate the dismantling andreplacement of this state.But capitalist reaction centres upon the state. While thewhites will be split and thrown into turmoil, and whilethe state will thereby be weakened to its foundations andtend to disintegrate, it will be the army and white policeapparatus which retains cohesion longest.Because the state is `armed bodies of men' in the finalanalysis, this means that the SA state will remain fun-damentally intact until the armed forces have beendefeated or shattered. If that can be achieved, it will meanthat the power of the bourgeoisie will have been com-pletely broken; unrestricted power will have passed intothe hands of a victorious and armed revolution.By breaking the main barrier to the democratictransformation of society-the state-the main barrierpreventing the overthrow of capitalism would also havebeen broken.What would be the situation then? It would dependon the route by which the victory was achieved.If the struggle in SA is fought out to the end purelyas a black-white conflict-as a racial civil war-there isno certainty whatsoever that the blacks would win. Theprobability is otherwise. The wealth, technology, modernarms and destructive power which the state, capitalistsand white minority have at their disposal is a formidableadvantage. If the reaction is not defeated politically andthese destructive powers rendered unusable, they will beused to the full.In the event that the blacks, fighting on this basisthrough a long war of mutual destruction, were ableultimately to defeat the state nonetheless, what would bethe situation faced by the leadership? The victory wouldhave been gained at the cost literally of millions of (mainlyblack) lives, and of laying waste the productive forces-the basis of civilised existence which has been created bythe labour of the working class. On a Inountain of cor-pses, on the ashes of industry, an ANC leadership couldnot then, even if it wished, establish a coalition with the

Page 64 of 98 it would have been necessary to makethorough and determinedpreparations-otherwise it would beexpd5ed as mere bluff, and increasethe boldness of reaction.In contrast to November and toMarch in the Eastern Cape, there wasno attempt to enlist the revolutionaryenergy and determination of theyouth to mobilise for the May action.The hundreds of thousands ofleaflets and posters distributed by theyouth in November were a vital fac-tor in the solidity of the strike.The call by FOSATU for a two-hour strike was also questionable.The problem with strike calls limitedto a matter of hours is that they donot really signal to the working classthe strength of its forces, they do nothave the same ability to galvanise theunorganised workers, and they donot seriously test the state of theenemy.The working class is inspired mostto sacrifice when it sees a clear pur-pose, and clear gains to be made, indoing so.In Italy the powerful Italian Com-munist Party has over the last yearsfrittered away the energy and moraleof its members and supportersthrough endlessly repeated`demonstration' strike calls,sometimes of only half an hour or tenminutes duration. In the end workersare bound to say: `What's the point.What are we gaining, at the expenseof merely irritating the bosses?'ConfuseWhen general strike action islimited to a `demonstration' effect,and repeatedly called on such a basis,it can in the end only confuse anddivide the workers' movement andgive heart to the ruling class.While Raditsela's funeral was apowerful demonstration of theworkers' anger, in the end, the unfor-tunate consequence of the May strikecall was to follow up the hugely suc-cessful November strike ... withsomething that fell far short of it.After the November strike, Inqabastated the view that the best possiblefollow-up would be a call for a two-day national strike.In our view, subsequent eventshave confirmed this. The mood forfurther and more widespread actionclearly existed after November 5-6not only in the Transvaal, but in theWestern and Eastern Cape at least.While such a call would havebecome more difficult the closer thatChristmas approached, events thisyear have created again and againconditions for such an action: afterthe shootings in Uitenhage, and at thetime of the mass sackings ofmineworkers.Conditions for mobilising such anaction are likely to recur in themonths ahead.A successful national general strikewould represent a huge andqualitative leap forward for theworkers' movement. Never beforehas this been achieved. In the 1950's,and in 1976-7, though national strikeshave been called, they have been solidonly in one region or another, andnever everywhere at once.Such a call, thoroughly prepared,would be a real test of the strengthsand weaknesses of the workers'movement on a nation-wide basis. Itssuccess would give an enormous im-petus to the confidence of the work-ing class in its own power-the powerwhose development at the head of allthe oppressed can alone make theSouth African revolution.But why not a call for an `all-out'general strike-as was raised in somequarters of the movement lastNovember?If `all-out' means simply`everybody out', then who coulddisagree? But if this was intended tomean a call for an indefinite generalstrike, until victory or defeat, then,in our view, the call is mistaken.Undoubtedly, such a call willsooner or later come on the agendaof the struggle. Moreover, shouldsuch an action be called at any timeby the workers' leadership, sup-porters of Inqaba would throwthemselves into ensuring it greatestsuccess.But an indefinite general strike in-evitably is a total confrontation bet-ween the working class on the onehand, and the capitalist class and itsstate machine on the other.Without labour, the factories grindto a halt, docks and transport are ata standstill, and food, power andother necessities can be distributedonly with the agreement of theworkers. Even were all white workersto scab on such a strike, the over-whelming majority of productionwould soon come to a standstill.Such a strike would almost certain-ly evoke, on the one hand, all the ef-forts of the ruling class to crush it byrepression-and, on the other, woulddepend for its effectiveness onnation-wide uprisings in thetownships and the countryside on ascale many times larger than that ofthe last months.Two powersIn practice, an indefinite generalstrike, to the extent that it is effec-tive, creates two different powersconfronting each other in society: thepower of the ruling class (reduced tothe power of its armed statemachine), and the hugely expandedpower of the working class.The country, under such condi-tions, would become `ungovernable'by the ruling class.But this immediately poses sharp-ly in practice the question `WHO ISTO RULE SOCIETY?'If the working class is not in a posi-tion to take power and the capitalistsare not willing to make concessions,a very dangerous situation unfolds.The strike movement cannot re-main at white heat indefinitely.Within a week or two at the most, themasses would have to feel that the ac-tion is getting somewhere, or theybegin to doubt that it is worth thecost. Progress begins to be measuredvery concretely. The working classhas to obtain and distribute foodonce the stored supplies in thetownships run out.The necessary actions involveddrive the working class again andagain to test its power against theenemy in a struggle to reorganisesociety and take hold of the levers ofproduction itself.If this does not happen, eventual-ly the capitalist class will recover itselfand inflict a severe defeat on themovement. The workers, havinggiven their all in the strike, will be ahundred times more reluctant to em-bark on such a venture again.Thus a failed indefinite generalstrike can serve as a turning-point,opening up a period of reaction,under which many of the previousgains made by the workers comeunder attack, and can be taken away.Under certain conditions, thecapitalist class may try to effect a`compromise' when faced by an in-definite general strike-but, giventheir limited room for manoeuvreand the challenge posed by such a

Page 65 of 98 defeated bourgeoisie or maintain capitalism as the basisfor a new regime under such circumstances.Even if, as in Eastern Europe after World War 2, orin China after the victory of the Red Army, a nominal`Popular Front' with the defeated or fleeing capitalistclass was put forward, in reality the leadership would ruleby means of its own military forces, and would be com-pelled to move to nationalising the main means of pro-duction and distribution, thus snuffing out capitalism.Leaning on a war-shattered and prostrated proletariat,what would come into existence would be a deformedworkers' state- a regime of proletarian bonapartism onStalinist lines. That would not be a rosy `democracy' inwhich all live happily ever after, but a new form ofenslavement of the working class under a privilegedbureaucratic dictatorship-on ruined productive founda-tions, but nevertheless on a higher level historically thancapitalism and apartheid.However, let us repeat, the prospect of a `victory' onsuch lines is very remote indeed.Victory of class-conscious proletariatLet us consider, on the other hand, the more real pro-spect: a victory of the revolution under the class-consciousleadership of the black working class, which proves ableto split the whites decisively on class lines, ultimately crip-ple the army, and carry through the defeat of the stateby means of an organised and armed mass insurrection.In that event, a coalition with the bourgeoisie wouldbe absolutely ruled out. Nor could any leaders of themovement, even if they wished, sustain capitalism inSouth Africa then.Power would in reality be in the hands of the blackworking class; all leaders would in the first instancehave to reckon with that-or be pushed aside. The im-mediate material demands of the working people woulddemand satisfaction-something possible only throughthe expropriation of the means of production.The factories, mines and big farms would already bein the hands of the proletariat, through armed seizuresand occupations carried out in the course of overthrow-ing the state. It would be impossible to displace the arm-ed proletariat from its conquests save by means of arm-ed counter-revolution-but the state, the only possibleinstrument for such a counter-revolution, would havebeen destroyed.Thus all the prerequisities for the revolutionary achieve-ment of national liberation and democracy are at the sametime the prerequisities for the overthrow of capitalism.In fact, however, it will not be possible to defeat theSA state in this way unless the revolutionary working-class movement fights on a clear programme for thesocialist transformation of society, and with a consciousMarxist leadership."The perspectives of our revolutionary struggle mustnever be blurred," says the ANC NEC in a statement of9 May this year. Quite so. But a hopeless blurring ofperspectives-a complete failure to appreciate the classissues and real dynamics involved in the South Africanrevolution-is shown in their very next words:"Vfc are determined to destroy the criminal apartheidsystem, root and branch, and on its ruins build a truenon-racial democracy. To reach this goal we must attractinto the arena of struggle all democratic forces drawnfrom all racial and class sections of our population. Onthis principle there can be no compromise."In a statement of 25 April this year, the ANC NECwrote: "We call on the white community in whose nameracist barbarities are being perpetrated daily against theblack majority, to move away from its support of apar-theid and to increase the ranks of the growing numberof democratic whites who are participating in our libera-tion struggle."It would be difficult to compound more confusion anderror within a few sentences. In these statements thereis not a word about the need to overthrow capitalism;to break the power of the bourgeoisie; to prepare the con-quest of power by the black working class; to win overwhites on a class basis in order to cripple and eventuallysmash the state. All the words that are here point in ex-actly the opposite direction-the direction of completemuddle and wishful delusions.The apartheid system is treated as a thing-in-itself quiteindependent of capitalism. It is something that can bedestroyed "root and branch"-without overthrowingcapitalism! "On its ruins" a beautiful "true non-racialdemocracy" is to be built-without bothering for a mo-ment about the nature of the socio-economic or classfoundation on which `democracy' is to be erected!The "forces" for this revolutionary struggle are to bedrawn from all "class sections" of our population-including the bourgeoisie!? We are to have one happyfamily of "democratic" South Africans of all classes andraces, in a liberation struggle which whites will join ina "growing number" (now that they have been "calledorb" to do so) regardles'of,he material self-interest theymay have in the present system!On this basis the lion will lie down with the lamb, thecapitalist with the worker, the white with the black, andmake a new start upon "the ruins"! Compared with this,the miracle of the loaves and fishes was mere child's play.This would all be laughable if it wasn't tragic-tragicthat such nonsense is put forward by the leadership ofa great and heroic revolutionary movement; tragic thatsuch ideas today can claim the backing of so-called`Marxism' or `Communism'.The approach necessary to win over whites in signifi-cant numbers to the side of the revolution in South Africais a deadly serious matter. It requires a scientificunderstanding and not `democratic' wishful thinking ifit is to be successful.Realities must be facedThe white bourgeois class is fundamentally hostile togenuine democracy, however much its liberal represen-tatives may pretend. Above all, it is hostile to revolution.As we have shown, too, the political evolution of thevast majority of whites-the workers and lower-middleclass-will initially be, not "away from" apartheid, butfurther to the right. These whites will have to be won to

Page 66 of 98 movement in SA, this cannot becounted on.Thus the `all-out' general strikeraises the stakes of the struggle totheir highest point-and is a riskyundertaking unless thoroughlyorganised and prepared by a leader-ship with a clear perspective andstrategy for the taking of power bythe working class.Democratic organsThe working class needs to beprepared, not simply for making thecountry ungovernable by the rulingclass, but for taking on, defeating,and smashing the murderouscapitalist state machine ofapartheid-and replacing it with itsown democratic organs of power.These organs begin to take shapein the strike itself and the movementthat accompanies it: in thedemocratic organising committeeswhich form in the workplaces,townships, etc., to plan strategy,maintain communications, regulatefood distribution, and so on. Butthey can become linked together in-to an alternative state power-thedemocratic state of the workingclass-only through an all-out strug-gle to overthrow the existing statemachine.All this depends on a long periodof prior preparation-of deliberatemobilisation of the power of theworking class through a series of par-tial and limited actions in order toprepare the movement for revolution.The crisis of capitalism and its regimeare creating the objective conditionsfor this preparation to occur-but toend in victory it must be undertakenconsciously.An all-out general strike wouldhave to more forwards towards amass armed insurrection against theregime, or face the prospect ofdefeat. Its course would be determin-ed by the extent to which,beforehand, and through the ex-perience of preliminary skirmishesand huge battles, the masses in theiroverwhelming majority wereprepared for a fight to the finish, andconfident in a leadership which couldtake them to the end.It is for this reason that, at thisstage, Ingaba has put forward thecall-under appropriate condit-ions-for a national general strikecalled for a limited duration (one,two, three days, etc.-the exactlength is not the decisive question).If properly prepared, such a strikewould be a big step forward incementing unity in the workers'movement, in testing the balance offorces, and in drawing new layers in-to organisation. It would be a dressrehearsal for future battles that lieahead. It could be enormously im-portant in strengthening the unitybetween the workers' and youthmovements, which will become evenmore crucial in the future.For maximum success in even alimited general strike, what is in-dispensable is a clear programme ofaction around which the largestforces of the workers can unite. Eachpotential general strike situationemerges out of specific issues andevents. But there are neverthelessdemands which are to the forecontinually-for a national minimumwage linked to rises in the cost of liv-ing, for work and homes for all, etc.ActionIt is such demands which will rallythe unorganised and weaker sectionsof the class into action.With the imminent formation of anev, federation, an even greaterr,sponsibility for perspectives, pro-gramme and strategy will fall to itsnew leadership. This applies also tothe need for clarity on the tactic ofthe general strike, and the determina-tion and will to use this tactic.It is important for all activists todiscuss the lessons of the generalstrike actions of the last few months,in order to prepare the movement forthe bigger and more bitter battleswhich lie ahead.Uitenhage, March: working people rally to protest against thein SA history.police massacre. The turnout was the largest for any funeral

Page 67 of 98 the side of the black masses in the course of a civil wardeveloping inevitably on racial lines at the outset.Only by grasping all this firmly, and not shrinking fromits implications, can we find the key to success.It is because the mighty struggles opening up in SouthAfrica hold out the prospect of appalling destruction andattrition-it is because they will cast in doubt all securi-ty, all privileges, all benefits that the whites have hither-to enjoyed-that the mass of whites will recoil and seekan alternative way out instead of a racial war to the bit-ter end. But they can do so only if a real alternative ifshown.That alternative does not lie in sugary phrases about`democracy', or in appeals to their moral sense. Nor doesit lie in the making of any concession to white privilege,property, power-to so-called `group rights'.There should be the protection, on a basis of majorityrule, of the rights of all individuals and of all minoritygroups to their language, culture, etc, and againstdiscrimination. But an undertaking to protect `grouprights', in the sense in which that is put forward todayby middle-class politicians, journalists and academics,means the protection of special minority privileges. Itmeans, moreover, the maintenance of capitalism.That is not only an intolerable retreat from thedemocratic demand for the national liberation of themajority-it will also be completely futile in its intentionof `winning over' whites to democracy.All the verbal `guarantees' would not persuade thecapitalists or the whites generally to concede majority ruleas long as power remains in their hands. Indeed, thesearch for compromise with capitalism and with whiteprivilege is precisely what will guarantee their intran-sigence and lead to the certainty of a bloodbath of racialwar.Vision of future societyIf the only vision of a future `liberated South Africa'which is presented to the whites is the nightmare that theycan see in the African continent to the north-poverty,starvation, one-party military-police dictatorships, cor-ruption, stagnation and decline (examples of the `nationaldemocracy' beloved of the Stalinists?)-then the whiteswill undoubtedly fight to the end for what they have.And, we should make no mistake about it, they have animmense amount for which to fight.But, on the other hand, if the black working class canshow by its enormous physical power and courage, byits democratic organisation and unity, and by the clarityof its revolutionary programme, that it is determined tofight to the end to change society; if it can show, togetherwith the working class internationally, that workers'power will lay the foundations of a new socialist civilisa-tion, capable of giving a decent life to all, free of the hor-rors of capitalism-then and then alone will it be possi-ble to win over a significant body of the whites, to breakthe loyalty of the white troops, to defeat the state powerpolitically so that it can be forcibly overthrown.A programme of workers' socialist revolution is the on-ly way to achieve the national liberation of the black peo-ple; it is also the only possible way out of the horror ofa full-scale racial civil war.Double dangerPopular Front ist ideas-ideas of the `unity' of allclasses under the banner of `democracy'; ideas of subor-dinating the revolutionary class movement of the blackworkers and youth to a hoped-for compromise withcapitalism-serve as a double danger to our liberationstruggle.While they guarantee the intransigence of the mass ofwhites against the libel ation movement of the blacks, atthe same time they prevent the full and conscious mobilis-tion of black working-class power. These two aspects areclosely interlinked.There are millions of oppressed black working-classpeople still to be roused to action if the revolution is tosucceed. Yet passivity and backwardness is engenderedamong the people by the idea that revolution is 'impossi-ble'-that the white regime is too powerful to overthrow.Buthelezi, for example, cultivates this paralysing ideawhen he points out-correctly in the context of a purelyblack-white struggle-that the whites will "scorch theearth" rather than concede power. Therefore, he argues,don't fight but negotiate for whatever paltry deal you canget. It is the task of revolutionaries to put forward a clearand convincing answer to this.It is when the masses as a whole see, by the exampleof the most advanced among their number marking outthe road in action, that the movement has the power, hasthe policy, has the methods, and has the leadership todivide the whites and then smash the oppressor's power,that the full flood of the revolution will begin.Thus iti s of absolute importance that the activists ofthe movement arm themselves and then arm their fellowstrugglers with a clear, scientific conception of theperspectives and tasks of the revolution, and a coherentstrategy for the victory of the working class.

Page 68 of 98 Labour M.P.protestssuspensionof Marxistsby ANCWhen invited to contributeto discussion at an ANCmeeting in London on 8January, British Labour M.P.and Militant supporter DaveNellist raised questions aboutthe suspension of four SouthAfrican Marxists from theANC in 1979-but received nosatisfactory answers.The meeting, held on the 73rd an-niversary of the founding of theAfrican National Congress, was ad-dressed from the platform by severalANC and SACTU spokesmen on thecurrent situation in South Africa.These speeches were followed bydiscussion from the floor, in whichonly three people had the opportunityto intervene.The first was a young black ANCsupporter, who expressed his disap-pointment with the contributionsfrom the platform. "We've onlyheard facts that we know. We don'tjust want to hear how horrible thingsare., but what the way forward is forthe South African masses," hesaid-and asked if it was the case thatANC leaders were talking with theregime's politicians.To this, the platform responded bystating that talks had been offered bythe Nationalist government, but onthe basis of unacceptable conditions.Talks were not ruled out in thefuture, however.Dave Nellist then spoke of the re-cent visit by striking British minerRoy Jones to the South AfricanNUM, and how what shone out fromRoy's report of his trip was the deter-mination of workers, men andwomen, to take on the task oforganising to overthrow the regime.He referred to the huge mass strug-gles that had been taking place, andhow events like the two-day generalstrike in the Transvaal not onlybrought to the fore the massive powerof the organised working class, butthe basic demands of the movement.The aspirations of the black SAworkers for democracy andsocialism, he continued, they sharedwith workers everywhere-and it wasthis which made worker-to-workercontact so vital, of which the RoyJones visit was a striking example.Dave said he had argued the casefor direct links for a number of years,but unfortunately people in theBritish labour movement sometimesargued against such links, claimingthe authority of the ANC and SAC-TU for this."We are not helped in buildingthese links by articles such as this,from SACTU's paper Workers' Uni-ty which has the headline `DirectLinks-Stinks'. I would like the plat-form to make some comment onthat."Undoubtedly, Dave continued,workers in South Africa were look-ing to build the ANC to implementthe programme for democracy andsocialism around which they were in-creasingly rallying. Therefore, hesaid, it was disturbing to realise thatMarxists were unconstitutionallysuspended from the ANC in 1979 forputting forward ideas which werebecoming more and more widespreadwithin South Africa.He looked forward to continuingto assist the struggle against apartheidand capitalism in South Africa, andto assisting the ANC in every way hecould.In response to these remarks, theSACTU spokesman stated that SAC-TU were the genuine messengers whoknew what was going on in SouthAfrica, and that links should beestablished only through them."We know each individual inSouth Africa, what they stand for,and how far they are prepared to go.Colleagues outside South Africa arenot in a position to know that, sothey should do things through us."Amazingly, the exiled SACTUleadership still is putting forward thisposition-despite the imminent for-mation of a new trade union federa-tion in the country, and despite theoverwhelmingly expressed desire ofthe organised black workers in SouthAfrica to establish worker-to-workercontact overseas solely under thevigilance and control of their owndemocratic organisations within thecountry.The last speaker from the floor, afounder of the Anti-Apartheid Move-ment, also took up this point. Overthe last months, she said, she hadbeen in contact with a lot of Britishminers because of doing supportwork for the strike. They would wantto have direct links, particularly withworkers doing the same kind of jobs.They had a strong dislike forbureaucracy, particularly what theysaw in the top levels of the LabourParty. She thought they would dislikethis attitude taken by the ANC. Theywould want to build links themselvesand find out what was going on.Communist PartyRegarding the suspended Marxiststhe SACTU spokesman replied toDave Nellist: "The ANC is in analliance and has been for many yearswith the South African CommunistParty. All questions that revolvearound Marxism-Leninism the Par-ty is able to relate to but not the ANCwhich is not a Marxist-Leninistforum. If your friends are suspend-ed, they must be aware of that."Francis Meli of the ANC deniedthat the suspensions had been un-constitutional. Those suspended had"started pushing a line that was notSACTU policy." Because of thesepolitical differences, he added, `theposition came when no more discus-sion was possible." But if they"rethought" their political position,they could come back.These answers confirm what wasargued by the suspended Marxiststhemselves in their pamphlet, TheWorkers' Movement, SACTU andthe ANC-that the suspensions hadbeen carried out for political reasons,and as a result of the domination ofthe ANC-in-exile by the sectarian in-terests of the SACP, hostile to theassertion by the South African work-ing class of its leadership in the libera-tion struggle.Inqaba joins with all socialists andgenuine democrats in the movementin South Africa and internationally,in protesting against the suspensionof these Marxists, and in calling fortheir reinstatement by the AfricanNational Congress.

Page 69 of 98 Strategy and tasksIn a sense, the South African revolution has begun.We have now entered upon (in Trotsky's words) "a seriesof battles, disturbances, changing situation, abrupt turns,constituting )n their entirety the different stages in theproletarian revolution."But that does not mean we are in a `revolutionary situa-tion'-i.e- that the objective conditions have maturedfor the victory of the revolution, or that the overthrowof the regime is imminent. On the contrary. The state isstill immensely strong. Only the first real cracks are ap-pearing in the foundations of the racist system. The forcesof bourgeois reaction have by no means yet been fullymobilised, let alone tested and exhausted.It will require years of drawn-out, tenacious struggles,in which millions of oppressed people rise to their feet-where there will be defeats as well as victories, retreatsas well as advances, bloody clashes and mighty shocksbefore the way will have been prepared for the collapseand overthrow of the regime.This process can extend over five, ten or even moreyears.The strategy of the black working-class movement inSA must, on the one hand, be based on the fact that weare now in the epoch of the revolution; that tens ofthousands are already locked in daily battle with the rul-ing class and the state; that the task of conquering statepower now looms over everything.On the other hand, however, strategy has to take ac-count of the fact that state power cannot be conqueredin SA through one or a few cataclysmic blows. This situa-tion gives rise to many contradictions and poses tremen-dous difficulties in front of the movement.International experienceIt is necessary, if we are to find the way forward inSouth Africa, to make a careful study of other revolu-tions, insurrections and civil wars. From them we mustglean all possible theoretical insights and practical ex-periences to apply to the SA situation. But historical ex-amples and parallels must not be taken one-sidedly, orapplied mechanically.There is no general blueprint for revolution;everywhere and at every time it is necessary to make aconcrete analysis of the fundamental processes and therelation of forces between the classes in struggle, whiletaking account also of peculiar and exceptional cir-cumstances that may arise.In 1895 old Engels wrote an introduction to Marx'swork, The Class Struggles in France (1848-50), in whichhe explained how the changes which had taken place inEurope after 1850 necessitated careful reappraisal of thestrategy of proletarian revolution there and of thepreparations necessary for a victorious insurrection.Through a long period of relatively peaceful develop-ment of capitalist industry, the bourgeoisie had been ableto consolidate a formidable state power, and much morereliable military means for the suppression ofinsurrection.What Engels termed "the unprepared onslaught" wasno longer a means of gaining victory, as it had been inthe past. "Rebellion in the old style, the street fight withbarricades, which up to 1848 gave everywhere the finaldecision, was to a considerable extent obsolete."This did not mean that street-fighting, barricades, etc,would have no role to play in the proletarian revolution.But they would not suffice, as in the past, to win overthe troops and thus bring down the government.Need for preparationIt was now necessary for revolution to be morethoroughly and consciously prepared. "The time of sur-prise attacks, of revolutions carried through by small con-scious minorities at the head of unconscious masses, ispast. Where it is a question of a complete transforma-tion of the social organisation, the masses themselvesmust also be in it, must themselves already have graspedwhat is at stake, what they are going in for with bodyand soul... But in order that the masses may understandwhat is to be done, long, persistent work is required..."This would require a combination of tactics, depen-ding upon the circumstances: the building of powerfultrade unions, political organisation, propaganda workand parliamentary activity (where workers had thefranchise).Making full use of the sphere of legal activity permit-ted to it, the working class would strengthen its position,win the middle layers of society to its side, underminethe state aid drive the bourgeoisie to `despair'. Insteadof depending on the lightning revolts which in the pasthad characterised the movement of the revolutionary pro-letariat, it was necessary now to engage, in effect, in aprotracted war of position against the bourgeoisie.Bu.. the conscious purpose of these methods of strug-gle would be to prepare the ground for revolution-tolay the basis ultimately for an armed mass struggle whichcould succeed in breaking the loyalty of the troops andwinning them to the side of the working class in action.Engels, having set out in detail the military difficultiesof overthrowing a powerfully armed industrial state, pos-ed this question: "Does that mean that in the future thestreet fight will play no further role? Certainly not. It onlymeans that the conditions since 1848 have become farmore unfavourable for civil fights, far more favourablefor the military. A future street fight can therefore onlybe victorious when this unfavourable situation is com-pensated by other factors. Accordingly, it will occur moreseldom in the beginning of a great revolution than in itsfurther progress, and will have to be undertaken withgreater forces." (Our emphasis.)It is the lesson of revolution everywhere that so longas the armed forces of the state remain basically intact;so long as the ruling class retains an effective monopoly

Page 70 of 98 THE HAZARDS OF PESTICIDESWhere labour is cheap, life ischeap. That is the experience ofworkers in Southern Africawhen it comes to safety at workor control and prevention of oc-cupational disease by thebosses or their governments.Throughout Southern Africa,as workers are moving intostruggle against oppression andexploitation, they are raisingdemands not only for decentwages and an end to redundan-cies and unemployment, but forsafe and healthy conditions ofwork.As a contribution to thisstruggle, Ingaba will publish oc-casional articles on hazards atwork which we hope will beuseful to activists in theworkplaces.Pesticides are chemical poisons us-ed to spray over weeds, insects, andother pests that carry disease, or eator destroy food crops.But pesticides can also poisonworkers-the workers in the chemicalindustry who make them, workerswho transport them, agriculturalworkers, workers in the food process-ing industry, any other workers whospray them around their workplaces,and of course anybody else whobreathes air or eats food containingthe poisons.In the case of about. 50 differentchemical pesticides. workers usingthem are recommended by themanufacturers to wear respirators,gloves, rubber boots, overalls andface shields.In many cases workers are not toldthese recommendations, let alonesupplied with protective clothing.Even if they were, wearing thatsort of gear on hot sunny_ days whenmost of the spraying is done isnobody's idea of fun. (Even in not-so-sunny Britain, only a quarter ofworkers wear protective clothing forspraying, because of the heat.)There are a lot of other ways thatspraying could be made safer, for ex-ample air jets running over the sprayBy Vivian Sealto keep it down. But that means in-vestment by the manufacturers, morecost for the users, and less spray us-ed so less profits for the chemicalfirms.It's cheaper for the bosses to riskworkers' lives.The two most important groups ofpesticides are the organo-chlorines(OCs), like DDT, and the organo-phosphates (OPs), like Parathion.Both affect the nerves. Indeed theywere developed as a spin-off fromnerve gas research during the SecondWorld War.The USA and Sweden have bann-ed several OCs, such as DDT, Aldrin,Chlordane and Chlordecone, andtheir use has been restricted in manyother countries, as a result of thedamage to the environment and topeople that they caused.These pesticides have been foundto cause cancer in animal tests. Theyalso cause headaches, dizziness,nausea, abdominal pains,sleeplessness, weight loss, tremors,and convulsions.Male workers at Dow Chemical Co(USA) who were makingdibromochloropane (DBCP)-an in-gredient in OCs-discovered theywere sterile.PoisoningIf you work with pesticides andhave any of these symptoms, maybeyour job is poisoning you.Some governments have said theserious side effects of OCs have notbeen "proved"-but then theyhaven't done the medical checks thatwould supply the proof.Organo-phosphates (OPs) causeheadaches, dizziness, fatigue, trembl-ing, speech disturbance, blurred vi-sion, loss of appetite, sleeplessness,twitching, disorientation, apathy andsometimes coma.They a: e also responsible for birthdefects. The US journal Sciencereported tests on 36 pesticides andthey all damaged foetuses. Amongthe most commonly used pesticideswith this effect are Diazinon,Parathion, and Phosphamidon.In South Africa, 61% of deathsand casualties resulting frompesticide use are caused by organo-phosphate poisoning, 7% by organo-chlorines, and the rest by other types.Mental confusion and difficulty inconcentration, caused by chemicalpoisoning, also causes accidents withmachinery-which therefore are not"accidents" at all, but preventable.The most serious poisoning hasbeen caused by handsprays usinghighly concentrated chemicals; andspraying from helicopters. Workershave been affected even while wear-ing protective clothing, so clearly thewhole approach to protection needsto be drastically altered.There are some practical stepsworkers can take to protectthemselves from pesticides:1. If you suspect that you are work-ing with dangerous pesticides, getyour union to demand that all thenecessary facilities (e.g. for washing)are available and that regular healthchecks are made.2. Find out if there are other ways ofdoing the job, e.g. hand-weeding in-stead of spraying; and find out ifthere is safer equipment. Get theunion to campaign for its use. If thereare no other ways of doing the job,make sure your employer suppliesadequate protection.3. To find out with more certaintywhat hazards are involved with thepesticide you are using, first look atthe label on the container to find outthe common name, trade name, oractive ingredient.4. From this, you will need to findout what chemicals are being used,and what their hazards are. This in-formation is not widely available.The best book is The Encyclopaediaof Manufacturing and ToxicMaterials Control, by M.Sittig,published by Noyes Publishing Co.(USA), which contains informationon many products used world-wide.This book is expensive (aboutR150!), but any union whose

Page 71 of 98 of armed force; so long, in other words, as it can relyon its troops and so exercise military superiority-therevolution cannot triumph.In purely material terms, the ruling class and the statepossess overwhelming advantages militarily. A strategyfor defeating the state involves first and foremost crip-pling the ability of the ruling class to use its military forcesagainst the revolution-by rendering the troops politicallyunreliable.This general point applies just as much in a countrylike South Africa where the troops, overwhelmingly, aredrawn from and led by a racial group separate from therevolutionary masses.That is why a victorious revolution-and even insur-rection itself-is nine-tenths a question of the politicalpreparations and only one-tenth a military question. But,at the same time, the military element remains absolute-ly decisive also.Troops-who face the thrat of being shot by their of-ficers for mutiny-can only be infected by revolution tothe point of deserting en masse or turning their gunsagainst their own commanders and going over to the 'peo-ple' once the revolution shows that it has the strength towin and the will to go through to the end.Revolutions in EuropeThe great revolutionary upheavals which swept overEurope at the end of the First World War demonstratedthat even the strongest bourgeois states could be broughtto the verge of collapse by a mass working-class move-ment, once fully mobilised and seeking a revolutionaryway out of the nightmare of capitalism.But this revolutionary wave was defeated-mainlybecause the workers were held back from decisively con-quering power by reformist leaders of the mass organisa-tions! At the same time, young and undeveloped revolu-tionary organisations proved unable to lead the workingclass to take or hold power.In the long decades of relatively `peaceful' capitalistdevelopment prior to th, First World War, the labourleaders had used trade unionism, parliamentary activity,etc, not as a means of consciously preparing the work-ing class for revolution, but as a means of reconcilingthe proletariat with the bourgeoisie in the name of an im-aginary step-by-step transition through reforms toultimate `socialism'.Instead of seeing reforms, as Marxists see them, as theby-product of the workers' revolutionary struggle, theleaders of the labour-bureaucracy promoted reforms asthe be-all and end-all of the movement.Thus, when it came to revolution, they were foundwanting, and in many notorious cases crossed overblatantly to the side of the ruling class. They split theworkers' organisations, crippled them and demoralisedthe masses, preparing the way for vicious counter-revolution.It was only in Russia that there had been built a revolu-tionary party and cadre-the Bolsheviks-sufficientlystrongly rooted in the workers' movement to succeed onthe basis of Marxist ideas in defeating the influence ofthe reformists and so decisively affect the outcome of thestruggle.But the Russian Revolution-the `classic' proletarianrevolution as far as Marxists are concerned-neverthelesstook place in highly unusual, indeed exceptional cir-cumstances. Trotsky has explained (see, for example,Lessons of October) that the actual course of the Rus-sian Revolution, far from providing an exact pattern ofother revolutions in future, could not be replicatedelsewhere.In February 1917 the Tsar was overthrown by a vir-tually peaceful and practically unarmed mass uprising,led by the workers. The ruling class could not immediatelyresort to civil war against the proletariat because it lack-ed the weapon with which to do so. This was despite thecolossal size of the Russian army.The Russian army was, in composition, essentially apeasant army. The terrible conditions which haddeveloped in the course of the First World War, the hor-rific slaughter and stalemate in the trenches, and the suf-fering of the oppressed, landless and indebted peasants,combined to shatter the cohesion and discipline of thearmy and drive it to revolt. The Russian soldiers par-ticipated in the forefront of the revolution, electeddelegates to the soviets, etc, alongside the working class.At the same time, the- bourgeoisie could manoeuvre,leaning on the reformist leaders, Mensheviks and SocialRevolutionaries, Nho were raised to power by the massmovement in the first period of the revolution. Thus theycould gain time while preparing for counter-revolution.As previously explained, the tasks of the revolutionwere bourgeois-democratic and it was only through ex-perience that the mass of the proletariat could realise thenecessity of itself taking state power in order to carry outthese tasks. Not through experience alone, however, butwith the help of patient explanation by the Marxist cadres.Only when the workers were clear as to theta sks couldthey in turn win the support of the poor peasants for theconquest of power. The role of the party was to raise andorganise the consciousness of the working class. Hadthere not been a strong Bolshevik party, with the clearpolitical leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, then the Rus-sian Revolution would have been defeated.As it was, the revolutionary turmoil, and the gropingof the working class towards power, propelled the rulingclass to the premature adventure of General Kornilov'srevolt in August 1917-an attempt at a counter-revolutionary military coup and overthrow of the refor-mist Kerensky regime. Kornilov's attack collapsed. Hisforces disintegrated or were won over by the armedworkers, led by the Bolsheviks. This prepared the wayfor the victorious workers' insurrection in October.Almost without bloodshedBy that stage, such was the weakness and virtual col-lapse of bourgeois resistance, as well as the discreditingand disarray of the reformists, that the October insur-rection itself was accomplished almost withoutbloodshed-at least in Petrograd, where it began, andwhich was the epicentre of the revolution.

Page 72 of 98 members are handling pesticideswould find it extremely useful, if itcould'be afforded. Otherwise, somelibraries have it.5. To find out the dangerous proper-ties of the chemical and the precau-tions you should take, you will needto consult Dangerous Properties ofIndustrial Materials by N.I.Sax, orthe U.S. National Institute of Oc-cupational Safety and Health(NIOSH)'s Toxic Substances List.The Sittig book contains some infor-mation on toxicity, but Sax or theNIOSH list have more details, withadvice on precautions and protection.These books are not quite so ex-pensive as the last one, and containinformation on lots of materialsbeside pesticides. Like the last one,it would be useful for your union tobuy them; otherwise they areavailable in libraries.There are other ways of keeping pests down, but the capitalistsare not prepared to use them, or invest in developing new waysof controlling pests.production?No! It is the capitalist system thatlies at the root of starvation. Enoughfood could be produced in the worldby today's farmers even with today'smethods to feed everybody. In factone country alone (the USA) couldfeed everyone in the world withoutany advance in technology. But theadvanced capitalist countries allowfood to rot or be destroyed or payfarmers not to grow, in order to keepprices and therefore profits up.Pesticides make the chemical com-panies richer, mean more profits forthe rich farmers and force the pooroff the land. But they don't feed thestarving.Pests that carry disease havebecome resistant to some of thechemicals, which has meant an in-crease in diseases like malaria.To end this madness we must endthe capitalist system that creates it.Under workers' rule, in the transi-tion to a socialist society, it will bepossible to guarantee plenty of foodfor everybody while cutting the useof pesticides and moving towardsmethods of pest control which do notendanger human life and health.Without unionassistance, or help from,e.g. educated youth,many workers workingwith pesticides will havedifficulty, getting hold ofthis information. Inqabawill pass on to those withknowledge in the field anyenquiries received on par-ticular substances, andpublish the results. In-cluded with this article aresome examples.Multinational employ-ers want us to believe thatmassive use of pesticidesis essential for food pro-duction. In the USA 30years ago, 7% of thegrain was lost beforeharvest. Now they use 12times as much pesticideand lose twice as much ofthe crop. There are other,ways of keeping pestsdown, but they meanemploying more workers,and so cost more. So thecapitalists are notprepared to use them, orinvest in developing new,safer ways of controllingpests.Mm ox, DuratoxOther OA =de Qsrbophenothlon, CWo yrlfous Deme-ra r~io F o`,iophoil J (21 M-ori,211 n ol'drrn ):Jflethadathlort (3 Omethoaar (3J, Oxydemeton Methyl(3J. Phoaslone. "hemtdon (3). Pblmtnhos 131. Pyro-sopho; Ttrtroehlorvbsphoe, 77ttoaostn (2), 77ildmeron (3J,TYtchbrphon,,Yamldthton /3J.Millions of people inthe world are starving,many of them inSouthern Africa. Don'twe depend on pesticidesto increase food LSummary of the hazardsORGANOCHLORINES. OTHER PESTICIDESN-AlllrlnCamphechlorChbrdaneChlordecooeDBCPDDTDie-Ead`iaEndoaulfanGamma BHCOtlrei CC# hachde Dlchlorpropane. Dtcofol and Tetrsd(fon.ORGANOPHOSPHATESAzinph~MathytChlorfemiaphoaDemtaton S MethylDichlorvosDimethoateMalathiou Malaston, Malathiozol, CythionMavinphw Phoodrin 2 LParathion - Fosfex, Fosferno, Nina, Bladan 2PLPhospbamidon .Dicron, -on 3PPb-. Thimet 2usu.p~.wart awa ~ a us. u rbr tr. us En.ttoantrL Ur to M Yrlrd to waanlwd wotrrs.SeeOther names or trode nonfu KeyMurphy Aldrln, Aldentan, IAldnx, OctalaaeToxaphen,Hereules3956Symhemicals Sydane, Octachior IKepone IFumasone, NemagonDa Chsfer/Murphy DDT, IiDHatan, OctaloxOrganomereudal (Tr=. =n."'aol, Panogeytosan): e withcentral -W. ystem. cause yins andneedles of extremeties, apsthy~ fatigue,effects of ,It and_heari4g. One of theauthors of this article suffers from theseeffects after working with these anb-stancea for three yeah.ParMguat Qt Dtgwt, small doses swallowedcause diarrhoea, difficulty in wallowingand ulceration of the tongue. There isno known antidote to lager doses, whichhave killed about 100 people. Irritatesthe akin and delays healing. Causes nose-bleeds and damage to the nails. Duringits production is known to cause akift-caneer. Breathing it in can cause I_g.Pyrethrum. A manager once coatedhim aeifwith it to prove how harmlessit was and promptly developed very baddermatitis, much to the pleasure of thealready afflicted workers.Rotenone (Dercis): co-l-, causesdermatitis and vomiting.Nieotrne: dizziness, nausea, headaches,vomitting, stomach-pains, mental dis-turbance.Carbtsmates (Carbofurn, Methomyl, Car-badyl(), Henomyl (),EBDC()): affectthe central nervow system, .causeatom ltcnmps, and hot and coldflushes.?blocarbomates (2ineb, Mancozeb,.-W: cause the thvmid gland toproduce too much. Associated with liverand lymfoetus. -ph cancers; and may damage theDNOC: this 'Phenolic' is absorbed by theakin. Can cause weight-loos, sweating,anxiety, chest-pain, kid ney-damage.Bormone wedkWers (24-D, 245-T,MCPA, CMPP, Mecroprop): -ate theeyes, racy cause liver-damage. Frequentuse produces hypertension, and respi-ratory depnasion which may lead tocoma.Thiodm, CyclodmLindspe, Gammexaw, GammaHC H.Guathion, Guthion 3PLaiMaae 3PMat-.ox, Azotox, DSM, t 3P-d", Diazitol, Newidol,NucidolDDVP, Nogos, Nuvan, Vapona,Dedevapetc=epRogells, rnHoe-gon,Dimetate.L'2PKtw+s ux tan uw+nde.. nnlt Ur fW prosthe ctotnma nd rwpvror.t U fW prostNe dotrln, n0 f~eatnrt.s uw tw p,otttw aar~ns one .,rPWr W.P Cmtrod by the Poroir Act 1933.J

Page 73 of 98 It was only after the workers were in power that thecivil war opened in earnest. Again, the First World Wardecisively affected events. Only after the victory of theAllied imperialist powers in the world war could theyorganise intervention by 21 foreign armies against therevolution in Russia. Had it not been for the existenceand strength of the Bolshevik party and the conquest ofpower by the working class, the giving of the land to thepeasants, etc, there could have been no question ofrevolutionary victory in the civil war.Trotsky pointed out that the peculiar combination ofcircumstances surrounding the Russian Revolution of1917 could not be repeated, and that in all likelihoodserious armed clashes would occur between the rulingclass and the mass movement well before the victory ofthe workers' revolution in most developed countries infuture. This was because the bourgeoisie would probablyhave more favourable conditions and initially morereliable armed forces at its command, and would use themall the more vigorously in civil war against theproletariat-not least because of the lessons it had learnedfrom the Russian Revolution.Civil war developing in SAIt is obvious that, in South Africa, peaceful or evenrelatively peaceful conquest of state power is out of thequestion, and that, with elements of civil war alreadydeveloping in the country, conditions for eventual arm-ed insurrection will only develop out of civil war. All thepowers of resistance of capitalist society, all the forcesof the white reaction, will have to be overcome in strug-gle before the conquest of state power is completed.The strategic task is to turn what will otherwise becomea barbarous racial war into a revolutionary class war.That will demand tremendous capacities of organisationand leadership.The example of the Spanish Revolution of the 1930sis instructive. There the mere election of the PopularFront in 1936 was enough to propel the ruling class tocivil war. They had the opportunity to use the armyagainst the workers and poor peasants, and they did soruthlessly. The landlords and capitalists sided overwhelm-ingly with Franco's military rebellion against theRepublic. This was despite the fact that bourgeoisRepublican `democrats' filled the seats in the first PopularFront government, while the Socialist and CommunistParties were not included in the Cabinet at that stage.The reason the ruling class resorted to armed counter-revolution was that even the most tame `democratic' andreformist programme endorsed by the tabour leaders inthe Popular Front could not disguise the reality that aproletarian revolution was inevitably taking place. Theclass questions were to the fore, the issue of property wasstarkly posed in the movement of the workers in the townsand of the agricultural labourers and poor peasants onthe land.In South Africa even genuine democratic elections areruled out this side of the victory of the workers' revolu-tion, for reasons we analysed earlier.In Spain, the refusal of the Socialist and Communistleaders to recognise that a socialist revolution was involv-ed, and the vicious measures especially of the latter toforcibly hold back the working class in the name of a`democratic' class-compromise with the bourgeoisie andlandowners, led to the revolution's defeat and thecrushing by Franco of the Spanish proletariat for a wholegeneration.In South Africa the movement must be organised andled on a clear policy of preparing the forces for socialistrevolution, if there is to be a victory of the working classin the civil war which looms ahead.Problem of leadershipThe success of the proletarian revolution international-ly depends above all on solving the problem of leader-ship. This was strown in all the great inter-war revolu-tions which were defeated; again in the aftermath of theSecond World War; again in all the capitalist countriestoday.In Europe, the end of the Second World War provid-ed exeeption'I objective opportunities for the victory ofthe working class.The troops who had come through that terribleslaughter, and had seen the near-barbarism to whichcapitalism had reduced much of the world, wanted tochange society. The workers had training in arms, werebattle-hardened, and in many cases had arms in hand;the bourgeoisie could not wield the state power effectivelyagainst thern. In fact in several European countries,capitalism was only rescued, and the masses disarmed,by the combined intervention of the Communist Partyleaders (carrying out Stalin's policy of agreement withimperialism to maintain capitalism in Western Europe)and the reformist leaders of the old Social Democraticmass parties.r This, together with the ensuing long post-Warnomic upswing, is what stabilised capitalism in thest for a whole historical period.Now, as the advanced capitalist countries enter a newepoch of crisis, the proletariat there has such an over-whelming weight in society that even the peaceful con-quest of power and transformation of society would intheory be entirely possible.But again, the hold of reformism and Stalinism in thebureaucracy of the labour movement means that theawakening working class, as it moves beyond reformism,first has to clear out of its path these entrenched and com-plicated obstacles before it can unite its forces for thesocialist revolution.In order to transform society, the working class firsthas to transform its own organisations into conscious in-struments of revolutionary struggle. Thus the process ofthe revolution will inevitably be long drawn-out and con-fused, and therefore it will inevitably be bloody. Thebourgeoisie in the advanced `democratic' capitalist coun-tries will have the opportunity to, and will, resort tomethods of civil war against the working class in yearsto come despite the enormous risks for capitalism in do-ing so.In these countries, as much as anywhere, the proletariat

Page 74 of 98 OBITUARY -LawrenceJongintabaNothaOn 8 January 1985, LawrenceJongintaba Notha, activist andMarxist for many years, passedaway in Serowe, Botswana at theyoung age of 57.Born in Mount Ayliff in the Cape,he completed his formal education,in which he had excelledthroughout, by obtaining a B.Sc. atFort Hare. After teaching in highschools for several years, he wasfired by the apartheid regime for hisopposition to Bantu Education.With the defeat of the workers'movement in the early 60's, LJ,like many others, fell victim torepeated harassment and detentionby the state. Early in 1965 he wentinto exile in Botswana, where lietaught at Swaneng Hill School,retiring in 1976 due to ill-health.In his student days he became aleader of the Society of YoungAfrica (SOYA), and later joined theAfrican Peoples Democratic Unionof Southern Africa (APDUSA).Both these organisations were Uni-ty Movement affiliates.Through his work amongst themigrant workers, LJ early drew theconclusion that apartheid existedessentially to defend capitalismand the cheap labour system onwhich it is based-enforcedthrough the migrant labour system.The task of overthrowing apar-theid, he realised, was inextricablybound up with that of overthrow-ing capitalism itself. Only the work-ing class was equipped to lead thisstruggle..Conflict overconception of therevolutionThis brought him into conflictwith the conception of the natureand tasks of the SA revolution heldby the middle-class leadership ofthe Unity Movement. LJ rejectedtheir characterisation of themigrant workers as peasants, theircall for solving the land question bycapitalist methods, and their failureto put forward a class position ofnon-racial workers unity.He also argued that the pro-gramme put forward by the UnityMovement leadership Ithe so-called 'minimum programme') fail-ed to Rnk the struggle against apar-theid with the struggle againstcapitalism.Such a programme, tailoredround the utopian dreams of blackmiddle-class leaders for a place inSA's capitalist sun, did not preparethe working class for its necessaryleading role in the struggle both fordemocracy and socialism-andalso did not explain to the mass ofthe middle class that the solutionto their problems lies in the unity ofall the oppressed behind the work-ing class.However, the UM leadershiprefused to change their positionand suppressed debate on it. Thisconvinced Lawrence that the Uni-ty Movement could not serve as avehicle for the liberation of theworking class.Long isolationendedLJ's years of isolation in exile asone of a handful of activists withan unshakeable faith in the work-ing class came to an end when heestablished contact with labourmovement activists in Europe whohad continued in the genuine tradi-tions of Marxism, and when hehelped to found lngabe YaBasebanzi.His understanding of the tasksposed for the liberation strugglewas reflected in its first editorial:"The coming period will see theANC transformed into a massorganisation of workers and youth.All comrades should be clear thatonce the workers' movementreaches the stage of moving intothe ANC, no-one will be able toavoid assisting the processbecause failure to do so will makethem obstacles to liberation."The ANC like all other organisa-tions faces immediately the task ofbringing its policies into line withthe work of preparing the workingclass for rule. The method,perspectives and programme ofMarxism, developed by the work-ing class movement International-ly, over many generations of strug-gle,will provide the indispensableguidelines for carrying this task in-to practice."Contributionto MarxistideasAs sad as his premature deathwas the fact that Lawrencewithdrew from political activity inthe last years of his life.Nevertheless lngaba wishes toplace on record the contribution hemade to the struggle and the ideasof Marxism in the Southern Africanrevolution.Those who struggled with himand with whom he shared hisknowledge and ideas will carry for-ward the work begun together withhim.We will remember him also bythe slogan which he proposed, andwhich appears on the last page ofSouth Africa's Impending SocialistRevolution-Perspectives of theMarxist Workers' Tendency of theA Men National Congress:"Ngesandla sakho, msebenzi,elilizwe lakhekhilel"

Page 75 of 98 can come to power only when it succeeds, by virtue ofits social power, unity in action, and conscious socialistleadership and programme, in winning over the bulk ofthe armed forces and police to the side of the revolution.Without such leadership and programme, victoriousinsurrection will prove to be the exception rather thanthe rule in any of the more or less industrialised countries.Insurrection in IranA brilliant-though quite exceptional-example of avictorious insurrection in recent years was Iran, with theoverthrow of the Shah in 1979. Let us remember that theShah's army was the fourth most powerful militarymachine in the world. Yet, the Shah, a stooge of im-perialism, who attempting to `modernise' Iran on thebasis of a diseased capitalist system and under adegenerate and viciously repressive dictatorship, succeed-ed in alienating completely not only the working class andthe urban middle class, but the mass of the peasants aswell.Eventually, through tremendously heroic, sustained ur-ban uprisings, in which the masses endured massacresfrom ground troops and from helicopter gun-ships againand again but refused to give way, conditions wereprepared for the collapse of the state itself. The armyfinally disintegrated and the troops went over to therevolution when the workers themselves moved decisive-ly, notably with the strike of the oil workers.Once the army broke in the Shah's hands, his entireregime collapsed like a house of cards.However, tragically, because of the perfidious roleplayed by the Iranian Communist (Tudeh) Party (whichon the dictates of Moscow had given only formal opposi-tion to the Shah), the mullahs were able to placethemselves at the head of the revolution and mix, in theminds of the masses, anti-imperialist revolutionary sen-timents with the intoxicating fumes of reactionary Islamicfundamentalism.-Thus the lack of Marxist leadership has led the revolu-tion into the dreadful impasse of the last five years. (Now,at last, there are signs of the Iranian proletariat beginn-ing to move again onto ttie road of struggle.)It would be completely incorrect to take the Iranianinsurrection without farther ado as a simple `model' forthe coming revolution and insurrection in South Africa.The Iranian workers, youth and peasants had the difficultenough task of winning over troops who could at leastidentify with them in class and national terms. In SA theproblem is obviously a hundred times more difficult.The SA armed state apparatus is so formidable becauseit is rigidly cemented together on a foundation of racialprivilege. Resting on a substantial one-sixth of thepopulation-the five million whites totally separated inmaterial life and conscious identity from the revolu-tionary black masses-it cannot be cracked easily or takenby mere frontal assault.The more stretched the state forces become, and themore successful the masses are in arming themselves, themore viciously unrestrained the army and police willbecome. Moreover-to the extent that the armed massessucceed in rendering the state, albeit partially and forbrief periods, impotent-the more open and ugly willbecome the armed mobilisation of the white civil reac-tion, with features of inter-racial communal fighting andbarbarities entering into the picture.But if power cannot be taken simply by frontal attack,in one or a few titanic blows, there are also immense bar-riers in SA in the way of a long drawn-out semi-peaceful`war of position' and of slow accumulation of organisedstrength on the part of the working class.The situation which has existed for the rising tradeunion movement over the past decade cannot continueindefinitely into the future, as the system is convulsed bycrisis and as the room for capitalist reforms is narrowedor turned into its opposite with ever more savage attackson the working class. This is the essential predicamentfacing the trade unions, and goes against the unspokenlong-term strategy which has guided many of the unionleaders.Social-democratic misconceptionWithin many of the biggest independent unions therehas been the misconception that it would be possible inSouth Africa indefinitely to construct the union move-ment on similar lines to Western European SocialDemocracy in the past, with a stable official apparatus,a long and largely peaceful struggle for step-by-stepreforms, in the hope of solving the workers' problemswithout a decisive struggle for state power.Even in the advanced capitalist countries the steady ad-vance in the position of the working class was sustainedonly by the peculiar interlude of the 25-year post-war up-swing of capitalism. Now the basis for it is crumblingaway, with the sustained attacks on living standards andtrade union rights, and the big movements of the pro-letariat which have begun in Western Europe. Thesemovements enter at once into bitter conflict with thereformist bureaucrats who have become entrenched at thehead of the labour movement over the past decades ofcompromise with capitalism.Far from modelling themselves in any way whateveron the labour bureaucracy of the West, all leaders ofdemocratic unions in SA should be vigorously pursuingdirect links of solidarity with the militant ranks of theinternational labour movement as they enter into strug-gle against capitalism and reformism. They should be car-rying out a concerted campaign among SA workers toexpose the role the Social-Democratic and Stalinist leadersI ave played in the defeats of the working class.Also mistaken in South Africa has been the idea thatthe unions could limit themselves to maintaining organisa-tional independence from the liberation movement in thehope of protecting the position of the workers `under afuture black government'. The reality is that the blackmajority will not be able to elect a government in SA un-til the working class succeeds in taking power. That pro-cess will necessitate the unions moving into the frontranks of the liberation struggle, and being consciouslydeveloped into effective instruments, not only of`economic' struggle, but of the workers' revolutionary

Page 76 of 98 F-087KE=SELIBE PHIKWEMINEWORKERSSTRIKE, JULY7975Ten years ago, in July 1975,2000 mineworkers atBotswana's Selibe Phikwe cop-per/nickel mine shook the coun-try when they went on strike topress for a wage demand. Themyth that independentBotswana was a 'peaceful anddemocratic' country was com-pletely shattered as the bossesmobilized the full might of theirstate to crush the strike. Thewounds inflicted upon workersduring that period have still notfully healed.The following ten years havebrought with them greater andgreater hardships forBotswana's workers.Unemployment has been risingand living standards continuingto fall. At the same time, thegovernment has introduced newlegislation geared at undermin-ing the trade unions.Today, Selibe Phikwe isthreatened with closurebecause it is operating at a loss:thousands of workers will losejobs. Multinational companiesshould not be allowed tosqueeze workers to the last dropwhen they can still make profit,then dump them to thescrapheap when they are unableto satisfy their greed.Against the background ofmounting problems like these,many workers in trade unionswill be discussing ways in whichthey can defend themselves.The Selibe Phikwe strike and thelessons that can be drawn fromthat, should form a part of thesediscussions.The mines in Botswana are ownedlargely by multi-national companies,especially the South-African-basedAnglo American Corporation and DeBeers. Their aim is to suck as muchprofit as possible for themselves, andnot use the wealth created to developthe country and better the lives of itspeople, especially the toiling masses.Each year, 41% of the total wealthproduced in Botswana goes toforeigners. This is one factor thatangered workers in Selibe Phikwe.Production in the mine was under-taken by a company calledBamangwato Concessions Limited(BCL), which was owned 85% byBotswana Roan Selection Trust(BRST), and 1576 by the Botswanagovernment. BRST itself is owned:30% by American Metal Climax(Amax) and 30% by Anglo AmericanCorporation (AAC).Amax, AAC and other sharehold-ers provided the initial capital ofabout P35 million. They and the gi6v-ernment have since provided massiveBy Mpho Moremiadditional funding because of thecompany's losses due to poor copperprices in the world market.At the same time, P52 million wasloaned by West German banks. Inreturn, BCL had to sign a 15 yearcontract to sell 55% of the nickel andall the copper to Metallgesellschaft,a West German firm which stood asguarantee for part of the loan.ProcessingBut, before being sold in West Ger-many, all the ore had to betransported via Johannesburg toMaputo, and shipped to the Amaxrefinery in the USA for processing.Amax and AAC preferred this ar-rangement than to process the ore inthe then Rhodesia, which is nearerBotswana and would therefore costless, because Amax's Port Nickelplant in the USA was operating

Page 77 of 98 struggle for power.The struggle for the political independence of the work-ing class can be won only by the working class taking thelead of the whole movement in an organised and con-scious way.In South Africa we have entered inescapably into aperiod of revolution and counter-revolution, of enormousbattles, shocks, advances and setbacks, in which all thebest laid plans for `peaceful' advance will be ruined. Thisdespite the fact that there will be semi-peaceful interludesand contradictory phases when the tendency of events ap-pears to be in the opposite direction.Nevertheless, the harsh process of the struggle itself willinevitably sort out within the trade unions the revolu-tionaries from the reformists, with many of the latter go-ing into early retirement or , finding employmentelsewhere, rather than face up to the tasks.The gains of the independent unions over the pasttwelve years can be defended and consolidated only bypreparing them consciously for revolution, and not forany length of time by adapting them or containing themwithin bounds presently `tolerable' to even the most`liberal' section of the capitalists. That would lead onlyto eventual defeat.It is only through a revolutionary-strategic conceptionof trade union work that these vital organs of the SAproletariat-embryonic organs of a future workers'democracy in fact-will be able to survive and surmountthe inevitable attacks of the state and the bourgeoisie inthe coming years.In saying this, we fully recognise that trade unions areinherently conceived as organisations for the economicstruggle, for improvements of the workers' material con-ditions under capitalism; that they are by nature organssuited to a long drawn-out `war of position' and gradualaccumulation of strength. Many thousands, perhaps themajority, of the rank-and-file naturally still see them inthat light.The sober-minded workers can also see that there isno quick victory possible against the state. Therefore,they are usually reluctant to commit their organisationsto what may turn out to be costly adventures, perhapsdestroying the gains so painstakingly made.This is one of the most important factors which hasoperated to keep major unions out of the UDF, reinfor-cing the position of union leaders who have failed to givea clear political lead on this issue.Unions have to struggle politicallyHowever, revolution in SA is not a matter of choicefor these or any other workers. Workers who have builta basis of power in the mines and factories, and throughthe unions, inevitably have to use these organisations tostruggle politically, to meet the attacks and provocationsof the state. Thus there are repeated convulsivemovements in which the trade union activists, respondingto the pressures of the rank-and-file, try to work out waysof steering their organisations into the forefront ofpolitical struggle.On the one hand, therefore, the organised workerscome up against the limitations of a slow `war of posi-tion', and of unions simply as trade unions.On the other hand, the youth movement, volatile, im-patient, and ready for the most heroic actions, comes upagainst the limitations of the spontaneous and 'un-prepared onslaughts' of the past period.As illusions in the possibility of a quick victory againstthe regime have been dashed, the youth have turned toseek a stable organisational basis by linking up with thebig battalions of the movement-the organisations con-structed in the factories, the mines, etc-the unions.Passing into the UDF, the youth find the big unionshave no organised presence and are providing no leader-ship there, while the present middle-class leaders offerno coherent action programme or strategy for power.Those sections of the youth who have been repelled bythis and drawn instead to the radical `socialist' rhetoricof the National Forum and Azapo, find there some well-developed vocal chords but no bones, muscles or sinews.What is the way out of this predicament, which increas-ingly tears the movement with sterile splits and evendisgraceful physical fighting between the contending fac-tions and organisations?It is impossible, by constructing `ideological' modelsand trying to impose them on the living movement, todevelop a coherent revolutionary strategy. Strategy con-sists in drawing out the apparently contradictory threadsof the real processes going on in the movement of themasses themselves, and weaving these together into ascientific conception.Objective basis of strategyWe have in SA a rising black workers' movement whichmust inevitably flow through the channels provided bythe unions, and which must take those organisations andturn them onto the road of revolutionary political strug-gle. And on the other hand we have a revolutionary move-ment of the black working-class youth which, for effec-tiveness, must find a way of fighting in harness togetherwith the power of labour.These objective tendencies and needs found theirclearest expression so far in the organisation of theTransvaal general strike last November. There the youthorganisations, wishing to initiate action, came togetherwith the most advanced trade union militants of differentsections, drawing in outstanding community leaderstogether with them. The UDF leaders followed and en-dorsed the action. The Azapo leaders, for their part, de-nounced it.What gave the strike its tremendous force was precise-ly this combined action of the youth and the workers,in which the power of the big organisations of labour wassupplemented by the energy, drive and organising in-itiatives of the young militants themselves.But the ultimate test of the success of actions of thiskind is the role they play in building the movement inconscious preparation for the struggle for power.The best way of moving forward from that strike wouldhave been to prepare, vigorously but carefully, a subse-quent two-day national general strike, as we have argued

Page 78 of 98 below capacity.Another P13,5 million to BCL wasprovided by South Africa's IndustrialDevelopment Corporation Invest-ment Bank at a low interest rate. Thecondition for giving the loan was thatP13,5 million of SA goods were pur-chased for mine constructionequipment.Triomf Fertilizer, a South Africancompany owning shares in this bank,contracted to purchase most of thesulphur by-product of the mine, us-ed to make fertilizer. In turn,Botswana has to buy fertilizers fromthe same company at very highprices.Meanwhile the Botswana govern-ment had to take responsibility forthe general infrastructure in SelibePhikwe-roads, water and electrici-ty facilities. To finance these pro-jects, it borrowed money from theUSA and Canada. The Canadianloan was tied to Botswana purchas-ing Canadian equipment for thepower station that was to be con-structed in the area. The costs werevery high-and the loans have to berepaid by the Botswana taxpayer.The reason behind involving com-panies from different countries in thisproject was clearly stated by oneAmax official when he said: "It hasbecome an axiom of US governmentand international development agen-cies that projects involving invest-ment from several national sourcesare to be preferred to projects hav-ing a single national source offinance... The finger of nationalisticanger or political animosity is not asapt to be pointed in different direc-tions at once... This safeguard hasbeen built into the structure of theSelibe Phikwe deal..."NationalisationSuch devilish calculations and bla-tant robbery has angered manyworkers, and has increased supportamong workers for BNF's call to na-tionalize all industries that are "im-portant to the country". But na-tionalization can only ben6fit workersand the whole of society if the runn-ing and control of these industries istaken into the hands of workersthemselves.To achieve this, workers will haveto overthrow capitalism. Because ofBotswana President Masire x,ith Anblo American and De Beersboss Oppenheimer in 1982. Hand in glove with capitalism.Botswana's domination by SouthAfrican and world capitalism, andbecause of the threat they poseagainst a workers movement gearedto this goal, it is essential thatBotswana workers link their strugglesto those taking place in South Africaand internationally against the sameenemy. Only in this way willBotswana achieve real independence,and open the road to real develop-ment and a better life for all.DiscriminationAs long as capitalism exists,workers in Botswana will only be us-ed to serve the interests of foreigncompanies and their governments.These investments and loans alwaysgo together with the employment oflarge numbers of expatriate skilledworkers, with discrimination againstlocal workers in wages, housing andconditions.The capitalists are not prepared toinvest properly in educating andtraining African workers. At thesame time, to control the localworkforce, they use foreign artisansand administrators for the top posi-tions, and are prepared to pay the ex-tra costs involved in order to `divideand rule'.The expatriates are paid very highsalaries and enjoy many privileges.By 1975, Selibe Phikwe had apopulation of about 1 200 foreigners.52% held U.K. citizenship, 31%South African and 17% were fromEurope and the USA.At the mine, the lowest grade ex-patriate artisan earned a basic salaryof P500 per month. No Motswanaworker earned more than P330 permonth. The lowest 78% (grades 1 to3) earned between P40 and P80 permonth, the middle 20016 (grades 4 to6) earned between P85 and P200 permonth, and grades 6 to 8, only 2%,earned above P200 per month.This was despite the fact thatBatswana workers carried the biggestload of the work. Many Batswanawho had qualified in different skillsremained as trainees. This was toavoid promoting them, because thatwould mean sending expatriatesback.Subsidized housing was provided'for everybody, though those ofwhites were bigger and morebeautiful, built in an area away fromwhere the rest of the Batswanastayed. No workers, except fordomestic ser-ts, visited the areawhich they called `Tshaba Ntsa'(beware of the dog).The overwhelming majority of un-skilled workers could not stay in thecompany houses because they could

Page 79 of 98 in other material. However, neither the trade union noryouth leaders approached the problem with a sufficient-ly clearly worked out strategic framework.The conservatives among the union officials quicklymanoeuvred to obstruct any tendency towards furthergeneral strike action at that time. The rank-and-file, theysaid, were `not willing' to repeat the Transvaal generalstrike. Of course they were not willing to. do that!-whatwould have been the point? Similarly, an unlimitedgeneral strike would have been an adventure, leading toa big defeat at that stage. The workers could sense that.But had there been a clearly explained and well-organised plan to extend the movement nationally bymeans of a two-day strike, maintaining the momentumalready built up, bringing in the mineworkers (who wereby then ready to move), fighting on a clear issue (suchas SASOL), using the full authority of the unions andthe UDF, and the energies of the youth organisations,to raise the conflict with the state to a higher step, atremendous response would have been forthcoming fromthe proletariat-in the Transvaal, in the Eastern Cape,and throughout the country.Sensing the danger in the situation, the regime movedquickly to arrest the participants in the organising com-mittee of the Transvaal general strike, and made it clearthat in any similar action that might be organised infuture, the leadership would be arrested before, not after,the event. This has highlighted the necessity for the mili-tant leadership of the workers' and youth movement todevelop more effective underground methods of work,together with open organisation, in the struggle.Revolutionary workers' partyBut above all, these circumstances bring out clearly theneed for a revolutionary workers' party if the struggleis to be led in a clear and decisive manner.However, how is such a thing to arise? The situationin South Africa will prove merciless to half-bakedorganisational as well as political conceptions. The ideathat the unions themselves, through some kind of con-ference decision in future, can simply launch a workers'party in SA is naive wishful thinking, as we have explain-ed in Inqaba (e.g. No. 11) before.In the first place, a revolutionary workers' party (if itwas genuinely that) would be illegal from the beginning.That has to be acknowledged.Secondly, the mass of the workers already look to theANC. They obviously do not have need of a reformistparty. A viable alternative to the ANC would have to gripthe imagination of the mass of the workers as being amore effective instrument for the revolutionary achieve-ment of national liberation and workers' power than theyhave already.Even assuming that a majority of trade union memberswould agree to launch a `workers' party' in competitionwith the ANC, how would it go about establishing itscredibility among the unorganised masses and among theyouth who look to Congress? How would it avoid mere-ly causing further confusion and splits of the movementat this stage?The closer loom the revolutionary tasks, the less canthe awakening mass of the workers afford to abandonthe traditional mass political organisation of the past,which signifies to them unity of the oppressed people inthe struggle for power.It is enough to pose the question in this way for thegeneral outlines of a solution to the problem to appear.The revolutionary workers' party and workers' leader-ship which is needed in South Africa can be created suc-cessfully in a struggle of organised workers and youthto build and transform for their purpose the ANC itself.Understanding this task and= to carry it out con-stitutes the core of a revolutiy strategy in SouthAfrica.Rooted in working-class organisationsClearly, there can be no effective revolutionary leader-ship of the struggle which is not rooted in the existingorganisations in the factories, mines, etc, and thegrassroots organisations of the working-class youth.The first step in a battle for a clear strategy, programmeand leadership of revoiution is to win the support of theadvanced workers and youth for Marxist ideas. This musttake place with the utmost urgency, by the method ofhonest fraterr.al discussion, with the weapons of facts,figures and reasoned argument, within the trade unions,the factory- and shop-stewards' committees, and theyouth and community organisations of the black work-ing class throughout South Africa.Every committed socialist is urged to join with Inqabaand the Marxist Workers' Tendency of the ANC in thistask.For the advanced workers and youth to carry clearrevolutionary ideas to the masses-and also learn fromthe masses at the same time-it is necessary to put asideall sectarian notions. Marxists must go where the massmovement goes as it arises and in its millions moves intoaction.These millions will inevitably move, on the one hand,towards the new union federation, where industrialorganisation and struggle is concerned, and on the otherhand, towards the banner of the ANC (in all its forms)for the struggle to overthrow the state.Therefore all revolutionary activists have as their dutyto orient, on the one hand to the new federation, andon the other to the ANC banner in order to reach theear and understanding of the masses.That is the basis of our whole orientation as the MarxistWorkers' Tendency of the ANC. That has been the foun-dation also of our policy of urging the unions to makea conscious, organised turn into the UDF on a clear pro-gramme of action, so that the working class can rapidlytake the leadership of the whole political struggle into itshands.By systematic activity within the mass organisations itwould be possible-without in any way endangering theunity of the mass struggle itself-for Marxists to winoverwhelming support for their ideas and policies.We denounce all sectarian splitting of the massorganisations. The struggle is to build and (whenever

Page 80 of 98 not afford the rent. They went tosquat in an area that came to beknown as Botshabelo (place ofrefine), staying in shacks built ofmud, old cardboard and plastic. Notmany expatriates knew this placeeither.Iri'addition, expatriates had theusual inducement allowance, usedcompany cars and enjoyed freeflights for each family four times ayear for a weekend in Johannesburg.Even white workers in South Africado not enjoy such privileges.Consequently, Botswana workerscame to hate the expatriates as theyhate the employers. They saw themas one common enemy. This wasreflected during the strike itself whenmany expatriates got a hiding.Discrimination of this kind will on-ly come to an end when capitalism isdestroyed throughout the world. Itwould then be possible for the peo-ple of Botswana to exercise the rightof self-determination. Together withworkers internationally, they wouldthen see and enjoy the advantages ofentering into voluntary agreements inplanning the development of industryand sharing human resources.A common struggle againstcapitalism will be the only basis todevelop real solidarity amongworkers of different races andnationalities.In the short term, the urgent taskis to build links with workers in SouthAfrica and internationally and beginthe preparation 6f a common pro-gramme of self-defence against thebosses who are dividing the workersso as to smash their resistance.GovernmentWorkers cannot rely on thegovernment to assist them. TheBotswana government's priority hasalways been to attract as muchforeign investment as possible. Inorder not to jeopardise this, it hassuccumbed to the conditions laiddown by the investors and has pro-tected them by oppressing workers.It is government policy that everyexpatriate should have a Motswanaworker whom he is training in hisjob, the intention being to have thatjob localized after a certain period.But the government takes nomeasures to enforce this policy.Many companies do not trainworkers, and those who were train-ed and got qualifications remain astrainees, for up to ten years in somecases.The same applies to wages-thegovernment holds them down. Itspolicy is that, `basic local wage andsalary levels, in the private andparastatal sectors, should generallyconform to, and on no accountsignificantly exceed, those paid bygovernment to comparable grades ofpublic employees.'In 1974, government skilledworkers, those with a Junior Cer-tificate, earned P60 a month, thebreakpoint being P200. Semi-skilledranged from P45 to P120 a monthand the unskilled were started at P40a month. All these measuresguaranteed the capitalists maximumprofit while many workers and theirfamilies languished in extremepoverty.To retain this situation, legalrestrictions were imposed on tradeunions, rendering them ineffective asworkers' weapons of self-defence.Strike action is illegal unless a seriesof cumbersome procedures arefollowed.As a result, the strike in SelibePhikwe was illegal and not organis-ed by the union which in the eyes ofworkers was useless because therewas nothing it could do on the basisA new militant generation. Working class youth are on the movenow in Botswana.of the law, and its leaders were un-willing to go further.The strikeIn May 1975, without theknowledge of the trade union leader-ship, the underground workers wenton strike demanding higher wages.Most of them had previously work-ed in South Africa, and found theirwages far lower than what they gotthere. Statistics showed that the BCLworkers were 20% worse off thantheir counterparts in SA. This raisedmuch discontent.The response of management wasto call the chairman of the union andother officials for discussions. Theywere instructed to request the strikersto elect six representatives tonegotiate with management. This wasdone.But a few days later the workerswalked out again because there hadbeen no results from representationsto management. Again union of-ficials mediated and convinced thestriking miners that their case wouldbe considered in relation to the an-nual general wages review at the endof July.In mid-July, at a mass meeting

Page 81 of 98 necessary) transform these organisations through bring-ing them under the democratic control of their working-class ranks and winning the argument for Marxist ideasand policies.The movement has need both of unity and clarity; theone cannot be achieved by destroying the other. The riseto revolutionary struggle of millions of workers and youthprovides the path to unify the movement under the leader-ship of Marxism in the coming years.Once the new trade union federation is launched, com-bining the strength of some three hundred thousand unionmembers, and including the big battalions of mining andindustry, hundreds of thousands of so far unorganisedworkers will rally to it. Within the federation inevitablya struggle of ideas and tendencies will take place. Theorganised workers will be looking for political answersfrom the federation leaders, even while looking to theANC at the same time.Question of UDFThe question of the unions' involvement in the UDF,and ultimately in the movement headed openly by theANC itself, will not go away but will more and morebecome a focus of debate and absorb the attention of theunion militants.What is of key importance is that the matter shouldnot be argued out in abstract or purely `organisational'terms. The need is for the union militants to agree ona comprehensive action programme around specificdemands, on the basis of which organised as well asunorganised workers, women and youth can be mobilis-ed in united action.Then, once there is a clear plan of campaign and sup-port has been won for this within the unions, it will makepractical sense to draw the organisations of the UDFround the organised workers. The need for a concertedturn by the unions into the UDF to bring it underworkers' control would then follow logically and wouldbe seen as quite simple to achieve.The development within the new federation of a moreor less distinct ANC current, committed to the presentANC, SACTU and SACP leadership, seems inevitablein the next period-even though some of the most pro-minently identified pro-Congress union leaders are like-ly to keep their organisations out of the federation, atleast initially. The policies and arguments of the Stalinistswill thus need to be answered clearly and systematicallyby Marxists within the federation if tremendous confu-sion of the political issues is to be avoided.Probably, inside the new federation, a black-consciousness current will also take shape. This is likelyto gain an echo among the workers only to the extent thatthe policy of non-racialism appears to provide a screenfor conservatism in the leadership (especially where thisis manifested in white officials) and a tendency to drawback from politics.At the same time, attempts to draw workers in anysignificant numbers towards the National Forum andAzapo will fail, or fairly quickly rebound, even as theseessentially petty-bourgeois bodies will tend to repel in timethe youth who have gravitated towards them.Black consciousness played an enormously progressiverole in the revolutionary awakening of the black youthin South Africa. But things can turn into their opposites.Unclear thinking becomes a terrible barrier on the roadto revolution. It is necessary for the whole of the youthmovement to move beyond black consciousness to a fully-formed class consciousness-to Marxist ideas. By dress-ing up nationalist ideas in pseudo-Marxist phraseology,the National Forum and Azapo intellectual leaders con-fuse and retard this process on the part of the working-class youth.We have to say frankly that, for all the radical`socialist' rhetoric of these black consciousness leaders(put forward to outflank the ANC), they seem to us tobe play-acting at revolution. That is shown above all intheir sweeping dismissal of the white working class as in-evitably part of the enemy camp. This may look very `r-r-r-revolutionary' (to borrow Lenin's term). But it showsthat they entirely lack a serious attitude to the problemof overthrowing the state. For that, the winning over ofthe white troops will be absolutely indispensable. Whatis their policy for accomplishing that?In their intellectual attack on 'non-racialism' theyhopelessly muddle up liberal or petty-bourgeois 'non-racialism' with something completely different: an un-compromising revolutionary class approach on the partof the black workers to the white workers.Black workers in the unions, who experience the racistinsults and kicks of the white workers every day, showa thousand times more revolutionary intelligence than theblack-consciousness intellectuals, when they strive mightand main to win white workers into the non-racial unions.They correctly persist in these efforts even when thosefew white workers who have joined, after a while leavethese unions again under the pressure of white society.There is not a trace of sentimentality or liberalism-or even class brotherhood in the naive sense-in theseblack workers' approach to the white workers. They aresimply preparing the ground for later smashing the stateand overthrowing their class enemy: the bourgeoisie.Must persistLet the black workers who have embarked on a con-scious non-racial policy not be diverted from it even bythe going over of white workers to the most vicious right-wing reactionary parties-which is inevitable as a stageduring the maturing of the revolutionary crisis. It isprecisely these whites, stirred into a half-blind, semi-classrevolt, rather than the ones who tail tamely after Botha,who can later be won directly to the workers' revolutionwhen all reactionary ways out of their nightmare haveproved useless.Let us not be deterred even by the horrors and atrocitiescommitted by the whites in the course of racial civilwar-for there is no basis but a class basis, class in-dependence, uncompromising class strength and anultimate class appeal to the interests of white workers,youth and petty-bourgeois against capitalism if the blackworkers' revolution is to triumph.

Page 82 of 98 held outside the mine by the union,there was massive pressure from therank-and-file for a strike at the endof the month if there were no wageincreases. Faced with this pressure,the union leadership agreed with theworkers.On July 25, when workers werepaid, they found that increases hadbeen awarded on a selective basis. Itwas only to workers who had beenrecommended by their expatriateheads of department.A meeting was then organized,mainly by unskilled workers, todiscuss these developments. It washeld in Botshabelo, where many ofthese workers stayed. The tradeunion officials were not informed ofthis meeting. The skilled workerswere also not informed because theywere not trusted. As the unskilledworkers put it: 'they sit in offices withthe whites, we do not know what theytell them.' At this meeting, a decisionto go on strike was taken.The next morning all the gates tothe mine were closed. Only the un-skilled workers themselves knew whatwas happening. They were carryingsticks and chanting. One entered themine to instruct the clerks and otheroffice workers to join.During the process, the expatriateswere evicted from the smelter plantand other sections. The unpopularones were lashed with sticks and theircars overturned. The union officialswere given no role to play at all, andwere constantly shouted down at thegates: 'no union here, you alwaysquote the labour laws for us!'On that same day, the governmentsent the then Vice-President, DrMasire, who is now President, tospeak to the strikers and persuadethem to call off the strike. All he gotin reply were a few lashes on his backas he was running to safety.Ultimately the Police Mobile Unitwas sent to the area and they manag-ed to disperse the strikers with tear-gas. The whole area came underheavy police security for some daysand construction of a police stationbegan soon afterwards.At the end, 622 workers lost theirjobs and 100 were detained. Twomonths after the strike 60 male and2 female workers were charged withrioting, intimidation and maliciousdamage to property. In December1975, 34 were convicted and receiv-ed jail sentences ranging from 3 to 12months.In a radio broadcast after thestrike, the then President, Sir SeretseKhama, summed up the reaction ofhis government. '...the irresponsibleaction of a handful of Batswanacaused a complete closedown... It isessential for Botswana's developmentthat we should retain foreign invest-ment. It is also necessary for us to im-port expatriate skills to aid us in ourdevelopment. This can only be doneif the companies who invest here ob-tain a reasonable return on their in-vestment and if skilled expatriatesfeel that their lives and property aresafe... illegal and unnecessary strikeshave continued to such an extent thatBotswana will lose its reputation asa stable and safe country in which toinvest money.'The strike, and the particularresponse of the President, showedclearly how the state is there to attackthe working class and defend the in-terests of the capitalists.Building UnionsThis fact should be clear in themind of every worker who today istrying to transform the presentunions into democratic and fightingorganisations of the working class,independent of control by, and in op-position to, the state. Every step inthis direction will be viciously oppos-ed by both the employers and thegovernment.Because capitalism is incapable ofdeveloping production and improv-ing the living standards of the majori-ty of the working class, democracy isan intolerable liability on theshoulders of the bosses and theirstate. The right to form trade unionsand to strike will always be attacked.If the workers are to preserve theirliving standards and the democraticrights that they have, they need tocarry through the overthrowal ofcapitalism and transform society. Itis with this perspective that tradeunions should be built.The workers in Selibe Phikwedemonstrated their power andpreparedness to struggle. Undoubted-ly, in the coming period more andmore Batswana workers are going toshow similar strength and determina-tion. The task of the activists is toprepare themselves and the labourmovement for these coming battles.Numeiri-at the end, his unl,,.l1iti'dswere the noose and the amputalWg knife.This article sketch hees+hbackground to the coup whichtoppled Numeiri in April, andassesses likely futuredevelopments.Already it is clear that the newjunta offers no solutions to theeconomic crisis, famine, corrup-tion, and national division whichdrove the masses into action.At a rally called by the powerfulTrade Union Alliance in May, a suc-cession of speakers called for morestrikes and civil disobedience "tosafeguard our revolution."The new regime-delaying elec-tions until next April- has'stalledon carrying out the promises onwhich it came to office. Corrupttop officials are re-confirmed inposts; members of the securitypolice, jailed after the coup, havebeen released.The brutal "Islamic laws" in-troduced by Numeiri in 1983 havenot yet been repealed.Before the coup massdemonstrations chanted "Wewon't be ruled by the IMF"(Inter-national Monetary Fund): yet thegovernment is already bowing toWestern pressures.Even the British rimes (4/6/85)is forced to concede that "thecomplaint everywhere is thatthings are moving too slowly."The ground is being prepared fornew mass explosions, and splitsand turmoil at the top: the Sudan-ese revolution is only beginning.

Page 83 of 98 We can take a leaf from the book of Thami Mali andSiphiwe Thus i in this respect. They amazed their SundayExpress interviewer (quoted earlier) when "Not once dar-ing the interview did either man use the word `whites'.The enemy, they said when asked why, was `the state'.When last inside, Mr Thusi tried to persuade his inter-rogators that they were oppressed. `I asked them if theyowned any means of production, any land,' he said. `1asked them who were they defending. They were alsomembers of the working class. They owned nothing. Iam also fighting to liberate them.' "Here is expressed, in language which no theory couldbetter, an elemental strategic class sense as to what is in-volved in the coming workers' revolution in SA. Yes, eventhis barbarous white racist state machine can be shatteredby the political action of the black working class onceit rises fully to its feet and marches forward with com-plete clarity as to the revolutionary tasks.This is the understanding which Marxists must workto generalise throughout the workers' movement andamong the youth, helping to cement it with theory andperspectives into a firm and clear conception of the roadto power.Black middle classNor will there be any difficulty in drawing the weakblack middle class-with exceptions, of course, but in themain.-behind the workers and working-class youth.The Communist Party and ANC leaders have arguedthat it is wrong to put forward ideas of, socialism andworkers' power in South Africa because this `frightensaway the middle class'. Absolute nonsense! It is when amuddled, non-class, so-called `democratic' revolution orrather compromise is put forward that the movementsplits, the middle class wavers, and the ruling class is ableto deal effective blows against the masses.This lesson is written in the blood of many defeatedrevolutions in which the movement was led-or rathermisled-on the basis of such false ideas.The reality of the situation for the black middle classis summed up in an interview which Ellen Kuzwayo, whocomes from an ex-landowning family, gave to the Lon-don Observer (14/4/85):"The days are one when t could it down and counselanybody-even the 12-year-olds. I worked with the blackchildren of Soweto for years as a social worker-in youthclubs, weekend camps, discussion groups and I was sure[ knew them. But in 1976, in 48 hours, they were not thechildren 1 knew.`They had become angry: and that angered me; and thishas happened all over South Africa. 1 know that one sidehas more evil than the other, but when people are very angrythey find themselves doing things they would never normal-ly do. So you have a situation which is explosive on bothsides: and it compels us to go with it, whether we like it ornot." (our emphasis.)Whether they like it or not, the oppressed middle classwill follow the working class when it gives a decisiverevolutionary lead. This is a fact which must be graspedby all the loyal young militants of the ANC and UDFso that they can sooner anct more decisively break withthe ideas of class-compromise which have been inculcatedinto the movement for so many years by the Stalinists.SectarianismSectarians, on the other hand, stand aside from theANC and UDF because the leaders of these organisationsdo not put forward `socialism'. As if that were thecriterion! As if it were superfluous to undertake asystematic struggle for socialist ideas in the ranks of theworking-class movement! We must go where the massesgo, regardless of the policies of the leaders and regardlessof the stage in consciousness which the masses are pass-ing through. That is the only way to work. For a Marx-ist, it is ABC.Sectarians stand aside from the new trade union federa-tion on grounds that its leadership will not be sufficient-ly revolutionary and its structures too `bureaucratic',open to `manipulation', etc. If that were true, it wouldnot provide a shred of an excuse for staying out! Whatabout the hundreds of thousands of union members whowill be working day and night to build the new federa-tion and turn it into ait effective instrument for workers'power?The May Day meeting at Khotso House (and there wereother similar rneetings elsewhere) showed the ripeness ofthe whole organised workers' movement for revolu-tionary socialist ideas. Most of the speeches brimmed overwith ideas of revolutionary class struggle againstcapitalism-as even the SA capitalist press had to reflect.A speaker from from the Azanian Confederation ofTrade Unions said:"We are fighting against the forces of capitalism. We arenot fighting to remove whites and replace them with blacks.We are fighting for a complete change in the political andeconomic spheres. We are fighting for the end of the systemof exploitation based on capitalism."Workers have been divided by the different views of theunion leadership, but workers' demands and sentiments arethe same and we must help formulate structures for therevolutionary change." (Star, 2/5/85.)Splendid! But what on earth is the `Azanian Con-federation of Trade Unions'?We must say frankly to all committed socialists: youwill "help formulate structures for the revolutionarychange" only inside the new federation and inside themass movement broadly gathering under the ANC ban-ner. Inside you can build a real mass base for the ideasof Marxism, provided you yourselves have mastered theseideas. Outside you can only serve as a sterile, divisive irri-tant and frustrate the fulfilment of the very revolutionwhich you proclaim.Nor should you rest on the illusion that the workers,once they fail to find socialist leadership in the ANC, willswing over to following `you'. The history of revolu-tionary movements in all the industrialised countriesshows that the main body of the proletariat returns againand again to its traditional organisations, despite eventhe worst defeats and betrayals by its leaders in the past.In the case of the ANC, particularly the imprisonedand exiled leaders have an enormous accumulated capital

Page 84 of 98 After Numeiri, what way forward?Reprinted from Militant,(19141851, voice of Marxism inthe British labour movementSudan is going through a period ofworkers and peasants revolution.The worsening conditions causedby the world capitalist crisis set thescene for massive discontent. Thecorruption, repression and economicstupidity of the Numeiri regime ledto its crumbling away and now hasled to its overthrow.One group after another of theSudanese people were rapidly drawninto a massive revolutionarymovement.After prices of petrol, food etcwere raised yet again last month,riots, huge demonstrations and ageneral strike paralysed the city forten days.The mood of the population forc-ed the Army to intervene to replacethe hated Numeiri before the situa-tion went out of their controlGeneral Abdul Rahman Swar-al-Dahab made a radio announcement:"The armed forces unanimouslydecided to respond to the will of thepeople and take over power and handit back to the people after a limitedtransitional period".The Times reports on the wildjubilation which greeted this an-nouncement. "Suddenly it seemed asthough most of the inhabitants (ofKhartoum) were on the streets, cheer-ing, dancing and waving flowers andbranches torn from bushes". Peopleshouted to soldiers "the army and thepeople are one". The soldiers raisedtheir rifles and grinned. Even the riotpolice were forgiven, but not thevicious secret police who had helpedNumeiri to rule by fear.100 000 workers and slum dwellersmarched on the Kober prison whichheld 2 000 political prisoners, rippedoff the outer gates and a barbed wirefence. The prison guards swung openthe gates and cheered the crowd asthey let them in, past the gallowswhere executions and amputationshad recently taken place underIslamic law. The imprisoned opposi-tionists were released.In the city thousands attacked theidentity card centre where the 30 000strong secret police were based. Someof the crowd were shot as they brokedown the gates until soldiers and riotpolice arrived and dragged away thesecret policemen.Striking workers started to returnto work expecting changes from thenew regime. The military leadersdemanded that the strikers end theiraction. They hoped that the workingclass and the slum dwellers, havingplayed their part, would now justfade into an admiring chorus of sup-port for the military. But revolutionsare not political soap operas whereinconvenient characters and classescan be written out of a plot at will.The ruling class are worried. Not onlyNumeiri's rule but capitalism isthreatened.Seeking safe alternativeObservers from USA, Egypt andSaudi Arabia, capitalism's policemenin North Africa, had previously beentrying to discuss with Numeiri'sopponents-those who were not inprison. They saw Numeiri was doom-ed and wanted a safe alternative.Every section of society except therich had suffered. The drought in theSahel area has led whole communitiesto move in search of food and water.New desert areas have been created,aided by government agriculturalplans which uprooted trees over 5 000square miles eroding the coil irrever-sibly. Roads and irrigation have beenneglected.The food price riots came after theeffects of thirteen devaluations in justover six years. The leaders of thetrade unions were imposed byNumeiri but such has been thepressure from below that even theyhad to ask for some concessions fromthe regime. But capitalism's room formanoeuvre and compromise isrestricted.At the end, Numeiri's only friendswere the noose and the amputatingknife, using the "Islamic laws", theSharia, he imposed in 1983 as ameans of repression. Even amongstfaithful Moslems Sharia has provedunpopular. Many welcomed it atfirst, hoping political life would becured of the corruption found at alllevels.They hoped in vain. Islamic banksbacked by Saudi Arabian capitalmake a huge profit even though theycharge no interest. They have beenstockpiling food regardless of thefamine. A few rich Moslems andNumeiri's tottering dictatorship wereAfter the coup: a donkey representingNumeiri is led through Khartoum.

Page 85 of 98 of confidence among the workers based on decades ofcourageous endurance and dedication to the liberationstruggle. This is enhanced by all those who have sacrific-ed their lives in the name of the ANC. It entirely over-shadows as far as the masses are concerned the leader-ship's failings in policy and strategy which have, in anyevent, not yet been fully brought to light in action.Again and again in the years ahead the workers willtry to solve the problems of revolutionary leadership,strategy, action programme, etc, in and through theANC. If they, together with the working-class youth, faildespite all efforts to establish clear socialist leadershipin the ANC, what will happen will be the terribledisintegration and demoralisation of the movement, andthe smashing of the revolution by the armed forces ofreaction.In any event, the ANC leadership will inevitably tackto the left in the coming period under the pressure ofevents and of the masses. At a certain point they will evenput forward `socialism' in words, thus taking the `left'sectarians' clothes away from them. It would not be thefirst time such a thing happened in world history.Communist Party's 'left' turnAlready there are signs of it in the air. The SA Com-munist Party, which directs the policy of the ANC, is cur-rently going through a `left' phase. Obviously the ranksof the CP in exile are responding to the revolutionary fer-ment among the working class at home and in turn put-ting pressure on the party leaders.The January 1985 statement by the CP central com-mit" is full of left phraseology about the crisis ofcapitalism, about the SA state being an organ "for thedefence of bourgeois rule", about the need to "destroy"or "render ineffective" the army and police in order"defeat the bourgeoisie", etc.It quotes Lenin's dictum that the proletariat is the on-ly class "capable of being revolutionary to the very end".It says: "To be revolutionary to the very end means tofight for the victory of the socialist revolution, for thedefeat of the bourgeoisie as a class, for the passing ofpower into the hands of the proletariat so that it becomesthe ruling class. This is an historic task which faces theworking class of our country, as it confronts the pro-letariat of all capitalist countries."However, as is typical of Stalinism, for every step theymanage to take onto firm ground theoretically, they feelobliged to take at least one step back into the marsh. In-stead of acknowledging that South Africa's revolutionis a proletarian socialist revolution which has, first andforemost, to carry out national democratic tasks, theytry to cling on to the old false conceptions.They still insist on the idea of two distinct revolutions:one `national democratic', the other `socialist'.Nor is this a matter of semantics. For the `first' revolu-tion, a regime of "popular democracy" and not workers'power is required. Only in the `second' revolution are weto expect "proletarian rule". Instead of the "democraticrevolution" necessitating the overthrow of capitalism, itmust merely "go as far as possible in undermining (!) thepositions of the monopoly bourgeoisie"-the FreedomCharter itself goes further than. that by proclaiming ex-propriation!-"and bringing the maximum benefits tothe working class and the oppressed and exploited ruralmasses."Thus they are in reality still in a complete fog. Andthe matter is not helped by the statement that the work-ing class-the overwhelming majority of society (and theonly consistently revolutionary class, don't forget!)-should make its "imprint" (merely its imprint!) upon thedemocratic revolution and "prepare the conditions foran uninterrupted advance from popular democracy toproletarian rule." The "conditions", needless to say, arenot spelled out.This piously expressed hope of "uninterrupted ad-vance" is merely the CP leaders' attempt to have it bothways. In practice, while even a membrane separates their`national democratic' from their `socialist' revolutions,this serves as a screen for the ideas of class-compromisewith capitalism. It gives them a pretext for continuingto put off the fundamental tasks facing the working class,and continuing to seek a settlement with the bourgeoisie.It is not accidental that, coinciding with this verbal`left' turn, the ANC leadership has stated that the ques-tion of nationalisation in South Africa will only be con-sidered after the election of a `democratic government'.Thus, under the influence of `democratic' petty-bourgeoisand Stalinist illusions in class-compromise, they casual-ly abandon a fundamental pillar of the Freedom Charterwhich is absolutely essential to mobilise the working classeffectively and give clear direction in the struggle forpower.Significantly, not a peep of protest is uttered by theSouth African `Communist' Party leaders. Far from op-posing such a retreat from the revolutionary content ofthe Freedom Charter, they are fully behind the revisionand `inspire' it theoretically.Tailing behind eventsSuch ideas and such leadership place the success of ourstruggle in great danger. The CP leaders' policy is to tailbehind events and adapt their formal position, whennecessary, sufficiently to the `left' to prevent their rank-and-file revolting against the leadership, while at the sametime not departing in essence from the old Stalinist class-collaboration policies.Let us not forget that after the Soweto uprising of 1976,the CP '.eadership also began to toy with left-wing for-mulas. But when the movement cooled temporarily anda lull set in, they quickly swung back again to the oldbald two-stage dogma. In 1979 they were organising thepermanent `suspension' of Marxists from the ANC forthe crime of putting forward the idea of workers' revolu-tion in SA!In periods when the working class is establishing itsdominance in action at the forefront of the whole move-ment, then all the catch-phrases about the `leading role'of the working class are dusted off and wheeled out forceremonial purposes by the CP. But as soon as the work-ing class lapses into passivity, or suffers defeats-or, on

Page 86 of 98 the only beneficiaries.In the south, a black Christianarea, the Ethiopian-based SudanesePeoples Liberation army, a guerrillamovement, had been building sup-port especially after 1983. The areahad been given some autonomy in1972 ending a long civil war but thisconcession was snatched backthrough Islamicisation and last year'sstate of emergency.The guerrillas say they are not justa movement for regional autonomy;they demanded Numeiri's replace-ment throughout Sudan. ColonelJohn Garang, the SPLA leader musthave echoed many fears when he saysthat Swar al Dahab "treacherouslystole Sudan" from the workers, whitecollar workers, professionals andslum dwellers who had brought thedictator down. He called for thestrikes to continue and even threaten-ed to resume the war unless thegeneral gave civilian powerimmediately.The United States may putpressure on to conciliate the southwith its oil fields, and US bases.Throughout the whole country theyhope that the new regime will pre-empt a more radical overthrow later.Events though will not be totallyunder their control.The new 15-man junta has beendiscussing with the alliance of unions,professional associations andpolitical parties which organised thestrikes.'Democratic' wordsThe junta promised civilian powerafter twelve month's transition. Buthow can this be ensured? There canbe no faith in the "democratic"words of the capitalists andlandlords. They backed Numeiri.The general secretary of theSudanese Communist Party IbrahimNogoud told the magazine AfricAsiathat the CP had for some time calledfor the end of the Numeiri regime, animprovement in the economy, a fightagainst famine and a just settlementin the south. Noble sentiments butnowhere did Nogoud spell out thepolicies they would fight for. Therewas no mention of socialism and nosuggestion as to who would lead thismovement towards democracy, nomention of the role of the workingclass in particular.The CP leader says that individualparties are too weak on their own, sothe Communists are ready to unitewith other forces in Sudan. But whatforces? What attitude will the CPtake towards Swar al Dehab's juntaor the capitalist groups in thealliance? Will they trust the junta'sprogressive credentials as they did,fatally in 1969-1971?In May 1969 a bloodless coupagainst a reactionary governmentmade Numeiri, an army colonel,defence minister and effective leader.There was a civilian figurehead withpersonal support from the Com-munist Party, which then had amillion members and could mobilisefar more in demonstrations.It was the second largest Com-munist Party in Africa and the Mid-dle East. The CP backed Numeiri forhis "progressive" statements againstimperialism. The regime haddiplomatic relations with East Ger-many for instance.Numeiri relied on this support asfirst of all he ditched the civilianfigurehead, then sacked CP sym-pathisers from the government andarmed forces. Finally in July 1971Numeiri provoked an attempted coupwhich failed. Party leaders, tradeunionists and other "dangerous"people were executed and the move-ment beheaded.The Communist Party were strongenough for a relatively peacefultransformation of society if the work-ing class organisations had taken thelead in the '60's. But as on many oc-casions before, the Stalinist theory oftwo stages, first of capitalist"democracy" then socialism, has ledto tragedy.The strategists of capitalism,despairing of resurrecting Numeiri,probably hope they can trap theCommunist Party and otherrepresentatives of the workers andpeasantry into similar mistakes thistime. After the coup, The Times sug-gested bringing the Communist Par-ty into a government.US imperialismSudan is vital to US plans. AfterNumeiri became an open agent ofcapitalism, he offered help in theChad dispute against Libya and aid-ed opponents of the Stalinist regimesin Ethopia and South Yemenamongst others.US imperialism wants to protect itsmilitary bases and access to its oil in-terests. They recently negotiatedanother loan, on the conditions ofeven more austerity in a starvingcountry and allowing America to in-stall a nuclear waste dump in the Dar-far desert.HauntingBut haunting the minds of thecapitalists must be the memory of theEthopian revolution of 1974 when thereactionary landlord regime ofEmperor Haile Selassie was broughtdown. The emperor's total indif-ference to the conditions of the 1974famine together with the colossalbackwardness of a state in pawn towestern capitalism pushed com-paratively junior officers to a coup.At the start, this was fairly"moderate". But the spark ofpolitical change ignited massmovements, first in the small work-ing class in Addis Ababa and middleclass town dwellers. Then the peasan-try moved to gain land reforms andoverthrow their feudal oppressors.The opening up of class divisionswas mirrored within the armed forcesand a section of them broke totallywith capitalism and landlordism andtook the revolution through to theformation of a Stalinist regimemodelled on present day Russia.Capitalism could not developEthiopia or in any other Africanstate. Despite the lack of a consciousworking class leadership and despitethe smallness of the proletariat, aregime based on nationalisation andland reform but with a military-policedictatorship instead of a genuineworkers democracy was installed inEthiopia.What happens in Sudan dependson the role which the working classplays. If the junta or the workerspolitical leaders can make them abs-tain from active intervention in thestruggles a repeat of 1971 is not rul-ed out.The setting up of a workersdemocracy in Sudan, though, wouldtransform the situation in this part ofthe world and lay the basis for asocialist federation of Africa and theMiddle East.

Page 87 of 98 the other hand, as we shall see when the task of takingpower is posed before the working class in practice-theCP leaders will rediscover all the points about thenecessary `broadness' of the democratic struggle includingall classes, about how the workers should not `frightenoff' the middle class by trying to go too far, etc, etc.The policy of the SACP is fundamentally determinedby the line of the bureaucracy in the Soviet Union, onwhich it depends. Far from this representing a threat tocapitalism in SA-far.from there being any basis forBotha's hysterics about `Soviet intervention' endanger-ing capitalism in Southern Africa as a whole-the policyof the Kremlin is to try to reach a compromise with im-perialism over this explosive region, and particularly overSouth Africa itself. Promoting workers' power is ab-solutely against their interests.This is what prevents the SACP from correcting itsfalse policy and going over genuinely to a position ofworkers' revolution. The CP's `mistakes' are thereforenot essentially theoretical, bat derive from the materialself-interest of the Stalinist bureaucracy.The CP has never been able to sustain a consistent posi-tion on perspectives, strategy or tasks of the SA revolu-tion. In 1959, as we pointed out before, they insisted thatthe democratic transformation of SA could be peaceful.Then, reeling from Sharpeville and the subsequent statecrackdown, they swung over to the idea of the `SouthAfrican Reich', a fascist dictatorship under which nothingcould be done. (Ingaba No. 3 dealt with the fallacies intheir theory of SA `fascism', so we need not repeat thearguments here.)Without thinking the problem through, the CP leadersjumped over to the ideas of `armed struggle' and peddl-ed for twenty years a barren strategy of guerilla warfareagainst the SA regime. With this, they continued to com-bine hopes of a `democratic' compromise with the bigbourgeoisie, thus showing that guerillaism was in realityalways seen by the leadership as a way of exercising`pressure' and never as a way of overthrowing the regime.In fact it could do neither.Now they are swinging over empirically again, underthe impact of events, to pay respects to the ideas of themass movement and of armed insurrection.New errorsIn doing so, however, they merely manage to movefrom one set of mistakes to another, or to combine oldmistakes in a new way. Before examining these, it isnecessary to set out some details of the recent publicpolicy shift by the ANC on the question of insurrection.In two NEC statements (which we have already cited)issued in Lusaka on 25 April and 9 May, the ANC leader-ship makes plain its view that "the conditions for arevolutionary leap forward are beginning to mature.""The oppressed and exploited people of our country arethus placed, more now than ever before, in a favourableposition as revolutionary conditions mature to deliver thefinal death blow on the apartheid regime."We have already explained that a drawn-out period ofyears of intense revolutionary struggles in SA will benecessary before the conditions will have been preparedfor the overthrow of the regime. Just how "mature" arethe revolutionary conditions now, in the eyes of the ANCleadership? Just how imminent is the "final death blow"believed to be? In questions such as this-the actual tac-tics of revolution and their timing-the whole test of arevolutionary leadership is concentrated.The thinking of the ANC leadership is revealed in areport on these public statements written for the LondonGuardian (10/5/85) by David Rabkin (the formerpolitical prisoner jailed by the Pretoria regime for ANCactivities). He writes:"The new `call to the nation' by the exiled nationalistmovement represents an important shift of tactics towardsa popular Iran-type insurrection rather than a protractedpeople's war."He makes clear that this turn in the ANC's policy isprimarily a response to the power of the mass revoltwithin SA over the past few months, but that it is alsoan acknowledgement that the guerilla strategy pursuedby the ANC in the past has failed. Let us take up thislatter point first.Marxist policyIn 1979, Marxists were `suspended' from the ANC forarguing against the leadership's guerilla strategy and infavour of a strategy based on preparing for armed insur-rection by the mass of the black working class. Since itsinception in 1980, Inqaba has consistently put forwardthe same ideas.Without acknowledging this, and unfortunately in amangled way, the new turn by the ANC leadership never-theless vindicates, rather belatedly, this criticism of itspolicy which the Marxist Workers' Tendency of the ANCalone has put forward within the movement.Summing up our position on armed struggle in SouthAfrica's Impending Socialist Revolution (March 1982),we wrote:"Lacking any basis for a peasant war, guerrilla strugglein our country can only take the form of urban guerrillaaction-which cannot overthrow the regime. It is, quite simp-ly, not a strategy for power..."There is no force which can make the revolution for theSA workers. The revolution will be a workers' revolutionor it will be no revolution at all. If the approach of our move-ment to armed struggle is to confine it within the limits ofarmed action by guerrilla detachmerts,this will prove totallyinsufficient to bring down the regime."Despite the heroism and self-sacrifice of the comradesin the ranks of MK, this will not be sufficient to producethe result for which they are prepared to die. Unless armedstruggle is developed as the struggle of the working masses,as an expression and extension of their organised strength,their social aims, and their need to change society, it willnot rise above an impotent method of exerting `pressure' onthe ruling class..."Contrary to the popular myth, guerrilla action does notdemoralise the whites-on the contrary, it usually tends toharden reaction. But when the mass movement has gainedthe capacity to use armed force, its effects will be profoundlydemoralising upon all the forces of reaction...

Page 88 of 98 32 YEARS AGO IN EAST GERMANY:wBetween 16 and 19 June 1953, in East Berlin and allmajor industrial areas of East Germany, over 300 000workers struck and demonstrated in the first majorworking-class uprising against Stalinism in EasternEurope.The demonstrators were almost100% from the working class; oftenthe leaders had been members of theCommunist Party and SocialDemocratic Party before Hitler cameto power 20 years previously. Thedemonstrations were clearly aimed attile dictatorial regime of thebureaucracy and not at the economicbase of East German society, the na-tionalised economy and return tocapitalist ownership.The mass movement was eventual-ly defeated by the tanks of the Rus-Workers'uprisingagainst StalinismReprinted from Militant,1111193yy .4sian bureaucracy. In the purge whichfollowed, 71 01o of all the local partysecretaries of the ,Communist'-dominated Socialist Unity Party(SED) were fired for supporting theuprising.Today East Germany is seen as themost stable and affluent of the EastEuropean Stalinist states, the secondlargest economic power in COM-ECON, the economic community ofthe Eastern bloc, and the eighthlargest economic power in the world.It has a per capita Gross National

Page 89 of 98 "The basis of our military policy in SA must be to preparethe forces for the future armed insurrection against the state.This would not imply reckless and adventurist policiesin the mass movement, immediately provoking massivemilitary retaliation against the black working class and youth,still in a relatively early stage of mobilising their forces. Thepoint is to prepare with the eventual aim of insurrection inmind..."Within the ANC we must urge a turn towards thepreparation of methods and tactics in the realm of armedstruggle which will lead to the eventual armed insurrectionof the mass of working people against the state."Effective preparations are needed for the arming of theworkers and youth; importing and stock-piling the necessaryarms as well as acquiring and making arms from all possi-ble sources within the country; carrying on military train-ing in SA in conjunction with the building of theunderground political networks of the ANC; and so on."(page 155.)These ideas were further developed, for example, in"Arming the workers' movement- reply to ComradeTambo" (Ingaba No. 11, August-October 1983). Therewe also specifically answered the false charge of theStalinists that we were advocating "suicidal missions bas-ed on a `trained workers' militia' ". They scoffed that ourmaterial would lie unread in damp or dusty cellars. Nowit is amusing to see ideas of Inqaba surfacingunacknowledged in official policy statements of the CPand ANC-or rather, it would be amusing if these werenot distorted and turned into a new source of error forthe movement.Unfortunately, a leadership which fails to carry out anopen and honest examination of why its previous policywas incorrect, cannot arrive at a clear and correct newpolicy either. Rabkin's interview in the Guardian with aleading member of the ANC's Political Military Councilshows that they have not fundamentally understood thereasons for the failure of guerillaism. They attribute itentirely to the lack of bases (something which, inciden-tally, a few months ago, they claimed would make noreal difference because all the necessary bases were `in-side' South Africa!).Now the PMC spokesman says:"We have been trying to engage in armed activities underconditions which are unique in Africa. We are at a terribledisadvantage because we don't have and never will have thekind of rear base that others have-a neighbouring countrywith enough strength and power to accept it being used inthe way Tanzania was used by Frelimo."Thus the leadership still does not see, or will not ad-mit, that the main barrier to successful guerilla war is thefact that SA is an industrialised country, with no peasan-try, and therefore entirely inappropriate to guerilla war.It is the methods of proletarian class struggle which alonecan lead to a victorious insurrection.Victory not possible yetBut a victorious insurrection is not possible immediate-ly or even in the relatively short term. To conceive of seiz-ing power in South Africa by 'Iran-type' tactics of merefrontal assault against this formidable apartheid militarymachine is, as we have pointed out, dangerouslymistaken.The youth especially are quite capable of taking thisidea of an "Iran-type insurrection" seriously, at facevalue, and launching an heroic adventure in which theywould certainly break their necks.If that occurs the whole movement may be set backfor a temporary period, before it recovers again. In thatevent, ANC policy would probably once again swing tothe right. If such a defeat is suffered, no-one shouldblame the youth for their confusion. The confusion liesat the top. It is demonstrated in this passage in the inter-view with the ANC's PMC spokesman:"It remains true that the idea of a general insurrectionas an immediate way forward cannot replace the long-termperspective we have of protracted people's war. But we knowthat history sometimes has a funny way of departing fromblueprints. We should certainly keep the lines open to otherpossibilities which the situation is opening up..."I believe the possibility of bringing about the collapseof the existing set-up in South Africa through the build-upof insurrectionary factors has never been as great as it istoday."Here we have every possible confusion rolled into one.Insurrection is "an immediate way forward" (which itis not). Nevertheless it "cannot replace" in the "longterm" the old idea of a guerilla war (which is what theymean by "protracted people's war")-although this hasjust been confessed a failure, for lack of bases or what-have-you. And if neither of these strategies work, thenwe should "certainly" be "open to other possibilities"!What this means is that the leadership has no concep-tion of the stage the movement is passing through or thereal tasks involved in preparing for power. It is incapable,as Marx put it, of telling the first or third month ofpregnancy from the ninth-and consequently will pro-duce an abortion.It is jumping about empirically from one superficialidea to another, reacting to events without systematical-ly thinking anything through. Thus guerilla bombings byUmkhonto we Si ,,e are continuing even while these are(half) conceded to reflect an unworkable strategy. Theplan now, it seems, is to combine impotent guerillaismwith unprepared and premature insurrection!Organs of popular powerThe NEC statement of 9 May says: "The road nowlies open for people to seize the initiative and build theirown organs of popular power which must be the onlyauthority in the townships, directly accountable to thepeople." Rabkin, from his discussions with the ANCleadership, interprets this as follows: "The statement callsfor people's committees to be set up as alternative ad-ministration in black townships."The formation of `peoples' committees' as organisingnuclei of revolutionary leadership in the townships is ab-solutely correct. But, at this stage, these would have tobe based on relatively small areas or blocks within the

Page 90 of 98 Product larger than that of Britain.Neither in 1953 nor today are theEast German workers campaigningfor a return to capitalism; instead, theJune 1953 uprising shows the instinc-tive demand for workers' democracy.The workers' revolt began,significantly, only three months afterthe death of Joseph Stalin whosemonstrous rule, with its slave campsand show trials, represented the nar-row caste in power in the USSR, abureaucracy completely parasitic onthe working class who had made therevolution in October 1917.Throughout the USSR and even morein Eastern Europe, Stalin's death wasthe signal for some of the hidden op-position and anger at thebureaucratic regimes to come to thesurface.At the beginning of June 1953, inthe industrial centre of Pilsen inCzechoslovakia, troops had to bebrought in from the capital, Prague,to disperse a demonstration againstcurrency reform. But within a weeka far larger insurrection was develop-ing in East Germany.In East Berlin about sixty buildingworkers stopped work on 15 June atthe Friedrichshaim Hospital buildingsite to draw up a letter, signed by allthe workers, complaining at huge in-creases in work norms imposed fromabove by the government. In an at-tempt to increase the productivity oflabour, workers were threatened witha fall of wages of a third or more ifthey did not increase their output bymore than 10%.Economic protestThe uprising began as an economicprotest by building workers who hadbeen hoping for larger wages in thelonger daylight hours of summer.Their decision was mirrored byworkers on a neighbouring site,building a police barracks, and on theStalinallee construction site.The next morning, 16 June, twogroups of workers marc.(ted fromStalinallee and Friedrichshaim. Bythe time the two groups of marchershad toured the other building sites tocall workers out on strike the wholeof the Stalinallee complex came to ahalt. It was estimated that the pro-testors by then numbered around10000.Leaders of the procession had aBanners raised in the 1953 uprising demand workers' democracy: "We are workersand not slaves... we want free elections"crudely painted banner, reading,"Down with 10% rise in the norms".The building workers were joined byother factory workers, clerks, minorofficials, even shoppers, shouting inchorus, "We are workers and notslaves, put an end to the extortionatenorms, we want free elections, we arenot slaves."The demonstration was now tak-ing an overtly political form, pro-testing not only against the norms butagainst the government, the Com-munist Party and in particular Com-munist Party leader Walter Ulbricht.The demonstration was growingand gaining support from the popula-tion. Those watching shouted andwaved encouragement from the win-dows of blocks of flats and offices,with people demanding, "To thegovernment, to the Leipziger Street".Heinz Brandt, then secretary of theSED in Berlin, said,"The buildingworkers have thrown a spark into themass.The spark burst into flame. Itwas like Lenin's dream come true,only this mass action was directedagainst a totalitarian regime ruling inLenin's name and headed by thosewho called themselves Lenin'sfollowers..."The Party and the state officialswere overwhelmed by the events andincreasingly paralysed. Somethingmonstrous was going on before theireyes, the worker was rising againstthe worker-peasant state."Amongst these officials a smallsection went over immediately to theworkers, reflecting the tremendousmood of antipathy to the governmentand the determination to achieve theaim of genuine socialism, power tothe working class.The demand for free elections wasgiven added strength by the largenumber of members of the SocialDemocrats (SPD) whose party hadbeen forcibly grafted onto the Com-munist Party (KPD) to form theSocialist Unity Party, in which theCommunist Party was totally domi-nant. But the demand gained supportalso from many activists from theKPD from before the Second WorldWar. The demonstrators congregatedoutside government buildings wherea building worker conducted thechoruses,"We want to talk with thegovernment. Pieck and Grotewohl!"ScornedKPD officials and minor SEDpolitburo members were scorned,with demands that the governmmentshould come and answer questionsfrom the wor'.

Page 91 of 98 townships, or on factories, compounds, schools, etc.,kept largely secret, and only emerging as a combined bodyto give open leadership at township or regional level fortemporary periods, and in ways which prevent their easyarrest and crushing by the regime.It is simply ludicrous to suggest that `people's commit-tees' can take over, administration in black townships"at this stage.The ANC's statement distinctly implies that the situa-tion is ripe for the public emergence of popular organsof power within the townships-along the lines of soviets(workers' and soldiers' councils) in the Russian Revolu-tion. But the emergence of such bodies on a sustainablebasis will be possible only as real conditions of dual poweremerge in SA-when the state can no longer enter theblack areas safely even with huge police and troop con-tingents, when its own forces are in disarray, and whenan armed mass movement is moving towards a direct fightfor power.Wrong view of general strikeThe NEC statement of 25 April is likewise entirelymisconceived in its call for all-out general strike actionat the present time. "A long-lasting national work stop-page, backed by our oppressed communities and sup-ported by armed activity, can break the backbone of theapartheid system and bring the regime to its knees." Thatlight-minded formula is nothing short of a recipe for asevere defeat. It shows no comprehension of the immenseforces and scale of the fighting which will be involvedin "bringing the regime to its knees," let alone overthrow-ing it. A national work stoppage "supported by armedactivity"-apparently intended to mean isolated guerillaactivity and hastily armed groups of youth-can achievenothing of the kind.Instead of tossing around half-baked conceptions ofthis kind, it is necessary to think through seriously to aconclusion the problems of general strike action on theone hand, and armed mass insurrection on the other-and to work out a properly prepared strategy.for both.An effective general strike which paralyses the coun-try inevitably poses the question of power-of who rulessociety-but it cannot resolve that question. To resolvethe question of power, it will not be enough to renderthe country "ungovernable", whether "supported byarmed activity" or not-it will be necessary to establishnew organs of revolutionary state power in the place ofthe old.The question of power can thus be resolved only byan armed insurrection establishing the rule of the work-.ing class. If the conditions for successful insurrection arenot present, a "long-lasting national work stoppage" call-ed under illusions of easy victory can only end indemoralising defeat.General strike action requires great skill and foresightas a tactic, if the movement is to be taken forward andnot subjected to unnecessary setbacks. An all-out in-definite general strike should not usually be resorted toon a major political issue which the regime cannot easilyconcede unless the preparations have been made totransform the general strike into an armed insurrectionand all-out struggle for state power, Those preparationshave hardly begun as yet in South Africa.The way to proceed towards this goal is through thecareful use of limited general strikes which themselvescannot be successful if they are too frequently and light-ly called, or ill prepared-and from these build towardsthe full mobilisation of the workers and youth country-wide. It will take an extended development to prepare theeffective use of arms by the masses in conjunction withgeneral strike action.At the same time, however, the youth have beenpioneering essentially correct tactics in fighting to driveout from the black communities all elements of collabora-tion with the state-the councillors, black police whorefuse to resign, etc. This is necessary not only for thepurpose of uniting the blacks on the clear understandingthat no compromise with the regime is possible. It isnecessary also to give the whites a sense of their profoundisolation, thus preparing the way for their future split-ting and the winning over of sections to the idea of aworkers' state.Nevertheless, without a clear strategic framework-guided, on the contrary, by a confused adventuristperspective now made into official policy by the ANC-these efforts of the youth in the townships will come upagainst their inherent limits and open the possibility ofserious setbacks.Undoubtedly, very violent and even grisly methodshave been and are being used by the youth in the strug-gle against the collaborators. We have no intention ofpedantically `criticising' these methods, which are usedin a situation where the councillors and black police arearmed to kill; where they are backed up by white riotpolice and troops who are shooting down the black youthlike flies.Moreover, revolution (as Trotsky put it) is not perform-ed `under a conductor's baton'. Excesses are in the natureof revolution, and are absolutely unavoidable at times.But that is no justification for a failure of leadership,theory, perspectives, strategy and tactics necessary toguide the movement. It is not solely on the two quotedANC statements that we base this criticism. Thosestatements are typical of the confusion now reigning inthe leading circles of the CP and ANC.Attempt to launch insurrectionOn 22 February, the ANC, broadcast from AddisAbaba a call to the black masses in South Africa to takeup arms and use them against the state-a call which,in its totality, amounted to an attempt to launch insur-rectionary action without preparation, without plan,without timing, without a mass political action pro-gramme to lay the basis first. Faith is placed totally inarms and immediate undirected armed action to smashthe state.The broadcast said:"And where are these arms? Where are the weapons todestroy this regime? They cannot be found anywhere elsecountrymen. They can only be found in our country itself.

Page 92 of 98 The strike spread to the majority of industrial cities in EastGermany, involving 150 centres and 300 000 workers.cars approached and tried to explainthe position of the Party leadership,the crowd seized the cars and march-ed with them, broadcastingthrough the loudpeakers, that allworkers in Berlin should join ageneral strike the next day.The Politburo of the SED issued astatement speaking of the need forhigher production and higher normsif living standards were later to rise,and said that workers who acceptednorm increases would be able to havewage rises in the near future. Yet eventhe Politiburo had to concede that thenorms "may not and cannot be push-ed through with administrativemethods, only through free will."By the next day the strike hadspread to the majority of industrialcities in East Germany involving 150centres and 300 000 workers,paticularly in the older industrialareas, with over 120 000 on strike inthe industrial area of Bitterfeld,Halle, Leipzig and Merseburg andtens of thousands in Magdeburg,Jena, Brandenburg, Goerlitz. All ofthese had been known as "red" cen-tres in the pre-war Weimar republic.In all cases the strike spread out-wards from the big factories into thesmaller industrial areas. Only in onemajor heavy industrial area,Stalinstadt, was there no strike; thiswas a new industrial area with no pre-war tradition of struggles and whereworkers were relatively highly paid.In Berlin more than 60 000workers were on strike. In factoryafter factory workers organisedmeetings not only about norms butleading to detailed discussions aboutthe crimes of the SED regime, in-cluding arbitrary arrests of manyworkers from their ranks. Workercouncils were elected to representworkers' economic and political in-terests and calls were made fordemonstrations. Most of thedemonstrations were forcibly dispers-ed and the so-called trouble makersarrested and in many cases beaten upby the police.In Merseburg 10 000 workers fromLeuna works, singing revolutionarysongs, marched into the city wherethey met thousands of workers on theBuna plant, stormed into the policestation, ransacked party offices andbroke into the jails to releaseprisoners. In Leipzig, workers oc-cupied youth headquarters anddestroyed all the portraits exceptthose of Karl Marx. At Halle, 8 000railway workers seized the SED head-quarters, the council offices and theprisons.In Brandenburg the so-called"People's judges" and the publicprosecutor were beaten up bydemonstrators, and in Rathenow aninformer was beaten so severely thathe later died. Only the specially train-ed elite "People's Police", kept inseparate garrisons, and theirnotorious informers, sided with theUlbricht regime.By now Russian troops and tankswere moving into Berlin as the EastGermany government could not han-dle the situation on its own. On 17June martial law was proclaimed,banning demonstrations andmeetings.Despite the enormous heroism ofworkers armed with nothing butcrowbars, bottles, sticks and buildingbricks, the uprising was crushed andits leaders imprisoned or executed.1300 were brought to trial, four weresentenced to life imprisonment, sixsentenced to death and somereporters estimated that as many as260 died from Russian bullets.Even this repression did not im-mediately end the protests. Threeweeks later there were still reports ofsit-down strikes in East Berlindemanding the release of strikeleaders, higher wages, lower prices,a change in government and freeelections.The government made some tem-porary economic concessions. A vaststockpile of food and clothingmaterial was made available for sale.Early in July 1953, the wages of thelowest paid workers were increasedand wage reductions dated from thebeginning of the year were cancelled.But many of these reforms wereshort- lived. As soon as this revolu-tionary crisis had passed many of theconcessions were removed, increasednorms were reimposed and party andtrade union leaders who had takenseriously early instructions to "standup for their members" werereprimanded or sacked.The purge of SED members afterthe uprising found that one-third ofthose in leading positions in thedemonstrations had been members ofthe old German Communist Partyprior to Hitler's succession to powerin 1933.In East Berlin 68% of the leaderswere former Communist Partymembers. Many saw this uprising asa continuation of the same fight forworkers' power they had wagedagainst both Hitler and the othercapitalist governments before the Se-cond World War.What had led to this insurrection?A socialist Germany had been theaspiration of the Marxists from thedays of Marx himself. Lenin andTrotsky, in the early days of the Rus-sian revolution, understood the vitalimportance of this industrial giant ofEurope for the socialist transforma-tion of the world. A socialist Ger-many was a means of escape fromisolation for the backward peasanteconomy of Russia after the 1917revolution.Bureaucratic casteBut the bureacratic caste whichcame to rule Russia under Stalin wasin constant fear of a genuine revolu-tion developing in the industrial west.Stalin expressed contempt for theGerman working class. During theSecond World War, he said thatCommunism fitted Germany "like asaddle fitted a cow".The Second World War hadwrought havoc in the USSR and over20 million Russian workers areestimated to have died. Stalin public-ly denounced the German workingclass, alleging that they did not fightthe Nazis, even though an estimated800 000 German trade unionists andpolitical activists from the workingclass were executed or imprisoned inthe early years of Hitler's power.It had in fact been Stalin's ownpolicies, followed by the GermanCommunist Party, that had allowedHitler to come to power "without apane of glass being broken".The state of East Germany wasformed after the war not as a resultof a revolution, but through conquestby the Red Army. After the defeat ofthe Nazis, largely as the result of thecolossal sacrifice of the Russianworking class, the imperialist powers,in particular the United States andBritain, saw as their main concern the

Page 93 of 98 The weapons are there in front of you. They' uc in the handsof the policemen themselves. Some of these policemen arecoming back to sleep wi~hin our midst in the townships. Weknow where they live. Let us break in their houses and takethose guns that the apartheid regime gives them to kill usand turn those guns against them. Let us break into theirbarracks and take those guns and machine guns."We are now at war, countrymen, against a very viciousenemy and we have to use all methods to destroy it. We havenot only to depend on the weapons of Umkhonto we Sizwe.As this is a people's war we the people must now be armed.We should not only expect Umkhonto we Sizwe combatantsto arm us. .."We too (?must) eliminate their puppets who are roam-ing amongst us within. We shouid attack the police stationand the army barracks and capture those weapons. (Wordsindistinct). '"...This regime must find itself surrounded by a heavilyarmed nation out to engulf it and smash it to ruins... Nowis the time to act. Now is the time to attack... Tens andthousands of fighting militants armed to the teeth must riseup." (Quoted from Facts and Reports, vol. 15, No. F.)Here we have a few correct statements concerning theneed to obtain arms from local sources; but instead ofcalling for their concealment and for systematic prepara-tions, the broadcast shows the same light-mindedness overthe formidably difficult task of overthrowing the SAregime by insurrection as was previously shown over thequestion of guerilla war. Bravado, comrades of the ANCleadership in exile, is no substitute for intelligent strategyand tactics.Courage not enoughThe courageous black youth have shown in many in-cidents that they are ready to go to the end in this strug-gle. Take the example of Silvertown, near Brakpan,where, after the demolition of `squatter' shacks by theauthorities in February, 300 young people attacked andstoned the local police barracks. Similar examples arelegion all over the country.But this courage of the revolutionary youth must beconsciously organised, and directed within the frameworkof a scientific perspective, and clear strategic and tacticalplanning.If wild and undirected fighting, armed or unarmed;begins to characterise the struggle, if political ideasbecome subordinated to petrol fires, and organisation tomere mass frenzy, this will eventually lead to a revulsionand reaction also within the black proletarian com-munities themselves-and so lead to splits and, open theway to serious defeats.It is organised political mass action which mustcharacterise the movement, in the eyes of the blacks andin the eyes of the whites-and that depends upon the bigorganisations of the working class, the trade unions, theyouth organisations, community organisations, the UDF,coming together on a clear action programme.But to make an action programme effective, organis-ed class action must be to the forefront. Socialist ideasare necessary to mobilise the full force of the black work-ing class. Non-racial ideas are necessary in order to makethe class character of the movement clear. Non-racial andsocialist ideas are necessary eventually to win over thewhite workers and middle-class youth.The movement has to prepare deliberately for armedinsurrection. Weapons must be gathered and stored; tac-tics worked out; training accumulated and shared.Initially, however, it will be through defensivetactics--using arms to defend townships, meetings,strikes, etc-that the basis will be laid for passing overto the offensive. Guerilla-type actions by small armedbands of youth, etc, have a role to play, provided theseare subordinated to an overall conception, politicalstrategy, and finally an organised plan centred aroundthe mobilisation of the big battalions of the organisedworkers.Marxist ideas vitalTo give the necessary political leadership to this strug-gle, the !ANC needs above all to be freed of the hopeless-ly bankrupt Stalinist ideas which presently guide itsleadership. Only on the basis of authentic Marxist ideaswill it be possible to find the way forward.Thus the essence of the struggle for political clarity inthe movement in the coming period will be the strugglebetween Stalinism and Marxism, between middle-classand working-class leadership, in the ANC.Through long drawn-out and bitter battles, the condi-tions necessary for revolution and insurrection willdevelop. In manifold forms the organised strength andconfidence of the black proletariat will grow. it will gainthe means, knowledge and experience to use arms.The viciousness of the conflict with the whites wi11 in-tensify, but in the camp of the whites and of bourgeoissociety, there will set in decay, demoralisation and tenden-cies towards disintegration and collapse.The road to, power will be opened to the degree thatthe organised black proletariat establishes its leadershipin action and gives decisive direction to events witha clear democratic and socialist policy for workers'power.The titanic movement of the black proletariat in SouthAfrica will awaken the whole of Africa to revolution. Thisis a continent crying out for the leadership of the work-ing class. It is a continent where annual production is nowless than it was 15 years ago; where one-fifth of thepopulation are living on the edge of extinction, and wherethat proportion could rise to four-fifths by 1995.The South African revolution is the key to the futuresalvation of Africa-to the socialist transformation ofthe continent. At the same time, advances in the worldrevolution, in Europe in particular, will immenselyfacilitate and clear the path for the revolutionary strug-gle in SA.A regime of workers' democracy in an important coun-try anywhere in the world would provide a beacon whichwould enable Marxism to win not only the black peopleas a whole but the white workers and middle class as wellto the idea of an alternative society.In turn the SA revolution will have a world-wide im-

Page 94 of 98 Western capitalists understood very well that the EastGerman working class were not demonstrating for thereturn of capitalism.division of Europe into spheres ofinfluence.Germany was divided and oc-cupied by the conquering armies. ThePotsdam agreement in 1945 allowedthe individual powers occupying Ger-many to decide how far they wantedto destroy German industrial strengththrough claims for reparations.They had been huge losses byRussia during the war, but whereasafter the First World War BolshevikRussia under Lenin mecilessly attack-ed the capitalist powers for theirreparations policy-which penalisedthe German working class for thecrimes of the ruling class-after theSecond World War Russia demand-ed $10 000 million recompense forwar losses.Until 1946 they took equipmentaway from the Russian occupiedzone of Germany and reassembled itin Russia. 26% of all industry wastaken. War and reparations reducedEast German workers to penury.Many of the old capitalists weretainted by their involvement with theNazi occupation. As they fled the ad-vancing Red Army, new regimes wereinstalled throughout Easten Europein the image of the USSR-not in1917 but as it was in 1945 underStalin.These regimes, with the same socialbase of that of the USSR, rested en-tirely on the Red Army. They wereable to erect false "popular" govern-ments using the shadows of the oldcapitalist class to keep in che,k anyindependent movement of the work-ing class and peasantry, at the sametime as they started to oust theleaders of the capitalist parties. InEast Germany the Russian com-manders picked out "reliable" peo-ple from any background which wasnot obviously Nazi and placed themin state positions such as police of-ficers, mayors, etc.In 1946 a number of leaders of theSocial Democrats (SPD) agreed tomerge their party with the Com-munist party in the Russian occupiedzone. One of these, Grotewohl, wasgiven a leading position in the newSocialist Unity Party (SED).Many workers kept their allegianceto the former SPD rather than thenew hybrid, as Stalinist control ofEastern Germany had done little tochange their views. The CommunistParty opposed strikes, and agitationabout low, wages, even though in-dustry was still largely privately own-ed to begin with.Instead the Stalinists used bribery,such as special ration cards for SEDmembers, to convince politicalenemies. At the same time, formerSocial Democrats were oftenarrested.Although many Communist Partymembers from before the war retain-ed their membership, the party rankswere swelled by many place seekers,including many from the middle classwho saw Stalinism as a betterguarantee of the future than the deadend of capitalism.At no stage did the East GermanStalinists encourage direct participa-tion of the working class. This wasno repeat of 1917. There were noworkers' soviets, and no independentmovements of workers.Despite the waste and mismanage-ment of the bureaucracy, the stateownership of the economy providedthe basis for considerable economicgrowth.The East European economy hadbeen very poorly developed beforethe war, and after it some areas prac-tically doubled their industrial outputin a few years. But all of the develop-ment was in heavy industry; con-sumption goods were totally ignoredand this lopsided economic develop-ment saw its results in the lowered liv-ing standards of the working class.Workersdemonstrate inPotzdamer-platz,East Berlin,17/6/1953.In 1950, following the war andreparations, workers' living stan-dards in East Germany had reachedonly 46070 of the level of 1937. In1953 this had grown to 89%, and bythen industrial production was wayover the level in 1937 for Germany asa whole.Numerically, the working class inEast Germany was by far the mostpowerful force in society, and theysoon began demanding their rewardfor the Qrowth rate of 2007o per year.The situation was made even moreexplosive by divisions developingwithin the ruling bureaucracy follow-ing the death of Stalin. ThroughoutEastern Europe and the USSR thebureaucratic caste seemed paralysed.They depended on the atmosphereof fear developed by the secret policeand the purges during the rule ofStalin. But equally, they were afraidthat the working class, which hadgrown enormously in size since the1920s, would explode and end theirrule compietely unless certaincosmetic changes were made.In Russia itself, in that same sum-mer of 1953, half a million prisonersitt the Vorkuta slave labour campstruck in the most difficult anddangerous conditions despite theshooting of 120 strikers.In East Germany the governmentat first carried on totally subor-dinating consumption to the buildingup of heavy industry, but at thebeginning of June only a few daysafter the norm increase for workershad been decreed, the Russian highcommissioner ordered the East Ger-man government to adopt a moreconciliatory policy, including adrastic cutback in the plan for heavyindustry.The debate within the CommunistParty leadership on whether or not togive concessions to the working class

Page 95 of 98 pact. It will be fought out also on the television screensand on the front pages of the newspapers of the world.It will have an immense impact throughout the ex-colonialworld, in the Middle East, among the blacks in America,and indeed upon the proletariat everywhere.The South African revolution has all the grandeur andheroism of the greatest slave revolts in history. It has allthe historic inevitability of the struggles for colonialliberation this century. And-provided the ideas of Marx-ism prevail within the movement-it will have all thepower, direction and promise for a new society which theproletariat carries in its hands. Armed in this way, it willconquer.May 1985

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