When will class socialists ever learn from experience? As far as MK and the "armed struggle" against apartheid: It was not the "armed struggle" that brought apartheid down; it was the rise of the powerful black working class largely through the black unions. And the fact is that the SACP played little to no role in the formation of those unions. In fact, they did not really support the rise of Cosatu. That is why the article never even mentions the rise of Cosatu.. when it was a militant, fighting union body that reflected the revolutionary mood of millions of black workers in South Africa. Comrades should watch this video: " A Giant has risen ( https://youtu.be/pLZt940HClc?si=HI1uzrtp-2TaYvR3 ) ", which is a documentary of the founding conference of Cosatu. It also includes extensive footage of various strikes including the general strike of the following year.
To the extent that the "armed struggle" had any real impact, what it did was draw a layer of the most revolutionary-minded youth away from the working class. Hani was the leader of the SACP, and look where the SACP is today. Does anybody remember the Marikana Massacre? Is anybody aware that Cosatu played a major role in making that massacre possible and that at the center of that was the SACP? I did an extended interview with scholar and working class organizer Trevor Ngwane. Here is the final part of that interview, ( https://oaklandsocialist.com/2025/05/31/the-movement-was-decapitated-trevor-ngwane-draws-the-political-conclusions-of-what-happened-in-south-africa-over-the-last-30-years/ ) in which he explains that the working class movement was "decapitated". Hani was committed to the struggle against apartheid, and we should recognize the sacrifices he made, including the ultimate sacrifice. But he also was a Stalinist, and Stalinist politics have direct consequences. Those consequences involve reformism. Of course, we should not expect the reformist Jacobin magazine to understand those consequences. I don't know what are the politics of Dennis Brasky, who forwarded this article without comment. But the essense of Stalinism, which in effect was pretty much the same as outright reformism, is the two stage theory - that struggles like that against apartheid in South Africa are not connected to the struggle to overthrow capitalism itself. Unfortunately, all too many of those who think they are Trotskyists - and can probably cite the theory of permanent revolution chapter and verse - have in effect adopted the two stage theory in that they rarely if ever apply the ideas of the permanent revolution in practice. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#39652): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/39652 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/116679268/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
