Ma-afrika,
Do you think that there was such a thing genuinely called
Suppression of Communism Act in 1950 passed by the apartheid
government or was just another apartheid false pretense against
communists so that they could go and infiltrate and cling over a pro-
africanist movement? Just a question Kenny.
So the ANC should be celebrating 56 years ( from 1955 of the Free-dom
Cheater ) not the 100 centenary and the SACP should be celebrating 90
years.
T
Begin forwarded message:
3.2 SACP celebrates 90 years of history
Chris Mathlako, The New Age, 28 July 2011
The South African Communist Party will mark 90 years of unbroken
struggle for national liberation, progressive trade unionism and
socialism with a mass rally in Claremont, KwaZulu-Natal, this Sunday.
The rich history of the Communist Party and struggle for socialism
in South Africa is important for a number of reasons – particularly
at the present conjuncture of the dominance of neoliberalism, crises
of capitalism and increasing militarism of the hegemonic powers.
The two important aspects of the legacy bequeathed to us by those
who came before are nonracialism and internationalism. The party
founded in 1921 was, for decades, the only nonracial political party
in the country that had a progressive internationalist outlook.
Although it was founded mostly by whites, over the years it became a
predominantly black organisation with a small white membership.
It is particularly interesting to note that what today have been
characterised as divergences in the party, such as the party and
state power debate and the simmering anti-communism sentiment in a
democratic SA, ironically first emerged in the 1940s.
At that time it also presented huge challenges and debates about
both the content and methods of struggle.
For example, during the war period there was a reported rise in
liberal values which found resonance with communists and socialists
at the time, principally against fascism. The Smuts government of
the time was not necessarily anticommunist and sought to encompass
some of the issues raised by workers and the party.
During this period, many gains were scored across a broad spectrum
such as in the trade union movement and in particular around legal
parliamentary activity. With it came the challenges which the
central committee at the time characterised as “legalistic illusions”.
Even during this period, the party understood the dialectic of
combining mass work with struggles in other key sites of power. The
Smuts government, it is reported, flirted with organisations
sympathetic to the Allied cause especially following the entry of
the USSR into the war in 1941. It was at this point that the
Communist Party (CPSA) threw itself into supporting the war effort.
In a twist of irony, the Smuts government permitted the existence of
the Communist Party, Friends of the Soviet Union, nonracial trade
unions and other organisations, as these did not pose any threat to
the state because of the predominance of the liberal ideology.
Party members also took part in, and won, a few seats in city
councils in places like Johannesburg, East London and Cape Town. But
they would subsequently be substituted with violent repression and
virulent anticommunist sentiment when the interests of the regime
collided with aspirations of the workers and the black majority.
All this took place immediately after the war years until the
passing of the Suppression of Communism Act and, in 1950, the
banning of the party. The party worked extensively in the townships
during the war years but remained concerned with the state of the ANC.
Leaders such as JB Marks, Moses Kotane and Edwin Mofutsanyane were
senior ANC members, in part because the party insisted national
liberation struggles “fought in the colonial and semi-colonial
territories” were “no mere side issue” but an integral part of the
global anti-imperialist struggle.
In its 1945 pamphlet titled What Next? A Policy for South Africa,
which called for democratic rights for all, the nationalisation of
the land and banks, a nationalised health service and free and
compulsory education, and supported increased industrialisation, the
party was laying the foundation and basis of both theory and
practice for later generations.
The party’s internationalism came through in its formative years
with the active participation of the emigre population of Europe
which brought with it the traditions of working class organisation
and trade unionism.
Both the CPSA and its Young Communist League were part of the
international communist movement and participated in significant
international events such as Comintern (an international communist
organisation initiated in Moscow in March 1919) and the Young
Communist International.
After the Bolshevik revolution and the wider horizon it created for
anticolonial struggles across the world, Lenin looked more
favourably on independence for Asia and Africa.
In 1929 the party accepted the Comintern resolution which stressed
the need to work within “the embryonic organisations among the
natives, such as the ANC, in order to transform the latter into a
fighting nationalist revolutionary organisation against the white
bourgeoisie and British imperialists”.
In the present day the party continues to implement its long-
standing resolutions on internationalism. In 2009 it convened the
first meeting of the Africa Left Networking Forum (Alnef). The aim
was to contribute towards the ensuing struggle 50 years into post-
independent Africa and for the realisation of the goals of the
African revolution.
In 2010 it successfully hosted the 12th meeting of International
Communist and Workers Parties which was addressed by President Jacob
Zuma.
Chris Mathlako is secretary for international relations with the SACP
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
--
Sending your posting to payco@googlegroups.com
Unsubscribe by sending an email to payco-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
You can also visit http://groups.google.com/group/payco
Visit our website at www.mayihlome.wordpress.com
