Izwe lethu M’Afrila Malaza
Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the 1917 Russian revolution, summed up the reason in 1938 when he wrote: "The historical crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership" (from The Transitional Programme, written for the founding congress of the Fourth International). These words are as true today as they were then. Trotsky, in his book The History of the Russian Revolution, wrote: "Without a guiding organisation, the energy of the masses would dissipate like steam not enclosed in a piston box. But nevertheless, what moves things is not the piston or the box but the steam". Discussion on the need for a revolutionary party and its form of organisation is very important today, especially as many young people regard themselves as ‘anti-capitalist’ and are interested in socialist ideas including Pan Africanism, but have a degree of mistrust towards political parties which are consumed by bourgeoisie politics and sophistry of the African comprador bourgeoisie . This is hardly surprising given the bureaucratic and undemocratic methods of the main capitalist political parties and the attacks they make on living standards when in power. To be successful, insurrection must rely not upon conspiracy and not upon a party, but upon the advanced class. That is the first point. Insurrection must rely upon a revolutionary upsurge of the people. That is the second point. Insurrection must rely upon that turning-point in the history of the growing revolution when the activity of the advanced ranks of the people is at its height, and when the vacillations in the ranks of the enemy and in the ranks of the weak, half-hearted and irresolute friends of the revolution are strongest. Everyone is free to write and say whatever he likes, without any restrictions. But every voluntary association (including the party) is also free to expel members who use the name of the party to advocate anti-party views. Freedom of speech and the press must be complete. But then freedom of association must be complete too. I am bound to accord you, in the name of free speech, the full right to shout, lie and write to your heart’s content. But you are bound to grant me, in the name of freedom of association, the right to enter into, or withdraw from, association with people advocating this or that view. The party is a voluntary association, which would inevitably break up, first ideologically and then physically, if it did not cleanse itself of people advocating anti-party views. “Victory will belong only to those who have faith in the people, those who are immersed in the life-giving spring of popular creativity” Lenin Shango lashu Nkrumah From: payco@googlegroups.com [mailto:payco@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of matome Sent: 01 February 2015 10:45 AM To: payco@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [PAYCO] Quo Vadis PAC Comrade Sebenzile, I hope you are well my dearest Friend and Comrade. Would you allow me to take off by 'attacking' you and then to end differently? Since you are not here to engage in 'real time' I am now answering the foregoing question on your behalf. This I do in the knowledge that you are my Friend, and one of the finest of our generation. The question is, have you not been a part of this slumber, self exaggeration and pity ? The immediate answer is that you have been. And in addition if you wish to contest this, what have you done to change this state? Was it enough and or sufficient? All these questions seem to leave you on weaker ground. Are you still willing to hear this my Friend ? I thank you for allowing me to 'attack' you in this way without seeing my points as personal affront but an invitation to do more, and my sternest belief that you have what it takes to exert yourself more. Revolution and change require more than just type-writer bravery and intelligence. It is for this reason that mediocre lead the gifted and talented comrades like you. The pain and task of leading a revolution and party building are much more excruciating than that. Having said all of the above, to you my dear Friend, I here add my voice of praise to the validity that belies your submission. That question must occupy all of us, that is whether this vehicle can still carry this agenda, and whether it is not a wreckage from which we must isolate, extricate and advance the potent agenda contained therein. Signs are all that you are right, and on this one, very brave too, to have the guts to point this out. I do not have to remind you how Sobukwe was at some point like you, like you in that when the charterists ditched the Africanist program, and thus rendering themselves a wreckage, he and others were brave enough to say, let us pick the agenda away from this and find a vehicle to advance it. And they left a movement that was almost five decades old. That was brave. So we have to listen to you and to confront this question, and do an urgent assessment of whether the current vehicle is still a vehicle or a wreckage that is about to burn. And whether its immobility is a temporal state which can be fixed. If the latter is correct, I am sure there is extreme urgency. This view, the latter one, is getting weak by the day, as pitched against the reality of a vehicle that may have become a wreck. So well done my dear Friend !! Another thing that has been killing me inside is this: Have we imagined the potential pain of putting everything aside to fight for a people and movement who in your darkest days or even so, in your dying days are nowhere to acknowledge your sacrifices. I speak here of the many Apla boys who were hanged and those who continue to suffer in and outside of jail. What about their mothers, brothers and children? All that sacrifice gone to waste ? The above really really kills me. You see Gadaffi died a good one, Che, Saddam, Lumumba, Kwame and many others. Their flame continues. What about the flame of these comrades and martyrs. So in the light of the above, the neglect of those who suffered and the state of the party, this question that you raise is most poignant. I have not even dealt with our participation in contemporary issues, and our ability to contend with the future. So I put up my hands again to clap in praise of your bravery. This is my type writer support to your comments. Izwe Lethu ! I-Afrika ! Matome Mashao Sent from my BlackBerry® _____ From: Pule Maqekoane <maqeko...@gmail.com> Sender: payco@googlegroups.com Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2015 09:55:33 +0200 To: <payco@googlegroups.com> ReplyTo: payco@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [PAYCO] Quo Vadis PAC We are proud of you Mlaza! Wow, what a masterpiece! At the time some of us joined the PAC, the general membership was of the level of M'Afrika Sebenzile Mlaza. How many Sebenziles and how many Mlazas are still associating themselves with the PAC today? This is the wonderful piece. . Will the defunct split ready PAC leadership ever read it? Yes these cockroaches will dump it down their big bellies, of course without understanding, and you wonder when they won't comment? Force it unto them and extract an answer. Don't be shocked by the quality of the answer they will provide, don't stay numb. REMOVE THEM1 On Fri, Jan 30, 2015 at 4:41 PM, Sebenzile Mlaza <sebenzi...@raf.co.za> wrote: Revolutionary greetings to all, We've been too obsessed with self-congratulatory stances for too long and yet the PAC has been slowly evaporating itself into total oblivion from the political radar. And we further kept on blaming the ANC and a ridiculously distant force like the CIA for our mishaps. I personally believe it is time to wake up and face the bitter truth. PAC is in a comatose state for an indefinite period of time, surely this is an indictment on the methods we've applied to advance and articulate the core objectives Pan Africanism and in executing our revolutionary task as Africanists. PAC has simply been rendered incapable to execute its own mandate by some faceless political thugs. I don't see how will we ever manage to salvage the party from this unbearable situation. The stooges and unscrupulous characters at the helm of the party who have been largely accountable to their many faceless cliques have not helped the situation at all. The party has been in this state of affairs for far too long. Nothing that should have been done has not been done, instead the party has alienated most if not all of its best cadres and intellectuals alike. The ambience has changed in the country so a new strategy has to be adopted in order to remain relevant in this organic political milieu than for us to appear to be led by a jamboree of masochistic gamins who suffer from political narcolepsy. For Pete's sake, we all know that the PAC has been precocious from its conception to its inception, I am curious to know what really happened in exile, but that is a subject that will probably not take us anywhere. Yesterday's politics were primarily driven by activism and valour, now it's no longer that. The party is faced with a different animal, it's called parliamentary politics. Unlike before, this behemoth needs prowess, vision and acumen We've sacrificed a lot to be bamboozled by these self-serving lackeys at the helm of the party masquerading as lecturers on the theory and practice of Pan Africanism. It is high time that we should rethink our effectiveness under the tutelage of the now defunct PAC (it feels like we are trying to suffocate the dead), by focussing our energies on finding a new political home that will be capable of pursuing an Africanist agenda without fear of political, ideological and philosophical contradictions emanating from anyone at any quarters. I do not mean a splinter group like APC or PAM, but a new political home to pursue an Africanist agenda that will not be hindered by the exile conflict in executing the core objectives of Africanism. Indeed quo vadis PAC?? Inexactitudes not intended … apologies in advance!!! Izwe lethu iAfrika!!! -- -- 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Pan Africanist Youth Congress" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to payco+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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