Thanks Cde Morgan,
I don't have to be right all the time. I don't mind being corrected.
What matters is that the dialogue should continue, because our
effective knowledge is social. Only dialogue develops it. Thanks for
encouraging debate.
I appreciate that you want to confine the dialogue to a narrow focus
for the moment. I do believe it is central, and I happened to be in the
process of sorting out some classic texts on this subject, for the
Communist University, when your latest contribution came in, Cde Morgan.
The way I see this more narrow question of yours is that it is a
"chicken and egg situation". In other words the matter depends upon
which came first: The classes that are allied within it? Or the ANC?
In my opinion it is the classes that came first. The classes were "a
priori" in relation to the ANC.
I believe that politically, there is no victory to be had without
alliance. If all the other social classes are united against the
working class, it cannot succeed.
The interest of the working class is best served when all possible
classes are united with us against the oppressor. We have called this
in general "unity in action". Others have called the same idea a
"popular front". It is a unity for a goal.
It is not an abandonment of class identity, but is an agreement to work
together for a specific goal. In the case of the ANC the goal is
national liberation. In the case of the Popular Fronts of the 1930s,
the goal was defeat of the Nazi, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese
fascists in particular, and of fascism generally.
The necessity for class alliance preceded the ANC. Even in 1912, and
without the benefit of any conspicuous communists, the ANC had the
character of a class alliance - consciously so.
The Second International broke up in 1914 when the "Social Democrats"
of the Imperialist countries agreed (with crucial exceptions, including
Lenin's party and some notable South African comrades) to support
"their" separate bourgeoisies. In that case the main class alliance was
against us, with terrible consequences; with the exception of the
worker-peasant, hammer-and-sickle alliance that was victorious in
Russia. We in the SACP still use the hamer and sickle - the symbol of
class alliance.
All of the deliberations of the Comintern, founded in 1919; of the
Congress of the Peoples of the East, in 1920; and of the CPSA, licensed
by the Comintern in 1921; all turned around the question of what
alliances to make, or not to make. The matter was not decided at once.
It was not settled in South Africa until the expulsion of our comrades
by the ICU and the subsequent adoption of the Black Republic slogan;
and it was not decided in the Comintern until the seventh and last
Congress of that body, in 1935, under the leadership of Giorgi "Popular
Front" Dimitrov.
But the theoretical basis and practice of class alliance goes all the
way back to the 1840s, with Marx in Brussels. Karl Marx himself was
secretary of an anti-monarchy alliance structure in Brussels that
included the bourgeoisie as well as the working class, in the
mid-1840s.
If you read "The Class Struggles in France 1848-1850", the "Address to
the Central Committee of the Communist League" the "18th Brumaire of
Louis Bonaparte" and other works of Marx, it is all about collecting
the maximum front of class forces against the main oppressor, in
whatever circumstances.
A class alliance is always against some class. It cannot be,
as in the current ANC Strategy and Tactics, that all classes
are included.
After 1935 it is clear: We need a class alliance, and in South Africa
the designated vehicle for that alliance is the ANC. The real alliance
is the class alliance. The practical arrangements as between the ANC,
the Party, and the trade union federation (now COSATU) follow on from
the a priori necessity for an anti-Imperialist,
National-Democratic class alliance.
If you say that the ANC comes first, and is a "multi-class alliance",
you miss all this, comrade, in my opinion. I would never say that "the
ANC is a multi-class alliance", as if everyone and anyone is invited. I
would say that there is an anti-Imperialist, National-Democratic class
alliance for freedom and national sovereignty, and the ANC is
historically the material _expression_ of that class alliance; and that
the SACP has acted to make this the case, wherever and whenever it
could. The SACP is not an outside observer of this situation. The SACP
is as responsible for this arrangement as anybody else.
Coming to "state power", the communists have had one view of the State
through Marx, Engels, Lenin, Gramsci, Slovo, et cetera. It does not do
to abandon that view of the State and adopt the bourgeois view of the
class-neutral state, just at the moment when we engage with it.
Of course we must be involved in the practicalities. That is precisely
why we need to be so very clear about what it is that we are sealing
with. The State is programmed to favour the bourgeoisie. Look at the
question of NHI. It is not "socialism". It does not shift state power
to the working class. Yet the bourgeoisie attacks it! The bourgeoisie
cannot bear to let go of one penny of its profits! This is an example
to show that the state always produces pro-bourgeois answers to any
question, precisely because it is not a class-neutral thing, but it is
a bourgeois state, even in the utilitarian, so-called "delivery"
departments of the state.
Yes, the state is a capitalist state. But no, the SACP is not "in" the
capitalist state.
We are in a transitional situation. It is like a puzzle. The way out of
this puzzle in other revolutionary situations, and even to an extent in
our own recent revolutionary history, has been Dual Power. In my
opinion this is a good time to revisit what our General Secretary wrote
about Dual Power, in Umsebenzi Online, just before the 52nd ANC
National Conference in Polokwane. To read it click
here.
Because otherwise, there is a danger that we identify with the state,
start regarding the state as the class-neutral aggregate of all that is
good, and abandon our class-antagonistic communist view of society.
Many others have gone before us down that slippery slope, never to
return to the cause, lost in a labyrinthine hall of mirrors.
VC
morgan phaahla wrote:
|
Comrades, we must encourage debates so that we are able to
identify issues of contest vis-a-vis common understanding of issues.
This is the reason I asked cde VC to send the full document presented
by cde David as I was moving from an impression there may be a
different context in which VC drawn his misgivings or argument.
In the same vein, David replied and drawn our attention to
another discussion document which VC raised his discontent about it by
posting a parallel document. This is where the problem arise. We have
not exhausted the main issue - "political notes presented by cde
Masondo and repetitive new phrase, mode of entry into state."
Let's engage on the subject matter that sparked this
debate and the discussion papers will then follow by direct consequence.
For instance, I still want VC to convince the forum
about where exactly David implied in his political notes that the
"organisational state power" is power of the bourgeois state. My
understanding of the David's submission is that there are class forces
within our movement asserting themselves in various forms - a vexing
reality for everyone to acknowledge that class contradictions are
inevitable in a our movement.
I have no doubt in my mind that the SACP of Kotane's
generation forged an alliance with the ANC on the understanding of the
commitment to a multi-class but pro-poor national democratic revolution
led by the ANC - the legacy left to current communist cadres to deepen
the struggle for democracy and socialism.
To this end, communist cadres are deployed in centres of
power to tilt the balance of class forces in favour of the working
class - a necessary transition to advance to socialism. We cannot
defeat capitalism and its neo-liberal ideology if we stand at the
periphery of state power like hyenas howling at the moon.
In a nutshell, I agree fully with David unless otherwise
comrades can raise a point of difference.
Let's talk!
Morgan Phaahla,
Ekurhuleni
"Sometimes, if you wear suits for too long, it changes your ideology."
- Joe Slovo
--- On Tue, 8/11/09, Phumlani Dlamini <[email protected]>
wrote:
From: Phumlani Dlamini <[email protected]>
Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Re: POLITICAL NOTES PRESENTED BY CDE MASONDO
To: [email protected]
Date: Tuesday, August 11, 2009, 9:49 AM
Domza seems to have misread
Masondo’s notes. Masondo clearly characterized the current State as
“capitalist State” on paragraph 12 of the notes. His reference to the
State throughout the notes should therefore be understood to mean
capitalist state unless the context indicates otherwise.
Domza is problematizing
Masondo’s use of the phrase “modes of entry”. I find this phrase to be
straightforward. I understand it to mean having SACP members (by
extension YCL members) in Parliament through the ticket of ANC and
therefore subjected to the dictate of the ANC. We, surely, wouldn’t be
having a problem if SACP members in Parliament and other sites of power
were properly accounting to the SACP and propagating SACP policy
positions. Sadly, that has never been the case, instead SACP members
became notorious for bashing Cosatu and SACP positions. Unfortunately
the “Reconfigured Alliance” document remains under theorized and there
is no common understanding between Alliance components as to what is
entailed by “Reconfigured Alliance”. The status quo cannot remain. At
least Masondo is clear on paragraph 22 on what is not his argument to avoid
misrepresentation.
The notes correctly underline
the importance of the mass struggle (extra parliamentary activities),
strengthen of party structures and outline what our cadres in
Parliament should do in order to tilt the balance of class forces in
favour of the working class.
From:
[email protected] [mailto:
[email protected] ] On
Behalf Of Dominic Tweedie
Sent: 11
August 2009 02:16 PM
To: YCLSA EOM
Forum
Subject:
[YCLSA Discussion] POLITICAL NOTES PRESENTED BY CDE MASONDO
No problem, here is the presentation in full.
See below. It is the one that Cde Castro posted to the YCL forum,
yesterday.
You can see that I was responding to the part
that begins at Cde David's paragraph 17.
Maybe I should also say that Cde David had
already aired this discussion about what he calls "the mode of
entry into the state" last Friday, at the Chris Hani Institute seminar,
where he also pointed out that it is o.k. at present to have differing
views about this matter, I suppose on the grounds that we are in a
pre-Congress period of debate.
----------
Forwarded message ----------
From: Castro Ngobese
<[email protected]>
Date: 2009/8/10
Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] POLITICAL NOTES PRESENTED TO THE S'MISO
NKWANYANA MEMORIAL LECTURE BY DAVID MASONDO, YCL NATIONAL CHAIRPERSON
& POLITBURO MEMBER, 10 AUG '09, UKZN PMB CAMPUS
To: yclsa-eom-forum <[email protected]>
Speaking Notes on the Smiso Nkwanyana Memorial Lecture,
presented at UKZN Pietermartizburg YCL Branch
By David Masondo, YCL National Chairperson on 10 August 2009
What Smiso Nkwanyana stood for?
1. It is appropriate to commemorate the life and times of the late
comrade Smiso Kwanyana around the theme of independence because he
fought against national, class and gender dependency. And more
importantly for the independence SACP as a necessary organizational
condition for working class liberation from all forms of dependency.
Whilst my input will focus on the independence of the SACP in the
post-2009 state, it is worth restating the importance of the struggle
for national, gender and class independence.
2. In our SA context, national oppression/ racial forms of
political
domination structured our society in such a manner that black people,
including black women, could not determine what was good for them. And
national oppression was linked to the installation of the racialised
capitalist class system which denied black people not only political
independence, but also economic independence as a prerequisite for
their (i.e. black people) economic dependency on white capitalists.
3. Once the system of racial capitalism was established, the racial
colonial state was used to deny black people their national and class
independence. Smiso knew that without the destruction of capitalism,
national independence will not fully enable the racially oppressed to
wholly exercise their choices and participate in broad socio-political
life. He also knew that end of legal racism will not end racism.
Racist responses to the appointment of black people in the post-2009
state
4. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, in the last few weeks,
there
has been a growing pattern that suggests that black people are
appointed to positions of responsibilities because they either belong
to this or that ethnic group; or loyal to this or that political
leader; and/or their political association to the ANC. But, whenever
white people get appointed, no one ever bothers to dig into their
political affiliation or ethnic origin because it is assumed that the
colour of their skin makes them inherently competent.
5. According to this racist logic, John Parker, the newly appointed
Anglo American chairperson and Gill Marcus, the new Reserve Bank
Governor are appointed on the basis of their competency. And the
recently appointed Justice Ngcobo has been appointed because he was
the only dissenting Constitutional Judge on the Jacob Zuma’s
Constitutional right to privacy.
Congratulate Justice Ngcobo, and commend Judge Hlophe
6. As the YCL, we congratulate Justice Ngcobo for his appointment
as
the Chief Justice of our Constitutional Court , and commend Judge
Hlophe for standing up against white racists held bent to destroy any
black person who dare raise a finger at racism in our judiciary and
society in general It would seem a black person is competent only if
she/he sucks up to the white racist establishment. Here, to be
independent is to be dependent on the white conservative liberal
opinion.
7. One does not have to be a fan or friend of Judge Hlophe to
commend
the man for his bravery against racist conservatives in the bench.
Justice Ngcobo, as the YCL we trust that you will not be a good native
at the service of the racist establishment!
8. We have no reason to believe that you (i.e. Ngcobo) will seek
popularity from white supremacists by conforming to the conservative
interpretation of the law. We trust that you will take up the fight
to transform our racist and elitist judiciary, including interpreting
the law in the interest of the poor. In memory of Smiso, we hope you
will emulate Bram Fischer, Griffiths Mxenge, Joe Slovo, who were
genuine non-racialist committed to the establishment of a truly
egalitarian society in which law will not be used to protect racial,
gender and class privileges.
Contemporary struggles of the poor and the 3rd Force
9. In the last few weeks, we have seen poor people’s struggles for
better wages and access to basic services (e.g. houses, water). It is
our view that there are four forces behind these protests. Of course
the immediate causes of these protests vary but the underlying cause,
and the First Force behind these protests is the private ownership and
control of our economic resources for profit making.
10. For instance, the immediate and main problem in Diepsloot is lack
of access to land for housing. And it is not as if there is no land.
There is enough land, but it is in white hands. Therefore, part of the
solution to these protests is to distribute land to the poor and build
houses. This requires bold leadership to tackle white landlords head
on without any fear. Sleeping with the poor for one night won’t help.
Nationalisation accompanied by democratic control and allocation of
our land will play a major role in the development of our poor
communities.
11. It is the effects of the 1st Force which are forcing workers to
embark on strikes for better wages. For an example. The Tiger Brands
and Pioneer Foods collude and raise the price of bread, thus making
the cost of living for the poor very expensive. The immediate working
poor’s response to this business’ criminal act is to demand better
wages. Whilst we should condemn destruction of public property and
burning of councilors’ houses during protests, the people to be
arrested are the Tiger Brands of these worlds who commit horrendous
crime against the poor.
12. The 2nd Force is our capitalist state which essentially protects
and defends private owners of property through the police and many of
its laws, including our Constitution which guarantees the right to
private ownership of productive economic resources.
13. The 3rd Force is our inability as the ANC-led movement to build
the subjective/ organisational capacity of our people to confront the
1st force and take over our economic resources to the people as a
whole in line with the Freedom Charter.
14. The 4th Force is political parties such as the white DA and black
DA (i.e. COPE) - the shop stewards and spokespersons of the First
Force - committed to defend racial inequalities.
15. The 5th Force is these quasi-federal provinces which have become
unnecessary bureaucracy in our state system. We should disband these
provinces and take all the political and administrative staff to our
municipalities if we are serious about building the institutional
capacity of our local government to facilitate conditions for the
development of our poor communities.
State power and SACP’s independence in the state
17. Smiso also understood that it is one thing to have an interest
in
something. But it is another thing to have power to achieve what you
want. It is for this reason, that he spent a lot of his time
organizing student power through building and leading SASCO to fight
for the immediate interests of students in institutions of higher
learning. He also built the working class’ organisational power
through building the SACP.
18. He was clear in his mind that for the working class to exercise
its organisational power, the Party must be independent. It should be
able, amongst other things, to decide on what it wants to do,
including democratic control of its cadres in the state.
19. The key question we should answer in memory of Smiso is: whether
our SACP will be in a position to exercise its organisational power in
the post-2009 state within the current institutional make up of the
Alliance .
20. My answer to this question is : our SACP will face two
constrains
within and outside the state, namely (a) institutional constrains
arising out the current configuration of the Alliance and (b) class
power of business on the state.
21. And to overcome these constrains,
a. There must be institutional change in the SACP’s the mode of
entry
into the state as well as accountability mechanisms; and (b) there
must be popular working class campaigns will be necessary to shift the
balance of class power against business
22. What is not my argument?
a. This is not an argument for breaking of the Alliance . Instead
it is
an argument for its real reconfiguration. It is an argument for a
democratic marriage between the SACP and ANC. (b) This is not an
argument for abandonment of the Communist contest for the ANC. And (c)
this is not an argument against SACP’s participation in the state.
Cautionary notes
22. In discussing this issue we should not (a) exaggerate the
presence of the SACP in the state (b) Or under-estimate our presence
in the state (like the ultra-left do) and (c) we should not discuss
this question from what the ANC wants and thinks. That is to say, we
should start by asking if the ANC will agree or not – important as
this is. Instead we should start by stating what we want.
23. Constrain Number 1 : The state’s inherent dependence on
business
a. The state, like workers, depends on business to reproduce
itself.
To illustrate, to deliver social services the state needs to create
the necessary conditions for capitalists to invest. Productive
investment means higher growth, which in turn means potentially more
wages for workers and profits for capitalists. Thus enabling the state
to grow its tax revenue base. Because states do not control
significant investments, they tend to depend on business to invest
their resources, which enables the state to generate its own income by
taxing wages, salaries and profits.
b. All successive post-1994 state leaderships have sought to lure
business to invest in South Africa . The pre-2009 state leadership’s
strategy had been to make the costs of doing business cheaper through
neo-liberal economic policies and at the expense of the poor.
c. Business, through various means, including stating its economic
policy preference, has been exerting pressure on the post-2009 state.
All politicians are subjected to the power of business. However,
specific policy and programmatic outcomes are not inscribed in the
structure of capitalism itself. There are other alternatives even
within the limits of capitalism.
24. Conditions under business can be forced to make progressive
compromises
a. It is not out of the passivity of the working class that
business
makes concessions to the poor. Instead, they are forced to do so by
organised and mobilized working class power. In the absence of mass
struggles, there will be no reason for business to make any
concessions.
b. In the last 15 years, the SACP could not effectively challenge
the
ANC’s neo-liberalism because Communists in government were materially
dependent on the ANC, but ideologically committed to the Party. And
this generated political conflicts which eventually led to the
out-voting of many of the cabinet ministers out of the SACP
leadership. We argue that this will only happen if the working class
shifts the balance of power through mass struggles, as well as making
certain institutional changes in the SACP’s modes entry and exit in
and from the state.
25. Constrain number 2 : Unreconfigured alliance as an
institutional constrain
a. Unquestionably, there have been significant consultations in the
development of the 2009 ANC elections manifesto and selection of
public representatives, particularly for the national and provincial
cabinet committees. But the post-Polokwane and 2009 elections have not
resolved a number of fundamental questions with regard to the
independence of the SACP within the state. However, SACP cadres are in
the legislatures as ANC members and under the whip of the ANC, and the
modes of accountability as well as the tasks of communists in the
legislatures in relation to the independent role of the Party in the
legislatures are not very clear.
b. Assigning a significant amount of power to the ANC to elect and
select SACP cadres within the state generates conditions for the
subordination of the SACP to the ANC leadership. ANC Premier can
unfairly SACP MECs.
26. Quota for the SACP to overcome institutional constrain
a. The mode of entry, exit, and accountability should change. Mode
of
entry of the SACP into the should include quotas. These SACP members
should be deployed by and accountable to the Party. This does not mean
that communists should not be elected into the ANC lists in their own
right, and should abandon their communist conduct and values once they
are elected to the ANC list.
b. To realise the quota at the municipal level, the Alliance must
agree in principle that certain wards should be contested under the
banner of the SACP. In the same way as the SACP has been doing in the
last elections, the ANC shall also mobilise its members to vote for an
SACP candidate in these wards.
Mass work to overcome business power
a. Doubtless, quotas for the SACP in the legislatures and
executives,
will not resolve all the problems associated with being in a
capitalist state, but it will provide the necessary conditions for the
SACP to maintain its independence and control over its deployed
cadres. Parliamentary work is not a substitute for mass work including
by SACP parliamentarians. In fact, the 90% the marginalization of the
Party in some provinces can be explained by its (i.e. SACP) weaknesses
on the ground.
b. Building and reconfiguring the Alliance should be accompanied by
strengthening the Party structures capable of leading popular
campaigns on the ground. Otherwise, the Party will be reduced to a
political party begging for positions from the ANC leadership.
c. Communist parliamentarians and ministers in their capacities as
SACP activists and leaders must not hesitate to join mass actions even
if they are against parliament or the state.
d. The pre-condition for the strength of the Party within the state
and the reconfigured Alliance , lies in our ideological and
organizational strength in broader society and within the ANC.
Ideological tasks of the Party in relation to the ANC
27. Who says the ANC cannot be socialist? The ANC does not have to
be
a communist party to fight for socialism. Therefore, there is nothing
that prohibits the ANC from adopting socialism as its ultimate
emancipatory vision. The ANC is a human made organization, and we
should not naturalise its ideological orientation. In fact the
ideological orientation of the post-Morogoro ANC had been explicit on
the class question – it envisioned a socialist society. There is a lot
of textual evidence to validate this claim.
Issued by YCLSA Head Office
For interviews contact:
David Masondo
YCLSA National Chairperson – 072 889 9052
--
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