Nigerian Marxists have always called for the setting up of a trade
union based mass workers’ party. The Nigerian trade unions have the
authority, the power and the mass following to do this. A few years
ago a half-hearted attempt was made to launch the Nigerian Labour
Party without much success. The union leaders didn’t give their full
backing. Now, however, the party is becoming more attractive and in
some states large numbers of workers are joining. Here we publish an
editorial from the December 2009 edition of the Workers’ Alternative
on this question.
Undoubtedly the Nigerian working class is the largest and most
powerful single force in the land. This indisputable fact is confirmed
further by the fact that nothing can work without the workers; this
reality does not just apply to Nigeria but it is also an international
reality. Over 10 million workers are in organised labour in Nigeria,
in the NLC and TUC. Millions of Nigerian workers who are yet to be
unionised and millions of other poor strata of society are natural
allies of the workers and look towards organised labour for support at
most times. The massive support all the general strikes called by
labour against fuel price increases and deregulation confirms this
fact.
Unfortunately, a parasitic and unproductive class of the rich,
bourgeois, who currently constitute the ruling class, holds society to
ransom. They are the agents of the IMF, World Bank and various foreign
imperialist interests in Nigeria.
For more than 49 years, the ruling elites have been in power and there
is nothing to show for it. Rather the living conditions of the masses
have worsened and society continues to decay, at a more accelerated
rate now. Industries are collapsing by the day, the same for the
roads, healthcare, education, security, etc; social services do not
exist and the barbaric rule of the jungle operates everywhere.
All these are because of the draconian and ruinous policies of the
Nigerian ruling class, who are the preservers of this brutal neo-
colonial capitalist economy. Whereas the ruling class continues to
smile at the banks, both local and foreign, the Nigerian working
masses remain at the receiving end. They continue to carry the
enormous burden created by this arrangement – low wages, high
unemployment, terrible working conditions, cheap death, etc.
The tragedy of the situation is that the working class continues to
produce the wealth of the country but they are made to suffer and
carry huge burdens in order for the insignificant to continue to
enjoy. This must stop and can be stopped.
No solution can come from the ruling elites
On a daily basis, the reality that the Nigerian ruling elites cannot
offer a way forward is continually drummed into our ears. They show
clearly that they are only interested in furthering their own
extremely selfish interests and the working masses can go to hell as
far as they are concerned.
When their president falls sick, he travels out to receive healthcare
in foreign countries at the expense of the masses. Patriotism, pride,
and nationalism are no longer in their vocabulary. The past policies
have ruined healthcare. We only hear of billions being allocated to
healthcare but then get no healthcare. They can afford to leave the
country or go to the highly expensive hospitals when they are sick.
The masses can go to hell or church when they need healthcare.
Every day the noise of deregulation and fuel price increases continue
to dominate, whereas these useless policies have paved the road to
hell. It is because of their fear of the actions of the working masses
that they are holding back for now, but they are still desperate to
continue with them.
Corruption runs in their veins. Nigeria tops the list of the most
corrupt in the world. All attempts to fight it have proven to be
corrupt smokescreens aimed at fooling the masses but not at fighting
corruption. Massive corruption remains the order of the day. The state
treasuries are looted without mercy, officially and unofficially.
Currently, wages and benefits of top government officials constitute
the largest quota in government budgets. The presidency plans to spend
N28 billion on maintaining the Aso Rock presidential villa next year.
On a daily basis, we see how the conditions in Nigeria continue to
degenerate at a more accelerated rate. Billions of dollars came in
because of the oil boom over the past years and there is clearly
nothing to show for it. Society continues to slip towards anarchy on a
daily basis. All kinds of problems continue to develop nationally.
>From the south to the north, the situation is generally the same.
How the weak currently dominate the strong
In spite of their extremely small size and parasitic nature, the
Nigerian ruling bourgeois elites continue to maintain their draconian
rule over society. This is because the massive working class is yet to
stand up and challenge them politically. The biggest fear of the
ruling elites is the working class. The working class can do without
them but they cannot do without the working masses. They know this
fact very well. They have invested, over the years, a lot towards
stopping the working masses from realising their enormous strength and
potential. This is actually part of a global conspiracy against the
working class by the imperialists and their local ruling elites
worldwide.
Over the years, we have seen numerous anti-labour laws passed by both
the military and civilian regimes. We see numerous laws passed in
Nigeria aimed at stopping workers from participating in politics.
Workers are only required to vote but cannot seek electoral offices
due to these laws.
The ruling class had wanted a situation where the political options/
parties open to the masses are strictly theirs, so either way the
masses lose out. A situation where the masses are to chose between SDP
or NRC, or now between PDP or ANPP or AC or AD or any of the parties
of the rich. Meanwhile all these parties say the same thing in
different ways and offer no way forward. They all concentrate on
matters that have no relevance to the masses.
However, it is clear from past experience that once the working masses
rise up the sky is the limit. All the very tools of deceit and terror
are no match for the strength of the working class. The most important
thing is for the working class to be organised and have a clear
leadership armed with a socialist programme.
Political options only way out
After numerous general strikes and a continuing decaying situation, it
is clear that the only solution to the problems of the masses is a
political one. To be concrete Labour must take power and only then can
the problems facing the country be addressed and solved. All wings of
the Nigerian ruling elites have consistently failed the masses over
the years. It is time for the masses to go directly for power
depending solely on their strength and organisation.
The most peaceful way now for Labour to take power is for the working
class to utilise their overwhelming superiority in numbers to take
power electorally via their current political party the Nigerian
Labour Party, NLP, come 2011.
All the current bourgeois parties combined are no match for the
Nigerian working class and its allies in any way. Practically none of
the current bourgeois parties in Nigeria have real members to match
the figures of membership that they claim. The PDP for instance claims
to be the largest party in Africa. This is open fraud. The real party
membership is probably in some few thousands as the overwhelming
majority of the members are rented. The same goes for the others.
Nigerian Labour Party?
Of course, it is legitimate to question whether the Dan Anyanwu-led
NLP can lead the masses to take power, taking note of the various
limitations and past activities of that leadership, since the
leadership emerged February 28, 2004, about six years ago; it is also
legitimate to question the results.
For instance, the governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, former NLC
president became governor on the platform of the AC not the NLP. In
Lagos, the party ticket for the 2007 gubernatorial elections was sold
for a fee to a failed bourgeois candidate, Gbenga Pedro. In Ondo
state, it is an open secret that the NLP government that emerged is
actually a PDP government with a Labour cover. Mimiko was the minister
under Obasanjo’s regime that ejected thousands of people from
government official quarters that were privatised. From the rumour
mills, we hear that another PDP chieftain, Andy Uba, is about to get
the party’s ticket to contest the gubernatorial elections in Anambra
state Feb. 2010.
Also very important is the fact that the party has not grown in size.
In Lagos, which is the industrial capital, the party’s leadership was
consciously shorting out everybody from the party until they came
under pressure from the Campaign for a Mass Based Labour Party, CMB-
LP. They now say that they would open the party in a very limited way
to workers but this process is going at a snail’s pace. The Lagos NLP
leaders are more concerned about keeping people out of the party and
fighting unseen enemies than building the party. There is also no
democratic life within the party.
All this and much more is true. However, the Nigerian Labour Party,
NLP, was created by the NLC and this was because of successful
agitation for multiparty democratic rights; therefore, it remains the
property of the Nigerian workers as a whole in spite of the
unproductive actions of the leadership of the party.
The most important task is to transform the party and the workers can
easily do this. The powers of the workers are enormous and the
leadership of labour always responds to it. The ruling elites cannot
confront the powers of the workers once workers are on the move. The
leadership will definitely have to move along or be removed.
Currently, there is an ever growing political mood among Nigerian
workers and the masses in general and this reflects the growing
consciousness. They are realising that the various political parties
represent the same interests and are looking for serious alternatives.
This is why the NLP is becoming quite important now to the masses.
In spite of the various limitations of the methods used in the past by
the leaders of the trade unions and the NLP, the masses can see some
victories and they are further encouraged. In spite of everything, the
NLP has become a household name. The ruling elites also realise the
potential the party has and many bourgeois elements have tried to use
the party to get to power several times.
The perspective for the coming period is clearly that the masses are
bound to get more political and the probability that the NLP would
grow quickly remains high. The massive support the anti-deregulation
protest rallies received confirms these perspectives.
Build a Mass Based Labour Party with a working class base
The NLP is probably the party that has the brightest future in Nigeria
now. The party could have grown had it not been for the limitations of
its leadership. The leadership of the NLC under Adams Oshiomhole set
up the current leadership of the party and many of them were alien to
the working class movement. Secondly, the various union centres did
not mobilise for the party. Although the party is housed by the NLC,
it has not done much to build it either.
The party was open to various elements that have nothing to do with
the working masses. All these strange bedfellows currently constitute
a threat to the interests of the masses, as they represent the
interests of the ruling class. The current fractional conflicts within
the party confirm this fact.
Had Labour built the working class base of the party at the beginning,
most of these conflicts would not have developed. It is therefore
essential that there must be a massive effort nationally towards
building the party but the workers base of the party must be built
consciously. A national campaign towards building the party would
definitely be well received by the Nigerian working masses.
Factory and work place units of the NLP can be built along with wards,
and local government and state branches can also be built. The party
must become relevant to the aspirations of the working masses by
supporting actively the struggles of the working masses and not sell
itself cheaply to the elites. The party must fight against all anti-
labour laws that make politics an exclusive reserve of the rich.
Nothing could stop Labour from taking Power come 2011
Nothing says that Nigerian workers cannot take power and use it to
transform society. Only the agents of the ruling elites in the labour
movement are against this in line with the interests of the ruling
class. Labour has the power, numerical strength, organisation and the
resources to take power and run society. This is actually the only
solution to all the problems facing the society. The ruling bourgeois
class, due to their greedy and selfish class interests, created the
problems.
Nothing could stop Labour from setting up its party in the factories,
workplaces, wards, local government areas, states and nationally. The
masses are actually eager to join. The experiences of the protest
rallies and strikes confirm this fact. Labour has the capacity to run
for office effectively, from campaigning to monitoring the elections
to running society. All it needs is sincerity on the part of the
leadership. The mass of workers must put pressure in order for the
leaders to act correctly. All the shortcoming of the past by the
leadership of the Nigerian Labour Party can be corrected, based on a
massive influx of the working people into the party.
Labour to Power with a Socialist Programme
Clearly, the solutions to the crisis facing society lie in reversing
the various IMF-World Bank inspired anti-people policies of the ruling
elites. The only alternative to the all these mispolicies is
Socialism. The enemies of the working class and those that pretend to
be friends of the working people do not want Socialism. This is why in
alliance with the ruling elites and imperialism they continue to
launch a series of illogical arguments against the ideas of Socialism.
The ruling elites know that they may not be capable of holding power
directly indefinitely and that one day a workers’ government may
emerge in Nigeria. This is the experience globally. This is why they
invest a lot in corrupting the leadership of labour so that in case
they should take political power, they would continue with the same
programmes of the rich. The experience of Edo and Ondo States readily
comes to mind.
They want an NLP that would be a tool in their hands. The current
attempt to also co-opt the NLP into the mega-party is to be seen in
the same light. This is why workers must insist that the Labour Party
must be independent and with a clear-cut political alternative to the
current rot facing the people.
The Socialist alternative remains the working masses’ alternative in
spite of what the ruling elites and their agents in labour say.
Socialism remains the only alternative to privatisation, deregulation,
commercialisation, fuel price increases, mass unemployment, poverty,
etc. Only the workers taking over the commanding heights of the
economy with central planning and workers’ democratic control can put
an end to the current day rot.
Support the:
Demand for the opening up of the party for the masses to join.
Demand the setting up of workplace and factory units of the party.
Demand democratic control and management of the all affairs of the
party. All party officials must be democratically elected.
Demand for a break with all anti-people bourgeois elements and
trends that want to corrupt the party.
Demand an independent NLP with a socialist programme.
[This article first appeared in the December 2009 edition of the
Workers' Alternative]
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