Cde Dominic Can u pls update m with SADTU negotiation so far ! On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 12:27 PM, Dominic Tweedie <[email protected] > wrote:
> *National Democratic Revolution, Part 7b* > * * > [image: Pierre Poujade Large, cropped] > *Pierre Poujade, 1920-2003 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Poujade>* > > *The Petty Bourgeoisie and Poujadism*** > > Last in this section on class alliance, which has looked at peasants and > traditional leaders as well as bourgeois and proletarians, we now consider > the petty-bourgeoisie, a large class in South Africa, and one that includes > a high proportion of the very poor in this country. The hawkers and the > “survivors” are members of this class, as much as the small shopkeepers and > small business people (the so-called “SMMEs”). > > The petty bourgeoisie are the urban equivalent of the peasant class. They > share with the peasantry the peculiar characteristic of being what Karl Marx > called (in the “*18th Brumaire of Louis > Bonaparte<http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1852/18th-brumaire/index.htm> > *”) a “sack of potatoes”. Such a class has minimal internal linkages. It > exists as an aggregate, and not as an organism. In chemical terms, it is a > mixtures, and not a compound. > > This is in contrast with the working proletariat, which is a socialised, or > in other words, interdependent class. For this among other reasons, the > working class is a more advanced class, capable of giving leadership to the > peasantry and to the petty-bourgeoisie. > > In his *address at Joe Slovo’s > graveside<http://www.sacp.org.za/main.php?include=pubs/umsebenzi/2010/vol9-01.html> > * on the 15th anniversary of Slovo’s death, 6 January 2010, the current > General Secretary of the SACP Cde Dr Blade Nzimande said, concerning the > leadership the working-class party must give: > > *“We must also recruit amongst small businesses, who continue to be > suffocated by monopoly capital in general, the capitalist malls built in the > townships that are killing their small businesses, and the `tenderpreneurs` > who continue to enrich themselves often through corrupt tenders at the > expense of honest small entrepreneurs who do not have political connections > in the state. We must strengthen small entrepreneurs and defeat > `tenderpreneurs`! We need to support skills development for co-operatives, > small and micro enterprises. We need to deepen our struggle for the > transformation of our financial sector to benefit the workers and the poor, > including co-operatives and small and micro businesses.* > * * > *“As we have done over the past 16 years and before, we need to engage and > seek to influence the terms and conditions under which a new black section > of the bourgeoisie emerges and grow. We need to fight for truly broad based > empowerment and seek to direct investment into the productive sectors of our > economy that is creating jobs. We need to continuously expose and challenge > self-enrichment of a few and fight the emergence of a highly dependent > compradorial bourgeoisie! In this struggle we must also seek to expose > opportunistic use of the language and demands of the working class in order > to hide the accumulation agenda of a compradorial bourgeoisie. This is the > meaning of Slovo`s life, struggles and observations today!”* > > The Marxist literature devoted to the petty bourgeoisie in our time is > pitifully small. We now go to a recollection of France in the 1950s (but > written later) for an account of the phenomenon of “Poujadism”. This was a > petty-bourgeois uprising that allied itself, in its beginning and at local > level, with the communists, until it degenerated towards near-fascism. See > above for a picture of *Pierre Poujade<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poujade> > * (1920-2003), the leader of this movement. > > In their relations with the intermediate classes, history shows that the > communists must proceed with great care and must not lose focus. But it also > shows that these classes are real and can potentially have a self-conscious > and beneficial development, if aided by the always better-organised working > class. But if petty-bourgeois populism gets out of hand, which it can do, > then the distance between it and fascism can be covered in a short time. > > Foster’s account is written from a somewhat sectarian point of view. It > disparages the efforts of the French communist party, but it does not say > that the vanguard party should not give leadership to the petty bourgeoisie. > On the contrary, Foster confirms this necessity. All he can manage to say > against the communists is that if the Trotskyists had been in charge they > would have done better - a hollow claim. > > More on the nature and the problems of the petty bourgeoisie can be found > in Engels’ (e.g. “*The Housing > Question<http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/index.htm> > *”), Rosa Luxemburg’s (e.g. “*Reform or > Revolution?<http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm> > *”), and Lenin’s (e.g. “*The Tax in > Kind<http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/apr/21.htm> > *”) writings. > > *Please download and read the text via the following link:* > *The case-history of Poujadisme, > Foster<https://sites.google.com/site/communistuniversity/texts/12-ndr/1209b%2CThecase-historyofPoujadisme%2CFoster.doc?attredirects=0&d=1> > * (1714 words) > * * > *Further reading**:*** > *Citizen and Subject, C8, Linking the Urban and the Rural, > Mamdani<https://sites.google.com/site/communistuniversity/texts/12-ndr/1209a%2CCitizen%26Subject%2CC8%2CLinkingtheUrbanandtheRural%2CMamdani.doc?attredirects=0&d=1> > * (7236 words) > *The Peasants' Revolt, C8, Chiefs in the Saddle, Govan > Mbeki<https://sites.google.com/site/communistuniversity/texts/12-ndr/1209%2CPeasants%27Revolt%2CC8%2CChiefsintheSaddle%2CMbeki.doc?attredirects=0&d=1> > * (5708 words) > > > > ycl > > -- > You are subscribed. 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