Cde Simon, I'm not sure what's your agenda but I'm tempted to agree with cde VC that you seem to be constantly harping against the Party's democratic-centralist decision. And you've been doing so out of ignorance riddled with errors to feed your wildly exaggerated and groundless claims about the role of the General Secretary of the Communist Party. To be a revolutionary does not mean you should employ rightwing tendencies to champion your cause, if any. So far, you've distinguished yourself to be a renegade in defiance of the Party's decision. A true revolutionary is a cadre who understands party unity and discipline within the ambit of democratic centralism and also willing to learn from wise counsel of elders by virtue of their long record in the party. To paraphrase Lenin at the Party Congress in 1921, where he argued that free discussion within the party should be tolerated and even encouraged up to a point, but, once a vote was taken, all discussion had to end. "The decision of the majority should constitute the current party “line” and be binding upon all members."
Hence, cde Chris was deeply concerned that "Comrades are busy bashing and bullying each other to such an extent that the name Communist University should be changed to something else." A point you mistaken to support to your erratic views about SACP. To further agree with cde VC, you need to be reminded that Cde Gwede Mantashe in his opening address to the SACP Special National Congress on 10 December 2009, he made it clear that ".... The Medium Term Vision was based on the understanding that communists must be in all centres of power." I have this extract for your reference: "Two and a half years ago Communists and the Alliance partner representatives gathered in the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University to do a detailed analysis of the political situation in our country and chart the way forward for the party. At the time there were few challenges that we had to deal with: - Within the party structures there was a visible body that argued for the SACP standing for elections independently of the ANC. Alliance relations could be described in simple terms that there was general hostility and a strong drive to break the alliance. As a result Communists and COSATU were pushed to the periphery and their voice almost muzzled. We then resolved to build a campaigning party. The Medium Term Vision was based on the understanding that communists must be in all centres of power. At the time it was understood that communist set themselves an objective of contesting ideologically wherever they found themselves. This was a serious task of ensuring that communist earn their place everywhere they are deployed. Our understanding of revolutionary discipline is that Communist must be modest and prudent. They must distinguish themselves as hard working and continuing to struggle. When contestation emerges pettiness must be left to non-communists who will manufacture some of facts that they use to discredit communists. We must always appreciate that such acts are ideological and are intended to protect class interests of those who own property and wealth, the bourgeois class." It's against this background that you do not need to behave like a factionalist hellbent at creating intolerable atmosphere on this forum. To this end, you have a revolutionary duty to engage, debate and share your views without making notorious claims bordering on falsehoods. I trust you will be persuaded by cde VC's moderation as a way of ensuring that no one is overstepping the mark. I trust you will find this in order. Communist regard Morgan Phaahla "Sometimes, if you wear suits for too long, it changes your ideology." - Joe Slovo --- On Mon, 8/15/11, Malekate Maditsi <[email protected]> wrote: From: Malekate Maditsi <[email protected]> Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Re: [CU] COSATU leadership battle has started - Business Day To: [email protected], [email protected] Date: Monday, August 15, 2011, 3:43 AM Cdes It is unfortunate that Cdes can be very intolerent of others views & opinions. It does not matter whether it was decided by a special congress or what if legitimate reasons exist for us to open debate on any subject we will do that, necessarily because we are revolutionaries & we will forever ask questions but also assume active role in finding solutions. It is our conviction that the special congress decision to have the position parttime has weakened the Party, the only way to assist us is to show us that our notion is incorrect without isolating & purging us. Our urgument is simple, SACP of Chris could not have unconditionally supported the NGP, would have been vocal against media tribunal & secrecy bill, SACP of Chris wouid have been in the fore front of workers struggles, instead of being the mouthpiece of Government that without doubt is bloated with neo-liberal policies. We demand back SACP that let a campaigh with COSATU to unseat the 1996 class project, where is it? It has been swallowed by the state, their hands are tied, they have become reformists & rightwing moderates. Cdes Chris was very clear struggle should be let at all fronts, most importantly outside of parliament & cabinet where difficult work of mobilisation & education has to take place to deepen political conciousness & pave way for a socialist future. Cde Simon you are not alone! On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 6:31 AM, Dominic Tweedie <[email protected]> wrote: Dear Cde Simon, You are demagogically claiming Cde Chris's message as a support to yourself, whereas Chris's message is as much of a reproach to you as it is to anyone else. Even more disingenuously, you are attaching your factional message to the same false, tendentious claim of support of yourself from Chris. The only virtue I can see in your constant harping against the Party's democratic-centralist decision is that we might at last go deeper into this question than the Party's highest deliberative bodies have yet done. Because your error is much more profound than simple defiance of the Party's decision, Cde Simon. Your error is that you have conceived of the General Secretary's function, and by extension the function of every other Party member, as being bound into the framework of a bourgeois-capitalist job. You have fetishised the capitalist job in such a way as not to be able to conceive of any relation of production that is different to the capitalist job, let alone one higher than that sordid relationship. Let me remind you that capital is a relation, and not a thing, and that capital is constantly created and re-created in the act of purchasing labour-power and extracting surplus value. If you have not yet understood this, you will be bound to hold the "job" (which is a contract for the purchase and sale of labour-power) as the highest form of human relationship, even if disconnected from its context which is the capitalism that it, the job-relation, creates. >From there you need not travel any distance at all in order to be able project >back upon the General Secretary of the Communist Party, and by extension upon >every other office bearer and member of the communist party, the dead wooden >restrictive framework of capitalism, without even the capitalist benefit of >surplus-value-extraction. Your absorption of capitalist ideology is so total that you are no longer capable of imagining any other kind of productive human relationship. The mantra "full-time job" has reached the level of religious revelation to you, so that, although it cannot be found in Marxist scriptures, such as the one contributed by Cde Chris, or in any other Marxist text, yet you are sure that common sense will support you in your passion. There is little danger that your chanting will have any effect upon our present General Secretary. What remains for us is only to use your clear-cut error as a means to instruct, and as an example to the newer recruits to the party of what is the very opposite of communist behaviour, and so as an example of what to avoid from the beginning of their party life up to the end. Because there is no party member, neither at the bottom nor at the top of the Party, nor anywhere in between, who can satisfy the requirements of being a communist simply by being a member or an office bearer in the Party. All of us Party members are required to be leaders in society, not just in one single other way but in many other ways and constantly. In that sense there is no such thing as being a full-time communist, unless it means doing many jobs and filling many positions. The terms "full-time" and "part-time" and "job" simply fail to describe the reality of what it is to be a communist at any level. Comrade, the good part of this for you is that you have a wonderful new world to discover, if only you will manage to do so. Therefore please, comrade, take the gentle advice given by example by Comrade Chris, and try to read more of what communists have done and how they have arranged themselves in the past, and in other parts of the world, so as the better to be able to see our own circumstances with an educated communist eye. Thank you, VC On 14 August 2011 22:12, <[email protected]> wrote: Cde Chris, For a very long time we longed meaningful contributions like these. Without taking anything away from the Party, it is my opinion that after the Congress decision to make the role of SG part time, the Party was like a headless chicken. For as long as the status quo remains, we shall remain as such. Forward with the struggle! Comradely Simon Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device From: "Chris Cain [ MTN - Mount Edgecombe ]" <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 21:21:04 +0200 To: [email protected]<[email protected]> ReplyTo: [email protected] Subject: RE: [CU] COSATU leadership battle has started - Business Day I’ve been an avid reader and receiver of comments and articles on Communist University. I had thought the group is about communist ideas and values and the teaching and learning of socialism, comrades engaging in theory and practical experiences to advance our course…but I was wrong. Comrades are busy bashing and bullying each other to such an extent that the name Communist University should be changed to something else. How can young people in the ranks of the YCL and other progressive youth formations be expected to learn from such conduct. Here is some Revolutionary Medicine for those that are committed to the working class revolution A comrade with a short record of struggle may shirk responsibility on this account, while a veteran may become opinionated because of his long record of struggle. Worker and peasant comrades, because of pride in their class origin, may look down upon intellectuals, while intellectuals, because they have a certain amount of knowledge, may look down upon worker and peasant comrades To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private instead of actively putting forward one’s suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people to their faces but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one’s own inclination. To let things drift if they do not affect one personally; to say as little as possible while knowing perfectly well what is wrong, to be worldly wise and play safe and seek only to avoid blame. Not to obey orders but to give pride of place to one’s own opinions. To demand special consideration from the organization but to reject its discipline To indulge in personal attacks, pick quarrels, vent personal spite or seek revenge instead of entering into an argument and struggling against incorrect views for the sake of unity or progress or getting the work done properly. To hear incorrect views without rebutting them and even to hear counter-revolutionary remarks without reporting them, but instead to take them calmly as if nothing had happened To be among the masses and fail to conduct propaganda and agitation or speak at meetings or conduct investigations and inquiries among them, and instead to be indifferent to them and show no concern for their well-being, forgetting that one is a Communist and behaving as if one were an ordinary non-Communist To see someone harming the interests of the masses and yet not feel indignant, or dissuade or stop him or reason with him, but to allow him to continue. To work half-heartedly without a definite plan or direction; to work perfunctorily and muddle along — “So long as one remains a monk, one goes on tolling the bell.” To regard oneself as having rendered great service to the revolution, to pride oneself on being a veteran, to disdain minor assignments while being quite unequal to major tasks, to be slipshod in work and slack in study. To be aware of one’s own mistakes and yet make no attempt to correct them, taking a liberal attitude towards oneself Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency People who are liberals look upon the principles of Marxism as abstract dogma. They approve of Marxism, but are not prepared to practise it or to practise it in full; they are not prepared to replace their liberalism by Marxism. These people have their Marxism, but they have their liberalism as well — they talk Marxism but practise liberalism; they apply Marxism to others but liberalism to themselves. They keep both kinds of goods in stock and find a use for each. This is how the minds of certain people work It is not hard for one to do a bit of good. What is hard is to do good all one’s life and never do anything bad, to act consistently in the interests of the broad masses, the young people and the revolution, and to engage in arduous struggle for decades on end. That is the hardest thing of all! From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Cyril Masilela Sent: Sunday, 14 August 2011 12:31 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CU] COSATU leadership battle has started - Business Day Are u organisational? Do youn belong to a SACP VD? If yes, you can not display you lunacy on this forum. Can you then explain why you do not abide by the resolutions of the last congress? You are welcome (if you belong to a VD branch to go and ask for an introductory document to the party and other newcomeer documents. We are eager to help you out as you take a communist oath. From: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2011 5:18 PM Subject: Re: [CU] COSATU leadership battle has started - Business Day Dear Comrades, Comrades, honestly speaking, we need continuity in both COSATU and SACP. So far there is a big vacuum left by Cde Blade in the Party. In my humble opinion I so wish that either Cde Vavi, Cde Solly Mapaila and Cde David Masondo should take over the reigns of the SACP. I personally think Cde Blade had served his course and that we need a new cadre that will take the Party to greater heights. As for COSATU, I so wish that Cde Jim should fill Cde Vavi's shoes. I think Cde Jim has all what it takes to rally COSATU forward. I hope Cdes 'll debate my suggestions in a comradely manner. I do not mean to impose these leaders, but I think these leaders are the leaders who can bring back the SACP of Cde Joe Slovo and Cde Chris Hani. Phambili!!! Simon Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device From: Sithembiso Mnguni <[email protected]> Sender: [email protected] Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:50:39 +0200 To: <[email protected]> ReplyTo: [email protected] Subject: Re: [CU] COSATU leadership battle has started - Business Day It was not the the right time that General Secretary of COSATU to Anounce that he will not stand for the position next COSATU congress. Im in the position seconding NEHAWU Spokesperson that it is rude to discuss or have succession debate while the Secretary General is still holding the position we will have the division among the organisation, the question arose : how will they lead us if leadership is not united. Let's do away with succession debate it still 14 months to go we need best service to workers, burning of labour brokers and red card to corruption that will not be riched if we entertain this Topic Amandla One Federation one Nation, one Union one industry Viva Cosatu Viva -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. 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