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Issue 3, Vol 9: 26 January 2012 *In this issue:* - "A True Revolutionary is guided by Great Feelings of Love"<#13519d558b3a51c5_1351999b64e91f3e_one> "A True Revolutionary is guided by Great Feelings of Love" El Che paraphrased one of his most popular quotes with the words "...at the risk of seeming ridiculous...", and as if the greatest revolutionary who overthrew the Batista regime with the Cuban companeros through violence would have been laughed at, he went further to say: "a true revolutionary should be guided by great feelings of love". El Che goes further to say that "It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. Perhaps it is one of the great dramas of the leader that he or she must combine a passionate spirit with a cold intelligence and make painful decisions without flinching" wrote El Che. "Our vanguard revolutionary must idealise this love of the people, of most sacred causes, and make it one and indivisible. They cannot descend, with small doses of daily affection, to the level where ordinary people put their love into practice" In the current political conjecture, it may be laughable to state this as the first act and sentiment that should guide the leadership of the national liberation movement: an act of love. This month, the entire liberation movement joined in celebration of a liberation giant and a liberation movement - that is the Centenary of the ANC and the memory of the passing on of the former General Secretary and National Chairperson of the SACP, Cde. Joe Slovo. Both this events have a link with the injunction by El Che on the need for true revolutionaries to be guided by true feelings of love. Formed in 1912 in Mangaung, the black leadership collective that brought life into the oldest liberation movement may have held their individual frustrations with colonialism, land dispossession and forced labour in the booming mining industry. But their collective love for their people and their country forged the unity that withstood decades of murder, abuse, exploitation, democratic exclusion, prison and unjust laws imposed from Britain and on land. Throughout its passive resistance and into its resort for a violent insurrection, in exile and in Robben Island, underground in the townships and in the camps in neighbouring countries, the cadres who became that blood that flowed in the veins initiated ANC and SACP were guided by true feelings of love for their people. Joe Slovo, a Lithuanian Jew whose parents left his motherland in search of justice elsewhere found himself having to fight the very same just war to liberate the oppressed people of South Africa. Just like many whites who were part of the Congress of Democrats, JS had every reason to hide behind his skin colour and reap the benefits of black exploitation. But the true feelings of love for freedom of all people that were built through childhood struggles were so innate and unavoidable that he was part of the early years of the formation of uMkhonto we Sizwe and the SACP underground. The history of the ANC can never be complete without including the history of this dedicated fighter of freedom. JS was part of the ANC just like many others, even though he could only become its full member and be elected into its National Executive in 1985 at the Kabwe Consultative Conference. As part of the commemoration of Comrade JS, the YCLSA has since its formation been campaigning for the Right to Learn. Through this, and in the guidance of innate true feelings of love amongst the youth, we sought to remember Comrade JS through action. These are the jewels the founders of the ANC, the builders of socialism in Cuba and cadres such as Joe Slovo left for us. To be a revolutionary is not about radical sounding phrases that are not supported by the willingness to act in order to change the lives of our people. Equally, to be a revolutionary is not for purposes of forcing one’s name into the history books; for it is not individuals that makes history and the revolution, but it is the people themselves. The Joe Slovo Right to Learn Campaign is not only about what El Che and the companeros did post the Cuban revolution. It is also about the parallel but yet powerful pseudo-state institutions that were built here at home by the United Democratic Front and many other grassroots organisations. In the late 70’s and 80’s when there was effectively no state in the townships and in the countryside, our people created alternative forms of state institutions be it in their own defense; or in education (night schools); in healthcare; in sports, arts and culture and many other essential services which the apartheid system sought to exclude them from. We need to, as Che asserted in the text quoted earlier on, "give work this new status as a social duty" wherein it becomes the reflection of one’s perspective of society. The social duty of uplifting infrastructure, teaching learners, curing the ill and protecting our society not as parting with one’s labour power but as part of one’s being and contribution to society is critical. This means that, far from the vulgaries, vanities and greed of capitalism; the defense of the National Democratic Revolution lies in building a new cadre who get satisfied by the barest of minimums and rejoice in their contribution to the development of society. The organisations which were in the country became an inspiration of many projects which cared for orphans and the elderly and ensured that no life is lost because of the neglect of the apartheid system. All of these institutions were to be replaced by a democratic state that cared for all of us. However, there are glaring limitations 18 years after democracy. This does not mean that we should despair or be quite about the weaknesses and challenges of the post-apartheid state. But it means we should heed the popular call that "I am not a liberator, the people are their own liberators". For us as young communists, we have to use opportunities afforded by our democratic state to continue to mobilise our people in all forms of struggles and action against the capitalist system. We have to ensure that we strengthen the capacity of the SACP in deepening working class hegemony in various spheres of our society and globally through youth mobilisation. Getting young people into action to correct the inherent anomalies of capitalism is to also help them understand that through their action, a better world is possible. All of these actions do not exclude mass action and protests, but these should be part of the broader strategy and tactic to change our world for the better. Going back to revolutionaries and love, one of the central messages we have been communicating in commemoration of Comrade JS was the restoration of this fundamental feeling amongst the leadership of the movement. Having true feelings of love for our people means hating the things that keeps them in poverty and super exploitation. Love for our people means hating the capitalist system and dedicating our lives to end this system. Love for our people means using the positions we occupy not to line up our pockets when we get elected or appointed, but to use the offices we occupy to change their lives. Love for our people means hating corruption as a systemic capitalist culture and theft from the public purse. We have a duty to ensure that we instil true feelings of love amongst doctors, nurses, teachers, the police and public servants in order to at all times display this as they serve our people. A doctor or nurse being guided by the greatest feelings of love will never leave an operation table and neglect a patient’s life. A teacher with the greatest feeling of love will never abandon school children and destroy their future, or come to school drunk. A police officer will never accept a bribe from a drunken driver if they are guided by true feelings of love. Equally, those of us who occupy public office will never allow shoddy houses to be build for our people when we live the lives of luxury. We will never accept a bribe from an Engineer who have not build up-to-scratch roads or bridges that gets wiped away by the first summer drizzles. Unlike El Che, let us not fear ridicule as we foster the truest feelings of love for our people, for when we are guided by such feelings, we will not seek positions for their own sake or for grandstanding, but for the service of our people. That’s the Bottomline, Cos the YCL said so! *Buti Manamela National Secretary Young Communist League of South Africa* -- 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. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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