*
2012 ANC National Policy Conference Discussion Document*
/_Problematisation: draft for discussion_/
**
**
*The Second Transition (T2T)*
The ANC Policy Conference Discussion Document called "*The Second
Transition*" (T2T) is the next in the series of ANC documents called, up
to now, "Strategy and Tactics" (S&T).
Strategy is the definition of a goal, or end. Tactics are the various
possible means to that end.
The original "Strategy and Tactics" document was passed by the ANC
National Conference in Morogoro, Tanzania, in 1959. It began:
/"The struggle of the oppressed people of South Africa is taking place
within an international context of transition to the Socialist system,
of the breakdown of the colonial system as a result of national
liberation and socialist revolutions, and the fight for social and
economic progress by the people of the whole world."/
Among other things, it then went on to say:
/"The art of revolutionary leadership consists in providing leadership
to the masses and not just to its most advanced elements... /
//
/"...we must also ensure that what is brought to power is not an army
but the masses as a whole at the head of which stands its organised
political leadership.../
//
/"In the last resort it is only the success of *the national democratic
revolution* which - by destroying the existing social and economic
relationships - will bring with it a correction of the historical
injustices perpetrated against the indigenous majority..."/
Revised versions of "Strategy and Tactics" were adopted at the 48^th and
50^th ANC National Conferences. At the 51^st , a new preface was added.
The current version was adopted at the 52^nd National Conference, at
Polokwane. The new T2T document picks up from that version. The adoption
of the Polokwane S&T was a success of the previously-incumbent
leadership, against the tide that caused the election of new leadership
with an overwhelming majority.
The new document wants to be a "watershed", as much as was the Morogoro
S&T document adopted 43 years ago. But this new proposed watershed
slopes into the valley of capitalism, whereas the Morogoro one sloped
towards socialism. T2T seeks to confirm the pro-capitalist Polokwane S&T
and turn it into a "30 to 50", or even a 100-year commitment.
At its start, T2T identifies itself with a National Development Plan
(NDP) which has not yet been adopted but which exists in draft. The NDP
has serious weaknesses. On the surface it is apolitical and even
antipolitical. But underneath its surface the NDP is capitalist. The NDP
does not acknowledge the struggle of the working class for emancipation.
It turns away from recognising class struggle as the motor of history.
The adoption of such a semi-permanent, bourgeois-biased programme for
the ANC would threaten the class-alliance nature of the ANC by
alienating its working-class component and relegating them to the status
of useful idiots and voting cattle in support of a bourgeois project
that will not suit them.
This is not the way that the ANC was built.
The combined T2T and NDP, if adopted, will put the unity of the ANC
under stress. It will resemble a putsch of one class over another,
changing the class-alliance nature of the ANC.
T2T also refers (paragraph 8) to the "Organisational Renewal" document
that will also be debated at the ANC Policy conference. These two
documents may therefore have to be read together.
*__*
*__*
*_Structure of the Document_*
After its introduction, the T2T document proceeds in six main parts.
These are:
* Part A: Reflections on the last 18 years (13-49)
* Part B: Characterisation of the National Democratic Society (50-70)
* Part C: The balance of forces in 2012 and the motive forces (71-112)
* Part D: The global balance of forces (113-160)
* Part E: Thoughts on the content and form of the Second
transition (161-206)
* Part F: The pillars of national democratic revolution in the
current phase (207-223)
**
*_Parts of the T2T Document_*
**
_*Part A*_is a policy review of the period from 1994 to 1012, including
Gear and the changes to the ANC S&T.
_*Part B*_dwells upon the essence of the Polokwane (2007) S&T: the
adoption of the term "National Democratic Society" (NDS) in exchange for
the strong, dynamic term "National Democratic Revolution" (NDR).
This change has the potential of blocking the aspirations of the working
class. The class alliance that is the substance of the liberation
movement, meaning the ANC itself, is based on unity-in-action for common
interest. The working class interest in the ANC and its NDR is that the
NDR opens the road to socialism. If that road is blocked, then the
working-class investment in the ANC becomes questionable.
_*Part C*_consolidates the other major change that was introduced into
the S&T in 2007-- the redefinition of the class-defined "motive forces"
to include the monopoly bourgeoisie. It goes further, descending from
class analysis into the ad hoc eclecticism of the NPC "diagnostics" at
paragraphs 104/5. The "Second Transition" here looks like a U-turn.
_*Part D*_appears to start more "left", reminiscent of the first
paragraph of the Morogoro S&T. But as in Part C, the criticism of
capitalism is soon called into question. At paragraph 123, the
anti-communist propagandist of capitalism Ludwig von Mises is quoted
without disapproval. This section becomes a ramble.
_*Part E*_switches back again to the NPC and its "diagnostic", this time
critically. In e.g. paragraph 182 it finds "fundamental" contradiction
between the NDP and the ANC's SIMS. At paragraph 192 it asks why
"developmental state" is being replaced by "capable state", and warns
against causing "confusion with a plethora of terms or by introducing
concepts that may well be in conflict with existing ANC policy." This
argument can equally apply to the term "NDS" replacing "NDR".
_*Part F*_, called "overarching", tries to describe a static NDS, to
last a hundred years. At paragraph 222 it proposes the resolution of the
National Question, but without mentioning socialism.
The ANC's organised working-class allies are convinced that there will
be no solution to the national or gender questions without socialism.
The working-class allies will not accept the arbitrary postponement of
socialism for a hundred years.
Class struggle does not come into this document, except where the
authors have attempted to weaken class analysis. Yet class struggle is
still the motor of history, and the idea of human development is
inseparable from the idea of bringing class struggle towards its
conclusion, so that:
/"In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class
antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development
of each is the condition for the free development of all."/
**
*Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Communist Manifesto, 1848*
1094 words
(When reading, leave out the section headed "*Structure of the Document"*)
Original "Second Transition" document: 22661 words.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*VC*
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