ANC AND SACP SHARED HISTORY OF STRUGGLE Speech by YCLSA National Secretary Cde Buti Manamela Delivered at the Young Communist League of South Africa Political Lecture, Katlehong, GP 26 AUGUST 2012 The African National Congress was formed in 1912 by a team of aspirant black middle class, all of them with impressive academic qualification. All these distinguished founders of the Native National Congress had one thing in common, resentment for the oppression of the African people and commitment to fight it. Pixley kaIsaka Seme, a Columbia, Oxford and London educated lawyer is credited for being the front runner in providing the theoretical framework on uniting the African People, starting from his assertion in Columbia University in 1906. On the other hand the Communist Party of South Africa was formed in 1921 by a group of white workers and socialists. In the inaugural congress only one black person attended, T. W. Thibeli. This was the party whose primary objective was to struggle for socialism in South Africa. Both these organisations had to confront concrete challenges on the ground. Having been formed in 1912 the ANC was confronted by the promulgation of the Native Land Act in 1913. This the situation was described by Sol Plaatjie in the most graphical way; “Awaking on Friday morning, June 20, 1913, the South African Native found himself, not actually a slave, but a pariah in the land of his birth.” President Makgato affirmed the centrality of the land question in the struggle for freedom when he asserted in his Presidential address in 1919 that; we are not asking for any favours from this government but demanding the land of our forefathers. Equally hardly a year after the birth of the SACP they had the join the picket line in the 1922 white miners’ strike and replaced the slogan “workers unite for a white South Africa” with the international slogan that “workers of the world unite you have nothing to lose but your chains” At this point there was no alliance between these two organisations, but their pre-occupation with the plight of our people was a point of convergence. The decision of the Communist Party to organise African Workers translated into cross-pollination between these two organisations. This is what Moses Kotane described as the Africanisation of the Party. The near formalisation of the alliance started in earnest in 1927 when the President of the ANC Josiah Tshangana Gumede went to the inaugural congress of the Anti-Imperialist League in Brussels. In this trip President Gumede went with the Communist Party delegate who was equal an ANC leader, J. A. La Guma and a trade unionist, D. Colraine. It was in this congress that Josiah Gumede made a declaration that is normally regarded as the introduction of progressive politics in the movement, when he said: - “I am happy to say there are communists in South Africa. I myself is not one, but it is my experience that the Communist Party is the only party that stands behind us and from which we expect something. We know there are now two powers at work; imperialism and the workers’ republic in Russia. We hear little about the latter, although we would like to know more about it. But we take an interest and will soon find out who we have to ally ourself with.” This assertion by President Gumede in 1927 is confirmed by President Oliver Tambo in 1981; “the South African Communist Party supports and actively fights for the realisation of the demands contained in the Freedom Charter. It accepts the leadership of the ANC and therefore cannot be an ally of the ANC as would be any other organisation that adopts the same position.” The adoption of the Black Republic thesis in 1928, whose emphasis was that there can be no success struggle for socialism when the majority of the people is oppressed, formed the basis for what became the primary objective of our revolution, liberation of Blacks in general and Africans in particular. The most interesting part of the relation between the Party and the ANC is that the leadership of the two organisations was overlapping. Moses Kotane was the treasurer General of the ANC between 1963 and 1973, and honoured Isithwalandwe in 1975. The period overlapped with him being the General Secretary of the SACP between 1939 and 1978. We must appreciate that all Secretaries General of the ANC since 1949 were always communists. Almost all the leaders of the communist party served in the NEC of the ANC; J.B. Marks, Moses Mabhida, Dan Tlhoome, Chris Hani, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Harry Gwala, Joe Slovo and many others up to this day. The contribution made by the party to the theory of the revolution has made these allies closer than one can imagine. It is in the 1962 programme of the communist party that started theorising the reality of the coloniser and the colonised claiming the same piece of land. To distinguish our situation from the rest of the continent this programme described this reality as colonialism of a special type. This theory has been expanded and refined as the theoretical framework for the broader movement. It is in this refinement that our movement identified the three antagonistic and interrelated contradictions of racial oppression, class super-exploitation and gender triple oppression, the patriarchal relations in society. Resolving these contradictions is the primary focus of the National Democratic Revolution. The National Democratic Revolution is minimum programme for the alliance. To understand the concept of a minimum programme we must appreciate the character of the alliance. This is an inter-class alliance between a multi-class liberation movement on the one hand and two working class formations on the other. With the Party and a big body within the trade union federation wanting to build a socialist South Africa and the ANC wanting to build a National Democratic Society the NDR becomes a point of convergence for everybody. But the reality is that these independent parties do not melt into a single organisation called alliance, but remind independent parties taking their own decisions separately of each other. Once we understand this character of the alliance then it easier to understand the concept of the NDR being the minimum programme. Communist Party cadres in their own right as leaders of the ANC paid the highest price. The massacre in Maseru, in Gaberone, in Matola, the assassination of Ruth First, Joe Gqabi or Delsie September no distinction was made between Communists and Non-Communists. The regime was just brutal against the struggle for freedom. It is the sharing of trenches and fighting shoulder to shoulder facing the enemy as one. It is this shared history that forced the regime to negotiate power away and try hard to preserve some privileges. The decision by the SACP not to contest elections was a correct and a revolutionary one. It is the liberals and those among us who do have the sense of the risk of counter-revolution regrouping who continue to either attach or be cynical about this decision. When the party opened this debate in 2007 the proposal for the Party contesting elections was defeated. The strongest argument was that it would divide votes for the movement. The COPE experience is a clear vindication of the correctness of this decision once more. When the party comes very clear and strong in support of any position taken by the ANC it gets attacked and labelled as being parasitic and being an NGO. They understand the importance of this alliance and pray every day for it to split. The Marikana disaster highlighted one danger that we hardly pay attention to, that of the counter-revolution creating liberated zones and expand to undermine the movement. The most unfortunate part of this development is that of sympathies from within the movement because they see it as increasing their opportunity to take over the movement. What is not clear is they will do with it after taking it over. we must begin to ask pointed questions and clarify the positions taken. What is fight all about? Is it about the movement, is it about access to resources and self enrichment or is it about handing over South Africa to foreign agents. From where we all come from it is a sign of a bigger problem when an individual is preoccupied about his own survival even if the movement is undermined and weakened. The reading of both the strategy and tactics and organisational renewal document must be anchored in this history and seek to take the movement to new heights. I am one of those who believe that the alliance is going to be around for many years to come. The strength or weakness of the alliance will continue to be the deciding factor on how well the movement will perform political into the future. Buti Manamela National Secretary Sent from my iPad
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