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South African Communist Party, 22 March 2015, Ventersdorp SACP message at the reburial of the remains of J B Marks As delivered by SACP Second Deputy General Secretary Comrade Solly Mapaila President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa; ANC SG Cde Gwede Mantashe, all officials and leadership from across all levels here present; SACP Deputy National Chairperson Cde Thulas Nxesi, CC Members and leadership from across all levels here present; Cosatu General Secretary Cde Zwelinzima Vavi and all leaders here present; Ministers, leaders of Parliament, and Public Representatives here present; Members of the Judiciary here present; All components of our liberation movement, activists and community members at large; The entire family of Cde JB Marks, Last Saturday, 14 March 2015, we reburied the remains of Comrade Moses Kotane. Malome Kotane was a lifelong collaborator and comrade-in-arms of Comrade John 'Beaver' Marks. Kotane was the General Secretary and Marks the Chairperson of our Party. Their relationship was essentially a political, ideological and organisational one, but it was also a social relationship. There are striking similarities between these two heroes of our struggle for national liberation and socialism. It is very difficult to separate between them. But allow us, as we have done at the reburial of Malome Kotane's remains when we paid tribute to him, today to pay tribute to Uncle JB Marks - as he was called in the ranks of our liberation movement. Like Malome Kotane, Uncle JB Marks died in the Soviet Union, a component part of which is now Russia, where he was receiving treatment. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, in dignity, among the heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia. Let us take this opportunity, once more, to express our sincere gratitude to the people of the Soviet Union and Russian Federation, for looking after our leaders both in life and "after life"; and for according them the respect they deserved, the respect, like all other oppressed people, they were denied here at home. That Uncle JB Marks and other freedom fighters were buried in Moscow, far away from their place of birth - although they were internationalists and this is what they had prepared themselves for - is a reflection of the difficulties of persecution and repression that our people were suffering. But this was also a reflection of the deep bonds of friendship between those who shared the vision of a society free from all forms of oppression, exploitation and discrimination internationally. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics played a key role in supporting our struggle for national liberation and socialism. We received invaluable solidarity and material support from it in particular and other socialist countries in general. During the most difficult times facing our struggle, the Soviet Union provided us with massive support. This ranged from military training, technical and material support; healthcare; and academic education, to mention but a few items. Very importantly, all of these were done without any strings attached or a single demand for business or pay back. Our success in dislodging the apartheid regime in April 1994 is thanks and in part indebted to that decades-long revolutionary solidarity. During that period, all of the West without exception isolated our movement and denied us support. In fact, in countries like the United States, our movement, its cadres and leaders, were listed as terrorists - all for struggling against colonial oppression, capitalist and imperialist exploitation. Our first democratically elected President, Comrade Nelson Mandela, along with other cadres of our struggle, continued to be listed as a terrorist by the United States even after he was elected in 1994 - and this until only a few years before his death. In other words, this and other actions defined some of those countries on the side of the oppressor in a conflict that involved the oppressor and the oppressed. The ANC 1969 Strategy and Tactics document has some further details on this point, and can help our youth to appreciate the impact that imperialist support to colonial oppression in South Africa has had in delaying our advance to freedom. Comrade JB Marks joined our Party in 1928 after he was inspired by SP Bunting addressing workers at the mine where he worked. He rose through the ranks of the Party. Comrade JB Marks subjected himself to the collective discipline of the organisation throughout his life. This is very important for our generation, and particularly the youth and the workers to take their cue from him. There was in fact a point where he was temporarily set aside because of inner Party processes. He respected the decision. He never fell into the temptations of defining himself as an individual who was immune from iron disciple. A cadre who was ready to acknowledge his own mistakes and to correct them, Uncle JB Marks was later elected our Party National Chairperson. He was a comrade indeed. He was differed from some of the post-1994 "heroes" who cannot take responsibility for their own actions and who, having committed purely personal-private mistakes, shift the blame to the components of our liberation alliance under the name of the so-called "political agenda" which ostensibly exists against them. Neither did Comrade JB Marks waste any second of time to fight against any component of our liberation alliance. He understood the distinct but interrelated historic missions of the trade union movement, the national liberation movement led by the ANC, and the Communist Party. He did not confuse between those historic missions. Uncle JB Marks belonged to all of the three components of our liberation alliance. He clearly appreciated that these formations were not just things, but were constituted by warm bodies - that is human beings - and that he was one of them. In the same vein, he clearly understood the risk of an attack on any of our liberation components. An attack on any of them, he understood, was an attack on him as a member and leader. This is why he could not accept the illogic of attacking himself either through an attack on the movement. Comrade JB Marks was a true worker leader. He understood the importance of worker unity. He never engaged in activities that disrupted unity unlike some who disrupt unity today through the outcries of unity. Uncle JB Marks built the African Mine Workers Union and led it to challenge economic exploitation committed by the bosses. He also participated in forming the first non-racial trade union centre in South Africa, the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). In memory of Comrade JB Marks, the SACP reiterates its call to all COSATU affiliates and especially those which decided to boycott the activities of the federation to return to their home and engage. Similarly, let us build the liberation alliance; for going forward we will need more, and not less, of this alliance which Comrade JB Marks built and served with outstanding dedication. Comrade JB Marks was very clear who the primary opponent of freedom from oppression and economic exploitation was. We will remember him for the role he played, working under the guidance of our Party, in leading the biggest ever strike in the history of our country - the 1946's over 100 thousand strong mineworkers' strike. The strike riddled the exploiters from their comfort zones. It was four years after the strike and continuous mobilisation against oppression and exploitation that the National Party's apartheid regime banned the Communist Party - the first political organisation to be banned in South Africa. Comrade JB Marks was an outstanding leader of the workers inasmuch as he was a leader of the Communist Party and the ANC. For him there was no contradiction between being a member of a trade union and a worker leader; a member and leader of the Communist Party and the ANC at the same time; and participating in the programmes of these formations. Uncle JB Marks understood that any differences existing on the options regarding what is to be done belonged to the movement as a whole to address, rather than to individual members and leaders personally. Comrade JB Marks was elected our Party National Chairperson at its Fifth Congress in 1962. This is significant in the history of South Africa in many ways. The Congress was held two years just after the apartheid regime banned the ANC. This Congress characterised South Africa as a colony of a special type - a colony in which the coloniser and the colonised lived in the same territory under conditions of separate development defined by apartheid. For South Africa to achieve freedom, it was important to eliminate this colonial relationship as it was to do away with imperialist exploitation. This, 'The Road to South African Freedom' was the programme that Comrade JB Marks made himself available to lead as our National Chairperson. That historic Congress took place just a year (i.e. in terms of numbering) after the SACP and the ANC established our joint armed wing, the people's liberation army, Umkhonto we Sizwe. It was at this Congress that, for the first time our theory of struggle, especially its immediate task - the National Democratic Revolution - was elaborated and its relationship to socialism clearly articulated. The National Democratic Revolution, summing up the collective experience of the Communist Party, our nation liberation movement and the oppressed as a whole, modified the Black Republic Thesis which was adopted in 1929 - a year after Uncle JB Marks joined Party. The main aim of the National Democratic Revolution, said our Fifth Congress which elected Comrade JB Marks our Party's National Chairperson, was: . to achieve the national liberation of the African people in particular and black people in general; . ensure the destruction of the legacy of white supremacy; . build and deepen democracy in every sphere of life; . and transform South Africa into a non-racial and non-sexist society. The completion of the National Democratic Revolution, whose goals were captured in the Freedom Charter in 1955, would lay the indispensable basis for an advance to socialism. The National Democratic Revolution and socialism were seen as mutually reinforcing. The immediate implementation of the struggle for socialism would, in turn, thus boost the advance of the National Democratic Revolution to its logical conclusion. This, is the political and ideological programme that Comrade JB Marks struggled to achieve, and for which he was prepared to lay down his life. He suffered discrimination for his world outlook, including the principle of non-racialism. Comrade JB Marks, the son of a White Afrikaner midwife and an African rail worker, defined himself as an African. As the SACP, we remain the firm adherent of the values Comrade JB Marks fought for. In memory of this gallant internationalist fighter of the working class, we will intensify the struggle for socialism; we will advance, deepen and take responsibility for the National Democratic Revolution. -- -- 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] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
