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Umsebenzi Online, Volume 14, No. 51, 1 December 2015
In this issue:
· National and class struggle: Remembering Joe Slovo
· Class Struggle and National Struggle by Joe Slovo
Red Alert:
National and Class Struggle:
Remembering Joe Slovo
http://www.sacp.org.za/pubs/umsebenzi/images/umsebenzi_hand.gif
BY ALEX MASHILO
On January 6 the SACP will be commemorating the 21st anniversary of its
renowned leader Comrade Joe Slovo, who was also a leader of the ANC and the
joint ANC-SACP armed-wing uMkhonto weSizwe. The first commemoration event will
be held the Avalon Cemetery in the proletarian area that is mainly black,
Soweto in Johannesburg which he chose to be his final place of rest. Umsebenzi
Online is carrying extracts of his intellectual work as part of the
commemoration process.
In his work we are publishing today, ‘The South African Working Class and the
National Democratic Revolution’ published in 1988, Slovo clarified the
relationship between the national and class struggle and the national
democratic revolution and socialism respectively. Again the National Congress
of Cosatu that was held last week could not have come at the right time. This
was one of the matters considered by the congress and further came out from the
speeches delivered by alliance partners, in particular SACP General Secretary
Comrade Blade Nzimande and ANC President Comrade Jacob Zuma.
Important matters of discourse could be helpful both to introduce Comrade
Slovo’s extract we are carrying today and to engage with some of the views on
this important question relating to our liberation struggle and alliance.
Discourse
Prior to the our democratic breakthrough in 1994 SACP constitution described
the main content of the national democratic revolution as the national
liberation of the African people in particular, and the black people in
general. After the apartheid regime was dislodged in 1994, it was amended to
describe the main content of the national democratic revolution and its aim as
that of completing the national liberation of the African people in particular
and black people in general, to ensure the destruction of the legacy of white
supremacy, and the strengthening of democracy in every sphere of life.
Since the 1994 democratic breakthrough, reference to, or the term ‘oppressed
people’ increasingly shifted to reference to or was increasingly replaced by
term ‘historically oppressed’ or ‘historically disadvantaged’. This is how the
phrase ‘the whole of the oppressed’ or to some extent even the
‘nationally-dominated’ (although this remains valid statistically in economic
terms as well as the continuing legacy of the past) should also be understood
in its current context. It would therefore read the whole of the historically
oppressed or disadvantaged.
In programmatic terms, the concepts national oppression or domination and
consequently reference to the elimination of national oppression or domination
as a condition that was imposed and enforced by the colonial or apartheid state
of South Africa during its reign pre-1994 were post-1994 increasingly replaced
by the term the legacy of national oppression or domination – and its
elimination. Thus the problem (of national oppression or domination) was not
necessarily eradicated in 1994 when the apartheid state was dislodged. It
continued to exist, through its legacy and other channels.
Those who maintained their belief in racial superiority continued, and to this
day, to commit racist acts. Some sections among them are wielding the economic
advantages that they have gained or inherited from the history of national
oppression or domination to do so. But, as during colonial oppression and
apartheid, some of them have found, albeit unequal partners from among the
ranks of the historically oppressed or disadvantaged who are actively
collaborating with them especially with regard to their economic – i.e. class,
interests.
As it happened under apartheid, the interests of the black “partners” in class
exploitation are subordinate. In equity terms, they are only a fraction of the
whole untransformed capitalist and imperialist ownership structure in which
they either have been co-opted or inserted themselves. But because these new
black bourgeoisie class interests are dependent on the success of the whole
capitalist stake (from which the historically disadvantaged majority remains
not only exploited but is both excluded and marginalised), their new historical
mission is to function as intermediaries and the political capital of those who
ultimately wield greater economic power.
This section of the national – i.e., in the context of South Africa black,
bourgeoisie, therefore stands between the established colonial-era and
imperialist bourgeoisie who ultimately wield greater economic power on the one
hand and on the other the masses of the low wage workers, the unemployed and
the poor. Their wealth accumulation is as dependent on these three necessary
conditions, products and levers of capitalist exploitation as it is with the
colonial-era and imperialist bourgeoisie with which they are now in
partnership. In this context, the primary class interests for instance which
are opposed to the banning of labour brokers are, notwithstanding the
complexities of constitutional challenges, not those of trade unions or workers
but those of the whole of the bourgeoisie – black and white – who depend on the
exploitation of workers and such practices in order to accumulate wealth.
The ideology of narrow nationalism
The problem of the ideology of narrow nationalism, which is in fact at the same
time its major, pitfall, is that it is not opposed to the entire structure of
colonialism – whose most complex form is imperialism. In particular, narrow
nationalism is not opposed to colonialism’s mode of production which is
capitalism and is therefore not committed to complete de-colonisation.
What the narrow nationalists seek is simply their inclusion in the ownership
and control structures of this mode of production – that is what they refer to
as “de-colonisation”, (“economic”) “freedom” and of course “democracy” on the
basis of regular elections. Let us recall that in our land capitalism is a
colonial mode of production, and was the basis both of colonialism and
apartheid. Its highest stage, as Vladimir Lenin put it succinctly, is
imperialism. For the majority of the exploited cannot claim to be free! That is
why the struggle will and has to continue.
The ANC rejected the ideology of narrow nationalism as far back as 1969. In its
Strategy and Tactics document adopted at its Consultative Conference held in
exile in Morogoro, Tanzania, the ANC said: “…our nationalism must not be
confused with chauvinism or narrow nationalism... It must not be confused with
the classical drive by an elitist group among the oppressed people to gain
ascendancy so that they can replace the oppressor in the exploitation of the
mass”. The ANC was very clear when it went on in that Strategy and Tactics
document to conclude that:
“Our drive towards national emancipation is therefore in a very real way bound
up with economic emancipation. We have suffered more than just national
humiliation. Our people are deprived of their due in the country's wealth;
their skills have been suppressed and poverty and starvation have been their
life experience. The correction of these centuries-old economic injustices lies
at the very core of our national aspirations. We do not underestimate the
complexities which will face a people's government during the transformation
period nor the enormity of the problems of meeting economic needs of the mass
of the oppressed people. But one thing is certain - in our land this cannot be
effectively tackled unless the basic wealth and the basic resources are at the
disposal of the people as a whole and are not manipulated by sections or
individuals be they White or Black.”
To be committed to this scientific clarity is to remain true to the fundamental
tenets and values of the ANC!
Related to this, it is important to recall that class struggle is not an
abstract but a concrete phenomenon. To expect that the working class must be
blind to a section of the exploiters simply because their skin colour is black
is to misunderstand the whole picture. And let this be said, some of those
exploiters have proven to be the worst and politically ruthless in
post-colonial societies. This is true to our unfolding post-apartheid South
Africa.
Class contradictions are inherent between the exploiters and the exploited. And
as the current ANC Strategy and Tactics document adopted in Polokwane and
Mangaung in 2007 and 2012 sums it up, class struggle is bound to become acute
during certain periods of time. The only thing that the document partly gets
wrong in this respect is its proposition that the role of the state is to
mediate. This cannot be absolute and given for all the time. It is the balance
of power that ultimately determines the role of the state in this process of
class struggle. Whichever class gains an upper hand will use the state to
pursue its class interests and to hold down the other class if that is
possible. Under conditions where the balance of power make that not immediately
possible there will be compromises.
In the same vein, it is inconceivable to suggest that the tripartite alliance
of the ANC, SACP and Cosatu is immune from the wider phenomenon of the class
struggle taking place in society. For instance it is itself a class position
not to express concern and act against attacks, isolation, marginalisation and
exploitation of the working class but to express concern when it starts to
defend itself.
A revolutionary who clearly understands the science of materialist dialectics
appreciates the character of the tripartite alliance in terms of the dialectic
of unity and interpenetration of opposites as it is with the relationship
between workers and capitalists in production. While the classes in alliance
need one another to achieve the shared purpose of their unity, each of them is
pushing very hard to secure its own class interests which are contradictory to
those of the other class. Major problems arise and become acute when, as it
happened towards the ANC Polokwane National Conference, state institutions are
abused in the equation.
The relationship between national and class struggle is not a binary two stage
process – national and class later. The renowned SACP, uMkhonto weSizwe and ANC
leader Comrade Joe Slovo clarified this as far back as 1988 in his pamphlet The
South African Working Class and the National Democratic Revolution.
· Alex Mohubetswane Mashilo is SACP National Spokesperson and Head of
Communications, and writes in his capacity as a Professional Revolutionary
Class Struggle and National Struggle
BY JOE SLOVO, 1988
The South African Communist Party, in its 1984 constitution, declares that its
aim is to lead the working class towards the strategic goal of establishing a
socialist republic 'and the more immediate aim of winning the objectives of the
national democratic revolution which is inseparably linked to it'. The
constitution describes the main content of the national democratic revolution
as:
'...the national liberation of the African people in particular, and the black
people in general, the destruction of the economic and political power of the
racist ruling class, and the establishment of one united state of people's
power in which the working class will be the dominant force and which will move
uninterruptedly towards social emancipation and the total abolition of
exploitation of man by man'.
The national democratic revolution – the (immediate task of our) struggle in
our country is a revolution of the whole oppressed people. This does not mean
that the oppressed 'people' can be regarded as a single or homogeneous entity.
The main revolutionary camp in the immediate struggle is made up of different
classes and strata (overwhelmingly black) which suffer varying forms and
degrees of national oppression and economic exploitation. The camp of those who
benefit from, and support, national domination is also divided into classes.
Of course, the long-term interests of the diverse classes and strata of the
revolutionary camp do not necessarily coincide. They do not have the same
consistency and commitment even to the immediate objectives of the democratic
revolution. It is obviously from within the ranks of the black middle and upper
strata that the enemy will look for sources of collaboration.
But, in general, it remains true that our national democratic revolution
expresses the broad objective interests not only of the working class but also
of most of the other classes within the nationally-dominated majority,
including the black petit-bourgeoisie and significant strata of the emergent
black bourgeoisie. This reality provides the foundation for a struggle which
aims to mobilise to its side all the oppressed classes and strata as
participants in the national liberation alliance.
We believe that the working class is both an indispensable part and the leading
force of such a liberation alliance. But its relations with other classes and
strata cannot be conditional on the acceptance by them of socialist aims. The
historic programme which has evolved to express the common immediate
aspirations of all the classes of the oppressed people is the Freedom Charter.
This document is not, in itself, a programme for socialism, even though… it can
provide a basis for uninterrupted advance to a socialist future.
The recent surge in workers' organisation and socialist thinking has
highlighted some important questions.
· Does the immediate emphasis on the national democratic revolution
imply that the working class should abandon class struggle in favour of
national struggle?
· Are socialist objectives being shelved in favour of a struggle for
so-called bourgeois democracy?
· Which class must play the vanguard role in our democratic revolution?
* Above all, how can the independent class role of the working class be
safeguarded in a period demanding inter-class alliances?
The answer to these questions and the key to a correct determination of
strategy and tactics in our present situation requires a correct grasp of the
relationship between class and national struggle.
If we pose the question by asking only whether our struggle is a national
struggle or a class struggle, we will inevitably get a wrong answer. The right
question is: what is the relationship between these two categories. A failure
to understand the class content of the national struggle and the national
content of the class struggle in existing conditions can hold back the advance
of both the democratic and socialist transformations which we seek.
The immediate primacy of the struggle against race tyranny flows from the
concrete realities of our existing situation. The concept of national
domination is not a mystification to divert us from class approaches; it
infects every level of class exploitation. Indeed, it divides our working class
into colour compartments. Therefore, unusual categories such as 'white working
class' and 'black working class' are not 'unscientific' but simply describe the
facts.
National domination is maintained by a ruling class whose state apparatus
protects the economic interests and social privileges of all classes among the
white minority. It denies the aspiration of the African people towards a single
nationhood and, in its place, attempts to perpetuate tribalism and ethnicity.
These, and a host of related practices, are the visible daily manifestations of
national domination. These practices affect the status and life of every black
in every class. It is, however, the black working class which, in practice,
suffers the most intense form of national domination. And those who dismiss the
fight against national domination as the key immediate mobilising factor of our
working class are living in an unreal world of their own.
It is encouraging to observe the recent spread of an understanding of the link
between national domination and class exploitation among organised sectors of
the working class. This spread is due primarily to the heightened experiences
of the struggle against race domination in the recent period.
Socialist ideas take root not just through book knowledge but through struggle
around day-to-day issues. And, for those who have to live the hourly realities
and humiliations of race tyranny (at the point of production, in the townships,
in the street, etc.) there is no issue more immediate and relevant than the
experience of national oppression. This is certainly the starting point of
political consciousness for every black worker.
It is mainly in the actual struggle against national oppression that its class
roots can be grasped most effectively. It is that struggle which illuminates
most brightly the underlying relationship in our country between capitalism and
national domination.
Class struggle in a period of capitalist hegemony is, in the long run, a
political struggle for the ultimate winning of power by the working people. But
the content of this class struggle does not remain fixed for all time; it is
dictated by the concrete situation at a given historical moment. We cannot
confine the meaning of class struggle to those rare moments when the immediate
winning of socialist power is on the agenda. When workers engage in the
national struggle to destroy race domination they are surely, at the same time,
engaging in class struggle.
Class struggle does not fade into the background when workers forge alliances
with other class forces on commonly agreed minimum programmes. The history of
all struggles consists mainly of such interim phases. What is the essence of
conflict during such phases if not class struggle? There is no such thing as
'pure' class struggle and those who seek it can only do so from the isolating
comfort of a library arm-chair. The idea that social revolutions involve two
neatly-labelled armies was dealt with by Lenin with bitter irony:
“So one army lines up in one place and says ‘we are for socialism’ and another,
somewhere else and says, ‘we are for imperialism’, and that will be a social
revolution! ... Whoever expects a ‘pure’ social revolution will never live to
see it. Such a person pays lip-service to revolution without understanding what
revolution is”.
When we exhort our working class to devote its main energies (in alliance with
the other nationally oppressed classes) to the immediate task of winning
national liberation, we are certainly not diluting the class struggle or
retreating from it. On the contrary, we are advancing and reinforcing it in the
only manner which is practicable at the present time.
Nor are we putting off the socialist revolution by an emphasis on the national
democratic objectives of the immediate phase of struggle. In the words of
Lenin, answering critics of Bolshevik policy on the primacy of the democratic
revolution, 'we are not putting (the socialist revolution) off but are taking
the first steps towards it in the only possible way, along with the correct
path, namely the path of a democratic republic'. Our immediate emphasis on the
struggle for democracy and 'People's Power' is an essential prerequisite for
the longer-term advance towards a socialist transformation.
But national liberation is, at the same time, a short-term class imperative for
the working people. Because the tyranny of national oppression weighs more
heavily on South Africa's doubly- exploited working class than on any other
working class, its destruction by the shortest route possible is, in itself, in
the deepest class interests of our proletariat. Both immediately and in the
long-term, our working class stands to gain more from the ending of national
domination than any other class among the oppressed.
These realities help define the main form and content of the workers' class
struggle at the present historical moment and the kind of alliances necessary
to advance working class objectives. A 'class struggle' which ignores these
truths can only be fought out in the lecture-room and not in the actual arena
of struggle.
But the need to concentrate on the present does not imply an abandonment or
disregard for the future. Participation by the working class in the democratic
revolution (involving alliances, minimum programmes, etc.) does not imply a
dilution of its independent class positions.
There is, moreover, no need for the spread of socialist awareness among the
working people to be postponed during the phase emphasising the democratic
transformation – a belief falsely attributed to our Party by some of its
left-wing critics. During this period it is vital to maintain and deepen
working class understanding of the interdependence between national liberation
and social emancipation.
It follows from the above that the participation of our working class and its
political vanguard in the liberation alliance is both a long-term and
short-term class necessity. The SACP's involvement in such an alliance is not,
as our left-wing critics allege, a form of 'tailism' or 'populism'. Nor, as our
right-wing detractors would have it, is it an opportunistic ploy to camouflage
our so-called 'hidden agenda' and to use the ANC merely as a stepping stone to
socialism.
We have never made a secret of our belief that the shortest route to socialism
is via a democratic state. But, as already mentioned, the SACP takes part in
the alliance for yet another extremely cogent reason; our belief that the
elimination of national domination (which is the prime objective of the
Alliance) is, at the same time, the most immediate class concern of our
proletariat.
· A Marxist-Leninist intellectual par excellence, Cde Joe Slovo was the
General Secretary of the SACP, National Chairperson and leader of the uMkhonto
weSizwe (MK), the people's liberation army, a joint ANC-SACP armed-wing. Slovo
became the first minister of housing after the first democratic general
election held in South Africa, in 1994 and died a year later on 6 January 1995.
This is an excerpt of his pamphlet ‘The South African Working Class and the
National Democratic Revolution’ published in 1988. The full pamphlet is
accessible from SACP website <http://www.sacp.org.za> www.sacp.org.za and the
Marxist Internet Archive
https://www.marxists.org/subject/africa/slovo/1988/national-democratic-revolution.htm
Umsebenzi Online is the online voice of the South African working class
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