SACPblackStar.jpg South African Communist Party, Rustenburg, 9 January 2016 Full SACP solidarity message by General Secretary Cde Blade Nzimande at the 104th anniversary rally of the African National Congress The South African Communist Party, the SACP - the oldest and largest Communist Party on the African continent - brings its revolutionary message of solidarity to the African National Congress, the ANC, on the occasion of its 104th anniversary. The SACP, the oldest and largest political organisation in South Africa after the ANC, and its longest, historical principal ally, says to the ANC - the oldest liberation movement on the African continent, its entire membership and support base, we wish you the best for many more years to come! Dear Comrades, the SACP has been with the ANC in the real theatre of struggle as a dependable ally for the most part of its 94 years of existence - since the 1920s. This year, 2016, marks the 95th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party in July 1921. The SACP has survived the most ruthless, deadly and longest attacks from the brutal enemies that the apartheid regime and its class allies were, not to speak of other hostile, anti-communist forces. Today the apartheid regime and many of those hostile, anti-communist forces are no more. Of course we also learned from our many years of existence as the SACP, that there are people who do not want to learn anything from the teachings of history. As the greatest revolutionary theoretician, Karl Marx reminds us elsewhere, history does repeat itself, but first as tragedy, second as farce. We are very happy that the SACP is in fact consistently growing - and at a faster pace than ever before. We are building the SACP to become a larger, vanguard party in pursuit of the completion of our shared national democratic revolution and leading our struggle for scientific socialism successfully. This is why the SACP has not only grown in membership. The Party has also grown in its capacity to take up struggle campaigns to change for the better, the conditions of the downtrodden, the exploited and the poor in general. Today, the SACP has the largest extra-parliamentary campaign base, co-ordinated to drive and intensify our democratic transformation. Dear comrades, without each one of our alliance components building themselves strong the alliance will not become strong. The SACP is happy that it has been able to carry out this work both as the party and, through its cadres, beyond its own ranks. Hundreds of thousands of communist cadres, in their independent right as trade unionists and ANC members, have contributed immensely in building both the progressive trade union movement and the ANC while concurrently building and developing the SACP. Today, on this occasion of the 104th founding anniversary and continued existence of the ANC, we are indeed not only celebrating this important milestone of the ANC as our ally, as another organisation outside us. We are also celebrating this milestone of the ANC as our own organisation that we ourselves have been involved in defending and building over many years to become the giant it is today. This work we are prepared to continue with the highest degree of loyalty, commitment and dedication. We will continue to take our cue from great communist leaders such as Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Ray Alexander and Jack Simons, Moses Mabhida, Moses Kotane, JB Marks, Govan Mbeki, Dora Tamana and countless more! The SACP remains committed to our strategic alliance with the ANC and the progressive trade union movement led by COSATU as well as the civic movement under the leadership of SANCO. We firmly believe that this alliance is the most appropriate and suited organisational expression to lead our people to complete the course of the struggle for national liberation to its logical conclusion. This, the achievement of the goals of the Freedom Charter - our shared, guiding vision (which is to the ANC the ultimate goal but to the SACP a medium term vision) - remains the most direct and shortest route to scientific socialism under the unique conditions of our country!! Similar to the SACP, but as well as to COSATU and the ANC too, our Alliance has endured a barrage of attacks from a variety of quarters. Others, in doing so are only motivated by self-serving ambitions for personal advancement at the expense of the alliance and our people as a whole. In this group, we are among others to find the most corrupt elements, who are interested in looting public resources, in plunder and patronage as a form of bribery to ascend to state power and maintain factional grip on it in pursuit of their selfish interests. As the SACP, we remain committed to our last alliance summit declaration on fighting factionalism. We also agree wholeheartedly with the resolutions of the recent ANC National General Council dealing with this threat to our revolution as well as its Siamese twins, corruption and patronage. Let us anchor our Alliance both in forging collective thinking and in action! Celebrations are important, but such celebrations on their own simply become rituals without clear commitment to practical programmes of action aimed at sustained mobilisation of our people to create a better life for all. As the SACP, we call upon the ANC and our Alliance as a whole not to be distracted by factional politics, by our enemies and other detractors, but remain focused on what unites us now, the necessity to drive a second, more radical, phase of our democratic transition. As a united force we need to transform our economy to create jobs and other forms of sustainable livelihoods. Let us work together to address and finally resolve the problems of persisting crisis levels of inequality, unemployment and poverty. Since 1994, we have made huge progress in the area of social delivery. However, there has been a lack of economic transformation to support this just cause. Ownership patterns in our economy remain largely unchanged except for a few individuals who have been inserted in the untransformed ownership structures on a private basis. Management control and many professions in industry still largely reflect the history of the apartheid workplace. Our economy is still largely dependent on the export of raw materials to the extent that it becomes very sick or incapable to meet government commitments when the prices of those raw materials fall. We are still hugely dependent on the imports of finished products and production dominance if not complete private monopoly or oligopoly in certain sectors by multinational corporations. We have not developed national self-sufficiency. This is a threat to our revolution and the very same social advances we have achieved since 1994. Our Alliance economic resolutions must be implemented in earnest. As the SACP, we are saying let us work together and mobilise our society against racism. It is very clear, that there are still many people, typical examples being those in the so-called Democratic Alliance, the DA, who are calling on PW Botha to come back, who are glorifying apartheid, who are calling black people monkeys, and who are refusing to part ways with racism. Much as we support the ANC's call to pass legislation to criminalise racism, as the SACP we say the foundations of the struggle against racism must be the intensification of the struggle for thoroughgoing economic transformation. For us as the SACP the struggle against racism must essentially be a struggle against capitalism. Capitalism, racism and patriarchy are the three tripartite partners in evil. We must fight all of them together! This is why, as the SACP, we are firmly saying the second radical phase of our democratic transition must principally be about a radical overhaul of our economy, in favour of the workers and poor of our country. This year, dear comrades, is the year for local government elections. The SACP will campaign tirelessly for the victory of our alliance and democratic people as led by the ANC. We are calling on the ANC to ensure that its processes and principles of selecting councillors are fully complied with and are not abused or manipulated by any person or grouping. We urge the ANC to ensure that no unpopular candidate councillors are imposed on our structures and communities. This will enhance unity not only of the ANC but of the alliance and our communities as a whole! Dear comrades, we are allies: Let us maintain an ever sharpening focus on the primary opponents of our revolution and primary enemy in all its manifestation! Our Alliance has historically been attacked by the enemies of its purposeful unity and its strategic opponents. They are fundamentally opposed to the very purpose for which it was established. They do this because, they, and correctly so, believe that divided we will fall and open space for them to prosper or rebound from the setbacks they have suffered from our democratic breakthrough. None of our Alliance partners can go it alone and on their own succeed without the rest of our unity! This is why, on this occasion of the 104th anniversary of the ANC, we are saying: 'Let us unite as the Alliance, its individual components, and all the motive forces of our revolution, behind our shared perspective to place our democratic transition on to a second, more radical phase!!' 'Let us work together, both through collective decision-making and in practice to guide and take our revolution forward - for there is no other road to the final victory of our shared struggle!!' The SACP says: Halala ANC halala!!! Long live ANC long live!! Rephelele ANC rephelele!! Issued by the SACP Contact: Alex Mashilo, National Spokesperson, 082 920 0308 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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