These are excerpts having to do with the SACP. To read the full interview, go to the CU Chris Hani Archive and view the file online, or download it (8 pages, formatted for booklet printing). _____
<https://studycircle.wikispaces.com/6+CU+Chris+Hani+Archive> CU Chris Hani Archive.png <https://studycircle.wikispaces.com/6+CU+Chris+Hani+Archive> Martin Thembisile "Chris" Hani, 28 June 1942 - 10 April 1993 "The real Chris Hani" Interview of Chris Hani by Vicki Erenstein Ya Toivo 9 December 1991 (Excerpts having to do with the SACP) Introduction The South African Communist Party held its Eighth Congress December 5-8, 1991, in Johannesburg. This was the first open congress held by the SACP since it was declared illegal by the apartheid regime in 1950. Attended by 400 delegates, by the leaders of the SACP's partners in the tripartite alliance, the ANC and COSATU, by international guests and by numerous observers and journalists, the Congress established the SACP's complete emergence from underground and its role as a rapidly growing party of South Africa's working class. Chris Hani, member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC and Chief of Staff of Umkhonto we Sizwe, was elected general secretary of the SACP and former General Secretary Joe Slovo was elected chairman. This interview was conducted by Vicki Erenstein Ya Toivo on Chris Hani's first morning at his new post. Q: The Congress of the SACP has taken place on the eve of CODESA [Convention for a Democratic South Africa], where the question of the transfer of power to the South African people is on the agenda. Is this transfer of power imminent? A: I would be careful about saying that it is imminent. It certainly is an item which looms very high on the agenda of CODESA. The main objective of CODESA as far as the perceptions of the ANC and the Communist Party are concerned is to bring about the speedy transfer of power from the minority to the majority in this country. We say, for instance, that CODESA should consider the creation of a climate for political participation. Second, CODESA should begin to discuss the issue of broad constitutional principles. Third, CODESA should also deal with the issue of an interim government. . THE PARTY CONGRESS Q: Turning to the Party Congress, it was reported that the party has 25,000 members, 95 percent of whom have joined since the public launch of the party in July 1990. How did this tremendous growth happen? Do you expect it to continue? A: We were surprised. The growth exceeded our expectations. But we know the reasons for the support the party is enjoying in this country. We have been principled in the fight against apartheid and white domination in this country. Many Communists sacrificed, they have died in the armed struggle and the mass struggle against apartheid. Communist leaders featured in the different phases of the national liberation struggle. This was a source of tremendous inspiration to the oppressed people within the country. Second, the government did a lot of work for us by labeling us as the main enemies of the state. The government reserved its most vitriolic attacks for the party. It passed the Suppression of Communism Act in 1950 to outlaw the party. We were the first organization to be outlawed in this country. It followed that by banning people under the Suppression Communism Act. It was felt in the minds of the people that Communists were the real enemies of this oppressive state. So the support is also a reaction to the hysterical anti-Communism that exists in this country. But also, our Party, although it was very small for a long time, was very consistent and was ready to sacrifice in the course of the fierce battles against apartheid. But to go back to the question of growth, the growth was in the form of a leap forward from August of this year, when we started to re-establish an organizational core of the party. In June or July of this year, our membership was about seven or eight thousand. But from then on, it took off. After this Congress, I believe that we are going to see a tremendous growth of the party. We have now an elected leadership and will have a Politburo that will pay a lot of attention to the party. We will have a core at party headquarters that will be in dynamic contact with the regions and the branches. We will not remain in our offices all of the time. We will take rounds, visiting the regions, addressing branches and holding seminars with members of the party. We will step up our campaign to deepen political education. We are also going to have a role in mass campaigns, especially those focusing on the plight of the workers and the poor, to demand the release of political prisoners, for houses, against inflation and VAT, demands for the lowering of prices on bread and other essential commodities that are consumed by the poor in this country. We will also build bilateral contacts between the party and the unions affiliated with COSATU to discuss joint strategies between the party and some of these unions and will call upon the regions of the party to maintain close liaison with ANC and COSATU at the branch and regional levels. So the party is going to have a visible profile. Q: You and Chairman Joe Slovo had projected a vision of democratic socialism for South Africa, but the delegates to the Congress voted to remove the adjective "democratic" from the references in the draft constitution and the manifesto to the party's socialist objective. How do you assess this? A: I don't think that a lot should be read into the decision to remove the adjective "democratic." We should read rather the contributions of the delegates as to why the adjective [changed to "word" D Ed.] democratic should be removed. You must remember that there was a clear commitment on the part of the delegates to the democratization of the party. We equally declared our commitment to a multi-party system of government. We even said that the party must recognize the right of each and every party to exist and organize in South Africa. We said that even in our quest for a leading role in society that we would do this in competition or contest with other political organizations or formations. But the majority of delegates felt that we must not say because of the distortions of socialism that have occurred that therefore socialism is not democratic. They are arguing that socialism as defined or explained by its founding fathers is democratic and that by saying "democratic" socialism you are implying that socialism is inherently undemocratic. And they feel that we are beginning to feel guilty about what is happening in the Soviet Union and the other Eastern European countries as if we are arguing that it was socialism that was responsible for all the problems they had. I remember one delegate stood up to say that we must not confuse the tool with the worker; that if a worker makes a mistake using that tool, it is not the fault of the tool, but the fault of the worker; that the distortions were due to the subjective mistakes of the Communist parties or socialist parties of Eastern Europe and that socialism remains basically a champion of democracy and the rights of the people, especially the working people. This was put to the vote and the argument that "democratic" should be removed prevailed, despite the fact that Joe and myself felt that given the present situation of what has happened in Europe we ought to emphasize our commitment to democracy by including the adjective. But I think the comrades are emphasizing that it is not the adjective but our own practice in building the Communist Party, in our own program, in accepting pluralism, in accepting competition with other parties for a leading role in the society, in other words, it is going to be our own democratic practices which are going to show whether we are democratic or not. Visit the CU Chris Hani Archive at: https://studycircle.wikispaces.com/6+CU+Chris+Hani+Archive To download the Vicki Ehrenreich ya Toivo Hani interview in full (PDF), Click here <http://studycircle.wikispaces.com/file/view/The%20real%20Chris%20Hani%2C%20 Interview%20by%20Vicki%20Erenstein%20Ya%20Toivo%2C%209%20December%201991.pdf /578350805/The%20real%20Chris%20Hani%2C%20Interview%20by%20Vicki%20Erenstein %20Ya%20Toivo%2C%209%20Decemb> -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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