The people's anger
Even as these lines are being written, the news is coming over the radio that armed troops and police are being permanently deployed in the black townships of the Eastern Cape, the scene of the recent and continuing violence triggered off by the massacre of 19 people, peacefully marching in a funeral procession on March 21 - the twenty-fifth anniversary of the fateful Sharpeville shootings in 1960, when 69 people were slaughtered and 180 wounded under a hail of machine gun fire.
are completely mobile and can be moved to other areas should the need
The necessity for this move was spelled out by the minister for law and order, Lous Le Grange, when he justified the deployment of 7,000 armed troops and police in the townships of the Vaal triangle, with his statement to the South African parliament that South Africa 'was moving into a
SOUTH AFRICA potentially revolutionary situation? 'NDABENI
The main causes of the growing tension in the townships are undoubtedly economic. South Africa is experiencing a deep recession. Unemployment is rising. In 1983 unemployment had reached two well over three million. The great majority of the black workers in South Africa are not covered by unemployment insurance. The 1980 Report of the department of manpower (sic) estimates 3,590,849 out of an economically active population of 9,490,000 were covered. Of those not receiving any benefit when unemployed, the vast majority are black
Inflation was standing at over 12% even before the recent budget, which worsened conditions by increasing sales tax, the price of petrol, postage costs, ete. - all of which contributes to rising prices generally. Over the past two years there have been several increases of rent and taxes in the black townships.
When to these increasing economic hardships are added the perennial grievances of the black population - the pass laws; the forced removals and influx control; the humiliations piled on them by the inhuman apartheid laws - it is easy to undestand why the situation has reached boiling point.
The government is reacting almost hysterically to the situation which has developed in the Eastern Cape. Since the shooting of the 19 black marchers on March 21, at least forty more blacks have been killed by police action. The total death toll in South Africa this year already exceeds 300-and this is only April.
It is impossible to understand what is happening in South Africa today without the developments over the past decade or so. Above all it is necessary International Viewpoint 22 April 1985
These armed forces to understand the changes in the relationships between classes and within classes; between the state and the economy within the state itself.
When the (Afrikaner) National Party took power in 1948, the party was based on a class alliance of white (mainly Afrikaner) farmers, white workers and the emerging Afrikaner petty bourgeoisie. The economic needs of this alliance were ideologially expressed through the apartheid legislation of the 1950s. What was required was a deepening of the existing 'colour bar' legislation, which preserved skilled work and managerial positions for the white workers; and which ensured a supply of cheap, unskilled labour for the mines and farms by developing the labour reserves in the proposed bantustans in order to perpetuate the hegemony of the white minority - and within this of the still smaller Afrikaner sector - in the exercise of state power through Verwoerd's concept of 'baaskap.
But, almost from the day it came into power, the National Government began to create the conditions which have landed it in its present predicament. Through state enterprises and lavish state aid, it set about the task of developing the Afrikaner petty bourgeoisie into a fully fledged capitalist class. Inevitably, this led to a convergence between the newly emergent Afrikaner capitalism and the established 'English' and foreign monopoly capital.
First under Vorster and then at an accelerating under Botha, Nationalist Party has become increasingly the party of monopoly capital. turn has meant that monopoly capital has become dominant at the level of state
With the change in the class relationship of the ruling alliance came a change in the needs of the economy. Instead of the need for cheap, unskilled migrant labour there was now a growing demand for a smaller, semi-skilled, skilled and
This process is, of course, far from complete and has not touched large sectors of the economy but the general trend is there, stimulated by the need for the South African economy to remain competitive in the world increasingly sophisticated and laboursaving technology.
The changes in the economic structure have also resulted in the emergence of a small black capitalist class and a somewhat larger layer of black petty-bourgeois who have been incorporated into the existing capitalist enterprises, mainly as managers and skilled professionals. In the urban areas we have seen the establishment of a relatively privileged working class — i.e. privileged as compared to the mass of unemployed and 'subsistence' producers in the so-called homelands.
With these fundamental changes in the economic and class relationships, Verwoerd model of absolute apartheid began to show cracks. The state, now acting in the interests of monopoly capital, saw. the need to try to split the more privileged sectors of the black population. This was the prime motive for the moves which culminated in the new constitution and the establishment of 'autoncommunal authorities in the townships. The need for change was also impressed on the ruling class by the explosion of anger in the black communities during the 1976 uprisings (Soweto). It became clear even to the traditionally conservative Afrikaner nationalist that some sort of change was really necessary.
The deepening organic crisis led the dominant classes to seek new alliances and policies. The exclusive white parliastructure no longer met the 5
The new constitution, which provided for a tri-cameral parliament - one for whites, one for 'Coloureds' and one for Indians, had a two-fold purpose. It was of the grand strategy to create a split in the oppressed. But it also sought to get the white middle class and white the idea of this strategy was aptly defined by H. Giliomee, at a Conference on Economic Development and Racial Domination, held at the University of the Western Cape in October 1984, as trying to find the secret of sharing power without losing control.'
Botha's aim of using the elections to the 'Coloured' and Indian sectors of the oppressed in order to give legitimacy and credibility to the Coloured and Indian collaborators and to further the aim of creating divisions received a short sharp answer from the 'Coloured' and Indian voters. Under 20% of those eligible for the vote went to the polls. No single party in the Coloured or Indian chambers of the new parliament got more than about 5% of the vote. In no way could it be claimed that they were legitimate representatives of the oppressed and
There was also a further purpose in the government's Protests against policies throughout the world were bringing pressure on governments in Europe, America, Australia, etc., and on multi-nationals with big investments in South Africa. South Africa's imperialist friends were forced to voice their disquiet racist regime and to apply gentle pressure for some changes. These pressures became more acute after events like Sharpeville and Soweto showed the vulnerability of the regime to revolt from within - revolt which, if successful, would not only put an end to apartheid but to the capitalist system with which it is enmeshed. Changes in ruling class alliances
Botha's answer was the new constitution. This was quickly hailed as a 'step forward. In fact, it was nothing of the kind.
Although ostensibly • widening the franchise, the new constitution actually dilutes the already restricted power of representative institutions in South Africa. In addition to the three-chamber parliament, it also provided for a dominant executive president who would be chosen exclusively by the white chamber and, in practice, by the largest party in that house. Under the former Westminstertype constitution, if prime ministers lost a parliamentary majority, they would either have had to resign or form a minority (or coalition) government. Under the new constitution, the National Party would be able to exercise full power even if it only has 34% of seats in the white chamber, except in the unlikely event of the Progressive Party blocking with the extreme right-wing parties. With the 6 president and cabinet no longer answerable to parliament, the white electorate abdicated some ot its power to the new oligarchy, which is closely integrated with the military. reaction of the Indian and people to the new constitution was a great blow to the government. abstention at the polls was a positive demonstration for black unity.
The changes in the class alliances of the dominant classes do not mean that apartheid is being dismantled or that the process has even begun. capitalism is based on the exploitation of a labour force still largely defined in
Economically, still crucially dependent on agricultural products, which earn the foreign exchange needed for the purchase of goods for the
As stated in the Document of the Fourth International 'Land
Revolution' Viewpoint, No 25, 7 March 1983), South Africa remains a dependent capitalist
Because the South African economy is integrated into the world capitalist economy, South Africa, despite its gold reserves, cannot escape the effects of the crisis which has prevailed in the capitalist
Since 1948, the South African state has been dominated by the National Party and because it has adapted to the changing demands of the changing econthis domination is not threatened from the side of the white
It controls the largest and most efficient military machine in Africa and a police force well versed in the ways and means of brutal repression and an allencompassing net of security laws. While a significant proportion of white South Africa is prepared to see some cosmetic trimming of the worst features of apartheid, as they indicated when 60% voted for the Botha Constitution, they look to the National privileges and the reality of continued
The other side of the picture to the development of the ruling class alliances the past decade is the changes which have manifested themselves among
In the 1960s, after Sharpeville, the main liberation organisations, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan-African Congress (PAC) were banned and their leaders incarcerated in the hell-hole of Robben Island. The Communist Partydominated South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) withered in the climate of repression and today only as a grouping in exile. the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) appeared to fill the vacuum left by the banning of the traditional organisations. It too was banned in October 1977.
The first decade after Sharpeville was one of quiescence in the black political
Deprived of leadership, subjected to ferocious oppressive laws, the regime appeared to have achieved its objective of taming the black revolt.
wave of strikes which swept Durban in 1973 marked the beginning of the upturn in the struggle of the oppres sed against their oppressors, with the working class now emerging in the vanguard of the struggle. From Durban the strike wave spread to engulf the main urban centres. From January 1973 to mid-1976, over 200,000 Black workers went on strike. The overwhelming major ity of strikers were Africans but a sizeable number of Indian and Coloured workers also involved. From the Durban strikes of 1973 can be dated the re-birth of the trade union movement South Africa's black workers, despite the initial set-backs - in 1974 and 1976 trade union leaders in key unions were banned and prevented from taking part in union movements for five years -the unions took root and grew.
The state, of course, did not stand idly by while these developments were
Union officials and shop floor activists have at times been savagely attacked but the government was faced with a dilemma. The shortage of skilled white labour has made industry more dependent on the skills of black workers. While in the 1960s, when the resistance movement was at its nadir, an entire workforce could be dismissed and replaced without cost, this was now no longer a feasible option. With the recognition of their economic strength, the organisation of black workers reflected the growing confidence of the workers. As a black worker at General Motors commented, 'Our strength is in the economy. We have the power to bring the economy to its
As a consequence, the black unions have been able to breach the state's apparatus of labour control and repression Union organisers simply ignored laws strikes illegal and which excluded black workers from the state controlled system of industry-wide wage government brought in legislation which effectively legalised black trade unions, under certain limited conditions. 1983, African trade unions claimed 545,000 members as against 360,000 in 1981. Since these figures were published, the unions have continued to grow and the National Union of Mineworkers - the first legal organisation of black miners, claims a membership of over 50,000.
Parallel to the growth of the black unions, has been the revival of The first open manifestation of this was the founding of
People's Organisation (AZAPO) in April 1978. Although it had in the Black Consciousness Movement, there were some marked differ-
The old BCM had preached One people, one Azania.' Azapo recognised that there had developed some class differentiations within the black camp, and that some blacks would collaborate with the authorities because it was in their class interests to do so. They also
International Viewpoint 22 April 1985
recognised the importance of trade unions as an instrument that can bring about the redistribution of power.' AZAPO, they claimed 'has taken the Black Consciouness beyond the phase of Black awareness into class struggle?
This past decade has also seen the mushrooming of student, youth, community, women's organisations and orgainsations in support of political detainees.
The revival of the national liberation movement received a great impetus with the formation of two nation-wide bodies, the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum (NF). Broadly speaking, UDF can be characterised as a Charterist tendency because its platform embraces the Freedom Charter adopted by the Congress Alliance, of which the African National Congress and the Transvaal Indian Congress formed major constituents, in 1961. The Charter recognises and allows for 'national groups' in the broad South African spectrum. They hold that these ethnic groups are a South African reality and that the task confronting all South Africans is to build on the common desire for full democracy among all race groups and unite them in a national drive to win political freedom for all. The NF of which AZAPO forms the principal constituent, maintains that this is simply a mirror image of the apartheid state which is also based on the recognition of these ethnic differences.
AZAPO and NF have been accused of being anti-white. This is certainly not true of NF because one of its affiliates is the Cape Action League, which has members of all ethnic groups in its ranks. International Viewpoint 22 April 1985
But AZAPO also denies that it is antiwhite, agrees that whites have a role to play in the liberation struggle but insist that role must be confined to their own community. "Democratic Whites' should mobilise their own communities and not try to guide blacks. They point to instances where the UDF have made demands on its black affiliates, such as the boycott of exams by black students during the stay-away strikeslast November, calling on the black students to make sacrifices for the struggle' but did not ask the white National Union of Students (NUSAS), which is affiliated to UDF to join in the struggle.
There are also marked differences in the strategies of the two groups. While the liberation struggle is an end in itself to the Charterists, the National Forum is more concerned with a direct attack on the capitalist system. It is capitalism, it says, which oppresses the working class (which is mainly black) while the owners of the means of production are mainly white. Liberation in itself, the Forum argues, has done little to help the downtrodden workers in most African countries. The struggle against apartheid is no more than a point of departure in the liberation effort.
The UDF, undoubtedly, has much the more effective publicity machine. Although AZAPO, the trade unions, the Cape Action League played an effective role in the struggle against the new constitution and the boycott of the election campaign, the media only seemed to recognise UDF. After the Uitenhage massacre, the media announced the banning of 'UDF and 29 other organisations'. These organsations included AZAPO, trade unions and other organisations.
Undoubtedly, after a period of quiescence there has been a revival of ANC influence with which UDF has close political sympathies, in the black community. But despite the regime's repression of UDF and other organisations, the current outburst of uprisings in the Eastern Cape has the clear appearance of spontaneous eruptions. Neither UDF nor NF are structured to give this kind of organised lead. Even the ANC, in the January edition of its journal Sechaba, states that they do 'not claim that every mass popular resistance to the regime in the townships is organised by the ANC For minister of law and order, Le Grange, these events appear to be the fulfilment of his statement that South Africa 'was moving into a potentially revolutionary situation.' And a revolution in the eyes of the ruling class can never be simply the spontaneous expression of anger of a people who are no longer prepared to be ruled in the old way. There must be agitators and leaders at the back of it. Hence the bannings and arrests; hence the increased role of the military in the field of civilian administration.
The anger of the people in the townships has been vented principally against the black councillors, officials and black police - the collaborators with the apartheid regime. This mockery of self-government which the government has tried to foist on the people has been practically wiped out. Today it is hard to find a black mayor or councillor in any of the townships of the Eastern Cape. They have either been killed by the aroused people or fled for their lives. The ruling class can no longer go on ruling in the old way. They now have to try with the use of brute force to do what they could not do with persuasion - keep the people in subjection. In this too they will fail. Le Grange may have spoken with more wisdom than he knew.
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