The Communist Party (1)
the workers' party, which must address itself to all classes and all opposition strata.
In the art of going to the broad masses, much can be learnt from the experience in the 1930s of the Popular Front against Fascism and War and from its theoretical leader,
THE FOLLOWING is an extract from an article entitled United front to end apartheid, the road to mass action in South Africa', written by
L. Mzansi. The article appeared in The African Communist (the organ of the South African Communist Party - SACP) No 97 in the second quarter of 1984.
The article defines the strategic approach which the author believes should determine the line of action of the Communist Party in the mass movement. For a further article on this theme, see issue
No 101 of The African Communist.
of the President of the
National Congress, Comrade O R
Tambo, a document rich in theore.
tical and practical insights, points out that the revolutionary in our country has 'plunged ruling racist clique into deeper and deeper levels of crisis.' The document goes on to explain that recent constitutional
Nationalist Party are an implicit recognition of the insolucrisis. (1) The racist regime is involved in 'crisis management', a desperate attempt to see that things do not get entirely out
In other words,' the statement continues, the fascists recognise that they can no longer rule in the old
The regime has begun to tinker with apartheid in order to entrench white domination. Among the reforms constitution, the new have been which gives to Coloured and Indian people a sham form of representation in parliament, and the Black Local which
Act, claims to
Authorities give 'urban Blacks' a greater measure of self-government over the urban ghettoes.
President Tambo's statement emphasizes that these measures are a reaction to the growing revolutionary upsurge of the oppressed majority in our country and poses the question:
*What intermediate objectives should we set ourselves, building on what we have achieved, and in preparation for the next stage in our forward march to victory??
In a key passage the president lays out the forces and structures
12 the offensive apartheid: 'Our revolutionary struggle rests on four pillars. These are, first, the all-round vanguard activity of the of the ANC, second, the united mass action of the spearheaded by Umkhonto we Sizwe and fourth, the international to isolate the apartheid regime ...' (3)
This article tries to examine some implications of the second "pillar" the united mass action of the peoples, in the light of the experience of the world working-class movement, especially the theoretical contribution questions of the united and popular
Mass popular resistance to aparunprecedented heights in our country. As never before, broad layers of the working people, youth, women and the intelligentsia being drawn into political activity. This developown momentum, has opened up possibilities for developing of struggle and drawing in even wider sections of our peoples. But the organization of mass popular resistance poses special problems both at the level of practical activity and of theoretical understanding
For Communists this new situation brings special responsibilities. As Lenin pointed out:
"To bring political knowledge to the workers, the social-democrats (ie the Communists) must go among all classes of the population, must despatch units of their army in all directions We must take upon ourselves the task of organizing
Georgi Dimitrov. But in applying these lessons to our own struggle, we must constantly be aware of Dimitrov's warning to the Seventh Congress of the Communist Inter-
"It is necessary in each country to investigate, study and ascertain the national peculiarities, the specific
.. and map out forms of struggle. Lenin persistently warned us ... stereotyped
... mechanical levelling and identification of tactical rules, of rules of struggle." (6)
It is especially when approaching proletarian classes and strata that should heed Lenin's advice the utmost .. tactics'. (7) But such tactical with opportunism or abdication of the
Dimitrov's address to the Seventh Congress of the CI in 1935 was the culmination of many years of struggle by the working class against the growing menace of fascism. This struggle included armed confrontations and street battles. But it also included the struggle of the working-class movement with itsell, especially in reaching a clearer understanding of the nature of fascism. the statement of the SACP Central Com- The nature of this crisis is analysed in mittee, September 1983, ('The African
Communist' No 96, first quarter, 1984).
Tambo, 1984, Liberation in sight; analy sis of the present situation in apartheid South Africa and a call to the
People by the ANC, London; AN ppl-2
Georgi Dimitrov (1882-1949), a Bul4. garian Communist who had moved to attracted world attention when
Germany in 1933 he was imprisoned by the Nazis on charges of having set the Reichstag on fire. He defended himself at the trial and was acquitted. He became a Soviet citizen and served as executive secretary of the Comintern from 1934-43 and was chief proponent of the People's Front policy adopted at the Comintern's seventh congress in 1935. He was permier of Bulgaria, 1946-49.
5. VI Lenin "What is to be done' in Selected Works Vol 1, Progress Publishers,
Moscow
Dimitrou 1969. For the unity the working CLaSS against fascism
Sophia, Sophia Press.
7. VI Lenin, 1968 Selected Works Vol
1, Progress Publishers. International Viewpoint 30 September 1985
Although it fell to Dimitrov to present the final formulation, this process of understanding was a collective one, in which the experience of many Communist Parties (for example, the French, Italian and Bulgarian parties) played an important
The basic strategy worked out by Dimitrov and adopted by the CI was to form the broadest possible of democratic strata on the basis of the defence of democratic rights and against fascism and war. At the core of this broad front was to be a united front of workers' parties and organizations, based on a pact between the Communists and Social-Democrats and the uniting of their respective trade union centres...
In the first place it was necessary to define the enemy's most vulnerable point of fascism. Dimitrov defined the
'Achilles heel' of fascism very simply: Yusuf Dadoo (left) and Moses Madhida (right) in September 1979. Dadoo, who its social composition was extremely dem munise Party, vicechair of the ANd politica mersary Council and ex president national chairperson of the South African heterogeneous. (8) Fascism posed as secretary of the CP and a member of the Executive Committee of the ANC. (DR) whole, but in fact represented capitalist class. It followed that the development of a broad front must be based on discovering those interests of the various strata that could not be satisfied by the fascists, but instead were being ignored or trampled upon.
'In every country there are certain key questions ... agitating vast masses of the people around which the struggle for the united front must be developed.' (9)
Secondly, these key questions had to be taken up and expressed in clear language that the masses could understand
•We must learn to talk to the masses, not in the language of book formulas, but in the language of fighters for the cause of the masses whose every word and every idea reflect the innermost thoughts and sentiments of the masses' (10) National democratic revolution
Finally, it was necessary to be ready to find new forms of struggle and new organizational methods so that, as the mass movement developed, it could go over from defensive actions to offensive actions leading (in the conditions of that time) to a mass political strike.
In trying to apply the lessons of Dimitrov and the Popular Front to our own times and our own struggle, # is just as important to understand what is different as to see what is the де. The differences are very simple
International Viewpoint 30 September 1985 of the South African Indian Congress.
Firstly, our struggle is a national content is the national liberation of the African people, leading to a democratic state oppressed minorities will find the fullest expression of their aspirations and interests. It is a struggle for majority rule against a small white monopolised political and economic power.
Secondly, the context in which the question of mass action has been raised (not abstractly, but by life itself), and in which organizations like the democratic trade unions and the emerged, is one in which the popular the initiative. In this respect differs radically from that in the 1930s when the working class was on the defensive against
The first difference - the national democratic nature of our revolution — has two important implications. In the first place, it means that a strong objective basis exists for consolidating the unity of all classes, strata and national groups among the oppressed Black majority on the basis of the struggle for majority rule. Though it would be wrong to underestimate, or even deny, the existence of class among the oppressed, it would be more wrong, and even more dangerous, to exaggerate
This means that it is not difficult to identify those issues around which the broadest possible unity of the
Moses Madhida is the current general oppressed can be forged. As Dimitrov put it, "The path is indicated by life itself and by the masses themselves" (11) This is what Comrade Tambo meant when he stated that the formation of the UDF was a product of our people's determination liberators.' (12)
Secondly, the national democratic character of our revolution enables us to identify the "Achilles heel' of our enemy as precisely and in as
- though different as Dimitrov did. The most vulnerable point of the white oppressors is their small number and their diminishing proportion in relation to the total
A proper understanding of the Dimitrov's situation and struggle - the fact that we are on the offensive - also tells us how we can strike most effectively at that Achilles heel' and destroy white minority rule. To find the answer we can go back difference between the united front (workers' organizations only) and the popular front (also peasant, petitbougeoisie and bourgeois democrats),
"Some comrades are quite needlestheir brains problems of what to begin with proletarian front or the
CC of the CPSU; 1971. 'Outline History of the CI Moscow. Progress Publishers. 9. Ibid 10. Ibid 11. Ibid 12. OR Tambo 1984.
13
Bishop Desmond Tutu addresses the crowd. The banner shows the growing power of the unions (DR)
antifascist popular front ... The united proletarian front and the antifascist popular front are connected by the living dialectics of struggle -.. they are interwoven, the one passing into the other in the process of the practical struggle ...' (13)
It is in this sense that we should seek the answer to questions posed by united mass action: its dialectical relation to the other 'pillars' of our struggle, the AN underground, the armed struggle and the international campaign. That the level of development of these four "pillars' has been uneven is the manifestation of a universal law of social development. It means that our movement must be ready to shift the emphasis It also opens up positive possibilities for developing the mass struggle. Freedom Charter
As a result of its armed actions and of the ANC's underground political work, the prestige and standing of our movement among the masses are today higher than ever before. The Freedom Charter, the programme of our national democratic revolution, has become the principal rallying point and inspiration of the oppressed majority and democratic whites. Today it is around the Freedom Charter that all political forces and groupings are obliged to define their positions. It is this political fact that provided the basis for the emergence of the 14
United Democratic Front (UDF) and shows the way to its future develop ment.
It is not necessary for an organization such as the UDF to take up a formal position in regard to the Freedom Charter. That position has been defined by life itself. As Mac Maharaj pointed out in an incisive contribution to Mayibuye, the UDF is not an alliance but a front of organizations that express their position in ters of adherence to the Freedom
What is important is not that adherence to the Charter be a condition of membership to the UDF, but that member organizations adhere to the Charter should through patient and brotherly discussion, and ever more evident the central importance of the Charter and its historical role in the unfolding struggle.
This being the case, it is not necessary, either, that artificial minimum conditions be formulated which would fall below the Charter in terms of political elaboration and which might be seized upon to block the open discussion and joint action which develop in the light of the ideals of the Charter. It is the task of the ANC and of the Communists to provide the ideological leaven that will raise the mass struggle to even greater heights. More important still, it is the task of these vanguard organizations to define the concrete ahead and discover the issues around mass action on the broadest be instigated.
### METAL E ALLED
It is necessary to know at every moment how to find the particular the chain which must be with all one's strength in order to keep the whole chain in resolutely to the next link.' (14)
The guiding principle in seeking that link is provided by Dimitrov: to define the enemy's most vulnerable point. If that vulnerable point is the enemy's inability to go on ruling in the old way, and the necessity he finds himself in to develop ways of enlisting sections of the oppressed in their own domination, follows that the concrete tasks of the mass struggle must be aimed frustrating this aim.
It is in this sense that we should understand the following key passage in Comrade Tambo's address:
We must begin to accumulated strength to destroy the organs of government of the apartheid regime. We have to undermine and weaken its control over us, exactly by frustrating its attempts to control
... rendering the enemy's instruunworkable creating conditions in whicl the country becomes increasingly unground on the South African political terrain at the present time. Those who refuse to join such joint actions, whether for sectarian political reasons or out of sheer oportunism, will define themselves out of the struggle. The masses themselves will see to that. O 14. VI Lenin Collected Works Vol 22 15. OR Tambo 1984 op cit. International Viewpoint 30 September 1985
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UNIDS
International Viewpoint 30 September 1985
DOCUMENT
• SOUTH AFRICA tions is inevitably bound up with the struggle for national emancipation this from colonial oppression. Only struggle can secure for the working
The Communist Party (2)
class the necessary conditions for the emancipation of labour. And in the struggle to destroy internal colonialism, all classes and strata who suffer under its oppression are active participants...
For any revolutionary movement, a correct analysis of the character
WE REPRINT below an extract from an article entitled 'Botha's reforms have not changed "colonialism of a special type" ' signed
Denga and published in "The African Communist", organ of the
SACP.
It is over twenty years since the
African Communist Party the system in South colonialism of a special type)...
programme apartheid as it exists today is a continuation as well the colonial before the British transferred to the local settlers.
to modern forms was also determined many other factors such oppressed and oppressors, intraclass relations and but in the final analysis, the apartheid the way it did the above, two conclusions
Firstly, it is concrete historical approach which leads us to characterise as internal colonialism. An attempt to run away pitfalls as 'racial capitalism' of subjectivism in the writings of those who use it. The system as a product of the classes rather on the foundation concrete, objective historical cirus to believe that national oppression does not engender antagobe resolved by means of revolution, remove them if it so wishes!...
As indicated above, of productive forces in development such that they have
South
Africa is conflict with the long into come
The direct relations of production.
social consequence is the sharp contraand capital.
diction between labour
There is no doubting that the material socialism exist in for prerequisites
South Africa: a certain level of industrialisation, socio economic contradictions and the force to carry out the revolution (the working class).
However, as we have indicated of capitalism in South specific character arising from its colonial roots. Production relations here express more relations; they than mere economic also reflect the political position of sections of society. For the size of the pay a Black worker, packet is determined long before he enters the labour market. At work,
Therefore, the exploitation manifests itself first and foremost in the context of the place he occupies in production relations manifest
He therefore not only sees his posifactory-floor through the colonial screen, but also identifies his number who belong to the lower 'caste'. This is consciousness, reflection of the contradiction within South between the oppressed people and their rulers.
Alignment of the forces of the revolution workers automatically assume a political content. Left on their own constitute an attempt to get bargain for the workers' the confines of existing colonial relations. However, in so far as class struggle in the politistruggle against an abstract capitalist, conditions the struggle of the Black worker for improvement of his condiof the system must aim at identifying the forces of change as well as those they are pitted against. The system national oppression Africa (internal colonialism), antagonistic system, has not only forged the weapons that are to destroy it, but also the men to wield these weapons? These are first and foremost the Black workers who are the most dynamic and revolutionary force, the landless peasantry, petty bourgeoisie and the rest of the middle strata. At the bottom of the pile stand the mass of the African people, oppressed and exploited of all'. On the other hand, most of the non-capitalist sections amongst the whites support aud actively defend the system from which they gain materially, although, as the Communist Party programme it is not in their long-term interest. A few far-sighted individuals oppressed and struggling
South African political life is in a state of flux. The independent historical actions of the democratic forces have thrown the ruling class into disarray; and the long drawn-out process of disintegration of old alliances within the ruling class and its supporters appears to be reaching culmination. discussion of 'colonialism of a special type canin particular with regard to its effects on the non-capitalist sections of the white community. The intensificaton of the armed and mass actions of the forcing the regime to adopt even tighter authoritarian methods of rule in relation to the white community.
What will be the long-term effects of this on them - a retreat into the Botha laager? What are the implications of the United Democratic Front's attraction into its ranks of forces ranging from liberals to revolutionaries? Have we fully grasped the strategic significance of the UDF slogan, 'UDF unites, apartheid divides"? Is it correct to characterise actions for democracy by a section of the white community as solidarity action' (or in the case of workers,
'proletarian internationacts of alism')? ...
15
SOUTH AFRICA The African
• International Viewpoint 30 September 1985
DOCUMENT Congress of the People, which drew up the Freedom Charter, and equally to disregard the overwhelming democratic opinion of the mass movement taking shape to dissociate them-