Re-building the movement in South Africa
South African workers are back on the move, with a two-day
general strike in October following the mass protest at the UN world summit and
an important municipal workers’ union strike. But how can the struggle against
the neo-liberal ANC government be taken forward? WEIZMANN HAMILTON of the
Democratic Socialist Movement, the South African section of the CWI, writes.
THE THREE-WEEK strike by the South African Municipal Workers
Union (SAMWU); the 20,000-strong march by the coalition of anti-privatisation
protestors under the banner of the Social Movement Indaba; and October’s two-day
general strike by the Congress of South African Unions (COSATU), individually
and collectively represent developments of enormous political significance in
the struggle of the South African working class. With leaderships having
different and even contrary understandings of the aims, nature, tasks,
strategies and tactics of the working class struggle, a common thread
nevertheless ran through all of them – opposition to the African National
Congress (ANC) government’s neo-liberal Growth, Employment and Redistribution
(GEAR) policy.
The three-week SAMWU strike was the longest since the ANC
came to power. The August 31 march (A31) on the Joburg UN World Summit on
Sustainable Development was the largest anti-government protest since 1994. And
the COSATU general strike – the third in so many years – was the first two-day
general strike since the ANC came to power. Each drew venomous attacks by the
ANC government and president Thabo Mbeki in particular. But together, within a
space of three months, they have reinforced the growing awareness that the ANC
government, despite its protestations to the contrary, is an anti-working class
government and the conscious political representative of capitalism in South
Africa. These events have also revealed the vacuum that exists on the left of
the political spectrum in South Africa and the need for a political voice for
the working class based on a programme that uncompromisingly represents their
interests.
Collectively, these events brought into sharp relief the
political differentiation that has begun to occur on the South African landscape
as a consequence of the class conflict engendered by the ANC government’s
neo-liberal capitalist policies. The convulsions on the white right are also a
reflection of the same process, with the disintegration of the Democratic
Alliance, the atrophy gripping the Democratic Party, and the death agony of the
New National Party (NNP). Its demise has merely been postponed by the life
support machine offered to it by the ANC through the floor-crossing manoeuvre (a
recent ruling that representatives can jump from one party to another without
losing their seats).
The black parliamentary and semi-parliamentary right are
similarly wracked by political tensions. The contradictions choking the
Pan-African Congress (most recently on Zimbabwe), the haemorrhaging of the
Azanian Peoples’ Organisation (AZAPO), and the United Democratic Movement’s
failure to prevent councillors from crossing the floor to the ANC despite its
desperate attempt reinvent itself as a social democratic party – all of these
represent the damning verdict of a working class that does not see them as an
alternative.
The role of COSATU
DESPITE THE POSITION of the COSATU leaders, of the three
events cited above, without detracting from the importance of each on its own,
the internecine strife that has broken out in the Tripartite Alliance in the
wake of COSATU’s general strike is undoubtedly the most significant. The
Tripartite Alliance between COSATU, the South African Communist Party (SACP),
and the ANC has served as a political detention centre for the working class,
with the COSATU and SACP leadership cast in the role of prison guards employed
by the political management of capitalism – the ANC government – to prevent a
mass breakout.
The pressures exerting themselves on the Tripartite Alliance
are rooted in the crisis of capitalism, with its inability to solve even the
most basic problems of society now expressing itself with extreme sharpness even
in the citadels of the world economy. Twenty years of neo-liberalism has
provoked growing international working class resistance in every corner of the
planet.
Like their counterparts internationally, however, the ANC
government is pressing ahead with its neo-liberal programme. Its determination
is reinforced by the fact that privatisation offers the quickest way for the
fulfilment of its historical mission, the creation of a prosperous non-European
bourgeoisie – described by Nelson Mandela as long ago as 1956 as the aim of the
Freedom Charter. The open contempt of the ANC towards its ‘tripartite partner’
COSATU is rooted in this reality.
As a demonstration of this contempt, the day after the
general strike the ANC government announced its plans for the listing of the
state telecoms company, Telkom, for next March. This may satisfy the ANC and its
capitalist masters that it will not be forced to retreat on its privatisation
agenda. But it will merely aggravate the social problems and accelerate the pace
of political differentiation, compelling the working class to look for an
alternative vehicle to carry its class and political interests. Although the
COSATU leadership still clings pathetically to an abusive marriage the fact is
that, as the Business Day editorial pointed out the day after the strike,
‘the Tripartite Alliance has run its course’ (3 October).
The protestations of the COSATU and SACP leadership that
what occurred in the first days of October was not a political strike against
the ANC, will make absolutely no impression on the ANC leadership or its
capitalist backers. So far as the ANC is concerned, the role of COSATU in the
Alliance is to police the working class, not to organise strikes. But if such
pleadings fool neither the ANC nor the working class, it causes confusion
amongst the latter, complicates the process of political differentiation, and
delays the emergence of an alternative. Whilst the COSATU leadership insists
that remaining in the Tripartite Alliance is necessary to maintain the unity of
the working class, it will in fact become a source of disunity.
COSATU has historically played a central role in the
struggle of the working class, providing the spinal column of the mass working
class movement that smashed apartheid. But even COSATU has no divine right to
exist. The continued refusal of the COSATU leadership to accept the challenge of
Mbeki and the ANC is not simply due to misplaced political loyalty. It is based
on the fact that the majority of COSATU leaders accept the idea that there is no
alternative to capitalism. Many have a direct interest in capitalism, with
possibilities for self-enrichment provided by union investment companies
involved in the same privatisation the general strike was called to protest
against. Many are merely serving a political apprenticeship in the unions while
waiting for the right offers to come along in government or the corporate world,
hoping to follow those such as former COSATU leaders Jay Naidoo and Sam Shilowa
into the cigar-smoking and champagne-sipping world of self-enrichment amongst
the new black elite.
The explanation for the corruption now rampant in many
COSATU affiliates, and the financial crisis rocking them, is political. It is
politics that explains the decline in service to members and the decline in
membership, not just retrenchments.
The contradictions riddling COSATU leadership statements are
based on the illusion that it is possible to give capitalism a human face. This
idea of a ‘developmental state’, peddled by the SACP as a ‘strategic objective’
of the ‘national democratic revolution’, is a pernicious fairy tale. By
denouncing the agenda of the ‘socialist revolution’ and counterposing it to that
of the ‘national democratic revolution’, Mbeki has exposed the ‘national
democratic revolution’ for what it is – a capitalist programme. The admonition
of SACP leader Jeremy Cronin to critics of the party – that to take Lenin’s
position that you are either for capitalism or socialism is ‘unhelpful’ – has
been fatally undermined by Mbeki’s open declaration that the ANC has never been
socialist. Whilst the SACP acknowledges this it still insists in Umsebenzi
Online (Volume 1, No.1, 16 October 2002) that the ANC "is not
anti-socialist" even as it privatises. For all its comical efforts to reconcile
the irreconcilable and protect the ANC, the SACP leadership has been rewarded by
Mbeki with their own favourite ideological insult: "ultra-left". In reality, the
sharp conflict between the ANC and COSATU is based on the fact that despite the
shared ideological position on the fundamental question of capitalism, the ANC
represents the interests of the capitalist class while COSATU rests on the
working class. The interests of these social forces are fundamentally
irreconcilable.
Unless the problem of the COSATU leadership is resolved, the
cohesion and possibly the very existence of COSATU itself is threatened in the
medium to long term. Although the bosses and the government are making
exaggerated claims that the strike was a flop, it cannot be denied that the
turnout was lower than in the 2001 general strike. Far from this signalling
weakening opposition to privatisation, however, as the ANC is claiming, it is a
warning by the rank-and-file that they are not prepared to be turned and off
like a tap. They do not wish to be marched half-way up the battle hill and then
down again as the leadership refuses to see the writing on the wall.
A split in COSATU would be an enormous setback for the
working class and could lead to the break-up of the unity and cohesion of the
working class itself. This unity and cohesion has held so far despite these
acute contradictions. This is a question of huge historical importance that the
rank-and-file must give urgent attention to. Rank-and-file committees must be
formed to discuss a programme to return COSATU to its socialist roots. COSATU
resolved around the 2001 general strike that if the ANC failed to respond to its
demands, a conference must be called to review the Tripartite Alliance. It is
now abundantly clear that the ANC is unapologetically and unashamedly
capitalist. COSATU must be taken out of this class collaborationist arrangement
and preparations made for the launch of a mass workers party on a socialist
programme.
The Anti-Privatisation Forum
COSATU’S AUTHORITY EXTENDS well beyond its membership. Its
failure to provide consistent resistance to neo-liberalism and a coherent
alternative to capitalism, however, has left working class communities to fight
water and electricity cuts and evictions on their own. Both the COSATU
rank-and-file and working-class communities are to the left of the COSATU
leadership – with the latter organising spontaneous resistance to the
government’s attacks – and have drawn far-reaching conclusions about the nature
of the ANC government. As a result of COSATU’s paralysis, its own membership and
structures have, with this or that isolated exception, failed to throw their
weight behind working-class community resistance. A vacuum has resulted that is
partially being filled by the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF).
Events are not waiting for COSATU, as the magnificent
20,000-strong anti-World Sustainable Development Summit demonstration indicates.
Held under the banner of the Social Movement Indaba, its ideological position
was provided in the main by the Anti-Privatisation Forum even though the forces
for the demonstration were provided also by the Landless Peoples Movement and
the Palestinian Solidarity Committee. The August 31 (A31) anti-World Summit
demonstration was significant not only because of its size – the biggest
anti-government protest since the ANC came to power. Following the successful
demonstration at the World Conference Against Racism last year, A31 was a
humiliation for the Mbeki regime which first tried to ban it and then to
out-manoeuvre it by organising a counter-demonstration. Despite the intimidating
presence of armed riot police and armoured vehicles all along a route
deliberately lengthened in a futile attempt to exhaust the marchers, it
attracted at least four times as many participants as Mbeki’s own rally in the
same township, Alexandra, where the march started off.
A31 represented a turning point in the development of the
Anti-Privatisation Forum, which is now a recognised political factor earning the
notoriety to be mentioned directly by Mbeki himself. Hitherto the APF drew its
support mainly from older, working-class, predominantly women, township
residents. Since the August 31 march, youth have begun to join the APF, which
represents a huge step forward. Yet precisely because of its increased stature,
the Anti-Privatisation Forum must urgently address its own ideological,
strategic and tactical positions. Unless this is done, there is no guarantee
that it will fill the vacuum.
Regrettably, the Anti-Privatisation Forum’s public statement
on the general strike contains formulations that can give rise to
misunderstandings of its position. The statement that the government’s tactics
of sowing division in the working class "will continue as long as key sections
of the working class continue to give political support to the capitalist ANC
government" implies that sections of the working class are in someway at least
partly responsible for what the government is doing. It also fails to
distinguish between the COSATU leadership and the membership, and reflects a
failure to understand that the membership’s loyalty to COSATU is based on the
historical role the union federation has played and the enormous sacrifices
made, including the shedding of blood, to build it. Workers will not abandon
COSATU lightly without attempting several times over a long period to transform
it and return it to the traditions it was founded on, especially if there is no
viable mass alternative with a coherent programme. Whatever the ANC and COSATU
leadership may claim, in the eyes of COSATU members this was a political strike
against the government even if it is not their intention at this stage to unseat
it.
The statement also failed to offer a clear alternative
programme, referring only to the existence of "real working-class alternatives"
to those of the government without explaining what these were. It appealed to
the working class to stand on the "left side of the class line" as if the
working class is on the right. It calls for unity "to move forward to another
South Africa, (and) another world". But unless this ‘other’ world is
socialist – a word that does not appear anywhere in the statement – it can mean
all things to all men and is not a basis on which to attract workers to the APF
banner. At least the SACP and COSATU continue to adhere to ‘socialism’, even if
it is only in words. They do so because they understand that more than elsewhere
in the world, socialism has not been completely discredited within the South
African working class or obliterated from their consciousness. The ambiguous
formulation of the APF statement is a repetition of the mistaken position of the
mainly middle-class academics who form part of the anti-globalisation movement
who put it forward in the mistaken belief that this will ensure the continued
unity of the movement. The South African working class is against privatisation
and the government’s GEAR policy and many are clearly opposed to capitalism. It
is their rhetorical staple diet in the Tripartite Alliance. Even the ANC denies
it is neo-liberal, with the support of the SACP and COSATU leadership. What is
required is a socialist alternative that is internationalist in approach, an
explanation of how it would work, and why a socialist programme is the only
alternative. The rise of the Anti-Privatisation Forum’s stature also means that
it must reach clarity on the need for a mass workers’ party with a socialist
programme – again something the statement is silent on.
A new political situation
THROUGH THE COURAGEOUS action of the A31 demonstration the
Anti-Privatisation Forum has made an enormous contribution to the legitimisation
of protest against the ANC government from outside the ranks of the Tripartite
Alliance. Together with the SAMWU strike and the COSATU general strike, the
Anti-Privatisation Forum has contributed to an important turning point in the
political situation in South Africa. The organised working class in COSATU may
not at this stage be openly supporting independent working-class actions and
formations such as the Anti-Privatisation Forum. But the terrain on which the
APF is marching has been partially prepared by workers in COSATU – through the
biggest public-sector strike ever in 1999, the general strike against the
amendments to the Labour Relations Act in 2000, and the one-day
anti-privatisation general strike last year.
But there is a potentially deep well of sympathy to the APF,
as demonstrated at the Wits COSATU regional shop stewards council before the
general strike. The Anti-Privatisation Forum must make itself worthy of the
support of the workers and must now ready itself by addressing the above
questions. It must also address the political question of elections and
encourage working class communities to stand independent candidates in the next
local government elections on the Anti-Privatisation Forum platform.
The Anti-Privatisation Forum is not yet a mass force despite
the success of A31. Despite the role of the COSATU leadership, it attracted
three times as many participants to its Johannesburg demonstration during the
general strike as marched in Johannesburg for the A31 demonstration. At least
half of the A31 forces were not mobilised by Anti-Privatisation Forum affiliates
but by the Palestinian Solidarity Committee and the Landless Peoples Movement
which, at least ideologically, is not on the same wavelength as the
Anti-Privatisation Forum and has a right-wing position on Mugabe. Despite the
enormous sympathy that exists for it, the working class is still examining the
colour of the APF’s political money. It is not at all preordained that the
Anti-Privatisation Forum will become a mass force of hundreds of thousands. To
place itself in a position to build on the sympathy and support it enjoys it
must clarify all these issues.
With the ANC government’s blind determination to press ahead
with its neo-liberal programme, the attacks against the working class will
intensify. Resistance will grow and the crisis in the Alliance will deepen. The
conditions will ripen even more for the Anti-Privatisation Forum to fulfil its
potential.
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