April 2011 - Centre for Civil Society - University of KwaZulu-Natal

Satya Sagar is a writer, journalist and public health activist based in New
Delhi. He can be reached at sagarnama@gmail.com
Reformism or Revolution
On the YCL congress and the future of communism in South Africa
Ali Nooshini 22 February 2011
The Young Communist League of South Africa held its 3rd Congress in the
university town of Mafikeng on December 8-12, 2010. The congress was the
culminating point of four years of explosive growth and big success for the
organization that has quickly grown to be a massive force of more than
56,000 activists. It also brought into sharp focus the conflict between the
left and right wing within the South African Communists.
More than 2200 hopeful delegates and visitors turned up from all over the
country to discuss the political situation in the country and the
perspectives for socialism. It was an impressive turnout by any standard,
but what none of the participants could have prepared themselves for was
the disaster that the congress was about to turn into. The agenda of the
congress was hijacked by bureaucratic manoeuvring, heavy fraud,
corruption, chaos and violence that ended in police intervening with teargas
– methods that have nothing to do with the traditions of Bolshevism.
But these facts, however disturbing they might seem, overshadow the real
disaster of the congress – the complete lack of political discussion!
What is a congress?
For any serious revolutionary organization the congress is an event of
utmost importance. The main tasks of a congress are not primarily to elect
a leadership or to move this or that comma in the constitution. The main
task of the congress of a revolutionary organization is to: 1) Evaluate the
previous period and the work of the organization, 2) Make an assessment
of the political situation and 3) On the basis of these discussions to clarify
how to move forward! Only after these discussions have taken place and a
decision has been taken on the path to be followed, will the question be
posed of who is most capable of leading us there?
Of course it is legitimate that there will be differing and indeed conflicting
views in a congress. At times it might even be necessary to set up factions.
This is not a bad thing in and of itself. Indeed factions, when necessary,
can play a positive role. The Bolshevik party itself was formed on the basis
of years of factional struggles within the Russian Social-Democratic Labour
Party. But a factional struggle can only play a positive role if it assists in
clarifying the differences and ideas and thus in raising the political and
theoretical level of the organization. This, however, was not the case at
the YCL congress in Mafikeng.
If anything the outcome of the congress further diluted the discussion by
focusing on personal and organizational matters and not on the pressing
matters that are haunting the class struggle in South Africa today.
Weak congress = weak organization
The Mafikeng congress did not fulfil any of the above mentioned tasks.
Within the two apparent “factions” that emerged at the congress, not
many of the rank and file could define any of their political positions.