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

any excuse.
Nationalizations and a planned economy
To sow even more confusion Nzimande goes on to talk about nationalizing
strategic sectors:
“We are going to engage now and undertake research and say, which
strategic sectors do we want to prioritize? Don't fall for our own rhetoric
being used to pursue an agenda that in the end is against the interests of
the working class.”
At first, this demand sounds like a very sober manner to engage in
nationalizations, but there are serious contradictions and mistakes in the
statement of the comrade. Does comrade Nzimande mean that the mining
sector is not a strategic sector? South Africa is one of the greatest mining
countries in the world. Nearly 90% of the platinum metals on the planet
are located here as well as 80% of manganese, 73% of chrome, 45% of
vanadium and 41% of gold. Nearly all other sectors in the South African
economy are partially or completely dependent on this sector. If this is not
a strategic sector, what is? How can the expropriation of the capitalist
parasites in this sector not be in the interest of the masses?
Also an even bigger mistake is the notion underlying the statement, that it
is not necessary to nationalize the commanding heights of the economy,
but only the “strategic” parts of it.
Again here Venezuela come sin useful to highlight this point. Although
large parts of the Venezuelan economy are in the hands of the state, the
main levers are still in the hands of the capitalists who are doing
everything they can to sabotage the revolutionary process. On the one side
we see many examples of blatant sabotage in the withholding of raw
materials and disruptions in distribution. At the same time, investments
have collapsed and what we are witnessing is a full blown strike of capital
lead by the banks and the big capitalists. The result in Venezuela is quite a
severe economic crisis. Unemployment and inflation are rising and all the
rights that the masses have conquered are thus being undermined. For real
revolutionaries this must be the final proof that it is utopian to try to tame
capitalism or build working class influence within it, just as it is utopian to
think one can gradually build socialism within Capitalism.
Besides the sabotage of the Venezuelan capitalists, investments on a
global level have plunged. The full burden of the world economic crisis is
being unloaded onto the shoulders of the working class, not (only) because
the capitalists are nasty individuals, but because the system of capitalism
does not leave any other way out. Capitalism, with a small group of
capitalists controlling the means of production but at the same time
competing against each other, is an anarchic system that cannot be
controlled by anyone. Only a planned economy can solve these
contradictions and utilise the immense potential of South African society.
The market economy must be abolished and replaced by a socialist
planned economy. But you cannot plan what you do not control and you
cannot control what you do not own. Thus we must say that it is utopian to
think it is possible to cure any of the diseases caused by capitalism
(unemployment, poverty, racism and corruption) if you do not take over
control of the commanding heights of the economy and organize them
under a centralized democratic plan. By taking over the economy, it would
be fully possible to raise wages significantly and introduce the 35-hour
work week thus wiping out poverty and unemployment. The profits of the
companies can thereby also be used to develop industry, science and