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

experiences and compare them to what we have today.
The objective conditions for socialism in South Africa are riper than ever
and the ranks of the SACP are in an incredibly favourable position, but
what is lacking is a leadership to connect the party with the living
movement of the workers and lead them towards socialist revolution.
The leadership of the SACP, with Blade Nzimande at its head, have not
been able to utilize this favourbale situation. The main reason for this is
the lack of a Marxist understanding. Marxism is not dry formulae, but a
living guide to action. Without it the comrades have been left groping in
the dark confusing the ranks and the workers. The result was vividly
displayed in the catastrophic congress of the YCL in Mafikeng.
What is therefore needed is to fight to reorientate the party, adopt a
revolutionary Marxist policy and dig roots among the working class. Only
thus can the party fulfil its full potential.
The alliance at a crossroads
Seventeen years after the fall of the apartheid regime in 1994, South
African society is still permeated with deep contradictions. Racism,
corruption, poverty and unemployment overshadow every aspect of the
lives of the South African masses. It is becoming ever clearer to a wide
layer of the workers and the youth that none of these problems can be
solved within the limits of bourgeois democracy. This is reflected in the
wide echo, which the call for the nationalization of the mines – taken up
by the ANC Youth League – has received in the last period. The question of
“socialism in our lifetime” is now being posed more clearly than ever
before.
It is also in this context that the Young Communist League and the South
African Communist Party have witnessed remarkable growth. But as these
opportunities appear on the horizon, the party’s leadership is failing to live
up to its historical task. Instead of linking the party up with the workers
and the youth – and connecting their incomplete programme with the full
programme of socialism – the comrades are putting the party in opposition
to the living movement of the workers. This is as true in the debate over
nationalization as it is in the public sector workers' strike.
Hence the contradictions between the policies of the leadership and the
aspirations of the membership are increasingly coming to the surface. This
is not just a phenomenon within the SACP or the YCL, but can be seen
throughout the tripartite alliance. In all the organizations of the alliance
we can see sharp divisions emerging in the form of two distinct camps.
One camp, closer to state power, the parliament and the ANC apparatus
are content with the present order of South African society and are in no
hurry to take any significant steps against capitalism. The other camp,
closer to the rank and file, is pushing to move beyond the narrow limits of
bourgeois democracy. They can feel the increasing pressure of the workers
who by no means can be satisfied with the present situation.
In fact the latter camp is moving increasingly towards the ideas of Marxism
and genuine communism. The Communist Party, if it moved forward with a
bold programme of nationalization of the commanding heights of the
economy, could win over these layers which today make up the bulk of the
ANC ranks. But to be able to do this, the Communist Party itself must first
be rearmed with the ideas of Marxism.
In practise this means that the Marxists within the party must gather