FAREED ABDULLAH, Lucky Montana, and Duncan Sebifelo are members of the Cape Town Executive of the South African Communist Party (SACP). They spoke to International Viewpoint about their Party's current debates. INTERVIEW W hat are the main issues presently being discussed inside the SACP now that the ANC is leading the Government of National Unity?
FA; LM; DS: Firstly, there is a discussion on the role of the SACP in the implementation of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). We see the adoption of the RDP by the ANC as policy as a victory for the Left. This is in spite of the fact that the RDP had been watered down prior to its final adoption.
Secondly, what is our attitude to the ANC in the new situation? Jeremy Cronin (an influential member of the Party's Political Bureau) is reported to have said that the battle for the life and soul of the ANC began on 29 April (the day following the elections). This is correct.
The issue we have to confront is how do we combine institutional and non-institutional means of struggle for socialism. This is about defining the role of the SACP in the transition to socialism. Linked to all of this is the we need to do in developing the policy of the SACP on a range of current issues, work which has been neglected of late. One such policy is what attitude do we take in regard to the World Bank and the IMF.
Another issue which is being looked at is how do we hold the SACP members of parliament accountable which is important in determining the character of the ANC in government. In CoSATU a debate has begun about forming a left parliamentary caucus.
COMMUNIST PARTY TOP ANCO
In terms of being active in the Government of National
Unity and having to support the immediate needs of national reconciliation, peace, development, and so forth, do you not see the danger of being locked in a process where you will objectively be strengthening the restructuring of capitalism?
FA; LM; DS: Reconciliation can mean different things to different social forces. We certainly would welcome the reconciliation between Inkatha hostel residents and township resident on the East Rand. Also, in terms of the level of violence, a peace movement is important and should not be rejected as some liberal initiative. Racial reconciliation is not something we should be opposed to. Reconciliation is contradictory. It is not class free as the National Party and others would have us believe. Reconciliation is not going to be able to overcome the sharp class divisions of our society. Of course what we opposed to is where reconciliation is intended to reconcile the oppressed masses to a neoliberal order.
How to avoid getting involved in a process where we strengthen capitalism by supporting peace, development, and so forth? This is a difficult question. We in the SACP do not have a
How do we ready-made blueprint and would be an important task of the Conference of the Left to say something in this regard. Of course, there will be calls for social peace from inside the government. We believe that it is important to strengthen the mass organisations and to put forward the interests of their members in an unequivocal way.
It is crucial to build on the tradition of the mass movement and to secure the egins role of the masses in the process of transition. The RDP cannot in our view be fulfilled within the current patterns of ownership, that is to say capitalism, and therefore struggling around the implementation of the RDP offers opportunities to challenge the current balance of forces.
What attitude do you take towards the Government of
National Unity?
FA; LM; DS: This is a central question facing the SACP. Although the ANC is a multi-class organisation it was voted into power by the working class. This is an objective factor that opens opportunities for the struggle to shape the ANC. The ANC will be obliged to pay attention to this constituency. However, the Government of National Unity does not offer the ANC free reign to rule.
There will be opportunities for new elites to emerge in the civil service and in industry. They will find common cause with the current strata in those areas. This is why some of us have been arguing for the need to develop a lett counter-balance. The ANC could otherwise quite easily be turned into a representative of, to a degree if not entirely,, the interests of capital. Because of this danger and the need for a counterweight outside of parliament, we see the
Conference of the Left as being very important. It is imporcombine tant not to make the mistake of dismissing the significance of the ANC victory in the elections. What do you see as the future of the tripartite alliance?
FA; LM; DS: The Alliance should not be broken in the current period. COSATU and the SACP are well represented in government and they should
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International Viewpoint #257 June 1994 institutional and non-institutional means in the struggle for socialism?
battle institutional and non-institutional means in the struggle for socialism?
contribute to ANc policy as part of the Alliance. For the trade union movement it is important for COSATU to clarify its relationship to the new government. This will become urgent because we can expect a strong contradiction between the public sector unions and the new government.
The future of the Alliance depends on whether the left is able to win the heart and soul of the ANC. If it does, there will be good arguments for maintaining the Alliance. However, if and when contradictions emerge between, for example, COSATU and the government, this will certainly have an impact on the Alliance. This issue is a prisoner of time. There are some people in the SACP who are saying that the Party must become independent and develop its own programme.
The reality of the situation is that the RDP will hold the Alliance together for some time.
What we are not saying is that to influence the ANC from a left direction you have to be in the ANC. This is a classical entryist position. This is why we have put forward the need for a left counter-balance outside of the Alliance. There would be very few people in the Party that would argue against the need for working inside the mass movement in order to shape the direction of the ANC.
What is the attitude of the
SACP to the Conference of the Left and what do you see as its main objectives?
FA; LM; DS: The main objective of the Conference is to begin a discussion on the road to socialism in South Africa. The question of socialism will be the main agenda item. The document released by the Conference steering committee suggests that the Conference should not be reduced to a talking-shop. We want a programme of action based on a joint declaration which reaffirms the relevance of socialism. This Conference should be seen as an initial one which would then re-occur every one or two years.
At this conference it will be important for the left to spell out its attitude to the ANC-led Government of National Unity. In a context in which capitalist forces are on the offensive, and socialists on the retreat, it is necessary for us to spell out an anti-neo-liberal perspectives.
Another important task is to redefine the character and nature of the mass movement in the light of the fact that the period of the anti-apartheid struggle is over. The Conference must therefore draw in other radical and democratic sectors such as youth and students that can be won to a socialist approach and ensure that the working class is not isolated.
Room enough for a hammer and sickle in the new flag?
For the conference to be a success there will have to be the broadest possible participation of all left political formations and working class organisations who are united by their committed to radical transformation and socialism. *
Out now!
İNTERNATİØNAL
MARXIST REVIEW
No. 15
Spring 1994 price: £2.50/$5
Capitalism's new economic order —
Restructuring the labour process
• Maxime Durand introduces the issue with the political economy of
"Lean Production"
• Claude Gabriel on the European Union and economic "globalisation"
• Keith Mann explores class struggle, skill and the productive process today
Andy Kilmister describe the British experience with New Management Techniques
• and Eugenio Preo documents industrial transformation and the employers' offensive in Italy
Available from IMR/PECI, BP 85, 75522 Paris, CEDEX 11, France.
This edition of International Marxist Review will be the last in its current format. A discussion has begun, the aim of which will be to decide on a better format for the presentation of the Fourth International's theoretical views. Details will be published here in International
Viewpoint.
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International Viewpoint #257 June 1994