SOUTH AFRICA-
in nine thousand committees. They are generally structured by elected collectives but not always. At the neighborhood zonal and regional level, they organize all aspects of daily life (conducting censuses, distributing ration cards, taking care of the schools and health services, and so on.)
Finally, these committees organize popular defense with an impressive efficiency. They recruit for the militia, dig trenches and shelters, organize firstaid teams, and teams to clear the rubble in the event of bombing. They set up vigilance teams that patrol every night in the neighborhoods. How regular the participation in meetings is depends on the political situation and the social character of the neighborhood involved.
The Sandinista Defense Committees are now projecting a national congress. They act on the political level more as a pressure group than an organ of power. Discussions are underway about what role "people's power" will have in the new constitution. But at the moment these committees enjoy a certain auton-
They have not hesitated, for exomy.
ample, to criticize the opening of supermarkets that sell at free, and therefore exhorbitant, prices the goods that generally
New upsurge sharpens circulate through the black market.
I should also mention the women's organization (AMNLAE) and its 67,000 debate over strategy members, who play a decisive role in defense through the militias and in economic tasks in which women often replace men who have gone off to the front.
They have also waged battles for inclusion of women in the military service and
Demonstrators in Johannesburg, August 8 (DR)
The spectacular rise of mobilizations by the Black masses since the spring for financial support for the many marks a turn in the evolution of the social and political situation, which mothers abandoned by their husbands.
has been characterized for several years by a revival of challenges from the
Last but not least, there are the trade oppressed. (1) The unfolding of these recent mobilizations, their deter-
In this area, a lot remains to be unions.
mination in the face of repression, the content of their demands, as well done. The trade-union movement is very as the role the anti-apartheid groupings and the independent trade-union divided, with a series of unions being linkorganizations have played in them, testify to a rising level of organizaed more or less to political parties.
The
This situation has given impetus to a de-
Sandinista confederation itself, the CST, bate of strategic importance in the ranks of the opposition to apartheid has had difficulty bringing together all over the perspectives for the struggle of the oppressed and exploited the Sandinista unions that are still auton-
It has about 113,000 members, omous.
essentially in industry.
But the Sandinista peasant union, the ATC, has about
65,000 members.
In the public sector,
55,000 union members.
The there are right to strike exists.
There were about
15 strikes in September. But the leaders explain that it is often the right that
"Some demands are pushes for them:
just in the abstract, but the present stage of things makes it impossible to meet them, and you have to explain that strikes rebound against the revolution."
However, in a recent strike in a brewery, the CST supported the labor dispute.
And in the private sector, some bosses are engaging in provocation.
besieged
Encircled, strangled, and slandered as it is - the Nicaraguan revo.
lution is a breath of fresh air for revolutionists throughout the world and a test of strength with imperialism.
It depends on us in particular to make sure that this experience The stakes are conwhich is unique today, goes forward.
siderable.
Building solidarity is a political task of the greatest importance.
4 tion of the oppressed masses. masses. Peter BLUMER and Tony ROUX
In recent months, different social sectors of the oppressed have moved into action simultaneously against the policy of the government and the bosses - the high school youth, the "Coloured" and "Indian" workers, and the people of the Black townships. To a certain extent, these mobilizations have been concentrated in the industrial province of Transvaal. Starting off from specific demands, under the pressure of repression and the national question, they converged, culminating in a 48-hour regional general strike, which demonstrated a dynamic leading rapidly to confrontation with the state.
The power of the unity of the oppressed masses was shown, among other things, by the violence with which the demonstrators attacked everything that symbolized the racial domination of the White minority or collaboration with this oppression. Thus, members of the Municipal Councils of the townships were pressed to resign. (2) Some were even as-
-saulted and stoned by the insurgent population.
These protests have come in the con text of the politicization of the Black masses ensuing from the mobilization against the constitutional reform decided on by the government of Piet Botha. This scheme was designed to divide the united front of the Black masses that has grown continually since the Soweto uprising in 1976, with the emergence of the independent unions, the growth of community associations, and the workers' and students' strikes over the past three years.
The South African regime divides the population four official racial
"Africans." and "Indians." The term "Black," favored by the opponenthe fortheid includesall non-Whites.
The Township Municipal Councils are the local structures set up by the regime to perform certain administrative functions in the Black ghettos. They are generally elected, with fewer than 10% of those qualified to vote.
International Viewpoint 10 December 1984
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The objective of the reform was also to involve some representatives of the Indian and Coloured petty bourgeoisie in the mechanisms of racist rule by getting them to participate in two parliamentary chambers without any real powers, which were elected separately by the two communities in August 1984.
This operation was a total fiasco, and helped rather to increase the rebelliousness of the oppressed and to sharpen the confrontation between them and the
It was during the fight for a boycott of the elections that two new political structures embracing various anti-apartheid organizations were set up - the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum (NF).
The boycott campaign led to many public meetings and intense discussions over the strategy to follow. It led also to a major involvement of the independent unions in the political arena. This mobilization culminated in a massive boycott of government were enacted by the Municipal Councils of the townships, the mobilizations came rapidly to demand that the members of these bodies resign. A ferocious repression resulted in 100 deaths, more than 1,000 arrests, and involved vast police searches of the ghettos. On October 22, some 7,000 soldiers invaded Sebokeng, an urban agglomeration to the south of Johannesburg.
Finally, the mobilization achieved certain concessions. The government at last promised to establish representative concils for high school students in 1985 and to abolish the age limit for attending
At the same time, the rent increases in the townships were temporarily Workers' movement mobilizes
The working class was not absent from this period of struggles. On September wages for White miners at a level four times higher than for Blacks. also intended to head off a radicalization of the miners' struggles for the right to organize, which had been growing for several years, inasmuch as the rest of the Black working class had already won this right by its struggle.
However, the repression that down against the first legal strike in the mines shows clearly the limits to the extent that the mining bosses and the government are prepared to tolerate the exercise of trade-union rights in a period of recession and in an industry where the employers' profits are founded on a massive use of poorly paid unskilled labor and an antiquated productive plant.
In the space of a few months, the various sectors of the oppressed that became involved in struggles ran up against the same problem of repression and of the specific provisions of the apartheid system covering their lives and work in their respective spheres. In these recent outthe elections by the Coloureds and In- 17, the National Union of Miners (NUM), dians. (3) But it also offered the opportunity for many struggles around specific
Since the spring of 1984 agitation had been gathering momentum among high school youth in the townships. Subsequently, it was to spread on the basis of three main demands - recognition of the high school students representative councils, abolition of corporal punishment and the suspension age limits for high school education.
As in the case of the previous revolts by the high school youth in 1976 and 1980, it was the whole racist system of education that was being challenged. But this latest mobilization had a more political dynamic, inasmuch as it converged with the campaign for boycotting the recent elections. About thirty high schools and eight universities were on strike during the election campaign. On August 22, about 630,000 Coloured high school students were involved in this action in sev-
It was in this context that over the summer the regime took a series of austerity measures designed to make the masses pay the cost of the recession that is hitting the South African economy. These steps included certain cutbacks in social spending, raising the interest rates on loan, increasing rents, and jacking up the taxes on a series of necessities. These measures came down after social conflicts had been multiplying since the beginning of the year. For the first six months of the year, 176 strikes involving 50,000 workers were registered. And the cost of living was rising at an annually adjusted rate of around 12%.
The protest of the population of the Black ghettos took the form in early September of a violent rebellion against the higher rates for electricity and higher rents for housing belonging to the state. This movement spread to the townships around Johannesburg, as well as to other regions of the country. It lasted for sevincreases dictated by the 10 December 1984 which claims a membership of 70,000 out of the 480,000 miners, organized the first large-scale national strike in this industry since 1946 and the first legal strike in the history of the gold mines. The NUM gained recognition in some mines only in 1982, after a series of strikes in the face of severe repression.
Negotiations over wage increases opened at the start of 1984 between the Chamber of Mines, which initially proposed an 8% raise, and the NUM, which demanded a 60% increase. union subsequently lowered its demand to 25%, but the bosses refused to go beyond a raise of between 9.5% and 10.9%. After several months of fruitless negotiations, the Chamber of Mines decided in mid-June 1984 to decree unilaterally a wage increase of 13.3% to 14.4%.
Having exhausted all the arbitration procedures, the NUM moved to prepare for a strike. The action began on September 17, involving about 40,000 strikers at seven gold mines belonging to the Anglo-American Corporation, strike was legal, out of about thirty mines. Walkouts of about 4,000 workers occurred on the same day in other mines, where the demand for trade-union recognition was combined with that of higher people killed and hundreds injured in a strike that lasted only a day. Finally, the NUM accepted a compromise that seemed honorable and even represented a certain
- On top of the wage increase unilaterally granted in mid-June, it provided for a vacation bonus equivalent to a half month's wages for unskilled workers, who did not get this before, and 75% of a month's wage for the others.
The recent opening up of the possibility for organizing independent unions for Blacks in the mines reflects a desire on the part of a section of the mine owners to bring certain pressures to bear on the monopoly of the White workers' unions, which defend a tight job trust and keep bursts of popular anger, the cumulative all these restrictions on the democratic and national rights of the opdemands of the workers and poor masses in the townships, created a framework of interlocking national and social revolt.
At the call of the Congress of South African Students (COSAS), a broad meeting bringing together thirty anti-apartheid unions decided to set up the Transvaal Regional Strike Committee (TRSC). This COSAS, the UDF, the Committee for the Release of Nelson Mandela, the South African Women's Federation, the civic associations of Soweto and the Vaal, and the main trade-union forces, including the Unions (FOSATU), with 150,000 members; and Council of Unions of South Africa (CUSA).
The regional general strike of November 5 and 6 was called around the following demands: resignation of the Municipal Councils, withdrawal of the police and army from the Black ghettos, suspension of the increase in rents and bus fares, release of the detainees and political prisoners, reinstatement of workers fired, and rescinding of the taxes considered unjust.
The TRSC distributed 400,000 leaflets and put up 5,000 posters. In the workplaces that it was able to reach with its propaganda, the strike was observed by at least 75% of the workers, and often as participated in this action, 500,000 workers and about 400,000 high school and university students.
For the first time in an action of this scope, the independent workers' movement, through the main trade-union organizations, emerged as the backbone of the anti-apartheid protest movement. Before this the UDF, a front in which few unions participated, had been the mair
See International Viewpoint, No 46, Feb-
force in the protest movement against the rigged-up elections to the Coloured and Indian parliaments.
At the time of the Transvaal general strike, the independent trade-union organizations succeeded in taking the head of the movement of the oppressed, alongside the UDF. Since then, we have seen the appearance of a sort of two-headed leadership of the movement of the option has not prevented important strategie differences from continuing between
In the country of apartheid, the national oppression of all Blacks provides the objective basis for unity in their mobilizations. This dynamic has favored the emergence of united fronts against apartheid, such as the UDF and the NF. But the organization and base of the independent union movement have made it possible to give a more centralized pression to this unity.
The South African press, moreover, has not hesitated to say that the recent general strike was the most important labor action in the last 35 years. the 1976-1977 struggles, when the independent union movement was too weak to play a leading role, the Transvaal strike demonstrated this movement's potential militancy and effectiveness. the capacity that the South African workers' movement its independent unions, to paralyze the unions manage to take the lead in the mobilization of the entire oppressed popUnity of all the oppressed
Indeed, this strike was in reality a movement of all the oppressed, bringing together the youth in school, working people of different communities, township populations, and also merchants and taxi owners. The breadth of the protest, moreover, immediately forced a number of members of township Municipal Councils to resign.
The government used severe repression against this strike, and in parțicular against the unions. Many members of the TRSC were arrested. They included Chris Dhlamni, president of FOSATU; Thami Mali, leader of the TRSC and of the Soweto committee of the UDF: Moses Mayekiso, head of the Transvaal section of MAWU, the engineering union affiliated to FOSATU; P. Camay, leader of the CUSA; Themba Nonhlantane of the Municipal and General Workers Union, MGWUSA; and Peter Makgopa, a regional
These activists, like the hundreds of other persons arrested, could be detained for many weeks on the basis of South Africa's repressive legislation. thirty persons were killed by the repressive forces over the two days of the strike, and dozens of others were wounded. In the SASOL enterprise, which makes gasoline from coal and therefore is of strategic importance and under close government supervision, about 90% of the 6,500 Black workers were fired for taking part in the strike. This reaction by the administrators of SASOL illustrates the government's determination to stand firm against the action of the independent unions. The principal union in the enterprise was the chemical union of FOSATU. But this example also clearly shows the extent of the combativity of the Black proletariat.
Such repression is going to pose new problems for the mass movement, in particular for the independent unions, but it does not invalidate the success of the Transvaal general strike. general secretary of the FOSATU said, moreover, repression will only the situation a little more and increase the polarization."
It seems, nonetheless, that some members of the TRSC have made an assessment of the relationship of forces that is too onesided. For example, the chairperson of the TRSC and UDF local leader in Soweto, Thami Mali, went so far as to
"Our task is to intensify the resistance, to create an ungovernable situation, and to really force the state to de. clare certain regions or zones liberated."
These mobilizations clearly show the complex character of the interconnection between the national question and the social struggle in South Africa. This country exhibits an exceptional combination of national, democratic and social tasks to be resolved by the movement of the sion is present in all the struggles, includ ing in the social struggles, inasmuch as even strikes express the desire of the Black workers to organize as such to win emancipation and to achieve their de-
All workers mobilizations, therefore, combine immediate and economic demands (wages, conditions, etc.) with national and democratic demands that go beyond the limits of the enterprise and fit into the framework of the fight for national liberation (equal rights, freedom to organize, freedom of expression).
This is explained by the special nature of South African society, a semi-industrialized capitalist society dependent on imperialist investment and aid, one that despite a considerable industrial development, remains at the mercy of the ups and downs in its gold exports
One aspect of the South African econ omy is the extent of the role imperialist capital plays in mining and industry, dependence on the imperialist world market for access to technology, for credits, and with regard to fixing the gold price.
Another aspect is the high degree of concentration of South African capital and the existence of a financial bourself from two constraints. pendence on the technical know how and investment from the imperialist powers. The other is dependence on the mechanisms of national oppression codified in the apartheid system, on which the profits of the South African capitalist class
This situation creates difficulties arising from the narrowness of the domestic market, similar to those of other dependent semi-industrialized countries. no section of the South African bourgeoisie or imperialist big business involved in South Africa can really seek to resolve these problems by accepting the loss of the superprofits accruing from the national oppression of the Black masses.
The industrial development of the past decade has modified the composition of the proletariat by increasing the number tors that the first attempts to form independent union organizations developed. unions has changed the political conditions for the struggle of the oppressed and exploited masses. (5)
The industrial and mining proletariat is now the driving force in the process of uniting the oppressed and exploited in the framework of the national struggle for winning the right to constitute a single united nation, which is today prevented by the apartheid policy and the Bantustans. In order to achieve this, it will, therefore, be necessary to sweep away apartheid and capitalist rule.
In this specific context, the liberation struggle of the Black masses cannot take the classical path of destroying a colonial government imposed by foreign rule. It cannot be limited to a fight for essentially democratic and national demands. It has to immediately incorporate social demands having an anticapitalist dynamic. In such a situation, therefore, it is impossible to conceive of the organization of a national liberation movement of the classical type, comparable to those that have arisen out of anticolonial struggles in much less industrialized societies and which have generally been based on the peasant and plebeian masses. Contradictions for the capitalists
The place and power of the working class in South African society explain, moreover, why it is impossible objectively to expect to see the formation of a natonal liberation movement of the type of the Algerian FLN or the MP,LA in Angola. This does not mean that the movement of the oppressed will not involve alliances among different social categories of the oppressed and exploited population. But the difference of the South African social with respect to the Angolan Algerian examples is sufficient to assign the Black working class a decisive and leading role in the immediate struggle itself, and not just from the standpoint of a historic dynamic of the mobilization.
The growth of the independent unions since 1973 has corresponded with a per-
Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg, November See International Viewpoint, No 8, June
International Viewpoint 10 December 1984
date unions on the plant level and offer the Black proletariat a form of organization that corresponded to this initial level of the class struggle.
Today, this whole experience has been put to the test by the layoffs, as well as by the new needs of the confrontation with the regime. Since the start of the year, the trade-union movement has faced a layoffs policy that endangers its basic organizational gains. For example, since August 1984, MAWU, FOSATU's engineering union, has lost 2,000 members, about 5% of its total membership, as a result of layoffs. It is to be expected that another thousand of its members will be laid off between now and the end of the
On the occasion of the Transvaal strike, the press stressed that the unions were getting involved in the political arena by directly confronting the state. In reality, since their inception all the trade unions
Government offices outside Johannesburg burnt to the ground by protesters, June 17 (DR) iod of industrial growth, numerical increase of the working class, and a strong demand for labor power by the bosses. The world economic crisis had only partial and intermittent effects throughout rican economy has, in fact, certain shock
Among them are the variety and strategic importance of its mining exports, the near monopoly position it holds for some of these products, and the relative autonomy of fluctuations in the gold price from the international econ-
But this is also the weak point of the South African economy. It is very dependent on the evolution of the price. In fact, gold represents 45% of the country's exports and 20% of the state's income.
In 1981, exports started to drop. In economic activity fell off. 1983, investment declined by about 3%. The country was then hit by a recession whose extent and depth reflected a combination of the dependence of the South African economy on the big industrialized countries and the cumulative effects of the world economic crisis on these latter countries since 1973.
The drop in the price of gold led to a loss of income for the regime, despite the rise of the dollar during the same period. At the same time, the rise of the dollar as a refuge for savings accelerated the decline of the gold price. Finally, as a consequence of this situation, the South African currency, the rand, has continually depreciated against the American dollar. From a value of 1.30 dollars at the beginning of 1984 and to 0.60 dollars in November 1984
In the early 1970s, South Africa continued to represent an oasis of high profits for foreign investment, particularly attractive because of the falling profit rate in other countries. But now such investment itself has begun to decline because of the general narrowing of outlets, the narrowness of the market, and the political risks involved. In 1983, more than 25,000 enterprises closed, 28% more than International Viewpoint 10 December 1984 in the preceding year. In 1984, an average of 12 closures per day has been reconditions, the trade-union movement has been faced with its first great challenge. It has to be able to respond to a policy of austerity designed to cost of the crisis. permanent feature of the non-White labor market in the country of apartheid, is growing by leaps and bounds, in tempo with the large numbers or business failures, industrial reconversions and massive layoffs by South African and imperialist big industry.
In 18 months, 70,000 Black workers in the engineering industr have lost their jobs. The capitalists are t king advantage of this situation to increase their profits and the productivity of labor. In fact, this year the productivity of labor has increased in the automotive industry, exceeding the previous levels of the 1980s, despite growing layoffs. Growth of independent unions
The main independent Black workers' unions had to build their organization on the basis of gains made in battles waged at the individudal plant level. The courage of the initial nuclei of trade unionists spread contagiously in 1970-1980 to tens of thousands of workers, who were learning to strike, to stand up to the bosses, and to join the independent trade-union movement on the basis of this experience and their victories in battles for limited
Between 1980 and 1983, the number of "African" trade-union members increased by 300%, going from 220,000 to 670,000. Today, by them43.3% of trade-union members. (7)
The insistence of certain unions, such as FOSATU, on organizing at the and building a system of shop stewards reflected the needs of the first stage of building the independent union movement. It was necessary then to consolohave taken political positions reflecting the needs the movement has faced in its
What is new, therefore, is not so much the attitude of the trade-union movement as the level of the confrontation between the racist state and the bosses on one side and the working class
In this test of strength, the independent trade-union movement has to be able to give a concrete form to what was only implicit in its initial phase of organization, that is the decisive role that falls to it objectively in building a Black African workers' movement.
For several months, the confrontaion between the masses and the racist regime has demonstrated the high degree of organization of the oppressed. been reflected in particular in the fact that the mobilizations have come very close together. In this context, two sorts of mass structures have shown their representativeness. One is the unions. other is the community associations that are active on specific problems, such as housing, recreation and so on.
Unquestionably, the present political confrontation requires tight unity between these two complementary levels of organization. The importance of the community associations stems from the existence of masses of unemployed, the key role of the youth, and the extent of marginal em-
They are the concrete alter native for hundreds of thousands of the oppressed who cannot join unions.
The townships are also natural focuses for building a feeling of solidarity and an understanding of the need for organization. The unity of the oppressed can take very diverse forms, in accordance with the diversity of the concrete circumstances. There are many networks of as sociations, sometimes even ones linked to the churches, built around different questions that may concretely serve this need.
South African Labour Bulletin, Braamfontein, August-September 1984.
Ibid., p. 50. The Star, Johannesburg, October 25, 1984.
7
However, once a certain stage is reached in the development of the struggles and the confrontation with the regime, a collection of the most diverse forms of organization cannot meet the needs. It becomes essential to consolidate the central position of the Black proletariat in the mobilization. that the developments in the most recent period have been accompanied by a very intense debate over the ends and means of the present mass struggle.
The so-called Chartist current, which defines itself by its adherence to the Freedom Charter (9), is trying to provide a political and organizational framework for the oppressed masses. which to a certain extent is an alliance among these Chartists and sections of the Church and liberal white circles, has served this objective of rallying the mass movement around an implicit political the one contained in the Freedom Charter.
In offering this outlet for the various sections of the population involved in struggle, this current has been trying also to avoid being pushed to the sidelines by the recompositon of the trade-union movement, since it is unable to channel the process of unification going on in the union movement.
The UDF has in fact rallied a substantial part of the anti-apartheid associations and some unions. It played a central role, moreover, in the mobilizations against the racist elections in August, although in the Cape Town area this role was shared by the Cape Action League.
Another political pole formed in the
National Forum. around the rejection of any alliance with the liberals and which want to more radical, explicitly socialist program as an alternative to the Chartist current.
like FOSATU, the General Workers Union, AFCWU, etc. have given various explanations for their refusal to join the UDF and the National Forum.
All have stressed their concern for guaranteeing the independence of trade unions, sometimes expressing a refusal to link themselves with nonproletarian sectors, with the associations of Coloured or Indian small employers, or simply with White liberal groups.
This refusal of the main unions to join the UDF can only be explained by taking account of a central feature in the political thinking of the Chartists. For them, the liberation movement representing a single united leadership of the movement of the oppressed already exists. It is the African National Congress (ANC). What is more, for a not inconsiderable part of this current, the ANC, its trade-union apthe South African Congress of Unions (SACTU); and its armed wing play the role of vanguard because they are in fact led by the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Thus, in their view, the mass movement does not lack a revolutionary lead-
This has existed for decades in the person of the ANC-SACP duo, which offers a strategy for the struggle. this current, the only problem lies in the relationship between this leadership and the mass movement of associations and trade unions that has arisen over these last years, to a large extent outside of its
In these conditions, the role of the UDF is to serve as the link between this leadership and the new mass movement, in the form of a broad coalition offering form through which the political leadership of the ANC as the liberation movement leading the anti-apartheid struggle can be exercised. This view of things is disputed to a large extent by the organizations that make up the National Forum and by the main unions.
of the prevailing repression, public debate is obviously very difficult and limited. The ANC and the SACP are outlawed and persecuted. therefore, is mainly brought into country from the outside. express their views within the narrow bounds of the legal existence they are allowed to maintain under the close watch of the authorities. Finally, all the organizations are obliged to watch carefully what they say politically.
The discussion, therefore, has taken some very formal aspects. for instance, have criticized the UDF for the form and compositon of its leading bodies and for the place it accords liberals in its public meetings. other hand, the UDF charges that the NF is really only a forum and not an actual disciplined front. And it has criticized the unions for adopting "workerist," "economist" and "sectarian" positions.
The polemic launched several months the South African Communist Party against the unions that are not in the UDF and against the currents that make up the NF, however, gives a good illustration of the importance of this political confrontation.
At the FOSATU congress in April 1982, the general secretary of this organization, Joe Foster, raised the question of what role a workers' leadership should play, saying: "Has our organizational activity developed workers' leadership that and direction to all If we were to think in terms of our members only, we would have a very limited political role. If, however, we are thinking more widely of the working class, then we have to examine very much more carefully what our political role is." (10)
The SACP responded with a virulent polemic, arguing, with the help of quotations from Lenin, that by their nature the unions cannot substitute for the revo-
The article said, for ex ...the existence and achievements of the Communist Party are well known
Its members today are in the front line of struggle. Dare FOSATU ignore this?"
pointed up theo lote ce or the tacle
liberation movement. "It ignores the reality of a strong and constantly growing working class influence in the ANC, which has given rise to socialist inclined policies as witnessed by the Freedom Charter's provisions on land and monopoly industries...." (11)
This criticism has recently reappeared in a new guise, with the SACP organ writ-
"Some of them have become fascinated with the example of Brazil. A recent article on this country in the South African Labour Bulletin attempts to draw parallels with developments in South Africa. In Brazil, they record, mass militant trade unionism has led to the birth of a political party which rap. idly developed amongst workers, the unemployed, grassroots church, progressive youth and left intel-
"The author mentions almost as an aside that this party "has drawn much hostility from the supporters of the illegal Brazilian Communist Party... which claims that, historically, they form the party of the workers.' Brazil also features in the study program drawn up by the academics involved in FOSATU's educaand is discussed in the
"...perhaps the authors of this type of aware that resort to open anti-communism will not win them support amongst the organized working class. However, the attempts to ignore the programmes and even the existence of the ANC and the SACP amount to the same thing." (12)
The discussion also centers around the question of the alliance with groups of liberal Whites and employers' associations. The UDF has in fact associated itself with members of White liberal organizations, such as the Black Sash, the Union of South African Students, or even the Progressive Federal Party of the lib-
And it has included within it associations of nonwhite small employers, such as the Western Cape Traders Assoc-
It has also been built around Chartist organizations such as the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC).
Such alliances have been denounced by other currents, such as the Azania People's Organization (AZAPO), which was originally influenced by the Black Consciousness current, as well as by some
A policy of class independence of the oppressed has been opposed to one of alliances with White liberals or groups of employers. There has been a rejection of political groupings accepting the divisions imposed by apartheid in order to promote the interests of certain petty bourgeois layers in these communities. These reactions came to the fore in reand two other organizations representing SACP, East Berlin, No 93, Second Quarter of
Ibid., No 99, Fourth Quarter of 1984.
International Viewpoint 10 December 1984
sponse to the revival of the TIC and the NIC in the framework of the UDF.
The GWU, as others, has criticized the UDF for being a multiclass organization. (13) On the other hand, the UDF clearly defends this character of the front. defines itself as follows: "The UDF is not a class organization. It does not claim to work in the interests of the working class, the capitalist class or the peasantry. is an alliance amongst these classes." (14)
This extremely complex debate centers around two questions. The first is the character and role of agreements with nonproletarian currents. This dispute is obviously directly related to the national question in South Africa. What sort of alliances should be made on certain issues in the anti-apartheid struggle with specific sections of the Indian or Coloured petty bourgeoisie? Should you accept organic unity with movements organized on an ethnic basis, such as the TIC or the NIC? At the heart of this question is the need for a political leadership that could combine long-term strategic choices with a capacity for tactical initiatives in accordance with the needs of the immediate struggle.
The UDF's definition of itself as a multiclass formation reveals its approach to the national question. It is illustrated by the cases of the TIC and the NIC, International Viewpoint 10 December 1984 whose revival is justified in the following
"The TIC and NIC revival was necessary because the struggle is waged in a specific reality. If we want to mobilize people, we must talk to them about the reality they feel and perceive...in South Africa, each race has a specific role to play but they must not play it independently of one another." (15) In particular, the currents that criticize the UDF reject this view of the national question as a sum of "specific" national questions.
However, the debate also has a second side, the discussion of the long-term stategic option for the South African revolution. All the currents claim to be for socialism more or less, or at least for an end of the exploitation of 'man by man,' the latter formula being very popular among the national petty bourgeoisie
But the Chartist current proposes a democratic stage in the revolutionary process. On the other hand, a section of its critics talk about the need for destroying capitalist exploitation, which they see as in the final analysis solely responsible for the system of racial
For example, the manifesto of the National Forum explains:
"The struggle against apartheid is no more than the point of departure for our liberation efforts. Apartheid will be eradicated with the system of racial capitalism. The Black working class, inspired by revolutionary consciousness is the driving force of our struggle." (16)
The SACP organ explains this difference very clearly, writing that, "This theoretical framework, 'socialism now, is the basis for an attack on the Freedom Charter, for the trivialisation of the national question and a refusal to move from abstract theory or abstract intellectualism to concrete and living reality. Here we see an attempt to impose working class leadership The attempt to merge the working class struggle with the national liberation struggle is 'sectarianism par excellence.' According to this sectarian view the stages of our revolution are negated and the working class is being mobilized, not to spearhead the struggle for national liberation against national oppression, but to spearhead the struggle for a 'Socialist Azania.' There is a lot that is assumed without being worked for." (17)
The breadth of the mass movement of the oppressed today highlights more and more of the debate among its various political and tradeis already a united national liberation movement that represents all the oppressed people of South Africa. This, therefore, is sufficient reason for all the components of the movement to accept its leadership and line up behind it orientation is applied in the solidarity movement abroad, counterposing support for SACTU to support of the independent Black unions.
For the other wing, there is a need to offer an alternative orientation to that of the ANC-SACP current, one that can take the form of "class" fronts that implicitly defend programs of anticapitalist struggle, even if the advocates of this option are not entirely in agreement about all the tactical aspects of this question.
This political confrontation will be decided in the first instance in the arena of demonstrated by the contending forces to give impetus to the movement and to promote its unity. The Transvaal strike made it possible to form a very broad united front extending from the UDF to the unions. The lessons that both wings have drawn from this struggle will be very important for their respective organizational projects, and therefore for the political debate. 13. This debate led to the breakup in the Cape province of the grouping called the "Disorderly Bills Action Committee, which had been formed to campaign against the government's constitutional reform. The Chartist organizations left it to form the UDF. The other organizations that remained 1n1 formed the Cape Action League. The GWU drew a negative balance of these events, which had an influence on its refusal to join the UDF, as one of its leaders explained in the November 1983 issue of the magazine South African Labour Bulletin. 14. Solidarity, Cape Action League News, June-July 1984. 15. Ibid 16. Manifesto of the National Forum Committee, Johannesburg, 1983 17. African Communist, No 98, Third Quarter of 1984.