NEWS & ANALYSIS

Revisionists and opportunists are contesting the left platform

Justice Piitso says such elements are mastering the art of abusing our revolutionary theory with most savage malice

The political input by Justice Phatse Piitso during the occasion of the NUM Eliyah Barayi Brigades political education school at EBMTC Yeoville Center.

A trade union movement cannot assume to be a political leader of the struggle of the working class. No amount of the siren songs from the headquarters of our enemy can substitute the political leadership role of our party in the struggle of the working class.

I take this opportunity to convey my revolutionary greetings to the leadership of the National Union of Mineworkers and all our shopstewards gathered here today. I am indeed humbled to be with you during this important rare occasion of the Eliyah Bahayi Brigades political education school.

My profound appreciation goes to the leadership of the NUM and the SACP for affording me the opportunity to participate in this great festival of ideas. A political education school is the greatest of all festivals of ideas.

I am equally inspired that the political education school is taking place in such a glorious and prestigious institution, dedicated after one of our outstanding and heroic revolutionary leader of our national democratic revolution, Cde Eliyah Barayi. We thank you much for dedicating such an important institution and a brigade of our revolution after this colossal of our people.

Cde Eliyah Barayi belongs to the category of the most extraordinary leaders of our national liberation movement, our vanguard party and our revolutionary trade union movement. His contribution to the cause of the struggles of our people for freedom and equality will forever decorate the beautiful chapters of our history books.

My task today is to present to the Eliyah Barayi Brigades political education school one of our most important theoretical questions on the political leadership of our vanguard party and its role in the struggles of the working class.

I am however confident that the tried and tested leadership of the NUM gathered here will take this most important historic debate to a higher pedestal. The NUM is the backbone of the revolutionary trade union movement in the history of the struggle of the working class movement in our country.

Your leadership experiences and lessons over the years will concur with me that a political education school is a nucleus and therefore an essential life of any revolutionary organisation. Political education school produces a calibre of new cadres with the clarity of our ideological and political forms of our struggle.

Political education school is a platform which affords us with the opportunity to hatch revolutionary ideas necessary to construct the future of humanity of peace, freedom and dignity. A future free of oppression and exploitation, a future free of poverty, disease and underdevelopment, and an ideal future of socialism and classless society.

Our party is the vanguard and the only political leader of the struggles of the working class. It is the only revolutionary organ that can infuse the working class with the necessary capacity to lead our struggle to its logical conclusion.

The working class is the most resolute, disciplined and organised class in the struggles of the people. When mobilised and infused with far-sighted, revolutionary class consciousness and struggle, it is the only class that has the capacity and power to liberate itself and the people from oppression and exploitation.

Karl Marx, the author of our bible, the Communist Manifesto, says the following about the nature and character of the proletariat class:

"... of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie today, the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class. The other classes decay and fınally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product".

We have to reject decisively the counter revolutionary view that seek to suggest that the working class can carry out the task of our revolution without the political leadership of a communist party. We need to be clear that every class struggle is a political struggle.

Political power can only be seized, organised and led by a political party, not the other way round. No trade union movement or an imperialist sponsored protest movement, can assume the political leadership role of the struggle of the working class into our socialist future.

Throughout the history of our struggle, revisionists and opportunists have made futile attempts to undermine the political leadership role of the communist party as the vanguard of the struggles of the working class. The question of the counter revolutionary forces seeking to substitute the leadership role of the party should be understood from this context.

The South African working class must rise to defeat the wave of narrow minded chauvinism which seeks to substitute the political leadership role of our party and the entire revolutionary movement, over the struggle of the working class. It must be clear that the tasks of our national democratic revolution and our transition to socialism, cannot be performed by forces of counter revolution.

We have to defeat all of these tendencies in their appearance and form. We have to defeat them in all fronts, either in the form of the so called united front and a movement for socialism, AMCU, the Economic Freedom Fighters or any other imperialist sponsored counter revolutionary insurgents. The only common feature between rightwing fundamentalism and pseudo anarchists is that they serve the same master.

We must prove to them that no amount of anti communist tendencies from what ever quarter can stop our party from playing its historic role as the political leader of the working class. The interests of counter revolutionary forces are not consistent with the interests of the working class struggle.

Therefore our struggles against opportunism and counter revolution is inseparable from the revolutionary struggles of the working class. Without a protracted and resolute struggle against all these counter revolutionary tendencies, there will be no victory of the working class struggle.

Our foremost task is to understand that no revolution succeeds without a struggle, that no revolution can proceed without powerful enemies from within and without. No revolution could liquidate the forces of imperialism and neo colonialism without a counter offensive.

The emerging trend today in our country is that revisionists and opportunists are contesting the left platform. They are mastering the art of abusing our revolutionary theory with most savaged malice, with most furious and unscrupulous campaigns against our revolutionary alliance led by our national liberation movement the ANC and its leadership.

Lenin says the following about revisionists and opportunists:

"Certain individuals amongst the present social chauvinists leaders may return to the proletariat, but the social chauvinists or opportunists trend can never disappear or return to the revolutionary proletariat.

Revisionists and opportunists factions, as agencies of the bourgeoisie become more and more hostile to Marxism Leninism with the sharpening class struggles and the development of the revolutionary movement of the proletariat and the toiling masses.

Revisionists and opportunists are sworn enemies of Marxism and yet they swear by the name of Marx. You cannot prevent them from doing so anymore than a trading firm can be prevented from using any label, any sign, and any advertisement it pleases.

We must relentlessly tear off their masks, discredit them before the people and leave them no place to hide anywhere in the world. Winning the masses is the key to the struggles against revisionism and opportunism.

It is our duty, if we wish to remain socialists, to go down lower and deeper to the real masses. This is the whole meaning and the whole content of our struggle against revisionism and opportunism.

If we want to win the battle against social traitors and opportunism, this political line must be followed in all spheres of our struggles without exception, and then we shall win the masses.

Our battle with revisionism and opportunism is a protracted and tortuous one. As long as the capitalist class and imperialism exist, they will always try to train new ones as their agents in the communist movement".

Vladimir Lenin formulates the indispensable role of our revolutionary theory and the leadership role of the vanguard in the following way:

"... the starting point of any revolution rests on the fundamentals of a revolutionary theory and a revolutionary working class party. In its struggle for power the proletariat has no other weapon but the organization, the proletariat can, and invariably will,become invincible force only through its ideological unification on the principle of Marxism being reinforced by the material unity of organisation.

The only guarantee that the revolutionary organisation of the working class will not lose sight of the strategic objective of socialism or lose its identity as an independent party, is its adherence to and reliance upon Marxism. The role of the vanguard fighter can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most advanced theory".

Lenin further elaborates on the significance of a revolutionary theory in the struggle of the working class in the following profound way:

"Our revolutionary scientific theory is the weapon to make us judge and define the methods of struggle correctly. That is a weapon that helps us analyse and understand correctly the cause of development of human society at every moment, to analyse and understand correctly every turning point of society and to carry out the revolutionary transformation of society".

Our revolution can only be led by the most advanced contingent of the revolutionary class. A detachment of men and women guided by the scientific Marxist Leninist revolutionary theory.

The fundamental point is that the communist party is the vanguard and the political leader of the struggles of the working class. It is constituted by the most advanced detachment of the section of the working class.

The revolutionary struggle of the working class in our country is part of a worldwide revolutionary process whose main strategic objective is the transition from capitalism to socialism. Therefore the primary political task of our party, is to be part of the world revolutionary process of the transition from capitalism to socialism.

Our supreme goal under the political leadership of our vanguard party, is to achieve the highest form of human society which is communism. The creation of a classless society, a communist society based on the foundations of equality.

Therefore to equal this historic task, the leadership of the party must be comprised of better students, schooled in the scientific revolutionary Marxist Leninist theory. They must be committed revolutionaries ready to lead the working class, and our society in general, into our better future, the future of freedom of all of humanity, the future of socialism.

Chapter two of the communist manifesto says the following about the nature and character of communists and proletariats:

"The Communists, therefore, are, on the one hand, practically the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others.

On the other hand, theoretically, they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding the lines of march, the conditions, and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement.

The immediate aim of the Communists is the same as that of all other proletarian parties: Formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat".

We need to comprehend the theoretical thrust that the communist party and the trade union movement are both working class formations. But their place and role to the immediate and long term struggles is not and cannot be the same.

A trade union movement is a mass organisation of the working class. It represents the interests of the workers at the point of production.

Its struggles is essentially about the immediate improvement of the working and living conditions of its members. It has never assumed a role of a political leader of the working class struggles.

But a trade union movement equally plays a significant role in the worldwide struggles against the capitalist oppression and exploitation.

In the communist manifesto Karl Marx formulates the character of a trade union in the following profound way"

Trade Unions are the schools of socialism. It is in trade unions that workers educate themselves and become socialists, because under their very eyes the every day struggle with capital is taking place".

This is why we need to understand that a trade union consciousness will only arise spontaneously at the point of production. The reason why the political leadership role of the vanguard party becomes the transformation of the trade union consciousness into revolutionary political consciousness.

It is also important that we understand the most important theoretical question of the dialectical relationship between the class content of our national struggle and the national content of our class struggle. It is important that we understand the relationship between the national, class and gender questions in the dichotomy of our national democratic revolution.

Our theoretical thrust is that our national democratic revolution is about the construction of a non racial, non sexist, democratic and prosperous society. That the immediate objectives of our national democratic revolution is about the liberation of the African people in particular and the black people in general.

The African National Congress is a revolutionary national liberation movement. It is not a narrow chauvinists nationalist movement as our detractors would want to define it.

Its posture and character is inspired by the scientific theoretical perspective of the international working class movement. The ANC is an anti imperialist and anti colonial national liberation movement.

Throughout the century of its existence, our movement has always being part of the worldwide struggle of the working class solidarity and internationalism. We have always understood that our struggle for national liberation is part of the struggle of the oppressed people of the world against imperialism and colonial domination.

The 1928 plenary session of the comintern instructed all the communist parties of the world to work hand in glove with the embryonic nationalist movements in the colonies and semi colonies. This approach was premised on the theoretical perspective that the liberation of the millions of the people in the colonies and semi colonies was a necessary precondition to the victories of the working class struggle.

With regard to the specific South African conditions, the comintern characterised our country as a British dominion of a special type. The plenary called for the establishment of a native republic with full and equal rights of all races.

The call for the establishment of a native republic became a basis for the theoretical formulation of the essence of our national democratic revolution. This was a basis upon which our revolutionary alliance understood the relationship between the national, class and gender questions.

Therefore our theoretical formulation that the ANC is the leader of our national democratic revolution remains to be consistent even today with the resolutions of the historic plenary of the comintern on the question of the colonies and semi colonies in 1928. We are the only communist party that has lived true to this historic resolution of the important gathering of the world communist movement ninety years ago.

The national democratic revolution becomes a minimum programme and the last phase of our struggle towards the establishment of our socialist society. We therefore need to derive a deeper understanding of the meaning of the second phase of our transition for the radical transformation of the South African socio economic landscape.

The struggles for a socialist South Africa demands a correct scientific and revolutionary understanding of the relationship between national oppression and exploitation. Our strategic objective is to fight for the victory of the national democratic revolution.

Therefore the main task of our vanguard party in the present phase of our struggle is the achievement of our national democratic revolution. Our immediate task is to consolidate on the unity and cohesion of our national democratic revolution.

Counter revolutionary offensive is blaming our revolutionary movement for the historic and inevitable challenges of poverty, disease and underdevelopment tearing our society apart. Counter revolution is blaming our own democratic government for the deepening world capitalist economic crisis which is not of our making.

Our democratic government is blamed for the slowing world economic growth, declining economic production, rising prices and living standards, mass unemployment and poverty and the growing inequality between the people which is the distinct feature of the present capitalist crisis.

Counter revolution does not comprehend the scientific facts that every historic moment is informed by concrete material conditions. It is time that we all expose these counter revolutionary distortions of our scientific revolutionary theory.

The participation of the working class in the present transition for socio economic transformation of our country is not conditional on other strata of our society accepting socialism as the future. The working class struggle is not only confined to our immediate struggles for the achievement of socialism.

We need to defeat the new dominant tendency of counter revolutionary forces appropriating the slogans of our revolution. We need to work hard to ensure that there is unity and cohesion of our revolutionary forces.

The immediate role of our vanguard party is to work for the unity of the trade union movement and the working class in general. We have to do so by drawing into our own ranks the most advanced elements from the leadership of the trade union movement.

Throughout history our party has been the backbone of the struggles of the South African working class movement. Our party has a proud unbroken record of a rich and heroic historical relations with the trade union movement.

Our party has laid a great foundations for a revolutionary trade union movement in our country. Many of our outstanding leaders devoted their entire life in the trenches consolidating the unity and hegemony of our trade union movement.

Today we take the opportunity of this rare historic occasion of the Eliyah Barayi Brigades political education school, to salute the sons and daughters of our soil. We salute many of our unsung heroes and heroines who volunteered their lifes in the cause of our struggle for national liberation.

We salute Cde Bill Andrews, J B Marks, Johannes Nkosi, Ray Alexandra, Thabo Mufutsanyane, Moses Kotane, Vuyisile Mini, Flag Boshielo, Moses Mabhida, Walter Sizulu, Govan Mbeki, Peter Nchabeleng, Banny Molokoane, Steven Dlamini, Lawrance Phokanoka, Mzala Khumalo, Marks Shope, Joe Slovo, Ruth First, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela, John gomomo, Mbuyisela Ngwenda,Ncumisa Nkondlo,Alinah Rantsoalase, Thembi Nabe, Stella Mabitje Segwale.

Lastly, in the communist manifesto Karl Marx and Frederick Engels declare that the working men have no country. Marx repeats again in the Gotha programme of 1875 that the class struggle is only national in form but not in content. He says that thou it takes place within the framework of a national state, it was essentially international in character.

The point being that workers everywhere have common interests against owners of capital. Hence the slogan working men of the world unite, you have nothing to loose, but your chains.

I thank you

Phatse Justice Piitso is the former Ambassador to the republic of Cuba and the former provincial secretary of the SACP writing this article on his personal capacity.

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