IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WORK OF THE ALLIANCE
In Marxist-Leninist terms, this proposed ‘reconfiguration’ amounts to an
attempt by the Party of Socialism to avoid its responsibilities as a vanguard
party of the proletariat and to delegate some tasks of the socialist revolution
to the national democratic movement.The objective reality is that, practically, this national democratic movement
will not and cannot turn its own NDR programme into a socialist programme.The ‘reconfiguration of the Alliance’ project will not work. (Quoted from Part 2)
This does not mean that the Allies, led by the ANC, should not so organise
their work that they cooperate as they should and act in a matter which shows
respect for one another.
In this regard, the ANC, in particular, must take into account these matters
raised in the Central Committee Political Report to the 5th Special National
Congress:
Given the recent changes in the ANC’s political alignments, it is pertinent to
ask: Has the ANC, by all intents and purposes and beyond any reasonable
doubt, moved away from its traditional allies to form new class alliances,
tactical or strategic, primarily with the class forces represented by the DA and
others represented in the GNU?
Can we still guarantee that the ANC will lead
the continuation of the NDR when the political landscape has shifted so
drastically? This question is crucial as it could help narrow the areas of
tension and determine the issues we need to address with the ANC in the
future…We have tried our best (to get the Alliance to function properly) and have
been patient enough to the point of losing our credibility and even fail pop
(sic) analyst do not take us seriously on this matter.
It would be logical that if the SACP treats the ANC as an opponent during the
forthcoming Local Government Elections, then the other members of the
Alliance would meet to consider whether the SACP still deserves to be a member of the Alliance.
As the SACP considers further its decision to engage the forthcoming Local
Government Elections on a wall-to-wall basis, it must also re-examine some
of the positions it has taken based on falsehoods or debatable propositions.
ANC POLICY ON THE ALLIANCE
In his Opening Address and Political Report during the July 2007 ANC
National Policy Conference the then President of the ANC, Comrade Thabo
Mbeki paid some attention to the matter of the Alliance. This was because
the virtually habitual controversies about its very nature had resurfaced. Here
is what President Mbeki said, presenting the standing policies of the
Movement:
In this context the issue of the relationship between the national democratic
and the socialist revolutions has been raised once again.I hope that as we reflect on matters raised in the Draft Strategy and Tactics
document we will discuss this important matter that our movement has
grappled with for many decades.However, I must restate some of the fundamental conclusions that have
informed the functioning of the broad movement for national liberation for many
decades already, which enabled this movement to achieve the historic
democratic victory of 1994 as a united and disciplined force for progressive
change.
One of these conclusions is that there is a distinct, material and historically
determined difference between the national democratic and the socialist
revolutions.Objectively, and not by proclamation or conference resolutions, the ANC
necessarily serves as the leader of the forces committed to the victory of the
National Democratic Revolution, which struggles for the realisation of the
national democratic goals of the masses of our people.
For many decades already, our movement, the African National Congress,
precisely because it accepted and supported the right of our people to choose
their path of development, accepted the proposition that our ally, the SACP, and
not the ANC, would lead the forces and the struggle for the victory of the
socialist revolution.I must emphasise this again today, as we begin our Policy Conference, that the
ANC would respect any decision by the masses of our people that rather than
the national democratic revolution, they prefer to support and pursue a socialist
revolution.
Equally, the ANC would respect the right and duty of our ally, the South African
Communist Party, to lead the struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution.
Our movement has never stopped or discouraged the SACP from playing this
role, and will not do so today or tomorrow.Recognising and respecting the independence of our ally, the SACP, and
understanding its role as the leader of the socialist revolution, the ANC has
never sought to prescribe to the SACP the policies it should adopt, the
programmes of action it should implement, and the leaders it should elect.It has never obstructed the SACP in its socialist objectives, and therefore joined
the reactionary anti-communist forces.
Historically, the ANC has deeply appreciated the fact that over the decades,
the SACP has defined itself as an integral part of the national liberation
movement, of our movement committed to the victory of the National
Democratic Revolution, and therefore accepted that, objectively, the ANC must
serve as the leader of the NDR.In this context, the SACP has always understood that it could not delegate its
socialist tasks to the ANC, consistent with the fact that the tasks of the socialist
revolution could not be delegated to the National Democratic Revolution. For
many decades, the SACP has therefore not seen and acted against the ANC as
its political competitor, which we are not.
I mention these matters that have to do with the Strategy and Tactics of both
the national democratic and the socialist revolutions because in the recent past
suggestions have been made that the ANC has not eradicated the legacy of 350
years of colonialism and apartheid because our successive conferences,
starting with the Consultative Conference at NASREC in 1990, have not adopted
what some have characterised as socialist policies.Again, let me restate the fundamental conclusion that, for many decades, has
informed the functioning of the Alliance and the relations within its ranks, that
the SACP has never sought to delegate its socialist tasks to the ANC, and has
never sought to impose on the national democratic revolution the tasks of the
socialist revolution.
Neither has the ANC ever demanded that the SACP should abandon its
socialist perspectives, and limit itself only to the achievement of the objectives
of the National Democratic Revolution. I must also add this, that already during
the 1940s, if not earlier, our movement recognised the strategic position that our
working class occupied and would occupy in our economy, in our society, and in
all our struggles to achieve the victory of the National Democratic Revolution.As the colonial-apartheid system evolved, characterised in part by massive
land dispossession, it became ever clearer that the majority of the black people
were being thrown into the ranks of the proletariat, and therefore that to speak
of a democratic revolution that benefits the people was to speak of a
democratic revolution that benefits the working class.
Accordingly, to speak about the motive forces of the National Democratic
Revolution was to speak of the working class as a leading echelon in the
struggle for national liberation, which would also organise and fight for its
interests in terms of higher wages and better working conditions, and a role in
determining the future of our country.You comrades may very well ask why I show disrespect for you and this
important Policy Conference by repeating what to you constitute the ABC of
your political education and understanding, as well as my own.
And so let me explain myself. I have said what I have said to make the
immensely important point that the historical evolution of our society has
meant and means for the ANC that to secure the victory of the National
Democratic Revolution, our movement must draw into the common struggle our
country’s democratic forces, our country’s socialist forces, and our
country’s proletariat.This means that our Alliance, composed of the ANC, the SACP and COSATU,
expanded to include SANCO, is not a product merely of intelligent conference
resolutions. It is an imperative imposed on us by the nature of our society and
the ideas and organisational formations that have developed within the bosom
of that society.
The Alliance will therefore survive and thrive and continue to combine and
coalesce as the vanguard mass formation representative of the overwhelming
majority of our people, charged with the historic task to accomplish the goals of
the National Democratic Revolution.The objective reality in our country is that the National Democratic Revolution
cannot succeed if it does not contain among its motive forces our country’s
socialist, trade union and civic movements.
The objective reality in our country is that the trade union and civic movements
cannot achieve the goals they pursue if the National Democratic Revolution
does not succeed in its objectives.The objective reality in our country is that the victory of the socialist revolution
cannot be achieved outside the context of the victory of the National
Democratic Revolution.
As we consider our policy positions during this Conference, these realities
about what the Alliance is and what the Alliance means, are some of the
fundamental considerations that must inform our work, bearing in mind what
was said a mere two years after our liberation, that “There can be no stable
democracy unless the democratic state attends to the concerns of the people
as a whole and takes responsibility for the evolution of the new society.Those of us who are familiar with European classical music may remember the
comment attributed to the famous German composer, Ludwig von Beethoven,
when, speaking of his 9th Symphony, the “Chorale”, he said: “Mankind may
perish, but the 9th will live forever!”
On behalf of our National Executive Committee and the entirety of the ANC,
I am pleased once more to welcome to our Policy Conference the
delegates representing the SACP, COSATU, SANCO and other formations of the
democratic movement. Their presence here signifies precisely the point that all
of us may indeed perish, but the Alliance will live forever.The ANC remains committed to what, necessarily, will be a protracted struggle
for the victory of the National Democratic Revolution, that, objectively, will
continue to demand that the ANC discharges its obligation to lead the entirety
of the democratic movement.
This is what should guide our discussions during this important Policy
Conference, focused on our obligation to advance the National
Democratic Revolution and therefore determine the policies that would help us
to achieve this objective. Our movement must indeed “attend to the concerns
of the people as a whole and take responsibility for the evolution of the new
society”.Our practical experience over the past 13 years has confirmed the
complexity of the struggle we have to wage to build the kind of South Africa for
which many of our people made enormous sacrifices.
In many areas we have had to take various initiatives with no possibility to draw
on any previous experience anywhere else in the world.The nature of the society we inherited and the impact on us of a
rapidly changing international environment mean that our movement must
indeed develop the necessary capacity, ingenuity and maturity successfully to
“take responsibility for the evolution of the new society.For 95 years our movement has lived up to the expectations of the masses
of our people for liberation and development. It successfully led the many-sidedstruggle that obliged the apartheid regime to enter into negotiations to end white
minority rule. It successfully led the transition to democratic rule resulting in the
victory of the Democratic Revolution in 1994.
It has successfully led the process to ensure the stability of our country, away
from the threat of racial conflict and counter-revolutionary disturbances. It has
responded to the challenges of reconstruction and development in a manner
that has given hope to the masses of our people and strengthened their
confidence in a better future for our country.I say all this to make the critically important point that our leadership has the
fullest confidence in our movement, the ANC, that it will continue to live up to its
responsibility effectively to respond to the challenge of the reconstruction and
development of our country into the non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous
democracy that the National Democratic Revolution must build.
And indeed the objective reality in our country is that in the same way that the
defeat of the apartheid regime would not have been possible without the ANC,
so would it not be possible to construct the new South Africa without the ANC.This underlines the historic responsibility that rests on the shoulders of all the
delegates to the Policy Conference, all other members of the ANC and all our
structures, properly to position themselves to carry out the task of the
fundamental social transformation of our country.Consistent with our internationalist traditions, this obligation also relates to the
work we must do further to advance the African Renaissance and contribute to
the building of a better world, even as we confront the challenges of
globalisation and the unjust distribution of power within the system of global
governance.
“In this context I trust that all of us gave ourselves time to study and respond to
the Discussion Document, “Towards the Centenary of the ANC: A Strategic
Agenda for Organisational Renewal.”The Document concludes with the words: “The ANC has evolved and
developed into a people’s movement and agent for change over many years of
struggle and sacrifice. It had to overcome serious obstacles and setbacks in the
long road to freedom and democracy.
Our movement has a track record of being a trusted leader and loyal servant of the
people. Its strength lies in its ability to renew itself ideologically and
organisationally, to take account of new developments and new challenges.
However, this ability for self-renewal cannot be taken for granted.It is a task that every generation has to grapple with and accomplish, based on
the requirements and tasks of each situation.Any organisational review and renewal proposals for the ANC have to pass one
test: to what extent do they enhance the capacity of the movement to remain a
trusted leader, loyal servant of the people and an agent for change! This is the
main challenge.
These extensive remarks by President Mbeki represented standing policies of
the Movement on the Alliance. Presented at the Policy Conference, they would
naturally be subjected to discussion and decision during the National
Conference which followed about six months later, in December 2007.
In this context we must also mention that in his Organisational Report, the
then Secretary General, Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe, had also discussed the
Alliance and said, among others:
cracks have started to appear (in the Alliance) at the level of strategic
conceptualisation, especially in the public discourse, with analyses and
public statements that suggest different expectations of the NDR, conflicting
readings of the balance of forces, divergent interpretations of the role of the
progressive trade union movement and of a Communist Party in the midst of
the NDR.
This explained why President Mbeki had to discuss the Alliance in the manner
he did.
ANC POLOKWANE CONFERENCE AND ALLIANCE
Of great importance, it is necessary to emphasise that the 52nd ANC National
Conference of December 2007 reaffirmed the positions explained earlier by
President Mbeki.
For instance, the Strategy and Tactics document adopted at the Conference
said:
Historically, the three streams of the national liberation struggle in our
country – the revolutionary democratic, the socialist and the trade union
movements – have found common cause in pursuit of the objectives of the
NDR as commonly understood…It is a strategic alliance aimed at eliminating
the legacy of colonialism in its various manifestations, and not a coalition
based on tactical considerations or the subjective mood of the moment. As a
leader of the NDR, the ANC will continue to work for strategic unity among all
components of this Alliance, in pursuit of a national democratic society.
The Resolution on Organisational Renewal said:
Conference further confirms that the leadership role of the ANC places on it
the primary responsibility to unite the Tripartite Alliance and all the
democratic forces.
As suggested in the Organisational Report of the Secretary General, this
Resolution also “mandate(d) the NEC to:
within three months after Conference, convene an Alliance Summit
to discuss a joint programme of action, including strengthening local
structures of the alliance, and an approach on how the alliance manages
with differences and discipline.
This Alliance Summit was held on 9-10 May 2008.
In its Communiqué, the Summit said, inter alia:
It was agreed that the Alliance will work together to formulate policy and
monitor its implementation through joint ANC/Alliance policy committees
and other mechanisms.These kinds of interactions will become a permanent feature of Alliance
processes in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies…The Summit reaffirmed the ANC-led Alliance as the strategic political centre.
Steps need to be taken to strengthen the capacity of the ANC and the Alliance
to play this role.
The reference in this 2008 Alliance Summit Communiqué to “the ANC-led
Alliance as the strategic political centre” seems to confirm what the SACP
has asserted that the ANC 2007 Polokwane Conference opened the door for
the Alliance to agree to its reconfiguration so that it works as the “strategic
political centre” of the NDR.
However, we must also report on another Alliance Summit which took place
five years later after the 2008 Summit, on August 30 – September 1, 2013. In its
Declaration, this Summit said:
Together we are fully aware that it is only a united revolutionary Alliance that
will be able to provide effective leadership and mobilise the broadest range of
popular forces to take forward our struggle to consolidate the promises of our
1994 democratic breakthrough. We stand united in this core belief and in this
commitment to our people…In the course of the Summit, we deliberated candidly on the functioning of
our Alliance and the challenges confronting our respective organisations…The
principle of the independence of our formations is based on mutual respect
for the internal democratic processes of each formation, and an appreciation
of our different but complementary strategic roles…The long-standing tradition of complementary independence, we agreed, is
not to be confused with either mechanical conformity or chronic
oppositionism to each other.
From this, it is obvious that despite what was said in 2008, there was no
agreement to reconfigure the Alliance such that it becomes “the strategic
political centre” of the NDR!
If the ANC were to agree to this proposal, it would have to prepare that a
properly constituted National Conference adopts the necessary
Constitutional Amendment to give effect to the relevant exercise of authority
by the said “strategic political centre”.
The reality is that no ANC National Conference has taken any decision for the
Alliance to be transformed into a “strategic political centre of the NDR”. There
is no likelihood that any ANC National Conference will adopt such a position.
END OF PART 3 (PART 4 – WHICH IS THE LAST TO FOLLOW SOON.)
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