The South African Communist Party held a very successful Special Congress last weekend in Durban with 600 delegates in attendance.
This was an important Congress after the 11th National Congress as it was meant as a Mid-Term assessment of the work that the SACP had done in implementing the decisions taken in the last Congress.
For us as the Young Communist League, we view the Congress as a landmark because young people attended for the first time organised under a youth banner.
It was also the first after the re-launch of the YCL in December 2003, which makes us now 16 months old.
Of importance as the YCL was how the SACP will assess and deepen its work towards building Socialism Now. We were also interested, and contributed into, how the SACP relates to State Power and frankly contributed into the advancement and deepening of the Medium Term Vision (MTV) of the SACP.
The other critical discussion, linked directly to the MTV and the debate on State Power, was the question of the SACP standing for elections and has direct representation in parliament.
The YCL has been of the view that the SACP should contest for elections, and that an engagement with the ANC and COSATU of what this means should take place.
We were of the view, and still are, that the SACP should begin to take up issues that affect the working class and counter the neo-liberal agenda advanced by political parties such as the Democratic Alliance in parliament.
Summarily, the decision of the Special Congress was that the SACP Central Committee should appoint a Commission to look into this question and that this Commission should report at the next National Congress.
We are happy with the decision, and were in fact surprised that our proposal for the setting up of such a commission was accepted without much hesitation and with no hostile opposition.
We see the Commission as a platform to thoroughly look into and look at viable options without jumping into conclusions hasty conclusions.
We are also happy that the debate itself took place and was tabled without fear or favour, and that delegates were allowed to honestly reflect on the issue in a communist fashion.
We are also happy that we were not, as others would have wished, dismissed as a bunch of young people who did not know what they meant when articulating around this question.
In essence, the decision of the Special National Congress is meant to take forward proposals that the SACP should participate in elections with directly mandated candidates through a commission welcomed by the YCL.
We believe that this is a step closer in consolidating the work of the working class through the leadership of the SACP towards building socialism.
We will support the activities of the Commission, and ensure that it is set-up as soon as possible to assume its work.
We will also participate in the Commission in the event that we are invited, and will form part without any pre-conclusions and with ultimate objectivity.
We expect the commission to look into the effects the decision will have on the Alliance, given the fact that the SACP has decided to support the ANC in elections and through the Alliance, govern through a common programme and Manifesto.
This has various consequences for the Alliance. The manner within which both the SACP and the ANC will coexist in parliament in the foreseeable eventuality of an electoral route for the SACP should be looked at.
Some within the Alliance have suggested that such a decision will break the alliance, others have suggested that it will break the ANC, SACP and COSATU in such an eventuality.
In as much as the YCL structures were ready for the debate as it took place at Congress, the SACP structures, which are key for such a decision, were not and their readiness remains a significant factor in determining what should happen. The commission will have to interact widely with such structures.
The Commission will also have to look into what the role of the SACP in Parliament will be, and what impact the Party will have on South African parliamentary democracy.
It will also have to look into the impact this will have on internal SACP operations, the existing SACP campaigns on land, financial sector and on its work in co-operatives.
Experience has taught us that most political parties and political alliance in our country are build or broken by elections. The Independent Democrats was launched because its leader was impatient with the pace of the PAC, which was visible only in elections and has collapsed mainly because of its poor performance during elections.
The Democratic Alliance was formed precisely to fight back against ANC electoral domination, and some of its allied members walked out because of their problems around who should be premier and who should not be.
Most political parties, save the SACP, do not have programmes and campaigns, and base their political work on an electoral purposes.
Many of them have achieved nothing outside the parliamentary process, and can only boost how much of an opposition they are towards the ANC.
We need to assess what the impact of an electoral eventuality will be on the structures of the SACP.
The Commission should also look into the readiness of the working class and the poor for an SACP presence in the ballot paper.
We will as the YCL canvass the question of the unity of the left in the elections and ensure that the work of the commission is not only limited to consultation of SACP structures, but also to various individuals, organisations and institutions of the left.
This will be a huge test on the strengths, weaknesses and capacity of the SACP to assume yet another task of representing the workers and the poor in parliament.
Lastly, the commission will have to assess the politics and power relations of parliamentary democracy, and whether such power can assist the SACP to accelerate its programme of building socialism now.
The YCL will work tirelessly and collectively within the PYA and the alliance to ensure an ultimate victory of the ANC in the forthcoming local government elections.
1. Assessing the role of the SACP within the Alliance and in society broadly?
2. What is the intention of the YCL from the congress debate and how should we proceed with it?
3. A predictable
dlaminij@bdfm.co.za