01 May 2001
The South African Communist Party conveys revolutionary greetings to all the workers of our country and the world for their continued determination to wage an unceasing struggle against racism, gender oppression and class exploitation.
Mobilisation for the recognition of May Day under apartheid became one of the most important platforms, which we effectively used to defeat apartheid.
To this day we should bolster and continue with the legacy of May Day in order to build working class power to drive the democratic revolution, defend and deepen worker's gains and lay the basis for a socialist transition.
The imperialist and neo-liberal assault on workers through neo-liberal restructuring of the economy and the job loss bloodbath we are experiencing in our country necessitates escalating worker's struggles even more. It is both undesirable and not inevitable that it is only the working class that makes huge sacrifices, whilst the bosses continue to make super-profits.
Part of escalating worker's struggles must be the building of a people's economy, which seeks to roll back the capitalist market and to mobilise workers to confront neo-liberal restructuring, and struggle for alternatives. Key in this people's economy is the need to deepen our struggle to strengthen the capacity of the democratic state to intervene and play a leading role in key sectors of the economy. It is simply untrue and incorrect to assume that privatisation will contribute to addressing our economic challenges. It is only a state-led and public-sector driven economic transformation that will bring a better life to our people. Part of the struggle against privatisation must be to build collective forms of economic ownership and production through co-operatively owned worker co-operatives. We need to engage government around supporting these entities instead of focusing on individually owned enterprises.
TRANSFORM THE FINANCIAL SECTOR
On this May Day, the SACP thanks all workers who supported the SACP led Campaign to Make Banks Serve the People. Our next step is to form a broad-based campaign front of organisations that support this campaign, and create a people's front for the transformation of the financial sector in our country. To this end we are convening a meeting of more than 50 organisations on 16 May this year.
After this 16 May meeting we are earnestly working towards the convening of a NEDLAC Summit to address some of the key demands which have emerged in our inter-action with the people over the last 6 months. These include the following:
The transformation of the financial sector in our country is part of building a people's economy.
80 YEARS OF THE SACP
Finally the SACP also dedicates this May Day to the launch of its 80th Anniversary Celebrations. All throughout our history we always have been rooted amongst our people and their struggles. It is this tradition which we seek to continue by using the month of July, the month in which we were founded all those 80 years ago, to ask our people to evaluate the SACP and shape its future. The SACP will submit itself to an open evaluation and criticism by workers and poor people by convening 30 Worker's and People's Assemblies countrywide. We are not afraid to a public evaluation and critical feedback from poor and working people. We are their political vanguard and we are rooted in their midst.
Workers of South Africa and the World Unite You have nothing to lose but your chains