Comrades,
I should begin by extending the gratitude of the newly elected CC for the confidence shown in them by this historic 10th Congress of the SACP. I must also thank all the international delegates, delegates from the Alliance organisations, and those from other fraternal organisations for their attendance, inputs and support. When you leave we will miss all of you, but we know that in the struggle we will meet time and time again. So as we depart from this Congress let us commit ourselves to strengthening the friendships and solidarity that we have built over the last few days.
History is such that people usually look back and remark how events that took place were significant, but that it was not obvious to them at the time. This Congress has been one of those rare historic occasions which all of us have felt the significance of as we participated. Despite the reactionary views of our detractors, despite the speculation by sections of the press on the imminent demise of the Party, this Congress has reaffirmed the future and role of the Party. The SACP remains a Marxist-Leninist Party, committed to bringing about the socialist transformation of our country. Our Party is the unbroken thread of socialist consciousness, of peace, progress, and development in a country that has seen the worst of colonialism, imperialism, racism and capitalism.
It is important for me to state the obvious, just in case the bourgeoisie and their press believe that their assertions will become the truth by virtue of the volume at which they are expressed. The SACP remains committed to the existence and strengthening of the Tri-partite Alliance, led by the ANC. This commitment is not due to some sentimentality on the part of our membership, or because we do not believe that the SACP could survive without the Alliance. The Alliance is necessary at this period of our country's history because we are engaged in a national democratic revolution. The Party has asserted time and again the relationship between national, class, and gender struggle. Our thesis of Colonialism of a Special Type has guided the Alliance for decades, and will continue to do so until the material basis for this thesis has ceased to exist.
Not only is the Party committed to the Alliance, but this conference has re-affirmed the leading role of the ANC and has committed the thousands of Party members to work for an overwhelming victory of the ANC in the 1999 election. We call on all South Africans, in their millions, to vote for an overwhelming victory of the ANC in the 1999 election. Our programme of action has identified the urgent need for Party activists to carry out a number of key tasks, many of which will strengthen the Alliance and add to the election effort of the ANC. I will elaborate on these a little later, but it is important to touch on a number of significant issues that are shaping the current conjuncture and which have been captured in the Party programme discussed and adopted at this Congress.
The international context of our revolution is one of great change, great movement of capital, the phenomenal growth of financial markets, but little progress for the majority of the earth's inhabitants. The current phase of capitalist globalisation is one which is progressively impoverishing the inhabitants of most developing countries, and women in particular. The current crisis in our own economy is directly attributable to this crisis of capitalism, internationally and domestically. In such periods the class struggle is bound to intensify. These features of capitalism affect us as we are attempting to transform our society, from an apartheid one to a united, non-racial, non-sexist, and democratic one. The contradictions that we face and must deal with are a heavy responsibility. The key issue for us as the SACP, and for the national liberation movement as a whole, is not to focus on our differences, which are few and largely of a tactical nature, but to concentrate one what unites us. That, our programme reminds us, is the need to consolidate and advance the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION. The forthcoming Alliance Summit is critical in ensuring that what aver differences there are we manage properly. This Congress has given us clear positions on most of the critical areas of importance that we shall address at this summit. The programme points out the key role that the Party must play in the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION. Ours is a difficult task. We must participate in the revolution as part of the broad front that is our Alliance, mindful of the class realignment taking place, which is an obvious consequence of the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION, and mindful of the fact that as we transform our society, we transform our own organisations. In pursuance of and in the articulation of the interests of the working class we may be seen to be having differences with various -of our Alliance partners, but this is not out of mischeviousness or malice, it is out of our commitment to the working class and it's interests. What is fundamental is for us to recognise as Communists that we do not retreat when class contradictions sharpen and deepen, we engage and we ensure that the resolution of these contradictions will take the revolution forward towards our socialist objective. A key challenge for this leadership will be to ensure the continuity of the Party of Yusuf Dadoo, Dora Tamana, J-B- Marks, Moses Kotane, Moses Mabhida, Joe Slovo, and Chris Hani. This continuity must be a dynamic one that interprets our Party's history in a manner which allows us to remain relevant and not by repeating the past as if it is a catechism. This Congress has ensured that we have done that by mapping out a way forward in relation to the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION that is orientated by a firm grasp of our history and our objective; socialism and ultimately communism.
The program also interprets the history of ideas in our Party through offering an understanding of the theory and practice of Marxism- Leninism in a South African context. We are proud of our contribution as a Party to the collective intelligence of our country and the world. We remain convinced that if we apply this theory we will be able to make meaningful contributions on such issues as the development of appropriate macro-economic and industrial policy for our country. This is one of the most urgent tasks of the Party and it's cadres. Again, we need to emphasise to our Alliance partners that our differences in this respect are not as great as they may seem at the moment. We believe that the President of the ANC was correct when he asserted that the ANC remains an organisation committed to the interests of the poorest of the poor, the most disadvantaged, and the most directly affected by the consequences of apartheid. Our differences are about how we can best ensure reconstruction and development, not over any strategic issues.
The other key area we have identified is the need to ensure the participation of all our members in the transformation of the state. The defence of the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION will be through the organs of state power in society and by the mobilisation of the masses of our people. This dialectical relationship between the people and the government which leads the state is a complex one, but in developing it we truly believe that we can fundamentally alter, not only the conditions of people, but the consciousness of all our citizens as well. For the Party this participation by the masses in governance is a key component of building socialism. We should not pretend that transforming the state will be an easy process. Because of the interests concerned, the nature and culture of the public service we have inherited from the apartheid era, transformation of the state will be a protracted, difficult struggle. We need to ensure that in this process Party cadres are well prepared. The state must be under the hegemony and ultimately the leadership of the working class for us to build socialism.
To ensure that we are successful in mobilising the people of our country behind a socialist vision and towards clear objectives that will advance the struggle for socialism, we need to be concrete about what it is that our people must do and what the benefits of their actions will be. One of the weaknesses we noted of the Party after the 9th Congress was our failure to practically implement our very good theories and programmes we had drafted. Building socialism is a labour, it is a full-time occupation, and we must become serious in our efforts. The time for talking is over.
As the SACP we are therefore making a call to people of this country to rally behind the Party and the broad national liberation movement, in particular the workers of our country. Our call to them is to join the Party, build the ANC and COSATU. In other words, put your shoulder to the wheel in the collective effort we must all make to consolidate our national democratic revolution. In this manner it will remain a working class led revolution. We know as a Party that only the organised working class, led by a vanguard Party such as we are, can ensure the success of the revolution.
In particular we identify the rural poor of our country, who are the proletariat of the countryside. Largely landless, they stand little chance of any fundamental change in their lives of they remain unorganised. It is our task as the Party to ensure that we build organisations that will allow the rural masses of our land to maximise their interests in the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION.
Of course, there are the millions of unemployed of our country, who the bourgeoisie and the various political mouthpieces they own are constantly trying to claim as their own for narrow political purposes. Despite the fact that the unacceptably high rates of unemployment are the direct result of capitalism, and specifically apartheid capitalism, these elements of the privileged constantly claim that these most exploited people in our society are best placed to have their interests looked after by the representatives of big capital. Our to call to these unemployed masses is that you are part of the working class, and your interests are best represented by the SACP, and more generally by the ANC led Alliance. Do not fall into the trap of believing that there is a labour aristocracy in this country represented by COSATU. The only aristocracy we have are the Randlords, the less that 100 individuals who control the privately owned economic resources of this country. The students and youth are the future of the country. They are the next generation of political leaders, public and private sector managers, professionals and technicians that must ensure the economic development of our country. The Party will reach out to these young intellectuals. The Party in fact, is your natural home.
Lastly, we must speak to the various elements of capital that we have identified in our programme. We are aware, as communists, that capital in it's pure economic form is central to development in our country. But socialist experience around the world has taught us that without social capital, owned collectively by the people of the country, and public capital, controlled by the government, development will be one-sided and in the interests of a few. We therefore give notice to the capitalists of this country, that we intend to socialise the wealth that you currently own. Your choice is to throw your lot in with the people of the country, or to resist this process of economic transformation, but socialisation is a fact, it will happen, so get used to it. International capital must also understand, we need investment in our country, but not at any price. Investment must be sympathetic to our national democratic revolution and our objectives of transformation. So comrades, these are some of the tasks that face us as Communists. Lenin, in "Party Work in the Masses" urged Communists to repeat the call by economistic trends in the labour movement to organise, but added, " organise also in a political party, organise... against the whole of capitalist society". We repeat that slogan to you as the working class, organise, organise, organise !
Central to the success or failure of the revolution is whether we build this Communist Party. We have as the SACP a dignity, a proud history, and independence, that we relish. We also have a history of involvement in the Alliance which we have reminded ourselves of. To build the strongest ANC, the most dynamic Tri-Partite Alliance, we require a strong, self-sufficient, independent, and militant Communist Party. The cadre development, the theoretical training, the increase in organisational ability, the skills and expertise that we require to do this is amongst us. What will determine our success or failure is the commitment that we show. We will -return 4 years from now to measure our performance, to determine whether we as leaders of the Party, all of us, and militants in the forefront of the national democratic revolution, have been up to the task. Let us not be found wanting and recognise that Party building is the intensification of the struggle for socialism in our country.
Let us lastly comrades, pay tribute to the many communists who have ensured that have arrived where we are today. We have mentioned those who have fallen, including our most loved former General Secretary, comrade Chris Thembisile Hani. It is to his memory that this 10th Congress is dedicated. We have acknowledged the outstanding service of our former Treasurer, comrade Kay Moonsamy. It is important for us to also pay tribute to Comrade Brian Bunting and his wife and closest comrade, Sonia Bunting. In our midst are Comrade Brian has served on the CC for more than 40 years, and together with Sonia they have almost a centuries worth of work in the Communist Party. We salute you comrades Brian and Sonia, and acknowledged your revolutionary contribution. There are others, of course, such as Oom Govan Mbeki, Ray Alexander, and many others. We salute all of them.
Let me once again thank our delegates, from all of the branches of the SACP, rural and urban, our international delegates, the ANC, COSATU, SANCO and the rest of the MDM formations who have been present in this Congress. Lastly let me thank those members of the CC who have not stood for re-election. Your contribution will be written in the glorious history of this SACP, and your children and grandchildren will live to see the benefits of socialism. Comrades, we are members of the Communist Party. We have a historical responsibility, Your orders are clear. Go back to your branches, the unions, the national liberation movement, the rural areas, and build socialism.
Every Communist, Vote ANC !
Every COSATU member, Vote ANC !
Build People's Power,
Build Socialism !