7 November 1999
Introduction
Comrade Chair,
Members of the Central Committee present,
Cde Provincial Secretary and comrades,
Today we are gathered on a very important day in the history of working class struggles in the 20th Century. Today we are celebrating the 82nd anniversary of the Great October socialist revolution - the first truly workers' and people's uprising against exploitation, oppression and capitalism. Despite what our detractors say, this event still represents the aspirations of millions of people world wide who would like to see the establishment of a humane, just, equitable society free from exploitation, hunger, illiteracy and oppression. Today as the South African Communist Party we say that despite the setbacks in the former socialist countries, the Bolshevik revolution and its subsequent evolution and history stands as one of the most monumental achievements of humanity in trying to defeat capitalist barbarism.
Today also marks the celebration of the climax of our Red October campaign which we launched in order to increase the membership of the SACP, in particular to recruit amongst organised workers and start a process of establishing industrial/workplace structures of the SACP. In addition our campaign was aimed at strengthening the structures of the SACP at all levels throughout the whole country. During this campaign our message has reached thousands of workers and rural people throughout the country. By any criteria, our Red October campaign has been successful in taking the message of the SACP to thousands of workers: of building people's power to deepen our democracy; of building worker power for democracy and socialism; of tackling the scourge of HIV/AIDS; of defending and extending the public sector; and of fighting women's oppression in the workplace and the home.
Capitalist ideologues and enemies of the working people tell us that the Bolshevik revolution of November 7 in 1917 was a human disaster and went against the grain of what they say are inherent selfish tendencies of humanity. Yet the very crisis if capitalism and the poverty it has brought about globally remains evidence to the fact that capitalism can be no solution to problems facing humanity. The Bolshevik revolution and the socialist experiments of this century has also taught us a number of lessons which still remain relevant even during this point in time. In fact some of these lessons have become even more relevant in our current situation.
The first and most important lesson is that a people united, led by the most progressive sectors of society - the working class - are capable of changing their own conditions for the better by challenging an oppressive and exploitative system like capitalism. It is a lesson in that capitalism is not as invincible as its ideologues always want to tell us. It is for this reason that we are undertaking a systematic party building campaign to organisationally and firmly root the SACP amongst organised workers and the poor.
The second, and perhaps, most important lesson is that it is possible for humanity to provide free education for all, free health care for all, comprehensive social welfare, full employment and cheap and accessible public transport. These were achieved by many socialist countries, which goes to show that it is a system based on greed and private profit that is unable to meet these basic needs of the people, and not the fault of human nature as we are told.
Thirdly, the 20th Century socialist experiment also taught us an important less - that the state is the only institution that is capable of leading an all-round development offensive aimed at meeting the needs of ordinary people. In particular it is a state that is underpinned by working class and people's power that can best address the conditions of the working people and the poor. The private sector, by whatever criteria, can never meet the needs of the people, since it is a system based on making profits for the few at the expense of the majority. It is for this reason that we are convinced as the SACP that selling off state assets to the private sector as a means to meet people's needs is doomed to fail. Large-scale privatisation that has been foisted by the IMF and World Bank on developing countries over the past 15-20 years have failed dismally. Yet we are told the reason why such measures have been a failure is because we have not done enough of privatisation and liberalisation. In other words it is a situation of blaming the victim.
The lessons of the Bolshevik revolution and South Africa's transition to democracy.
It is important that we should thank all of you who voted for the ANC and returned it to government with an even bigger majority. We also thank you for voting the ANC as the single largest party here in the Western Cape. Were it not for the immoral and racist coalition between the NP and DP, the ANC would be governing this province. It is therefore important that we continue to mobilise the masses in this province to ensure that the needs of the working people and the poor are catered for. This will lay a firm foundation for ensuring that the ANC becomes government in this province - the only organisation best capable to lead the Western Cape and attend to the needs of the majority of the working people and the poor. This is because the ANC has policies that are oriented towards the ordinary people.
However one other important significance of the Bolshevik revolution and what it sought to achieve is underlined by the very struggles that we are engaged in South Africa today. Whilst we have made significant advances in addressing the basic needs of ordinary people - provision of clean drinking water, electricity, classrooms, clinics and telephone connections, progressive labour laws - these advances are daily threatened by the capitalist character of South African society. As we extend progressive labour laws to workers, hundreds of thousands of workers are losing their jobs, thus not benefiting from these progressive laws. These job losses are essentially throwing workers and their families into poverty.
What this means essentially is that the biggest threat to South Africa's democracy is capitalism itself. What the government gives with one hand, the capitalists take the with both hands! As we seek to strengthen the capacity of the state to deliver better services, the private sector is encroaching and seeking the privatisation of the very key state assets responsible for delivery of some of these basic services. As we seek to build houses for the poor, the capitalist banks have washed their hands off in providing finances for low cost housing. It was precisely these kinds of conditions that the Bolshevik revolution fought against and overthrew, underlining the fact that there can be no democracy in a capitalist society. This is an issue that we have not looked at squarely in this country, and it is the responsibility of the working class and the poor to expose the lie that capitalism provides the best environment for democracy.
For us as the SACP, democracy is not only limited to the vote, important as this is and has been in our democracy. Democracy at its core is about the democratic redistribution of economic resources in order to fight poverty, hunger and illiteracy.
Capitalism is simply undemocratic. The wealth is produced collectively by millions of people but appropriated privately by a few individuals. A continuation and strengthening of capitalism in our country will simply undermine the sustainability of whatever progress is made to meet the needs of our people. This is a fact that we should not be uncomfortable to point out, because it is the truth. Capitalism widens the very poverty whose increase will always remain a threat to our democracy. It is for this reason that what the Bolshevik revolution intended to achieve was both political and economic democracy. One without the other is meaningless!
The working class and the fruits of South Africa's democracy It is precisely the capitalist character of South African society, that unless the working class and the poor are effectively mobilised, that the fruits of their own struggles is being claimed and appropriated by a small elite. For example, there is a disturbing tendency today which tends to regard organised workers as an obstacle to the economic development of South African society. Instead workers are being castigated as an elite that is only narrowly concerned with their interests. Yet such accusations are never made against the real elite which is concerned with their selfish interests - the capitalist class. It is rather unfortunate that these voices are sometimes heard even within some of the ranks of the democratic movement. There are those today who are saying it is not necessary to negotiate with and take workers along in the transformation of our municipalities. It is as if workers are a nuisance to an otherwise sensible transformatory approach. The dangers of such an approach is that it plays right into the agenda of white bosses, who in any case are going to be the primary beneficiaries of any private sector driven transformation process. The intensifying ideological attack on workers is premised on this approach and assumptions. The SACP would like to make it clear that there can be no democracy and genuine transformation in this country without the central involvement of the working class. There can be no transformation that excludes and marginalises the working class. There can be democracy that tries to seize the victory of the working class and the poor - a democratic South Africa - to benefit only a few. It is precisely because of these lurking dangers that the Bolshevik revolution still holds important lessons for us - to build the political and economic power of the working class and the poor. It is also in this context that we had launched our Red October campaign.
The meaning of Heath's approach to Absa
To us as the SACP, perhaps one of the most dangerous developments in terms of where South Africa might go is the decision by the Heath Unit not to take legal action against Absa and its being bankrolled by public money through the Reserve Bank. To us this action has got far-reaching implications than meets the eye. What this action means is that the Heath Unit is not investigating corruption against the rich, but only against the poor or those more vulnerable than the capitalist class. It means that our country should be held at ransom by finance capital. But much more seriously it is an action aimed at shaping the emergent South Africa's democratic state as a capitalist state - that is a state whose institutions must act primarily to protect the interests of finance capital in particular, and the capitalist class in general. This is condoning the robbing of the poor to pay the rich - bailing out institutions that have not the slightest interests of the poor and not participating in low-cost housing. This is outrageous action and must be condemned by the majority of the people of our country.
Even more disturbing is the fact that when we condemned this as the SACP, virtually the entire media ignored this, including the public broadcaster! These of course being an indication that our media is nothing other than instruments for the rich and to advance the interests of big capital, particularly finance capital. But what is unacceptable is also the attitude of the public broadcaster in ignoring our protestations, a matter that needs to be taken up much more vigorously by the working class.
It is for this reason that as the SACP we say that a number of things need to happen with regard to this whole episode. First of all the Heath Unit must never continue to fool our people that it is investigating corruption, but that it is investigating corruption by everybody else except the capitalist class, even if this class is looting the coffers of the state for its own interests. Secondly, this matter cannot be allowed to lie to rest, further action needs to be taken. In this regard we call upon Chris Stals to be summoned to explain fully the circumstances surrounding this "life-boat". It is for this reason that we welcome the stance taken by the current governor of the Reserve Bank to fully investigate this whole episode.
Build People's Power, Build Socialism Now
It is for all these reasons, and in the true spirit of the Bolshevik revolution that the SACP calls upon the working class to play a leading role in building organs of people's power where we work, where we live and where we study. The only sure way to build the political power of the working class and the people as a whole is to go out and build strong developmental committees, crime policing forums with a particular focus of fighting rape and violence against women. It is for this reason that the SACP is calling upon all communities and workers to mobilise and build structures specifically targetted at fighting rape and crime against women, including exposing the perpetrators of such crimes. It is also important that we all build and participate in the running of our democratic school-governing bodies. These steps and structures are the true foundations of people's power, which the Bolshevik's soviets provide a shining example.
As part of our Red October campaign we also call upon our people to put more effort in the fight against HIV/AIDS. This pandemic perhaps threatens all else that we need to achieve. We call on all party structures to prepare to participate actively in taking this campaign forward on December 1 - which is World's Aids Day. Let every communist distribute a condom or two that day and ensure that wherever you are, you participate daily, and not just on such day, in aids awareness campaigns.
But in order for these campaigns to be effective we need to simultaneous continue to wage the struggle against US and other pharmaceuticals for cheaper drugs generally. In the spirit of the Bolshevik revolution and our Red October Campaign let us expose that the real cause of poverty in the world still remains US-led imperialism. It is this imperialism that the Bolsheviks fought against, and it is this imperialism that we must continue to challenge in order to bring about a just, equitable world order. Let us also recommit ourselves to strengthen international working class solidarity as the true foundation upon which all national struggles will be able to overcome oppression, exploitation, poverty and disease.
Long live the spirit of the Bolshevik revolution long live! Socialism is the future, build it now!
Blade Nzimande General Secretary - SACP