union rights for black workers i certain- the more arritating aspecte of Verwoerdian apartheid such as the mised marriages act and similar cosmteric measures, would con- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 2 July/Augus 1987 tain the sicuation. which accounts for more than half South bloated bureaucrucy necessary to process the mass of apartheid legislature (pass laws, in- fux contrul, censorship and so on) has led to a four-fold increase in personal taxation in earnings. Africa's foreign curreney Jess than a decade.
unassailable were captured by the NP and others transformed into marginals. In the words of Basinen Das, a Johannesburg finan- cial daily, english voters sacrificing ar last the rale of keepers of a liberal flame, chose to identifiable By playing the racist card, Botha succeed- WHILE THE white electorate rallied to the tattered blood-stamed banner of apartheid Blacks registered their protest ar their exclu- sion from the decision-making machinery in nearly double that number the next day to demonstrate whar the most effective way open to them. More than half-a-million stayed away from work liquidate themselves as ed in uniting the whites. on polling day and political force' SOUTHAFRICA NS PERHAPS WHITE WRONG THING IS A
COSATU described as the opposition of the vast majority of South Africa's people to the mad, repressive, racist course this govern- • Thousands of students stayed away from schools. colleges and universities in solidarity with the striking One immediate effect of the triumph of the so and the emergence in strength of the cent of the pvcrall popular white vote, almost double the PFP's share — is to diminish the influence of big business on future govern- listen to the blan- ultra right — who won more than 26 per ment policy. Despite their domination of the South African coonomy, Botha will now be dishments of 'enlighrened' capitalists, like de Beer of Anglo-American or to bow to pressure from the multi-nationals. They pin- ned their post-election hopes on the success of Dr Worral and his fellow independents even less inclined to ment is bent on' workers: wen intimal itali HOU SKOLE BY WIT WIT
Buthelezi is hesitant about participating in a national *even the quisling council le white elections
which, according to a statement de Beer made in London on 4 May would increasc Pressure from that quarter is off the In the immediate future, Botha will have to ward off the threat from the die-hards on pressure on the government to make conces- parliamentary opposition benches by showing that his reformist" velvet glove con- ceals the iron fist which he would not now hesitate to use. He has received a mandate which he dare not ignore if the NP is to main- tain its hegemony over the Afrikaners. This Bocsak: *white voters have made their posi- tion clear. They support the state of support detention of thousands of children; they support the ac- Opening the newly-elected parliament, Botha made it clear that apartheid was here to stay and warned of an impending crack- position. If there were still any sections of that any real reform, let alone a change of was neatly summed up by LTDF leader Allan down against the extra-parliamentary op- South Africa's voteless blacks who thought tions of the security forces" agenda for the time being. emergency; they Opening thin edge of the wedge, opening the road to Botha perceived that the main threat to his rather than the 'left despire the media ballyhoo which sur rounded the dramatic jnurney of Dr Worral from the South African embassy in London to the bustings of Helderberg. The dection resalt has more than vindicated his judge- ment. The ruline National Party increased its parliamentary representation from 116 pense of the PFP. The rise of the ultra-right. seats to 123. Its gains were largely at the ex- as a threatening force in South Africa resulted in a ner gain by thr. Cr of four seats at the expense of the NP and replacing the Had the CP and the HSt not split the right- wing vote, they would have won six more A feature of the election result is that the english-speaking whites who have hitherto PFP as the official parliamentary opposition. managed to present a 'liberal' veneer and who formed the hase of PFP support moved over to the NP in droves. English-speaking racial equality and, inevitably, black rule. which were considered base came for the right" To the left" of the governing party were - those Nationalists like Wy- Esther Lategan and Denis go a littie fasteriand a little further. None of Worral and the Progressive Reform Party (PRP) who aligned themselves with sections of big business and wanted the "relorms' ro was in favour of a They all campaigned for the continuance of what is euphemistically known as 'free enter- prise but which in reality, means the con- by Anglo- tinued domination of the economy by the American. To the right of the National Party was rhe Conservative Party (CI9. thr Herstigre National Party (HNP) and in the background the openly fascist Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging (AWB). These want to state with one-person-one-vote. woerd was king and the kaffic knew his plare, to a rigid apartheid in which blacks would exercise political rights" only in the so-called tribal homelands' and coloureds" and indians only in racially demarcated areas. For them Rocha's reforms were the turn the clock back to the days when Ver SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 2 July/Augus 1987 monopolics, headed state: with these "progressives nand Malan, the "verligtes". unilary
There is a danger, of course, thar without organised political leadership this will take While this will increase the ungovernability of the townships, it will not create the best- conditions to give birth to an alternative The problem of political leadership would still have to be THIS 15 ONE variant nf the vears ahcad. Bur there is another aspect which was not present in the 1960c — the independent trade union movement. Undoubtedly, the government will try to curb the influence and militancy of the unions - as it has shown by its vicious the forin of mindless violence and anarchy. action against thie striking railway workers. brake on the movement of revoit: goveroment and social system solved. SOUTH AFRICA Tion of blacks in parliament on a par with: ed compound since they increased local repts in Seprember, 1984. This was the beginning of the narion wide rent bovcotts and the continued Mayor Mahalatsi, aware that he was elected by a derison mieroscopic vote and as described by Borha, gracefully declined the state president's invitation: we would have arcat reluctance in participating in the We seriously urge you to abandon the idea... the reform it does not (lead to) the ultimate participa- In anncipanion of strong action against the that he was not one of the real black leaders you (are pursuing) will be an act offutility. unabared despite two states of emergency. which has orrest national council wave of whites' Two days after the clections, the striking railworkers" six-person negotiating leant was Themba Numalo: general Allied government could be brought abour through the white parliamentary process, these hopes Bocha has not wasted much time in ar- One of his major targets would appear to be the trade umions, Even before the elections, the police laid siege to Cusatu House, the headquarters of the Confederation ol South African Trade Unions: This was followed by picked up in a Johannesburg raid. On the lempring to put his chreats against the op- raids on other union offices and the harass: the real opposition - into effect. secretary of the Municipal and have now been effectively dashed. ment of trade union Icaders. day. position - same
Even the representatives of big business are aware of power it is certain they will use it for political purposes. What is remarkable is the restraint: the unions used in the first six years but this Another prominent member of the big jur multinational Shell SA, John R Wilson the power and strength of the organised trade unions: In the pre-clection interview in the Independent (5 May), the Anglo-American director, Dr Zach de Beer said thar in the long term the most effective anti-government urganisation in South Africa was the trade *Wherever vog are now What I have said many times to the govern- ment is that if you give people trade untion business establishment, the chair of the ma- you are dealing with unions in South Africa But they won't find this easy won movement is changing His deportation of media representatives other countries is no simple act of revenge for past activities by these reporters. With state con- trol of radio and tv in South Africa and press regulations, the regime can conceal the tie liberation forces, Botha is cleuring the decks. reporting severely curtailed by emergency state of affairs from people in South Africa. It now hopes to bring down the curtain bet- For President Botha, no news from the dark ween South Africa and the rest of the world recesses of the townships is good news. the banning of the mass organisations must be in the mind of the regime Iron Britain, USA, Australia and Workers of South Africa, was stopped at a road block. This was followed by more raids on union officer and arrests in Pietershung m areas act and segregated education - two of the Northern Transvaal and Germiston near Johannesburg COSATU offices in East Ton- Botha has also made it clear that the group the corner stones of apartheid would be where white and black have been living would no longer be tolerated This was signalled by a raid on a largely black- nocupied flat in the central Johannesburg of a Hillbrow caretaker who has been promi- nenr in the prolonged campaign against the rigilly enforced. The so-called grey areas. peacefully together these past lew years, suburb, Hillbrow and the alleged detention erictinn of black residents in Hillbrow. don were burnt down.
has also warned the regime of the conse- Srare: mans for stable industrial relations, the ef- dustry. violencc will not abare under the viuletice, high-handed and strong-arm tac- tics are employed in what is transparently an attempr to crush an increasingly powerful government opponent, ones behef in a pressure on COSATU, be said could only discriminare arrest of hundreds of workers is Rather It will strengthen their resistance and suppurt and will have adverse ranitica- frets of which will be felt thoughout in- He went on to say: Sadly: though, as 'The raiding of of fices, the banning of meetings and the in he said. of raking on the unions unions" present repressive conditions. to crush the bode ill for the Tuture'. not likely quences which the clection result has given Botha will be used ruthlessly, While he will keep the trade unions within his sights, he will first train his guns on the political wings of ibe liberation movement and, in the first in- Preparing legistatoo lo ban these organisa- other organisations rerciving financial aid from overseas. This may not be as effective such nullification in the Supreme Court may tke time. As an im- mediate step. Botha proposes to use the authority stance, on the UDF, the main mass extra- Fund-Raising Act of 1978 to stop these and as the government appear to behove The AZAHO. and Undoubtedly, the increased movement, organisations tions which will escape parliamentary liberation , brily nine monthe sfer the territory's Verwoerd's policy of 'independent' black 'homelands" would also be pursuod. Botba KwaNdebele to become the fifth 'blank na- Jegislative assembly vored against the in- KwaNdebele is 0/ wholly artificial creation with no traditinnal tribal ties. It consists of a few thousand acres of desolate farmland, 100 miles north-cast of Pretoria: The land was formerly owned by 19 white farmers who were, undoubtedly. Handsomely compensated. Now it in home' to 250.000 blacks, mosly of the Ndebele There can be min doube that all sections of the liberation movement face a difficult furure in the immediate period ahead during has given the go-ahrad for impoverished trbe who have been forcibly removed there, proposals: dependence Lion',
= = more quislings of KwaZult and Lekoa seems 10, have realison that he has to conl the sitta- of the rail strike. the employing authority recognition Despire its victory at the all- white polis, the regime does not feel inself While the trade anton movement, as sucb. - Invalved as in of necewity is, with the day* Botha Having been rebuffed oven by the After the attempted vicious repression suddenly caved in. All 10.000 sacked railway workers got their jobs back and unino enough to rake on the organised open is not the idical vehirle for political leadership ro-day struggles fur better working condi- SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 2 Jely/Auguir 1987 negotiated future berames coen the workers in fragile." (Workly Mail, 22-30 May): the conilrontation. strength without overseas aid though, undoubtedly. however, must be very much in the mind of have the same effect as the outlawing of the of 1960 — a period of relative political cal and apathy. But there is no possibility of this been highly politicised in the last rwo years of struggle. Living in a perpenual state of emergency they have become inured to mi- prisment and death, It has become so much part of their daily lives thar no repris- sium, however severe, will be able to put a widespread support that it can get by The banning of the mass organisations. the regime. It hopes banning them would ANG and PAC after the Sharpeville massaure scenario being repcated The people in the townships and, specially the youth have this will increase their difficulties Mahalarsi and other councillors to sit on his which the stare of emergency will become a permanent feature. The single, bleak gesturr which Borha has made toward the majority, is the offer of black participation in a na- tinnal cuncil. Even the quisling Buthelezi is hesitant about participating in this farce. He Botha was rebuffed even by the uncle Coms. On a visa to the Vaal's Lekon township in lunc, where he was offered the Sharpeville, he invited the Mayor Fsat nacional council Muhalasi and his col- leagues bave been living behind barbed wirr in a specially-constructed and heavily guard- including has stipulared the release of Nelson Mandela as a condition for lalks, bur this is virtually of six townships impossible in the present climate freedom"
their own programme — socialisa - con scious of the fact that this programme is the only guarantor of victory. Ir is hy striving to gramme that the working class exercises us win the others in the alliance to this pro- leadership. All orher interpretations of Lie 'leading role of the working class are com It is significant that ar is founding con- ference at the end of May, the new giant COSATU affiliare, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), clearly spelled out its commitment to a socialist society where workers' control of While ir adopted the Freedom Charter as 'containing the minimum political demands government and industry was enforced that reflect the view of the majority of metal workers" vision of a free and democratic non- discriminatory South Africa it underlined that the demands of the Freedom Charter could only be realised in the lives of the and it recognised the limirations of the that it should be supplemented with a "workers" wurking-class masses "through the practical charter' a demand originally raised by die who was leadership of the industrial working class... Freedom: Charter by demanding Mavekiso,: Moses: pletely meaningless. imprisoned UTHAFRICA Atrica today and the founding of the British Labour Party at the curn of the century. The trade union Icaders in Britain took the in- itiative to lor a political party mainly as a response to legislation which chrcatened the very cxistence of the unions, Ir was not till 1918, in the wake of the Russian revplution, that the word 'socialism' British Labour Party. The British Labour conomic growthe and political stability when milde its appearance in the platform of the Party was burn in a period of relative it was srill possible.to wrest relorms and con- cessions fron the ruling class, Its purpose ding political activity to the industrial muscle At no time did it threaten the power and structure of the state, The scenarin in South Alrica is vastly dif- Terent. There the unions have come into ex- Islence and grown strong in an era of un- precedented turbulence, COSATU'S very ex- Istence and the close links it has cstablished was to strengthen che fight for reforms by ad- especially the T'all Vale judgement. of the working class ur the social order. defensive act as a slueld for the political wing if in ls: the nons and wager — its organised strength and close ties with the liberation movement can driven underground The close bond which has been cerablished between the unions and (ownslups and between the unions and che disciplining the spreading revolt and guiding The birth of an independent working class ward but the emergence of such a party with a muss base is not likely in the immediate form, with its firm comminment to socialism, provides the framework within which such a party can take shape. It is toward this end rinns. There are no short cuts. Parties which can give effective leadership to the working party would. undoubredly, be a big step for- future COSATUs proclaimed polirical plat side the unions and inside the mass organisa- substitute for the political party of the work- that revolutionary socialists must work, in While the trade unions cannot be important class cannor be creased by proclamation. organisations It into more fruitful channek. prove will also: community students thie
unanimously clected as general sccretary of ricularly favourable to the emergence of a working class party with a policy which will safeguard the interests of all sections of the to socialism. This is because the overwhelm- In South Africa, the conditions are par oppressed while remaining firmly committed the new union.
11 ing majority of black people in South Africa, that is, the overwhelming majority of the population, are bound with indisoluble links The middle classes form only a small minority of the black people. Inderd, it can he said, that by far the biggest section of the cconomically active men and women in The students, who have often been in the forefront of the barries in the townships, are the sons and daughtors of workers. In this class tive the overthrow of the capitalist-apartheid state, is also the programme which embraces an end to racial discrimination, equality in South Africa are urban or rural workers. political programme, which has for its objec- civil socicty: the redistribution of the wealth of the coutry, in- duding access to land; a government of the Inbuilt democratic control from below which has been such a distinguishing feature of the For socialists world-wide the task is to in- tensify the mobilisation of solidarity with the black peuple of South Africa. The heady be temporarily over as a consequence of in- tensified state repression. Suppression of inevitably. all the demands of the people as a whole — days of student risings in the townships may news may keep South Africa our of the media headlines and off the tv screens. Rut remorselessly. It cannor be balted. Victory 1s working same black trade unions in South Africa: on, civil the • thoroughly going with and to the working class. the straggie is education The middle class situation, working certain! law. women s organisations, make it qualitatively different to the minion wich formed the British Labour Party, Its programme is uncom- promisingly political and recognises that the struggle for immediate economic demands is not enough. The declared aim Of COSATI, is an end to racist capitalism. Te sees the battle to cod apartheid and the overthrow of the social order as a single srruggle. Whar it has nct yet done is to forge the political instru- ment which can effectively lead this struggle - an independent party of the working A WORKERS PARTY, by itself. no matter how well led, cannot achieve victory It The 38192 needs to ally itself with all sections of the peo- ple fighting the racist regime But, in these necessary alliances, the working class does not subordinate its own programme to ac- defeats of the popular and people's fronts in Franer and Spain in the 1930s are tragic The Jeading role of the working class" while fighrine resolutely lor the united objective ro the workers' representatives fight for the domination of reminders of the result of such compromises. alliance, commodule that of another defeat the main enemy- youh: micans that, within the community.: with class. the LIS. ing class, neither can this role be fulfilled by very vague about the specific meaning of culling bn the workers to bear the bruns of all these organisations never umit to genuflect in the direction of the "eading rule of the working class?, they are this. It makes good reading in articles and manifestos: In actual practice this has rocant miss This has led, in the past, to friction bet- organisations. Tie most glaring example of ween: the tiade unions and the populist this was the stav-away in Porr Flizabeth and East London in March, 1985, an action which was decided upon by community. youth and political organisations, without first cunsulting the trade unions. It was the workers who suffered loss of pay: it was the workers who provided the picker lines. But this is not what we mean when we talk about A workers' party, even if initiard and clusively trade unionist party contining itself launched by the trade unions — which is the to trade union poliries. There is no com- parison between the situation in South most likely variant — would nor be an ex- tie AZAPO or, for thar marter, the ANC. by the the leading rule of the working class" the populist mars organisations. SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 2 July/August 1987 sipinsated struggie orgarusations Although any.
repression in the townships. In response ro bosses In the railway industry stepped up: still delained. Two thousand people have 25,000 people have been detained or are become more and more oppressive. The resistance the sccurity forces out there been killed. There is massive police INTERVIEW WITH GEOFF REVELL