South Africa is a reflection not of confidence but of a weakening grip on the black townships.
Including a package of measures moIe draconian than at any time since the Sharpeville crisis of 1960, Botha's new crackdown amounted to a pre-emptive move to head off a one-day General Strike called to mark the tenth anniversary of the uprising against apartheid rule.
The stoppage had been called for by the new, confident, trade union federation and supported by the Democratic Front and the National Education Crisis Committeee.
The strike call followed mounting wave of struggles by black workers against apartheid, have been met by repression that has taken a toll of over 1,500 lives in 19 months.
On May Day this year a minimum of 1.5 million black supported the biggest-ever nationa.
of weakness strike which crippled industries and of the support for the include a national pay strike affecting boycotts in the boycott in Soweto; and a Soweto of Kwandebele. non-racial confidence rising COSATU United Botha's to week protest "stay away" o a bearing down on them. which muzzled by heavy South Africa. outside have been unionists workers apartheid activists singled Socialist Viewpoint No. 13 July 1986 p3
Botha's show By HARRY SLOAN included services in the main cities. Estimates "stay away" ranged from 70% to 100% of trade unionists in the main urban areas. Other symptoms of rising black anger writing, "subversive a chain of supermarkets; consumer Transvaal; a rent been three-day general strike in the new "homeland" tightened. significant indication of the of black trade regime unionists was the COSATU response State of Emergency: leaders immediately called for a one- intimidating battery of legistation stooge Their strike call was immediately agents censorship designed to gag the media inside and And trade has the among groups of black militants and anti- unavoidably out in a
massive series of arrests (which also
academics, students, journalists and priests).
The new press restrictions ban photographs, recording or reporting of any strike, disturbance or boycott or of the actions of the forces of the state. Activists and trade unionists are also subject to the prohibition of
recording or uttering any statement". Already issues of two black newspapers have
seized as this press gag is
Foreign journalists have also been warned against even referring to the Botha gang as a "white minority that it is "elected specious grounds
— with no black participation — and involves token
"representatives" of the coloured and Indian communities). And the police, army and their
have been given a blank cheque to do as they please, immune from prosecution.
Botha's heavy-handed crackdown
certainly pushed the violent struggle in South Africa even more
Tinto the world's
headlines, and increased pressure on European and American governments to impose economic and political sanctions against the apartheid regime.
But he was clearly driven not only by the mounting black struggle but also by the distinct beginnings of the long-expected white backlash, led by
neo-fascist Weestandsbewegung (AWB)
Viciously opposed to all of Botha's belated and half-hearted "reforms" to the apartheid system. which have in no way placated the blacks, the AWB has gone onto the offensive against
Nationalist Party Kicking their way into the headlines with the physical disruption of an NP rally in the northern Transvaal, they inability to crush the black revolt. Though their support should not be exaggerated, the existence of these white fascists underlines the fact that the Afrikaners in particular have yet to show the full reactionary opinion as the crisis
It is significant that National Party embarrassed by the apparent support for the fascists shown by local police who held back before Botha's men are concerned at the extent to which these fascist forces military and police hierarchy.
Africa's murderous border military "frontline' states last month, suposedly in pursuit of ANC targets, were partly designed by Botha as a sop to the AWB. military significance, other than as a
defiance to the international mass media.
Botha's forces struggling with increasing difficulty closer to home to stem the black revolt in the townships. After the brutal killing of 20 blacks by police and police-sponsored the township of Alexandra (where over 80 blacks have been gunned down this year) no less than 1,600 troops were sent in with the task of preventing a mass funeral for the victims.
Despite a limited wave of arrests, the occupying state forces prevent a mass funeral in Alexandra a week later, which mobilised over 10,000 mourners. And in a display of the growing liberal opposition Botha, a fleet of minibuses, cars and limousines took 300 whites pilgrimmage to defiance of a police ban.
The failure of the clampdown is symptomatic of the overall problem facing Botha: while under pressure from the ultra right within his party and from violent opponents such as the AWP and the HNP, he knows that the
the Afrikaner increasingly stretched byeond their by Botha with the aim of developing a class collaborationist stooge layer of black "leaders" committed to contain collapsed in disarray, with dozens of communities. and reactionary circles, have been singled out for special retaliation by militant workers shown no mercy when demonstrators. Similary short shrift has been given to those exposed as part of the regime's network of spies have been state, the more subtle methods of co- vigilantes in middle class did not to in a Alexandra in Alexandra more Buthelezi Socialist Viewpoint No. 13 July 1986 pl
polarisation. ANCOLI been the of the and country. Mangosuthin been used militants Camp forces of the state The to control the black The system of black councils set up the regime, Black police, drawn from lumpen and youth, collaborators in the black this pressure, and with gunned down daily by the collaboration and limited concessions for a privileged circle of has blacks machinery central communities division exiled
excluded by the sharpening
Botha's gang have instead been forced to revert to the blatant, brutal violence that has never been far beneath the thin veneer of "reform".
Key to this escalating violence has
fostering of reactionary bands of black "vigilantes" as a tool
police armed forces. Confrontations between these forces
militant black youth have escalated in various parts of the
In some parts, lumpen supporters of reactionary Zulu leader
Buthelezi have also as an instrument of mob violence against trade union or UDF
Knot. least in recent mineworkers's struggles in Natal.
The most publicised use by the regime of black squads of right wing thugs was in the recent attacks by 1.000 so-called "fathers" on the KTC
inside the giant Crossroads squatter complex near Cape Town. "Father "un-toting, police-led
plainly had no roots in the KTC camp, where they killed dozens and set hundreds of homes ablaze. This was the third co-ordinated attack on Crossroads squatters, and white police or army officers could be seen in television coverage leading the black gunmen in their attack on the community, which the regime wants to move 25 miles away to another camp controlled by right wing black
Outgunned by the combination of militant one state are to Crossroads were unable to prevent
But the effort required by the state to accomplish such a setback for one
Cof militant black shows the scale of the problem Botha faces. 47187
More and more townships, shed their stooge "councillors", begun to develop their own form of community control - block and neighbourhood committees, sometimes with their own system justice. The black majority is testing showing that a long-term defeat for the apartheid system is inevitable. The question now is the development of a co-ordinated challenge to the
Estate power, challenge which is able to link the power of the
with the industrial strength of the trade unions, and give expression to the clear revolutionary will of millions of black youths who show themselves prepared to die if necessary in order to fight apartheid and capitalist exploitation.
In this context, there is an obvious
Cof interest and gulf in practice between the rhetoric of the
leadership of the African National Congress on the one hand, and on the other many of the militant
black youth attracted to the banner of the ANC as a symbol of rebellion in the townships.
While the ANC leaders, heavily influenced by the politics of Stalinism! democratic" cling to their insistence that the revolution in South Africa can - indeed must -come before the socialist revolution, the experience on the streets of Soweto and Alexandra confirms that a movement sufficiently strong, confident and co-ordinated to sweep away Both's apartheid regime would also be strong enough simultaneously to sweep away what would remain of the machinery of capitalist rule in South Africa.
Botha is neither willing nor able to dismantle apartheid: should he make concessions beyond the point accepted by the Afrikaners who are his basic support, he will be elbowed aside by harder-line generals and police chiefs.
The new State of Emergency underlines the scale of the task the black masses confront. It confirms that the search for "democratic" capitalism in South Africa is a futile quest. Those who nevertheless clearly seeek that objective include church leaders, headed by Bishop Desmond Tutu. Emerging from his talks with Botha after the Emergency had been declared, Tutu admitted:
"We agreed we were both South Africans and Christians and anti-Communists."
Tutu's vain search has been for sufficient concessions from Botha to defuse the black struggle and thus prevent the further development of class consciousness among blacks.
From their own standpoint, the ANC leaders share similar approach — though in the townships their own militant rank and file supporters appear to have a very different outlook on the struggle. They apparently have access to some of the ANC's arsenal of weapons; the resultant militias and guerilla groupings may or may not operate along the traditional lines of ANC policy.
This division can be no surprise: the ANC, despite its deep roots in mass consciousness, has existed only clandestinely for decades. Over half of South Africa's black population is under 21 and has never heard a direct speech from the old guard ANC leaders. The extent to which they could be schooled and drilled in ANC politics which run plainly counter to their own experience has been severely limited.
There is no doubt, however, that the ANC (not least through the Rison Mandela and the courageous the jailed Winnie Mandela, who has broken through state restrictions on her activities) has a substantial lead in popular support over more overtly left-wina rival groupings such as the National Forum.
Fascist leader Eugene Terre'Blanche
But time and opportunities can be lost if the mass movement of black resistance does not move beyond the ANC's limited view of the South African revolution. It is vital that revolutionaries recognise the necessity to organise the black working class in its workplaces and communities as a rival, alternative state power to the apartheid state,
(Above) Tutu and (right) Mandela Socialist Viewpoint No. 13 July 1986 p5
¡ and the ieading force in the struggle to smash apartheid and the capitalist system it serves. That means commites, bodies to organise and defend the black communities and and to townships, trade union and struggles.
building the block councils and the co-ordinate community
South Africa: Trade Union action now!
• WHAT will Thatcher do?
What will the Commonwealth bourgeois governments do? • What will the United Nations do? • What will Reagan do?
The questions come thick and fast as the rapid sharpening of the struggle in South Africa torces Western governments to take a stand.
Among those most eagerly putting the question are the leaders of the British labour movement. A veritable platoon of union leaders can be guaranteed to turn out in tokenistic demonstration government economic sanctions. MPs queue up embarrassing questions to Thatcher.
But what are they doing to build solidarity with the struggles of South unions do to stop the flood of South African imports to Britain, the vital exports of technology that helps run the apartheid state, subsidiaries of British and Europeanbased multinationals?
What are the banking and finance unions doing to boycott the flows of funds to and from South firms? What are they doing to expose the hidden deals and links that have kept Botha's economy functioning so
What are the telecom and postal unions doing: the transport workers, could take action to cut off all regular communications with Botha's butcher
While Kinnock wrings his hands and urges Thatcher to act, what are the Labour Parties doing on ground to build a real campaign, to bring the issues home to workers in their estates and workplaces?
To ask these questions is to know the answers: the unions at national level are doing scandalously little or nothing to boycott trade and dealings demands on Thatcher are little more than a flimsy disguise for their own inaction. And given no lead from the top, few sections of workers are likely to chance their arms with sectional
action.
By JOHN LISTER
Some have: notably the Portsmouth hospital stores staff who imposed a determined boycott on South African food for hospital canteens - and endured victimisation and intimidation to maintain their action.
But elsewhere, even where unions are theoretically well-placed enforce a boycott — as in Sainsburys and other food chains which sell perishable South African truit and large volumes of other foodstuffs there has been neither a call from the top nor action on the ground
In contrast, the splendid struggle of the Irish Dunnes Stores strikers shows the major impact of even a small group of workers prepared to stand their ground on a matter of
course the demand toi government sanctions enables Nei Sinnock and Denis Healey to score points off Thatcher and expose once again the government in propping
reformist leaders no less committed than Callaghan, Wilson or
Wto working framework of British imperialist capitalism, they are in no position to Thatcher's racist, imperialist political
Africa. extent to which a new government would completely break its economic links with apartheid remains an intriguing question that few have yet seriously asked.
surprising for black or the USA to discover that the right wing Thatcher, Reagan and Kohl government are opposed to any sanctions that might
profitable investments and their loans to South
erhaps workers should look rathe
nore closely at the motives of some o hose who most strongly call for anctions — but direct that call a Among theme Bis to Tute whose
surprise - having Socialist Viewpoint No. 13 July 1986 p6
witnessed time and again the role of the Church as "moderating" obstacle to socialist revolution - to find Tutu calling desperately upon Thatcher and Reagan to assist him by I forcing concessions from Botha?
Similar objectives inspire the social democratic governments and their Kinnock leadership: the last thing
advocates of piecemeal Parliamentary reforms within the system wish to see is the revolutionary uprising of the black workers taking power in their hands: much better the process should be controlled from outside and above by imperialism pulling the strings
In practice many of the institutions of Western capitalism are already voting with their cheque books
withdrawing increasingly "sanctions" are having a real effect on the economy, and have helped the value of the Rand sharply
But these Western bosses would be equally hostile to a radical black
South Africa: they successful repression opposition to Botha, or the tostering of a reactionary black government even more committed to its links with imperialism than the neighbouring
Cof Robert Mugabe
It is entirely wrong for the British support to the South African workers multinationals political double-talk o: Commonwealth leaders like Raji
Tor Kenneth Kaunda (or
naybe even the Queen?) forcing
Thatcher into a grudging change o
Now is the time to redouble the fight in every union branch, stewards' committee and Labour Party to raise the call for an active campaign to build a movement blockade on South Africa
contribution to the South African revolution.
union leaders pontificate and labour leaders remonstrate with Thatcher, they must be put on the
What will they do to mobilise British workers in action against apartheid?
but Dean let off the hook PRINT: STEP UP
BRENDA Dean was visibly shaken. But she was not the only one to be caught by surprise by the near 2-1 vote by all three print unions to reject Rupert Murdoch's £50m bid to buy off the 18-week News International dispute.
Few on the left had correctly guaged the strength of organisation and the success of the rank and file campaign against a deal which had the undistinguished tacit support of the SOGAT leadership.
Subsequent events suggest even the Morning Star wing of the Communist Party, campaigned strongly for a no vote and clearly wields influence among the strikers, were caught on the hop by success - and left stranded without any strategy to advance the dispute at the SOGĂT Conference a few days later.
However, much remains to be done to get the fight back on the road following that ballot, the clear message trom printworkers loud and clear as miners in their marathon struggle - is that the rank and file of the trade union movement is prepared to fight back against the bosses' offensive, despite the weight of legal restrictions, police violence and - in the case of SOGAT bureaucratic lethargy loaded against them.
The strengths and limitations of the print unions' rank and file show many similarities with the wing of the NUM which led the way for much of the Great Strike. In its commitment, its readiness to resort to traditional class