struggle,
for their 15 month fight and signs of practical British trade union solidarity with the South African workers,
away empty-handed and disgusted at the show of hypocrisy they had witnessed
The exiled leadership of the South African Congress of Trade Unions has issued a specific and categoric appeal to the trade union movement in Britain and elsewhere for action to: •Refuse to handle all maritime, air or land traffic to or from South Arica •Refuse to handle any goods to or from South Africa •Refuse to handle all postal and telegraphic traffic to and from South
If these three points were taken seriously by the British trade union
It would scarcely be necessary to mount individual appeals to the conscience of shoppers
South African goods: almost the whole supply could be held up at ports, warehouses and
around the country; orders could be obstructed by postal and banking boycotts; and transport links could be severed
There is no doubt that the traditional stance of the British trade union leadership has been to make resounding speeches on such issues
and then turn a blind eye both to continued trade, and to occasional appeals from groups of dockers and others for suport in enforcing boycott
understandable to some to block such traffic indefinitely is a recipe for a major confrontation with the employers which few union leaders relish - and many workers might shrink from. Indeed
willingness of workers to take such action requires a high degree of awareness of the importance of the situation: this can occur from time to time when major events take place and could be much better prepared if there were direct appeals for solidariKirican workers. organised black South
Perhas the biggest indictment of the British union bureaucracy and their lack of elementary solidarity is that despite a massive upsurge of
nightly television coverage of vicious racist brutality
against black protestors. despite a categoric appeal for support from SACTU, no union leadership has made any serious attempt to respond with even token supporting action.
It is these same union bureaucrats who are the most adamantly opposed to any direct links between British workplace union organisations at rank and file level and their counterparts in the new non-racial unions which organise hundreds thousands of black South African workers.
The TUC stand is echoed in the main by SACTU and ANC leaders, for whom the very mention of "direct links" has been enough to induce near apoplexy — despite the fact that such contacts can offer the best hopes of securing the kind of practical solidarity the organisations call for.
It is no accident that the same leaders who oppose direct links also hotly dispute any notion that the democratic revolution in Africa in which the driving force is the black working class could and should flow over into the proletarian, socialist revolution to overthrow capitalism
The ANC magazine argues fiercely against any such concept of a "one-stage" theory of the liberation struggle: Tambo, viewed by Labour Weekly, insists on separating the question democratic revolution socialism:
"Some may say our objectives are socialist but socialists within the ANC accept the Freedom Charter in the same way as do non-socialists. reflects the objectives of a broad alliance of forces who are agreed on the destruction of the regime and its replacement with a non-racial, united democratic South Africa."
Tambo has repeatedly (and not least in the recent ANC discussions with white "liberal" South African business leaders made clear the pro-capitalist content of this
and THEY WILL NEUER KILLUS ALL of South Sechaba inter- of the from room for private ANC-ruled South Africa. It apartheid ference to it linked the democracy and non-racialism" "broad
Blocks whipped in the streets while British union leaders dodge action. bureaucracy links: genuine abolition scale." every area. support alliance" when he has stressed the view that there would be "plenty of enterprise in an His allies and co-thinkers in the British trade union bureaucracy were no less clear in their determined et- forts to separate the twin aspects of the South African revolution. John Jones from the CP-led TASS took to the rostrum at the Labour Party con- attack the motion on South solidarity with South Africa because bodies! word dreaded "socialism" with "national liberation, ing from Even worse from the point of view of the rigid concepts of the union Socialist Viewpoint, No 8, November 1986. Page 4
Tand the Stalinist-influenced ANC, the motion (from Paisley North CLP) hinted at direct
"only through the building of international links with the workers in South Africa and other countries will
internationalism be developed which could lead to the
Cof capitalism and the establishment of socialism on a global
Kinnock's Labour leadership let it be remembered, is not for the abolltion of capitalism in Britain, let alone on a global scalel But the motion was the only one on the agenda, and it was carried on a card vote: it provides a useful basis on which to bulld campaigns and practical solidarity in
In drawing out debate on the actual policies of the ANC, it is useful to point out that there are other politica orces and traditions within the movement of black workers of South Africa, some of which such as the National Forum, hold a much more explicit commitment to socialism and working class politics.
In any event the acute political limitations of the ANC should in no way impede full-scale mobilisation in
Cof the struggles of South Africa's black working class, and in particular the national demonstration now called for November 2.
It is only by our actions in fighting Botha's allies in the British government and British multinationals, by the fight for genuine class action, that the British workers' movement can prove itself to South African workers. • Direct trade union action to block trade, transport and communications to and from South Africal British shop unions follow the Dunne's strikers example! • Direct links between British and
African workplace union • Unmask the British firms profiteer-
Othe superexploitation of black workers in South Africa!
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