Workers Need to Build the ICWP
SOUTH AFRICA, Jan. 7—The African National Congress (ANC) just elected Cyril Ramaphosa as their president. He prevailed over Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma. This means he is presumed to also become the next President of South Africa.
Many people inside and outside the ANC are celebrating the triumph of Ramaphosa as someone who is for the people, since President Zuma has been exposed as completely corrupt. The so-called representatives of the masses (i.e., Unions) are saying this is a victory for the working class. It is not a victory for the working class but a victory for the faction he represents within in the ANC and also a victory for Western imperialism.
Ramaphosa is a capitalist and a stooge for capitalism itself. He facilitated the mass murder in Marikana where mine workers were killed for wanting better wages. He is a billionaire who was on the Board of the Lonmin Mine Company when mineworkers went on strike at Marikana.
He is not a guy the masses should celebrate. Instead they should be aiming their power to fight him and to destroy the capitalist system that he represents.
The masses have been disgruntled with the ANC. Most of the media has been attacking Zuma and the ANC for corruption. Most of the media here in South Africa is controlled by the imperialists or the capitalists aligned with the west, with the US and Britain.
This provides us with an opportunity because people here have lost confidence in the ANC. It is crucial to see that this lack of confidence by the masses towards the ANC is not just a lack of confidence in the ANC but is the result of the capitalist system being unable to provide for the masses. Capitalism will never be able to provide for the masses.
The working class here does not need Ramaphosa or the ANC. He is the enemy. Nothing he says or does will benefit the masses because nothing he does is aimed at destroying capitalism. He is planning on maintaining it and keeping it intact.
The ANC is on the decline. The victory of Ramaphosa is an opportunity to expose the system, to build the ICWP that fights against and aims to destroy the system that oppresses us through wage slavery, and build communism.
Only when we destroy capitalism with a communist revolution, only then will we build a system that will be able to meet our needs. A communist system will have no rich capitalists making money off workers’ labor. There won’t be any exploitation or money. We will all help collectively produce to meet our needs.
What does this mean in terms of the inter-imperialist rivalry between the west and China? The outgoing leadership was moving towards the east, towards Russia and China, and this new leadership, led by Ramaphosa is more pro-west, pro-US and the EU. It remains to be seen how this will affect the relationship of South Africa with China and to see which side the new leadership of the ANC will ultimately lean towards.
None of this helps the working class; it is a blow to the working class. It will only determine who leads South African capitalism. This development is not in the masses’ interests, but only in the interests of the capitalists.
Most people see the ANC for what it really is. What they are electing is another capitalist. So we can provide this leadership to the masses in order to better serve the working class in the fight for communism.
The inter-imperialist rivalry is sharpening in South Africa. The imperialists and capitalists on both sides are forced to bring the working class into the political arena. This gives communists the opportunity to win them to mobilize to end our exploitation with communism.
We invite all the working class and masses here in South Africa to join the revolutionary struggle to destroy this evil system and all that comes with it and to reject these hypocrites.
September 2012: Workers in Marikana confront cops a month after South African Police opened fire on strikers at the Lonmin mine, killing 34 and wounding 78.
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