Communist Revolution Will Expropriate All Capitalists and End Exploitation
SOUTH AFRICA – “Expropriation of land without compensation” dominates the political spectrum in South Africa, with general elections less than a year away. More than 100 years ago blacks in South Africa were forcefully removed from their land—without compensation. This is the land that the political parties now want to expropriate.
Almost all the political parties are singing the same song because it is what the mass seems to dance to. But they differ on how to go about expropriating the land. The front runners are the ruling party (African National Congress) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by the popular Julius Malema.
The EFF wants the constitution to be amended to allow the expropriation of land without compensation. The Ruling party originally agreed on amending the constitution. But in May they held a ‘’land summit’’ in which they came back with a remix of the song they sang before. They came back saying that the constitution had to be used without amendment for “expropriation without compensation.” Section 25 subsection 2 of the constitution states that ‘’Property may be expropriated only in terms of general application (a) for a public interest; and (b) subject to compensation, the amount of which time and manner of payment of which have either been agreed to by those affected or decided or approved by a court.’’ So, what made the ANC come up with a desperate move that is not consistent with the constitution? The masses now realize that to amend a constitution is a long process. The elections will come and pass before the constitution is amended. The ruling ANC knows the masses will have the hope that expropriation without compensation will happen soon since they are telling people the law is already there. With that they hope to win the masses for the general elections. How will the land be distributed? Who will be the actual owners? Who will actually benefit?
The politicians say that the land must be distributed equally among the citizens of South Africa. They say that the masses will be the owners of the land and the state will be the custodian of the land. It must not be sold to foreign nationals.
If the title deeds of my property are kept by the state and the state dictates terms on which I must sell my property, that is not ownership. It means I am just a lessee, not the owner.
The current system (Capitalism) benefits the bosses, not the masses. The lessee will require capital to run the land. The state says that they will give out ‘’soft loans’’ to the people running the land. But even a “soft” loan is paid back with interest. So those who give out loans will have a market which is fully dependent on them. They say that there will be land for residential use, for agricultural use and commercial use. A business is not a business if it does not produce profit.
Profit is not derived selling products on the market. It is made from the factory by lowering costs of production. That is done by paying those who produce the goods less than the value they produce. What is done in the market is extraction of the profit.
This proves that expropriation of land without compensation does not benefit the masses but the bosses together with their servants, which the politicians are.
In a communist society, land, factories and all means of production will be controlled by the masses. They will collectively decide on what to do with them and how to run it for their benefit.
In this classless society the masses will not produce exchange value because money will not exist. The masses will not produce for profit but for their needs. That means there will be no exploitation. There will be no unemployment which results in poverty and crime. To fight for this classless society is for us to mobilize the masses and recruit them to join International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP).
Why would the President of the United States tweet an outrageous lie about “large scale killing of farmers” (white) in South Africa? Is he that ignorant? Is he demented? Was he trying to distract attention from the legal troubles of his cronies Manafort and Cohen? Who knows? Who cares?$ What we do know is that Trump was echoing a major theme of international white supremacy: that white people are “endangered.” He was retailing the pro-Apartheid propaganda of the South African far-right fringe. As he did after Charlottesville, he was egging on a fascist movement – in the US as well as South Africa and elsewhere – that advocates and organizes race war.$ What we do know is that rotten decaying capitalist imperialism is a breeding ground for these racist maggots.
We know that capitalism throughout its sordid history has relied on racism to divide the working class and reap super-profits through racist super-exploitation.
We know that capitalist imperialism has always relied on racism to mobilize some workers to suppress and kill members of their global working-class family for the sake of the bosses’ bloody profit empire.
And we know that communism can unite workers of every color and description into the revolutionary force that can smash this racist system. Workers mobilized for communism can build a world without racism, without race, without nations or borders. A world of cooperation and sharing. The communist world we need.
Communism Will Abolish Private Property
Land “ownership” was unknown in southern Africa until the 17th century. The people who lived there were hunters or herders. They recognized communal rights to control access to resources (such as water holes) but the land was not something to be “owned” like tools or animals. Then the Dutch imperialists arrived. They fought to privatize the land – and had the guns to do it. Indigenous African people (the Khoikhoi) fought back. But they were unable to maintain access to grazing lands for their herds. Increasingly they were pushed further inland, massacred or forced into servitude. This was the First War of Dispossession.
Anti-colonialist wars and rebellions continued into the 19th century. By then, Dutch and British imperialists were fighting for domination. They agreed, however, on the capitalist model of private land ownership. Slaves and Khoikhoi labourers continued to rise up against their owners and bosses. Imperialists and their local puppets granted land to some indigenous people in strategic areas, hoping to use them as a buffer zone. In the 6th – 8th Wars of Dispossession (1834- 35, 1846-47, 1856-57) the AmaXhosa, AmaNdebele and AmaZulu people were defeated. They lost their means of production and subsistence. Their land was expropriated (without compensation). They, too, were expelled or forced into servitude.
The Natives Land Act (1913) officially limited black South African ownership to about 7% of the farmland. The rest – including the most fertile areas – was reserved for the whites, who were under 20% of the population. This law prohibited the sale of territory in white areas to Blacks and vice versa. It remained in effect until 1994. Even today, whites (now 8% of the population) own 72% of the farmland.
Unlike socialists, we communists don’t fight for a system of “state ownership.” In socialism, workers still have to sell their labor power to the “state capitalists” for wages. Communism will abolish property, public as well as private. In communism, land and other resources will be used and shared – but not “owned.”
People lived like that – in southern Africa and worldwide – for tens of thousands of years. Some communities, like the Khoi-San, lived like that into the 20th century. The communism of the future will be different mainly because the masses will be politically conscious. They will study and use science to shape our collective future.
Masses will be committed to preventing the reemergence of class society. We will continue to mobilize for communism to strengthen our global family and build the world we need.
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