FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM!
International Communist Workers Party
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FIGHT FOR COMMUNISM! |
International Communist Workers Party | |
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SOUTH AFRICA--The African National Congress (ANC) led by Nelson Mandela came to power in 1994 promising prosperity to the 90% black population that lived under brutal apartheid. In reality, years of negotiations prior to 1994 were meant to mislead the South African working class that was leading armed and potentially revolutionary class struggle. The 20-year-rule of the ANC has brought new attacks on the working class while it created a small section of ultra-rich black elites who form the backbone of the new government, financial and business sectors.
Two dramatic changes have recently happened in South Africa. One is the growth of the International Communist Workers' Party among industrial workers. The other is the decline of the European and US financial presence at the same time as the astonishing rise of Chinese capitalism in South Africa.
China is South Africa's largest trading partner. China has invested heavily in platinum and iron mines. China has extended a $5 billion loan to the government-owned Transnet and is modernizing the rail system. The Chinese state-owned media giant CCTV has purchased one of the oldest South African newspapers. With the opening of Chinese truck maker FAW in Port Elizabeth, China is gearing to capture the roaring auto market. With Chinese investments in shale oil, satellite communications and the building of a huge financial hub in Johannesburg, South Africa is changing rapidly.
The Chinese penetration in South Africa has also created a section of South African capitalists who prefer to do business with China. African Rainbow Mining (ARM), led by the richest black South African, Patrice Potsepe, has exclusive agreements with China Mining Corporation. Platinum and manganese mines, the key metals for the auto industry, are now jointly owned by South African and Chinese firms.
The ANC is backed by a powerful group of capitalists with business ties to China. Using black nationalism, the ANC has intensified its attacks on the working class. But the workers in South Africa have a long history of fight-back. From the mines of Marikana to the Transnet workers in Port Elizabeth, millions of workers are fighting the brutal capitalist system.
Mass dissatisfaction with the ANC and ANC-led trade unions has given rise to the independent National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) that wants to offer a more attractive alternative to the openly pro-business ANC. NUMSA plans to launch a political party on the basis of what it calls a "United Front against Neoliberalism." NUMSA has no plans to attack capitalism and replace it with communism. Its reformist plan calls for coming to power by elections to replace the ANC.
While ANC and NUMSA might look different in appearance, dialectical materialism shows us that in essence, they are both rooted in defending the capitalist class. The real alternative for the working class is to join ICWP. We are building the international revolutionary movement that will end capitalism and its wage slavery. Any reform struggle, no matter how big and heroic, will keep the capitalist bosses in power. The working class in South Africa inspired hundreds of millions of workers around the world. Armed with the revolutionary communist ideas of ICWP, we will win a communist world.