Tackling Racism with Communist Basebuilding
November 15, 2019 — The South African team Springboks recently upset England to win the World Rugby Championship. Siya Kolisi, the first-ever black captain of the Springboks, grew up in Zwide township of Port Elizabeth. After the victory, Kolisi emotionally recalled growing up in this racially segregated township, worried about where his next meal would come from. He thanked other hungry and homeless people for giving him strength.
Springbok was formed in 1906. It championed white supremacy, symbolized male domination and became a cheerleader of the apartheid system. The need for expensive training and a healthy diet from early childhood excluded black youth in townships from the sport. Under Apartheid, 140 out of 1000 black children died before reaching their first birthday. Rugby was alien to the black masses, who hated it.
Now the South African capitalist bosses are parading Kolisi all around the country. Their lie is that if Kolisi, once a starving black child in a township, can make it, anybody can thrive and prosper in the new South Africa.
M, an ICWP comrade who works in a large bakery, also grew up in Zwide. “I knew the captain,” said M. “He’s younger than me. He used to attend this primary in Zwide but he was very talented and they took him to an expensive mostly-white private school, Grey High School, where there’s the best rugby in the country. That’s where he gained more skills. He became more powerful.”
M continued, “It’s their propaganda that if he can make it, everybody can make it. It’s always for the capitalist only. The capitalists want to use you. There’s no such a thing as everybody can make it.”
Kolisi is not starving now. He literally ran for money. In the open bus victory parade around the big cities in South Africa he collected huge financial endorsement from large multinationals. He even skipped Zwide as there was no money to be made there.
But over 14 million people in the “new” South Africa go to bed hungry each night. Over half of all South Africans experience food insecurity.
ICWP is organizing in Zwide for communist revolution.
ICWP is organizing for communist revolution in Zwide and elsewhere in South Africa. The bosses have won one black youth to their side but we have millions to win on our side to destroy capitalism.
Our collective had a lively discussion about how in communism we will have no spectacle sports endorsed by multinationals where hundreds of millions watch two teams while the bosses make huge profits promoting individualism, racism, sexism and nationalism. Communist society will encourage everyone to be physically active and to participate in collective activities. This new society will create new sports to smash individualism and champion collectivity.
To build this communist society, we have to win a large number of workers and youth to our party now to prepare for revolution. This requires deep and consistent social, political and personal ties with many people around us. Distributing Red Flag helps us build this communist base.
In Zwide we have, over years, recruited several comrades. Some have become less active as they encountered personal problems such as family crises, joblessness, alcoholism or mental health issues. These are real and time-consuming problems, all created by capitalism.
For example, comrade L is a very promising organizer. He came on our first trip to Marikana. During the 14-hour drive, we discussed “Mobilizing Masses for Communism,” dialectical materialism, and the International Communist Workers’ Party. MMC, dialectics and ICWP. In Marikana, although he was new to the party, he was very bold in distributing Red Flag. He engaged effectively with the workers as he speaks a language commonly spoken there.
Later, personal problems led him to be less active but we kept in touch with him. We struggled with him but when he stopped attending meetings, we were disappointed and frustrated. But as a collective we never gave up on this comrade.
Last month L’s father died after a leg amputation due to diabetes– another death caused by profit-hungry capitalism. We sent a small contribution to help with expenses. A week later, he renewed his organizing efforts. “I am in ICWP not for personal reasons,” L explained, “but because I am passionate about communism.”
There are many similar examples. Recently a comrade was stabbed and had to undergo surgery in a horrific hospital. Another comrade was robbed. We reached out to them and helped them as much as we could, given our financial limitations.
This communist base-building is crucial to recruiting masses to ICWP. Sometimes comrades have very liberal relationships with co-workers, friends, neighbors and family. They tend to look for unity and avoid political struggle for communism. Sometimes comrades try to win an argument without listening to a new worker.
We are becoming more aware of our strength and weaknesses. By making collectives stronger, with urgency and patience, we are building a strong base for mass recruitment.
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