Youth bring communism to mine workers here ♦ Recruit militant women workers to ICWP here ♦ Capitalist rivalry creates energy crisis for workers here ♦ 2012 Marikana Massacre here ♦
South Africa: Youth Bring Communism to Mine Workers
July 11—”Workers in Sibanye-Stillwater mines face many hardships,” a worker told us. “The mines are unhealthy, capitalists harass workers daily and force them to live in unpleasant, poor conditions. Miners are forced to live on land belonging to their bosses to stay close to their work due to unacceptable working hours. They lack water and sanitation.”
The mine is near Sondela township, between Rustenburg and Marikana. It is populated by workers who migrated from Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, and Mozambique. Transportation costs are too high.
A worker told a comrade that the unions don’t consult the workers they are supposed to help. “They are deducting money from workers’ small salaries that were agreed upon by bosses and unions without a collective decision with the workers,” said a worker we met at Sibanye-Stillwater mineshaft 8.
“Do you have a better solution for what to do with this horror?” the comrade asked.
“Yes, if I was the leader I would fight for a better salary,” the worker responded.
“Reforming capitalism is embracing horror without end,” answered the comrade. “You are falling into their trap. Adapting to their domination to make a living is not a solution for the workers. Bosses’ profit is more important to them than workers.
“We need a mass party of international workers to unite against the bosses and overthrow them and abolish their system that is driven by money completely to ashes. And to build a communist world where workers control the means of production. Everyone will live in harmony because without money there will be no profit,” the comrade proceeded.
“Combining our theory and practice, we will have the ability to determine what happens. For example, how we will distribute food, housing, water, clothes, and more.”
The worker stopped him right there. Immediately he demanded more copies of Red Flag for his coworkers and my phone number. He asked us to visit him when he’s off duty on the coming Friday.
“The thing that most surprised me,” reflected the comrade, “was that he called me later that day. Not to disappoint him we must be there. Struggling with mine workers brings us close to our communist revolution.”
A few days later, comrades went as a collective to mobilise at the Sibanye-Stillwater mine. The conditions the workers live under are very bad. One house was the size of a bathroom.
A comrade who works in a nearby factory took us to the mine. He has promised to take us to the mines which are closer to where he lives. He has committed to join the party. We plan for him to join our collective for the dialectical materialism philosophy discussions we going to have every afternoon, utilising the time we have together here in Rustenburg.
We took around 250 Red Flags and copies of Mobilize the Masses for Communism to the mine. We came back with only about 60 Red Flags. It was the first time for comrade V distributing communist literature and it seemed to be a positive experience.
We have managed to get a contact with one worker. The challenging part was the language barrier, and some mine workers do not know how to read. However, tens and tens of them took the Red Flag and were asking questions. The workers all say one thing: that their bosses do not care about their lives.
South Africa: Recruit Militant Women Workers to Become Communist Organizers
PORT ELIZABETH (South Africa), July 5—A group of working-class women organized by the African National Congress (ANC) made signs from discarded cardboard boxes to protest racist health care and the lack of jobs and decent housing. ICWP comrades noticed this protest and started distributing Red Flag.
“This is a communist newspaper, take this paper and come to our political class,” said a comrade. The word “communist” attracted the women and there was a steady queue demanding Red Flag. When we ran out, we rushed extra copies that were going to be printed for our struggle in Marikana.
A saying popular in South Africa during the apartheid regime is, “When you strike a woman, you strike a rock.” Many women proved this when they grabbed copies of Red Flag. Red Flag is becoming our solid rock tool.
Women expressed their hatred of the profit system in their desire to see communism as the only answer to break out of the horrors of townships. ANC is only creating an illusion of change and leading them to more racist attacks.
Women are key in organizing masses for communism. Their leadership is essential in mobilizing women and men to end wage slavery. In a recent international ICWP meeting, a comrade recognized the crucial task of developing more women comrades.
This struggle had a big impact on comrades. We got the contact information of several women workers. We immediately called them and visited them to begin the process of consolidation and winning them to the communist world.
We asked ourselves: What if we had a handful of comrades talking about the communist revolution at the rally and presenting our class line instead of the defeatist line of ANC? That would put communism to the masses, and it would lead more workers to see our world outlook. It would spread the ICWP line to the working class in Port Elizabeth because the townships are interconnected and the word spreads very fast.
However, to create this consistent relationship with the masses requires all our comrades to contribute as much as possible according to their ability. For example, to develop our potential new women worker comrades, we have to travel to the township, visit them, bring them to meetings, take care of their childcare needs, etc. It sounds like a small task, but the gasoline, food, and transport are what make or break our continuous ability to build and cement our communist relationship.
Our ability to continue to sustain these activities is crucial. Contributions from comrades and Red Flag readers elsewhere, where possible, will make a difference.
We have the world to win with the communist revolution.
Capitalist Rivalry Creates Energy Crisis for Workers
SOUTH AFRICA, July 8— “I have to work three hours just to earn enough to pay for the gas it takes to get to the job each day,” declared an industrial worker in Port Elizabeth.
The war in Ukraine between capitalist Russia and the United States of America has exacerbated the energy crisis worldwide with effects felt in South Africa as well. The energy crisis in South Africa has been brewing. It is related to the inter-imperialist rivalry between the nations.
The US-led western imperialists, collaborating with their lackeys in South Africa in the factional battles within the African National Congress (ANC), oppose Russia and China. While the Zuma faction of the ANC have been trying to align themselves with Russia and China.
This culminated with the energy company Eskom looking to sign a nuclear deal with Russia. This heightened the in-fighting of the ANC and resulted in a soft coup against Zuma. The faction that assumed power, led by Ramaphosa, reversed the nuclear deal. It embarked on the path of “renewables” backed by the West (USA, UK & Germany).
To enrich themselves, they signed Independent Power Producer contracts. This is effectively privatisation of power generation, and the major beneficiaries are Ramaphosa’s in-laws and Western companies. They decommissioned coal-powered plants in order to sell more coal to international markets, especially Germany, given their crisis in the face of their sanctions war with Russia.
This has resulted in power cuts in South Africa during the cold winter. These mostly affect the working class. The capitalists on either side do not care about energy security of the masses. Rather, they care about their profits and coming on top of their rivalries and gaining more control of Earth’s resources. It is why we must reject them, however way they dress themselves.
The crisis of overproduction in capitalism and the falling rate of profit, the intensification of competition between capitalist countries, has exacerbated the suffering of the masses in all corners of the world. The problems faced by millions of the working class have intensified and gotten worse.
This competition between the imperialists has created the war in Ukraine that is increasingly leading up to a global World War III. The crisis affects everyone particularly the working class all around the world. The cost of living for billions of people has gone up and it will get worse.
These crises are the nature of capitalism. It is for this reason we fight for a communist revolution which will permanently eradicate capitalism and unleash a new world free of exploitation and profits.
We actively mobilize the masses for communism, to fight for a society where we will collectively own the energy resources, and all means of production, and use them to provide for our needs. We will not cling to toxic sources in order to maintain profits. Neither will we use renewable energy to monopolize profits. Communism will directly eradicate money and profits.
The is no capitalist society that will secure our future. Our security as the masses depends on ourselves led by the International Communist Workers’ Party, mobilizing and establishing communism.
Aluta continua.
Mine workers were crucial to the fight against apartheid in South Africa. The government murder of 37 striking miners in Marikana on August 16, 2012, exposed the African National Congress’ betrayal of that struggle. ICWP was organized in South Africa in 2013 to carry the fight to a communist victory
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