South Africa: Red Flag Study Group Mobilizes for Communism here ♦ Mobilizing for Communism among Factory Workers here ♦
South Africa: Red Flag Study Group Mobilizes for Communism
Gqeberha (South Africa), 7 January – “It is the bosses’ modus operandi to pit workers against one another using sometimes racism, sometimes sexism to stop them from uniting and working as a collective,” a comrade said.
Our collective held the first meeting of the year of our Red Flag study group. We discussed a few articles from Vol. 13 #16, focusing on the article from India, “The fight for communism unites us all.” Comrades took turns reading paragraphs to encourage comrades to read Red Flag, as reading is intrinsically linked to writing. This is something we are striving for, especially from the new comrades in our collective.
The comrades in India write about the racism, sexism, and xenophobia they face and that they have to overcome. Their struggles resonate with the struggles our comrades face in South Africa. One comrade wrote about how she faces sexism both at work and at home, even from family members. This is the same sexism some of our members here face.
Comrade Q commented that “this sexism is everywhere in society and in our homes. The comrade’s story is similar to my experience”. She works in a factory in Port Elizabeth. “Both me and my boyfriend work,” she explained. “We go to work every day to meet our needs, we both contribute financially at home, we both come home tired, but I face this sexism as I am expected to cook and clean for him every day just because I am a woman and society expects that women cook and clean for their men.
“At work we face the same sexism,” Comrade Q continued, “as sometimes our male co-workers earn more than us because we are females. And sometimes at work we would be discussing what needs to be done to complete a task, but our suggestions are dismissed, not because they are wrong, but because we are women, and a man has spoken. We really need to stop and overcome this. How can we do that”?
We discussed that we need to support comrades in their personal space and encourage them to struggle with their partners to join communism and to overcome the ideology of capitalism which perpetuates sexism and racism. Other comrades in the collective also need to build ties with the partners and help with this struggle.
During discussions at work and in meetings, all comrades should speak up to support women who are trying to make themselves heard. As for pay differences between men and women, our communist fight is to end the wage system altogether.
Communism Will End Capitalism’s Racism and Xenophobia
A new comrade, M, picked up on the remarks from comrades in India on how the fascist bosses there use racism and xenophobia to exploit and divide the workers. In India it’s anti-Muslim racism and the caste system.
“At work we too face racism, as Black workers are often paid less than the white workers,” M said, “and as a result, we don’t like one another. White people sit alone, and Black people sit alone during break, and this will never end”.
Another comrade answered, “The bosses are counting on this divide-and-conquer technique which results in the working-class cynicism that things will never change. However, things change, and we have to work together and dismantle capitalism. As long as this system exists, these issues will not change. That’s why we are organising to dismantle capitalism and usher in a new society that will be based on meeting our needs, not profit. Profit necessitates the racism the bosses use to further exploit us and make sure that we focus on one another as enemies and ignore the bosses as the real enemies”.
We agreed that we can win, and we will win, if we focus on recruiting and uniting the workers regardless of “race”, gender, or religion. We have one common enemy (the bosses), and we are more alike than we are different.
We then agreed to struggle with those close to us— family, friends, and co-workers— especially as we head toward May Day. We agreed to meet every two weeks to do Red Flag reading in between mobilising and recruiting for communism. We plan to distribute the Red Flag in the coming weeks to all the industrial areas in Port Elizabeth. We will focus on keeping contact and building and sustaining communist relations with the workers that are interested in joining the Party.
Comrade Q took fifty copies of Red Flag to distribute to her co-workers. This encouraged everyone to similar struggles at their workplaces and neighborhoods. Aluta continua!
Mobilizing for Communism among Factory Workers
Gqeberha (South Africa), January 24– We recently visited the factory where comrade “Q” works. They make gas tanks for gas-exporting companies, including some that trade in gas from Russia. As result of the capitalist-imperialist proxy war in Ukraine, the company they work for is losing profits. It is attempting to increase them by retrenching and firing workers.
The comrade explained that almost all the workers she started with are gone. Most workers are anxious about their jobs. The capitalist bosses are increasing their workload by reducing their number. They are hoarding the surplus value they create. This is what capitalists always do. Our solution for the workers is to organise for communism to be built on capitalism’s ruins.
We gave this message to the workers by distributing the Red Flag during their shift change. We distributed over 120 copies in an hour and talked to some workers who took the paper and were curious as to what it was about.
One woman worker is close to comrade Q inside the factory. She asked, “What is this paper about? Comrade Q, you know that I don’t like to read newspapers”. The comrade explained that Red Flag contains the struggles of workers around the world united in trying to mobilise for communism.
The worker said, “That sounds serious. Comrade Q should tell me more about the party in future since I am rushing to catch my transport home”. Comrade Q promised to do this.
Many workers promised to read the paper once they get home. Our comrade in the factory took an additional twenty papers to give to her colleagues on the transport she uses. Another three were for workers in her neighbourhood, who have received the Red Flag before.
Our collective plans to visit those three workers regularly. We plan to have meetings and discussions with them consistently. We can develop these into communist relations to advance the struggle against exploitation and fight for a communist world free of capitalist exploitation. Where the future of the working class should be free of production for the profit of the few bosses.
This is the communist future we are fighting and mobilizing for. As we approach May Day, we will be visiting all the industrial areas around the city, distributing the Red Flag, and advancing the working class against capitalism.
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