New Comrades on Building ICWP in South Africa

New Comrade Reports on Recruitment here ♦ Can You Work Everyday and Still Be a Communist? here ♦ Building a Bigger More Inclusive ICWP here ♦ Political Education and Collectivity here ♦

South Africa:  New Comrade Reports on Party Recruitment

GQEBERHA (South Africa)—The imperialist war in Ukraine has affected my workplace. We produce tank containers. Because of the war, the company had to give workers noncontract renewals and some retrenchment, because it cannot send the tanks to the clients. So, they had to stop ordering more tanks, which led to the cutting of workers.

The Loadshedding in South Africa plays a huge role in industry. This is when demand for electricity is more than the supply, so electricity is cut. Workers are losing their work every day, whereby employment is scarce.

That leads to more crime. People are trying any means to make ends meet. We see the disappearing of adults and kids; people hiring others to kill for insurance pay-outs; and there are drugs and all sorts of petty crimes.

It is becoming bad. We have a lot of work to do, Comrades. We need solutions on how to deal with such. It won’t be done in a day; it will take a lot of time and courage. It will need us to recruit more soldiers and have teachings on what the ICWP is all about. We need each other.

The Next Day

For our ICWP party to grow, we need to recruit more comrades. To recruit more comrades, we need to look at certain individual comrades and how they are struggling to recruit. There are comrades who are good verbally, who can talk all day about what ICWP is all about.

There are comrades who can talk but don’t know what ICWP is about. And you’ll find that there are comrades who do know what ICWP is about, but they are not good verbally. They are good writers. We need to look at all those comrades.

If a comrade is not able to recruit more comrades, find out why. Maybe comrades are struggling to explain what ICWP is all about. Sometimes comrades are shy. To tackle those problems, we need to visit each other more frequently, to have more meetings, to have educational programs to teach the comrades what the ICWP is all about so that they can recruit potential comrades.

Like myself. I have potential comrades. It’s not that I’m afraid, but I can’t recruit because I don’t want to be questioned and be unable to deliver answers. So, whenever I am confident in the ICWP, I can recruit more, get more comrades.

I have one comrade sitting here with me. I’ve been explaining to her that I am an ICWP member. But I don’t know how to explain what ICWP is all about. So, I need that training still. I need more frequent meetings. If other comrades can’t meet because of distance, or transportation, we can have online meetings, or exchange messages, call each other frequently, or have one-on-one meetings.

For us to grow, that is the solution that I have now. To recruit more comrades, we need to know what is the struggle that our comrades are going through. What can we do to help our comrades conquer their obstacles, find out what are the comrades struggling on in order for us to be able to recruit and in order for our Comrades to be confident in what they are saying about our ICWP party.

The Third Day

Yes, Comrade, we can meet tomorrow with my recruit so that you can explain to her thoroughly what ICWP is all about. Remember you said you wanted to brief me more about what ICWP is all about. Is that possible, Comrade?

(Later that day):  Okay, Comrade, I have two female comrades that I have recruited, my neighbours. So, you will meet them tomorrow at one o’clock.

—Red Salute!

Can  You Go to Work Each Day and Still Be a Communist?

“I still have communist blood inside me, Comrade, even though I’m working for the capitalists,” said a comrade.

 “Everybody has to work for the capitalists; the point is to mobilize to destroy them. The resources are the people,” replied the other comrade.

“Things are sharpening. People see that capitalism can’t solve the problems,” the comrade continued. “People had big expectations after apartheid—but they aren’t being realized. It’s becoming clear that this system has nothing to offer. People are looking for alternatives. Communism is the only alternative. Once people realize this, there will be revolution.

“Other forces say that something other than communism will work, but it won’t. What do you think, comrade?” he asked.

“Yes, the system is unsustainable,” answered the first comrade. “They try to keep it intact, but it’s falling apart. It will inevitably collapse. They try to keep it functioning. People try looting and other things to survive in the meantime.”

“Looting will only make people angry. It won’t solve the problem. So, they’re acting against their own interest.”

“Russia and China aren’t communist, right?” asked the first comrade. “They seem to be in conflict with the western nations. Even though they themselves practice capitalism. They say they are communist but aren’t. There are billionaires in both countries. Here in South Africa, some people support Russia. People don’t know their real agenda.”

“The ruling class gives people lollipops to suck on. But it’s not true.”

“Red Flag has a lot of good things, Comrade.”

“Yes, you should come back to Red Flag.”

“Yes. The only problem is this capitalist life I’m living. Going to work every day, and on weekends, I’m doing other stuff. But if I can find time, Comrade, I’ll come back.”

—Comrades in South Africa

Building a Bigger and More Inclusive Party

“When some workers don’t work, they don’t understand,” said Comrade B. “When they work, they start to feel the pressure and they understand. So, it’s easy to recruit a worker. Also, it’s easy to recruit a student. It’s crucial to have social ties.

“We need more women,” B continued. “We talked to a Colored guy. We told him we need more Colored workers in our Party.

“We need to organize those things. That’s important, like basic reading. You have to learn the basics and combine it with practical work. That’s where the movement starts. When you are doing practical work, things will happen.

“I was working. That gave me experience. And now I have to read everything, so that I can learn more.”

Comrade C said, “If you read, and you stop for whatever reason, when you start reading again, it’s not hard. Me too, I haven’t read for a few months.  I have to pick it up again.

“You have to read and practice, you see. Read and make it work. You can’t just read and then be in the clouds.”

“Yeah, you become someone who talks too much,” replied Comrade B.

“Yeah. So, we can know the advantages and disadvantages. Everyone could say, ‘Gee, that guy’s clever, smart’ but there will be no movement.”

“Yeah, you must do the practical work and reading.”

“And to read collectively is easy. Easy.”

—Two comrades in South Africa

Political Education and Collectivity in ICWP

“The EFF makes false promises,” said a comrade. “Red Flag has been talking about these things for many years. The government doesn’t even talk about those things. They just want to make money for themselves. They don’t want to know about our problems. When they want to get our votes, they come around. But they don’t address these things.

“In the EFF, sometimes you don’t eat. You get up early and go out and recruit other people. You pay for your own petrol. I’m glad we have people like you, comrades. I always bring food with me when I go somewhere, so there won’t be any panic.

“Now I got together with people who can help me with the workers. ICWP is going to give me political education. I was asking for that in EFF, but now I will get it.  There’s a lot of things that ICWP is doing that are different. EFF is not doing things right.”

Another comrade said, “Yesterday, we went to every industrial factory and even to soldiers. A soldier will come to meet with us in a couple of days. He said, ‘No problem.’ There’s another soldier we can meet with today. I gave him Red Flag last week. “

—Collective in South Africa

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