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Youth Mobilize Industrial Workers and Soldiers for Communism
“The Line Between Hunger and Anger Is a Thin Line.”
GQEBERHA (South Africa), May 26—Our day starts with a massive distribution of Red Flag. Comrades were engaging with industrial workers on a brief “tea-time” break when a young man approached us. “I am not asking for money,” he said repeatedly. In this area, known for gang violence, he wanted us to know he was looking for work.
“I have not eaten for two days. Could you take me to Zwide, where I live with my sisters? I came here looking for work but couldn’t find any.”
“We cannot feed everyone. Only revolution will feed hungry people. But we will buy you some groceries and take you to Zwide,” we said.
“We are organizing for a communist society where millions of people like you will contribute to benefit the working class,” said a comrade while continuing to distribute Red Flag. “This capitalist profit system is responsible for people like you starving. That is why we are offering Red Flag here.”
The unemployed young man picked up a stack of Red Flags and followed other comrades in spreading our literature.
On the way to Zwide, he shared his life story. His parents died when he was fifteen. He had to drop out of high school to support his young sisters. He worked in the food processing industry until Covid ended his employment.
We have ICWP workers in Zwide. We plan to see him regularly.
Organizing Workers in Townships for Communism
Hunger, chronic unemployment, and contract labour bosses sucking every drop of the workers’ blood: that’s every worker’s story in Gqeberha. The official unemployment is 45% and almost 65% among youth. Hunger is everywhere.
As restless youth wander aimlessly every day, some succumb to alcohol, and others are taken over by gangs. Crime is becoming increasingly violent to support drug addiction.
Makeshift shacks littered with garbage and government-subsidized RDP houses are where Black and Colored workers live in segregated townships. These townships are the source of enormous wealth for the capitalists. Workers who live here produce everything from cars to minerals, highways, ships, processed food, and pharmaceuticals.
A comrade who lived in shacks for five years says he will take us to one such area where every major industry has somebody working. Many work for one of the largest VW plants in Africa, where a car is assembled every ten minutes. But the shacks where the workers live get a plastic pit hole toilet of different colors every five years.
Political parties (ANC and EFF) bribe workers every five years, when elections come around, with new schemes that never come true. The trade unions are mired in corruption and gang violence. A comrade in Marikana got a job only after paying 10000 Rands (US$500, ₹42000) to a trade union. He will spend years paying off this outrageous bribe.
Learning by practice for the communist line
Workers are increasingly looking for alternatives to deadly capitalism. An EFF organizer who sees the need for communism is now becoming a passionate mass ICWP leader. He brought more than 20 workers to a meeting where women and men listened to ICWP’s ideas about organizing the masses. Some of these workers now go daily to industrial locations where they know people. They also attend ICWP political classes.
We have gone to factories of Coca-Cola, Isuzu, Ford, SASKO Bakery, SPAR, Cadbury, Eveready, Continental Tires, SAB, Welfit Oddy, and more. The enthusiastic, energetic, and hungry comrades carry on this struggle relentlessly. We plan to ensure the continuity of this struggle year-round.
“You will learn by distributing Red Flag to the masses,” advised an older comrade. Distributing Red Flag is more than just handing out the paper: it builds and revives trust and camaraderie.
We went inside an army base to distribute Red Flag and revive contact with soldiers. They asked us to come back when there would be more soldiers. One said, “Your party is interesting. No lies.” About organizing soldiers for communism, he said, “Yeah, there is no other way.”
Soldiers and workers are seeing the future of communism amidst the massive poverty, unemployment, crime, and hopelessness of a system that needs to be destroyed. The novelist John Steinbeck wrote that “the line between hunger and anger is a thin line.” If you are hungry or angry, join ICWP today and bring communist revolution closer.
Collectively Planning and Conducting Communist Study and Practice
GQEBERHA (South Africa), May 25— “I can do this work all day, going to factories, as long as I have food,” a new younger comrade told a more experienced one. “No problem. We can mobilize all over. We can come walking.”
The EFF and the ANC are mobilizing all the time. But they are revisionists. They are not fighting for communism. We need to be mobilizing also.
A comrade reported that at an auto factory, where some workers know us, they say, “Yea, man. Each and every time, bring these Red Flags.”
“We were talking about communism,” the comrade continued. “If we have that communist outlook, we can inspire many people. I saw yesterday how many people you were able to link to the Red Flag. We will start regular study groups tomorrow with five or six people. Any movement for change starts small. As people become confident it expands and keeps expanding.”
Another comrade added, “We were thinking about having classes three times next week. It’s better to have a class one day, and then go out the next day to talk to people with the Red Flag. Then have another class.
“We need the classes all year long. To go through all our literature. We should start with Mobilize the Masses for Communism, which explains about the Party and gives the historical context about why to fight for Communism and not socialism. We can discuss dialectical materialism, racism, and sexism. The pamphlets about industrial workers and education. We can decide what order.”
“Here we have no bosses. We are all comrades. We can decide this,” said Comrade P. “Last year, in Marikana, they thought we were from NUM or the SACP [South African Communist Party]. We had to explain that we have nothing to do with the SACP and no interest in union politics.
“You have to be patient and continue to engage with people. Some will question our ideas. We need to have confidence in the line. I can talk to anyone and convince them because I have confidence in our line.
“Theory is derived from practice. We can’t produce articles without practice. You go to people. They share their stories and then we can say, ‘what are the lessons we can learn from these stories?’ Without practice, our work becomes meaningless. But without revolutionary theory, our practice won’t be revolutionary.”
Comrade F said, “Yesterday, you were able to convince the soldier. At first, he was arrogant, but then he started to change his position because you were confident and convincing. We have to build long term relationships. That’s not what ANC and EFF are doing. They just use people. We are building long term relationships, communist ties. Yesterday you showed how to reach out to industrial workers and soldiers.”
Comrade G said, “We went to places I have never been to before.”
Build Communist Factory Cells
Our main idea is to have some workers who are inside the factories. So, we need to build that kind of cell there. We don’t have that yet. Let’s say we meet someone at an auto factory, and they can build a cell there. That’s what we aim to do.
“There’s another factory with 5000 people. We should aim to have a cell there,” said Comrade D. “I know people there because I was transporting some of them. I have been to different factories. At some, there are more Colored workers. We should recruit some of them. Also, I know some white workers. We should try to recruit some of them, too.”
When we have networks in the factories, we can do a lot. Imagine if we have a cell in each factory and there’s a crisis. The government is raising prices. People in the factories ask, “What’s the solution?” The ICWP cells will give the workers the solution and mobilize them.
Read our pamphlet:
Mobilize the Masses for Communism