Working-Class Women Take the Lead here ♦ ICWP Industrial Work Needs Your Support here ♦
South Africa: Working-Class Women Take the Lead in Mobilising for Communism
GQEBERHA, SOUTH AFRICA, August 19— “I join! I join!” exclaimed Lalizwa, an enthusiastic new comrade. She had provided us with her space to conduct a meeting in Uitenhage, near Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Everyone in Uitenhage knows someone who works at the Volkswagen plant here, a key industrial concentration for our party’s work in South Africa.
“It was so much fun! It was my first time organising that number of people to come! By having new people, you get to learn from them too as much as they are also learning,” said Kuhke. She is a party leader who has family members who work at VW. She organised her family and colleagues to a meeting to introduce communism to them and recruit them to the party, as we prepare for the international meeting in October.
“Comrade, please leave some of your newspapers. I will give them to my neighbours and my colleagues. I wish I had invited them to hear you guys,” said Ibanthi, another new female comrade.
We started the meeting by introducing the party and communism. “Communism is about organising and creating a society without money where we don’t have a few families and corporations owning all the wealth while workers own nothing,” said comrade Asanda.
“If we get rid of money, we will get rid of this world where everything is about money and profit including social relationships,” said Bonani, an experienced comrade.
This sparked a lively discussion with the new comrades that were listening. Comrade Asanda asked spiritedly, “How is it possible to live without money, when we grew up with dreams of getting educated and earning money in order to elevate in society and live a ‘soft’ life”?
Comrade Sisana answered her: “That is a myth, comrade, an illusion sold to us in order to embrace the order of capitalism. There are many people who are educated who don’t live comfortably. Some are unemployed, some live with debt and must rely on credit to afford essentials in life”.
Comrade Mzamo pitched in: “In communism we are not interested in some people being more elevated than others. We want to create a classless society, under the slogan of ‘from each according to ability, to each according to the need’. This means that we will distribute according to needs. However, it doesn’t mean people will get absolute equal share of everything. That is impossible, as people have different needs”.
Another new comrade, Siya, said, “I think this is a good thing, comrade. It is my first time hearing this. I think all we need is education about communism and the party. Otherwise, I join, I join, I join”!
The meeting was inspiring, as it was organised by a relatively new leader of the party. We managed to have more than ten people fill the room, mostly female comrades committed to join the party and distribute our literature. We took their contact information and added them on our chat groups. They urged us to come back and host these meetings in the future.
We promised to visit them at least once a month. It is safe to say that, at the heart of where VW is located, we have a new collective led by female comrades. The fight against sexism in our party has unleashed the potential of working-class women comrades, which is crucial for the growth of the revolutionary struggle. A luta continua.
ICWP Industrial Work Needs Your Support
The expanding industrial work of our party in South Africa is a big step forward for us all. Like our communist work among garment workers in India and El Salvador, this growth requires financial resources beyond the limited funds available to comrades locally.
Our core communist principle is: “From all according to commitment and ability, to all according to need.” We ask all readers of Red Flag, and each party collective, to think hard about how you are willing and able to support this work.
That might mean organizing solidarity letters. Or regularly collecting small donations from friends, co-workers, family. Or larger donations from teachers, doctors, and others we know. If you’re not sure how to donate funds securely, ask an ICWP comrade or contact us at icwp@nym.hush.com.
Read Our Pamphlet: Mobilize the Masses for Communism here