{"id":210,"date":"2019-08-27T07:24:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T05:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=210"},"modified":"2019-11-19T12:35:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-19T10:35:45","slug":"the-srwp-the-2019-elections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=210","title":{"rendered":"The SRWP & the 2019 Elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Weizmann Hamilton*<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

27 April 2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 7 April 2019, the Socialist Revolutionary\nWorkers Party (SRWP) held its three-day inaugural congress. About a thousand\ndelegates attended claiming to represent a membership of 20,000. Many\nworking class activists may heave a sigh of relief. After many false starts and\ndelays, maybe now, a serious trade union-based challenge can offer an\nalternative to the crisis of capitalism in the upcoming elections and beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Numsa secretary general, Irvin Jim, the SRWP\u2019s\nfirst chairperson, says: \u201cThe SRWP is\nthe party that fights for the whole of the working class – it\ngrew out of the decision by NUMSA in 2013 after analysing the state of the\nworking class, to build a workers\u2019 party. But the SRWP is not the NUMSA\nworkers\u2019 party. It is not the SAFTU workers\u2019 party. It is for all socialist\nworkers in SAFTU, COSATU, NACTU, FEDUSA, Solidarity.\u201d Is this a serious promise\nto use the SRWP to build the political unity of the working class? Or is it\njust rhetoric?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

2013-2019 – delays<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precious time was lost following Numsa\u2019s 2013\nSpecial National Congress. The NUMSA leadership argued then that, whilst it had\nwithdrawn support from the ANC, it was up to its members to decide for\nthemselves who to vote for in the 2014 elections. WASP warned that in the\nabsence of a working class alternative, people would vote for opposition\nparties to punish the ANC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using socialist rhetoric, the EFF secured nearly\n1.2 million votes, winning 25 seats. The DA achieved 22%, its highest ever vote.\nBut the number of voters abstaining in protest grew to 12 million. By the 2016 local\nelections the ANC\u2019s 62% majority had declined to 54%, with the loss of three\nkey metros. We pointed out at the time that this was a \u201cthunderous rebuke\u201d by\nthe working class. Most alarmingly for the ANC, these results posed the\npossibility that it might not secure an outright majority in 2019 and could be\nforced into a coalition government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then the ANC\u2019s worsening internal crisis\nis expressed in the continued factional civil war. So alarmed are the\nstrategists of capital that there is a call from their ranks for DA voters to switch\nto the ANC to strengthen \u2018their man\u2019 Ramaphosa. In desperation, the ANC has\nfollowed the DA into the sewer of xenophobia to shore up electoral support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the pressure of the capitalist class, the\nRamaphosa regime is resolved to present the bill for the ever deepening\neconomic crisis to the working class. The right to strike and picket has been\nattacked with the support of the class collaborators in the Cosatu and Fedusa\nleaderships. Emboldened, Ramaphosa is set to proceed with the privatisation of\nstate-owned enterprises starting with the breakup of Eskom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through its local government coalitions with\nthe capitalist DA, the EFF has confirmed its reactionary class character. As we\npredicted after the 2016 elections, it has now announced its willingness to\nenter into a coalition with the ANC at national level. The EFF has zig-zagged\nbetween the warring factions in the ANC as it positions itself to negotiate a\nplace in a possible pro-capitalist coalition. It has thus shifted economic\npolicy to the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

SRWP\u2019s debut<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever its precise configuration, the\nincoming government will be poised to intensify the attacks on the working class.\nFor the capitalist parties, elections are an attempt to legitimise these\nattacks. Until now there has been no working class opposition in parliament. The\nSRWP therefore has entered the electoral stage at a time when the vacuum on the\nleft has been sharpened and the class war is poised for a significant\nescalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SRWP will of course not win the elections\nnor is it contesting with this aim. That it was launched officially less than\ntwo months before the elections, itself shows a light-minded attitude towards using\nparliament for mass mobilisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the Marikana massacre, with the\nsupport of the mineworkers\u2019 independent strike committees, WASP was launched as\na broad federal formation to build the widest possible unity around a clear\nrevolutionary socialist programme. WASP proposed collaboration with NUMSA and invited\nit take its place, alongside other formations, in accordance with its numerical\nand political weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the basis of its 300,000 membership alone, Numsa\ncould have secured at least six seats for working class MPs with a proper\ncampaign. The burning anger over the Marikana massacre meant there was a strong\nsentiment in favour of a working class alternative. Such a working class-led party\nwould have acted as an electoral pole of attraction for the 67% of Cosatu shop\nstewards in favour of a workers party, and could even have attracted the\nsupport of significant sections of the middle class. Millions of disaffected\nvoters, disillusioned with the existing parties, could have supported it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, the workers\u2019 representatives\nin parliament could have used it as a platform to unite working class\ncommunities, students and the organised working class for mass mobilisation\nagainst the capitalist ANC government. But the votes that might otherwise have\ngone to such a party, went instead to the EFF. Throughout the intervening five years,\nwith each twist and turn of the class struggle, WASP has called on the Numsa\nleadership to act decisively and play its role in helping to fill the working\nclass political vacuum. Had the Numsa leadership made use of the time, matters\ncould have been different in 2019. The Numsa leadership must take full\nresponsibility for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, for the purpose of the 2019\nelections, there can be only one place at the barricades of the class struggle\non 8 May: against the parties of\ncapitalism.<\/strong> The capitalist parties have never been in deeper crisis. The\nelections offer the working class the opportunity to accelerate that crisis and\nmake the necessity for a mass working class party even clearer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Working Class Summit<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASP\nsupports the processes that commenced at the Working Class Summit (WCS) convened\nby Saftu in July 2018. The WCS brought together over a thousand delegates from\n147 community organisations, Saftu affiliates and student formations. The\nforces that made up the WCS have many shortcomings. Their ideological levels\nare uneven and even contradictory ranging from Pan-Africanism to socialism. The\nsocial movement organisations present ranged from NGO types to genuine\ngrassroots organisations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite\nthis the WCS was an historic gathering which resolved on the need for a mass\nworkers party based on socialism, reflecting the views of the overwhelming\nmajority in attendance. Debate will continue in the provincial and regional WCS\nstructures that it was agreed to roll out. WASP believes that the WCS process\noffers the best prospects to build a genuine socialist mass workers party that\ncan unite the broadest possible layers of the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASP is\nnot contesting the 2019 elections, and with the WCS process requiring more\ntime, we are calling for a vote for the SRWP on 8 May. Of the contesting parties,\nthe SRWP is the only one that has arisen from the organised working class. It\nis the only party that stands, at least in words, for the overthrow of\ncapitalism and the socialist transformation of society.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our call to vote for the SRWP is, however, a\ncritical one. By this we mean that from 9 May, after the elections, we call\nupon the SRWP to throw its full weight behind the WCS process to create a mass\nworkers party with a democratic federal character that guarantees all supporting\norganisations a real say in the formation of the party, its ideology,\nprogramme, policies and to be represented on its elected structures.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SRWP has serious shortcomings\nideologically, in its organisational methods and in the democracy of its\ninternal party regime. The SRWP\u2019s early documents cited Marx and Lenin, but\nalso, unfortunately, Stalin and Mao. The distortions of Marxism made by the\nlatter two, which WASP will deal with in more detail in the future, are\nreflected in the problematic approach of the SRWP leadership. They are clearly\nstill basing themselves on the concepts of the National Democratic Revolution\nas the \u201cshortest road to socialism\u201d \u2013 in reality the Stalinist two-stage\ntheory. This poses not academic, but fundamental questions of strategy,\nperspectives and organisation. It places a serious question mark over whether the SRWP will act as a\nforce for working class unity after the elections or become an obstacle towards\nit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Origins of workers party idea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nhistory of the idea of a workers party goes back to the beginnings of the\nmodern organised labour movement. It was first alluded to by the president of\nCosatu predecessor, the Federation of SA Trade Unions (Fosatu) Joe Foster, in a\nspeech at its 1982 congress. The idea came under vicious SACP attack as a\nchallenge to its self-proclaimed role as the \u201cvanguard\u201d of the working class.\nAt Cosatu\u2019s 1993 congress, Numsa\u2019s resolution calling for the formation of a\nworkers party to challenge the ANC in the historic 1994 elections was defeated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However\nby then, through its domination of Cosatu and its affiliates, the SACP had\nsucceeded in barring the way towards the emergence of such a party.\nSubordinating the independent interests of the working class to those of the\naspirant black capitalist organised in the ANC, the SACP captured the Cosatu\nleadership from birth, imprisoning it in the class collaborationist Tripartite\nAlliance and commandeering its members to act as the ANC\u2019s electoral\nmobilisation machine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\nthe next twenty years the idea of a workers party survived amongst only a\nminority, reflected in Cosatu shop steward political attitude surveys. But support\ngrew as the capitalist character of the ANC-led government became clearer. From\na substantial minority of 30% in 1998, support for a workers party had grown to\na crushing majority of 67% by 2012. This was even before the Marikana massacre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Marikana, the workers party\nand Numsa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to exposing the class character of the\nANC as a party of capital, the Marikana massacre resulted in fatal political\ncollateral damage for Cosatu. The credibility of the Tripartite Alliance now\nlies shattered in the political rubble of the Marikana earthquake. Cosatu\u2019s then\nbiggest affiliate, the National Union of Mineworkers, suffered a mass exodus. The\nCosatu leadership revealed its role as the lieutenants of capital in the labour\nmovement by expelling Numsa for its uncompromising criticism of the ANC, SACP\nand Cosatu. The Marikana massacre thus lifted the idea of a workers party from\nthe pages of survey questionnaires onto the centre stage of the political\narena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the entirely new political era now opened,\nNumsa called a Special National Congress (SNC) in 2013. Its resolutions re-tied\nthe knot of history with the generation of 1993. It resolved to unite the left\nunder a Movement for Socialism (MfS), working class communities under a United\nFront (UF), and the working class under a workers party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nin its determination to keep complete control of all three, the Numsa\nleadership attempted to keep discussions on socialism and a workers party off\nthe agenda. Despite the enthusiastic support of provincial structures across\nthe country the UF was shut down. The Movement for Socialism suffered a similar\nfate. The MfS conference unanimously supported the establishment of a mass\nworkers party on a socialist programme. A Steering Committee was agreed on to\ndevelop a road map towards its establishment. It was never convened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nmeantime, Numsa\u2019s expulsion from Cosatu gave momentum to the formation of a new\nfederation.  By 2017, Saftu was launched. At Saftu\u2019s\nfounding congress WASP raised the need for Saftu to grab hold of and pursue the\ncreation of a mass workers party on a socialist programme. A Political &\nIdeological Commission was formed to take the discussions further.  In March 2018, this Commission reported to the\nSaftu NEC that \u201cin the\ncurrent capitalist crises, the only way forward is the building of a Workers\nParty\u201d. This report in turn led to the convening\nof the Working Class Summit on 21 and 22 July 2018 to further broaden the\nforces involved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately\nthe Numsa leadership\u2019s \u2018rule or ruin\u2019 approach towards the UF and MfS was\ntransferred to Saftu and the WCS. Unlike the 1993 Numsa generation which placed\nthe resolution for a workers party before the Cosatu congress, the present\nNumsa leadership by-passed its own federation. Not once did the Numsa\nleadership raise their plans to launch the SRWP for discussion at the Political\n& Ideological Commission \u2013 established to build a broad consensus across\nSaftu\u2019s 20+ affiliates on how to proceed in filling the working class political\nvacuum. Nor did they raise it at the Saftu NEC. With many Saftu affiliates\nalienated, they had no delegates at the SRWP launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the WCS\nitself, the conduct of SRWP-supporting Numsa delegates nearly caused the Summit\nto collapse. They attempted to dominate proceedings in commissions, including\nthe imposition of chairs, scribes and rapporteurs.  Their conduct was seen as an attempt to bully\ncommunities into endorsing their party, confirming fears that like all other\nparties, they merely wanted votes to pursue their parliamentary ambitions. It\nalso strengthened the arguments of the ultra-left who oppose any participation\nin parliament.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WCS took\nplace a full eight months before the SRWP was launched. Why did the Numsa\nleadership try to obstruct attempts to build broad support across trade unions,\ncommunities and youth organisations for the creation of a mass workers party?\nSurely, with Saftu already a year old by then, with the successful and\nexplicitly political 25 April 2018 strike against the ANC government behind\nthem, which Numsa had supported, this was an opportune time to proceed? Why did\nthey argue there was no need to reinvent the wheel, when in fact the SRWP wheel\nwas put on the road only after Saftu had clearly taken up the issue of the\nworkers party?               <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Democratic\ncredentials<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The emphasis on democratic control and\naccountability that marked the discussions around a mass workers party at the\nWCS, stands in sharp contrast to the proceedings at the SRWP launch\ncongress.  Delegates were hand-picked\nfrom selected Numsa structures on a factional basis and padded with praise\nsingers from small left groups. In what was supposed to be an elective\ncongress, the delegates were confronted with a predetermined slate compiled by\na self-appointed bureaucracy, that they were expected to endorse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Astonishingly, the Numsa first deputy president\nis reported to have motivated for the endorsement of the leadership slate by\nsaying that as the SRWP is a socialist party there was no need for elections!\nThis is Stalinism not Leninism. It is bureaucratic centralism not democratic\ncentralism. In the uproar that ensued, a number of regions protested and\ndemanded to consult the Independent Electoral Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Western Cape delegates, having initially\nwalked out in protest, withdrew their nominees. The SRWP leadership has no\nrepresentation from either the Western or Eastern Cape.  The SRWP constitution provides for five yearly\ncongresses. The rank-and-file of the party will thus have a say in the election\nof a leadership imposed on them only in 2024. The SRWP constitution not only\nprovides exemption from elections for so-called founding members, but for all\noffice bearers and structures to be elected by secret ballot.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Party\ncharacter<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given Numsa\u2019s crushing political weight in the\nSRWP, an evaluation of the party\u2019s character cannot be separated from that of the\nNumsa leadership itself. It is an undeniable fact that the Numsa leadership is\ndeeply split. Ahead of its 2020 congress, tensions are mounting between\ncontending factions. Despite the claim that the SRWP represents the long\ndelayed implementation of the resolutions of Numsa\u2019s 2013 Special National\nCongress, the party carries the unmistakable birthmark of these factional\nbattles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the manner in which it was established, its\norganisational methods and the ideological outlook of the dominant Numsa leadership\nfaction, the SRWP is not the party envisaged either by the Numsa members\nthemselves at their 2013 SNC, or the fulfilment of the aspirations of the\nWorking Class Summit. Tellingly, support for the SRWP amongst Numsa members\nthemselves is less than overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most critical questions that must be\nanswered is how the SRWP is funded. Before it was exposed as an instrument for\nthe \u201cdemocratic\u201d exploitation of the working class, the SACP was at least\nfunded by a levy from some Cosatu affiliates and continues to be accommodated\nin its headquarters. There is no Numsa or Saftu SRWP levy. Yet the SRWP has\nbeen able to purchase new branded vehicles, thousands of t-shirts and election\nposters, paid organisers and luxury venues. If the SRWP is not funded by its\nmembers this insulates the leadership from democratic control and\naccountability. It also opens the party to the influence of capitalist class\npressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Underlining\nthis, in October 2018, the respected investigative journalists at amaBhungane wrote\na piece on the corrosive effect the Numsa Investment Company was having on the\ndemocratic structures of the union and the accountability of leadership. The long list of unanswered questions\nincluded what the relationship is between the Numsa leadership and various\nZuma-supporting champions of \u201cradical economic transformation\u201d like Transform\nRSA; or the prominent presence of the Numsa Investment Company at the National\nFuneral Practitioners Association of SA\u2019s ceremony to honour Zuma. NafupaSA has\ncalled for the banning of Indian and white funeral undertakers from doing\nbusiness in African townships.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The meeting between Irvin Jim and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma\nduring the contest for the ANC presidency has never been satisfactorily\nexplained. Previous media \u2018expos\u00e9s\u2019 on NUMSA have raised questions about the\nlinks between Irvin Jim and the American-Caribbean billionaire and owner of the\nmultinational IT company, Thoughtworks, Roy Singham. amaBhungane directly asked\nIrvin Jim about any involvement of Singham in the SRWP \u2013 presumably as a major\nfunder \u2013 but the question went unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is true that the capitalist owned media has\nbeen used, and will continue to be used, to discredit the trade union movement\nand any party or movement supporting socialism. However, the way to combat this\nis not, certainly in the first instance at least, to ignore serious charges raised\nin public \u2013 but to answer them! That is, of course, if there is nothing to\nhide. On balance, it seems highly likely that the corrosive \u2018funding model\u2019\nwhich played an important role in the political degeneration of Cosatu is being\nre-created in the SRWP itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

SRWP\nmust join Saftu\u2019s WCS\u2019s mass workers party process<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All serious\nsocialists stand for the overthrow of capitalism and the socialist\ntransformation of society. That is ABC. But, to paraphrase Trotsky, the\nalphabet of revolutionary socialism only begins with its first three letters \u2013\nit does not end with them. A programme, even a genuine revolutionary one, and\nthe party that promotes it, cannot be imposed. It must be tested by events and\nwin the approval of the masses and the active participation of the leading\nlayers of the working class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WASP raises our\ncriticisms from fraternal but firm point of view for consideration by Numsa\nmembers, Saftu members, participants in the WCS, genuine SRWP activists and the\nwider working class and encourages them to be debated throughout the movement. Contrary\nto claims by supporters, the SRWP leadership has never approached us for\npolitical collaboration. With the SRWP decision whether to contest or not\ndelayed, WASP devoted its efforts towards the Saftu-WCS process.  Unfortunately the supporters of some of the\nsmall left groups seeking shelter in the SRWP have subjected WASP to unprovoked\npolitical attacks on social media, mischaracterizing, among many things, our\nlong history and proud record in the struggle for the creation of a mass workers\nparty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stand for a\nmass workers party on a socialist programme that unites in struggle the\nworkplaces, the communities and the education institutions. Such a party must\nbe open, democratic and federal in character to allow for the fighting unity of\nexisting working class organisations. This can lay vital foundations for the\ndevelopment of a mass revolutionary party capable of leading the working class\nin the overthrow of capitalism and the socialist transformation of society. The\narena that provides the most fertile ground for this at this stage of the class\nstruggle is the Saftu-WCS process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are on the\nedge of tumultuous events worldwide. The capitalist classes, bereft of ideas\nabout how to avoid the social convulsions that will be detonated by a new\nedition of the 2008 Great Recession, are experiencing splits \u2013 one of the\npre-conditions for revolution. As the magnificent movement of the masses in the\nSudan and Algeria show the African working class masses stand ready to join\ntheir counterparts worldwide in internationalist collaboration for the\noverthrow of capitalism and the socialist transformation of society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

* Originally published as How should workers use their vote on 8 May?<\/em> by the WASP <\/a>National Committee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Weizmann Hamilton* 27 April 2019 On 7 April 2019, the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) held its three-day inaugural congress. About a thousand delegates […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":430,"parent":212,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-210","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"_hostinger_reach_plugin_has_subscription_block":false,"_hostinger_reach_plugin_is_elementor":false,"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":889,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/210\/revisions\/889"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}