This document, produced by\nZimbabwean socialists a year ago, has recently came into our hands. We publish\nit to give it wider circulation, particularly among South African workers and\nyouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discussion on the way forward for\nZimbabwe and the Zimbabwean revolution\u2014and the tasks which flow from this for\nthe South African movement\u2014is made more urgent by developments of the recent\nperiod.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The apartheid regime’s escalated\neconomic and military aggression in Southern Africa, though directed particularly\nagainst Mozambique, in reality has Zimbabwe as its key target. With the MNR’s\n“declaration of war\u201d against Zimbabwe, it is South Africa that is engaged\nin a proxy war with the Mugabe regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The reasons for this are outlined\nin the accompanying document, especially in the introduction to it. Essentially,\nthey are because Zimbabwe, with a stronger industrial base than any other\nSouthern African country, is South African imperialism’s immediate rival in the\nregion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What this means is that the\nfuture of the Zimbabwean and the South African revolution are increasingly\nlinked together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South African workers have the\nresponsibility to give active support to Zimbabwean resistance to South African\naggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means struggling together\nwith Zimbabwean workers, peasants and youth to weaken South African imperialism\nand defend the gains of the victory over the Smith regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It requires also the fullest\nencouragement of the struggle of workers and youth in Zimbabwe to end\ncapitalism and achieve genuine democratic rule by the people on the basis of\nworkers’ power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As this document explains,\ndespite the achievement of political independence and of some reforms under the\nZANU(PF) regime, the real power in Zimbabwe remains in the hands of the capitalist\nclass which own the big banks, factories, mines, and farms, and who dictate the\npolicies of the government. The Zimbabwean state remains a capitalist state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While vigorously defending\nZimbabwe and it present government against threats or attacks by South Africa,\nyouth and workers in South Africa ought also to make clear their criticism of a\ngovernment in Zimbabwe which safeguards multinationals like Anglo-American, and\nwhich imprisons workers for striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The organised workers of South\nAfrica have the responsibility of giving assistance to the Zimbabwean workers\nstruggling for independent trade unions under workers’ control. Direct links\nshould be built, particularly at the factory level, and Zimbabwean workers\ninvited to visit South Africa and participate in union conferences, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South African workers’ leaders\nshould not sit in hotels during visits to trade union and other conferences in\nZimbabwe, but establish contact with the workers’ committees and make clear\nthey condemn anti-worker laws and the detention of trade unionists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dealings with the Zimbabwean\nworkers’ movement should not be confined \u2014as is largely the case at present to \u2018diplomatic\u2019\nrelations with the state-controlled ZCTU leadership. Most of these leaders have\na very bad record of taking the bosses’ side or failing to struggle for\nworkers’ interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why should the enemies of the\nSouthern African workers such as Lonrho and Anglo-American be protected in\nZimbabwe? We need united action against these employers by the working class of\nthe whole region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When SA trade union leaders meet\nwith the heads of Zimbabwean unions, the occasion should be used to appeal\nopenly to the workers directly to join in a united struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Southern African revolution\ncan only succeed finally with the overthrow of apartheid and capitalism in\nSouth Africa itself. But the further development of the Zimbabwean revolution\nis a vital component of this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not only in Zimbabwe, but\nthroughout Southern Africa, a huge gulf is opening up between what capitalism\ncan offer and what the masses demand\u2014as revealed in the angry mass protests on\nthe Zambian copperbelt against IMF-imposed food price rises of up to 100% which\nwere violently repressed at the cost of at least ten lives. Governments\ncarrying out these capitalist policies, whatever their pious “anti-apartheid”\nproclamations, are in no position to mobilise an effective fight against South\nAfrican aggression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The way forward in the struggle\nin Zimbabwe, Zambia, and throughout the region\u2014depends on the socialist opposition\ngrowing among the working class in the trade unions and mass parties, around a\nprogramme to abolish capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South African workers must give these class brothers and sisters uncompromising support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n