By ‘perspectives’ we mean an\nunderstanding of the most likely economic and political developments ahead,\ninternationally and nationally. Without clear perspectives, the working class\ncannot he prepared for its historical task of taking power and making an end to\ndictatorship, poverty, and ignorance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the task of working out\nperspectives is not simple. Government ‘experts’ and the capitalists themselves\ndo not understand the processes at work. They grope in the dark, making big\nmistakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We only have to think of the\nZimbabwe government’s \u2018expert\u2019, Riddell, who predicted in the Transitional National\nPlan for 1982-85 that the Zimbabwe economy would grow by 8% per year in this\nperiod\u2014a total of over 24%. ln fact, the economy declined<\/strong> by 2,5% in this period!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a Ziana correspondent, Ruth\nWeiss, has admitted, there is a “short-term view of everything giving rise\nalternatively to euphoria and pessimism with bewildering rapidity”, (Guardian<\/em>, 23 August 1985)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking at developments in society\nwithout using the method of Marxism, events may seem completely confused and\nunpredictable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the working class, the method\nof Marxism is essential in developing the necessary understanding of events.\nMarxism is sometimes called the ‘science of perspectives’. It gathers together\nthe most conscious and disciplined strugglers, and equips them to mobilise the\nmass of the workers for the task of social transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even the most thorough perspectives,\nof course, cannot predict every detail and every turn ahead. But perspectives\ncan give us a grasp of the underlying processes at work in society. This can\nprepare the workers for sudden changes, and enable them to cope with new\nsituations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through working out the perspectives,\nthe conscious activists become able to explain correctly the tasks of the\nmovement at every stage of the struggle. In this process they can win the\nconfidence of the mass of workers, and make clear the shortcoming of every\npolitical current in the movement that opposes Marxism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Only in this way can Marxism be\nbuilt into a mass force to transform society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The perspectives for every\ncountry today have to start from an understanding of the world situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A problem for Zimbabweans coming\nto an understanding of the perspectives for their country is the limited amount\nof information available about what is happening in the world. This leads to a\nwidespread feeling of isolation from developments internationally, and\ndifficulties in understanding how Zimbabwe is affected by these developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there can be no escape from\nthe need for a disciplined internationalist<\/strong>\napproach to the future of Zimbabwe and the struggles of the workers and youth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The economy of every capitalist\ncountry has become integrated into a single world economy. It is now impossible\nfor any country to withdraw from the world market\u2014no country can possibly be\nself-sufficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This integration is most advanced\nin the developed capitalist countries, but also dominates political life in the\nformer colonial world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Landlocked<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That Zimbabwe is landlocked is\nfrequently remarked on. What is the importance of this? That Zimbabwe needs\naccess to the sea\u2014in order to conduct overseas trade. Exports and imports in\nfact make up about one quarter of the total annual value of production in\nZimbabwe. Almost all spheres of production rely on some imported components,\nand therefore depend on the foreign currency earnings provided by exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zimbabwe’s exports, presently\npassing through South Africa’s ports, are bound for American steel mills or EEC\nfactories\u2014and in return Zimbabwe’s imports of machinery, etc come from the same\nareas. Economically and politically it is locked into capitalist finance and\ntrading relations as a former colony and an exploited subordinate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Developments in world capitalism\naffect the Zimbabwean economy and, through that, the character of political\ndevelopments. The present decline in world commodity prices, for example, cuts\nthe country’s export earnings and, through that, stifles economic growth. The\ngovernment is involved in decisions about who will suffer the consequences\u2014the\ncapitalists or the working masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The present world market was\ndeveloped very largely during the great upswing of world capitalism after the\nSecond World War. In the advanced countries \u2013 though not in the Third World \u2013 capitalism\nduring this period seemed to have solved the crisis which had ravaged it during\nthe 1920s and 1930s. Through the power of their organisations, workers were\nable to win concessions from the capitalists and to secure better wages and\nhigher living standards than they had ever enjoyed before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world market is dominated by\nthe giant multinational companies of the advanced capitalist countries, who\nafter 1950 not only expanded production to a higher level than ever before in their\nrush for profits, but concentrated the ownership of production into fewer and\nfewer hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The world crisis of capitalism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2014as even the Herald<\/em> and the Chronicle<\/em> cannot hide from the workers\u2014the international expansion\nof capitalism has clearly come to an end. In every country, the system has\nentered a period of small upturns and bigger downturns. Growth has slowed down\nto a snail’s pace even in the advanced countries. In the underdeveloped\ncountries, terrible burdens are being placed on the mass of the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The causes of the post-War\nupswing of world capitalism and of its present terminal crisis, are explained\nmore fully in other Marxist material. (See, for example, South Africa’s Impending Socialist Revolution<\/em>, Chapter 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the fundamental reason lies\nin capitalism’s inherent contradictions. Private ownership of the means of production,\nand the rise of the nation-state, played a progressive role historically in\ndeveloping production far beyond the limits previously attainable. Now private\nownership and the nation-state have become obstacles to the development of the\nproductive forces (machinery, labour, etc) and to the development of science\nand technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key to the development of the\nproductive farces, in the modern world, is new investment. But today, even in\nthe advanced capitalist countries, and even in times of \u2018boom\u2019, rather than expansion<\/strong> of productive capacity taking\nplace, only 80% of existing productive capacity is being used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Capitalist production is based on\nprofit, derived from the value of goods produced by the working-class over and\nabove what they are paid in wages\u2014surplus-value<\/strong>,\nin short. The motor of production is not social need, but the competitive\nsearch for profit by private owners, through producing and selling more cheaply\nthan their rivals. In the modern epoch the form this takes is the clash of the\ngiant monopolies and rival imperialist powers to carve up and recarve the world\nmarket among themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the one hand, capitalism\ncreates a tendency towards the absolute expansion of the capacity to produce\ncommodities; but on the other hand this expansion is checked by the relative\nlimit placed on the buying power of the working class in order to maximise\nprofit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ultimate<\/strong> basis of the world market is the purchasing power in the\nhands of consumers\u2014who, fundamentally, are the working class. But this is, of\nnecessity, less than the total value of production. Capitalism, in other words,\nhas an inherent tendency towards ‘over-production’\u2014not production in excess of\nthe desperate needs<\/strong> of people for\nmore goods and services in order to survive, but in excess of their ability to\npay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Post-war boom<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the post-war boom, through the\nfreeing of trade between nations, the development of new methods of production,\nopening of new markets, the massive expansion of credit and state\ndeficit-financing, super-exploitation of the Third World, etc, the advanced\ncapitalist countries overcame these inherent limits for a period\u2014but only to\ncreate bigger problems and contradictions which are now coming home to roost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because the limits are now again\nasserting themselves, and it is increasingly difficult for the capitalists to\nproduce and sell at a profit, the spiral of expansion has begun to turn into\nits opposite. In trying to restore profitability, the capitalists close\nfactories, throw workers out of jobs, and attack their living standards.\nWhatever the capitalists gain from this in preserved or restored profits, the\nsystem loses\u2014because all this serves to cut the market and worsen the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Austerity” policies by\ncapitalists and their governments thus make matters worse\u2014while attempts to\nrestimulate the economy (which worked during the period of post-War boom) lead\nto rapidly rising prices of goods rather than sustained new development of the\nmarket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a capitalist basis, there is\nno way out of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the crisis bites, cut-throat\nrivalry among the big capitalist powers intensifies. In place of the former\nfreeing of trade, each capitalist power looks for ways to ‘protect’ its home\nmarket against ‘foreign competition’ by putting up obstacles to imports\u2014but\nthis serves to cut the market further. Direct or disguised policies of this\nkind by the imperialist powers hit particularly at “Third World’\ncountries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The capitalist class internationally\nis putting less and less investment into new production and therefore new jobs.\nInstead they are using their wealth to buy each other out; or to gamble for a\nquick profit in non-productive ‘investment’ such as property, stocks and shares,\ncurrency speculation, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Third World commodity prices are\ndriven down, at huge cost to their economies, by the monopoly power of\ncapitalists wanting cheaper raw materials to increase their profits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everywhere, the capitalist class\nis becoming increasingly parasitic on society\u2014while tens of millions are\nunemployed even in advanced capitalist countries, and hundreds of millions in\nthe former colonial world face the threat of starvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is clear that capitalism is\nripe for being overthrown and replaced by a higher, more developed form of\nsociety, in which production is organised to serve the needs of the producers.\nWe are living in the period of world<\/strong>\nrevolution\u2014of the international transition from capitalism to socialism; from\nthe system of private ownership dominated by the multinational companies to a\nsystem of planned production under the democratic ownership and control of the\nmass of working people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the advanced capitalist\ncountries after the Second World War the massive upswing of capitalism led to\nrelative class peace. Today, the attacks of the capitalist class are pushing\nworkers into struggle in defence of their jobs, wages, and rights. The\ncapitalists, even in the ‘democratic’ countries, are resorting to harsher and\nharsher methods of control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During the post-war boom in these\ncountries a leadership arose in the workers’ organisations which maintained,\nalong with the capitalists themselves, that the contradictions of capitalism\nhad been ironed out and that it could provide better living standards for\nworking people indefinitely into the future. These leaders made comfortable\ncareers for themselves, living in privilege, and isolated from the mass of\nworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today this reformist leadership\nis an increasing obstacle for the working class in solving its problems.\nCapitalism offers no way out. Elected to form a government, and failing to\nbreak with capitalism, these workers’ leaders carry through not reforms, but\ncounter-reforms. In opposition some preach \u2018socialism\u2019 \u2014 but when they come\ninto government carry out the policies demanded by the capitalists, and abandon\ntheir promises to the workers. This is the inevitable consequence of their\nunwillingness to lead a struggle to break decisively the power of the monopolies\nand overthrow capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In every advanced capitalist\ncountry the workers’ movement has enormous strength. But to solve the problems\nfacing the masses what is required is a leadership armed with a programme for\nfighting back against the capitalist class, overturning capitalism, and placing\nthe working class in power. For this, the perspectives and methods of Marxism\nare essential as a scientific guide to action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internationally, the forces of\nMarxism are still very weak. But in a number of advanced capitalist countries\nthese small forces are already beginning to place their stamp on events\u2014notably\nthe supporters of the Militant<\/em>\nnewspaper in Britain. On the basis of workers’ experience of the crisis, these\nforces will grow by leaps and bounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The perspectives for the advanced\ncapitalist countries are shaped, on the one hand, by the remorseless unfolding\nof the crisis and, on the other, by the struggle of the working class to reclaim\ncontrol of its trade union and political organisations and transform them, on\nthe basis of Marxism, into instruments for taking power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This would open the way to the\nsocialist reorganisation of production, genuine democracy, and a society of\nplenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The former colonial world<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All the contradictions of\ncapitalism are a hundred times more acute in the former colonial countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a cruel contradiction\nbetween the enormous natural resources that are available to improve the lives\nof the people, and the totally inadequate development of these resources.\nPlundered by the capitalists, these countries are developed just enough to\nallow them to make a contribution to capitalist wealth in Europe, Japan, and\nthe United States, by exporting a few types of raw materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 1950s leaders such as Nkrumah\npreached the idea that once political power had been achieved, everything would\nbe possible. “Seek first the political kingdom”, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But political independence has\nnot brought about the economic and social development hoped for by the nationalist\nleaders. Instead, the peasant and worker masses have remained at the mercy of\nthe world market dominated by the imperialist powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, they are suffering even\ngreater impoverishment in the present period of capitalist decline, as the\nprices of their exports are forced down by the imperialist monopolies, and the\nprices of their imports (mainly manufactured products) are pushed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ln Africa, the capitalist system\nis at its most rotten. Africa is the only continent now facing a drop in food\nproduction. Throughout the 1980s it is predicted that, on average, there will\nbe no economic growth at all, despite increasing population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Millions of people live\npermanently on the brink of starvation. At the same time the capitalists and\nstate officials line their pockets with aid and state funds, and with the wealth\nproduced by the workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only way to break out of\ncolonial poverty is by developing modern industry. This alone can end the\ndependence of these countries on a few exports, whose prices are controlled by\nthe capitalist giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the ruling elites in these\ncountries are completely parasitic. Under capitalism, in a world market controlled\nby imperialism, they cannot carve out new markets for the development of production\non a national basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the limits of capitalism,\nthey cannot carry out any of the basic democratic tasks that are necessary for\nthe development of their countries: providing the peasant masses with land and\nstate assistance; unifying the nation; developing industry; establishing\npolitical democracy, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Africa and its peoples were split\nup by the colonial powers on purely arbitrary lines, leaving a terrible legacy\nof ‘balkanisation’ (the creation of small conflicting states). Because of the\ngeneral lack of national development, tribal loyalties remain strong within\nthese states. On a capitalist basis, there is no resolution to these problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One-party dictatorships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding that reform is impossible\nwithin stagnant capitalist economies, leaders of African states defend\nthemselves against the pressure of the masses by suppressing democratic rights.\nThey have instituted one-party dictatorships, many of which in turn have been\noverthrown by military coups. The civilian or military dictatorships have used\nthe most savage means to keep themselves in power. Yet so clear are the\nrevolutionary demands of the masses that even dictators basing themselves on\ncapitalism sometimes call themselves \u2018socialist\u2019!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often these regimes protest\nagainst the capitalist market system, because it is dominated by the\nimperialists and out of their control. But they are totally incapable of\nmobilising the mass of the workers and peasants to break the grip of\nimperialism over their countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The capitalist class of all\ncountries has a vested interest in the continued exploitation and oppression of\nthe colonial peoples. The multinational companies as well as the ‘national’\ncapitalist class in each country are united against the struggles of the masses.\nThey are totally opposed to the struggle of the workers and peasants for genuine\ndemocracy, which would spell an end to their power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that the struggle for\ndemocracy and social development must break out of national boundaries to\nsucceed fully. It has to be linked to the struggles of working people in other\ncountries, and particularly those of the advanced capitalist countries, which\ndominate the world economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tasks<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This process was first outlined\nby Trotsky over 80 years ago, in explaining the tasks of the Russian\nRevolution. We can sum up his main conclusions as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1917, the Russian Revolution\nwas a confirmation of Trotsky’s perspectives. In a backward country, a ‘weak\nlink’ in the capitalist chain, the Russian working class came to power and\nestablished a workers’ state with control over the key sectors of the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following this, workers struggled\nto take power in the more developed countries in Europe. But, with the defeat\nof revolution after revolution, the Russian revolution was isolated. In the\nstruggle over scarce economic resources, those who staffed the state machine\nhad a crucial advantage. A state bureaucracy grew, headed by Stalin, carrying\nout a bloody political counter-revolution in which all elements of workers’\ncontrol of society were destroyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stalin, as the representative of\nthe Russian bureaucracy, preached the false idea that socialism could be built\nin one country. This was the bureaucracy’s way of making clear that they were\nnot interested in world revolution. Instead, more and more, they have done\neverything possible to make peace with capitalism and to sabotage healthy\nrevolutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In spite of this, economic\ndevelopment in the Soviet Union has been far more rapid than under capitalism.\nState ownership and central planning of production made it possible to develop\nindustry and largely eliminate poverty in contrast with the limited possibility\nof reform under capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the period of rapid growth in\nthe Soviet Union is now at an end. Economic growth there is no longer a\nquestion of laying down basic infrastructure and industries, but of developing\na complex modern economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the complete absence of\nworkers’ democracy, corruption, mismanagement, abuse and incompetence among the\nmiddle and top officials has led to a general seize-up of the productive\nforces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Soviet Union, the growth\nof industria1 output during 1981-85 had slowed down to less than half<\/strong> the rate of 1971-75\u2014in spite of lengthening queues\nfor food, housing and many other essential goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The degeneration of the Russian\nRevolution, accompanied at first by the failure, and subsequently by conscious\nStalinist derailing, of workers’ revolution in other countries, delayed the world\nrevolution for a whole epoch. The forces of Marxism were defeated by Stalinism,\nand reduced eventually to tiny handfuls of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the advanced capitalist\ncountries the post-War boom contributed further to the delay of revolution. But\nin the colonial and former colonial world the masses could not wait either on\nthe re-mergence of Marxist leadership, or for the socialist revolution in the\nadvanced capitalist countries. The terrible burdens imposed by parasitic\ncapitalism and reactionary landlordism weighed them down too heavily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Huge Struggles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the Second World War huge\nstruggles have erupted throughout the colonial world against imperialism, landlordism\nand capitalism, for national independence and democracy. Capitalism has been\nover-thrown in a number of countries: in China, Cuba, Vietnam, for example\u2014and\nin Africa in Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advantages of a planned and\nstate-owned economy have allowed many of these countries to develop, when\ncapitalism would have continued to strangle them. Breaking with capitalism only\nrecently, with a greater legacy of backwardness, subjected to huge external\npressure, the governments of Ethiopia, Angola and Mozambique, however, find\nhuge difficulties in uplifting the living standards of the masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in none of these was the\nbreak with capitalism achieved by a working-class leadership committed to socialism\nand world revolution. In none has the working class secured control over its\neconomy and state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead power has been\nconcentrated in the hands of state officials and military rulers, whose\npolicies are aimed more and more at protecting their own privileged position.\nWithout workers’ democracy, and with rulers whose horizons are limited by the\nstate machine on which they rest, these are not socialist regimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nevertheless, even if in a\ndistorted way, these revolutions have confirmed Trotsky’s analysis of the\ncolonial world. It has been possible in these countries to move forward in\nsolving the democratic<\/strong> tasks\n(liberation from imperialism, abolition of landlordism, etc) only by breaking with capitalism<\/strong>. The working\nclass does not directly hold power: nevertheless these are deformed workers’\nstates. (For a fuller discussion of the processes, see for example, South Africa’s Impending Socialist Revolution<\/em>,\nChapters 2, 4 and 5.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n But today no country can escape\nfrom pressures to integrate further with the world market. The development of\nthe forces of production is constrained by the limits of the nation-state, even\nin the most populous and developed economies, capitalist or Stalinist. The resolution\nof the contradictions, West and East, lies in the struggle for world socialism,\nbased on workers’ democratic rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bureaucratic elites<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The slow-down in growth in the\nSoviet Union and other more developed Stalinist states is a serious warning to\nthose in the ‘Third world’ who look to the Soviet Union or China for political\nand economic assistance. The bureaucratic elites which govern these countries\ndo not support the workers overthrowing capitalism and building workers\u2019 democracy\nanywhere in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only would this upset the\ndeals made between them and the big capitalists, but a healthy workers’ state\nwould threaten their own rule. It would show to the working people under\nStalinist rule that there is an alternative both to capitalism and to the\nbureaucratic dictatorship in their countries. Thus a move for the overthrow of\nthe bureaucracy would gain an enormous stimulus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the Stalinist bureaucracies\nwould not only oppose a workers’ revolution in Southern Africa, but even any\nstrong measures by the existing leaders against capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Mugabe has explained, after\nindependence the Stalinist states told him: “Do not rush things\u2014take your\ntime”. The conclusion he had drawn from this advice was never to disrupt\nthe economy, and that “nationalisation would lead to that kind of\ndisruption”. (Financial Gazette<\/em>,\n1 February 1985) <\/p>\n\n\n\n In reality, the working class in\nthe Stalinist states are facing the task of taking power from their\nbureaucratic rulers and building workers’ democracy\u2014the only basis for\ncontinuing the transition to socialism. The movement of ten million Polish\nworkers and their families in 1980-81 provided a clear indication of the\npolitical revolution that is building up throughout Eastern Europe and in the\nSoviet Union itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are living in the period of\nworld revolution\u2014in the advanced capitalist countries, in the Stalinist\ncountries and in the former colonial countries. The workers’ struggle in\nZimbabwe must be understood in this international framework, and led in close\nsolidarity with the working class of other countries, who share the same socialist\ngoals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the working class came to\npower in one of the major African countries\u2014particularly South Africa, Nigeria\nor Egypt\u2014and actively built up international support, this would open up the\nsocialist revolution on a continental scale. It would open the way to a\nPan-African Socialist Federation, linked to the socialist transformation of the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zimbabwe in Southern Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The history of capitalism in\nSouthern Africa confirms Trotsky’s analysis of the tasks of the working class\nin the colonial world (his theory of permanent or uninterrupted revolution).\nArising under the shadow of British imperialism, capitalism both in South\nAfrica and Rhodesia came late in the development of capitalism internationally.\nIn a world market dominated by the monopolies, there was no possibility of\ncarving out a secure market for its own regional development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Capitalist development in South\nAfrica had to be based on a remorseless cheap labour policy of national oppression\nand migrant labour, sustained by dictatorship viciously hostile to the rights\nof the majority, seeking to sustain and reinforce tribal division. In\nRhodesia’s early development this meant forced labour on the mines, farms, and\npublic works called \u2018Chibaro\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Politically, these dictatorships\nwere based on the support of white landowners and capitalists, as well as the white\nmiddle class and privileged workers, who also made up the state machinery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as South African capitalism\nhas been dominated by Western imperialism, so Rhodesian capitalism developed\nunder the shadow of South Africa. Today the gross national product of South\nAfrica is some 80% of the whole of Southern Africa. In every aspect of the\neconomy and communications, South Africa is overwhelmingly dominant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n About 25% of present-day Zimbabwe’s\ntrade is with South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Historically, Rhodesia’s\npolitical development mirrored that of South African white minority rule. In\nfact Rhodesia avoided being included as a fifth province of South Africa in\n1922 only by a few thousand white votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After the Second World War,\nreinforced by white immigration from Britain, Rhodesia’s tiny capitalist class\ngrew in ambition, seeking, in collaboration with British imperialism, to loose\nthe South African grip by seeking a market in the other countries of Central\nAfrica. This was the main reason for the formation of the Central African\nFederation (1953-63).<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the break-up of the\nFederation thrust the ruling class in Rhodesia back into greater dependence on\nSouth Africa. In Malawi and Zambia, which did not have the same large numbers\nof white settlers, the nationalist movements pressurised British imperialism\ninto granting them independence. ln Rhodesia, however, far from accommodating\nblack aspirations, the white ruling class followed the South African\ntrend\u2014towards increased racist dictatorship by the local whites. After UDI in\n1965, South African domination of the economy intensified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To end white minority rule in Zimbabwe, and with it to smash the cheap labour system, overcome tribal divisions, end the domination of South African imperialism, and guarantee genuine democracy\u2014what would have been necessary was a struggle of the masses, led by the working class, linked with the struggle of the South African workers, around a socialist programme. But events did not take this course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zimbabwe and the World By ‘perspectives’ we mean an understanding of the most likely economic and political developments ahead, internationally and nationally. Without clear perspectives, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":477,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-484","page","type-page","status-publish","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\/484","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=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/484\/revisions\/513"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Continue to Chapter Two<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"