{"id":504,"date":"2019-09-03T09:58:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T07:58:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?page_id=504"},"modified":"2019-09-03T09:58:55","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T07:58:55","slug":"chapter-nine","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=504","title":{"rendered":"Chapter Nine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prospects<strong> for the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The demand for change from\nbelow\u2014from the youth, workers, women, and peasants\u2014will build up a\npressure-cooker atmosphere in ZANU(PF) in the future. There are two trends\ntaking place within the party, going in precisely opposite directions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>the masses suffering landlessness, unemployment,\npoverty wages, a shortage of housing: weighed down by all the limitations of\ncapitalism and<\/li><li>the party leadership drawn into privilege,\nfiercely defensive of their positions, and increasingly using their political\nprivilege to enrich themselves.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These contradictory movements are\npulling Mugabe into inconsistent policies which are causing the capitalists\nmany a headache. The perspectives for Zimbabwe are reduced by the bourgeois\npress to a problem of Mugabe&#8217;s psychology, as they look for the source of the\nfuture direction of the country in his mind!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The &#8220;contrasting sides of\nhis character&#8221; despairs the <em>Financial\nTimes<\/em> (21 August 1985), &#8220;the adoption of a mixed economy while calling\nfor socialist transformation\u2014have made Mr Mugabe something of an enigma&#8221;.\nThis newspaper complains that &#8220;he seems to speak with two voices&#8221; and\npresent &#8220;two faces&#8221;. (9 August 1985)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The phrase &#8216;facing both ways&#8217;\nimplies that Mugabe and his government are taking an even-handed approach to\nthe interests of the capitalists and the working masses\u2014sometimes favouring\none, sometimes the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Second Congress of ZANU(PF)\n(Thesis 4.3a) resolved to bring about the &#8220;state ownership of the means of\nproduction&#8221;. After the elections ZANU(PF) leaders announced that the task\nnow was to wrench &#8220;both political and economic power from the hands of the\nbourgeoisie and to place it in the hands of the working people.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such statements have the\nenthusiastic support of the rank and file\u2014but the whole policy of the\nbureaucracy shows it has no intention of carrying them out. Rather, the whole\ntrend of government policies from the ZIMCORD conference onwards is towards the\nencouragement of foreign capital and the growth of capitalism in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The social measures which have\nbeen taken up have been limited to what is possible within the capitalist\nframework. The leadership has not hesitated to use the state forces to defend\ncapitalist interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Peasants making use of fallow\nland, workers coming out on strike, and squatters settling on urban land have\nall felt the full force of the law. They have suffered imprisonment, while not\na single capitalist has had this experience. The nationalist politicians take\nthe support of the workers and peasants for granted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are open to the insidious\nand persistent pressures of the factory owners, bankers, and big farmers. The\nwhole economic program of the government is dictated by the limits set by the\nbankers of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Orientation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nationalist leadership is overwhelmingly\npro-capitalist in orientation. MPs and top officials are now starting to\naccumulate directorships, businesses and farms. Undeniably they are becoming\nthe appendage of the monopoly banks and corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally the leadership talked\nof a reluctant compromise with capitalism. Now, ironically, the &#8216;socialist&#8217; leadership\nis following in the footsteps of Thatcher&#8217;s monetarism by cutting state\nspending on services useful to the working people. Now we hear the regime talk\nof the &#8216;active encouragement&#8217; of big business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This collusion with the\ncapitalists is not what the ZANU(PF) leadership consciously decided on after coming\nto power. But it is the road along which they were driven once the compromise\nwas accepted. Once accepted, this policy has a logic of its own. It becomes the\ncornerstone of all social and political policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Mugabe himself has said, it is\nimportant in politics to study not what politicians say but what they do. A\nstudy of the decisions of the Mugabe goverameni has shown the remorseless\npressures of capitalism on the leadership:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>the use of police and troops against the 1980-81\nstrike movement;<\/li><li>the secret deal with the IMF;<\/li><li>cuts in food subsidies, which are to be removed\nfrom the budget;<\/li><li>the growth of the repressive state apparatus;<\/li><li>the effective shelving of the leadership code;<\/li><li>the controls over workers in the Labour\nRelations Act;<\/li><li>the delays in land reform and resettlement;<\/li><li>support for the Nkomati Agreement;<\/li><li>the crackdown on the Marxists in the trade\nunions and ZANU(PF), etc.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>All these measures taken together\nindicate more than a &#8216;shift to the right&#8217;, and now demonstrate that the regime\nis set on a course of encouraging the development of capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Zig-zags<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet there has not been a straight\nline development towards a policy of all-out support for capitalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At times the capitalists have\nfelt decidedly nervous, mainly because of their close connections with the old\nregime, rather than because of the talk of socialism. They are fretful because\nthey have no social base in the country\u2014because they have to depend completely\non the ability of the weak black petty bourgeois in the state to hold back the\nworkers and peasants for their defence and survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Imperialism would have preferred\na puppet regime and at times wishes it could turn back the clock. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The policy direction of the\nMugabe government has been marked by zig-zags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It started out with big spending\nprograms in health and education which have greatly benefitted the people. It\ntried to keep up this spending until it surrendered to the IMF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also, undoubtedly there have been\nfierce battles within the bureaucracy over the open corruption of whole layers\nof the leadership and over the future direction of the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These struggles appeared to come\nto a head at the Independence Day speech in April 1983 when Mugabe denounced\nthe &#8220;bourgeois tendencies that are affecting our leadership&#8221; and\nattacked Cabinet ministers who acquired commercial farms and businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This speech was greeted by a\nstudent demonstration and later a women&#8217;s march. It appeared to herald the\nintervention of the Zimbabwean masses in politics in struggle against the\ncorrupt elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These early developments, however,\npetered out rapidly when Mugabe refused to endorse even this measure of public\nsupport against corruption at the top. When Mugabe realised that he could not\nact against sections of the bureaucracy unless he involved the masses, he\nretreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From that point on he has done\nnothing to criticise bourgeois trends or corruption, and has moved to the\nright. He has even protected officials and leaders known to be corrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The students who had announced\n&#8220;there is no halfway house between capitalism and socialism&#8221; lapsed\ninto apathy, and the workers realised that their struggles were unlikely to\ngain support from above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This turn had an important effect\non the possibilities of struggle against pro-capitalist and corrupt leaders in\nthe unions. The workers, and masses generally, became extremely cautious about\ninvolving themselves in politics except through &#8216;official&#8217; channels\u2014that is ZANU(PF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There will have to be a <strong>qualitative<\/strong> change in the relation\nbetween workers and the government before the movement of the working class\ninto political opposition takes place. Only the earliest hints of this development\ncan be seen at present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the regime is forced to bring\nthis working class opposition into being through the unpopular measures it has\nto take to defend capitalism in crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the steady rightwards\ndrift, issues such as the wage increase for agro-industrial workers have at\ntimes wiped the smiles off the face of the capitalists, and continue to raise\nquestions about the future direction of policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government&#8217;s decision to\nraise agro-industrial wages in 1985 was opposed by the capitalists, who were in\nturn denounced by ZANU(PF) leaders. Such shouting matches can create the\nillusion of a turn to the left at the top. But the workers and youth must be\nclear that the ZANU(PF) leaders were concerned only with their power and\nauthority. Good or bad, they want their decisions to be accepted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Contradictions in policy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In reality, after months of\ncontradictory statements, the government was forced to make a humiliating\nretreat on the agro-industrial wage question. Obviously a factor in Mugabe\u2019s\nthinking must have been the threats of the employers to do everything possible to\nsabotage the increased wage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What this decision shows is that\nany significant reforms will be hysterically resisted by the capitalists, who\nwill use the coming downturn and any weaknesses among the workers to claw back\nany gains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through determined struggle the\nworkers can win reforms against the capitalists. But capitalism cannot allow\nany significant reforms on a lasting basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the struggle for reforms the\nworkers and the government claiming to represent the workers&#8217; interests soon\nface the organised hostility of the capitalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasingly, the workers will\nhave to take action even to secure the most modest of reforms made by the\ngovernment, as the capitalists feel they successfully resisted Mugabe himself\non the wage question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the occasional dispute\nbetween the government and particular employers, the compromise and defence of\ncapitalism is well cemented at all levels of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gestures on wages and, at times,\non land occupation are the exceptions which prove the rule. In the five years\nafter independence the lava of the revolution has been cooling and the one-time\nrevolutionaries are now the well-paid bureaucrats. The huge privileges of the\nwhites are now opened up to the bureaucracy, and there is a yawning gap between\nthem and the workers in the townships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Bureaucratic conservatism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The growing conservatism of the\nbureaucracy is reinforced by a variety of factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the rest of Africa,\nZimbabwe is a country with a significant industrial base which can, for\nexample, manufacture its own textiles or irrigation piping. Harare is a city in\nwhich the African delegates to international conferences come to shop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bureaucrats are well aware\nthat even with the limitations of capitalism (which do not seriously affect\nthem) the country has not yet slipped into the same sea of misery and starvation\nas the rest of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The conservatism of the\nbureaucracy is vastly deepened by the catastrophic conditions in \u2018socialist\u2019\nMozambique\u2014in contrast to the earlier period when FRELIMO was a guiding light\nto the young guerillas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bureaucracy does not\nunderstand the contradictions of a regime which has run into all the problems\nof attempting to build a state-controlled economy within the confines of a\nsingle desperately impoverished country which has suffered the full force of\nsabotage by South Africa. Instead it prides itself on having taken the &#8216;better&#8217;\nroad of compromise and stabilisation of the state on a capitalist basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While publicly the leadership\nannounces its undying solidarity with Mozambique, the bureaucracy has drawn the\nconclusion that nationalisation of the economy would be a disaster. After the\nRussian bureaucracy abandoned Mozambique they concluded that the &#8216;socialist\nworld&#8217; (Stalinism) is not to be trusted. They are also careful to have regular\n&#8216;security&#8217; discussions in secrecy with the South African regime to attempt to\navoid the international humiliation of a Nkomati-style accord with the\napartheid giant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This negative example of\n&#8216;socialism&#8217; on Zimbabwe&#8217;s doorstep weighs heavily on the minds of the\nbureaucracy. Completely wrong conclusions are drawn that capitalism is a better\nalternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its national\nnarrow-mindedness, the bureaucracy does not grasp the perspective of the Southern\nAfrican revolution \u2013 that no country can have freedom and development with\ncapitalist reaction entrenched in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It does not see that there is no\nway forward on the basis of private ownership, yet that state ownership of the means\nof production can only provide a way forward if the revolution spreads to the\nheartland of reaction: South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They are rather more concerned to\nconsolidate their privileges and make unspoken agreements not to tweak the tail\nof the apartheid tiger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pressures on the bureaucracy\nfrom the peasantry are local and diffuse. The pressures from the workers are\nnot as yet channelled through democratic trade unions and consistent workers&#8217;\nleadership in the party cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The domestic worker who has had\nhis wage more than doubled since independence, and for the first time can\neducate his children, prefers to defend the leadership and hope for the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pressures from below are\neither steered into tribal violence, diverted into disputes among local\nleaders, or suppressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pressures from capitalism, on\nthe other hand, are relentless and thorough: the secret arm-twisting from the\nIMF along with the promise of further loans, calls for a better climate for\ncapitalist investment, and the bribes of cars and easy access to palatial\nhousing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If &#8216;influence&#8217; is to be measured\nin the number of Ministers visiting and staying to listen at their respective\nconferences, then the capitalists win hands down over the trade unions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Described as the &#8216;inherited\ninfrastructure&#8217; by the leadership, the stronger development of capitalism in\nZimbabwe compared with the rest of black-ruled Africa is the best argument to\nleave things as they are so far as the bureaucracy is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as has been explained, the\nroad of collaboration is not always a smooth one. Mugabe, who stands head and\nshoulders above his colleagues, realises quite clearly that an open\nidentification with the capitalists would be disastrous to the bureaucracy he\nleads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The art of politics for the\nbonapartist leadership is to maintain the illusion of keeping an <strong>even<\/strong> balance between the interests of\nthe capitalists and the working masses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Disputes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Disputes with the capitalists,\nsuch as the storm over agro-industrial wages, are probable in the future as the\nworld downturn looms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The nationalist leadership will\ninevitably be drawn to completing a one-party dictatorship because of the\nrising opposition from below. While a massive attack has been launched against\nZAPU (which is continuing even now), &#8216;one-party towns&#8217;, &#8216;one-party districts&#8217;,\nand \u2018one-party provinces\u2019 are being enforced in areas outside of Matabeleland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the deal with ZAPU succeeds,\nas is most likely, the constitutional changes necessary will follow on without difficulty.\nThis will entail the removal of even the existing limited democratic rights,\nparticularly the freedom to organise and express ideas opposed to those of the\nleadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Everything is also pointing in\nthe direction of white politicians being included in discussions about\nenforcing a one-party state. Smith has said he is available for such calls.\nAlready spokesmen for ZANU(PF) are talking of white candidates representing the\nruling party in the next elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the threat to the white seats\nbecomes a reality Smith&#8217;s Conservative Alliance (CAZ) will want to fight. But\nthey will realise that defeat is inevitable on the basis of maintaining their\nformal privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If possible the ZANU(PF)\nleadership will try to avoid becoming embroiled in slanging matches over the\npolitical privileges of the whites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The election victory of the CAZ\nin the white elections has made negotiations more difficult. But it cannot be\nexcluded that sections of CAZ would be &#8216;won over&#8217; to the one-party state if there\nwere firm guarantees for the representation of the capitalists and whites in\nthe party and state. Smith&#8217;s retirement could form part of this &#8216;deal&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These prospects show that such a\none-party regime would have nothing in common with socialism!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this is the most\nprobable course, it cannot be excluded that such negotiations could fail as the\nresult of racist outbursts from the whites (such as those regularly made by\nSmith) and an angry response from the nationalist leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>The key question of South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since independence, there have\nbeen some illusions that Zimbabwe could enjoy national sovereignty without antagonising\nits dominant neighbour. But the cauldron of mass struggle against apartheid,\nand military attacks by South Africa constantly threaten to pull the Zimbabwean\nleadership into a showdown it wants to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any South African intervention or\nhumiliation for Zimbabwe could have unpredictable consequences, despite both\nsides wanting to maintain the present diplomatically correct but cold\nrelations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both countries recognise the\nenormous South African investment in Zimbabwe and the desperate need for\nguaranteed transport links for Zimbabwe to the south.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Besides the fact that a quarter\nof Zimbabwe&#8217;s foreign trade is with South Africa, more than 85% of Zimbabwe&#8217;s\nimports and exports pass through South African ports because of the continued\ndisruption of traffic through Mozambique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both sides would have a lot to\nlose if the present relationship broke down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the pressures are building up\nfor an open confrontation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The heavy involvement of\nZimbabwean troops in Mozambique against the MNR bandits is an attempt to find a\nway out (at great expense) from the present deadlock. The Mugabe government\ndesperately needs a trading outlet through Beira to have some alternative to the\nSouth African railway system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The government is able to get aid\nfrom major capitalist countries to re-establish the Beira route. To protect\nthis route Mugabe has had to order a major military intervention which is requiring\never higher military spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A quick victory against the MNR is\nruled out because FRELIMO forces are unable to consolidate the advances which\nare being made by the Zimbabwean troops. Unless decisive economic and military\naid is provided to FRELIMO, the present intervention threatens to draw the\nZimbabwean troops into sinking sands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, the government has\nto continue to try to build transport routes independent of South Africa. Also,\nas a counter-weight to South Africa&#8217;s pressure on it, the Zimbabwe government\nneeds as much international pressure on South Africa as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For this reason Mugabe has to be\nan avowed supporter of sanctions despite the fact that any attempt by Zimbabwe\nto impose sanctions itself would rapidly encounter severe retaliation from\nSouth Africa. For these reasons, more than token measures are unlikely in practice,\nwhatever may be said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because Mugabe is obliged\npublicly to take a defiant stand against South Africa, he cannot afford to allow\nthe CZI capitalists to openly point to Zimbabwe&#8217;s weakness. This is why the\nargument between Mugabe and the CZI over sanctions is one of shadow and not of\nsubstance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Equally, a strict economic\ncalculation of its interests alone does not determine South Africa&#8217;s relations\nwith its weak neighbours. On the basis of economic logic \u2013 widening markets and\nopportunities for investment \u2013 the Botha regime would want peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the growing desperation of\nthe South African regime, lashing out wildly as it tries to crush revolution at\nhome, will make peaceful relations between the two countries impossible. This\nwill provoke the youth, workers, and peasants, and deepen their hatred for apartheid\nand capitalism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ZANU(PF) leadership will\nundoubtedly play on this mood to distract the masses from local issues such as\nrising youth unemployment, and make strong verbal denunciations of apartheid,\ncoupled with rhetoric about &#8216;action&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These verbal battles have the\npotential of developing into a confrontation with South Africa in the field of\ntrade and transport, which the leadership would desperately want to avoid. But\neven these \u2018sanctions\u2019 and \u2018counter-sanctions\u2019 would not necessarily open the\nway for emergency measures to be taken against the huge South African and other\nforeign-owned monopolies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The history of the colonial\nrevolution has shown\u2014in the experience of Syria, Burma, and Ethiopia\u2014that colossal\nstruggles of the workers and peasants, and huge splits and convulsions in the\nold regime, are needed before bonapartist rulers (resting on capitalism at the\noutset) are driven to take over the commanding heights of the economy. Then the\nstate apparatus is reconsolidated on a new social footing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In other countries where\ncapitalism has been over-thrown in the colonial world\u2014such as China, Cuba,\nVietnam, Mozambique, and Angola\u2014 in contrast to Zimbabwe a completely new state\nwas built around the nucleus of the guerilla army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These revolutions occurred where\nimperialism was too weak to intervene militarily at the outset, or else (as in\nthe case of Vietnam) where imperialist intervention spurred the resistance,\ndriving it forward to the abolition of capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In no country where the old state\nmachine has survived has a social transformation taken place as a cold,\ndeliberate, action of the leadership, especially as they did not set as their\naim the tasks of the state taking over production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In none of these countries was\ncapitalism anything like as developed as in Zimbabwe. There would have to be both\na devastating decline in the economy and huge struggles by the masses to force\nthe hand of the leadership to expropriate the capitalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The historic task of the working\nclass, however, is not to pressurise a bonapartist regime into expropriating\nthe capitalists, but to rise to the conscious task of taking power into its own\nhands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Only the working class, together\nwith the peasantry, fighting an enormous struggle against the whole\nclass-collaborationist strategy of the Mugabe government and the party\nbureaucracy, can bring genuine democracy, solve the land problem, unite Shona and\nNdebele, and end capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Already Zimbabwean workers are\nenthusiastically following the militant struggles of the workers in South\nAfrica who have built democratic trade unions through enormous sacrifice. Here\nthe working class has all the self-confidence of being in the forefront of the\nstruggle against capitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This revolutionary struggle will\ngive added confidence to the Zimbabwean workers&#8217; movement. This will open a way\nforward for the present stalemate to be broken. The working class faces the\ntask of linking the struggles of the workers and peasants, of the youth and the\nwomen, of Shona and Ndebele, into a single stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This struggle in turn has to be\njoined to the revolutionary mass struggles against apartheid and capitalism in\nSouth Africa which is the bastion of reaction in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming years we will see\nthe consolidation of the bureaucracy of the ruling party in Zimbabwe, and an\nincreased tendency for it to degenerate into an open defender of capitalism and\nprivilege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But eventually a mass movement of\nsocialist opposition, led by the workers and youth, will develop in Zimbabwe\nand challenge the compromised leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"text-align:center\"><strong>Socialist programme<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gulf between the policies of\nthe leaders and the aspirations of the masses will create the conditions in\nwhich youth and workers will give a ready ear to the ideas of Marxism. A\nconscious struggle will have to be waged for a socialist program and leadership\nagainst all the confused ideas of the petty bourgeois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is necessary to prepare in the\nnext period for these future developments by making a disciplined study of\ntheory and perspectives. This is particularly important for the youth who will\nprovide the fresh cadres of Marxism in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marxists will have to take an\nactive role in the struggles of the workers&#8217; committees. Only then will the\nground be prepared for the difficult task of removing the corrupt union\nleadership which is supported by the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Marxists will also have to play\ntheir part in clarifying the way forward in the cells and branches of ZANU(PF)\narid ZAPU for as long as they remain the parties of the masses, or in any new\nmass party of fusion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Through participating in the\nworkers&#8217; committees, unions, and party cells and branches, through discussing\nthe way forward and explaining the tasks, activists armed with Marxist ideas\ncan lay the basis for a socialist program to transform Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If genuine socialists do not rise\nto the task of building the mass socialist opposition in the workers\u2019 committees,\ntrade unions, and youth organisations, the people of Zimbabwe will face a\nfuture of worsening mass poverty and national conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eventually, as we have explained,\nany &#8216;deal&#8217; between the ZANU(PF) and ZAPU leaders will be seen by the masses as\nhaving solved nothing. All the old hatred will revive, even within the framework\nof a single ruling party, if there is no socialist alternative to the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The workers and peasants in\nZimbabwe face a stark alternative: workers&#8217; power or an acceleration towards\ndisintegration, chaos, and tribal fighting. Without the workers coming to power\nthere is always the terrifying prospect of a complete tribal-national split and\ncivil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the impact of a world slump\nwhich would push commodity prices to the floor and destroy the productive base\nof the economy, sections of the bureaucracy \u2013 if under overwhelming pressures\nfrom below \u2013 could be driven to take over the banks and monopolies dominating\nthe economy, though the SA capitalists would resist this with whatever means\nlay at their disposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But the cost of the ending of\ncapitalism on this basis would be the rule of a privileged bureaucracy totally\nhostile to workers&#8217; democracy. Moreover, the economic gains of a\nstate-controlled, planned economy on this basis would be undercut and sabotaged\nby the monster of South African imperialism\u2014as is presently the case in\nMozambique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The best and most secure way\nforward for workers, youth, and peasants in Zimbabwe lies in the struggle to\nreplace capitalism by workers&#8217; democratic rule. The Zimbabwean working-class\ncan lead this struggle to victory\u2014but it will be impossible to sustain this\nvictory and take it forward along the road to socialism without a workers&#8217; revolution\nin South Africa itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The enormous growth and\nstrengthening of the workers&#8217; movement in South Africa in the years ahead,\nwhich is preparing the way for the revolution in South Africa, will also weaken\nthe reactionary forces of intervention and provide a giant magnet to the\nworking class of Southern Africa as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Zimbabwean revolution has\nopened and can be carried forward on Zimbabwean soil, but will only be\ncompleted with the revolution being carried out throughout Southern Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this setting alone, with\nZimbabwean workers linking up with their South African comrades, can the\nZimbabwean revolution be successful in completing the democratic tasks and\nstarting on the road to a Socialist Federation of Southern African States.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Prospects for the Future The demand for change from below\u2014from the youth, workers, women, and peasants\u2014will build up a pressure-cooker atmosphere in ZANU(PF) in the <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?page_id=504\" title=\"Chapter Nine\">[&#8230;]<\/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-504","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\/504","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=504"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":505,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/504\/revisions\/505"}],"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=504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}