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Inside Labour: ‘Red October’ and talk of a workers’ party

SOUTH Africa this month celebrates 100 years since the birth of struggle icon, O.R. Tambo. But another centennial is also being celebrated this year, that of the Russian revolution of 1917 which, because of differences in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, actually took place in November.

In honour of the 1917 revolution, the South African Communist Party (SACP), generally supported by Cosatu, each year launches a “Red October” campaign. The theme this year was specifically aimed at fighting violence, especially against women. But, this being the centenary of what author John Reed dubbed Ten Days that Shook the World, this year has special significance.

As a result there is, and will continue to be, considerable publicity globally about the first proclaimed Red October and its aftermath; TV series are being aired and commentaries are available in many learned - and not-so-learned - journals. 

It should also give another boost - at least in terms of discussions - to the prospects for a South African workers’ party, based on the labouring masses, especially at this time of ongoing economic crisis. This was a major topic when Cosatu was formed in December 1985, when perhaps most of the emerging unions did not see the pro-Soviet Union SACP as that party.

In fact, the first Cosatu “workers’ diary” of 1986 celebrated both the Russian revolution and the Hungarian uprising by workers and students in October 1956 that was crushed by Russian tanks. It devoted one reference to each and pointed out that the Hungarian workers were “for the right to strike, democratic political participation, independent trade unions and workers’ self management of industry”, the essence of the demands of 1917.

By the following year, reflecting the growing influence of the then exiled SACP, there was no reference to Hungary, but five laudatory mentions of the Russian revolution, including the “great gains” made by the “planned economy” of the Soviet Union. Some of this history seems certain to emerge when representatives of most of what is regarded as the Left in local politics takes part in a Centenary Festival in Johannesburg’s Newtown from 10 to 12 November.

However, the only prominent domestic trade union leader listed to speak is Zwelinzima Vavi, general secretary of the recently-formed SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) where the country’s largest union, the National Union of Metalworkers (Numsa) is an affiliate. Saftu and Numsa have been at the forefront in promoting the idea of a “workers’ party”, with “progressive” unions acting as “a catalyst”.

Also billed to speak is Solly Mapaila, deputy general secretary of the still ANC-aligned SACP that, more than a decade ago, was voted by Cosatu to be the workers’ party. Vavi and Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim are former members of the SACP which they regard as having gone off the rails ideologically.

Also scheduled to appear on the festival’s platforms is Advocate Dali Mpofu, a leading light in the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a party dubbed “fascist” by the SACP leadership. This label has been rejected by most small Left groups, including those affiliated to the International Socialist Tendency (IST) headed by Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) in Britain.

The SWP has sent three of its senior members to the festival to join four of their South African supporters and one from the IST group in Zimbabwe as speakers.

Also on the published list of speakers is Pretoria’s Anglican bishop, Jo Seoka, various academics and campaigners such as Trevor Ngwane along with two members of the Workers and Socialist Party (Wasp) that is affiliated to the Committee for a Workers International and at least one representative from a group affiliated to what is still largely referred to as the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.

By far the largest of the proclaimed “Left” groups is the SACP that has recruited tens of thousands of mainly young members in recent years. The other groups, with the exception of the EFF, have their origins in the historic opposition to the Soviet dictator, Josef Stalin.

This was led by Leon Trotsky and “Trotskyist” groups are unanimously hostile to the “Stalinism” of pro-Soviet/pro Chinese Communist parties.

However, several “orthodox Trotskyists” seem to be coming round to accept that the Soviet Union “degenerated” or became “deformed” into what the IST maintains is “state capitalism”. So they have perhaps a degree of common ground.

Whether this can translate into more than rhetoric or an attempt to increase individual profiles and compete for membership is moot. But there is definitely a growing and already widespread feeling, certainly within the labour movement, that some alternative to the existing political arrangement must be found.

This raises the possibility that unity could be forged by a coalition of the wounded, united only in their desire to be rid of President Jacob Zuma and his faction in the governing ANC.  

But this would be a far cry from any real alternative to the present economic, political and social system, and a far cry from the far reaching ideals of the first Red October or the hopes expressed in Hungary in 1956.


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