ANC Tug of War

By Joe Sims

It's the end of the second day of the ANC conference and voting for the top officers is about to start. If some of you are wondering why it took so long to write the answer is simple: no internet access.

Who know what's going to happen with both sides confident of victory. I wonder though if in these circumstances everyone loses. It's clear Jacob Zuma has a lot of support on the street. "Everyone should have their chance" seems to be the watch word, meaning that President Mbeki should step back after two terms.

Others though are backing Thabo Mbeki, among them lots of women – at least these are some of the voices I've heard. Whatever the case, the country seems pretty evenly divided on the issue.

A last ditch effort by Winnie Mandela to broker a compromise seems to have fallen on deaf ears. With final nominations being approved tonight, and ballots printed up, the notion of a compromise seems out of the question.

The eyes and ears of the country are very focused on the event. It's the subject of conversation everywhere. The country seems very politicized from that point of view, specially at the grass roots. Many are wondering how did it come to this? Others ponder, how can we get the hell out of it? Some are posing the need for a greater theoretical elaboration. One said to me: "We need to discuss this issue of the national democratic revolution and socialism. I mean, the national democratic revolution is a transition, right? And socialism is a transition, right? Well how can you have a transition to a transition?" Well, I was a little stumped. It all seems a little transitional to me.

We'll see what tomorrow holds. One thing that is bothersome is that all the factional fighting has turned off a lot of good people from politics. I've heard that several times now, from people who were outstanding ANC, SACP, and COSATU activists. One said today, "I'm just not into ANC politics anymore." I replied, "If all good people said that about politics, who would be left?

Communists to the Front

"Communists to the Front" is the main theme of SACP convention in Port Elizabeth South Africa. Leadership election of top Communist Party officers were held Friday with the convention unanimously re-electing the current seat holders with minor revisions. Blade Nzimande was re-elected general secretary. The day began with greetings from the YCL and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. The Congress also presented Cuban President Fidel Castro with the Party's highest honor the Chris Hani award. As with the first day of the Congress much of the discussion focused on the Party's thorny relationship with African National Congress. In a significant development the Congress decided to shelve the proposal for the CP to stand alone in the 2009 elections. The Congress split up into discussion commissions on several different topics include the state, the economy, international and others. Rank-and-file delegates expressed frustration at the slow pace of change and some spoke of being sidelined in different ways. A glaring and curious absence as on the first day was any discussion of the current strike of 230,000 metal workers. Even the COSATU leader Zwelinzima Vavi neglected to mention it focus rather on internal tripartite alliance politics. There was also no mention today of the upcoming 2009 World Cup. Nevertheless, the Congress' overwhelmingly working-class delegates maintained a high spirit. In one interesting development, the meeting adopted a one-year probationary period for new members where they would hold candidate status. In the debate, some feared this would discourage people to join. The SACP has doubled its membership since its last convention.

Do Communists Need a Name Change?

Communists need a name change. We do. That name has been so maligned, so distorted that it's impossible to do anything about. I mean the negatives were so great, that despite the positives, and there were many, we are just beat over the head with it and it doesn't matter. There's such a knee jerk reaction. It's never going to work.

So ranted one of the international delegates at the SACP Congress over coffee the other day. It was a little surprising considering he came from one of the more "staunch" European parties.

But he has point. While "COMMUNIST" is a universally recognized brand name, it's negative connotations are also universal.

Or are they?

Events at the South African Communist Party Congress began Wednesday with a panel on socialist developments in Latin America. Representatives from Cuba, Venezuela and Brazil presented views on the sharp left turn taken by Latin American countries. There the Communist movements a experiencing an upsurge in growth with the Communists of Brazil participating in a 11-party coalition government led by the Lula's Workers party. In Venezuela the CP has also more than doubled its size in the last years. Venezuela is also in the process of creating a new socialist party under Chavez's initiative. And of course Cuba enjoys near mythic status on the left, because of the enormous personality and contribution of the aging Fidel Castro. But that's not all, or perhaps even most of it. Cuba has marshaled victory after victory on social issues, with great strides being made in medicine, education and the environment.

By the way, South Africa's Communist Party according to convention documents has also experienced a spurt in growth with over 55,000 members filling its ranks. The number of women delegates was really striking at this Congress in stark contrast to previous meets.

So obviously in some place "brand name" is not such a big problem.

I suggested as much to the troubled speaker, pointing not to Latin America or South Africa, but to the good old USA, where trade union anti-Communist clauses have been gotten rid of now almost a decade ago and where Communists gain growing recognition and respect in peace, labor and civil rights struggles. Which is not to suggest everything is honky dory, but rather that a change has been made in the public's attitude.

I asked my new friend whether it might not be more a generational issue: with the Cold War born baby boomers being most problematic but with younger people more open. At least that has been my experience.

The assembled comrades, all of who were English speaking, paused to think about it. I wonder what blog readers think?

Upcoming international panels will be on the experiences of parties in government; building left networks in Africa and the role of progressive forces in dealing with the Middle East crisis.

One very positive European experience is in Cyprus, where the Communist of the EDON party are the biggest party in the country. They recently won the mayor's office in Nicosia, the country's capital. The experience of EDON suggests, that the name question isn't really a principled issue as the Cypriot Communists have a long proud and principled ideological history.

To me, I think a bigger problem than the name problem is narrow, sectarian and dogmatic practices masquerading as "science" under the banner of Marxism-Leninism. Knee jerk reactions to name will lessen as communists gain confidence, come out of the closet and participate in membership and circulation drives. From this point of view, those who are the most "left" are precisely those who are least willing to be known in public for what they are. And they are all baby boomers and older. But again, I wonder what folks think.

--joe sims