Reformism, Populism, and Revolutionary are the most commonly used terms in the political space in Higher Education institutions. This is being sparked by the increasing tide of reactionary and neoliberal politics in the country, and in particular the sector of Higher Education. These concepts grip our political imagination and reality not only because we are learning about them in lecture halls but because every single day in these institutions is a confrontation of either one of these three tendencies, all varying in their degrees. As a result, these tendencies end up gripping the organs of student power in institutions of higher learning and this also varies depending on the political tide objectively, and the reality on the ground in as far as leadership is concerned (which is a subjective matter). Objectively, we face a very violent system, but the question is do we have a subjective factor that is strong enough to withstand this objective reality? In this article we will answer that question by interrogating these tendencies in our student governance space here in the University of Fort Hare.
On Reformism
The author of this article has written extensively on reformism but has never ventured into the details and the scientific definition of reformism. Reformism is a tendency that seeks to fix the system from within while not fundamentally changing anything. Reformism is the desire to fix things gradually and often in slow strides. Reformism is therefore a tendency that does not seek immediate change but change over a long period of time. It is the essence of the bourgeois system called capitalism. While capitalism rapidly concentrates the wealth and power of the bourgeois class in its hands, it resolves the problems of the peasantry and the working class. slowly. It takes protests, marches, strikes and various other forms of demonstrations to get the system to move. Reformism in the University of Fort Hare is part and parcel of the body politic and is the guiding principle of governance. The system promotes gradual changes that do not fundamentally shift the system but change it over a long period of time. The reality is that the SRC and ISP do not have a lifetime to sort out the issues of students, they have only one year.
As such, reformism makes most of the work the SRC and the ISP does a fool's errand. This in a nutshell means we move 5 steps forward only to move 10 steps backwards. Every regime becomes gradually worse than the other the more time progresses because the system itself is rotting to its death. The current regime is no better than the last one, and so on and so forth. However, the problem is that we have student activists who have no understanding or consciousness that they operate in a reformist system due to the lack of political education and idealist politics that are detached from the materialist conception of society. Reformism does not need to rear its ugly head because it already exists and is the mainstream tendency. Our duty as revolutionaries is to point out the reformist character much like Rosa Luxemburg pointed it out to Bernstein who was in the process of revising Marxism to suit the capitalist system and fit in the confines of bourgeoisdom. Our task is to reject those that seek to convert the revolutionary will of the student populace to fit into the reformist system by highlighting that our fight is not institutional in character, but sectoral in nature and character. Despite the reforms, we must go beyond reform and take the path of revolution.
The EFFSC espouses such politics and as revolutionaries that do not only belong to the EFFSC we must practically apply this rejection by patiently explaining the conditions of our people through sound ideology and tools of analysis. An example is the crisis of students who lost spaces, yet they accepted offers. The reformist remedy was to increase the quota; however, the system countered by stating that the more they increase the quota, the more they get fined. The reality of reformism is that you have to understand that the system is limited while revolutionary politics tell us that the practical method is to ensure that students are given space, while the institution revises its quota targets and begin the process of infrastructure development (ADD MORE LECTURE VENUES AND RESIDENCES). The second method is for the SRC to mobilize students to demonstrate against DHET and call for the increase of institutional funding and spread this demonstration nationwide. SAUS has not proven to be useful but lobbying them and contesting the space from within is the only viable option.
On Populism
The author recently published an article titled, On Combating Populism to address the rise of populist politics. We have noted that these politics rise up when there is a vacuum and nature does not allow a vacuum. Vacuums often exist in situations where there is an Interim leadership. In 1917 a political vacuum arose when the Tsar was overthrown. However, the establishment of Soviets closed that vacuum and created the reality of dual power. The author has written on creating dual power in the inaugural article of this revolutionary blog and how it can be put into effect. The issue has been the idea gaining mass consciousness. As the author, I firmly believe that the time is near for this idea to reach mass consciousness; however, before it reaches mass consciousness, we have to invest our energies in first understanding what is populism and how it affects student governance. Populism is the ability to appeal to the layman by raising issues in a way that they can relate to. This in the first instance is not a problem, but it becomes a problem because when we further venture into what populism is we realize that populism is the instrument of using the interests of people to not only appeal to them but to accumulate power by promising a pie in the sky without a practical understanding of how to implement such.
An example of a populist decision is when the former President Jacob Zuma announced free education without modalities. NSFAS went on to take advantage of this populist pronouncement by capping it and limiting it to a certain category neglecting the layer of the missing middle and other students that are affected by the exorbitant price of education. This is an example of populism and how it affects governance. A revolutionary has to ensure that students do not fall into the trap of populism due to how students are used by populists for cheap political points. The character of populists is that of the pied piper. The story of the Pied Piper is a story of a musician who led children into a den of death. Populists have been leading students in this institution to the den of death. Populists sell students dreams and once they ascend into power, they tell them that it is impossible. As revolutionary Marxists, we must be at the forefront of ensuring that populists do not have ground by patiently explaining that the current Accommodation crisis is a result of an increase in the number of students who are in the system. We must also explain that the capitalist crisis in South Africa has created a scenario whereby institutions are chronically underfunded by DHET due to austerity. This does not mean that we do not have subjective factors at play. We must also zoom into the tendencies of corruption in the Supply Chain department and Residence Department so that we can resolve the crisis. The minute we elevate the fight to that level, we are able to distill the populists who are sectarian and limited politically.
Populism must be combatted because it operates on deception, lies, and many other distortions to win over the hearts and minds of the students. As revolutionary Marxists, we must straighten the path by exposing the objective and subjective truths of the system. Some of these populists that are making noise in our institution were at the forefront of these reactionary policies that revolutionaries from across the political left spectrum have to reverse in this tenure.
On Revolutionary Politics
Revolutionary politics are politics that are steeped in the fundamental change of the system, institution or society. Revolutionary politics do not only limit themselves to the confines of the system like Reformist politics. Revolutionary politics are outside of the box politics that seek to destabilize the current system, which is rotten, parasitic and moribund. The reality is that the system is dying a slow and painful death, but it requires hosts to continue surviving. Anyone, whether one is a dialectical thinker or not can deduce and conclude that the capitalist system is parasitic. However, not everyone can come up with the solutions to uproot the parasitic system. Revolutionary politics help us with that task of understanding what is the problem and how do we solve it. Revolutionary politics are not anarchic in nature but are rather dialectically opposed to the status quo which consistently oppress the masses of our people. #FeesMustFall is an example of revolutionary politics at play due to the content, method, and aims it sought to achieve. The revolutionary character of the politics that guided #FeesMustFall led to the State mischaracterizing it into a color revolution when the demands of the movement were opposed to what color revolutions normally stand for.
Revolutionary politics as espoused by every generation of Socialists starting from Marx down to Chris Hani are seized with changing the order of the day from one point to another. It is Marx who comes to the conclusion that revolution is a scientific phenomenon of development. Engels elaborates on that reality in his classic work Dialectics of Nature. Lenin reminds us about this in his classic work The State and Revolution, while Leon Trotsky does this in his fundamental Marxist theory, the Theory of Permanent Revolution. The science of Revolutionary politics teaches us that we have to tell no lies, mask no failures, and hide nothing from the masses. The science of Revolutionary politics teaches us to ground our path to revolution on the material conditions rather than on the ideal conditions. The reality is that the material conditions are not the ideal conditions. We must then use the material conditions to attain the ideal conditions. Revolutionary politics teaches us to understand that not every tide is revolutionary and not every situation is a revolutionary situation. Revolutionary situations become possible because of the objective conditions, and the consciousness levels of the oppressed masses of our people.
Once the consciousness levels have swung to a radical position, it becomes an easier task to mobilize for a revolution; however, the leadership of the strata or class or constituency must be ready ideologically and otherwise. In the institution of the University of Fort Hare we are in a reactionary period which is occurring in the midst of an objectively revolutionary situation. A sober minded revolutionary knows that in order for the subjective factor to align with the objective factor there needs to be a revolutionary leadership at the forefront, not a populist or a reformist or even a sectarian leadership. The current voices making noises on Facebook are either sectarian, reformist or populist. We will not judge them by their fruits yet, but we will be forced to judge them should they persist grandstanding and articulating issues like people who have no grasp of the processes and methods of operating in a reformist. A revolutionary, whether Marxist or not, knows that for one to shake a reformist system dual power has to exist. Some of us have been at the forefront of calling for dual power because we know that dual power will give us the upper hand as students waging war against a capitalist management. While most of the noisemakers were relying on the very same system to clamp down on revolutionaries and mass meetings when they were in governance.
What is to be done?
Lenin once said that when the oppressed classes cannot live the old way, the ruling class will not be able to rule in the old way. We are in that scenario not only as the University of Fort Hare but as the sector and the country as a whole. What needs to be done in the interim is an intervention of a Revolutionary Students' Alliance of all Revolutionary Organizations within the institution, and then generally within the sector. The immediate task of this Revolutionary Students' Alliance in our institution is to ensure the following happens:
1. A mass meeting is convened in all campuses.
2. Establish a Popular Revolutionary Students' Forum which will be a counterbalance to the SRC.
3. Push the SRC SG/Coordinator to convene the ISP so that a Secretariat can be elected.
4. Form Revolutionary Students' Committees in every residence as a base for revolutionary activity.
5. Launch a Revolutionary Journal which will be tasked with agitation, persuasion, and mobilizing students behind the idea of Free, quality, well resourced, and decolonized education.
6. Convene a Revolutionary Students' Summit which will consist of delegates from every Revolutionary Organization so that we have a reality of a National Popular Revolutionary Students' Forum.
7. Establish a Fighting Fund which will financially assist students who will be victimized by the system through expulsions, suspensions, and imprisonment.
Once the Revolutionary Students' Alliance does these tasks, this will set the ground for revolutionary swing not just in our institution but across the country.
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