Introduction
The South African parliamentary outcomes have been concluded with a grand coalition consisting of the ANC, DA, IFP, Patriotic Alliance, and Freedom Front Plus, and many other smaller neoliberal parties. Those smaller centre-right and right-wing parties voted with the grand coalition due to sharing the same class interests. Indeed, Lenin was correct when he said there are decades where nothing happens, and weeks where decades happen. What has happened is the completion of a three-decade long process of the consolidation right-wing forces within the ANC, and the total annihilation of left within the ANC, and in the broader alliance. Furthermore, the ANC has unmasked itself as an outright bourgeois-capitalist party which subscribes to the neoclassic liberal approach to economics, politics, and the society in general. The outcome confirms that the right-wing forces have openly re-consolidated and continue to get votes from the working class and peasantry in large numbers. However, there have been developments in the left-wing and the formation of a progressive caucus within the corridors of the National Assembly. The progressive caucus consisted of the following parties, EFF, UDM, PAC, ATM, Al-Jamah-ah, and UAT (United Africans Transformation a new entry and a new party). This grouping consisted of a left-wing party and centre-left parties which is consistent with how a United Front as envisioned and outlined by the COMINTERN in 1922 is constituted. As things stand, only EFF and ATM remain part of the caucus.
Why form a United Front?
In 1922, the Communist International held their fourth world congress. It
was held at the backdrop of a victory of the Bolshevik forces against the
reactionary White armies. Internationally, the world was still reeling from a
very devastating imperialist world war which had basically torn the European
economy asunder. Workers were rising up not only in Europe, but in the colonial
world, and the far east and this was becoming a perfect opening for the
Communist bloc to advance the world socialist revolution, which would lead to
the global overthrow of capitalism. The unity of these worlds would mean that
the proletariat totally crushes the bourgeoisie at an international scale.
However, most workers remained loyal members and supporters of the established
social-democratic parties or the national liberation parties. The slogan of the
third congress was aptly titled, 'TO THE MASSES!' reflecting the need to
grow the mass base of communist parties internationally after the defeats of
the German revolution, Hungarian revolution, and the Finnish revolution. The
election outcomes of 2024 in South Africa have proven that the biggest Leftist
Party, the EFF needs to go back to the masses, and sink their roots within the
decisive classes (workers and peasants).
However, the fourth congress of COMINTERN made it clear that the United
Front is not merely a tactic for 'electoral combinations of leaders in pursuit
of one or another parliamentary aim', but a tactic to do the following:
"The united front
tactic is simply an initiative whereby the Communists propose to join with all
workers belonging to other parties and groups and all unaligned workers in a
common struggle to defend the immediate, basic interests of the working class
against the bourgeoisie. Every action, for even the most trivial everyday
demand, can lead to revolutionary awareness and revolutionary education; it is
the experience of struggle that will convince workers of the inevitability of
revolution and the historic importance of Communism."
The intention of forming a progressive United Front would flow from this
logic given that South Africa has now descended into the depths of
neoliberalism after the consolidation and confirmation of the grand coalition.
For the next five years, it is patently clear that the assault on the toiling
masses of our people will accelerate and intensify. This is why we need to
unite the motive forces of our revolution by firstly uniting with parties found
in the centre-left, and have parliamentary representation, and then reaching
out to the unions, civic organisations, and other mass-based organisations that
are rooted in working class and rural communities, who share the same interests
with us in the immediate, and mid-term. The international situation and the national
situation are inextricably linked due to the character of our bourgeoisie. The
bourgeoisie of any semi-colonial society is bound to the foreign bourgeoisie of
mainly the coloniser or the neo-coloniser in the global south context, or the
general foreign bourgeoisie across the world.
The advance of neoliberalism in South Africa has taken a posture which
renders the working class far worse than what it was in 1994. The
intensification of neoliberalism in the past decade has led us to a point
whereby it is clear that the state is at war with the workers, students, and
peasants, who in their majority are young, black, and mainly female. Remember,
the state according to Marxist literature, is a tool wielded for class
oppression. It is a tool in the hands of the dominant class. In South Africa,
the dominant class is the capitalist class, which is majority white and owns
the means of production in our society. The dominant class then uses the state
to implement policies that will benefit them. The signing of the coalition
agreement by the DA-ANC-IFP bloc has basically confirmed that the mission of
the Neoliberal grand coalition is to scrap the gains of the toiling masses.
These are some the things they seek to undo:
1. NSFAS grant to students who have a combined household income below
R351 000.
2. State Ownership of Eskom, and many other strategic SOEs.
3. National Health Insurance
4. Employment Equity and many other Affirmative Action related policies.
5. Workers' right to strike, bargain, and associate with a union of their
choice.
6. National minimum wage.
7. Social relief distress grant.
8. Free water provision for working class communities, and the poor who
dwell in slums and shanty towns.
9. A balanced energy mix, with coal and nuclear energy playing a key
role.
The Neoliberal grand coalition is clear on what it seeks to achieve. It
is clear on who they represent, and it is not the toiling masses of our people.
They represent the interests of the ruling class which is capitalist in
character, form, and nature, in simpler terms, 'the markets'. They will be driving a bullet train towards the
oppressed layers of society, and we must respond by either moving away, or
finding ways to stop the train, or allow the train to turn us into
mincemeat.
What is to be done
Karl Marx and Frederick Engels summarized the role of the executive authority of a liberal bourgeois government, and in sum, the whole apparatus of a capitalist as follows, "The capitalist state serves as a managing committee of the bourgeoisie." This effectively means that the government of a liberal bourgeois state serves to manage the interests of the big bosses, oligarchs, and aristocrats who are tied hand and foot to this orgy of self-interest and greed. This leads the oppressed masses of our contemporary society to a revolutionary conclusion of reversing the tyranny of the market as Chris Hani would put it. The working class, students, peasantry, and progressive layers of the middle class must form a united front which will seek to defend some of the gains of 1994, no matter how minimal they are. The current political reality has thrown the working class, students, peasantry, and progressive layers of the middle class aback, and is nothing but a regression. These oppressed layers of society and the organizations that represent them must meet under one room and chart the way forward in forming this progressive United Front against Neoliberalism. This must be a National People's Summit which will pave the way for forming the United Front while providing the ideological basis of why this is to be formed. The National People's Summit must also answer the question of What is to be done? by immediately drafting a program of action which will seek to fulfil the demands of the Freedom Charter in totality and protect and defend the progressive gains of the 1994 settlement. We must reorganize the left, while expanding our base through defending the immediate interests, while advancing the fight for the fulfilment of the neglected and negated interests of the oppressed masses of our people as articulated in the Freedom Charter.
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