Introduction
As
we head into the 3rd National People's Assembly we are confronted with the
reality of rebuilding, advancing, and defending the struggle for economic
freedom in our lifetime. With that being the reality that confronts our July 26
Movement, we have no option but to promote, campaign, and lobby for political
ideas and leaders who will be constructive in the quest to achieve such. In the
political vacuum of silence that is gripping the province of the Eastern Cape
due to the silence of the PCT, and seeing other Provincial leaders making pronouncements
of their preferred candidates, we have no option but to provide revolutionary
guidance and make it clear and sundry to all members and the public which ideas
we support and who we see best fit to ascend to the Central Command Team. This
article will explore the current challenges and answer the revolutionary
question of what is to be done?
We
need Bolsheviks!
When
the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) was confronted with reality
of a brewing revolution, they convened a Party congress (1902) in London since
most of the core leadership was based in the UK due to being exiled. The
question that confronted them was on how best where they supposed to organise
themselves going forward. There was a bloc within the Party which argued for a
mass democratic approach and a politically flexible system which would allow
private and public dissent should there be no consensus. While the other bloc
made an argument for the Party to focus on building a core of cadres or
professional revolutionaries who would be ideologically trained to be the
vanguard of the working class, and to keep the Party small amid censorship and
banishment. On top of that they made an argument for a system which would allow
for democratic debate to ensue but when the majority decides, all members must
abide with the decision and dissent would not be tolerated. This system is known
as Democratic Centralism. These two sides are known as the Bolsheviks and the
Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, while the
Mensheviks were led by Julius Martov and Georgi Plekhanov. The Bolsheviks won
the ultimate discussion of Democratic Centralism being adopted leading to a
split between the two blocs which would go on to characterise the Marxist
movement in Russia, and ultimately the world, especially after the triumph of
the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.
The
EFF is confronted by a similar trend; however, it manifests itself in the form
of Electoralism vs Revolutionism. The other side consists of leaders and
supporters who firmly believe that the EFF must continue to pursue democratic
means of overcoming the Neoliberal regime and rely on liberal bourgeois
democracy to undo capitalism while the other side makes a strong argument for
the creation of an alternative democracy which will create dual power, and lead
us into a revolutionary situation, and ultimately lead us on the path to
revolution. The Spark identifies as a Bolshevik outlet and as such we align
ourselves with the ideas that seek to dispute the recurring theme which is
contained in the discussion documents since 2014 that we are not ready to lead
a revolution against capitalism. The analysis is partially correct given the
subjective conditions that we are gripped with but partially wrong given the
objective conditions that make it ripe for revolution. While we are still
resolving our internal matters, the revolutionary tide keeps moving and it will
move with or without us. This philistinism trend of wanting the movement to be
subjected to a permanent cycle of competing in a liberal bourgeois space which
is skewed in the favour of parties who are the core of the GNU is not assisting
in building a truly revolutionary Party which can lead a revolutionary movement
that can liquidate capitalism.
The
EFF has a historical mission to liquidate capitalism and bring about a
socialist dispensation, however, that will not be achieved if we still have
electoralists at the helm of the Party. It is from this point of perspective
that we make the solid argument that we must promote, lobby, and campaign for
leaders who will lead us into a revolutionary situation, and ultimately ensure
we liquidate capitalist relations of production. When the Bolshevik Party
embarked on their quest to liquidate the Provisional Government of Kerensky,
they had only 200 000 members, while we boast over a million members. It can't
be that we are failing to locate the weak point and gaps that will enable us to
establish a popular democratic outlet which will counter-balance the established
institutions like Parliament. Our participation must move from simply exposing
the hypocrisy of the ruling class, to active mobilisation of the masses to
reject the institution itself and expose it as a nothing but a reformist
structure. Most of the electorate has already rejected bourgeois elections,
ours is to emphasise that which they have already rejected and provide a
revolutionary posture and explanation. Lenin in 1917 after his arrival from
Switzerland made sure the Bolshevik Party distances itself from the Provisional
Government and actively promotes the Soviets as the organ of popular rule, thus
creating a reality of dual power. It took a Special Congress for that to be
achieved, and it was achieved after he published the classic April
Theses.
Some
within the sections of the Party called it Trotskyism, however, history proved
Lenin and Trotsky correct. Our people need to be conscientized and shown in
clear and scientific terms that this liberal bourgeois democracy has failed,
and that the power to create a new alternative lies in their hands, and only
their hands. This is the role the Vanguard Party must play in the intervening
period, consistent with the method of Lenin of patiently explaining the
conditions of the masses. However, to patiently explain the conditions we need
a leadership stratum that has the ideological ability to explain and explain
until our people are convinced that the only way out of this neoliberal hell is
through a popular revolution which will be guided by a United Front of Workers'
Parties, Unions, and Civic based organisations. This intervening period does
not need leaders who will have egos, arrogance, and a sense of 'being in
charge'. It needs leaders who will not blindly unify with distorters of Marxism
and non-Marxists who seek to undermine the revolutionary science of a Marxist
oriented revolution. It is quite clear to the most politically backward individual
that the system has failed to address the needs of the people adequately. Even
the Congress movement silently admits that they have failed to accomplish the
first stage of the NDR, thus forcing them into the arms of neoliberals. Such is
bound to happen when one follows a thoroughly Menshevik approach of stagism.
The two-stage theory in as far as South Africa is concerned has failed, thus a
Bolshevik approach is needed not an electoralist one.
It
is on this basis that we raise the clarion call that those who should emerge
must be leaders who understand this reality and will not only stop at
understanding but will advance it. The EFF needs Leaders who are not accustomed
or draw inspiration from the perks and privileges which come from serving in
Parliament, Legislative bodies, and Municipal Councils. The EFF needs dedicated
revolutionaries who will ensure that all layers of leadership from Central down
to the VD Task Forces are in tune with the demands of the masses and what is
required to advance the revolutionary. In sum, we do not want Mensheviks at the
driving wheel. Already we have seen some of these Mensheviks leave for other
parties that either have nothing in common with us or are non-Marxist in
character, while some have gone straight into the clutches of a feudal
socialist party. It is time for the Bolsheviks to stand up and be counted.
What
is to be done?
As
a contributor of this Bolshevik revolutionary publication, we want to make it
clear that we support, endorse, and openly declare our support for a fellow
Bolshevik by the name of Comrade-Fighter Chumani Matiwane. Fighter Chumani
Matiwane is a tried and tested leader who was the first Regional Chairperson of
one of the fastest growing regions in terms of electorate share and membership,
the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality. He led the EFF in its first Local
Government Elections, and the EFF attained a 7.97% electoral share, and 8 seats
in total, which was 0.19% behind the national average. This laid the foundation
for an improvement in 2021 to 12.06% due to their performance in council and in
the metro. As leader of the caucus for the most part, this saw the Party gain
traction and relevance which continues to grow everyday under the current
leadership of Fighter Mziyanda Hlekiso. The Party has also shown confidence in
him by deploying him to national and provincial debates to articulate the
position of the Party, and he has done well in providing perspective with the
utmost clarity. Furthermore, Fighter Chumani Matiwane is a clinical writer who
contributes to The Spark and provides ideological clarity on certain issues
that need the necessary experience and clarity that some contributors including
me, cannot provide. This is a Marxist-Leninist-Fanonian revolutionary who
adheres to Bolshevik principles of advancing the revolution in all sites of the
struggle, including the picket lines.
In our open endorsement, we cannot leave behind the contributions and his good
working relationship with all leadership structures that have come after him,
and his contributions in advancing the revolution. We openly believe that him
being part of the Central Command Team and being in the central make-up of the
Leadership, he will contribute to the ideological consistency, and ideological
sharpening that is required in the intervening period and it will come to
fruition as he is one of the members who were there in 2013 when this
revolutionary movement was born. His storied activism in the then Vista Campus,
which is now known as Nelson Mandela University, Missionvale Campus is
documented, and his political peers who were with him in the trenches of the
PYA agree that he is a revolutionary par excellence. It is on this note that we
openly declare that Fighter Chumani Matiwane must be elected by revolutionaries
who adhere to Bolshevik principles and want to see the movement going in a
revolutionary trajectory that will ultimately liquidate capitalist relations of
production. We call upon the elected delegates to cast away their fears and
deliver a Bolshevik into the CCT so that the Party moves towards the necessary
and logical conclusion of this neoliberal impasse, which is a popular
revolution which will usher in socialism in our lifetime!
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