Those of you who are scholars of dialectics and materialism would have been excited to hear these complex theories being put into everyday speak. The occasion was a Numsa political school for all the Numsa central committee delegates.For three hours, veteran SACP member and SACP Central Committee delegate, George Mashamba, entertained participants with his analogies.
Left to right: Cedric Gina, Silumko Nondwangu, George Mashamba, Enoch Godongwana and Moses Mayekiso
“If you live in a village and every year a school is hit by lightning, one group will come and say, ‘let’s collect some money and go and see the sangoma’. Another group will say, ‘it’s because there are drunkards here, God must be angry’. But science teaches you to study the area and when you study the area you find that there are certain rocks that attract the lightning and that is why the school is struck every time.”
That is what a materialist does, he said. S/he examines the situation to find out why something is happening. When there were riots and disturbances during apartheid, “the state would run around trying to find out ‘who has been agitating’?” But a materialist would go and see what conditions people are living under and what is causing them to protest. “If you want to change their ideas, you must change their conditions!”
Surplus value – the key to understanding capitalism!
It took Karl Marx his whole life to write three vast volumes of Das Kapital – his (Marxist) analysis of how societies and economies work. But it took academic Chris Malikane just a few hours with a one-page flow-chart summary of Das Kapital to explain the major mind-blowing implications of Marx’s analysis.
Marx’s term surplus value exposes where the capitalist’s profit comes from. “For every 8 to 10 hours of work that you perform every day, about two hours of that goes to pay for your wage while the rest goes to the capitalist!” he explained.
Moving from capitalism to socialism was a bit like making ‘pap’ he said. “When you want to cook pap you can’t start with big logs, you must start with small sticks and grass. If it’s wet, get some paraffin to help it light. “The water must boil before you put the pap in. If you put the pap in before the water has boiled, it’s ultra-leftism! “Then someone wants to take your water for tea. Another person wants porridge but remember you are cooking pap, not porridge. “You must move in a manner that doesn’t deviate you from your path. See every obstacle as a challenge. Don’t get angry because you will lose focus!” were his words!
He urged comrades to keep focused because conditions are continually changing. Always analyse these changing conditions, because these changes could require you to adjust your tactics to change the conditions so as to achieve your desired results.Debate which tactic or set of tactics are suitable for producing the desired results in each of these conditions. Never forget the plight of the people.
His pap-making methods stimulated a lot of debate in the workshop. Regional secretary Irvin Jim challenged him saying that “there are modern stoves to cook the pap; there is the industrial working class. If we wait for the pap to cook, then by the time it is ready we won’t have the space to eat it!” Instead Jim said that the most important thing was to mobilise people around a minimum radical programme that would intervene in the economy and build socialism.
Capitalism
Capitalism brings painFor those who want to gain
The people become greedyAnd forget the needy
The workers strikeThe people fight
How much more painHow much more suffering
Must we endureIn order to find a cure?
Mohammed Ismail
Conditions not ripe for socialismMashamba’s view that the country wasn’t ready for socialism was repeated by Langa Zitha, an ANC MP and past Numsa official. Zitha said that the underdevelopment of parts of the economy would threaten a socialist future. Instead what was needed was to nurture a developmental state and build an “integrated economy” with decent houses and appropriate transport. His input provoked sharp debate, with Western Cape delegate, Shahida Meniers asking “Are you discouraging us from moving to socialism?” to which he responded: “Lenin says you ‘should be as radical as reality’. If the material conditions are not there, we can’t go to socialism!”
Others were more direct in their criticism saying that the state was not developmental and that the state seemed to be fighting its own people in places like Moutse and Khutsong rather than the real enemy – capitalism.
Other topicsBut Mashamba was not the only person to address the workshop. It was jam-packed full of Marxist theory, a reflection on Numsa’s past role (see the editorial comment) as well as critical differences between alliance partners currently. The gender dimension of the struggle was not excluded nor was the international dimension. There were inputs on Cuba, Latin America while a representative of the Saharawis in Western Sahara spoke of their fight for independence from neighbouring Morocco that has illegally occupied their country since 1975. ANC MP and SACP stalwart Ben Turok spoke of how the increasing influence of China and India as well as Latin American countries Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba that are now controlled by left-wing governments have the potential to change the balance of international forces.
The US government’s once powerful position is threatened by a massive trade deficit (it is importing, mostly from China, more than it is exporting) and a reluctance on the part of US soldiers to fight its Iraqi war. This makes it possible for countries like South Africa to make new alliances with other progressive forces and countries. Western Cape and Ekurhuleni have run their political schools. Other regions still have to hold theirs. If the debate at this political school is anything to go by there will be lots of heated exchanges in the SACP and ANC policy conferences set for the rest of the year!
Left to right: ANC MP Ben Turok with a representative from the Cuban embassy as well as a representative from the Saharawis of Western Sahara