South African Communists Make Noises Again

[Horagalles]

Above all, serve the people

Beware the trappings of power - we are not here to get rich, says Ronnie Kasrils

Oct 26, 2009 11:04 PM | By Ronnie Kasrils

The Big Read: Life and struggle are inevitably accompanied by both achievements and setbacks. Expectations concerning Africa's development have not materialised as expected.

Current Font Size:
BEWARE THE CORRIDORS OF CORRUPTION: Former intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils recalls the words of Angola's founding president, Agostinho Neto: 'The most important thing [for us] is to solve the people's problems'


Clearly, international capitalism was much stronger and resilient than anticipated. Nevertheless, we got many things right, including the triumphs of the liberation struggles of our region - none more so than the conviction that we would sweep the apartheid system into the dustbin of history.
Our Marxist analysis, that the inherent contradictions within capitalism were irresolvable and needed to be replaced by socialism, has been proved correct. Russia is re-emerging on the global scene and, with China, is challenging the hegemony of USA imperialism; the world has experienced the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression; the USA is bogged down in Afghanistan and its bloody intervention in the Middle East.
Whatever the errors or miscalculations, The African Communist sought to convey the truth in the service of the people's cause.
Marxism emphasises that the material conditions of life are the basis for change. Our journal has written much about that. While we also stressed the importance of the subjective factor, perhaps too much was taken for granted concerning the moral integrity of revolutionaries.
No revolution is possible without revolutionaries. So much depends on human beings and their willingness to remain true to their principles. From the early days, The African Communist warned about the pitfalls of bribery and corruption, and against settling for political without economic change.
"Toussaint" (real name Rusty Bernstein), who had written an article for the very first issue of The African Communist, in 1959, fittingly contributed a prescient article when the journal returned home in 1991, entitled "The corridors of corruption".
He reflected on the failure of Soviet communism, and betrayal by corruption. He saw warning signals as we prepared to take power:
"I want to draw on factors which can be seen in embryo in our own South African liberation movement. the subtle process by which the foretaste of power corrupts seems to be creeping upon us unnoticed. We ignore the warning signals at our peril. Unless we can identify and eliminate the factors which have corrupted good, honest leaders and organisations elsewhere, we could well repeat the experience of their decline and fall."
The article concluded: "We can benefit now from the examples of those who have not tackled the problem in eastern Europe, and in newly independent Africa. Their experience demonstrates the corrupting consequence of simply taking the trappings of capitalist power over into a new social order. Thus we have the chance to seal off in advance the corridors of corruption, where others tried and failed. Or simply never tried at all. It is a challenge that calls for our utmost seriousness. It demands that we debate the matter openly, without personalities, recriminations or personal ambitions.
"It also demands that we measure ourselves against the standards of honesty, incorruptibility and dedication which we expect - and generally get - from our leaders; and that we understand the pressures that they will be subject to if we cannot find the right answers. The task is nothing less than setting the world of liberation and of socialism on a new path, where dreams of power without the corrupting restraints of the old order can be made real. Real people's power!"
For a similar warning, let us also note the views of Lucio Lara, (Angola's founding president) Agostinho Neto's most trusted comrade. Lara had been interviewed by Joe Slovo in 1978 in an upbeat exchange about the victory of the Angolan revolution.
Seventeen years later, Lara was interviewed for The African Communist by British writer and activist Victoria Brittain. Seeking to explain what had become of the great liberating ideals of the MPLA [the Angolan ruling party], he reminisced: "I don't have illusions about many things any more. In the Angolan struggle, perhaps we didn't have philosophers or sociologists, but we had those words of Neto's: 'The most important thing is to solve the people's problems'.
"Once, in the council of ministers, I heard someone say that we should stop using this phrase. I thought maybe he was right because no one spoke against him. In my opinion, that was when the party began to collapse. The leaders felt they all had the right to be rich."
No doubt both Rusty Bernstein and Lucio Lara would approve of the concerns raised by Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi and the statement of his ANC counterpart and SACP chairman, Gwede Mantashe: "The biggest threat to our movement is the intersection between business interests and the holding of public office. It is frightening to observe the speed with which the election to a position is seen to be the creation of an opportunity for accumulation [of wealth].If we do not deal decisively with this tendency, the ANC will only move one way, that is downward.
We are duty bound to stick to the commitment exemplified by Neto's words. The mission is not about enjoying the trappings of power and becoming rich, but of serving the people.
ýExtract from a speech by Kasrils, the former intelligence minister, at a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of The African Communist magazine


http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/article167754.ece

Anyone the found the full speech?

[Bittereinder]

Good luck to jew Kasrils, their ‘tool’ for ‘social change’ lacks the capacity to identify and avoid the trappings of capitalism. The collapse of the ANC started the day they lied themselves into power, the only alternative they have is to keep making pie in the sky promises to their voters so as they can ride the wave just a little longer. The problem is that it will surely lead to bloodshed and this is where the Afrikaner comes back into their equation. As long as we are held up as the problem they have a backdoor and they will persist in the blame game that they have mastered over time. The blacks are drunk on money and power and the blame shifting is the only way whereby they will be able to continue to milk every last drop that they are able to consume.

[Horagalles]

Good luck to jew Kasrils, their ‘tool’ for ‘social change’ lacks the capacity to identify and avoid the trappings of capitalism. The collapse of the ANC started the day they lied themselves into power, the only alternative they have is to keep making pie in the sky promises to their voters so as they can ride the wave just a little longer. The problem is that it will surely lead to bloodshed and this is where the Afrikaner comes back into their equation. As long as we are held up as the problem they have a backdoor and they will persist in the blame game that they have mastered over time. The blacks are drunk on money and power and the blame shifting is the only way whereby they will be able to continue to milk every last drop that they are able to consume.

The blame game is just the Negroes way to "solve" a problem. It's pretty convenient.

But is one of the occasions where a communists admits openly that they are still up to their goals on stealing ALL the tangible resources and means of production. Usually they talk in far more ambivalent language when discussing their strategy. But these are statements that even a liberal can understand.

The "freedom charter" and "nationalization" is still on their agenda. And I think this times the business world is taking note of this. The result will be reluctance to invest and increased time preference for extracting profits. This will lead to further economic problems and again fuel the "revolutionaries". Once they go power mad, they will cut on the foods on their own stools. In the end this will be the Withe mens rescue in Southern Africa. It will result in a struggle that Whites are going to win or what do you think our fellow warriors in Iraq, Afgahnistan and elsewhere are doing.