Situation Normal

The Communist University is approaching its fourth anniversary. The blog/group/archive arrangement is about a year and a half old, has nearly half a million “page views” from nearly 500 posts, and more than 3000 archived pages.

The greatest part of the CU is its live face-to-face sessions. The next one will be on Tuesday, May 29 at 17h00 in the SACP boardroom, 3rd floor, COSATU House, 1 Leyds Street, Braamfontein. We will discuss Karl Marx’s “Critique of the Gotha Programme” (linked below).

It could be the last session. Click here to see what is to happen on Saturday, 2 June 2007. If the CU is in effect suppressed, we must accept it, comrades. All things must pass, sooner or later. Other CUs must come into being, if they can. Perhaps they already have.

What is exposed here is not really the rights and wrongs of a petty squabble. What is exposed is the very weak collective that underlies the Johannesburg CU, which has up to now not been able to expand, as a collective. Perhaps this is a good time to pause and reconsider, in any case.

The class struggle is hotting up and there are many other things to be done, including other publications that have to be brought out.

For archived details of the Public Service workers’ dispute, and facility for discussion and exchange of information about it please click here. This dispute has caused the biggest workers’ mobilisation for many years in this country.

We will discuss the question of the CU again on Tuesday, face-to-face.

The Gauteng Province of the SACP held its press conference on 22 May and the Provincial Secretary, Zico Tamela, was widely reported, including in an interview in the Sunday Times. See below.

The SACP Central Committee met this weekend and issued its statement today. See below.

The CU has no privileged information on the subject, other than what is reproduced here. But with that limitation noted, one can say that it does seem as if the worst has passed and that there is no insurmountable difficulty to the holding of a successful 12th SACP National Congress.

President Fidel Castro of Cuba, the Commander in Chief, has issued another of his extraordinary “reflections”. See the link below.

The picture is of Ray Alexander Simons, one of the greatest organisers in history.

Click on these links:

SACP Gauteng Provincial council statement, 22 May 2007 (1142 words)

For the deaf who won't listen, Fidel Castro, Granma, Havana (779 words)

So Many Questions, with Zico Tamela, by Chris Barron, S Times (780 words)

Statement of the SACP Central Committee, 25-26 May 2007 (1675 words)

Critique of the Gotha Programme, Karl Marx, 1875 (8315 words)