Trade Union Revival

Induction, Part 10b

Trade Union Revival

This item represents a fast-moving situation wherein the South African working class has an objective need to increase its degree of organisation dramatically.

According to statistics, there are nearly 14 million people working in SA, but only about 3 million of these are organised in trade unions, and only about 2.2 million of those are in COSATU-affiliated unions.

At the same time, there is a new phenomenon now appearing in South Africa that we call “vigilante trade unionism”. This phenomenon is described in the attached document, which is an extract from the Statement of the Central Committee of the South African Communist Party of 2 June 2013.

The communists are partisans of the working class. They cannot shirk the task of getting the working class organised into primary mass democratic organisation. It is a necessary condition for the National Democratic Revolution (NDR) to exist. The extension of mass democratic organisation is what the NDR consists of, and the main and leading part of it is the organisation of workers.

• The above is to introduce an original reading-text: SACP CC Statement, 2 June 2013.