State of the Nation, State of the World

It’s a strange thing to get invited to an ANC BGM in the middle of an election campaign (when such activity is supposed to be suspended) by e-mail on the morning of the event. It’s a strange thing to be invited to a book launch funded by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, at the Workers’ Library, featuring the Deputy National Secretary of the YCL, less than 24 hours before the event. Both these strange things happened to me this week. A person with a suspicious mind might assume that such events are for a particular group of insiders (who have been given good notice). And that the public announcement at the last minute is only done to forestall the accusation of factional or sectarian behaviour. But perhaps that assumption is wrong. Perhaps it is simply incompetence. So let’s just move on to more important matters.

(Comments on these messages are welcome, by the way, at http://domza.net/ ). President Mbeki’s State of the Nation Address is not the announcement of a Five Year Plan like India, China and the Soviet Union would have, but it is good in parts. See the three linked critiques below. Peace is the common cause of all humanity and the forces for peace include great writers like the Quaker, Helena Cobban and the libertarian, Justin Raimondo. The warmongers will be seen off if we unite. Don’t forget the international days of action for peace on the 3rd anniversary of the US/British invasion of Iraq: 18th and 19th March, 2006. Links: SACP on 2006 State of the Nation Address by President Mbeki (522 words) COSATU on the 2006 State of the Nation Speech (1276 words) SACTWU Comment on 2006 State of the Nation Address (755 words) Just a question, Helena Cobban, Just World News (376 words) A Treasonous Camarilla , Justin Raimondo, Antiwar dot com (1610 words)

No Hiding It

The Communist University meets tonight in the Women’s Jail, 1 Kotze Street, Constitution Hill, at 17h00 to discuss Lenin’s writings on the “Women’s Question” of 1919 and 1920, circulated last week. Next week, on Friday, February 10th, at the same date and time, the CU will discuss Clara Zetkin’s interview with and recollections of Lenin’s views on women and revolution (text linked below). The SACP has issued its independent statement on the local elections in the form of Umsebenzi Online (linked below). The SACP has also issued a statement on the Transnet workers’ successful strike, linked below together with reports on the strike from the two major South African financial daily papers. There is no way to hide the effect of this well-organised action. Links: Power to the People, Vote ANC, SACP election statement (2270 words) SACP statement in support of Transnet workers (453 words) Fleet of waiting vessels tells a story, B Day (740 words) Union calls for disrespectful Ramos to resign, B Rep (534 words) Zetkin, 1920, Lenin on the Women's Question (6207 words)

Bourgeois and Proletarians

What is the mass base of South African National Civic Organisation (SANCO) these days? SANCO President Mlungisi Hlongwane looks as if he is personally heading for the ranks of the bourgeoisie (see linked article). Meanwhile, among the ranks of the proletarians, white and black make common proletarian cause (see linked article re CWU and Solidarity). On Sunday, at 10h00 on February 5th, in the SAMWU offices, 9th floor, Renaissance Building, Gandhi Square, the Johannesburg District of the Communist Party’s Political Education sub-committee will hold its second education session of the year around the topic of the second part of Marx’s “Communist Manifesto” of 1848, called “Proletarians and Communists”. All are welcome. The next session of this sub-committee will be on Sunday, February 26th, when we will discuss Comrade Langa Zita’s forthcoming paper, “Transformative Trade Unionism”. At the next session after that we will discuss Liu Shaoqi’s “How to be a Good Communist” (linked). Ann Crotty and Anton Harber in coincidental articles from South Africa’s two main business daily papers yesterday reflected on aspects of the bourgeois media in an instructive way (linked). The ceremony marking the re-naming of the former Harrow Road as Joe Slovo Drive will take place on Friday, 10th February, 2006 at the Yeoville Recreation Centre from 10h00 onwards. It is a working day, but as far as possible, we must urge Communist cadres to the front. The event is organised and hosted by the Johannesburg Metro Council. Buses will collect people from the surrounding area from 09h00. Links: SANCO boss in R439m Vukile property deal, Business Day (497 words) Coalition between CWU and Solidarity, Press Conference (114 words) Media groups look after money first, Crotty, Brep (830 words) New medium, same test for journalism, Harber, B Day (756 words) 1939, Liu Shaoqi, How to be a good Communist, C1 (2546 words)

Big Movement, Two

The YCL will march in Moutse, on some day soon – they don’t say, but they do give a phone number (see linked notice). The Johannesburg Central YCL meets tonight to discuss Caudwell’s “Liberty” (SATAWU offices, 29 Kerk Street, between Loveday and Harrison). Their next week’s session is on Marx’s Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, which includes Marx’s famous remarks about the “opium of the masses” and the “heart of a heartless world” (linked) The two-term, three-term row started by SANCO is well and truly jumped on by COSATU, SACP, and the ANCYL (see linked articles). The (linked) report from the Zim Independent is very instructive about that country at this moment, and about politics in general. Thanks to the Zimbabwean comrade who sent it to me. Links: YCL Free Education march in Moutse (190 words) SACP on two terms presidency (226 words) Cosatu, SACP, ANCYL reject third term, B Day and Star (935 words) Grow up Chamisa, Zimbabwe Independent (1068 words) Introduction to Criticism of Hegel Philosophy of Right, Marx, 1844 (5605 words)

Big Movement, One

We have a big movement and we must take terrible losses as well as gains, without breaking our stride. Such a loss is that of Comrade Juda Tsotetsi, SACP Provincial Secretary of Mpumalanga. See the linked satement of the SACP – the first of many expressions of grief on the loss of this famous young comrade. The four-union combined strike against privatisation at Transnet is well supported. It is an example of the ability of the South African working class to organise and mobilise and project its case. The CWU position on pirate radio .is carefully explained in their linked message. This, too is a stand against privatisation of a finite national resource. Links: SACP on the passing of Comrade Juda Tsotetsi (369 words) COSATU backs Transnet workers (550 words) Union rates Transnet strike a success, plus 2, B Report (1502 words) CWU open letter to illegal broadcasters (677 words)

Horvitch Obituaries and Nepal

Ike Horvitch was a Treason Trialist and a South African Communist. He died in London on December 28th, 2005. Several obituaries were printed in the newspapers there for him (linked). In Nepal, the opposition suspended armed struggle and formed an alliance to contest a general election in peace. Whereupon the monarch banned all the candidates and opened a military offensive. See linked article. The four-union strike at Transnet has been very effective. The question of the two-term limit on the SA Presidency has also caused comment. Full reports of these matters are not yet on the Internet. They will be covered here tomorrow. Links: Ike Horvitch, Obituary, The Guardian, London (756 words) Ike Horvitch, Obituary, Independent, London (755 words) Ike Horvitch, Keeper of Freedom, Camden New Journal (950 words) Nepal, elections without candidates (559 Words)

Fun With Lawyers

Is Tony Leon the Sunday Times’ Hogarth’s “Mampara of the Week”? No, not this time round. Instead, the letter written to the ANC, the YCL, and to yours truly (Domza) is the “Denial of the Week”! See the linked article. Leon is himself a lawyer by training (What was it Voltaire said about lawyers?) Another man who used to be a lawyer of sorts is Bulelani Ngcuka. He is famous for his very free interpretation of the phrase “prima facie”. Now he leads an eventful life in the guise of a very rich “businessman” and deputy-presidential consort. Probably he would say (like Sue Slipman long ago, while moving from the CPGB to the SDP): “My politics haven’t changed”. It’s two weeks since we have had a new text in the occasional “Revolutionary Classics” series, so here today (linked) is the second part of Engels’ “Socialism, Utopian and Scientific”. This one is dedicated to the ANC’s Michael Sachs, who at the Joe Slovo Memorial Seminar last Wednesday told the comrades that he was “dialectical” (and the SACP, presumably, not dialectical?). As Joe Slovo once said: to understand dialectics properly, you need a sense of humour. Links: Tony Leon, Denial of the Week, Hogarth, Sunday Times (250 words) Bulelani Ngcuka, No Prima Facie Evidence, Hogarth, S Times (142 words) Engels, Socialism, Utopian and Scientific 2, Science of Dialectics, 1880 (3176 words)

Union Business

The SACP Johannesburg Central Branch holds its first General Meeting (BGM) of the year today (10h00 at 13th floor, 29 Kerk Street, between Loveday and Harrison). The agenda will include plans and schedules for the year, sub-committees, and election work. Linked are articles from Neva Makgetla and Terry Bell on the latest employment/unemployment statistics, and the joint statement of four allied unions on their dispute with Transnet. Bob Mabaso has resigned from his position as Gauteng Social Development MEC following allegations of sexual harassment. Comrade Mabaso is the SACP’s Gauteng Provincial Chairperson. The linked article is from the Saturday Star. The fifth document is a rare announcement from the Iraq Communist Party. Today is the 101st anniversary of St Petersburg’s Bloody Sunday massacre of 1905. Links: Jobs data, Dutch disease, Makgetla, Business Day (717 words) Any old job not always good, Terry Bell, Brep (800 words) Joint Press Release on the Transnet Dispute (4 unions) (439 words) Mabaso resignation report in Saturday Star (606 words) To Fraternal and Friendly Parties, from Iraqi CP (2237 words)

For Peace, Against Racism, Colonialism and War

It is now less than two months before the agreed dates of international action for peace, which are March 18th and 19th. In one way and another all of the linked articles below are reflections upon peace, the dangers to peace, and the way towards peace. Peace is the fundamental good upon which all other goods must rest. We had a wonderfully successful first session of the Communist University at the Women’s Jail yesterday with Tonya Graham on the Theatre of the Oppressed. Perhaps we will do a mass public theatre for peace on March 18th or 19th. Tomorrow at 10h00 the SACP Johannesburg Central Branch has its first BGM of the year in the SATAWU office on the 13th floor of the Old Mutual Building, 29 Kerk Street, between Loveday and Harrison, until about 12h00. Links: Abramoff, Another Racist Out to Defraud, Counterpunch (1013 words) Myths of Zionism, Kasrils, M and G (1517 words) US idiot Bolton orders impossible in Syria, Counterpunch (485 words) Nuclear Violence, Suren Pillay, Counterpunch (834 words) SACP statement on passing of Schafick Handal of El Salvador (422 words)

Never Threaten

When Jack Abramoff rose out of the murk of a quarter of century ago to precipitate the biggest US scandal in a generation, he also resurrected ghastly memories that some people in South Africa would much rather stayed buried. You can read yesterday’s (linked) letter from Tony Leon’s lawyers concerning these revelations. You can see for yourselves what is denied and what is not denied. Perhaps they really do believe that Wayne Madsen’s is just “a random internet site”, as they call it. In that case they are mistaken. Threats and bluster are always a mistake. But you can be the judges. Max du Preez compares the DA to yapping dogs (linked). I wonder if he got a lawyers’ letter, too? Accusing him of trying “to injure the reputation of the Democratic Alliance and Mr Leon” and threatening him? These DA yap-dogs are too ridiculous. Why the press are holding back from grilling them about the Abramoff-Crystal-Williamson-Leon connection, I do not know. Amnesty has spoken up for the Cuban Five (see below). FAWU speaks up in another shocking case of physical abuse of a worker. Advocacy of this kind is how the truth is tested. The same testing should be applied to the Abramoff-Crystal-Williamson-Leon reports in all their detail. Tonight is the Communist University at 17h00 at the Women’s Jail, 1 Kotze Street, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg. The topic is “The Theatre of the Oppressed” and Critical Pedagogy. Next week’s topic (linked) is Lenin’s writings on Women in 1919 and 1920. Links: Leon-Abramoff, threats from DA Lawyers (556 words) Yapping DA out of place in Africa, du Preez, Star (838 words) Amnesty, US violating rights of Cuban Five, Counterpunch (894 words) FAWU on abuse of elderly farm worker (296 words) 1919 and 1920, Lenin on Women, compilation (4097 words)

Momentum Already

The SACP Johannesburg Central Branch Executive Committee met yesterday and finalised arrangements for Sunday’s Branch General Meeting. The BGM will be held in our usual venue, SATAWU offices, 13th floor, Old Mutual Building, 29 Kerk Street, between Loveday and Harrison at 10h00 on January 29th. The Chris Hani Institute held a very successful Joe Slovo memorial seminar yesterday. The YCL has gone national with the Leon-Crystal-Williamson-Abramoff story. Let us hope that COSATU and especially can now take it up. It is intolerable that the DA can still try to preach emocracy and delivery when they are rotten to the core. SACP Northern Cape has kicked off its year in a decisive way. The Star’s story about dismissal of members in Moutse should be treated with care. The SACP will not instantly or automatically dismiss anyone. There will be due process and each case will be treated on its merits. There are no foregone conclusions. The “SHIFT” public lecture is tonight. Sorry for the late notice. Cmde Randall Howard of SATAWU was on the Vuyo Mbuli phone-in show this morning on SAFM (105.1) from 11h00 to 12h00 about the Transnet dispute. Links: YCL - Investigate Russell Crystal and Tony Leon of DA (292 words) Zuma is not in any camp and he seeks justice, Star (441 words) SACP Northern Cape 22nd January PEC Statement (676 words) Communists dismiss 14 independent candidates (556 words) Jan 26th Public Lecture, Shift Housing Focus Trust (65 words)

At Last

The YCL Johannesburg Central Marxist Classes start this afternoon in the SATAWU offices, 13th floor, Old Mutual Building, 29 Kerk Street, between Loveday and Harrison. The discussion will be on how to make 50,000 cadres in five years, and why we need to do so. Next week’s YCL class is scheduled to be on Christopher Caudwell’s 1938 essay “The Concept of Freedom” in which he writes: “I am a Communist because I believe in freedom.” Caudwell was killed fighting the fascists as an International Brigade volunteer in Spain soon after writing this essay. If the story of Tony Leon’s connection with Jack Abramoff and Craig Williamson (through his present assistant Russell Crystal) catches fire, then the DA’s chances of doing well in the local and provincial elections are gone, and the last white reactionary political party of any consequence in Africa could be in the dustbin of history at last. So we can be happy that the Mail and Guardian yesterday put up the article by Claudia Braude headed “A Blast from the past” which was published in the hard-copy edition on Friday January 20th (linked below). I would love to know why it was withheld from the Online M&G for something like four days. The YCL’s jobs march in North West, the SACP’s Cuba statement, and COSATU’s concise but important statement on the employment statistics are also linked. Links: 1938, Caudwell, The Concept of Freedom (9550 words) Blast from the past- Abramoff, Crystal, Leon, Williamson, M&G (1280 words) YCL to march for jobs for Youth and Women (198 words) SACP statement on US provocations against Cuba (365 words) Rise in unemployment shows need for shared growth, COSATU (218 words)