The South African Communist Party (SACP), whose ultimate goal is achieving socialism, needs to decide on the question of political power, African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe said on Thursday.
Addressing the SACP’s 12th national congress, he said the party has always been very clear about its ultimate goal of achieving socialism.
As President Thabo Mbeki said at the ANC’s policy conference last month, the ANC respects the SACP’s right and duty to lead the struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution. The ANC has never stopped or discouraged the SACP from playing this role, and will not do so.
Motlanthe said the SACP’s new ”South African Road to Socialism” programme once again places the question of the socialist revolution firmly on the party’s agenda. ”The socialist revolution must necessarily place another key question on the agenda of this 12th national congress: the question of political power.”
Proceeding from the understanding that all political parties exist to take power, the SACP said in its 1989 programme, the ”Path to Power”, the fundamental question of any socialist revolution was winning political power by the working class, in alliance with other progressive elements.
The working class then set out to eliminate exploitation by achieving public ownership and democratic control of the means of production.
”Much ideological water has flowed under the bridge of revolutionary practice since 1989,” Motlanthe said. ”The 12th national congress of the SACP must reach a conclusion on whether the afore-stated position remains valid today, and if so, what the implications thereof are.”
Flowing from the answer to this question would arise the question of how the SACP would contribute towards consolidating the leadership role of the working class as the core and leading motive force in the national democratic revolution.
”The leading class needs to know on which side of the fence it stands, and who else is there with it. This is a function of a clear understanding of revolutionary theory.
”But the leadership role of the working class is not something that can simply be proclaimed in the lofty formulations of strategic intentions. Rather, it must be won through practical leadership of the people, by working among the people in all of their struggles.
”In simple terms, revolution means mobilising social forces. No revolution can succeed on a sectarian basis. No revolution can succeed where one class force is isolated from broader society,” Motlanthe said. — Sapa