Q+and+A,+Jeremy+Cronin+talks+to+Chris+Barron,+Sunday+Times



=Q&A with Jeremy Cronin=


 * Chris Barron, Sunday Times, 27 January 2008**

//Jeremy Cronin is deputy general secretary of the SA Communist Party, which in the aftermath of Polokwane has considerably more influence within the ANC. Chris Barron asked him...//


 * Would it be entirely mischievous to suggest that we’re now the only communist-ruled country outside Cuba?**

Yes, that would be entirely mischievous. Unfortunately. In several senses. I mean obviously there is a very powerful ruling party which calls itself the Chinese Communist Party ...


 * The SA Communist Party now dominates the ANC’s highest decision-making body, doesn’t it?**

I think that would be a wild claim.


 * Not really. Gwede Mantashe, Blade Nzimande ...**

Yes, but that’s nothing new in terms of the number of communists in senior positions in the ANC.


 * But these guys are now in charge.**

Well, in the top six of the ANC there are two communists, but there is also a very prominent business person.


 * The Communist Party wields considerable influence, more so than before Polokwane.**

More so than before Polokwane, but the critical thing to hold on to is that Gwede Mantashe was elected by an ANC conference, and the majority of National Executive Committee and National Working Committee members are not Communist Party members. So we don’t see it as domination, but we do see it as influence.


 * And how will this influence be felt?**

The question that communists in prominent positions in the ANC need to ask is: what are the expectations of three quarters of a million ANC members who have been active in putting communists into leading positions in the ANC? The message from Polokwane is that we need to ensure that policy is debated democratically.


 * I’ve never really associated communism with democracy.**

Well, I think that was certainly one of the crises of the socialist bloc in Eastern Europe ... but this isn’t the socialism we want to build in South Africa.


 * What kind of economic policy changes will we see?**

To say there won’t be any real changes is implausible. On the other hand, to say we’re going to pull everything down, go on a massive popular spending binge and so on, is also not true.


 * Do you believe our economic policy is too business-and market-friendly?**

Yes.


 * Can we afford a policy that is hostile to business?**

No. So we have to work with the reality of a dominant capitalist world. But we can’t just have a policy that is friendly to business. We’ve got to transform the nature of SA capitalism, which is excessively export-oriented, excessively luxury- and capital goods import-dependent, and seeks to diminish the role of the state. All of the crises, in education, health, electricity generation, are the symptoms of policies which have tried to simply create a business-friendly climate, and they’re unworkable. That’s the lesson of the electricity crisis we’re facing.


 * So you’d like to see more nationalisation, a la Eskom?**

Eskom was commercialised and made ready for privatisation, hence the chaos.


 * Wasn’t the chaos because privatisation did not go ahead?**

On the contrary. The lesson is that we need a strong, publicly owned utility.


 * Isn’t that what Eskom is?**

It’s a publicly owned utility to which mixed signals were sent. It was told it shouldn’t invest in generation because that would be privatised, and Eskom was saying: we need to invest in generation.


 * Had it been privately owned in the first place, it would have told the government to bugger off.**

Well, no. No private operators were interested in coming in because our electricity prices were too cheap.


 * Should inflation targeting be the priority?**

Everything needs to be subordinated to job creation and poverty alleviation.


 * Now you’re in charge, will you interfere with the independence of the Reserve Bank?**

We’re not in charge.


 * You are. It’s been made clear the government is now answerable to the ANC.**

To Parliament as well.


 * To the ANC first, according to your treasurer-general.**

There are various mechanisms of accountability, it’s not a single one. Clearly the ANC is the majority party in Parliament, so that’s one form of the ANC exerting accountability in regard to the executive wing of government.


 * Will you interfere with the independence of the Reserve Bank?**

We need an institutionally independent Reserve Bank but not a strategically independent Reserve Bank.


 * From: http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Insight/Article.aspx?id=692417**

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