Left+must+waken+from+slumber,+Maseti,+Star

//Staunch defenders of the national democratic revolution are in disarray//
=Left must waken from slumber=


 * The Star, Johannesburg, September 8, 2005**


 * By Zamikhaya Maseti**

The fracas over the dismissal and pending trial of former deputy president Jacob Zuma will have us talking and writing for a long time.

What is more tantalising is the manner in which the Left has responded to President Thabo Mbeki’s call for a commission of inquiry into allegations that he is part of a right-wing faction in the ANC that has orchestrated a total onslaught on Zuma.

The Left, as represented by Cosatu and the SACP, has outrightly repudiated the establishment of such a commission.

I am disappointed at how the Left has conducted itself in the past 18 months, especially with regard to the Schabir Shaik trial. The Left has failed to provide the nation with a scientific interpretation pre- and post-trial.

Had it provided such an interpretation of the social forces at play and the necessary ideological ammunition needed in this critical phase of the national democratic revolution before this calamity befell the nation, we wouldn’t be swimming in these stormy waters.

The ideological vacuum created by the Left has now been occupied by anarchists and gallery dancers determined to drive the national democratic revolution to a miscarriage.

Scavengers are hovering over the national democratic revolution, waiting to feed on the foetus. The local government elections are likely to be the first victims if the present drama continues unabated.

The lefties should remember that Lenin wrote that the class struggle becomes acute when the liberation movement assumes the position of power. The class struggle naturally takes another form as social classes scramble for resources and real economic emancipation.

As the scramble intensifies, survival of the fittest becomes the rule of the game. Then the metropolitan bourgeoisie forge a tactical alliance with the patriotic bourgeoisie, whose fundamental objective is to capture the state to gain economic and political influence.

The metropolitan bourgeoisie remain a loyal and active agent of neo-imperialism and continues to advance their agenda. The nature and character of this alliance is symbiotic and parasitic.

It assumes this dual character precisely because these class forces need one another for success. The patriotic bourgeoisie on the one hand are not entrepreneurial and rely heavily on the financial favours and support of their newly found allies, the metropolitan bourgeoisie. This is understandable because it lacks capital and resources due to the legacy of national and economic oppression.

The horse-trading then takes place; the patriotic bourgeoisie use their revolutionary credentials to get closer to those in power. As part of the strategy to gain power, both dangle perks that some leaders of the liberation movement find difficult to resist.

The deals are then clinched and concessions are made in the boardrooms without leaders of the toiling masses being present.

It is in this context that the metropolitan bourgeoisie registers gains and consolidates their neo-imperialist agenda. As they do so, they, also throw the country into mayhem.

Dependency theorist Immanuel Wallerstein, in his paper “The ANC and South Africa: The Past and Future of the Liberation Movements in the World-System”, had this to say about what happens when the liberation movement assumes power: “They found first of all that they had to make concessions to those in power in the world system as a whole. Not just any concessions, but important concessions. The argument that they all used themselves was that of Lenin in launching the NEP: the concessions are temporary; one step backwards and two steps forward. It was a powerful argument, since in the few cases where the movement did not make concessions, it found itself ousted from power altogether soon after. Still the concessions grated, leading to intra-leadership quarrels, puzzlement and questioning by the mass of the population.”

Wallerstein captures the essence of what is happening in South Africa today when he makes reference to “intra-leadership quarrels and puzzlement”.

My view is that something should have been done to equip our leaders immediately after they ascended to power. This responsibility should have been executed by the Left as it constitutes the most advanced sector of the society. Our leaders should have been protected from the dangers of neo-imperialism and global capitalism.

This is where the South African Left has failed the South African nation.

There are many leaders of the liberation movement who have been hoodwinked by big capital and its cronies. Dr Allan Boesak had his days in court and spent some months in jail. Tony Yengeni and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela also had their days in court. We have never seen the Friends of Allan Boesak, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Tony Yengeni waging campaigns to have charges dropped.

Such a movement never existed. Why? The Shaik trial and other related events should have been analysed within the context and parameters of class theory as advanced by Lenin and further elaborated by Wallerstein.

The unsubstantiated allegations of a political conspiracy are disturbing. The fact that the Left rejected Mbeki’s proposal for a commission does not mean it is victorious. The only danger is nobody will take it seriously when it makes noises about conspiracy theories and other things. In fact, that will mark the beginning of its demise.

The forthcoming National Executive Committee meeting of the ANC should provide leadership on this issue and avoid dancing in the gallery with the Left and anarchists. Some analysts have started writing Mbeki’s political obituary. They narrowly interpret his call for establishment of the commission as a sign of defeat and political marginalisation.

This is not just about Mbeki versus Zuma. The neo-imperialist forces are at play and if any political obituary is to be written after all this, it will not be that of Mbeki but of a democratic South Africa that was once acclaimed internationally as a miracle characteristic of the Madiba magic.

Once all is said and done, I will ask this question: is there anything left of the South African Left? Prior to 1994 the Left left an indelible imprint as the staunchest defenders of the national democratic revolution and revolutionary morality.

Today all that revolutionary morality is being sacrificed at the altar of political hedging. It is infantile disorder and rank opportunism that condemns the Left to the dustbin of history. The historical task of the Left in the national democratic revolution is to win the battle of democracy and not sabotage democracy. All genuine forces of the Left should awaken from their slumber and defend the national democratic revolution from its internal detractors.


 * **Zamikhaya Maseti is a political economist writing in his personal capacity.**


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=225&fArticleId=2867828