Vanguard+and+Mass,+Jhb+Central+Branch,+Jan+2005



=Political Document Adopted by Johannesburg Central BGM, Jan 30, 2005 (Part)=

"Ruling Party" is a jargon of multi-party bourgeois democracy. The Communist Party does not seek this position within a capitalist state. It seeks "organisation of the proletarians into a class, and, consequently, into a political party". The Communist Party looks forward to the rule of the working class as a whole. "The proletarian movement is the self-conscious, independent movement of the immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority". (Quotations are from the "Communist Manifesto", 1848.) The working class as a whole must become ready to rule in a working-class state.
 * Vanguard & Mass**

If the working class as a whole is to become a class-for-itself, in other words a self-conscious, active, collective subject, making history, it will have to go through a process of learning. Through our experience of the "pedagogy of the oppressed" we know that a mass of people does not arrive at a common consciousness spontaneously. Whatever may be the methodology, there must first be a pedagogue and a text upon which the mass can focus.

We know that the mass does not arrive at an equal state of consciousness in a single moment. Therefore the existence of a vanguard in relation to the whole mass is a practical and objective fact, and not an invention of the Communist Party or any particular thinker.

Mass organisations arise in response to immediate crises and on-going problems. In other cases, the Communist Party may help to initiate the formation of a mass organisation, or a broad front of mass organisations. The chief mass organisations in South Africa are the African National Congress and COSATU. The Party does not substitute itself for such organisations. The Party Constitution is very specific about how comrades are supposed to conduct themselves within such organisations, covered by item 6.4 in the Party Constitution, which reads as follows:
 * Mass Organisation**

"6.4 Members active in fraternal organisations or in any sector of the mass movement have a duty to set an example of loyalty, hard work and zeal in the performance of their duties and shall be bound by the discipline and decisions of such organisations and movement. They shall not create or participate in SACP caucuses within such organisations and movements designed to influence either elections or policies. The advocacy of SACP policy on any question relating to the internal affairs of any such organisations or movements shall be by open public statements or at joint meetings between representatives of the SACP and such organisations or movements."

Since mass work is the main workload of the average Party member, it is vital that all Party members have a clear understanding of this relationship, which is essentially the relationship of vanguard to mass.

At the national level the Communist Party holds out a vision of society as it is and as it can be. For an example we can refer to the article "Class Struggles in the National Democratic Revolution (NDR): The Political Economy of Transition in South Africa 1994-2004" in the African Communist No. 166/167, 2nd/3rd Quarter 2004. It examines specific class forces and formations and reflects a communist view of what these forces and formations are doing, or should be doing.
 * National Level**

At the branch level the communists collectively provide political education and publish material that gives an understanding of the political economy and the place of the working class in that political economy, just as the Party is doing at a national level.
 * Branch Level**

The branch level is where the comrades are found who do the bulk of the Party's work. This work is the giving of leadership to mass organisations.

At branch level the Party does not as a rule carry out campaigns in its own name, other than political education, propaganda (e.g. publishing), fund-raising and recruitment (party-building).

There are always exceptions to this rule, but these do not contradict the general character of Party work, which is the giving of leadership to other organisations, which are mass organisations.