2005-01-05,+Vanguard+and+Mass,+SACP+Jhb+Central

__Draft Political Discussion Document for Johannesburg Central BGM, Jan 30, 2005__ =Vanguard & Mass= "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.

If the working class as a whole is to become a class-in-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 Organisation= 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:

"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."

Party members involved in mass organisations are supposed to give leadership. They are not in that capacity primarily concerned with recruiting new members to the Party. They are not supposed to "influence", manipulate, or promote Party projects or agendas.

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.

=National Level= 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.

=Branch 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.

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. == =Johannesburg Central must have specific tasks in Mass Work= These are the particular questions the Branch must address at our January 30th BGM:

//What organisations are our members involved in?// Branch Members present should tell us.

//Which other organisations can they be involved in?// Some of these may be: COSATU Johannesburg Local ANC Branch, Zone, Province, National, Local Authority, Provincial Legislature, Parliament ANC Women's League ANC Youth League Individual Unions Co-operatives Other Women's Organisations Treatment Action Campaign Art & Cultural Organisations Broad Front Organisations Political Education Circles Church, Mosque, Temple, and other religious organisations International Solidarity for: Cuba Swaziland Zimbabwe Iraq, Afghanistan, and the movement for Peace and against Imperialism

In addition, some of our comrades must be deployed to: Young Communist League Higher Party Committees (District and Province)

=Reporting Back, Reflecting Out= The Party does not direct (see Rule 6.4). In any case, it is the cadres who are in the mass organisations who know the specifics of those organisations. Therefore the Party could not direct comrades in a tactical way, even if it wanted to.

The Party prepares cadres so that they can be able to carry out mass work on their own.

What the Branch can do is to collect reports from comrades in different mass organisations and reflect back to the working class what is happening overall. The Party is in a position to do this, and should do this. The Party can perform the role of an organising center to the working class as a whole.

The Branch should be able to maintain a calendar of all important events in mass organisations in its area, and to inform all Branch members and higher Party structures of these actions of the masses. It should be in a position to organise timeous support for workers in struggle. It should be in a position to write and publish and to use the mass media (press and broadcast) to magnify the actions of the masses. When this capacity is fully developed, Johannesburg Central Branch should be in a position to issue regular bulletins summarising working-class mass activities to the media, and to provide reliable information to the media on demand.