From Soweto to Crossroads

Scan page 3

The massive events of Soweto were an example of spontaneous action by the working class generally, with youth playing a key role.

Within the overall ideological framework of the black consciousness movement, and under the leadership of the Soweto Students Representative Council, the working class for a time made real progress towards a fighting unity and independence.

Yet that leadership lacked the political training; experience and programme needed to consolidate and develop that independence and unity.

As inevitably happens with such spontaneous movements, the absence of a revolutionary leadership allowed sections of the black petty bourgeoisie and capitalists to assume a leading role.

Opportunist clique

This was the origin of the 'Soweto 10' ', a grouping of black businessmen, clerics and professionals.

It was just when the Soweto mobilisations were being threatened by the limits of spontaneous political development on the one hand and state reuression raise opportunist cite ar vened to demobilise the class and undermine its independence.

The Soweto 10's master plan was to turn the working class away from reliance on its own strength, towards reliance on such bodies as the UN, the OAU and allegedly "progressive" sections of capital in order to gain the "liberation" of Soweto and South Africa.

In that situation, facing a leadership tied to the interests of capital, the task of revolutionaries was to expose the reformist nature of the Soweto 10 as part of the struggle to build a revolutionary leadership.

But the leaderships of the traditional nationalist . movements-themselves more closely tied to the imperialists, Stalinists and bourgeois African governments than the interests of black workers-proved incapable of doing that.

In the same way, they proved incapable of providing the weapons, defence and leadership for which workers in struggle turned to them.

In fact, for the last sixteen years the traditional nationalist organisations had been sectarian, leaving the working class defenceless in its day to day struggles.

Hollowness And while this sectarian desertion has been covered over with much rhetoric about preparing for armed struggle, the events of Soweto have demonstrated the hollowness of that rhetoric: . The reality behind the words has been the substitution of small groups of freedom fighters for the mass of the class on the one hand, and on the other, the sacrificing of the independence of the class in favour of popular frontist alliances with "progressPart Two: by Jim Farnham ive" sections of capital petty bourgeoisie.

It is only because of the political bankruptcy of the traditional nationalist organisations that opportunist collaborators-the Curry's, the Buthelezi's, the Motlana's-can manoeuvre themselves into positions whereby they can use the strength of the working class masses to promote their own petty bourgeois interests.

As Botha continues Vorster's campaign of repression, as the opportunists manoeuvre, and the traditional black nationalist movements continue to provide no alternative revolutionary leadership, the gains and advances of workers in struggle are all threatened.

Soweto and subsequent political developments clearly demonstrate the willingness of the mass of the oppressed working class to participate actively in their struggle for freedom.

But they also show that the failures of the traditional petty bourgeois leaderships and The Soweto events political perspectives act as obstacles to the development of the South African revolution. The key crisis facing workers in struggle is one of leadership.

As we showed last week, the struggle of. the squatter community at Crossroads expresses a continuity with the political content of the Soweto struggle.

But the undoubted gains made at Crossroads now stand threatened by precisely that which has threatened the gains of Soweto-the crisis of leadership facing the working class.

Indeed, the role played by the Soweto 10 has now opened the way for white liberals to make a far more direct bid for influence within the mass opposition movement.

Soweto 10

Organisationally, this is done more and more through the Urban Foundation-which includes leading members of the Soweto 10 and their cohorts as its members and allies.

The Urban Foundation has become a crucial instrument of the ruling class in its efforts to co-opt black petty-bourgeois, buy off a layer of skilled black workers as ruling class allies, and tie the mass of black workers to te tails of co-opted reformists.

The gains made l in Crossroads are being portrayed by the liberals and reformists as the product of the 'co-operation' between the workers of Crossroads and themselves-as part of the attempt to foster the illusion of a 'good' section of capitalists under whose guidance benefits can be achieved.

In reality the experience of Crossroads, like all working class struggles, confirms something entirely different.

Vicious attacks Before workers had reached the lever of organisation. and mobilisation which they did in Crossroads, other squatter communities were being subjected to increasingly vicious attacks from the state. Throughout the country the enforcement of influx control was being stepped up.

The strength of Crossroads derived not merely from more organisation but also from the level of rank and file participation and unity embodied in Crossroads organisations.

in particular, Crossroads is testimony to the crucial role of working class women and youth in the struggle-the active, united participation of all sections of the working class community was a major factor in forcing concessions.

Major strengths

From the very outset of the struggle, sections of the ruling class and its agents have attempted to isolate Crossroads and create divisions within itthe separation of African from Coloured, migrant from urban, "legal" from "illegal" employed from unemployed.

One of the major strengths of Crossroads has been its uncompromising demand for all residents to have the legal right to remain.

Children olav at Crossroads But however united the community of Crossroads was, their struggle could not have developed to the point it has if it remained the struggle of an isolated working class community.

The mood of solidarity with Crossroads amongst the working class nationally was absolutely crucial in forcing concessions from the capitalist-apartheid state.

These struggle have shown that the only real basis for the winning of concessions is the strength of the proletariat, and the only real safeguard of that strength is the development of the political independence of the working class.

Material concessions have been won by the workers of Crossroads because, through the development of their own strength and organisation, they have objectively asserted a levet of class independence.

As we have pointed out, those concessions go nowhere in meeting the objective material needs of the Crossroads workers -whose struggle is far from over and whose victory is far from woh...

Defenceless

The defence and extension of what has been gained materially can only be secured through the • programme, perspective and organisational forms which develop working class independence.

The petty bourgeois leaderships of the traditional nationalist movements-tied to a polticial perspective aiming at the reform of the capitalist state and based on the denial of the independence of the working class in favour of a popular frontist nationalist alliance-can only serve to obstruct that In fact, their guerrillaist strategy has not only failed to provide political perspective, but has also left the workers of Crossroads defencelss in the face of state attacks.

The major crisis confronting