Stop Now

Scan page 2

prisoners as a partial demand within a revolutionary programme.

working class as an indepen- rhetoric, the "liberation"

And it is not surprising was freedom for black capithat he hopes to cement an talists to operate without the alliance with those who have hindrance of racist discrimiGaddafi with Algerian President Boumedierine purged of all elements hostile the masses of the underdevelEmboldened by. this Algerian government is a He used the occasion to cloak the Soweto Ten (now under restriction) with a new legitimacy as "radical" leaders of the fight against But what is the real political nature and role of the Ten whom Buthelezi now describes as the true leaders of Soweto?

The events of Soweto which began in June 1976 were an example of spontaneous action by the working class generally, but especially by working class youth.

Within the general ideological framework of the 'black consciousness' movement, and under the specific leadership of the Soweto Student Representative Council, the working class for a time made real progress towards a fighting unity and It was just when the Soweto mobilisations were being threatened by the limits of spontaneous political developments on the one hand and state repression on the other, that this opportunist clique acted to demobilise the class and undermine its independence.

The Soweto Ten's master plan was to turn the working class away from reliance on its own strength towards reliance on such bodies as the United Nations, the Organisation of African Unity and allegedly "progressive" sections of capital in order to gain the "automony" and "liberation" of Soweto.

Central agent

Buthelezi now emerges once again as a central agent of those who wish to demobilise the South African dent force.

played an equivalent role in nation. Soweto.

This open alliance is a continuation of the capitulationist role Buthelezi played during the Soweto events.

The Ten with whom he allies himself attempted to use the events of Soweto as a stepping stone towards a more equal partnernership with the white capitalists.

Stripped of its democratic which the Soweto Ten sought Pathetic Buthelezi now "confronts" Vorster with the pathetic demand for the release of the Soweto Ten.

Revolutionaries demand the release of all political prisoners, not as a concession by the racist state but as to this takeover.

success and the promise of increased arms supplies from the US, Morocco's self-styled revolutionary king', Hassan, has renewed claims on Algerian territory and threats of border conflicts.

Puppet

This stance has been copied by Ould Daddah, Mauritania's puppet President who argues that Algeria is waging a war which 'threatens the very existence of Mauritania, while Morocco is no longer just a brother, but a friend and an ally' Boumedienne's problem is serious. If he abandons support for the Saharoui liberation struggle, this will further undermine the already shaken belief amongst a partial demand within a revolutionary programme based on the independence of the working class.

Unlike the Stalinists, who join Buthelezi in seeking "progressive" sections of capital to support, revolutionaries do not surrender the independence of the working class at any price.

Meanwhile the traditional nationalist movements (the African Nationalist Congress and the Pan African Congress) are increasingly shown to be incapable of providing a political alternative which oped nations that the progressive force.

At the same time, this would leave an aggressive and hostile Moroccan regime as a neighbour of greatly increased strength and capacity.

On the other hand, continued aid to the Polisario Front would mean the further escalation of the war which must shatter the delicate balance of forces and plunge the Maghreb into uncontrollable turmoil.

Opposition

There is of course hird option, which the ettybourgeois nationalisi of Algeria shrink from even considering. revolutionary leadership will demand the pitiless exposure of all opportunists like Buthelezi and all the "democratic" institutions and elections through which Vorster seeks to win legitimacy for the maintenance of capitalism and racism in South Africa.

Revolutionaries must call for the boycott of all such elections-whether those are for Community Councils, Cabinet Committees, Coloured and Indian Representative Councils or Bantustans.

Both the building of independent workers' committees and the demand for free elections to a constituent assembly must form part of a programme of transitional demands, which alone can provide the basis for the consolidation and development of the gains of Soweto.

Ould Daddah's recent pronouncements clearly indicate that political opposition to the war has begun to take an organised form.

Within Morocco, the fervent 'patriotism' .of the reformists and Stalinists has to be seen in opposition to the militancy of the proletariat.

Shanty towns

Rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have made Casablanca into a daily expanding city of some 2 million people, living for the most part in abject poverty in the shanty-towns that sprawl for miles.

Again and again these workers have surged forward to fight the bourgeoisie and the reactionary monarchy, only to face defeat with opportunist or confused leaders who could not effectively challenge the formidable repressive state apparatus built up by Hassan.

Conscription

There can be no doubt that a prolonged war will bring about further explosions, as conscription is added to the miseries of unemployment and near starvation.

For Boumedienne and his colleages such a prospect is terrifying. The independent mobilisation of Moroccan workers in struggle would immediately bring every Algerian worker to challenge the Bonapartist state that has frozen the course of the revolution, and objectively works to restrain and mislead the international fight against imperialism.