http://www.sacp.org.za , mailto:lucian@sacp.org.za

The SACP address at the occasion of the 11^th International Communist and Workers Parties Meeting

20 - 22 November 2009 – New Delhi, INDIA

The South African Communist Party (SACP) would like to external its fraternal greetings to communist and workers parties gathered at this 11^th International Communist and Workers Parties meeting hosted by the Communist Parties of India – Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) – parties with whom we have a long standing fraternal relations and great admiration for many years of glorious struggles waged on behalf of and with the working class and poor in India against common British colonialism and imperialism.

We would like to thank the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M) and Communist Party of India (CPI) for hosting and organizing this 11 ^th International Communist and Workers Parties meeting. The fact that the International Meeting takes place in this region for the first since the regrouping of the international communist movement after the fall of Berlin Wall and disappearance of the former Eastern European socialism and the Soviet Union - is in itself a very significant step for the international communist and workers’ movement. Amongst others, it underlines our solidarity with peoples of the region that increasingly have become the target of imperialist’s plans of war-mongering, aggression and domination as aptly illustrated by the ongoing so-called war against terror and religious fundamentalist in Pakistan and the subsequent battle for geo-strategic influence and domination.

Over the last two days in this meeting, we have analyzed and presented perspectives on the nature, character and impact of the global capitalist crisis and its implications for the working people and poor going-forward – and as such we would not want to dilute that, nor do we desire to regurgitate that that has already been said, suffice to argue that the crisis itself present us – those of us who are committed to bringing about a just, equal and sustainable development path that places at the centre the core demands of the people and not private profit, i.e. a socialist world order, with even greater opportunities to elaborate more concretely our alternative perspectives as the theme of the 11 ^th International Communist and Workers Parties meeting compels us to do.

The SACP has over the years, since the early signs of the deep crisis began to surface, made concrete analyzes of the crisis and our views and perspectives are also contained in our publications, journals and theoretical magazines and we would like to broach beyond the analyzes and flag what we believe could be a basis of further consolidation of working class struggles to rollback the dominance of imperialist capitalism in particular in the region where we come from, since the consequences of the crisis are even felt much more acutely there for a variety of reasons, not the least the low levels of development and domination of these economies by imperialists multi-national corporations.

Capitalism, serving as the chief engine of the empire, has been, in its global expansion outwards from the North Atlantic, a even the – key force in making it so. At the turn of the 20 ^th century, driving home the apparent logic of its overweening power, capitalism’s principal beneficiaries sought to transfigure this system, under the title of globalization, into a commonsensical fact of life and, on its name, to reinforce an unassailable form of quasi-colonialism upon a global South much of which had only just, within the preceding 40 or so years, cast off the shackles of the most overt and direct kind of colonialism.

The South African economy like much of the African continent continues to reproduce inequalities even post-independence and is dominated by stubborn colonial features, which hampers the realization of the goals of incumbent former national liberation movement.

Systemic problems of the South African economy (huge inequalities, spatial marginalization of at least half the population and crisis-levels of unemployment) persist and are even actively reproduced in the midst of 5% growth experienced in the past decade.

The capitalist path in SA continues to be dominated by colonialism of the special type (CST) features. The economy is excessively export-orientated, with this excessive orientation dominated by primary product exports. This particular dependent-development path is reproduced by the domination of the commanding heights of the economy by the mineral-energy-finance monopoly capitalist class. It is a domination that further skews the economy in terms of logistics and spatial policy and natural resources policy, and in terms of the under-development of the manufacturing and small and medium-sized capital sectors.

Our CST accumulation path is also excessively import-dependent for capital and luxury goods and contributes towards the predatory role of South African capital in our wider region. Much of the continent, like SA is a net exporter of primary commodities; and a net importer of more expensive capital goods.

We raise these matters in the context of the elaboration – in our view and understanding, of a strategic and programmatic approach this meeting needs to, under theme ‘… workers and peoples struggles, the alternatives, alternatives and the role of the communist and working class movement’.

The present conditions in Africa are perhaps the greatest indictment of modern capitalism.

Consider the points made in the recent World Bank:

- The total income of all 48 sub-Saharan African countries is now roughly equal to that tiny Belgium.

- Each country on average has an income of about $2 billion a year – roughly the same as a small town in the West with a population of 60 000.

- The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of this vast continent is less than 1% of the world GDP. Social conditions have deteriorated from minor gains that were made immediately after independence in the 1960s.

- If South Africa is excluded, there are fewer roads in the whole of Africa than in Poland, and there are only 5 million telephones.

One can assume that there is no exaggeration being made in these appalling statistics, given that the World Bank has to admit to at least some responsibility for what has happened.

As the consequences and realities of the capitalist crisis further crystallize in the coming couple months, working class, rural peasantry and the poor in Africa, and in other ‘developing countries’, will be further exposed to even more precariousness as their quality of life is further eroded and deterioration of the livelihoods is experienced all-round.

A few weeks ago, the SACP celebrated 50^th anniversary of the theoretical journal – African Communist! The theoretical journal, it was remembered – was named the African Communist for amongst others the very reasons that the journal anticipated that it would become a theoretical journal for African communist and therefore be the platform for debate, exchange and discussion and agitation around a Marxist-Leninist praxis and application for the continent. This challenge, the Party believes is still valid today.

Therefore, we understand the proposal of the 11 ^th International Communist and Workers Parties to host the next 12 ^th meeting in South Africa as an honour and contribution towards this task, which underscores the very endeavours of the Party’s analysis of the prospects for a progressive forward-thrust on the continent as precisely that.

We are indeed, deeply honoured at the proposal and consideration to convene the next meeting on the African continent and perceive this to be an important statement and expression of confidence and solidarity with struggles of the working people and poor on the continent.

The SACP – will if you are agreeable to allow it to organize the 12 ^th International Communist and Workers Parties meeting, to organize such as an African meeting! Through that, we believe we would be in a position to further contribute towards reaffirmation of the progressive endeavours undertaken by many progressives on the continent in very difficult and precarious situations.

The 12 ^th meeting happening on the African continent will not only complete the rotational targets of the meeting, but will be an important political expression of confidence and reaffirmation of the struggles of a continent and people who have borne the brunt of the imperialists rivalries, the ravages of war stoked by the insatiable greed of monopoly capitalists and the ‘re-colonialization’, that has been characterized by blunting and hallowing-out of the achievements of independence.

The SACP has discussed the matter and is in full agreement of the proposal and places it on record that, if you so decide – it will be indeed a great honour to host the 12 ^th International Communist and Workers Parties meeting in South Africa in 2010!

As we say – Socialism is the future! Build it now with and for the worker and poor!

Amandla!