WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

ISSUE 87 | AUGUST 2014

alternatives to globalisation

THE ECONOMIC FREEDOM FIGHTERS (EFF): TWO FACES BUT ONE ATTACK BY THE ELITE?

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The EFF is under constant attack since it won 7% of the vote in the 2014 elections. Pic: Moeletsi Mabe/The Times.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF): Two faces but one attack by the elite?Leonard GentleWhy is Israel attacking Gaza?Shawn HattinghMy StruggleMarikana Anniversary: Cape Town InitiativeSikhala Sonke ‘We Cry Together’Samantha HargreavesMy OrganisationThe Khutsong Crisis CommitteeEducation SeriesUnited Front (part 2): Italy’s Red Week

Continued on page 2...

Since the EFF won almost 7% of the vote in the 2014 elections not a day goes by without them being attacked by the ANC government, the media and all sections of the ruling class. At the same time the EFF has fired the imagination of activists throughout the country by telling the truth about the Marikana massacre in Parliament, calling for MPs to use public services like the majority of the working class, and by challenging its dress code.

RULING CLASS ATTACKS ON EFF

It all began when EFF MPs came to national parliament in red overalls and uniforms of domestic workers. While they were allowed in the national House of Assembly they were ruled out of order by the Speaker when they refused to call Cyril Ramaphosa ‘honourable’ and said that the ANC government was responsible for killing workers at Marikana.

The Gauteng parliament didn’t even allow them in and ordered them forcibly removed by the police for not wearing the suits and ties and formal dresses required by colonial tradition.

The ANC secretary, Gwede Mantashe, then

called them fascist for mobilising activists to

occupy the Gauteng parliament, comparing

the EFF to Hitler and his stormtroopers.

Journalists and economists have been quick

to claim that EFF’s calls for nationalisation

and redistribution of wealth ‘would not work’;

while liberal voices have shrieked that the

EFF’s mobilisation of activists to demonstrate

at parliament ‘threatens democracy’. Even

voices on the left want to distance themselves

from EFF criticising its tactics and some

commentators have argued that the EFF is

actually a middle class formation.

TWO FACES

OF EFF

2 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

ONE FACE OF THE EFF

There is little doubt that EFF is made up of contradictory forces. On the one hand many of its leadership come from the old ANC Youth League and its culture of corruption and enrichment through winning tenders for outsourced state activities. It is only because they were evicted from the ANC that they became so radical, but that culture remains.

When EFF was required to finally set up structures after the elections, there was evidence of a lack of internal democracy and debate and many activists were sidelined. Also the cult of leadership is strong – with Julius Malema called Commander in Chief and

a programme of focusing on him as the face of the organisation.

The EFF has not promoted women’s leadership and nor has it sought to build itself around the self-organised workers’ initiatives or community struggles. Instead it merely comes in and speaks at struggle occasions seeking support rather than opening itself to be constituted out of the self-initiatives of these struggles.

ANOTHER FACE

But on the other hand the EFF has certainly emboldened activists amongst the working class – the platinum workers of the North West, the community activists in the Vaal and Sebokeng, and the those who fought the corruption in the ANC in Tlokwe and elsewhere.

Its approach to Parliament has for the first time given activists the sense that there isn’t simply a line of march that says that ‘organisations promise the world before elections, and then disappear once they get elected’. That reasoning appears to activists, until now, like a kind of iron law of elections.

This experience was confirmed by the ANC’s entry into parliament and even by the 20 COSATU leaders who accompanied them in 1994. Amongst many other things it was the dead weight of parliamentary procedures on the ANC and its integration into the machinery of the bourgeois state that made activists draw these conclusions – and they were not wrong.

We have seen from the decline in the percentage of people voting since 1994 – with almost half the adult population not voting and the ANC really only getting 36% of those eligible to vote – that possibly the EFF has the mandate to do what it is doing.

And it has been a very clever response. Because, being a small minority party the EFF was always in danger of being bogged down in parliamentary subcommittees and tied down in the dead weight of procedures and traditions. But by combining parliamentary involvement with extra-parliamentary action – like occupying the Gauteng parliamentary

building etc the EFF is doing the working class a service and showing the temerity of the ANC, COSATU and Cope etc before them and the lie that South Africa has a ‘people’s parliament’.

The EFF has also shown up the hypocracy of the liberal constitutionalists in the ANC, the DA and in media – that the speaker of the Gauteng parliament can disenfranchise people who voted for their EFF representatives but cannot express their will in parliament because of a dress code technicality!

The fact that they explicitly raised the fact that the ANC carried the responsibility for the murders at Marikana, and that they refused to apologise for this is to their credit.

They have also exposed the SACP and its claim to be a socialist organisation – the so-called ‘vanguard’. Now there is another voice calling itself socialist. This is healthy as it shows that organisations have to debate what socialism is and who best represents these desires amongst the working class.

SO WHERE TO NOW?

The two faces of the EFF are not likely to remain in harmony forever. Beyond its tactics of showing up the bourgeois nature of Parliament and appearing on all platforms where the working class is struggling it will be faced with a choice. Is the EFF in parliament an expression of a broader working class movement on the ground – in communities and workplaces all over the country – or is it merely a radical-populist parliamentary initiative using mass struggles as a negotiating tactic to win more space in parliament?

Is the EFF an expression of a new mass movement or is it a substitute for such a movement? Will the ANC Youth League alumni dominate or will the activists from working class communities, who are excited by the EFF’s rhetoric win the day? These will be important questions for activists to reflect on in the next period.

Lead Story

LACK OF

INTERNAL

DEMOCRACY

AND DEBATE

WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

International News

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WHY IS ISRAEL ATTACKING GAZA?

WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 86 | July 2014

The Israeli state’s continued oppression, with

backing of the United States (US), of the

Palestinian people has once again come into the

public eye. This time around the Israeli state has

launched a massive military attack, code-named

Operation Protective Edge, on Gaza.

ATTACKING GAZA

Israeli forces have bombed schools, hospitals, sewerage works, water treatment systems, and electricity infrastructure. There is no clean drinking water, blackouts are common and sewerage runs down Gaza’s streets.

So far, over 1 800 people in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military. Over 200 000 people (out of a population of 1.8 million) have become internal refugees. Many fled their homes to United Nation’s schools, only to be bombed by the Israeli military.

These attacks come on the back of similar attacks by the Israeli state in 2009, but also a blockade of Gaza by the Israeli and Egyptian states, which has been in place since 2007. Under the blockade, crossings in and out of Gaza have been closed. For most people it has been impossible to legally leave the territory. Even access by sea to and from Gaza is blocked by Israeli warships.

WHY THE ATTACKS AND BLOCKADE?

Most progressive activists agree that the Israeli state’s latest attack on Gaza, along with its blockade, need to be seen in the context of the ongoing Zionist colonial project in Palestine.

When the Israeli state was proclaimed in 1948 it seized 54% of Palestine and undertook a programme of ethnically cleansing Palestinians from this territory. Over the years the Israeli state has expanded further and now it controls all of historic Palestine: with even the tiny West Bank and Gaza being under occupation.

But while progressive commentators agree that the latest attacks on Gaza are part of a colonial project, there are differing views around what exactly are the long-term goals of the Israeli state and ruling class as read from the current attacks on Gaza.

PUNISHING GAZA FOR VOTING FOR HAMAS?

Many of the activists commentating on Gaza argue that the current attack on Gaza is about the Israeli state punishing the people of Gaza for a recent 2014 agreement forged between Fatah and Hamas. They point out that the blockade

of Gaza was put in place as soon as Hamas won the elections in 2007 and since then the people of Gaza have been collectively punished for not voting for Fatah – which is far more willing to comply with the demands of the Israeli state. Although Hamas, too, is controlled by a section of the Palestinian elite and has said on occasions it would accept a two state solution, it is far less compliant than Fatah.

ECONOMIC REASONS?

Some activists have argued that the Israeli state also has economic reasons for the current attacks. For many years the Palestinian working class has been a source of cheap labour for Israeli capitalists. Punishing the population of Gaza is about trying to ensure the people of Gaza turn their backs on Hamas, accept Israeli domination and that through this a source of cheap, compliant, Palestinian labour can be guaranteed to Israeli capitalists.

This argument also says that the Israeli state is destroying Gaza infrastructure, to ensure that it becomes completely dependent in the future on Israeli ‘imports’ – thereby ensuring a market for Israeli capitalists.

Large gas reserves have also been found off Gaza’s coast and the Israeli state’s attack is about securing this. Therefore, some activists argue, economic interests are also behind the attack on Gaza.

GENOCIDE?

Other activists argue that the current military operations against Gaza are even more sinister than this: they are based on genocide. People holding this view argue that the Israeli state plans to drive Palestinians out of the West Bank and Gaza altogether. Or they plan to forcefully hold Palestinians in tiny ghettoes – like the Nazi’s did to the Jewish population in Europe. Destroying Gaza’s infrastructure is about making life unbearable in these ghettoes.

They argue the walls in the West Bank and the Gaza blockade make it nearly impossible for Palestinians to work in Israel. In fact Palestinians are being replaced with cheap labour from Malaysia and Thailand. The Israeli state already controls Gaza and that it does not need to attack it to get its hands on the off-shore gas reserves. They, therefore, argue that the Israeli state is

Photo: Steven J Parkes, UK

4 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

Cultural Section

The song reads: The Alliance is killing us, brought us the e-Tolls.(Iyasibulala – it is killing us; Isiphathela – it brought us e-Tolls)‘Alliance’ (The Tripartite Alliance: the ANC; SACP and COSATU)

Lead singer: IyasibulalaRefrain: Iyasibulala i-Alliance IyasibulalaLead singer: IyasibulalaRefrain: Iyasibulala i-Alliance IyasibulalaLead Singer: IyasibulalaRefrain: Iyasibulala i-Alliance IyasibulalaLead singer: Isiphathel' ama-e-TollRefrain: Iyasibulala i-Alliance IyasibulalaLead singer: Isiphathel' ama-e-TollRefrain: Iyasibulala i-Alliance Iyasibulala

(REPEAT)

IYASIBULALA I-ALLIANCE(Struggle song sung at NUMSA Special Congress, December 2013)

iPalestine! Siyayithandazela Palestine we are praying for you

Sishay’idolo phantsi We are going on our knees

Siyayithandazela We pray for you

iIsrael! Siyayidunusela Israel, we are shunning you

Sishay’iduna duna We are giving you our backs

Siyayidunusela We are shunning you

NUMSA SOLIDARITY SONG WITH PALESTINE

iSABC siyayidunusela SABC we are shunning you

Sishaya’iduna duna We are giving you our backs

Siyayidunusela We are shunning you

iNUMSA le! Siyayithandazela NUMSA we are praying for you

Sishay’idolo phantsi We are going on our knees

Siyayithandazela We are praying for you

(CHORUS: REPEAT STANZA 3 TIMES) (CHORUS: REPEAT STANZA 3 TIMES)

(CHORUS: REPEAT STANZA 3 TIMES) (CHORUS: REPEAT STANZA 3 TIMES)

REPEAT SONG

PALESTINEFREE

5WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

The Marikana Massacre has fundamentally changed the politics of Post-Apartheid South Africa. The Marikana mine workers’ strike has inspired many sections of the working class – from mine workers and farm workers, to students across the country.

The wave of wildcat strikes from 2012 and 2013 has culminated in the first five months’ long miners’ strike in 2014 in the history of South Africa.

This year marks the second anniversary of the Marikana massacre with a range of events: from protest marches, demonstrations, sit-ins, film screenings, candle lightings and rallies across the country.

In Western Cape there is a build up events, many of them initiatives by churches, academics and students and other communities. In Cape Town a joint initiative under the slogan ‘We Are All Marikana’ by social movements, community organisations and trade unions came together in organising build-up events that will culminate in a rally in Marikana, an informal settlement in Philippi East.

INITIATIVES IN THE CITY AND SUBURBS

The events started with the projecting of images of Marikana in Church Square in the Cape Town CBD on the 7th August organised by African Arts Institute. The Screening of Miners Shot Down took place at Langa Multi- purpose Centre on the 9th August. The University of Cape Town Student Left Forum, with other student organisations, hosted a Sit-In on the 10th and 13th at Cavendish Mall. The 34 activists dressed in ‘We Are All Marikana’ T-shirts and mineworker helmets occupied the Mall for thirty minutes while others handed out pamphlets mobilising for a march.

A ‘Slow March’ of 34 people dressed as miners to St Georges Mall, with performance poetry

by local activist poets culminated in a musical show featuring Lingua Franca on the 14 August at St Georges Mall.

On Friday 15 August the joint initiatives staged a march to Parliament, specifically to the Portfolio Committee on Police calling for the arrest of those responsible for the Marikana Massacre. The march also demonstrated at the Cape Town Central South African Police Service against police brutality. The marches culminated in a candle light vigil on the Grand Parade.

MARCHES IN THE TOWNSHIPS

A march took place from Philippi train station to Philippi Police station to demand an end to police persecution of communities in the Cape Peninsula and the region at large.

The march culminated in a rally at the Marikana informal settlement where Marikana residents took up the stage to highlight their plight. They highlighted experiences with evictions, harassment and the confiscation of their belongings by SAPS and the Metro police. They also gave an update on their eviction case. The rally pledged solidarity with Marikana mine workers and their families and the Marikana community at large. The rally was

entertained by a variety of activities, poetry, local pop music and performing art.

In all of the events in Cape Town and the South Africa at large there are common demands directed to the South African government. These demands include decent houses, re-occupying our land, a living wage, safe public transport, not electricity price hikes, sanitation and many more.

The murder of 34 miner workers shot down on 16 August 2012 has become a symbol of police brutality. It is shocking to see that after two years of the Apartheid-execution-style killing of mine workers at Lonmin, not a single police officer, government official or Lonmin employee has been charged.

My Struggle

MARIKANA ANNIVERSARY: CAPE TOWN INITIATIVE

MARIKANA:

A SYMBOL

OF POLICE

BRUTALITY

There is still no one paying for the murder of 34 miners.

GLOBAL SOLIDARITY

From Marikana to London to Melbourne, across the world, South Africa’s first post-apartheid massacre is being commemorated with about 50 solidarity events: poetry, song, screenings of the multi-award winning film Miners Shot Down, lectures, exhibitions, mass rallies and marches. Two years after the state shot 34 miners at Marikana, little has changed on the platinum belt where a toxic brew of low wages, migrant labour, socio-economic neglect and repression brewed for years. Yet, according to the Marikana Support Campaign, the core events around Marikana should also be seen as a celebration of this year’s victorious AMCU platinum workers strike. Solidarity messages across the globe echoed those of the people of Marikana on August 16: NEVER AGAIN – We must never forget and we will honour the lives of the slain miners and their families. We demand justice.

LONDON

LUSAKA

DURBAN

AUSTRALIA

GERMANY

BLOEMFONTEIN

PHILLIPINES

CAPE TOWN

BULUWAYO

JOHANNESBURG

BELGIUM

LUSAKA

TEMBELAKHE MATI · HENDRICK TSIETSI MONENE · SELLO RONNIE LEPAAKU · HASSAN FUNDI · FRANS MABELANE · THAPELO ERIC MABEBE · SEMI JOKANISI · PHUMZILE SOKANYILE · ISAIAH TWALA · JULIUS LANGA · MOLEFI OSIEL NTSOELE · MODISAOTSILE VAN WYK SAGALALA · NKOSIYABO XALABILE · BABALO MTSHAZI · JOHN KUTLWANO LEDINGOANE · BONGANI NQONGOPHELE · CEBISILE YAWA · MONGEZELELI NTENETYA · HENRY MVUYISI PATO · NTANDAZO NOKAMBA · BONGANI MDZE · BONGINKOSI YONA · MAKHOSANDILE MKHONJWA · STELEGA GADLELA · TELANG VITALIS MOHAI · JANEVEKE RAPHAEL LIAU · FEZILE DAVID SAPHENDU · ANELE MDIZENI · MZUKISI SOMPETA · THABISO JOHANNES THELEJANE · MPHANGELI THUKUZA · THOBILE MPUMZA · MGCINENI NOKI · THOBISILE ZIMBAMBELE · THABISO MOSEBETSANE · ANDRIES MOTLAPULA NTSENYEHO · PATRICK AKHONA JIJASE · JULIUS TOKOTI MANCOTYWA · MICHAEL NGWEYI · JACKSON LEHUPA · KHANARE ELIAS MONESA · MPUMZENI NGXANDE · THEMBINKOSI GWELANI · DUMISANI MTHINTI · PAULINA MASUHLO · DALUVUYO BONGO · MAFOLISI MABIYA

Section Topic

WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

‘WE ALL CRY TOGETHER’

The women of Marikana were the first to do a symbolic site inspection of the Wonderkop area in early August. Under the banner of Sikhalo Sonke, they held a ‘speakout’ to share their personal stories. The message was clear: two years after the massacre very little has changed in painful existence of the women and broader community of Marikana. Sikhala Sonke’s chant – ‘we cry together’ – is an apt description for the women of Marikana. During the 2014 strike, despite the constant intimidation and repression by the platinum companies and the police, and the daily struggle for survival, solidarity amongst the women in the community was the norm. They have mobilised themselves into an organisation which calls for social justice and redress.

TWO YEARS AFTER MARIKANA

• On August 16, 2012 the police gunned down 34 striking miners in cold blood. Ten died in the week before.

• About 78 people were injured and 270 arrested, all of whom still face murder charges under the apartheid-style common purpose doctrine.

• The workers’ demand for R12 500 per month was not in vain – this year’s longest ever mining strike ended with a deal that makes this minimum living wage possible – but came with immense sacrifice.

• While the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the massacre drags on, the 44 families of slain miners remain as vulnerable as those falsely accused of the murder of their comrades.

“When there are houses for all people and we don’t have to live like this in shacks, when we are able to provide for ourselves and our families, this will be our freedom”.- Sikhala Sonke’s Thumeka Magwangqana

TEMBELAKHE MATI · HENDRICK TSIETSI MONENE · SELLO RONNIE LEPAAKU · HASSAN FUNDI · FRANS MABELANE · THAPELO ERIC MABEBE · SEMI JOKANISI · PHUMZILE SOKANYILE · ISAIAH TWALA · JULIUS LANGA · MOLEFI OSIEL NTSOELE · MODISAOTSILE VAN WYK SAGALALA · NKOSIYABO XALABILE · BABALO MTSHAZI · JOHN KUTLWANO LEDINGOANE · BONGANI NQONGOPHELE · CEBISILE YAWA · MONGEZELELI NTENETYA · HENRY MVUYISI PATO · NTANDAZO NOKAMBA · BONGANI MDZE · BONGINKOSI YONA · MAKHOSANDILE MKHONJWA · STELEGA GADLELA · TELANG VITALIS MOHAI · JANEVEKE RAPHAEL LIAU · FEZILE DAVID SAPHENDU · ANELE MDIZENI · MZUKISI SOMPETA · THABISO JOHANNES THELEJANE · MPHANGELI THUKUZA · THOBILE MPUMZA · MGCINENI NOKI · THOBISILE ZIMBAMBELE · THABISO MOSEBETSANE · ANDRIES MOTLAPULA NTSENYEHO · PATRICK AKHONA JIJASE · JULIUS TOKOTI MANCOTYWA · MICHAEL NGWEYI · JACKSON LEHUPA · KHANARE ELIAS MONESA · MPUMZENI NGXANDE · THEMBINKOSI GWELANI · DUMISANI MTHINTI · PAULINA MASUHLO · DALUVUYO BONGO · MAFOLISI MABIYA

WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

SIKHALA SONKE ‘WE CRY TOGETHER’

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Gender News

On 12 August 2014, the women of Sikhala Sonke (‘we cry together’), a grassroots organisation that formed shortly after the massacre of thirty-four striking mineworkers in August 2012 led a site inspection of Nkaneng in Marikana and a speak out to expose the

appalling living conditions that workers, their families and community members are subject to two years after the massacre.

Representatives from various state institutions were invited to the site inspection, as were organisations and movements to bear witness to the living conditions in. In Nkaneng, workers, their families and community members live in shacks, with irregular communal water supply, dirt roads, and no electricity. Pit latrines have recently been delivered to some houses, but it is alleged that only families politically aligned to the ANC are enjoying this public benefit.

Well over two years ago, the women of Marikana rose up to support their menfolk in their strike for a minimum wage of R12 500. Women made sure food was on the home table, and offered solidarity and support to their husbands, brothers and boyfriends. Within hours of the massacre, women were on the streets of Nkaneng and Wonderkop, demanding that the state account for the murderous actions of the police, and defending their community from further police

raids and brutality. It is from this organising that Sikhala Sonke was born.

The site inspection builds on eighteen months of efforts on the part of Sikhala Sonke to organise a local crèche, gardening project and piggery. These are micro-efforts with no support from government and minimal support from Lonmin, which aim to address the crisis of reproduction in Marikana, bearing down most heavily on women because of the gendered division of labour. This crisis has been exacerbated by the deep indebtedness of households which both informs and the wave of strike actions that has characterised the platinum belt in the past two years.

The women will continue to fight for justice as women and alongside their male comrades and family members.

The action of Sikhala Sonke in Marikana was supported by WoMin (a regional gender and extractives platform), the Benchmarks Foundation, Media for Justice, the Worker and Community Solidarity Committee, and the Marikana Support Campaign.

Women of Sikhala Sonke fight for justice. Photo: CSP-Conlutas

we cry

together

In the words of Thumeka Magwangqana one of the organisers of Sikhala Sonke:

“When there are houses for all people and we don’t have to live like this in shacks, when we are able to provide for ourselves and our families, this will be our freedom”.

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My Organisation

WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 86 | July 2014

MY ORGANISATION: THE KHUTSONG CRISIS COMMITTEE

The Khutsong Crisis Committee is a community based organization in Khutsong. The organization was formed after the Merafong Demarcation Forum collapsed in 2008. It is predominantly focusing on socio-economic trends. The organisation is fighting against corruption, maladministration in the municipality, service delivery and research.

Khutsong is a small township on the outskirts of Carletonville in the Gauteng Province. The area is surrounded by rich diamond mining companies, like the AngloGold Ashanti mine and Harmony, Sibanya and DRD. But historically disadvantaged communities like Khutsong, Wedela, Blybank and Welverdiend are not benefiting from these mines.

OTHER STRUGGLES

The Merafong Municipality has failed to implement the recommendations made by the Geo-Tech Science Investigation of December

2011 to prevent sinkhole formation on site. This must be correctly managed and installed in order to promote community safety and prevent damages to property.

Also the Merafong Ministerial Task Team and the Displaced Community Task Team have failed to communicate with the communities affected by the unrest during 2005 incorporation into North West. This was as a result of the Constitution Twelve Amendment

Act 2005 and cross boundary municipality related Act of 2005.

Fraudulent claims were made by councillors, ex-councillors, municipality officials and some ANC members, which cost the taxpayers R8 112 291.58 in 31 August 2011.

EVICTIONS IN KHUTSONG EXTENSION 2

Two families were evicted by the High Court Sheriff on 2 July 2014, for non-payment of their bond houses. On 6 December 2004, Mr Stephen Serongoane bought a bond house in cash from Albert C. Anderson of CC Trade 57. He entered into agreement of sale with the company. The company breached the agreement. He intends to claim recovery of damaged property and financial loss and trauma plus transport costs. The organisation requested the Legal Resource Centre to intervene into the matter. Nine other families are to follow suit.

Fruitless and wasteful expenditure and fraudulent claims by Councillors, ex-Councillors, municipal officials and some community members of the ruling party that cost the taxpayers R8 112 291,58 (31/08/2011).

R8 MILLION

TAXPAYERS

MONEY USED

FRAUDULENTLY

The fraudulent claims made by Councillors, ex-Councillors, municipal officials and some community members of the ruling party:

• Fruitless expenditure at the tune of R260 000 paid to 26 families – each paid R10 000.

• Contents and trauma that costs the taxpayers

the amount of R8 112 291,58.

The Khutsong community affected were excluded from the process, some of them are:

• Mr Lawrence Masiu – gunshot rubber bullet sustained on left eye and traumatic. The attempted murder case was opened and registered with Khutsong SAPS under case number 47/07/2006. He attended his treatment at Chris Hani Hospital and St John’s Eye Clinic.

• Tshiamo Divane (8 yrs then) – suffering from chest problem after apparently inhaling teargas. He suffered from bronduotis. Eye reddish. The police shot teargas in the house and there were damages that occurred and expenses incurred.

• Ambulance charges expenses.

• Doctors payments.

• Glass repairs and other house appliances broken by actions of the police.

• Traumatic situation the families found themselves in case number 263/02/2006.

• Popiki Stehina Modise (55 yrs) residing at house number 6442 Khutsong Ext 3. TL 21251/93. Mr Maboe fraudulently claimed

on her behalf the amount of R71 400 and R 10 000 for relocation, R50 000 for trauma and other amount for the contents.

• Merafong Municipality is negligent.

• Happy Mekwe (21 yrs then). Assault GBH and hitting with the firearm by Cllr Kenneth Fote. Cr 01/03/2006.

• Mcebisi Xhungu (10 yrs then) suffered from rubber bullet wound. Cr 125/06/2008.

• Shooting in public place and posing threats – Cllr J. Ramokgwatedi.

The government has not just used the violence of guns and rubber bullets to silence the community. There is also a number of traumatizing serious cases reported to the police and ICD without success/redress. We want the matter to be investigated as special fruitless expenses and fraudulant claims made cost the taxpayers lots of money: R8 112 291,58 and R260 000 and why the affected community is not consulted or the matter made known to the community. Why are they excluded from the processes?

(For more information contact Mzwandile Maila)

10 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 86 | July 2014

‘A twenty thousand-strong united front of workers and peasants was organised against militarism’

ITALY'S RED WEEK, 1914The United Front tactic – aimed at uniting masses of workers in action and winning Communist leadership for the working class – was adopted as policy by the Communist International (Comintern) in 1921. We will discuss this tactic in a later article in this series.

However, there are important examples of working class unity in action which predate Comintern policy. One example is the united front to defend the gains of the February Revolution from a military coup in Russia in 1917, which will be discussed in the next article in this series.

Before looking at this, however, there is another example of proletarian unity in action – that didn’t seek to win Communist leadership – which warrants attention; that of a revolutionary worker-peasant alliance. This conception of united front action found expression in Italy’s anti-militarist ‘red blocs’ and it is to these that we now turn.

EDUCATIONAL SERIES PART 2

'

PRELUDE TO REBELLION

In the early 1900s, there was strong worker and peasant opposition to Italian colonialism and military involvement in Eritrea, Abyssinia and Libya, and to the repression of the Italian working class by the state’s armed forces. Workers and peasants saw that, although soldiers came mostly from the working class and peasantry, the military and its colonial adventures only served the interests of the ruling class in its search for new markets and new sources of cheap labour and raw materials – as well as to suppress local working class struggles.

However, divisions emerged in the Italian socialist movement between its rank-and-file and the Italian Socialist Party’s (PSI) reformist leaders, who rejected revolution – represented by anarchists, Bolsheviks and syndicalists – in favour of a gradual electoral transition to socialism. Shortly before Italy invaded Libya in 1911, the PSI’s youth wing, the Italian Socialist Youth Federation – which rejected ‘reformism’ – met with syndicalist youth organisations and agreed to co-operate in anti-war efforts. This co-operation, extended to anarchist youth as well, laid the basis for an anti-militarist united front or ‘red bloc’.

1914 RED WEEK'

By 1914, a twenty thousand-strong united front of workers

and peasants from different political tendencies was organised against

militarism. On Constitution Day, June 7 1914, this anti-militarist

front organised a national demonstration against militarism and war.

Fearing this front could lay the basis for a revolutionary ‘Red bloc’ the

government ordered troops to suppress the protests. Clashes between

troops and anti-militarists erupted leaving three workers dead.

The proletariat took to the streets in response and rebellion engulfed the

country. Before the dominant General Confederation of Labour (CGL) had

responded, the Italian Syndicalist Union and Chamber of Labour called a

general strike. Dock and rail workers asserted their power in a crippling

wave of protests and 50 000 workers marched in Turin in ‘iron ranks of

class solidarity’ when the CGL joined the call.

Although the socialist leadership had been divided over the call for a general strike the masses embraced it with revolutionary fervour. Barricades sprang up in the northern industrial centres. Self-governing communes were declared in smaller towns and government officials forced to flee. About a million people participated and for ten days the city of Ancona was under the control of rebel workers and peasants.

The uprising, called the ‘Red week’, differed from previous uprisings in extent and intensity – it spread across the country from north to south, in cities and countryside, and was offensive rather than defensive in nature. Many workers and peasants believed that revolution was possible and pushed to realise it.

BETRAYAL AND COLLAPSE

However, the reformists restated their view that socialism wouldn’t be achieved by the masses’ revolutionary impulses

and rejected the need for a revolutionary rupture. They believed that the working class was not ready for socialism, that its ‘impulsiveness’ was harmful and that socialists should ‘educate and civilise’ the proletariat in order to prepare it for a gradual transition to socialism.

On seeing the situation develop into a potentially revolutionary uprising that they could not contain, the CGL called off the strike after two days – over workers’ heads and without consulting the PSI or other working class formations. In doing so they gagged the most conscious and rebellious working class militants and the revolutionary movement collapsed. Although ten thousand troops where needed to regain control of Ancona and in Marcas and Romagna anarchists, revolutionary

11WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

socialists and Republicans maintained their posts in the streets, side-by-side, for a few days more.

ALTERNATIVE ENDING

However, not everyone shared this view and some socialists did believe that the masses were ready for and capable of

revolution and that this was how socialism would come about.

Errico Malatesta, an anarchist leader of the uprising, pleaded with workers not to obey the CGL’s order to end the strike; believing instead that the monarchy was collapsing and that revolution was indeed possible. For revolutionaries like Malatesta socialism would be achieved not through class compromise and elections, but through a working class revolution from below. Through the self-activity and self-organisation of the masses. For them socialists should encourage and stimulate this working class self-organisation and self-activity in preparation for

the revolution, which would be cultivated by constant use of the strike

weapon, culminating in a revolutionary general strike.

For these revolutionaries, the lesson of the Red Week is that the working

class can be revolutionary and that it is strongest on its own terrain;

outside and against the state. Rather than being harnesses to and held

back by electoral parties it should organise independently as a class,

across ideological lines, to overthrow the state and capitalism and

replace them with directly democratic organs of working class

self-governance.

After the Red Week uprising had been suppressed Malatesta declared,

‘Now... We will continue more than ever full of enthusiasm, acts of will,

of hope, of faith. We will continue preparing the liberating revolution,

which will secure justice, freedom and well-being for all.’

This is the second of a 6-part Educational series.

‘...the working class can be revolutionary and that it is strongest on its own terrain; outside and against the state...’

EDUCATIONAL SERIES

CONSTITUTION DAY:

20 000 WORKERS

AGAINST MILITARY TROOPS

3 WORKERS DEAD

SOCIALISM

ACHIEVED

THROUGH A

REVOLUTION

FROM BELOW

12 WORKERS WORLD NEWS | No. 87 | August 2014

Back Page

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The site will allow viewers to find out more about ILRIG, its history, staff and board. It provides an interactive space for interested people to engage

with ILRIG’s work on globalisation – read articles, contribute to discussion, and order publications. Website members will receive regular updates on

issues of interest.

021 447 6375 info@ilrig.org.za Room 14, Community House

41 Salt River RoadILRIGSA / Workers World News ILRIGSA

public

forumILRIG hosts a monthly public forum, creating the space for activists from

the labour and social movements and other interested individuals to debate

current issues.

All public forums are held every last Thursday of the month at Community House, 41 Salt River Rd, Woodstock from 6-8pm. Transport home and

refreshments are provided.

EFF: What do they bring to movement building?

upcomingforums

28 August

25 september

What is a movement for socialism?

UNITING OUR STRUGGLES: BUILDING A NEW MASS MOVEMENT ILRIG has been hosting the School since 2001. Over that time we can discern three phases.

In the first Phase we were trying to unmask globalisation to a movement which then largely consisted of older activists who looked to the Tripartite Alliance for its politics. Within this movement ILRIG considered that it was possible to develop critical thinking within COSATU and that focusing on Globalisation was a vehicle to understand the major changes that had happened to capitalism globally since the 1980s, including the ANC’s adoption of neoliberalism.

That old movement is now not only dead but its leading cadre are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

Then there was a second phase of the ILRIG Globalisation Schools – roughly from the 2005 School – where we attempted to work with a new layer of activists, whilst keeping one eye on the possibilities of revival amongst the older trade union activists. Amongst these activists there was still the task of helping

all of us to understand neoliberalism in all its manifestations and even (by 2007) that an Alternative to neoliberal capitalism was possible and necessary.

And then came Marikana.

Now it is clear that we have a new movement – completely outside of, and in opposition to, the Alliance. Activists today do not need to be convinced that capitalism is bad, that neo-liberalism is the worse kind of capitalism, and that the ANC is the party of the rich – with its allies along for the ride. They know this already.

But this new movement has activists grappling with many new questions: how to we unite? How do we sink deeper roots into our communities and workplaces? What role is there for politics? How do we build women’s leadership?

Now the School speaks to a new movement and we have to learn about all our different initiatives even while we are trying to add something from our knowledge of other struggles.

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU

WWN was revamped into a new format last month. WWN brings you more international, local and educational content. A space for poetry, movie reviews, songs etc has also been created.

We have a vision of increasingly hearing your voices in future editions: write to us info@ilrig.org.za or join our Facebook discussions: ILRIGSA or Twitter: #ILRIGSA. Join our Facebook Group: Workers World News.

We would also like your feedback on the new series. Please feel free to make suggestions.

Globalisation School 201405 October to 10 October 2014Ritz Hotel, Sea Point, Cape Town