Over a thousand gathered in Johannesburg to attend the Launch Congress of the party which seeks to build socialism in South Africa
“We are serious about the Revolution.”
“Equality, work and land” is the slogan of the new radical political party in South Africa that seeks to revolutionize South African politics and contest elections this coming May. The Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) held its launch congress from April 4-6 in Johannesburg, South Africa with attendance from over a thousand of the party’s militants and cadre from distinct provinces from across the country, as well as international guests from countries such as Zambia, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, Morocco, and Nepal.
The Congress was dedicated to “Fieldmore” Mapeto Baldwin Langa, a member of NUMSA, who passed in August 2018. Fieldmore was a lifelong communist and internationalist, when he was just 17 he joined uMkhonto weSizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress during the anti-apartheid struggle. Fieldmore was forced into exile and on his return to South Africa in 1994, he became a key activist and intellectual in NUMSA and was central to the union’s political education program.
“Today we commit ourselves to the long and winding road of class struggle.”
The party stated in its dedication: “With the revolutionary spirit of Fieldmore Mapeto alive in us all, today we commit ourselves to the long and winding road of class struggle as we launch the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party. We openly declare for all the world to know that we as Socialists are committed to building the organization of a revolutionary working class.A class aware of its own interests. A class that will overthrow the capitalist parasites. A working class that will seize power for the project of building Socialism, in which no human will be exploited by another.”
During the three days of work, delegates heard from different members of the Interim Working Committee of the Party such as the convenor of the SRWP, Irvin Jim. In his address, Jim remarked on the path that brought them where they are today and why the creation of this party today in South Africa is so essential.
Delegates were reminded that in 2012, the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), sparked by the atrocities of the Marikana Massacre, began to chart a new course in South African politics. NUMSA left the African National Congress (ANC)-Led Alliance and embarked on a process to form an independent trade union federation as well as a Workers’ Party.
“We openly declare for all the world to know that we as Socialists are committed to building the organization of a revolutionary working class.”
In 2017, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) was officially launched with over 700,000 members and in April 2018 they held one of the largest national strikes in South Africa’s recent history demanding just labor laws and an increase to the national minimum wage.
In 2018, the goal of creating a workers’ party was also fulfilled. The party was officially registered with the Electoral Commission of South Africa in September and in December 2018, the first national meeting of the newly formed SRWP in Johannesburg South Africa on December 14 and 15.
On the second day of work, the delegates split up into different commissions to work on the different issues of the political platform including (education, health, housing, work, etc.), as well the different founding documents of the party.
The SRWP will emerge from this Launch Congress with a political platform, a constitution, a manifesto debated on and defined by its grassroots, as well as elected authorities of the party. They plan to contest the upcoming elections and are certain that the South African working class is ready for a party that promises to upturn the current capitalist systemthat has made so many South Africans suffer.
NUMSA President Andrew Chirwa addressed the Congress and stated: “This is not a party for reform. This is a party for communists. We are serious about the Revolution. We are a party for SOCIALISM and nothing else.”
COMMENTS?
Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport
Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com
This article previously appeared in Peoples Dispatch.
This week, we hear about an ongoing court case involving the CUNY 8 and Palestine solidarity protest. But first, we speak with Omali Yeshitela of the Uhuru 3, who were recently sentenced to probation…
Chairman Omali Yeshitela and the Uhuru 3 were convicted of conspiracy in a federal case alleging that they acted under the direction of the Russian government. They were recently sentenced to…
Nora Fayad, one of the CUNY 8 arrested and charged with felony burglary and accused of attempting to enter a campus building without permission, joins us to discuss their court case.
Daniel Penny’s acquittal was not surprising, and neither is Mayor Eric Adams' defense of Penny and law enforcement power being used against Black people.
“I have come to you tonite not just for the stoppage of nuclear proliferation, nuclear plants, nuclear bombs, nuclear waste, but to stop the proliferation of nuclear minds….”
