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.”
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This article previously appeared in Peoples Dispatch.
Dr. Jemima Pierre is a Black Agenda Report editor and contributor.
Alec Karakatsanis is an attorney with a long history of work as a public defender.
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