[Thanks to Gill for this excellent link to a speech given by the president of the National Union of Metalworkers of S.Afric.

He refers to the late Joe Slovo, the White Communist (said to hold the rank of Colonel in the KGB), who was also the head of the S.African Communist Party for many years. The ANC made him the Minister of Housing when they came to power. Slovo was the mastermind behind much of the ANC’s strategy. Look at how these blacks still look to his communist writings for direction. The website this comes from is worth a visit. You will see the red communist star logo. Note, the S.African Communist Party was present at this meeting.

But most importantly, I wanted people to see that Democracy – so-called Democracy – is the path forward to Socialism – communism actually. Democracy does not mean we won’t become communist – as the Liberals suppose – but in fact the opposite. The Communists are confident they can manipulate us towards socialism through this fake democracy which we have.

Note too, the mention that, 1994 was not the end of the road. As the former White govt said many times – the revolution in S.Africa will be a Two Stage Revolution. First – political power. Second – Economic control – they seize all the means of production. That is already happening – but they use beautiful phrases to hide the process. It is called: “Land Reform”, “Affirmative Action”, “Racial Quotas – for equal representation”, etc. This hides the real purpose. The real purpose, as I have said so many times, is not do help the Blacks, but to destroy the Whites. The Blacks in their turn will get virtually nothing out of this. They will starve to death one day – and only a handful of the Political Elite of the ANC will control all the wealth and power in this country. Jan]

Speech Addressed by President Mtutuzeli Tom
By: NUMSA on September 20, 2004

Comrade delegates,
National Office Bearers of the Federation;
Invited National and International guests;
Leaders of COSATU Affiliates;
Members of the National Executive Committee of the ANC,
Leaders of the South African Communist Party;
Formations of the MDM and Non-Governmental Organisations.

I take this opportunity as the National President of Metalworkers to welcome you to the 7 th National Congress of this Union.

I also want to believe that your presence and contributions in this Congress will enrich the debates that we will have here on the vexing questions of the day that do not only confront ourselves, but the entire body of the democratic movement.

Allow me, Comrades, to preface my speech to this important 7 th Parliament of Metal Workers by reminding ourselves about what trade unions are all about.

I choose to quote Comrade Joe Slovo, that staunch Marist-Leninist revolutionary leader of our movement. He once had this to say about trade unions:

œA trade union is the prime mass organisation of the working class. To fulfill its purpose, it must be as broad as possible and fight to maintain its legal status. It must attempt, in the first place, to unite, on an industrial basis, all workers (at whatever level of political consciousness) who understand the elementary need to come together and defend and advance their economic conditions. It cannot demand more as a condition of membership. But because the state and its political and repressive apparatus is an instrument of the dominant economic classes, it is impossible for trade unions in any part of the world to keep out of the broader political conflict.

Comrades, as we carry out the important work of this Congress, I recommend that we keep these important words in our mind.

What are the issues you will find in the Secretariat report for this 7 th National Congress?

Politically, we will debate in this Congress, how we characterise the National Democratic Revolution during this juncture.
I must also spell out that on this issue, none of us must think that the revolutionary sweet sounding phrases of those who neither know nor care to learn the real history of the revolutionary origins of NUMSA will take them anywhere in NUMSA; the Congress tradition expressed from a working class perspective will remain our sounding board as Metalworkers.

We owe no one an apology in this regard and we will therefore not play to the gallery of false sounding phrases to deny ourselves our own history, to satisfy those who do not belong anywhere. For the record, we un-ashamedly belong to the National Liberation Movement and its revolutionary, democratic Congress traditions.

Perhaps it is timely, at this moment, to once again borrow from the thoughts of one of our own movement™s great revolutionary thinkers, Comrade Joe Slovo.

Comrade Slovo was writing in 1988, on the difficult and complex matter of the dialectical relationship between the class and national question in South Africa .

In the document titled œ The South African Working Class and the National Democratic Revolution Comrade Slovo had this to say, among other things:

œThe shortest route to socialism in our country is via a democratic state. But it will be a democratic state which will at once be required to implement economic measures which go far beyond bourgeois-democracy. These economic measures, dictated by the most elementary objectives of our national liberation struggle, will erect a favourable framework for a socialist transformation but will not, in themselves, create, or necessarily lead to, socialism.

Further, he warns us;

œIf we pose the question by asking only whether our struggle is a national struggle or a class struggle, we will inevitably get a wrong answer. The right question is: what is the relationship between these two categories? A failure to understand the class content of the national struggle and the national content of the class struggle in existing conditions can hold back the advance of both the democratic and socialist transformations which we seek.

Comrade Slovo accurately explained how White, racist Apartheid capitalist domination exploited Black people:

œNational domination is maintained by a ruling class whose state apparatus protects the economic interests and social privileges of all classes among the white minority. It denies the aspiration of the African people towards a single nationhood and, in its place, attempts to perpetuate tribalism and ethnicity. These, and a host of related practices, are the visible daily manifestations of national domination. These practices affect the status and life of every black in every class.

And more importantly, Comrade Slovo says:

œIt is, however, the black working class which, in practice, suffers the most intense form of national domination. And those who dismiss the fight against national domination as the key immediate mobilizing factor of our working class are living in an unreal world of their own.

I have chosen to quote Comrade Slovo quite extensively because not only was he a powerful leading revolutionary theorist of the Liberation Movement as a whole, but because he also lived the struggle with us; he was an intrinsic part of our struggle for class, gender and national emancipation. And he was a Socialist.

Today there are those who want us to interpret, mechanically, the democratic breakthrough of 1994 as the end of the struggle for national liberation. These Comrades mistake their emotional impatience with capitalism for correct revolutionary activism against capitalism. They want to quickly bypass the necessary national, gender and class struggles we must wage against capitalism before our final victory.

We invite these comrades of ours to revisit again, the massive wealth of intellectual thought on these matters among the literature of our movement.

We in NUMSA must harbour no illusions; we are completely aware that the NDR is a hotly contested terrain of struggle between and among all the oppressed classes that formed the liberation movement.

If we, the working class, want to be the leading, motive force for social transformation in South Africa , and advance to Socialism, we must earn this position in the struggle; it is not guaranteed!

I invite all of us, from whatever tendencies we may belong for the moment, to freely use this parliament to do battle over these important ideas. Let this Congress be a vibrant forum for real ideological and political debates, to advance our class struggle!

Organisationally, we have consolidated our gains in the battles that we have been waging with our real class enemy – capital. We have always been clear, at the ideological level, that the battles to defend our democratic gains must be fought with big capital. To do otherwise as others would have wanted us to do, will be class suicide.
Where do we come from?

Yesterday, very few of us wanted to be associated with an organisation in crisis, today everyone wants to be associated with our successes.

Yesterday we had the prophets of doom claiming that NUMSA was history, gone and would never recover, today, we are strong, militant and able to play our role in society.

Yesterday, no one was willing to bail us out from our financial and organisational crisis, today; we have made it on our own.

Yesterday, we were 8 million rands in the red, at anytime to be liquidated, today, we can proudly say that we are worth 28 million rands in assets.

Yesterday, very few wanted to lead this union, today everyone wants to become a leader.

Yesterday, we could not confidently take head-on employers; today NUMSA is able to wage successful battles and is winning.

Yesterday, we had no strong leadership and a centre holding together today the centre leads.

Lastly, yesterday, we were not a factor in international trade union issues, today; NUMSA receives accolades in the international trade union movement.

We have made it, and we will continue doing so for decades to come.

We must however note the following weaknesses:

That in some of our Regions, a view exist that NUMSA is a Federal Union which allows Regions to claim conveniently, independence from the National Union ;
What we must also acknowledge that our socio-economic and political development as Regions impacts on the manner in which we relate to the National Union , its leadership and structures. Whereas we may claim that we have dealt with the demon of ethnicity and racism in the Union, do not be surprised that it finds expressions in some of our Regions when it comes to nominating leadership in the Union, rather than focusing on substance and theoretical maturity of that leadership;
Sometimes an attempt in many cases is made to vulgarise worker control as a concept where workers have complete control over un-elected and elected Officials in the Union . On the contrary those who propagate this view, take instructions from the very same Officials who should be controlled;
In some of the resolutions, you will realise that the issue is not worker control per se, but an individual amassing power for its own sake and for his own sake.
Some of the constitutional amendments suggested are but an attempt to completely change the organisational character of the Union .

On the Socio-Economic issues:

When we ushered a democratic government in 1994, it was on the basis that it would begin to deal with the Socio-economic imbalances of the past through the instruments of the RDP, namely

Developing a strong industrial strategy to expand sustainable labour “ intensive sectors and broaden ownership and control.
Encouraging new centres of capital, particularly through the public sector and co-ops as well as small enterprise, and expanding the access of the majority to productive assets and skills;
Restructuring the productive sectors of the economy to expand domestic production and consumption;
Improving infrastructure and government services to the poor;

With the advent of GEAR, the government macro-economic policy, we saw a shift towards conservative thinking on macro-economics, in contrast to the expansionary framework envisaged in the RDP.

We should, however, interrogate whether what we have observed in the recent past signifies that there has been a fundamental shift, as witnessed in the ANC Policy conference leading up to the 51 st National Conference of the movement.

In this Congress, it is important that delegates contend with the following issues;

Has there been a shift to left-leaning policies as I have alluded to?
What are the elements of these shifts in government policies?
How do we take advantage of this environment as the Labour Movement to strengthen working class power?
In this discussion, how do we navigate through the complex, dynamic and yet hostile international capitalist environment?

The essence of my analysis is, whilst the movement deals with issues related to socio-economic upliftment of the so called poorest of the poor, is it doing this within the constrains of the macro-economic policy, GEAR, or have we shifted gear to a policy that is left-leaning, expansionary, to deal with the apartheid legacy?

On the International issue:

The inconsistency of leadership in the Union led to International Trade Unions viewing NUMSA as unstable, unable to provide leadership on the issues affecting the International Trade Union Movement.

In the World Social Forum in Brazil , with organisational stability achieved since 2000, I addressed an international forum dealing with the (152)˜relationship between Trade Unions and Political Movements.

I am convinced that Brazilians / Cubans / Indians / the Swedes / the Germans / the IMF in Africa and globally will attest to the recognition that NUMSA has on an international level played a significant role in parts of Africa, and progressive unionism throughout the world.

I trust that you will find this National Congress exciting, and that it will leave up to your expectations; we are here, together with all of you Comrades, to provide leadership. That we cannot fail.

On the need to renew our revolutionary credentials

Allow me, Comrades, to return to the quote I begun with, from Comrade Slovo:

œ A trade union is the prime mass organisation of the working class. To fulfill its purpose, it must be as broad as possible and fight to maintain its legal status. It must attempt, in the first place, to unite, on an industrial basis, all workers (at whatever level of political consciousness) who understand the elementary need to come together and defend and advance their economic conditions. It cannot demand more as a condition of membership. But because the state and its political and repressive apparatus is an instrument of the dominant economic classes, it is impossible for trade unions in any part of the world to keep out of the broader political conflict.

I wish to report to this important Congress that your national leadership which you elected at the 6 th Congress in Mafikeng has maintained the legal status of NUMSA.

Working under extremely difficulty circumstances, your national leadership has sustained very reasonable levels of unity in NUMSA.

The national leadership has ensured that NUMSA continues to be the metal workers union of choice of all metal workers, irrespective of their level of political consciousness.

But also equally important, NUMSA has consistently guaranteed full revolutionary participation of workers in the liberation movement, in COSATU, and in the SACP.

It is impossible to sustain all this without a committed and revolutionary regional and local leadership. This Congress must help all of us to rededicate ourselves to the difficulty, thankless task of building our union.

It is our revolutionary duty; all of us in NUMSA, in between Congresses, to do everything possible to ensure that our leadership at all levels of the organisation perform their duties with minimum problems. Only by doing so can we grow our union.

It is our revolutionary duty to defend and protect the integrity of our union from reckless and careless negative media publicity. We all must know that our media in South Africa is yet to fully transform itself from its old anti-liberation, anti-working class roots.

Towards the SADTU / NUM / NEHAWU National Congresses, faceless sources pump the media with information that the leadership in these Unions is corrupt. When confronted in the constitutional structures of these Unions to provide facts to substantiate their allegations, they bury their heads in the sand.

We also know who wrote a newspaper article for the Beeld and the Sunday Sun undermining the decision of the NEC and who delivered this release to the Star, Beeld and Sunday Sun;

The Beeld, an Afrikaans newspaper was yesterday an instrument used by the white minority regime to destroy the trade union movement in our country. Some of you may recall that the bombing of COSATU House in the middle of the 80™s was proceeded by public statements from the regime in racist leaning newspapers that the Federation was not in essence a Labour Federation, but a conduct for communists and terrorist bent on taking over South Africa. Today there are those within our ranks who provide the very same newspapers with information about issues not meant for the public, but to discredit image of the National Union .

Let me state the following as the President of this Union , we are not answerable to the Beeld, neither do we account to faceless and power mongering sources. We account and only we do to members of the National Union . We have done so in our constitutional structures, we will do the same in this 7 th National Congress.

To our surprise, none of those ex-employees from National Springs who claimed that they were not paid, have up to now come forward to the National Union to lay their claims. Why, who is using them? What is his agenda and who is he/she working for?

It is not a mark or a sign of great leadership qualities to aim to destroy individuals when we aspire for leadership ourselves. There is nothing revolutionary about waging a ruthless personal character assassination campaign against fellow comrades in the union. Such conduct must be left where it belongs “ among right wing political candidates.

We must never be afraid to differ, ideologically, politically, and theoretically with any Comrade. Whenever we can, we must use all the opportunities available to us in the structures of the union. This is our democratic right in the union.

We must, however, at all times defend the integrity of all our constitutional offices and structures. This is our revolutionary duty.

I am satisfied that NUMSA is primed, ready to do battle with the bosses, at all times, and shall remain a revolutionary, united and strong trade union, because of all the work this 7 th Congress will perform.

Allow me, then, on behalf of the NOB™s, to officially declare that the 7 th NUMSA National Congress should proceed as decided by the NUMSA Central Committee.

Thank you for listening to me.

Mtutuzeli Tom,
NUMSA President.

Source: National Union of Metal Workers of S.Africa
URL: http://www.numsa.org.za/article.php?cat=day1&…/p>