Relations within alliance strained, admits ANC

By M.S. Prabhakara

CAPE TOWN, OCT. 16. For perhaps the first time, the African National Congress (ANC) has openly acknowledged the ``strained relations'' within the ruling tripartite alliance, comprising itself, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), relating them to ``a range of ideological, policy, strategic, structural and tactical differences'' among the partners of the alliance.

The ANC is holding meetings with its regional and branch leadership countrywide on ``the state of the organisation's alliance'' with the SACP and Cosatu. The decision to hold such meetings ``to facilitate discussion among the ANC members on the challenges facing the tripartite alliance'' was taken by the ANC's national executive committee, the party's highest policy- making body, recently. The NEC will also be having ``a series of bilateral meetings'' with the SACP and Cosatu, ahead of an alliance summit expected to be held before the end of this year.

These organisational discussions within the tripartite alliance are taking place against the background of what the ANC openly admits as ``a period of strained relations between the member organisations of the alliance''.

Two documents on the state of the tripartite alliance in the latest issue of the ANC's online weekly journal, ANC Today, based on the deliberations of the NEC, frankly discuss the differences among the components of the alliance that have given rise to these ``strained relations''. Though this is not the first time that components of the alliance have openly spoken of such problems, the two documents identify some of the political and organisational issues that have given rise to these ``strained relations'', as well as attributing these to specifically identified structures within the alliance.

For instance, according to document one, these tensions ``were brought to a head'' by Cosatu's general strike against the Government's programme of restructuring State assets, which coincided with South Africa's hosting of the World Conference against Racism in Durban. However, it also acknowledges that the strike itself took place against the backdrop of problems in the alliance ``for at least the last five years'', arising out of ``a range of ideological, policy, strategic, structural and tactical differences''.

In essence, these differences relate to the yet to be completed task facing the democratic government, the National Democratic Revolution (NDR). Everyone agrees that the demise of the apartheid regime and the democratic transition has created conditions to facilitate the NDR; but differences do exist, both in respect of the content of the envisaged NDR as well as the strategy and tactics of achieving that objective.

For instance, did the struggle to achieve the NDR, an admittedly multi-class undertaking related to issues of nationalism and democracy, also have a socialist component and so necessarily also involve ``class struggle''? How does one view the process of ``black empowerment'' that is supported on all sides in this larger context of growing class contradictions within the black, indeed, black African people?

These issues are indeed constantly debated within the alliance; they figure prominently in every important document.

A crucial passage in document two gives an indication of what the ANC leadership's present thinking of the linkages of the struggles for nationalism and democracy, and class struggle - a historically given linkage during the liberation struggle. ``The NEC identified an increasing tendency within the SACP, Cosatu and even the ANC to try to `detach' the working class and working class struggles from the broad multi-class struggle for national liberation. All of these aims are pursued under the banner of ``taking forward working class struggles''.

It warned of the dangers of this approach. Lessons from other struggles teach us that the surest way to defeat the working class is to fight a pure class struggle.''

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Section  : International
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