Revolutionary greetings
I hope this letter finds you well and in good spirit. Please embrace my revolutionary gratitude.
My conversation with you is not the last but the first of a series, it is also not the titan of them all, but a continuation of the battle of ideas, which you and me, and many of our comrades and friends across our country, have over the years cultivated into a tradition.
The gratitude of this conversation is all about who we are and what we want to be. It is about our determination to be true apostles of our revered culture and traditions, of achieving the objectives of our revolutionary struggle.
I refer with to the gratitude of the robust moments of our times, as we continue to share our common aspirations, for the fulfilment of this noble objective.
What is really inspiring me is how we have chosen to embrace the strength of our differences on a wide range of fundamental issues, and therefore to build on a solid foundation of a tradition of debate, to find solutions for the prevailing material conditions of our time.
I am writing this letter deeply worried by the unfolding political and socio-economic manifestations in our country. My thoughtful insight is that our national democratic revolution is at the brink of a catastrophe.
The sorry state of affairs within the ranks of our Movement and the difficult socio-economic conditions facing our people bear testimony. Our revolution is going through very turbulent waters, and it is a litmus test.
Our beloved Liberation Movement is steadily becoming unable to demonstrate its resilience to adapt to the new realities of our transition to democracy. I will say it is true that empires and civilisations contain the seeds of their own destruction.
For over a century, the people of our country entrusted the leadership of our Movement, with the political responsibility to steer forward the objectives of our struggle. They bestowed this task confident that we are the only Movement, capable of carrying their interests and aspirations to the logical conclusion.
Our forebears have distinguished themselves in shaping up to the high demands of this task. They were unwavering in their determination to free our people from the yoke of imperialism and apartheid colonial subjugation. They did so with great resolve and a strong sense of purpose to achieve the objectives of our struggle for freedom.
The principal question becomes to be what is to be done in order to salvage the current sad situation. For that we need a greater understanding of the complex nature of the tasks at hand.
Philosophers have written thousands of manuscripts and fascinating episodes about the important question of the evolution of human society, its past and present. They have written volumes of untold episodes about how our mother earth has been turned into a graveyard of great empires and civilisations, as they rise and fall.
Generations have gathered knowledge and wisdom about how empires and civilisations began, how they became powerful, but eventually became decadent and faded away. What remains before our eyes is how history judges their legacy, as many are no more there, but only they have become the melancholic relics of their glory.
From antiquity to our modern day, generations have followed the path of this great leap, gathering knowledge and wisdom about the ethos of such an illuminating history. The history about who we are and how we have evolved to be.
The imperialist empire continues to wage a savage war against the majority of the people of the world. Obliterating millions of people to the dungeons of poverty and inequality.
The question we must all ask ourselves is whether we are on the same page, whether we appreciate the significance of this great civilisation in our hands. Whether we appreciate its necessity to contribute towards the revolutionary task of the development of human society.
I refer to the revolutionary pathways of our people to transform the socio-economic relations of our society based on the values of peace and solidarity. The long journey of our struggle for the attainment of a non racial, non sexist, democratic and prosperous world of humanity.
I must say that it will be ignorant of our generation not to see it through, not to understand the fundamental question, that great empires and civilisations, are not conquered from without, until they have destroyed themselves from within. This was also the insight of the longest serving President of the ANC, comrade OR Tambo, when he said that no-one will be able to destroy the ANC, but the ANC itself.
Monopoly capitalism and the sections of the petty bourgeoisie, have unleashed the false aristocracy of the people, the lumpen proletariat, to undermine the fabric of our revolution. I refer to the hustlers who have elected to sell the soul of our movement to the highest bidder.
Vladimir Lenin refers to such a category of people as social chauvinists within the ranks of the working class. He refers to them as to be a section of the working class who have been bribed to assist the bourgeoisie to plunder and oppress the weak.
Many amongst the ranks of our democratic movement have joined the chorus calling for the unity and renewal of the African National Congress. This has become a catchword of the Movement across the spectrum of the membership and the leadership of our revolutionary Alliance formations.
The correct theoretical premise is that we cannot achieve this important task of the unity and renewal of the ANC, if we cannot at the same time, renew the other Alliance partners. This is the only way to follow, if we are indeed serious about rejuvenating our national democratic revolution.
We need the renewal of the ANC, SACP, COSATU, SANCO and the mass democratic movement in order to confront the challenges facing us. The question is whether our democratic formations have the capacity to renew themselves.
In the wake of the challenges of this magnitude, ordinarily we will ask the question as to where is the vanguard party of the working class. In other words to seek wisdom and guidance from the vanguard party led by the most advanced elements in society.
This is so because our revolution has at the present moment, lost the trust of its main bedrock, the industrial proletariat. This has a far-reaching reflection on the weakness of our democratic movement.
The organised trade union formations are gradually losing the strength and glory of their former selfs, as the true gravitas of the interests and aspirations of the working class in the country.
We need a robust debate about the growing phenomenon of elevating public sector unions at the expense of the industrial trade unions.
We need to build a stronger mass based civic movement capable of taking on the immediate challenges facing our people. A civic movement that will be the true committee for the defense of our revolution.
This is important because the principal question still remains to be the resolution of the primary contradiction between the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people and the interests of the forces of imperialism and neo colonialism. This is the context to understand the difficult task of the unity, and the renewal of our liberation movement.
Surely this can never just fall from the sky, it is a sacred revolutionary task arising out of our political consciousness, out of our understanding of the basic ethos of our revolutionary theory. It is about the culture and traditions of our revolution, of party building and discipline, democratic centralism, criticism and self criticism, fighting corruption in all its manifestations, and building of a true cadre of our revolution.
But what is it that we can learn from the teachings of the great leader of the struggle of the people of the world, the founding father of the great Vietnamese nation, Comrade President Ho Chi Minh? What is it that we can learn from his exemplary pioneering virtues of revolutionary morality, party building and discipline?
He quiet remarkably says that making a revolution to transform the old society into a new one is a glorious career, but is also a very heavy task, a complex and arduous long struggle. That a revolutionary must be imbued with revolutionary morality as a foundation to fulfill a revolutionary task.
He says if you have revolutionary morality, you will face difficulties when you encounter problems, hardships and failure, but you will not have fear and timidity, and you will not retreat.
When facing advantages and success, revolutionaries still maintain the spirit of understanding hardship, and living with simplicity and humility.
He placed greater emphasis on the need for revolutionaries to work hard for the party and to serve the people wholeheartedly.
Understanding the centrality of revolutionary morality as the cornerstone that creates the root, the basic and solid foundation for any revolution.
He defines revolutionary morality to be like a river which must have a source, without which, the river will run dry; a tree which must have its roots, and if not, will wither. That revolutionaries must have ethics, without which they will not be able to lead the people despite their talents.
His understanding is that a revolution is a career of serving the people, and not a career of any individual or heroes. Without the people, regardless of how easy and small the task is, it cannot be completed, and with the people, regardless of how difficult the task is, it will be completed.
According to his teachings, individualism is the ally of the empire, a very poisonous germ. It poses hundreds of dangerous diseases such as factions, subjectivity, bureaucratic orders, corruption, greed for fame, profiteers, status loving and power and collective contempt.
He advised the youth of his country not to be greedy for positions and money, but to be greedy for happiness. He taught them that luminosity is righteous and it never corrupts.
He emphasised the need for a rigorous political education for his people. That moral qualities, self cultivation and political training must be as often as brushing one’s teeth, and as often as washing one’s face on a daily basis.
As I grapple with the teachings of our great leader, I become afraid that if we cannot heed to this cal, the power and hegemony of our revolutionary movement shall evaporate into thin air. Therefore, we have a difficult task to build on the fortunes of our glorious movement.
This is obviously a difficult task which needs difficult decisions.
All what we have to do, is to ensure that the destiny of our civilisation, does not become the same as those before us.
But who are we, to plunder such a magnificent achievement and civilisation in our hands, who are we to squander such a glorious effort dedicated through generations, of which many have fought and died for. Who are we not to appreciate the validity of this cause, that our democratic revolution is a precarious gift we have to preserve for generations to come.
I have a growing sense that our revolution is in the hands of the enemy. That is the reason why it is gravitating into becoming moribund.
But we must always bear in mind that our revolution is a rudimentary product of the popular struggles of our people. It is a product and monument of our people’s history of heroic struggles to achieve a better world of equilibrium.
The renewal of the ANC is about the renewal of the entire democratic movement, it is about the renewal of our revolutionary project for transformation, it is about the renewal of our National Democratic Revolution, and our society.
Thanks
***
Ambassador Phatse Justice Piitso is a member of the ANC writing this open letter on his personal capacity. The views expressed do not represent the official positions of this news portal, Jambo Africa Online.