National Democratic Revolution, Part 3c
Theory and Practice
What was happening in the six
years between the “Black Republic Thesis” of 1928 and Moses Kotane’s “Cradock
Letter” of 1934? Why was it necessary for Kotane to ask again in 1934 for
things which should have been assured in 1928?
The answer is that the
intervening period was a time of terrible sectarianism in the SACP, causing a
weakening of the entire liberation struggle.
In the linked, downloadable
chapter Jack and Ray (Alexander) Simons tell the story of how the “Black
Republic Thesis” was, within two years, perverted into a self-contradictory,
mechanical formula by the very same ECCI (Executive Committee of the Communist
International) that had laid down the famous Black Republic Thesis of 1928.
This formula proposed at one and the same time a “two-stage revolution” that
was to be led exclusively by a “go-it-alone” communist party. The Simons reveal
the confused nature of the ECCI’s thinking with the following rhetorical
question:
“If there was to be no united action, not even with
leaders of Gumede's calibre and not for a programme of immediate demands, why
should the party aim at an 'independent native republic’, instead of an
out-and-out socialist revolution?”
The ECCI’s 1930 memorandum
was neither fish nor fowl. It was neither one thing nor the other.
The arrival of two
individuals, Wolton and Bach, who played on their connections with the
Communist International (CI), triggered, in these circumstances, wave after
wave of expulsions and horrible treachery of comrade against comrade. The
Simons do not flinch from telling the truth about all this.
As much as it is a terrible
story, yet the whole affair revolved around the same fundamental questions that
resolved themselves in due course, once again, into a firm theory of National
Democratic Revolution.
These are the questions of
the relationship between the Vanguard and the Mass, and between the National
and Class questions.
The ghosts of the sectarian
period still reappear occasionally in holes and corners of our movement, and
sometimes burst out with temporary ferocity.
To be fore-warned is to be
fore-armed.
In this clear and
easy-to-read chapter the Simons did a great service to our movement as a whole.
The picture above is of Ray
Alexander Simons: worker, intellectual, trade unionist, leader of women, and
communist.
·
The above is to
introduce the original reading-text: Class and
Colour, C19, Theory and Practice, Simons and Simons.
No comments:
Post a Comment