The ANC, our government and Nazi propaganda
On Saturday, 19 May, SABC Radio broadcast a startling news item reporting what the General Secretary of COSATU, Zwelinzima Vavi, had said at a meeting in Port Elizabeth, held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the foundation of the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA).
In this regard, on its 20 May website, "News24" said: "Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi says a reported economic boom in South Africa is government propaganda similar to that used by Adolf Hitler's regime in Nazi Germany, the SABC reported Sunday. Vavi was speaking at Numsa's 20th anniversary celebrations.
"Vavi condemned as propaganda language used by government to convince the public that there is a better life for all and that South Africa has entered a season of new hope. Vavi says this language is being used to detract from the more accurate picture, which includes deepening inequalities between the rich and the poor. He says while the black elite continues to develop slowly, the overall quality of life for black people in general is not improving."
Reporting on the same matter in its 21 May edition, the "Sowetan" headed its article - "Vavi says boom reports like 'Nazi propaganda'". This article said: "Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said reports of an economic boom in South Africa was government propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, the SABC reported yesterday."
The charge that our government and the ANC are behaving in a manner akin to the Nazis is very serious in the extreme. More often than not, we have declined to comment on various negative statements that Vavi has made over the years about both our movement and government. However, it is not possible to ignore the grossly repugnant statement he made in Port Elizabeth.
What was German Nazism?
Nazism was the most reactionary, chauvinist, predatory and anti-human political system to emerge in Europe and the world between the two World Wars. Based on deeply repulsive ideas of racial superiority, it visualised a world dominated by Germans, described as an "Aryan race", with a manifest destiny to rule the world. Accordingly, as a matter of policy, it launched World War II to achieve such domination.
As a concrete expression of its pernicious racism, it slaughtered millions of Jewish people in the infamous Holocaust. The war it launched led to the death of over 20 million citizens of the Soviet Union, again driven by ideas of Aryan superiority over the Slavic people and people from the East. On this basis, it also sought to annihilate all the Romani (gypsy) people in Europe.
It was irrevocably opposed both to democracy and socialism. It openly proclaimed itself in favour of what it described as authoritarian rule. It therefore put force, including military force, on a high pedestal as an instrument of state policy. It therefore deliberately set out to destroy the democratic and socialist parties first in Germany, to establish a dictatorship over the German people, which it would later extend to all countries it conquered.
It sought to secure global economic domination by the German monopolies, even creating the space for these monopolies to use unpaid labour. Necessarily, therefore, it destroyed the German trade union movement and marshalled the people imprisoned in the concentration camps, the prisoners of war and others in occupied Europe, to provide slave labour for the benefit of the German monopolies.
In a well-known Report delivered in 1935, the Bulgarian communist, Georgi Dimitrov, described fascism as "the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital".
He went on to say: "The most reactionary variety of fascism is the German type of fascism (Nazism). It has the effrontery to call itself National Socialism, though it has nothing in common with socialism. German fascism is not only bourgeois nationalism, it is fiendish chauvinism. It is a government system of political gangsterism, a system of provocation and torture practised upon the working class and the revolutionary elements of the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia. It is medieval barbarity and bestiality, it is unbridled aggression in relation to other nations.
"German fascism is acting as the spearhead of international counter-revolution, as the chief instigator of imperialist war, as the initiator of a crusade against the Soviet Union, the great fatherland of the working people of the whole world...
"It is the organisation of terrorist vengeance against the working class and the revolutionary section of the peasantry and intelligentsia. In foreign policy, fascism is jingoism in its most brutal form, fomenting bestial hatred of other nations."
In our country, the most rabidly racist sections of the National Party aligned themselves with Nazism through such organisations as the Ossewa Brandwag. As in Germany, this domestic representative of Nazism stood for "a government system of political gangsterism, a system of provocation and torture practised upon the working class and the revolutionary elements of the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia,...medieval barbarity and bestiality,...and unbridled (oppression and exploitation of the black majority)."
Who was Joseph Goebbels?
COSATU General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, described what our government and movement have been saying about our economy and the gradual improvements in the standard of living of our people as 'propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany'. We must therefore reflect on the role of propaganda in the pursuit and implementation of the unimaginably evil agenda of Nazi Germany.
In this regard we must underline the point that this propaganda was an inherent and inevitable part of the project to establish in Germany, Europe and the rest of the world the Nazi dictatorship we have already characterised. Outside of Nazism there could be no Nazi propaganda: without Nazi propaganda Nazism could not make the advances it sought. For these reasons, from the very beginning, Nazism openly proclaimed that propaganda was one of its principal instruments.
Joseph Goebbels was, unquestionably, the pre-eminent propagandist of the Nazi regime, and one of its top five leaders. To avoid capture by the victorious anti-fascist coalition in 1945, and having murdered their six children, he and his wife, Magda, committed suicide, soon after Adolf Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, had taken the same route.
Goebbels on propaganda
Speaking in 1934, Goebbels had said: "The concept of propaganda has undergone a fundamental transformation, particularly as the result of political practice in Germany. Throughout the world today, people are beginning to see that a modern state, whether democratic or authoritarian, cannot withstand the subterranean forces of anarchy and chaos without propaganda. It is not only a matter of doing the right thing; the people must understand that the right thing is the right thing. Propaganda includes everything that helps the people to realise this...
"Even during the time when we were in the opposition, we succeeded in rescuing the concept of propaganda from disfavour or contempt. Since then, we have transformed it into a truly creative art. It was our sharpest weapon in conquering the state. It remains our sharpest weapon in defending and building the state. Although this is perhaps still not clear to the rest of the world, it was obvious to us that we had to use the weapon with which we had conquered the state to defend the state. Otherwise we faced the danger that we could lose the people even though we had power, and that, without the people, we would lose power."
In the same speech, explaining the Nazi victories up to that point, he said: "There are no parliamentary parties in Germany any longer. How could we have overcome them had we not waged an educational campaign for years that persuaded people of their weaknesses, harms, and disadvantages? Their final elimination was only the result of what the people had already realised. Our propaganda weakened these parties. Based on that, they could be eliminated by a legal act.
"Marxism could not be eliminated by a government decision. Its elimination was the end result of a process that began with the people. But that was only possible because our propaganda had shown people that Marxism was a danger to both the state and society. The positive national discipline of the German press would never have been possible without the compete elimination of the influence of the liberal-Jewish press. That happened only because of the years-long work of our propaganda...
"We could eliminate the Jewish danger in our culture because the people had recognised it as the result of our propaganda. Major cultural achievements such as the unique 'Kraft durch Freude', (the 'Strength through Joy' leisure organisation run by the Nazi state), are possible only with the powerful support of the people. The prerequisite was and is propaganda, which here too creates and maintains the connection to the people."
Goebbels and Chauvinism
Again explaining the importance of propaganda for the realisation of the grand Nazi design, Goebbels said in a 1942 article entitled "Don't Be Too Fair!":
"At vital moments in our history, we have lacked sufficient national egotism to enable us to rise above objectivity and fairness to give full service to our national interest, undeterred by any false sentimentality. If the German people suddenly became leaderless today, they probably would wander around the world as so often in the past, spreading morals, culture, civilisation, and education, but entirely forgetting to bring food and fuel along. The German people are the heart of humanity, and our mission today is to give it a broad foundation for its existence. That is an ideal, but a realistic one worthy of the greatest sacrifices.
"If we once again stood with empty hands at the end of the war, we should be ashamed before the mothers who lost their sons, the children who lost the fathers, and the women who lost their husbands. We therefore warn against any danger we see, and particularly against those with roots in our national character. The bourgeois era with its false and lying idea of humanitarianism is over. We are in the middle of a hard century. It will be won not by good nature, but by manliness and strength. The world is divided by love and hate. To be on firm ground, one must know whom to love and whom to hate."
At the beginning of 1943, the Nazi "Sixth Army", commanded by Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus, was defeated by the Red (Soviet) Army during the famous Battle for Stalingrad, and surrendered. This was after the Nazi "Army Group Don", under the command of Field Marshall Erich von Manstein, had been defeated by the Red Army as it tried to come to the rescue of Paulus' "Sixth Army".
The Nazi surrender in Stalingrad
Paulus' surrender, which infuriated Hitler, marked the first time in history that a German Field Marshall had surrendered rather than fight to the death. In this regard, Hitler is reported to have said: "(Paulus) could have freed himself from all sorrow and ascended into eternity and national immortality, but he prefers to go to Moscow." The fact of the matter however is that the defeat of the Nazi "Sixth Army" in Stalingrad in 1943 marked the strategic turning point in WW II, which ended with the capture of Berlin in 1945, the suicide of such Nazi leaders as Hitler and Goebbels, and the liquidation of the Nazi regime.
Ever confident about the power of Nazi propaganda, Goebbels addressed a mass rally in Berlin soon after the defeat at Stalingrad, ending with the words, which were rapturously applauded - "Now, let the nation rise up and let the storm break loose!"
During this speech he said: "Two thousand years of Western civilisation are in danger. One cannot overestimate the danger. It is indicative that when one names it as it is, International Jewry throughout the world protests loudly. Things have gone so far in Europe that one cannot call a danger a danger when it is caused by the Jews...
"Behind the oncoming Soviet divisions we see the Jewish liquidation commandos, and behind them terror, the spectre of mass starvation and complete anarchy. International Jewry is the devilish ferment of decomposition that finds cynical satisfaction in plunging the world into the deepest chaos and destroying ancient cultures that it played no role in building...
"The great crises and upsets of national life show who the true men and women are. We have no right any longer to speak of the weaker sex, for both sexes are displaying the same determination and spiritual strength. The nation is ready for anything. The Führer has commanded, and we will follow him. In this hour of national reflection and contemplation, we believe firmly and unshakably in victory. We see it before us, we need only reach for it. We must resolve to subordinate everything to it. That is the duty of the hour. Let the slogan be: Now, let the nation rise up and let the storm break loose!"
Goebbels and the rest of the Nazi leadership understood the true meaning of the defeat of the Nazi military machine at and around Stalingrad, as led by its most outstanding frontline commanders, Field Marshalls Paulus and von Manstein.
However, Goebbels believed that he could turn the tide by continuing to tell the German people lies, which was characteristic of, and intrinsic to Nazi propaganda, and by inciting blind German chauvinism, including a rabid and toxic anti-Semitism, themselves an inalienable feature of Nazism.
As we have already said, this manner of proceeding was an inherent part of Nazism. Nazi propaganda was integral to the Nazi project, and could not have existed outside the context of the pursuit of this project.
What have we achieved!
It must therefore follow that when Zwelinzima Vavi accuses our movement and government of "propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany", as he did in Port Elizabeth, he believes that the ANC and our government represent policies that, at least, represent "a system of provocation and torture practised upon the working class", as Dimitrov said. To hide this, and according to this proposition, we are obliged to use Nazi-like language "to detract from the more accurate picture, which includes deepening inequalities between the rich and the poor,...(and the reality that) the overall quality of life for black people in general is not improving".
Vavi expressed this sentiment earlier when he addressed the National Congress of the Young Communist League (YCL) on 15 December 2006, consistent with what he said later in Port Elizabeth, during the public meeting convened to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the birth of NUMSA. At the YCL Congress he said: "Daily we are informed of a sustained economic boom. We are told that the growth is propelled by a huge demand, including for credit. The Governor has increased interest rates four times this year and we are told there will be more. We are told this is a logical response to dampen this demand. We are told that this is a season of hope. This is a world as it exists in the minds of the elite. They have a consensus that things are going well. You can't blame them if you visit their houses and see the cars they drive - indeed things are going well in their small planet."
As before, like all rational people in our country and elsewhere in the world, including our ordinary working people, we would have no difficulty in demonstrating what we have achieved to rescue and rebuild a South African economy that was in terminal decline when we were democratically elected to govern in 1994.
Similarly, we would have no difficulty in proving that, during our short age of freedom, our economy has experienced, and continues to experience the longest period of economic growth and development in its history; that, for the first time in decades, our economy is creating a significantly large number of jobs; and that we have restructured the national budget the better to focus on meeting the needs of the people, especially the poor.
Neither would we have any difficulty in showing how all this has helped our nation to improve the quality of life of the black people, and how what we have achieved during the years of freedom has laid firm foundations for the masses of our people, especially the poor, realistically to entertain the certainty that their hopes for a better life will be realised.
At the same time, we would have no difficulty whatsoever in demonstrating that our movement and government have led the effort to educate the people to understand that we still have a long way to go before we eradicate the colonial and apartheid legacy of poverty, underdevelopment, as well as our inherited racial and gender disparities and imbalances. To warn against the seduction of reckless demagogy in this regard, which promises honey for all, tomorrow, we have cited the words of the great African revolutionary, Amilcar Cabral, - tell no lies: claim no easy victories!
Propaganda against the ANC
As demonstrated in his speech in Port Elizabeth, at the YCL National Congress and elsewhere, Zwelinzima Vavi is determined to ensure that as many of our people as possible, especially the organised working class, develop an understanding of our real and objective situation that bears no relationship to the truth. In this regard, Goebbels said: "(propaganda must ensure that) the people...understand that the right thing is the right thing", as defined by the propagandist.
The truth that Vavi seeks to deny is that the ANC and our government constitute the very antithesis or opposite of Nazism in all respects, including racism and chauvinism, hostility to democracy and freedom of thought, contempt for the people and the working class, and deification of force and military power. Accordingly, resort to propaganda similar to Nazi propaganda has no place and has never had any place in our struggle, our political and ideological work and our information processes.
The truth that he wishes to deny is that our economy is developing very well, but needs to grow at higher rates and to continue to modernise itself. The standard of living of the masses of our people is improving significantly: however, we must accelerate our advance in this regard.
The truth, repeated by our movement and government everyday, which Vavi wants to present as his special discovery, is that millions of our people remain mired in poverty and underdevelopment, with no access to jobs, basic services and therefore a decent life.
As we have said repeatedly, including in our Election Manifestos, this dictates that the central and continuing objective of the policies and programmes of the democratic state must remain the creation of jobs, pushing back the frontiers of poverty, and building an egalitarian, people-centred society.
The Age of Hope
In the 2006 State of the Nation Address, shortly before the last local government elections, we said: "The results obtained by Gallup International have been confirmed by a recent domestic poll conducted by Markinor. According to this poll, 65% of our people believe that the country is going in the right direction. 84% think that our country holds out a happy future for all racial groups. 71% believe that government is performing well.
"With regard to the economy, late last month the Grant Thornton International Business Owners Survey reported that 84% of South Africa's business owners are optimistic about the year ahead, making them the third most optimistic internationally. Again last month, the First National Bank and the Bureau for Economic Research reported that the consumer confidence index was at its highest in 25 years.
"What all these figures signify is that our people are firmly convinced that our country has entered its Age of Hope. They are convinced that we have created the conditions to achieve more rapid progress towards the realisation of their dreams. They are certain that we are indeed a winning nation."
Our movement has constantly communicated these truths to our people in all our democratic elections since 1994. With every successive election, because they believe in us, the masses of our people have demonstrated their confidence in our movement by electing the ANC in increasing proportions to lead our national, provincial and local governments.
Whose interests are served by whom?
The statements made by Vavi in Port Elizabeth, at the YCL National Congress and elsewhere, pose the question - whose interests do these statements serve? In the end, the true test whether any action, however well-clothed in revolutionary language, actually serves the revolution, resides in an objective and dispassionate answer to the question - whose interests does this supposed revolutionary action serve!
The suggestion that our movement and government have resorted to "propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany" seeks to discredit our movement and government, our political platform and transformation programme, and mobilise the entirety of our population, as well as the global democratic movement, to join in a concerted struggle to defeat our movement and government. From all this, the question arises naturally - who would benefit from such an eventuality?
In its 4-10 May 2007 edition, the weekly publication, "Mail & Guardian", published an interview with Tony Leon, the outgoing leader of the largest opposition party in our country, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is also the strongest political and ideological opponent of the ANC.
Answering the question - "Wasn't your open hostility to the trade unions a miscalculation?" - Tony Leon replied: "My attitude has shifted. They have a role in advancing certain values, and Cosatu's (Zwelinzima) Vavi has been a more strident opposition leader than I have been. I'm not scared of being on the right side of an argument with the wrong people. On labour legislation, I feel they have too much power; on other issues - because they're completely sidelined in the ANC - too little."
Tony Leon stated the matter clearly that he and the DA would like those he described as "the wrong people" within the context of DA politics, who nevertheless stand on "the right side of an argument" - specifically against the ANC - should have more power stridently to oppose the ANC, to reinforce the anti-ANC offensive of the DA and the domestic and international forces it represents.
Thus did Tony Leon answer the question for all of us - whose interests are served by the grossly malicious and insulting allegation that, to disguise an offensive against the working people, the ANC and our government have resorted to "propaganda similar to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany".
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