A sermon from Moria

On Sunday 2 September, in a service we attended, His Grace Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) delivered a Sermon in Moria to conclude the annual September Conference of his branch of the ZCC. The Conference was attended by 2,495,783 members of the Church. The Conference is held to consecrate what the ZCC considers as the New Year. This New Year, based on the rhythm of the seasons as experienced through the millennia by Africans, celebrates the beginning of Spring.

This signals the onset of the period of the Spring and Summer rains, and therefore the initiation of the life cycle that replenishes the food stocks, restores the natural habitat, recreates the best conditions for the health and productivity of the animals and natural plants that provide milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and herbs, and enables the growth of the crops that will provide the rich harvest needed to sustain human life.

Because of the intimate connection between rain, which nature provides, good harvests, which depend on organised human labour, and the guarantee of human existence, which requires appropriate systems of good governance, the most evocative expression of good wishes in the seSotho languages is "pula! nala!" ("rain! a good harvest!")

Inevitably, therefore, the September Conference of the ZCC speaks to a critically important issue in our country - the restoration and affirmation of the identity of the black African majority after centuries of denigration and marginalisation during the long period of slavery, colonialism and apartheid. However, this Letter is not focused on this important matter. Rather, because of the importance to our country of what Bishop Lekganyane said, this Letter consists mainly of extracts from the Sermon.

The Church and our liberation

The Christian Church in our county has played an important part in our struggle for liberation for at least 150 years. The ANC itself can trace some of its origins to African Christians, some whom broke away from the established white-led churches to form their own, such as the Ethiopian Church. Throughout our history, many of our leaders were either priests or lay preachers.

The Christian Church played an important role even during the most difficult period in our struggle - the period of extreme repression that started with the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960. This reflected the sustained recognition especially by African Christians, over a long period of time, that the practice of their faith could not be detached and separated from the struggle of the very members of their congregations for freedom and human dignity.

The African Christians were joined in this by such white Christian priests and leaders as Trevor Huddleston, Dennis Hurley, Beyers Naude, Michael Scott, Ambrose Reeves, Albert Nolan and others.

The overwhelming majority of our people are Christians. Today our country enjoys the freedom for which the Revs Tiyo Soga, Nehemiah Tile, John Langalibalele Dube and others prayed for and spoke about from as long ago as the 1850s. However, we still confront a whole variety of serious challenges, many of which are part of the legacy of the white minority domination that the early African Christians opposed.

Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane's Sermon focused on a number of these serious challenges. By this means he reaffirmed the continuing obligation of the Church in our country, as well as the other Faiths, to respect and continue the long tradition of the involvement of people of faith in the struggle to improve the conditions of life of all our people, and not be concerned only with matters of the soul and the after-life.

As our readers will see, Bishop Lekganyane made the statement in a dignified manner that the ZCC does not define itself as an advocacy and protest formation, but as an active participant in the reconstruction and development of our country.

Nevertheless the Sermon also reasserted the central role of our religious communities in fashioning the moral and spiritual setting within which we must engage the continuing struggle to address the material needs of all our people, focused on the task to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment.

The power of knowledge

Bishop Lekganyane based his Sermon on Chapter 4, Verse 6 of the Biblical Book of Hosea. This text says: "Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land: 'My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being priest for Me.'" In his Sermon Bishop Lekganyane therefore said:

"Obviously no children, no parents, no family, no communities and no nation would allow itself to be rejected by The Lord. Automatically knowledge is of the utmost importance for people to enjoy the favour of The Lord...Therefore knowledge is power, security and safety. This is what I want to offer to every member of the Zion Christian Church and everybody present here this afternoon...

Moral regeneration

"Let me start my sermon by praying for South Africa our beloved country, for its soul which used to be characterised by respect amongst individuals, parents, communities and the leaders. May the Lord God regenerate the moral fibre of our country which was a key success to liberating our land. This knowledge was and is still fundamental to peaceful co-existence in our country. This is knowledge; this is power; this is security; and this is safety.

"Morality refers to the right or wrong actions based on choices made by individuals or groups of individuals. As South Africa strives towards its noble ideal of a better life for all as enshrined in our Constitution, we are confronted by evidence of a moral degeneration in the form of domestic violence, rape, murder, robbery, theft, house breaking, drug trafficking and mainly women and child abuse.

"These are driven by individualism and selfishness, the breakdown of family life as well as lack of respect for the law. This is lack of knowledge; this is lack of power; and this is lack of security and lack of safety.

"While Government and its partners as well as individuals are making efforts to improve the socio-economic conditions and enhance the nation's moral fibre, perpetrators of wrongdoing cite the effects of apartheid as reasons for their undesirable conduct. It is up to us to bring botho le hlompho (humanism and respect) in every household, in every classroom, in every boardroom, in every playground, in every farm, in every police station, as we find and express ourselves as a nation. This is knowledge; this is power; this is security and this is safety. This is what the nation must live up to, to avoid being rejected by the Almighty God.

"By nation we mean black and white; rich and poor; rural and urban; well educated and poor skilled; young and old. We all need to develop the will and ways to resist evil and embrace and share what is right for the common good. We cannot be apathetic and be seen to be walking away from immoral actions without influencing them for the better. That is not Africa, aowa aowa, ga se botho ke bophoofolo: (no, no, it is not humanism but surrender to the law of the jungle.)

"As a Zionist, you do not tempt a policeman and later turn around and say the police are corrupt. As a responsible household we should always be vigilant of people selling stolen goods. As teachers we cannot expect learners, parents and the community to respect us when we do not effectively utilise the time to build a nation of skilled youth.

"As business owners do not commit fraud and theft and when you see your businesses collapsing start complaining of unemployment. This is knowledge, this is power, this is security and this is safety. Obviously if we cling to these healthy and holy practices, the Lord will not reject us as a beautiful South African Nation and its effective government.

Tasks of the youth

"Individually and severally we should be investing in educating and protecting our children, enabling them to develop as building blocks for sustainable, future success of the nation. Our tradition recognises certain taboos. These are taboos or the don'ts. As the spiritual leader I encourage our youth to abstain from adult activities prematurely. For now there is no cure for HIV Aids and please stop misleading our children that there is cure for the pandemic.

"To all our youth, be seen to be taking advantage of the opportunities available to make your future a success. The private sector, government and other organisations as well as Zion Christian Church, the Bishop Edward Lekganyane bursary fund, provide you with bursaries, internships as well as vacation work to engage the skills development to greater heights. This is knowledge, this is power, this is security and this is safety, devoid of any form of rejection by the Almighty God.

The leaders we need

"Priests, stop promoting your own interests at the expense of God's people. My Priests do not waste time fighting over leadership positions, nor over gossip and baseless accusations, because they know that they were called to greater service, to change the lives of the people for the better; by praying for them when they are sick; to pray with them when they are in trouble, to encourage them along when their spirit is low, to welcome them to and baptise them into the kingdom of God.

"This kind of behaviour builds the church, builds families, builds the nation, and builds South Africa. When a person serves the nation by doing that which it needs, there will be no time for meaningless quarrels or fights. Kings are not born of meaningless quarrels or fights. True leadership is based on service to the nation, not serving your interests and fighting over leadership. Give freely because you have also been given. For sure this is knowledge, this is power, this is security and this is safety.

"Congregants, please respect and pray for your priests and our political leaders in respect of their responsibility to the nation. This is our key responsibility. For the past twelve years the church has been running a winter school to prepare matriculants for their exams. I have observed with great interest to the level of commitment and discipline existing amongst learners and teachers, at this special Winter Enrichment Centre. It is not only that which is contained in the curriculum of the disciplines taught, but the culture of respect by learners to parents, families, communities, leadership in the church structures, government structures as inculcated in their general behaviour.

"Insults, bad language, quarrels, lack of respect for those older than you is not part of our humanity, it is un-African and anti-Christ. You invite bad luck unto yourselves, and being rejected by the Almighty God. What I am giving you here is knowledge, this is power, this is security and this is safety.

The role of the media

"The Media, you have a major responsibility to educate, to transform and inspire our nation to seek knowledge that would lead them to live a better life. What we normally witness in our media is negative reporting which encourages disrespect for self and community values, the rule of law. Personal vendetta and the values of selfishness will lead us nowhere as a nation of this beautiful country.

"Today we pray that you may realise that you are an important partner and indeed responsible to report responsibly to build a successful nation devoid of rejection by the Almighty God. Love our children, love our future, love our country South Africa, and love our continent, Africa our land. Superlative love for Africa and its people is inevitable to avoid rejection by the Almighty God.

Our tasks in Africa and at home

"Let us this afternoon pray for those involved with the 2010 (tournament) to meet their expected obligations of making this major African event the best and most success ever.

"Let us pray for our leadership, at community level, municipal, provincial as well as national that the Lord God can guide them in delivering a better life for all.

"Fellow Zionists please join me today in praying for our President...and his cabinet to overcome the challenges they have in fulfilling their mandate to make a better life for all. We acknowledge the economic stability and political stability you have ushered South Africa into since 1994. We acknowledge the initiatives you have made to deliver other African countries into democratic dispensations. We acknowledge the inroads you have made through the NEPAD to instigate Africa to take its rightful position in the global world. Your expertise has made us great. May the Almighty bless you in your leadership.

"I thank all of you, from far and near, who made the effort to come celebrate the New Year at this holy city of Moria. May the one in the highest bless your feet (reward your effort) by healing your illnesses; may your children do well at school; may those without jobs find them; may those who work be successful at what you are doing, so that you can create more jobs in order to fight poverty and hunger. May God also bless those who could not make it to Moria, because we do not have the same means (we are not equal, like teeth; even teeth are not equal). Drivers, please ensure that you return these children of God safely to their homes."

Those who have ears

From his pulpit in Moria, Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane addressed many questions that are central to the continuing national and historic reconstruction and development effort. These range from the obligation of our government to meet its commitments to the people, through the need for the Church to involve itself in the development process, the restoration of the ubuntu/botho value system, the necessity for the people's involvement in the fight against crime, the critical importance of the role of education, to nation building, the kind and quality of leaders and leadership our country needs, and our obligation to continue to contribute to the renaissance of Africa.

Bishop Lekganyane addressed all these important matters as the leader and on behalf of the millions of members of the ZCC. He spoke not as an observer of South African reality but as an active participant in the challenging but exciting people's process to give birth to a new South Africa.

One-hundred-and-fifteen years ago, in 1892, the Rev John Langalibalele Dube, who became the first President of the ANC, wrote of the day when "Africa (would) take her place as a nation among nations: then shall her sons and daughters sing aloud: 'Let us arise and shine, for our light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon us.' May the day speedily come when 'Ethiopia shall stretch out her hands unto God.' "

On 2 September, Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane spoke of what our nation needs to do to transform the Rev John Dube's dream into reality. He or she who has ears to hear, let him or her hear!

Freedom songs

Mobilise the masses to build a better life

The reaction of many people to the questions I raised this past weekend regarding the abuse of some liberation songs of our movement has shown clearly that there is a need to embark on a political education drive. For now, however, I would like to clarify what I was saying.

The freedom songs of the liberation movement have always been instruments of the revolution. They have been composed and sung to announce policy, popularise it and motivate the masses to implement it.

These freedom songs are also time-bound, relevant to specific phases of our struggle. They are therefore not like pop songs which are sung for aimless individual entertainment. They also cannot be the property of individuals.

They are time-bound because a systematic study of these freedom songs shows that they are related to the phases our struggle went through.

The constitutional phase (1912-1949)

This is the period in which our people protested their exclusion from the 1910 Union of South Africa dispensation. The people's protests were strictly carried out within the law, largely demanding rightful status in the land of their birth.

Some of these songs included "Senzeni na sihlushwa nje? Sono sethu bubumnyama", "Sera sa motho ke pasa....", and others.

Many of these songs were conversions of popular church hymns. They however played an important role in raising the social awareness of the people's oppressed condition.

Even in this early stage of our struggle the nascent African working class was taking its place alongside others classes inside Congress. The refrain of the imported "what a system? What a system? What a crime? We can't mend it, we must end it, end it now and for all time", became "mayibuye, mayibuye, maybuy' iAfrika, eyathathwa ngabamhlophe".

The extra-constitutional phase (1949-1961)

By the closing years of the 1940s the docility of the people was fast changing into a mood of defiance. The war-years had given impetus to urbanisation. Soldiers from disenfranchised communities returned with experience that spoke of militancy in other parts of the continent and beyond.

The humiliating treatment of these returnees added fuel to the discontent of the people. It was against the backdrop of these and other elements of the condition of the people that the ANC Youth League moved the Programme of Action at the 1949 conference.

That programme called for a radical change in the tactics of the ANC. It called for defiance of unjust laws over and above petitions and letters of protest. The freedom songs announced this shift in tactics both in their rhythm and content. For instance: "Nans' indod' emnyama Verwoerd....", "Sing' amasotsha kaLuthuli, Lapho lapho siyakhona sisimisel' ukufa kwethu..", etc.

The armed phase (1961-1990)

The banning of the liberation organisations presented our people with a choice to submit or fight. They chose to fight and their songs immediately announced this policy direction. For instance: "Ngomhla sibuyayo kothula kuthi tu; kokhal'imbayimbayi phezulu kwentaba" and "MK kea rona, Ba boi ba tjhetjhe, Baboi batjhetjhe, Batjhetjhelle morao".

As the armed struggle gained international support the AK47 machine gun became the reputable weapon of freedom. Hence comrades composed "Awuleth' umshini wami" to motivate the youth to take up arms and intensify the armed struggle.

It is now more than a decade since the movement abandoned arms. Sometime after the CODESA settlement, the late comrade Peter Mokaba persisted with such chants as "'Kill the farmer, kill the boer".

This necessitated the ANC National Executive Committee (NEC) calling on him to account as to why as a serving member of that body he was continuing on a platform that had already been abandoned by the movement. That NEC rebuked him very sharply, pointing out that it was the responsibility of ANC leaders and members to proceed in a manner that coincides with the movement's decided policy and not reckless adventurism that could easily lead to the reversal of the gains of our National Democratic Revolution.

Following the CODESA democratic settlement, the movement announced its policy priorities as national peace, national reconciliation and reconstruction, and the drive for a better life for all.

Our freedom songs have always provided a link between our current struggles and the struggles of the past. The old songs survive today, even as times have changed, to remind us of the sacrifices of those who waged the struggle before us, and to call on their fighting spirit to strengthen us as we confront contemporary challenges.

But our freedom songs are primarily about the tasks at hand, and the mobilisation of the forces of change behind our policies and programmes in the current epoch. At this moment in our struggle, as we are focused on the critical challenge of democratic transformation and the creation of a better life for our people, we need to ask what is the purpose of singing songs whose message is to demand machine guns?

Certainly, we must continue to celebrate our heroes in song, and we must acknowledge that ours is a struggle that has withstood the passage of time. We must draw on our proud history of resistance and the rich legacy of revolutionary culture that we have inherited.

As we do so, we need to dedicate more effort to songs that publicise and popularise the current policies of the democratic movement. We need to sing songs that mobilise the masses of our people to confront poverty, underdevelopment and inequality and thereby become their own liberators.

** Mosiuoa Lekota is the ANC National Chairperson.

A fundamental revolutionary lesson:
The enemy manoeuvres but it remains the enemy / Part III

The Revolutionary Phrase & the defence of the Democratic Revolution

On the ANC website there is an article written by the late Dumisani Makhaye, a member of our National Executive Committee, entitled "Left Factionalism and the Democratic Revolution". It was originally published in the ANC journal Umrabulo, and later as a supplement to ANC Today Vol 2 No 48, published in November 2002.

The article we publish in this edition, Part III of the current series, is principally an edited version of the Makhaye article, which argues, correctly, that our first task as a revolutionary movement is to defend our democratic victory.

Before we reproduce this edited version, we would like to make some introductory "scene-setting" remarks.

Our movement, the ANC, is not a Marxist-Leninist party. Nevertheless, we have never hesitated to learn the necessary lessons from other revolutionary struggles, relying, in many instances, on the internationalist experience of our historic ally, the South African Communist Party (SACP).

Within this context, we would like to refer to an article by VI Lenin, "The Revolutionary Phrase", published in 1918, a few months after the victory of the 1917 October Socialist Revolution. Lenin wrote:

"When I said at a Party meeting that the revolutionary phrase about a revolutionary war might ruin our revolution, I was reproached for the sharpness of my polemics. There are, however, moments when a question must be raised sharply and things given their proper names, the danger being that otherwise irreparable harm may be done to the Party and the revolution.

"Revolutionary phrase-making, more often than not, is a disease from which revolutionary parties suffer at times when they constitute, directly or indirectly, a combination, alliance or intermingling of proletarian and petty-bourgeois elements, and when the course of revolutionary events is marked by big, rapid zigzags.

"By revolutionary phrase making we mean the repetition of revolutionary slogans irrespective of objective circumstances at a given turn of events, in the given state of affairs obtaining at the time. The slogans are superb, intoxicating, but there are no grounds for them: such is the nature of the revolutionary phrase."

In our last article, Part II, we addressed some matters relating to the right wing opposition to our movement and revolution. In this article, our Part III, we focus on our "left opposition", hence our reference to Lenin's observations about "revolutionary phrase making", and the imperative for us not to be misled by "superb and intoxicating" but dangerous slogans and phrases.

For many years, since the victory of the democratic revolution, one of the defining theses of our "left opposition", to date, has been that the ANC has betrayed the revolution. The charge has therefore been made that all our movement is about is the implementation of neo-liberal policies, resulting from our allegedly slavish commitment to the prescriptions of "the Washington consensus". Naturally, the "left opposition" has offered its alternative in this regard.

For instance, consistent with the campaign that both the right and left opposition to our movement have pursued for many years, Dale McKinley, former member of the SACP, has argued that the SACP and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) should establish "an organisational and political base to both shift ANC/government policy...and to re-build a genuine left political and organisational power-base to contest power relations within SA society".

This seeks to advance one other important thesis of our "left opposition" (shared by the right wing), that the SACP and COSATU should be detached from, and placed in opposition to the ANC. To substantiate its positions, the "left opposition" fondly resorts to the revolutionary phrases akin to those that Lenin wrote about in 1918.

Then, he warned of the danger that these phrases would "ruin our revolution". In our situation this is demonstrated by the fact that the right wing in our country, the true representatives of neo-liberalism, is intent to pursue exactly the same objective as our "left opposition" - the placement of the SACP and COSATU as a separate and organised opposition of the ANC, specifically to weaken and defeat the ANC and the rest of the progressive movement, including the SACP and COSATU.

In this regard, as recently as this year, Anthony Butler, a supporter of the right wing Democratic Alliance (DA), has publicly criticised those he considers to be his objective comrades-in-arms with regard to their opposition to the ANC - the SACP and COSATU - commenting thus: "Into battle - after it had been lost".

He lamented that the SACP and COSATU had tailed the DA with regard to a public agenda identified and defined by the DA, relating to its selection and presentation as its chosen sites of struggle such issues as AIDS, Zimbabwe, unemployment, the conflation of party and state, and the destruction of democracy within the ANC.

What has happened in the recent past has raised high hopes among some within our "left opposition", centred on the destruction of our Alliance. Ebrahim Harvey, described as 'a political writer and former Cosatu unionist', is one of these.

In an article dated 3 May 2007, he wrote: "[T]he current juncture is bound to go beyond the earlier tiring and incessant speculations about the fate and future of a long-standing but deeply troubled (ANC/SACP/COSATU) alliance whose strategic purpose has not only been exhausted but under the impact of neo-liberalism has become a serious hindrance to the fulfilment of the party's (SACP) socialist objectives, which it shares with its other ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions."

The fact of the matter is that in our concrete reality, the strategic platforms of the right and left opposition to the ANC have coalesced. The real politics of our country has presented us with the actuality that when we discuss the strategic task facing the ANC, to defend itself and the democratic revolution, we must confront the role of our "left opposition", as Dumisani Makhaye did in his important article, "Left Factionalism and the Democratic Revolution", published almost five years ago. Makhaye wrote:

The ANC faces the inevitable challenge to defend the democratic victory of 1994. It has the task to use this historic outcome to promote the strategic goal of reconstruction and development.

This demands that we defend the leadership role of the ANC in the continuing struggle for the victory of the national democratic revolution, and maintain the unity of the forces that brought about the defeat of the apartheid regime.

For many decades, the ANC and the SACP have worked together as reliable and dependable partners in the struggle for the victory of the national democratic revolution. In this context, they understood their respective and non-antagonistic roles. They knew that they had different and common goals.

The task of the ANC, composed as a multi-class formation, was to lead the masses of our people in the struggle for the victory of the national democratic revolution.

For its part, the SACP had determined that its historic mission was, and is, to lead the workers and the working people in our country in the struggle for the victory of the socialist revolution. Nevertheless, it determined that for these working masses to tackle the challenge of their class oppression, first of all, they had to free themselves from national oppression.

The SACP therefore considered that, in addition, the working class struggles around issues of wages and working conditions were a necessary training ground to prepare the workers for the offensive not merely to win concessions from the employers.

Over the years of the ANC's evolution, in its basic documents it has stated the leading role of the black working class. This position was reached by the ANC on its free will and not because of some coercion. But the ANC has always understood this position to mean that the working class must earn this role through practice in the struggle for national liberation.

It can only do this if it plays a visible role at all levels of the ANC, especially at branch level. It cannot assume this role by quarantining itself into dark corners and conspiring to usurp the ANC leadership by undermining its democratically elected leadership and democratically reached positions as our left critics attempt to do.

The broad movement included the progressive trade union movement, whose role and place in the liberation struggle had been one of the central issues in the ideological, political and organisational struggle to which we have referred.

The trade union movement would be an independent formation of all workers without regard to the political allegiance of these workers. This was because these workers shared and share a common interest in improving their conditions of life as human beings and members of social units, including the family.

Both the ANC and the SACP would work among the workers and their trade union organisations to provide the political consciousness and leadership that would ensure the adherence of these workers to the respective political programmes and goals of the ANC and the SACP.

The historic alliance between the ANC, the SACP and SACTU, later replaced by COSATU, was born of and expressed the outcome of the evolutionary processes within the revolutionary movement, which gave it the strength to lead our country and people in the struggle for the defeat of the apartheid regime and system.

However, as we approached the moment of the accomplishment of the political tasks of this alliance, trends began to emerge from within the alliance whose effect was to question and threaten the ideological, political and organisational construct representing the united movement for national liberation that was on the verge of victory.

(Various) groupings within the SACP and COSATU came to the conclusion that the victory of the national democratic revolution would create the possibility for them to use the democratic state power to achieve the goals of the socialist revolution, as they understood these goals.

As part of this process, the historic leader of the national liberation movement, of the same forces targeted for transformation into the mass army that would fight for socialism now, would have to be presented in a new light.

According to these calculations, the ANC would emerge at best as a reformist movement, interested to enter into compromises with the same forces that had been and continue to be responsible for the exploitation of the black masses.

At worst, it would be presented as a traitor to the revolution, intent on forming an alliance with these forces, to misuse state power in a determined effort to share the spoils with the oppressors and exploiters.

(Accordingly, these groupings) have worked to turn the international forces that worked, under the leadership of the ANC, to defeat the apartheid regime, into opponents of our movement. They do this through a sustained campaign to discredit the efforts of both the ANC and the democratic state to achieve the objectives of the national democratic revolution.

The determination to achieve these objectives, that would lead to these groupings capturing the leadership of the ANC, necessarily led to them constituting themselves as a faction within the ANC. Acting as such a faction, these groupings set themselves particular tasks within the ANC.

Their hunger for political power drives them to act audaciously to undo everything that has been achieved in protracted struggle to build the united revolutionary movement represented by the historic alliance that emerged out of many decades of struggle. In this regard, they cannot but resort to divisive factional activity.

Objectively, two forces, (the right wing principally concentrated in the Democratic Party/Democratic Alliance and the groupings in the SACP and COSATU) work consistently to reinforce each other.

Unfortunately, and perhaps understandably, it took the ANC some time fully to understand the new tendencies we have been discussing. There was a time lag between the evolution of objective reality and the subjective comprehension of this reality.

Our organisation failed to take into account the fact that not all leaders of the alliance would necessarily respond to our accession to political power in the same way, remaining loyal to the traditions established by our broad movement through and after many decades of struggle.

The result of this was that the ANC took time to respond to the ideological, political and organisational offensive of the groupings that had located themselves in the SACP and COSATU. This created the impression that these groupings had a just cause, whereas the ANC was guilty as charged by these groupings. (However) we have begun the counter-offensive to defend the best revolutionary traditions of our broad movement for national liberation.

Naturally, this will evoke a response from those against whom we defend our revolutionary traditions. We will continue to tackle this task in a principled, but vigorous fashion. Necessarily our opponents will respond in a different way, essentially driven by their inability to mount a straightforward and effective ideological and political response.

Objectively, each and every revolutionary movement has to confront three different tasks. The first of these is to overcome and defeat its opponent. This we have done. The second is to defend the revolutionary victory. We have done well in this regard. Nevertheless, the struggle continues.

The third is to use the revolutionary victory to realise the transformation objectives of the revolution. In this regard, again we are doing well. Necessarily, the struggle continues. The question of our quality and calibre as a genuinely revolutionary movement will be answered by the objective results relating to the second and third of these goals.

This central matter will not be settled on the subjective plane. Objective reality will determine whether our revolutionary movement has succeeded or it has been defeated. In this regard, facts will speak louder than words.

But this we must understand, that the subjective factor, the ideological, political and organisational struggle, will play a decisive role in determining whether, objectively, our revolutionary movement succeeds both to defend its revolutionary gains and to achieve the fundamental transformation of our country, as visualised in our historic policy positions, including the RDP (Reconstruction and Development Programme).

In their struggle, our 'left' and right-wing opponents allow us no quarter. We too, the tried and tested leader of the masses of our people, will not accept that we allow that the aspirations of these masses are defeated by any failure on our part.

Confronted as we are by 'left' and right-wing professionals, our movement must and will respond to these professionals in a consistently revolutionary, honest and open manner. We will not retreat from, or abandon, this struggle. Victory is Certain!

As we strive continuously to advance the national democratic revolution, determined to achieve successive victories, we must pay the closest attention to, and understand with no illusions, the domestic objective and subjective conditions we face, and the related objective and subjective conditions in Africa and the rest of the world. In this regard, as the actual vanguard of the democratic revolution, we must fully understand the meaning of the expression - if wishes were horses, beggars would ride!

Lenin concluded his 1918 article, "The Revolutionary Phrase", with these words: "In the summer of 1907 our Party also experienced an attack of the revolutionary phrase that was, in some respects, analogous. In St Petersburg and Moscow nearly all the Bolsheviks were in favour of boycotting the Third Duma: they were guided by 'sentiment' instead of an objective analysis, and walked into a trap. The disease has recurred.

"The times are more difficult. The issue is a million times more important. To fall ill at such a time is to risk ruining the revolution. We must fight against the revolutionary phrase; we have to fight it; we absolutely must fight it, so that at some future time people will not say of us the bitter truth that 'a revolutionary phrase about revolutionary war ruined the revolution'."

A century after 1907, in 2007, we should not, and will not fall into a trap, as a result of being guided by ill-informed revolutionary phrases rather than objective analysis, allowing ourselves to become victim to seduction by the repetition of revolutionary slogans irrespective of objective circumstances, leading to the ruin of the national democratic revolution.

Rather, given what has been happening, affecting our movement and revolution, we may very well have arrived at the moment when, as Lenin said, questions must be raised sharply and things given their proper names, the danger being that otherwise irreparable harm may be done to the Party and the revolution.

More Information:

• 'Left factionalism and the NDR', ANC Today Vol 2 No 48

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