From ISIZWE, Journal of the UDF. Volume 1 Number 4. March 1987
During the 80's, the struggle against apartheid reached new heights and became more deeply rooted. Many more people were actively fighting for their rights, they became more united and more aware. We have seen this in the sustained mass action country wide - in the factory and school, township and village, in the consumer boycotts, stay aways and rent boycotts, in the street committees and people's courts. Increasingly the people refused to be ruled in the old way, and demand democratic self-government over their daily lives.
This fundamental challenge to apartheid rule did not just suddenly happen. Painstaking ORGANISATION, over many years, knocked down for our people the walls of passivity and powerlessness, of ignorance, divisions and fear. And it is organisation, which remains the key to defending and taking further the challenge to apartheid rule.
What is organisation?
For us in the democratic movement, the concept 'organisation' has a particular meaning. When we talk of 'organising' or 'organisation', we refer to a process which involves a number of things:
All of the above, taking place in an ongoing and living way, is the process of organisation. In other words, an organisation is not just a constitution or a committee. Organisation for us means fulfilling a key requirement in our struggle for national liberation.
Why organise?
Denied full political rights and access to the wealth of the country, the daily lot of our people was one of poverty and hardship. Denied a democratic say and control over their lives, the oppressed had no automatic power to change the situation. The councils, management committees and other puppet bodies that the apartheid government set up were undemocratic and unable to do anything about our problems. But by uniting and action on our problems, we gained strength and power to challenge oppression and to overcome it. Organisation is our tool to build this strength and power.
Central to our understanding of the need for organisation is our belief that it is through our own efforts that we will be able to do something about our problems. Our experience has taught us that when we ourselves act on our problems, only then does change become possible. We have to take charge of our own lives in order to change them.
The efforts we talk about are the efforts of the mass of people. Not just a few individuals or a few enlightened leaders. Change in the true interests of the majority will come about only through the united action of the majority. So we organise to bring about the active participation of the maximum number of people in the issues of daily concern to them - issues of high rents and low wages, housing, education, land reform.
In acting on our problems, we act in unity. Without unity, we cannot effectively address the challenges that face us. We share common problems, and by taking them up together we exercise greater strength and power.
The enemy will always try to undermine and weakens our struggles through dividing us - offering concessions to some and not to others; trying to discredit and isolate democratic organisations and leadership from the people.
Where the apartheid government sought to divide us - parent from youth, homeowner from tenant, Zulu from Xhosa, urban from rural, Indian from African, black taxi-owner, nurse or trader from black worker - we organise to cement a lasting unity. Of course, we understand that not all the interest of these different groups and classes are exactly the same. The black working masses have the greatest interest in taking our struggle to its deepest conclusions. But all oppressed and democratic South Africans have an overriding interest in the final elimination of apartheid. Building the unity of our people around this unifying interest, maintaining and defending this unity, ranks as a priority for us.
To survive, apartheid depended not only on our disunity and lack of action, but also on our ignorance. Ignorance of the reasons for our hardship. Ignorance of our right to a better life. Ignorance of our ability to fight for that right and to achieve it.
We organise to raise the level of understanding and awareness of our people. Through mass struggle we learn that there are reasons for our life of misery and oppression. We learn that our problems can be overcome. We learn of the power of, and need for united action. We develop confidence in our ability to make decisions for ourselves, to take charge of our own lives, and to influence the course and outcome of events.
To give proper expression to our unity in action, to coordinate and direct it, we form organisations, structures and committees. Our organisations allow us to communication with one another, to discuss matters and jointly arrive at decisions. Through our organisations we are able to plan action, implement and coordinate it. It represents our collective voice and ensures we act in unity.
Organisations also help us to learn from our successes and failures. Without constant organisational assessment (does this strategy work. Is this possible? Why did that fail?) there can be little scientific base for ongoing work. Without organisation we can never learn from our collective mass struggle.
It is also within organisation that we develop democracy. The experience of our people in their own democratic organisations, is the experience of democratic participation. Our people are exposed to open discussion and a free expression of views; to working together and sharing joint responsibility; to discipline and accountability.
Through all of this - this dynamic process of organisation - we are protecting ourselves from attacks on our living standards, fighting to improve the quality of our lives, and bringing about change in our interests. As we organise, not only are we challenging and breaking down the old and the negative, but also creating and building the new and positive.
Forms of organisation
The democratic organisations we establish take many and varied forms. The kind of organisations we form and the way they are structured, is determined by a number of factors. These include who is being organised, what their interests are, what issues we are organising, what our goals are.
It could be hostel dwellers, students, commuters, teachers, or the unemployed who are being organised. The organisation that we establish could be a SRC, a trade union, rent action committee or a political organisation.
Sometimes we form bodies for specific sections of the people like unemployed workers association or youth congresses. Some of these bodies may come together under a civic association to represent to represent the total interests of all residents in the community, or all of them can come together under a broad national political movement like the UDF to fight for national liberation.
Organisation, we can see, occurs at different levels and assumes different forms. A careful reading of all relevant factors and conditions, and the lessons and experience we gain while organising will guide us on the nature, form and structure of organisation. But almost as a rule, it is crucial to achieve the involvement of the people who directly experience a particular problem or set of problems.
It is not good, for example, for youth to lead and dominate a struggle against high rents while the workers, parents and tenants are not actively involved. In the same way it is not good for the taxi owners and bus drivers to take a decision on a bus boycott and not the commuters.
Approach to organisation
We refer to our approach to organisation as the mass approach. This is based on our understanding that mass struggle is the key to change. Our mass approach means that we must always be at the level of the people. To confuse the awareness and commitment of the masses with that of activists, would leave us as a small peripheral clique isolated from the people. What are the feelings of the majority of the people? How deeply do they feel about this particular problem? How far are they prepared to go with action? What is their level of understanding on the issue? These are important questions to ask for anyone who is serious about organising.
In line with this, our approach on any issue is one, which seeks to win over as many people as possible. We are careful not to alienate people through ill-discipline, poor conduct or rash action. Important to this approach is consultation and hard work to ensure any decision or action enjoys the broadest possible support. Not only is this an important part of our democratic approach, but it is necessary for the success of that action.
All of this does not mean that our organisations must be passive in the face of those we seek to organise. We must also constantly provide active leadership to the people. To pursue a mass approach to organisation, does not mean folding our arms and moaning about the 'backwardness' of this or that sector of the people.
We must not be fifty steps ahead of the people. But equally, we must not fall behind them. To begin from where the people are at, this is the key to effective organisation. Organisation is the key to mass struggle. Mass struggle is the key to change.
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