Anarchist/syndicalist and independent Marxist intersections in post-apartheid struggles, South Africa: the WSF/ZACF current in Gauteng, 1990s–2010s

ABSTRACT

South Africa has a long-established independent left, outside the big traditions of nationalism and Marxism-Leninism. Post-apartheid its fortunes have varied considerably, as space opened up for movements to the left of the African National Congress and the South African Communist Party, but opportunities declined as the state increased its legitimacy, penetration of civil society, and systems of patronage. This paper looks at cooperation, competition and convergence on the independent left, with particular reference to independent Marxists (mainly the well-established Trotskyist tradition) and revolutionary anarchists and syndicalists (a movement that revived in the 1990s). These intersections have taken place in study groups, popular education, student struggles, and post-apartheid social movements and unions, and indicate the vitality and fragility of the independent left, and the ongoing importance of cooperation and overlaps, as well as of long-standing divisions over theory and strategy. Particular attention is paid to Keep Left, the Socialist Group, the Democratic Socialist Movement, and the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• anarchism
• Marxism
• the South African left
• convergence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Lucien van der Walt http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7145-9025

Notes

1 These dominant traditions, it is important to recognize, overlap in important ways. For example, ANC and SACP have been allied from the 1950s, the ANC profoundly influenced by SACP theory (Jara, 2013, pp. 260–261). COSATU identifies as ‘anchored in the congress [ANC] and Comintern tradition’ (Vavi, 2009). A useful distinction can be drawn between the larger ANC-centred ‘Congress’ movement –ANC, SACP and allied movements – and the ‘Congress left’ – that part of the Congress movement championing a socialist project. ANC – unlike SACP – is a broad church, and a multi-class party, within which opinions range from conservative, to liberal and radical; it has never formally adopted socialism nor Marxism, but includes supporters of both. Some organizations in the broad Congress movement, like COSATU, are on Congress left, others are not. The student movement SASCO defines itself as Marxist-Leninist (Nephawe, 2011, pp. 33–38), but the community-based SANCO speaks merely of people-centred development. The main breakaways from the ‘Congress’ movement – the populist Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF, formed 2013), the ultra-nationalist Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC, formed 1959), and the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA, formed 1987, expelled from COSATU in 2014, forming its own Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party in 2018) also draw on nationalism and Leninism. PAC was influenced by Maoism, and its Pan-Africanist Students Movement (PASMA) today endorses Marxism-Leninism. Outside Congress, the Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO, formed 1979), the main Black Consciousness body, adopted ‘scientific socialism’ at its founding.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Leroy Maisiri

Leroy Maisiri comes from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and currently lives in South Africa. He is involved in political education and civil society initiatives, and is working on a study of the independent left in the anti-apartheid 1980s ‘people’s power’ movement in South Africa. He has published in Pambazuka, the South African Labour Bulletin and other platforms.

Phillip Nyalungu

Phillip Nyalungu is a community-based activist and journalist. Founder of Vuka Motsoaledi newsletter in the 2000s, he has been involved in a range of social movements and struggles. He currently organizes and documents waste-pickers in Makhanda, South Africa and researches value chains in recycling. He has written for a range of progressive publications and local news outlets.

Lucien van der Walt

Lucien van der Walt lectures at Rhodes University, South Africa, has long been involved in union and working class education and movements, and has published widely on labour, the left and political economy. His books include Anarchism and syndicalism in the colonial and postcolonial world, 1880–1940 (2010/2014, with Steve Hirsch, Benedict Anderson, etc.), and Politics at a distance from the state: Radical and African perspectives (2018, with Kirk Helliker).