SACP needs more than Marxism

The Tripartite Alliance – between the ANC, SA Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of SA trade Unions (Cosatu) – has become more and more of a sham, much like a marriage where husband and wife stick it out for the sake of the children.

And, much as the dynamics in a marriage change as the kids move out of the family home, it seems as though South Africa is nearing, or is already at, a political watershed where the old political bonds are disintegrating.

The SACP has given notice that it is considering contesting the next national elections on its own ticket.

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Blood in the water

It has threatened this many times in the past, only to fold quietly.

But now, as the ANC is obviously weakened by its lowly 40% support in last year’s polls and by the emergence of strong opposition like Jacob Zuma’s uMkonto weSizwe party, the Communists might sense blood in the water.

They may also see an opportunity to take back the socialist “revolution” which, in pure Marxist terms, has failed dismally… one only need to look at the new black elite and their lavish lifestyles – while the poor still live with grinding poverty – to see that truth.

What’s holding it back

There are two possible things holding back the SACP from expanding its limited support base.

The first is that, to have mass popular appeal, it needs to compile a manifesto which is intelligible to more than the smug Marxist intellectuals within its ranks.

It needs to offer a tangible and sustainable programme for change to ordinary South Africans.

Then there is the fact that the SACP’s leaders themselves are hardly hungry or passionate revolutionaries, having tasted the soft life in various government or parastatal positions.

Above all, the party needs to prove that a 160-year-old political philosophy is still relevant in the 21st century

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