SACP matters now more than ever, says Jeremy Cronin

The troubles currently besetting the ruling party have made its strategic ally, the South African Communist Party (SACP), more relevant now than ever.

The SACP has become a beacon of hope for tripartite alliance members opposed to both state capture and monopoly capital, outgoing SACP deputy general secretary Jeremy Cronin has said.

“We have become the voice within the alliance opposed to the Gupta state capture and we are calling on [President] Zuma to step down … that gives ANC members hope,” Cronin said.

He told The Citizen the SACP’s membership had doubled since its last congress in 2012, indicating that its socialist agenda was seen an alternative to the current neoliberal policies of the ANC.

“Some leaders in the ANC look up to the SACP in light of the current chaos in the ANC.

“They believe that, as their strategic ally, we can rescue the ANC,” he said.

The demise of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall had wrongly created the impression that socialism had failed, he said.

“It was not socialism that failed, but it was a particular form of socialism which became distorted.

“There was a growing divide between socialist aspirations and democracy, including popular democracy.

“Capitalism is an unsustainable system. It is based on the premise of continuous growth, but there are not enough natural resources in the world to be able to do that.

“So the question of getting beyond capitalism into post-capitalist society is more relevant now than ever before,” Cronin said.

He said that communists in South Africa and post-Soviet communists in general understood there were problems in how socialism was implemented and they had to find ways to deal with that, as well as to address the exploitation of the majority by the minority.

But he believed the SACP had a future as a socialist organisation provided it listened to people’s issues and provided answers.

He added that the SACP did not want to grow as a result of disillusioned ANC members swelling its ranks.

“We don’t want to see the ANC dying. Instead we want a strong ANC while we remain a vanguard party,” he said.

Both Cronin and general secretary Blade Nzimande emphasised at the party’s congress this week that the party “would not like to push the ANC over the cliff”.

Cronin, who joined the SACP in 1968 at age 18, did not stand for re-election. But he hopes to remain in the SACP’s central committee to concentrate on political education.

Although Nzimande did stand for re-election, he echoed Cronin’s sentiment that younger leaders were needed to lead the party.

They both also agree the ANC might crumble from the effects of state capture, corruption in government and infighting. But the SACP would fight for the ANC’s survival. – ericn@citizen.co.za