Who leads against apartheid?

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SOCIALIST ACTI N OCTOBER 1985 11 ists in the United States, points out: "The majority of South Africa's Blacks, especially its young people, see capitalism and apartheid as inextricably linked."

"But some accommodation is possible"' the editors advise. "Black leaders in neighboring Marxist states have been willing to employ foreign multinationals that stay to run mines and plants."

Accordingly, on Sept. 13, seven South African executives and journal"The Black trade unions are beginning to lead."

ists donned their polo jerseys and flew off to Zambia to see if they could strike a deal with exiled leaders of the African National Congress.

The main spokesman for the group, Anglo-American Corp. Chairman Gavin W.H. Relly, told the press before leaving, "I think it is a very good idea that the South African business community should be able to explore with the ANC whether there is a meeting of the minds between a free-enterprise society and Marxist control."

Relly was not entirely encouraged by the outcome, however. The president of the ANC, Oliver Tambo, told the business leaders that if the ANC should come to power some major corporations would be nationalized.

Tambo did volunteer the opinion, however, that the talks represented "a very important contribution to the procThe following remarks by a leader of the South African National Forum are taken from an interview that first appeared in Was Tun, a weekly newspaper published by the German section of the Fourth International.

Was Tun: What are the differences between the two large political alliances of the liberation movement-the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the National Forum (NF)?

Answer: They were both born in 1983. The NF has remained loyal to its initial idea, which is to build a common opposition encompassing all the forces that refuse to accept the new constitution [issued by the government—ed.].

The founding of the National Forum was above all the act of AZAPO, the only legal organization born from the Black Consciousness Movement and the Cape League of Action.

The United Democratic Front came into existence primarily at the initiative of the African National Congress (ANC). The term democratic in its name indicates, nonetheless, the intention of integrating liberal organizations (Black and white) into the front's leadership bodies.

The two alliances essentially bring together Black workers. The Black middle class and intellectuals are represented in both. The UDF also has capitalist elements (mainly white), liberals, and with tal.

Of course, the NF has white members that come from grass-root, student, and union organizations, but one does not find that capitalist element. CUSA, one of two big Black union federations, is in both the UDF and the NF.

The basis of the NF is the "Manifesto of the Azanian People" which is not a socialist program but puts socialism on the order of the day.

The UDE, on the other hand, was not even able to agree on the basis of the "Freedom Charter, the manifesto drafted in 1955 by the ANC for a bourgeois-democratic anti-apartheid coalition.

We look forward to unity of action with the UDF but not a political alliance, because we refuse this type of unity with liberals.

Was Tun: What role does the labor movement play in the South African revolt?

Answer: There is no doubt that the labor movement has played an important-if not decisive-role in various ways. The strikes that began in September 1984 in the Vaal Triangle (the industrial region of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State) were transformed into a regional general strike by November.

These actions were the starting point of the revolt. This movement was carried out principally by the two large actions in order to avoid government attacks.

After the general strike, many leaders of FOSATU were arrested. They were then brought to trial for "high treason."

The unions encourage their members to participate in political actions in the Black ghettos. Not necessarily as union members, because that would cause their immediate ban, but by participating in grass-roots organizations and in spontaneous revolts.

I would distinguish three different kinds of groupings. At the extreme left, one finds the unions close to the Black Consciousness Movement. In the center, one finds FOSATU and CUSA, which now want to merge. More to the right is the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU), which is close to the African National Congress.

-UNIONS TAT.y SOUTH AFRICA

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