APF
The problem is the capitalist system

ANC cannot deliver because it is serving the capitalists

Profit is the obstacle to satisfying the needs of the masses

Monday 18 September 2006 by Trevor

You might have a good heart, love your country and its people. But if you follow the capitalist policies of the ANC you will attack workers. You will be part of the problem not the solution.

During elections in South Africa many people criticise the ANC. They say: “They don’t care. They are making false promises.” Yes – but why is it that the ANC seems not to care? It is because of the real problem – a commitment to the system of profits.

Profits are the wealth that some people get because other people work for them. The people who get the profits are the bosses. They are always a few. The people who do the work are the workers. They are always the massive majority. Why does it happen this way? Why does the majority work for the few bosses? Because they are forced to. Without that, they are unemployed. Without wages, the majority will just starve. And so it continues. You must look for work because you do not have anything except your labour. You must ask for that work from bosses who have the wealth. You work for them and they get the profits. Then they have more wealth – and that gives them more power. And so they can succeed in forcing you to work for them again tomorrow. This is a system of stealing and corruption and force and exploitation – this system of the bosses, this capitalist system. We say it is a system of corruption because it can not work without some people taking the wealth that other people create. That is the truth of the capitalist system of profits. Wherever there is this system, there will be corruption. It will happen in many different ways – but always – it will be about some people taking the wealth that other people create.

You can come along with dreams into this system. You can be a person who cares. But for as long as everything must happen so that some people can steal profits, there will be corruption. You can even want to ne an honest person. But the system of profits means that some people are allowed to take the wealth created from the labour of other people. That is stealing. When the whole system is based on stealing, there is no room for honesty. There is a culture of stealing. It is not stealing because you are hungry or because you have got no clothes. It is not stealing to survive. It is stealing to get richer and richer. Whoever can get richer and richer quicker and quicker from the labour of other people is the one who gets th most respect. Then what room is there for someone who says I will just do my work and not try to get rich?

There is an ethos in the capitalist system for bosses and another one which they make for workers. For workers they tell you that you must work harder and harder and then you will get further. It is just not true. There are millions of workers who have worked harder and harder – and they have got retrenched. They pretend that there is the same ethic for bosses – work harder and harder and you will get more. But again, that is not the truth for themselves. For bosses, the real truth is to get as much as possible for doing as little as possible. In fact, it is to get more and more because of what you own, not what you do. You canget more and more from doing nothing – as long as you own more and more. That is the truth – then how can anyone remain honest in that system?

There is a capitalist culture which says that each and everything must be connected with profits. Health. Housing. Water. Electricity. These are the things that ordinary people need every day. But more and more, there is one law about all of these things which comes first: they must help bosses to make profits. So there is outsourcing and privatization of everything. Then what space is left, in this culture, for someone to stay honest and say there must be health because people need it? There must be water and electicity because people need it? No. You can not say that in the capitalist system. Instead you must say – there will be water only if the bosses can mae a profit.

You can want everyone to have a house – but for that to happen, bosses must get profits. And when bosses must get profits, then everyone will not get a house. You can be determined that everyone who is elected will be honest and committed to serve the people. But the system will tell you that bosses must make a profit – and for bosses to make a profit, someone must take the wealth created by poor people, not give them the wealth. You can pledge that you will make laws according to the needs of the people. But the system will tell you that another law must come first – the law of profits. It says that something can happen if there is a rpfit for bosses and nothing can happen unless there is that rpofit. You can believe with all your heart that the government must spend all the money that is necessary for people to be able to meet their needs. But you will look for the money and find that it is in the hands of the bosses. And for them to spend that money, they must be sure of getting profits. So you end up looking for a way to help them get profits.

And so. Does this mean that there is nothing we can do when we are faced with these laws of capitalism? No. There is always something we can do. We can say no. we can look for ecery possible way of organizing, mobilizing and working together against the laws of capitalism. That is the class struggle – the working class against the capitalist class. It is a wat. No-one can fight that war by being on both sides. You are on one side or the other sides. No-one can be on the side of the working class if you accept the law of profits. No-one can be on the side of the working class if you make a long list of what you wish – and then act to protect the law of profits which will trample on all those wishes. You have to takle sides. And to [protect the private property and the bosses profits is taking their side.

It can be that there are honest people in the ANC. Committed in their hearts to serve the people, meet their needs, fight corruption. But there are policies in the ANC which say” for any of this to happen, the bosses must get their profits. It is saying that for ordinary people to get the wealth, they must accept that they should allow the bosses to exploit them and take the wealth into their own hands = so that they can continue to exploit them tomorrow. A commitment to end corruption ccan never succeed – if the bosses must first get their profits. A commitment to serve the people can never succeed if the bosses must first get their rpfoits. A determination that everyone should have decent shelter can never succeed if the bosses must first get their profits. Any policy of the ANC that is about really meeting the needs of people will never succeed because there is another policy in the ANC which says: first make sure that the bosses get their profits.

We are talking here about people who might really be committed to serving the needs of the majority. We know that there are such people in the ANC. We ourselves were in the ANC for that same reason. At that time, the ANC leadership listened with one ear to the voice of the masses and the other ear to the voice of the bosses. But that time is gone. Now they listen with one ear to the voice of the bosses inside the ANC and with the other ear to the voice of the bosses outside the ANC.

And it is no good anymore talking about opposition to this inside the ANC. At iits Stellenbosch Congress, the ANC made a decision that every single member iois committed to support its policies – not just its goals like the Freddom Charter, or its principles, like equality and justice. The candidates now each must make a pledge. It looks as if the pledge is about honesty and caring – but in the same pledge, it is about supporting the policies. Policy is made by the government. The policy of the government is decided by the presidency. Then that becomes the policy of the ANC. And every member must support it, according to the constitution. The truth is that there is a much bigger problem with the ANC than those who do not care and those who make false promises and those who are corrupt. It is a much bigger problem than failure to deliver. The real problem is this: the ANC has chosen policies and committed itself to defend and police and manage a system which means that ordinary working class people will never get what they need. It has tied itself to a system that means there can not be delivery and there will be false promises and corruption and the careerism and opportunism of those who are interested only in filling their pockets. That is what bosses politics mean – even when there are some people who care and are honest. The caring and the honesty will get buried.

Comrades, this article argues that the most important thing to say to workers is to raise the question of class. That, according to the Socialist Group, is our strongest argument and point of connection with the masses. Your comments are welcome. Thank you.


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