Socialist Worker!
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2010 BUDGET
Tension reaches boiling point the royal wedding?Working class young peo-
ple are getting hammered—and that‘s why
they‘re fighting back.We know of at least 15
colleges where there have been student oc-
cupations. This is a great way to carry for-
The tensions in Egypt are reaching boiling point. The them even more sharply. No form of
ward the fight.
crisis of the regime is reflected in a number of splits bourgeois democracy will be able to solve the
and growing opposition. The emergence of Mohamed question of price hikes, poverty, unemployment, The anger we have seen in Europe—in
Elbaradei on the political scene signifies an important military regime and in fact even the very ques- Greece, France and Portugal—has now
change in the struggle against the regime. Until now, tion of bread. These are only questions that can come to London twice in a month. There will
the masses have lacked a national point of reference be fully solved only when the whole system of be much more protest in the fu-
to connect up the different struggles, but this is now capitalism and private property is abolished. ture.Wednesday‘s fightback was the right
changing. The period up to the presidential elections will be response to a government for the rich by the
Revolution is developing just beneath the surface. one of reparation for the revolutionary events rich. The vicious budget rammed through in
In the Middle East, Egypt is a key country. Not only is it which are to come. The Egyptian revolution will Ireland at the same time as the student pro-
the most populated Arab country and a strategic pillar dramatically change the course of events in the
tests gives a sense of the future here unless
of support for imperialism, it also has a Middle East, North Africa and on a world scale.
strong working class with militant traditions. Over the By Hamid Alizadeh and Frederik Ohsten there is resistance.Wednesday‘s protest must
last few years, the Mubarak dictatorship has been be a launchpad for further resistance. We
shaken by strikes and protests, but it has become UK & EUROPE need to make Tory education secretary Mi-
increasingly clear that all factors are pointing in the chael Gove choke on his words that this gov-
direction of revolution. Students Revolt & Fight ernment isn‘t going to listen to street protests.
Education Cuts There need to be occupations and further big
The economic situation in Egypt is becoming more protests before Christmas. These will be
acute and unbearable as each day passes. discussed at a national co-ordination meeting
Booming inflation eats into the living standard of the of students this Sunday, 28 November (see
masses, while a small elite of wealthy bankers, indus-
trialists and state bureaucrats continue to enrich them-
page 4).But the resistance can‘t be left to
selves as is happening in Zimbabwe The gap between students and school students. Everyone
rich and poor is as big as ever and while wages have needs to join the fightback. Trade union lead-
been stagnating, prices have soared. ers have made speeches against the govern-
Elbaradei has called for boycotting the parliamentary ment. We need action to stop the hurricane of
elections in November. At an iftar meal to celebrate the attacks on working people.The Tories and
end of Ramadan, Elbaradei told 200 activists their lackey Lib Dem allies have launched
that: ―Anyone who participates in the vote, either as a class war. It‘s time for us all to fight back.
candidate or as a voter, goes against the national will.‖ Protest across Europe
He urged ―civil disobedience‖ to force the
regime to grant political reforms. ―If the whole people Students defy police in UK recently On Wednesday other workers and students
boycott the elections totally, it will be, in my view, the These days are the days of revolt—and it were also fighting back.A general strike
end of the regime,‖ he said, adding that he will not is right to revolt. Across Britain young shook Portugal, where the government wants
stand for President if democratic reforms are not intro- people rose up against the attacks on to slash public sector wages. Joao Proenca,
duced. education. head of the UGT union federation said, ―If the
For the masses, this is seen as a call for mobilisation. UK students have revolted against £9,000 fight against the deficit sinks the country, we
They sense that Elbaradei‘s campaign can be a vehicle university fees, the closing off of universi- have achieved nothing.‖In Italy some stu-
for protest and a force to carry through dents stormed the senate after a march
ties to all but the rich, and the abolition of
their demands by uniting against the regime in a na- through Rome against education cuts. One
tional campaign.
the EMA allowance that 16-18 year olds
rely on to go to college. It is also about the declared, ―Today we are taking back our
. The demands for an end to the State of Emergency, way the Tories are ripping up people‘s future.‖
the right to organise unions, fair elections and so on futures. It showed that the angry march In Ireland, the government unveiled a brutal
are demands that are supported wholeheartedly and the occupation of Tory headquarters package of cuts to pay for its latest IMF bail-
by the Marxists. At the same time, it must be made on 10 November was not a one-off event. out. This will slash welfare by £2.5 billion,
clear that in order to fight against the dictatorship; one There were as many if not more people increase student fees and cut the public sec-
must fight against the material forces upholding involved this time than last time. And it tor pay bill by £1 billion—yet corporation tax
it: the capitalist class, the top bureaucracy in the state wasn‘t just in London. remains a low 12.5 percent.Protesters in
and the army, as well as foreign capital and interests of Dublin forced the Merrion Hotel, where IMF
imperialism.
There were major protests in Leeds, Bris-
The situation in Egypt is pregnant with revolution.. A tol, Glasgow, Manchester, Oxford, Liver- representatives are staying, to close. A huge
ferocious fight will open up within the ruling elite. But pool, Sheffield, Brighton, Newcastle and demonstration is planned for Satur-
the overthrow of dictatorship in Egypt will not solve all many others. Tens of thousands of stu- day .www.socialistworker.co.uk(29 No-
issues. On the contrary, it will mostly serve to pose dents, especially school students, took to vember 2010)
STUDENTS PAGE
2010 in Brief.
Marxism 2010
11 DECEMBER
Crossroads House, 43 J. Nyerere Way, Harare
Theme:
DEFENDING THE REAL MARXIST TRADITIONS & THE FIGHT FOR SO-
CIALISM IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Speakers from International Socialist Organization, Social Movements, Trade Un-
ions ,ZINASU & Many More.
Adm $1 (Inc Lunch)
Contact: 04-704 209 E-mail: iso.zimbabwe@gmail.com
Karl Marx()
editor.socialistworker@gmail.com
L OCAL NEWS P AGE 6
ISO SPLIT:
MUTERO AND TIGWE AT EACH OTHER’S THROATS...
OUTGROWTH OF OPPORTUNISM suspended for stealing organisation money, cadres at a time that was ripe for working class
triggering the December 2008 split. At the resistance struggle .For survival we had no
time of the split we made it clear that the real option than to look for alternative ―islands of
Cunning hypocrisy! reasons why Mutero and Tigwe were leading life‖ that is social movements which mostly
the split were crude opportunism, greedy were constituted of the unemployed women,
Although we do not want to waste any time on and taking advantage of a serious uneven- youths and AIDS/HIV activists, who whilst very
the counter- revolution that split our International ness of ideological development in our or- enthusiastic for struggle were very weak politi-
Socialist Organisation (ISO) in late 2008, recent ganisation. The two wanted to turn ISO into cally and ideologically and particularly vulner-
happenings in the turncoats camp merit some a quasi pro-MDC NGO to be used mainly as able to the politics of commodification of resis-
comments. a vehicle for accumulating money from impe- tance or bribes from donor – funded civic soci-
Were there any convincing ideological reasons rialist donors and unsuspecting left interna- ety groups. This meant we had a mixture of a
for Cdes Mutero and Tigwe to lead a split from tional organisations because of the Zim- very small and ever decreasing layer of experi-
the ISO or it was merely high time for opportun- babwe crisis. Hence Tigwe is still in the MDC enced comrades and a bigger layer of quite
ists to leave and hunt for their plunder else- -T Glen Norah district structures and even inexperienced comrades.
where? Recent events utterly expose the slan- worked in the MDC Constituency office
The new situation posed on us two challenges :
ders and cunning hypocrisy that preceded their there.
that is attempting to train this newer and politi-
departure from ISO. One needs to go no further than the recent cally weak membership in a context of very low
flood of Mutero-Tigwe correspondences on class struggles and at the same time trying to
What`s happening to the “pure revo-
the internet to realise that there is nothing be visible in the broader democratic struggles
lutionaries” now? fundamentally different between the two against the Zanu PF dictatorship.
Within two years the breakaway comrades have other than concerns of who should have the
―hitch-hiked‖ from one tendency to another. What Secondly, such high levels of ideological un-
most advantageous position to plunder and
are they looking for? They left ISO to form what evenness combined with rampant poverty
loot from unsuspecting regional or interna-
they called ISO Zimbabwe. Then they joined the amongst comrades due to unemployment and
tional left organisations and western imperi-
Leninist International Fraction (FLTI), then the hyper-inflation and in the context of rampant
alists.
Revolutionary International League –Fourth In- bribing of activists by the bourgeois opposition
ternational ( RIL-FI) in their nomadic chase for .We shoulder the blame for having provided and civic society groups, ―commodification of
money and opportunities. a breeding ground for such opportunists by resistance,‖ provided a fertile breeding ground
failing to adequately develop our comrades for opportunism, i.e. increasing pressure that
Now they have split again, the Mutero faction ideologically. ISO be like the other social movements and
has remained RIL-FI whilst and the Tigwe, Man- civic groups by providing ―something‖ for suste-
Firstly: The social composition of the ISO.
jonjo and Chidavaenzi led faction has turned ISO nance or survival for its members, especially
Before the year 2000 the ISO used to recruit
–ZIM again. What confusion! Reasons for the income generation projects and payment for
many of its members from organised labour,
split are none other than monetary gain and attending meetings and activities.
i.e. trade unions and colleges and universi-
political opportunism. Mutero accuses Tigwe of ties. From the year 2001 to 2009, which was Thus it became very much easier for a clique of
stealing US$6 000 from a poor people‘s housing a period of extraordinary economic catastro-opportunists in ISO to take advantage of the
co-operative in Glen Norah, as well as being an phe in Zimbabwe, the ISO went through a desperation and underdevelopment amongst
MDC-T front and hitching up with a splinter massive change in terms of its social compo-many comrades to mobilise against the ISO
grouping of the FLTI in the USA and New Zea- sition. We could not continue depending on leadership and its revolutionary programme in
land in order to get money. Tigwe in turn ac- recruiting from colleges and trade unions for
an attempt to turn around the ISO into an NGO
cuses Mutero of unilaterally changing the name such ―institutions‖ were largely decimated by
which they would use to lure donor money.
of the organisation to RIL-FI in order to get a the crisis. At the height of the economic and
This is the context in which the October 2008
salary as part of the FLTI African secretariat, and social crisis in 2008, many colleges became elections which were won by the opportunists
also getting money under false pretence that he virtually closed or non-functional whilst many
were done. However, the ISO principled leader-
had been evicted from his house for political ―worker activists‖ left employment going into
ship was able to subsequently win back the
reasons and that he is a leading member of a the informal sector, rural areas or leaving the
support of the majority of members and
reformist outfit called Zimbabwe Action. country. branches, leading the opportunists to split. In
Before the 2008 split we suspended Tigwe from this they were helped by the Cape Town based
This posed huge challenges for a tiny revo-
the ISO for secretly remaining as a leading mem- WIVL, which took an unprincipled and oppor-
lutionary organisation, with an even more
ber of MDC-T in Glen Norah against ISO resolu- tunist position to back them.
tiny cadreship base, that is losing its few
tions. On readmission he was again soon re- Continued on Page 8.
L OCAL NEWS P AGE 8
editor.socialistworker@gmail.com
Several significant events on the political and The growing arrogance of Mugabe and ZANU- What the ISO stands for
constitutional framework of the country have PF and the crisis facing the GNU is not surpris-
occurred in recent months. Firstly have been ing and we had predicted right from the incep- SOCIALISM
the controversies surrounding the Constitu- tion of the GPA in September 2008: Capitalism is a system of exploitation which generates
inequality, crisis and war. Although workers create society‘s
tional Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) out- “… (The MDC – T leaders’) primary wealth, it is controlled and consumed by the ruling class.
reach exercise carried out from June 2010 to preoccupation is towards reaching a Socialism can only be built if the working class takes control
date. Secondly is the crisis in the Government sell out agreement with the Zanu PF of social wealth and democratically plan its production and
dictatorship that will not benefit the poor distribution to meet human needs, not private profits.
of National Unity (GNU) following various uni-
and working people … the opposition is SOCIALISM FROM BELOW
lateral state executive appointments by Presi- dominated by the petite bourgeois elite,
dent Robert Gabriel Mugabe. The working class is the most powerful class in the struggle
who long ago prostrated themselves for socialism. We stand for their alliance with all other op-
before western neo-liberal forces and pressed social classes in particular with peasants and the
urban poor.
Political Crisis in Zimbabwe are now eager to get into state power,
even as junior partners, and accumu- Socialism can only be attained by the mass self activity of
The GNU is facing its biggest crisis since its late as a neo-colonial dependent capi- workers such as strikes and demonstrations.
inception, following the unilateral re- talist class...” We support trade unions as essential to the fight for worker‘s
economic and political rights.
appointment of provincial governors and Am- ―On the other hand Tsvangirai, sup-
bassadors by Mugabe. This has been one of REVOLUTION NOT REFORM
ported by a duplicitous and largely
the main outstanding issues of the Global Politi- cowardly civic society, actively under- Reforms within the capitalist system cannot end oppression
and exploitation. Capitalism must be overthrown.
cal Agreement (GPA), which was supposed to mined any attempt at serious mass
be resolved by SADC and the AU, the guaran- action solely relying on western sanc- Contrary to what is said by middle class opposition parties,
institutions like parliament, the army, police and the courts
tors of the GPA. The prime minister and MDC-T tions. are not neutral things that can just be taken over by the
workers. Reformists fight for reforms as an end in them-
president Morgan Tsvangirai responded by Not surprising they have been forced selves, whilst we accept reforms only in so far as they in-
declaring that he and his party did not recog- into a deal which gives a desperate crease the confidence of the working class in order to smash
dictatorship breathing space to renew the entire capitalist system
nize not only such appointments but others that
itself, whilst laying the foundations for INTERNATIONALISM
Mugabe had unilaterally done in the last 18
massive long term assaults on the
months, including appointments of the Reserve living conditions of working people.
Workers in every country are exploited by capitalism, so the
struggle for socialism is global.
Bank Governor; Attorney General; five High Make no mistake, despite the above
Court and Supreme Court Judges and several concessions; MDC is the definite junior
We campaign for solidarity with workers in all countries. We
ambassadors to the UN, Europe and SA. He in this deal with very unclear chances are internationalist because socialism depends on spreading
has since written to these various authorities of success whilst the future of the deal working class revolutions across the world.
formally informing them of his position. Mugabe itself is very uncertain…
OPPOSITION TO OPPRESSION
and the state media have ridiculed Tsvangirai, Continued on Page 9 Capitalism divided the working class using sexual, tribal,
with Mugabe saying this is why it was now racial and national distinctions. The specially oppressed
“… groups within the working class suffer the most under capital-
mandatory to have elections by mid- 2011 and ism.
do away with the GNU that has become to him We oppose the oppression of women, minority tribes and
an unbearable hindrance. ethnic groups and gays and lesbians. We fight for real social,
economic and political equality of women including access to
safe abortion facilities. We call for an end to discrimination
LET’S BUILD THE REVOLUTIONARY PARTY.JOIN US! against gays.
REVOLUTIONARY PARTY
BY PHONE: 04-704 209
To achieve socialism the most militant sections of the
BY E-MAIL:iso.zimbabwe@gmail.com working class have to be organized into a mass revolu-
tionary party. We are in the early stages of building such a
By POST:Box 6758 Harare party through involvement in the day to day struggles of
workers, students and the oppressed.
Or VISIT US AT:1st Fl, Crossroads Building,43 J Nyerere way, Harare.
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