Trade Unions and Day-to-Day Struggles to Build Socialism in South Africa

by Vishwas Satgar

Unions are working class organisations and are important to galvanise the 
collective strength of workers against capitalists.

As institutions of worker power, unions date back to the 19th Century and 
were formed to fight the harsh conditions imposed by early 
industrialisation, both in Europe and its colonies. Struggles were waged 
against the violence associated with the establishment of the early factory 
system; sweated child labour and indentured labour; long hours of work and 
poverty wages. 

It was only in the 1920s that progressive unionism took root in South 
Africa. Progressive trade unionism developed in a way that has linked day-
to-day struggles with struggles for wider social and political 
transformation. Put differently, progressive trade unionism has located 
trade unions within the national liberation struggle and the struggle for 
socialism.

For unions to avail against and contest imperialist globalisation, 
particularly its "free market" restructuring agenda, and ensure working 
class leadership of the National Democratic Revolution, there is a need to 
embrace a strategy and practice of transformative unionism.

Such a strategy and practice of transformative unionism would attempt to 
take the progressive trade union movement in South Africa beyond the option 
of reforming capitalism to include a few more people within the capitalist 
class (neo-colonialism) or give it a more humane face through welfare 
capitalism (social democracy).

Essentially, the politics of transformative unionism is about building 
socialism, now, within the ongoing National Democratic Revolution. It does 
not seek a middle road between the two reform versions of capitalism but 
rather attempts to present socialism as an alternative, that should be 
built through day-to-day struggles.

Transformative unionism places the working class at the forefront of a 
socialist transition in South Africa, with its main goal being the 
democratisation of South Africa such that power is shifted on to the side 
of the working class and the poor. Within the economy this amounts to using 
transformative practice and struggles to change ownership and hierarchical 
managerial control, such that socialist economic relationships are 
constructed which are not governed by exploitation and gender oppression. 
Hence, transformative unionism is revolutionary unionism.

Revolutionary unionism attempts to avoid the twin dangers of two types of 
unionism:

(1) Defensive unionism — which is sometimes referred to as "workerism". It 
is narrow unionism which opposes imperialist globalisation and its "free 
market" restructuring agenda through defensive struggles for higher wages, 
better grades, retrenchment packages and training, for instance, without 
wanting to transform the underlying power relations of the employment 
relationship.

Such a unionism allows capital to dominate the state and, ultimately, lead 
social transformation. It does not link struggles in the workplace to wider 
working class struggles to inform the direction of society.

Essentially, it fails to provide any viable transformative alternative for 
workers, even from below. 

(2) Corporatist unionism — engages imperialist globalisation by 
compromising with its "free market" restructuring agenda. Sometimes it is 
referred to as "strategic unionism" or "social unionism".

Basically, it attempts to reform capitalism by locking workers and 
capitalists in a social partnership, for the construction of a globally 
competitive social democracy or welfare capitalism.

Within this kind of unionism the state is understood to be "neutral" and is 
given the task of off-setting the harsh effects of "free-market" 
restructuring by providing a welfare net and/or training policies to help 
workers get jobs in export led sectors or in Transnational Corporations 
operating in South Africa.

Corporatist unionism is "elitist" and is about deal making at the "top".

Also, and most importantly, it divides the working class between countries 
by involving them in the global race for competitiveness and in the end 
maintains the dominance of capital's agenda.

In presenting socialism as a political and ideological alternative, 
transformative unionism draws, firstly, on its own long history. This goes 
back to the Paris Commune in the French Revolution, the workers and 
peasants Soviets in the Russian Revolution and the Workers Council movement 
in Turin, Italy, during the year 1919.

Sometimes this tradition is referred to as "council communism" and was 
about changing power within these societies from below.

In South Africa, the approach to transformative unionism being presented by 
the SACP draws on this tradition but also attempts to go beyond it by 
recognising that although the institutional form and expression of worker 
power is important, planning  and asserting alternatives (for the 
enterprise, industry and macro-economy) from below, using workers own 
accumulated knowledge and experience is fundamentally more important.

Taking forward these planned alternatives has to be asserted through 
working class hegemony or dominance on all terrains — parliament, 
government, NEDLAC, the factory floor, the community and so on.

The second, and critical aspect about advancing socialism through 
transformative unionism, is its starting point regarding the construction 
of socialism in South Africa.

It acknowledges that Karl Marx never left a blueprint for socialism. 
Sometimes, people make the mistake of believing socialism is everything 
that is the opposite of capitalism. This is not true and is an abstract 
model of what socialism should be.

Both Marx and Engels, although making a critique of capitalism and 
recognising that it exploits workers and places ownership of the means of 
production in private hands, still viewed it as a progressive system in the 
development of history from and beyond primitive, to slave and feudal 
societies.

The level of development of the forces of production or technology was 
clearly hailed by Marx and Engels as fundamentally progressive within 
capitalism. Hence, transformative unionism attempts to revolutionise the 
progress capitalism has made, in the sense, that it tries to ensure the 
economy is organised to meet social needs rather than make capitalist 
profits. 

The core of transformative unionism is a commitment to action and struggle. 
A commitment to overthrow capital by building worker capacities for 
democratisation of the economy and ultimately, socialist development. This 
depends on workers and unions practicing the following strategic elements 
or pillars:

(1) Advancing Worker Plans Through Participatory Planning From Below. In 
Capital (Volume 3) Karl Marx makes an important point about how 
economic resources should be utilised. His idea was of "associated 
producers rationally regulating their interchange with nature, bringing 
production under their common control instead of being ruled by it as by 
the blind forces of nature".

Essentially, Marx believed the market could not organise the resources of a 
society to rationally meet its needs.

The attempts at central planning in the Soviet Union, although attempted as 
an alternative to the market, also failed. It introduced inefficiencies 
into the economy and was authoritarian, to the extent that it was incapable 
of being in tune with the real needs of the society.

On the other hand, the failure of centralised planning does not rule out 
the possibilities of other forms of planning.

For transformative unionism planning from below through widespread 
participation is essential and democratic.In this regard shop stewards are important and pivotal to participatory 
planning. They have to be the spearhead that brings together workers to 
plan alternatives and solutions to capital driven "free market" 
restructuring within their enterprises and even at an industry level. 

Participatory planning also enables workers to plan wage and "non-wage" 
issues like investments, technology policy and new products, to meet the 
needs of workers and communities — resources are matched to social need as 
opposed to production being geared to market demand.

This does not mean that workers plans would not produce a surplus or be 
profitable. However, the difference would be a "social view of 
profitability" which takes into account the consequences production has for 
income levels, employment, the environment and peoples health and safety.

(2) Autonomous Worker Self Management — capitalist enterprises are 
organised hierarchically through top-down managerial control.

The power within this kind of control enables managers to unilaterally 
decide on plans for enterprises, new technology policy, investments, 
marketing, human resource development policy and so on.

If real democratisation and industrial democracy were to be achieved 
workers have to advance worker control beyond consultation, negotiations, 
joint decision-making and participation on company boards. Workers have to 
strive to achieve autonomous worker self-management. It is the ultimate 
form of worker control and socialist management that enables real 
democratic economic decision making.

As a power or competency, autonomous self management can be struggled for, 
now, through a host of channels, from collective bargaining agreements to 
workplace forums, in the course of advancing the workers' plans.

(3) Worker and Community Ownership are essential to transform ownership 
patterns in the South African economy.

At the moment, ownership in the South African economy is in the hands of a 
few large conglomerates and transnational corporations.

Nonetheless, unlike the Soviet Union where state ownership defined the 
socialist order, ownership of the means of production in South Africa has 
to be changed such that it is socialised. This means social ownership and 
control of property is not just embodied in the state but has to also be 
located directly within the hands of workers and communities.

The state has a key role in terms of socialising property relations in 
South Africa. Besides expanding the reach  and ownership base of the state 
through state owned farms, consideration must be given to nationalisation 
of particular enterprises in certain sectors to break the dominance of 
private capital.

Also, worker and community enterprises should consider joint ventures with 
the state, that fundamentally redefines the meaning of public/"private" 
partnerships. This is feasible  mainly at a local government level.

Ultimately, the state has a regulatory role to prevent the over 
concentration of ownership and this can be facilitated through a host of 
policies like competition policy, anti-trust laws, complete state ownership 
and so on.

(4) Internationalism has been a core Communist principle.

The unity of workers from around the world in their struggle against 
capital and for socialism has inspired revolutionaries, activists and 
intellectuals for several generations.

Of late there is a tendency to downplay internationalism and replace it 
with the principle of solidarity. These principles, however, are not the 
same. Solidarity mainly amounts to worker-to-worker or union-to-union 
support across national boundaries within defensive struggles.

Internationalism includes solidarity but also supports worker power to take 
over or defend nation states against imperialist globalisation. 
Transformative unionism upholds the principle of internationalism and 
recognises the need to develop global strategic alliances to advance and 
defend socialist gains.

(5) Transformative alliances — are essential to advance working class 
hegemony within the National Democratic Revolution.

This operates at two levels. One at the level of party-to-movement 
relationships which are best represented by the Tri-partite Alliance 
between COSATU, the SACP and the ANC. This is a relationship that maintains 
the fraternal autonomy of forces and allows strategies and tactics to be 
negotiated.

For workers the main political significance held out by the tri-partite 
alliance is the opportunities it holds out to contest state power and 
promote transformation from above.

The other level of transformative alliances operates between social 
movement to social movement. For instance, COSATU needs to forge alliances 
with SEWU (an informal sector organisation for the self employed), 
unemployed workers organisations or even the Black Management Forum to 
ensure transformation is asserted from below. Ultimately, these alliances 
hold the prospect of ensuring worker plans dominate transformation.

Basically for unions, in South Africa today, to accept transformative 
unionism amounts to pushing the frontiers of trade union organisation and 
class consciousness. It ensures the crucible of day-to-day struggles to 
advance socialism places workers at the coalface of a new chapter in South 
African history — the struggle to advance a socialist revolution.