Let me state this again. It is not true that in 1994 we won political power. In all societies that are divided into classes, political power flows from ownership and control of the means of production. It is important that we distinguish political office from political power. Political office refers to control of ministries conferred on a party on the basis of the results of a general election. It is possible in a capitalist country for a party of the working class or the oppressed to win elections and assume political office - that is, it is given control over ministries - without that in any way altering the fact that political power remains in the hands of the capitalist class, which in SA is primarily white. What happens in such instances is that a party of the working class is allowed to administer the capitalist state, introduce ameliorative reforms, such as building houses for the poor, social grants, water, electricity, roads etc and even impose certain controls on the activities of the capitalists just as long as it does not tamper with the central sphere of capitalist political and economic power. Forming the government, therefore, is not the same thing as acquiring political power. Political power still rests with white monopoly capital. Capitalists will do their best to allow competition between different factions of of capitalist political parties so as to create an impression of political plurality when there is no such thing. I STAND TO BE CORRECTED
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 08:40:28 +0000
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