THIS IS A SUMMARY OF A CHAPTER THAT IM CURRENTLY WORKING ON ,BUT I THOUGHT I MUST SHARE IT WITH YOU COMRADES OF KHAYA MABECE MARXIST THEORY This is as Marxist theory would expect; Marxism is defined as system of thought that was formulated by Karl Marx, who provided the central theoretical basis for socialism . Marxist theory begins by articulating a general theory of class struggle that springs from economic relatons of production that separate society into opposing classes, one that actually produce and one that enjoys the benefits of production. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels analyzed the transformation of power relations and social institutions from one class to another. According to Marxist theory classes and class struggles are a product at given stage of historical development, of economic development . Wealth distribution is a product of the distribution of ownership in production. Economic differences reflect on the fact that a certain class or fragment of society owns the means of production while the greater fast of the population (working class) - does not own the means of production so that the material conditions force them to work for owners of the means of production . The class that owns the means of production and has economic influence usurps political influence; as a result, the class with economic controls state power and all the means of political power such as the army, courts, media, police and institutions involved in policy formulation. Fundamentally, as Adam Przeworki argues a class divided society, ideas that prevail at a given time are those of the class that has economic and political power (Lavallette1997:65). THE MARXISM THEORY ON REDISTRIBUTION Marxist theory of land distribution and all of other strategic resources rejects any distribution of land based on considerations of race, class and gender. In that its stance is the same as that of the Freedom Charter. “It is the meaning of the principal economic clauses of the Freedom Charter that has generated most dispute to date. These call for the national wealth of South Africa to be restored to the people, for the ownership by the people as a whole (of) the mineral wealth, the Banks and monopoly industry; for the control of all other industry and trade ... to assist the well- being of the people; for all people (to) have equal rights to trade where they choose, to manufacture and to enter all trades, crafts and professions; for the ending of restrictions of land ownership on a racial basis and the redivision of all the land ... amongst those who work it In this analysis of the society Marx and Engels reached the conclusion that societies are divided into classes, a class that actually carries out production and one that enjoys the benefits of production. Marx and Engels further noted that the unequal distribution of strategic resources such as land and property rights, benefit only the bourgeoisies and negatively affects the lives of the proletariat; hence the call for redistribution. In trying to understand and solve the land question in the former homeland of Ciskei and in South Africa in general, Marxist theory allows one to analyze and evaluate South African land reform policies, the impact and the challenges facing the redistribution of land to the rightful claimants (especially the Black people) of the former Ciskei home in South Africa who were disadvantaged by the Land Act of 1913 and other racial legislations of colonialism and apartheid. The focus of this study is on of land reform. “Land reform is normally defined as the process of redistributing property or rights in land for the benefit of the landless, tenants and farm labourers. This is a narrow definition, reducing land reform to its simplest element” (Warriner, 1969). In explaining land reform from a Marxist perspective, I draw on a number of authors and scholars. Qalam, for example, posits that land reform in South Africa is encapsulated in the ANC 1955 Freedom Charter, which stipulated that “land shall be redistributed amongst those who work it in order to banish famine and land hunger’’( Qalam, 2012:1). According to Kahn (2007:1) land reform in South Africa is based on the premise that it must address the historical imbalances that currently exist in land ownership, advocate policies favouring working class, and appraise customary laws governing land ownership so as to provide access to land for the landless. In the 20 years of democracy, the issue of land reform has stimulated a great deal of theoretical debate among political parties, African scholars’, civil society structures, academics, government institutions and youth in the townships. All are concerned to determine how the historical injustices of colonial and apartheid regimes should be addressed by a government of the people for the people. However, the discourse has been characterized and dominated by two ideological orientations: a liberal and the socialists’ orientation. The socialists argue that policies of land reform should be rooted in the Marxist principle of collective ownership, that is, land and all strategic sources of production should be nationalized by the state with the intention of facilitating redistribution. On the other side the liberals argue that individualized tenure systems are to be preferred as more). Marxist and liberals are of the view that historical injustices must be addressed, but they disagree on the fundamentals of policy formulation for land redistribution. Marxist reforms want to establish a connection between proletariats peasant communities and the land, and improve social justice by redistributing resources to the proletariat peasant communities who will later contribute to a balanced development of the society ). In this study seek to assess the policies and challenges in addressing the land question by focusing on the former Ciskei homeland in the Eastern Cape. In the process of doing so the redistribution of land among poor and the working class who live and work in the area of the former homeland will need to be analyzed. Since the transition to democracy, (1990- 1994) when the people of South Africa saw the incorporation of the homelands into South Africa, the South African Government has strongly supported a macro neo-liberal policy framework for land reform. The assumption was that the neo-liberal macroeconomic policy framework is the best way to allocate land and property rights to productive single individuals who were dispossessed by colonial and racial laws while at same time addressing the historical imbalances caused by colonial dispossession. The assumption is based on the premise that land and property rights are a ‘reasonable reflection of labour applied’ (Wolford, 2007:552). The Marxist theory argues that neo liberal market oriented policies for redistribution serves to rob and exploit of the working class and the poor (Wolford, 2007:552). In South Africa, people who own the land do so because they possess political and economic power (both in the past and in the present). The neo- liberal macroeconomic approach to land reform was advised by World Bank and IMF to the African National Congress, which was then a government in waiting (Ntsebeza, 2007: 1-3). They suggested that if there is a need for land reform it is because the South African market is insufficiently developed has not as yet amalgamated all the segments of the society (the poor marginalized homeland communities and the working class). The neo liberal framework suggested that the South African market merely needed to be expanded to create space for the previously marginalized (the working class, black, poor people); however neo liberal reform rely on the market are likely to plagued by the markets own very historical mal- development (Wolford, 2007:552). Marxist theory argues that markets have been sufficiently developed but only so as to favor and support the privileges and interests of the wealthy land owners. Marxist theory advocates that the state needs to be mobilized to carry out land reform; however, this is not easy to do in neo liberal democratic conditions where the state is a tool that is used to advance the ideas and interests of the ruling class. Extending this argument, Brown (2003) posits that the state is a central institutional actor in the neo liberal views of things, primarily to support the actions and events of the market. In the South African Context the class that produces consist of the is the black people who were dispossessed by colonial policies and further marginalized by apartheid racial capitalist policies; the class that enjoys the fruits and benefits of production consist of whites who dispossessed the natives by moving them into reserves such as the Ciskei and Transkei. The critical Marxist theory serves to reveal the true conditions that the people of South Africa find themselves in and also helps to reveal the role played by neoliberalism in the policy formulation process of land reform in South Africa. The Marxist theoretical framework discusses and analyses the concept of private property, power relations, liberal democracy, conflict and the role of the state under neoliberal set up of democrasies. The Marxist theory provides a critique of neoliberalism and the challenges that manifest themselves due to the system in place. Marxist theory stresses the notion that social life is based upon conflict of interest between the two classes (bourgeoisie and proletariat) in relation to the means of production (Anonymous, 2005: 1-3).
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 19:21:54 +0000
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