28.03.2002
London meeting expresses ISO solidarity
Last Wednesday a Socialist Workers Party-organised Marxist Forum was held at the African Centre in London's Covent Garden to discuss the situation in Zimbabwe. There were some 40 people in attendance, mainly SWP. The two speakers were comrade Luke Chirazo from the International Socialist Organisation (sister organisation of the SWP) and Alex Callinicos from the SWP central committee. In his contribution, comrade Callinicos stressed the fact that, whatever criticisms the SWP may have of Robert Mugabe and his regime, it bases itself upon total "identification with the struggle against racist domination" - the national liberation struggle waged by those who identified with Zanu-PF and other such forces was, of course, legitimate. As a white Zimbabwean himself, comrade Callinicos's political development and outlook was formed by the struggle against the vile racist administration of Ian Smith. He still felt outrage whenever Smith made one of his unwelcome appearances in the mainstream media, which in the opinion of comrade Callinicos were far too frequent. He also complained that the BBC, for one, still exuded an air of aristocratic-style colonialism in its reportage. For the SWP, comrade Callinicos said, Mugabe was defending a capitalist state. He had carried out the plans of the IMF. He is just as committed to capitalism as Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change. He was no ally or supporter of working class liberation. Such statements from leading SWPers are certainly to be welcomed. Initial reports and articles in Socialist Worker appeared to cheer on Mugabe's cynical land seizures as an example of 'anti-imperialism' - after all, the argument seemed to go, why should we give two hoots about what happens to rich white farmers? Serves them right! It took a while for the writers of Socialist Worker to realise that Mugabe's 'war veterans' were directing their blows just as much against the black farmworkers as their white employers. Moreover, their actions represented a transparent attempt by Mugabe to win support for his anti-working class regime by a mixture of populism and bribery. In his contribution, comrade Chirazo talked about how Mugabe had been very popular at the beginning of the 1980s - living off the prestige generated by the national liberation struggle. However, Mugabe had quickly turned against the masses and over the years he and his cronies have managed to enrich themselves. As pointed out by other speakers during the debate, Zimbabwe's military intervention in the Democratic Republic of Congo - which has helped to stoke the fires of war even more - has been overwhelmingly motivated by a desire for certain army officers to get their hands on diamonds which are so plentiful in that country. Comrade Chirazo outlined the painful rightwing contortions of "our leadership" in the MDC. Despite its origins in the Zimbabwean labour and trade union movement, the MDC leadership has bowed and scraped to business interests and international capital. As the comrade remarked, both Mugabe and Tsvangirai are tied to capitalism - both want to exploit the workers. Throughout this discussion comrade Chirazo repeated how important it was to raise "bread and butter" issues - but it was never made really clear what exactly he meant by this phrase. Prioritise economic issues over political ones? Encouragingly, comrade Chirazo stressed how the land question needed to be analysed and resolved "in a scientific way". Like other comrades, he stressed the need for socialists to have a programme for the rural working class - equitable land distribution, subsidies, grants, modern machinery such as tractors, etc. One SWP comrade passionately denounced Mugabe for being an enemy of the rural working class and peasantry. In the discussion the crucial question of the 'worker-peasant' axis was raised a couple of times. One obviously non-socialist in attendance thought that events in Zimbabwe have not moved on accordance with Marx's - or the SWP's - "classic paradigm" of workers versus the bourgeoisie. He was alluding to the fact that in some respects sections of the peasantry have sided with the state bureaucracy against the working class-middle class-capitalist 'alliance' in the cities. This was a common theme - how to forge a workers' and peasant alliance against Mugabe. Another recurrent theme related to what it was possible to do in a world dominated by global capitalism and neo-liberalism. Surely any regime - anywhere in the world, whatever its political coloration - which genuinely endeavoured to enact 'anti-neoliberal' measures would be almost instantly crushed by the forces of international capital/imperialism? This only shows the absolute necessity, as various comrades from the SWP said, for a world revolutionary movement - without the coming to power of the working class in the advanced capitalist countries any progressive gains and victories that are made in the 'third world' are doomed to eventual setback and defeat. At the meeting I expressed my solidarity with the Zimbabwean socialists and reassured comrade Chirazo that the CPGB will continue to raise funds for the ISO. How could we do otherwise? The struggle of the ISO is our struggle. Danny Hammill
Worker