- Title
- Work in Progress Issue no.44 - Rent boycott councils retaliate
- Creator
- Work in progress (WIP)
- Subject
- WIP
- Date
- Oct 1986
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/118611
- Identifier
- vital:34651
- Description
- The themes of victory and defeat dominate this issue of Work In Progress. Despite the state of emergency, there have been some important recent popular victories. Popular pressure and massive resistance blocked proposed 'independence' for the KwaNdebele bantustan. The efforts needed to dissuade KwaNdebele Chief Minister Simon Skosana and his followers from accepting Pretoria-style independence were enormous. So were the costs: vigilante violence and torture, death and destruction, necklaces and burnings. Nonetheless, the blocking of KwaNdebele independence is a popular victory. Never before has pressure from below halted bantustan independence - not in the Transkei or Ciskei, Venda or Bophuthatswana. The massive wave of rent boycotts which began in the Vaal during 1984 have also involved some notable popular victories. In many townships the organisation necessary to sustain prolonged withdrawal of rent payments has strengthened and developed the structures of popular mobilisation. And the boycotts have totally destroyed the financial base of the discredited and rejected black local authorities, be they in the form of community or town councils. On the trade union front, many of the established industrial unions have shown remarkable strength under pressure. With leadership detained or in hiding, some unions have been able to carry on their task of organising the working class in a disciplined and democratic manner. But there have been defeats too. Undisciplined comrades, often acting with no organisational basis or mandate, have divided communities, setting workers against the unemployed, children against parents, trade unions against community groups. Some of the rent boycotts have been enforced with a high degree of anti-democratic authoritarianism. The youth has often acted without the necessary support from other townships groups, without the organisational structures necessary for democratic decision-making, and without adequate mandate or consultation. Recourse to 'discipline', - necklacings, beatings and other punishments - has come too easily to a group which often lacks a mandate to act on behalf of any major constituency. To claim success is a neccessary part of any broad progressive movement working to change society. But to admit defeat is as important. For it is the sign of a maturing politics which can learn from mistakes, and come back stronger from every failure. Defeat is as much part of political struggle as victory. Those who claim every activity, every campaign, every initiative as a victory do the progressive cause no good. Realistic assessments of strength and weakness, analysis and debate on failure, are part of the very process of building any powerful mass movement.
- Format
- 48 pages, pdf
- Publisher
- Work in Progress (WIP)
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Work in Progress (WIP)
- Rights
- No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | Work in Progress - Rent Boycott Councils retaliate-Evictions begin 44.pdf | 11 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |