Forty Years of the Kabwe Conference: The Black Consciousness Movement

Forty Years of the Kabwe Conference: The Black Consciousness Movement

(Portions of the Political Report of the National Executive Committee to the National Consultative Conference, which was presented by the President of the African National Congress, Oliver Tambo, 17 June 1985, Kabwe, Zambia)

Black Consciousness Movement

“As we have said, it was during this period that the Black Consciousness Movement emerged as a distinct political and organisational force within our country. Naturally, the ANC had to define its attitude towards this force. In statement issued after its second session in 1973, the NEC (National Executive Committee) said: ‘In the last few years… there has come into being a number of black organisations whose programmes, by espousing the democratic, anti-racist positions that the ANC fights for identify them as part of the genuine forces of the revolution’.

“The NEC went on to elaborate the following important positions: ‘The assertion of the national identity of the oppressed black peoples is… not an end in itself. It can be a vital force of the revolutionary action involving the masses of the people. For, it is in struggle, in the actual physical confrontation with the enemy, that the people gain a lasting confidence in their own strength and in the inevitability of final victory – it is through action that the people acquire true psychological emancipation’.

“Proceeding from these positions, the ANC sought to establish relations with the forces represented in the BCM and to impart to them the collective revolutionary experience of our people contained in and carried forward by our organisation. Our aim was to establish close fraternal relations with this movement and encourage it to grow, but as an instrument for the mass mobilisation of our people into struggle.

“The process I am describing was by no means easy and straightforward. Already, the idea was beginning to emerge among some circles, particularly outside our country, that the BCM could consolidate itself as, at worst, a political formation to replace the ANC and, at least, a parallel movement enjoying the same legitimacy as the ANC.

“It was of primary importance that we should deny our opponents any and both of these possibilities. Despite the severe setbacks we had suffered during the sixties, the enemy had failed to remove the idea and prestige of the ANC from among our people. This, together with the activities that we undertook within the country, meant that the youth whom the BCM was organising were at least conscious of the ANC, despite the fact that many had grown up without any direct contact with us. This served as a basis for us to score significant achievements in terms of building our relations with activists of the BCM and frustrating the scheme to build up a so-called Third Force.

“It is also important at this stage to recall that during this period, our movement was confronted with strong pressure from within the OAU to unite with the PAC. The leadership and the membership jointly resisted this pressure because we were convinced that such unity must grow in struggle among forces that are actually confronting the enemy. We were, further, not prepared to lend credibility to a group which, even then, had discredited itself as a divisive factor within our broad movement, whose complete collapse would help to limit the possibilities of the counter-revolution to plant its agents among the masses of our people.

“In our discussions, we should take all these historical experiences into account because, as we shall show later, the idea of a Third Force did not disappear and is still with us today. Its creation will remain a strategic objective of the forces of counter-revolution.

“In this regard, it is important to confront the matter objectively that within it, our broad movement for national liberation contains both a nationalist and a socialist tendency. Our national democratic revolution has both class and national tasks which influence one another. This is natural given the nature of our society and oppression and our historical experience. One of the outstanding features of the ANC is that it has been able to encompass both these tendencies within its ranks, on the basis of the common acceptance of the Freedom Charter as a programme that encapsulates the aspirations of our people, however varied their ideological positions might otherwise be.

“The forces of counter-revolution continuously seek to separate these tendencies (‘nationalist’ and ‘socialist’ tendencies within the ANC) both politically and organisationally, set them at loggerheads and thus divide the national liberation movement. That is why the enemy always speculates about divisions between ‘Marxists’ and ‘nationalists’ within our ranks. It is on this basis that the PAC was formed, as well as the group we have spoken of which called itself ANC (African Nationalist). Our enemies had entertained hopes that the BCM would emerge, survive and grow as the organised representative of the ‘nationalist tendency’ within the national democratic revolution, independent of the ANC.

“These issues are of relevance to this day particularly because certain elements within the country, which describe themselves as belonging to the black consciousness movement, have set themselves against the democratic movement. At the same time, significant numbers of democratic activists, particularly from among the youth, see the ANC as a socialist party and project is as such. Though it came into being later than the period up to 1974 that we have been talking about, it might be appropriate at this stage to refer also to the formation within the ANC of a ‘left’ faction which dubbed itself the ‘Marxist Tendency’ within the ANC.

“This faction came out in opposition to our ally, the South African Communist Party, and sought to shift both SACTU (the South African Congress of Trade Unions) and the ANC in a so-called left direction. Members of this group are no longer within our ranks. It is, however, true that some of their ideas have penetrated sections of the democratic movement inside our country. These need to be combated, once more, to ensure that this movement does not splinter into a left and right factions.

“We cannot over-emphasise the strategic importance of ensuring the unity of the ANC, the broad democratic movement and the masses of our struggling people on the basis of our programme, our strategy and tactics. In the five-year period immediately following the Morogoro Conference, we can report that our movement achieved these objectives in the face of actual attempts to divide us.

“We have already referred to the contribution that the BCM made to the activisation of our people into struggle. This is a positive contribution that we must recognise and to which we must pay tribute. We should also recognise the significant input that the BCM made towards further uniting the black oppressed masses of our country, by emphasising the commonness of their oppression and their shared destiny. These views were built on political positions that our movement had long canvassed and fought for.

“Nevertheless, we must still express our appreciation of the contribution that the BCM made in this regard while recognising the limitations of this movement which saw our struggle as racial, describing the entire white population of our country as ‘part of the problem’.” (To be continued)

– Oliver Tambo (17 June 1985) –

Source:
Oliver Tambo, “The Eyes of Our People are Focussed on this Conference”, Sechaba, October 1985, pp. 2 – 9.

Castro Khwela
Good morning fellow Compatriots!