OUR REVOLUTION

OUR REVOLUTION

By Paul Petersen (real name Basil February) – more relevant to the current circumstances.

(Basil February [aka “Paul Petersen”] who was discovered by Rhodesian Security Forces in Zimbabwe while on his way to South Africa, on 15 August 1967, refused to surrender and fought single-handed until his ammunition ran out and he was killed. Among his papers was this article which formed one of a series of lectures he delivered to members of his UMKHONTO WE SIZWE Unit).

The African National Congress (ANC) and its allies have committed themselves to the revolutionary liberation of the people of South Africa. It is not today that they decided this. In an earlier discussion we mentioned the importance of preparing the people for revolution, of convincing them of the historic mission that they have to perform. The carrying out of these tasks were part and parcel of the revolution. The revolution does not start when the first bullet is fired. In any case, many bullets have already been fired in the course of the struggle.

But the fact that this period is relatively peaceful does not mean that it was not, or is not part of the revolution. It is true that in the past people did not inevitably face death when they carried out this work. But does that mean that they would not willingly have faced death? Let us think of those who have already given their lives, Mini, Looksmart, Khayinga, Mkaba, Babla and many other brave and heroic men and women. These were men who had taken their decision long ago.

The had already, in their modest way, inscribed their names in the pages of our history. And when the supreme sacrifice had to be made, they were not found wanting. They did not withdraw when the struggle entered this stage. To them it was the logical development of their years of hard work. They did not waver in the face of the new conditions because for them this was not an unexpected development. They expected this.

But salted as the leadership of the ANC is in the art of leadership, experienced as they are in taking grave decisions, they are now faced with the supreme task. All the years of struggle are about to culminate in the supreme event. If ever the leadership had to act with the deepest sense of responsibility, the time is now. A certain course of action, once started, cannot merely be withdrawn. If the decision was wrong the damage might be disastrous. A serious leadership does not make experiments with nations as a guinea pig. A decision must be taken after serious considerations and must be taken after much debate.

If We Must Die

It is not only our lives that we must consider. We are not here concerned about the question whether we are scared to die or not. To people like ourselves that question should not even arise. The point is that the revolution does not end with our death. The revolution goes on, life will go on. But if we must die, let it not be as the result of an act of reckless impatience. Because such an act will mean not only our death but it will cause harm to the revolution. If we act recklessly and in so doing we cause a tragedy in South Africa, will our crime be made smaller by the fact that we too had died? If a drunken driver causes an accident in which he and many other people die, will his crime be any smaller because he too is dead?

Revolutionary people do not think like that. A revolutionary is a revolutionary because he loves life. But his love of life is not the selfish love of life. That is why the bourgeoisie can never understand the mentality of the revolutionary. They try to bribe him to betray his comrades. They try to make him buy his own life with the life of his comrades. But what did Mini do?

A revolutionary dedicates himself to the cause of a better life. A revolutionary loves life and he knows that life does not end when he himself has died. He knows that life, the life that he loved, will go on in the smiles, laughter of happy children. He knows that life will go on in the smiles of beautiful girls for their youthful lovers. He knows that life will go on in the hearts of a nation that will remember him. This is the life for which he gladly gives his own.

Leadership

Let us now turn to the question of leadership. Many times we hear comrades saying that we are all future leaders. In many cases this will be so and we should therefore look at the whole question. There was once a very strong tendency amongst some thinkers to scorn the whole idea of leadership. These people, anarchists and so on, felt that a leadership was not really necessary in revolution. Now, they did not have these ideas because they disliked leaders.

They based their ideas on their mistaken and mechanistic understanding of history These people thought that social progress take place spontaneously, automatically. They felt that history is governed by such rigid laws that it had just to be left to develop spontaneously. If this was so, they argued, there was clearly no need for any organised leadership. In fact, the leadership, by interfering with normal development could even be a hindrance.

Today this idea is rejected entirely. It is accepted that revolution cannot be expected to take place automatically. It is accepted that revolution must be a planned act, that it must be directed, and for this, leadership is vitally necessary. Furthermore, a revolution is such a complex affair, it has so many aspects that it requires a central body to coordinate all these various aspects of the revolution. Every aspect of the revolution is related to another. The central body, the leadership, has the task of uniting all the various aspects of the revolution into one mighty flood.

Now for such a central leadership to perform its tasks efficiently it must obviously have the absolute confidence of the organisation. The leadership alone is informed about the various aspects of the revolution. Therefore, for example if it instructs the intelligence department to perform a certain task, the intelligence department may not always see the significance of that task, it may not see how this task fits in with the general trend of the revolution. The intelligence department may even think that the job is a waste of time. But the intelligence department is concerned with only one aspect of the revolution. It is not informed about the activities of the other departments. But the leadership is informed.

The leadership combines the tasks of all the various departments. It is in a position to see the significance of the actions of each department. But the leadership cannot explain each action to the whole organisation. This would be breaking one of the basic laws of revolutionary conduct.

In other words, once we have appointed a leadership, we must put our undivided trust and confidence in that leadership. The leadership consists of men and women who have shown that they deserve that trust. The ability and dedication that they have already displayed makes us to put our faith in them. And when they are appointed, they are entrusted with the job of guiding the revolution. They are entrusted with the task of taking decisions. And we are also giving them the assurance that we shall not question these decisions. As long as the leadership remains in the leadership, they have the right to expect our fullest trust.

Political Experience

But the question of leadership does not end there. When a leadership is appointed that leadership assumes certain responsibilities. First of all, the leadership should have a clear understanding of the goal of the revolution. The leadership must know what methods are best suited to achieving that goal. These are not easy tasks. The persons who are to perform these tasks must be capable people.

And the first thing is that they should be politically experienced. But what exactly do we understand by the term “politically experienced?” The leadership must have had long contact with the people. It must know the desires and the mood of the people. The leadership must know the power of the state, its economic, military and political strength. The leadership must be aware of the strength of its own forces, of the determination of the people to sacrifice for the revolution. The ability of the people to take state power and to run and improve the economy. The leadership must be experienced enough to see further than the taking of state power.

It must be clear in its mind how this new state is going to be defended. It must have no illusions about the conditions that may arise in the country after power is in the hands of the people. We will all agree that these are tremendous tasks. But even this is not all. The leadership must be able to see the revolution in the context of international politics. It must be mature enough to see that the revolution is not an isolated event but that it is a step in the universal march of humanity into a better life. The leadership must be experienced enough to see that insofar as the revolution forms part of the worldwide revolution, it will be opposed by worldwide reaction. The leadership must be aware of this. It must be able to deal with this development.

The leadership must be able to deal with the day-to-day business of conducting and directing each phase of the revolution. It must look after each tiny step that is taken. The leadership must be experienced enough not to be demoralised when the revolution suffers certain setbacks. It must be experienced and realistic enough to anticipate such setbacks. It must be prepared for such setbacks.

The leadership has a host of other tasks, each, however small, contributing to the development of the revolution. These tasks are too many for any one person to perform. That is why we speak of a leadership and not of leaders. Because there must be division of labour, there must be a group of persons to perform these tasks. Each person must be a master at his own particular job and collectively the leadership must be capable of performing all these many and difficult tasks.

These are some of the things that we must take into consideration when we think about the task of leadership.

Learn From The Masses

In our case we are fortunate in having a group of men who have proved over many difficult years their ability to perform these tasks. The only thing the leadership has undertaken is to guide the revolution along the road to success. It has undertaken to see to it that the revolution does not end in chaos. It has undertaken to perform the difficult task of directing the forces of progress.

This is something that is sometimes forgotten, the leadership does not only play a passive role. It plays a very positive role of guiding and directing. It must be in constant touch with the masses, but it must not lag behind the masses. It must learn from the masses, but it must not adopt mistaken views of the masses. The leadership must lead. It must correct the people where they are wrong. It must convince the people of the correctness of its policies. This job is also complicated by the conditions of illegal work. It is difficult to establish and to maintain contact. Contact is sometimes broken and is difficult to re-establish.

These then are some of the things that we must have in mind when we look at a revolutionary leadership. The question to ask is, whether the leadership is performing these tasks. There is no other criterion. Nobody has promised anybody that the life of a revolutionary is going to be an easy one. The leadership has undertaken to guide the revolution to a successful completion. In the course of doing this many unpleasant decisions have to be taken.

The people have put their trust in the leadership to have the courage to take these decisions. Above all, the leadership must be responsible and mature people. They should never give in to the temptations of impatience, they must be courageous enough to keep the higher interests of the revolution always in mind. They must not be so weak as to be pressurised into acts of recklessness and bravado. They must not become the victims of a desire to be popular when that popularity must be bought with acts of irresponsibility.

In all these things, the leadership must be sure of the trust of their followers. They depend on their followers for inspiration and help in the difficult moments of stress. They depend on the people for constructive criticisms. But they can only be handicapped by backbiting and sniping.

Great Task

Comrades we are faced with a great task. We live in a period when all mankind is emerging from centuries of strife and conflict. We live in a time when the prospect of peace and happiness has come within the reach of all. But before the dawn of a new life comes fully over the horizon, there is still one battle to be fought. Before mothers may love their children and guide them into a world of peace and plenty, they will first see them being torn away from their homes. There is a bit of the idealist in all of us.

Who can resist the temptation to take a peep behind the curtain that divides the present from the bright future? And having seen what tomorrow has in store for us, it is hard to be patient, it is hard to wait when the joy of freedom is so near. No one can be blamed for wanting to tear aside that curtain and to step over the threshold into a new life. But we must be careful. Let us not allow tomorrow to be put once more beyond our grasp. It has taken much toil. But the last step will be the hardest of all. It has taken much care and preparation to bring us so invitingly close to victory. It will take more care and hard work to make the promise a reality. It would be a betrayal of all those who have struggled valiantly if we should now, in one tragic act of recklessness destroy everything.

The Struggle Goes On

Nothing can stop it. Nothing can prevent it. There are many soldiers of freedom. Nothing can stop them from being born. Each of us has his task in the great fight. Let us not despair. Despair is an enemy of the revolutionary. Let us truly believe that victory will come. Let us be eager but let us take care that eagerness does not endanger the revolution. Above all, let us take this business of revolution seriously. Let us take politics seriously because revolution is a political act. It is true that we may not like politics. But then very few people like politics. Many of us here would have preferred to be working in a factory or doing some useful thing.

Many of us would have preferred to continue our studies. Many of us would have preferred the arms of a sweetheart. All of us have mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters. Many of us have little ones. But such is the cruelty of revolution. These are the things that we have vowed should never again have to happen to the youth of our country. Let us not fail them comrades. Let us not act so that the generations of the future may blame their misery on our impatience.

Comrades, mankind is about to step out of darkness into the brightness of a new day. For centuries there has been darkness. Now there will be light. We, each one of us will play his part. We are participants in the greatest events in the life of mankind. As one of the greatest martyrs of freedom begged his people from the gallows, we must remind ourselves, “Comrades be vigilant!”

LONG LIVE THE AFRICAN REVOLUTION!

LONG LIVE PEACE AND PROGRESS!

LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA!

Source:
Paul Petersen (real name Basil February), “Our Revolution”, Sechaba – Official Organ of the African National Congress South Africa, Vol. 5, No. 12, Vol. 6, No.1, December 1971 – January 1972.

Castro Khwela
Good evening fellow Compatriots!