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This report is concerned with unpacking the influential yet misunderstood “workerist” phenomenon that dominated the major independent (mostly black) trade unions born in the wake of the 1973 Durban strikes. “Workerism” is widely recognized as being concentrated in the Federation of South African Trade Unions (Fosatu). Workerism remains a source of much controversy in labour and left circles; this is due to the massive influence it commanded within the with black working class in its brief heyday, and the formidable challenge it presents to the legitimacy of nationalist movements and narratives attempting (then and now) to stake claims on the leadership of the liberation struggle. This controversy has yet to be resolved: both popular and scholarly attempts to theorise its politics are marked by demonstrable inconsistencies and inaccuracies, often reproducing existing polemical narratives that conceal more than they reveal. This paper contributes to that debate by deepening our understanding of the core politics of the important workerist phenomenon – through an examination of primary documents and interviews with key workerist leaders. I argue that workerism was a distinctive, mass-based and coherent multiracial current, hegemonic in the black trade unions but spilling into the broader anti-apartheid movement in the 1970s and 1980s. It stressed class struggle, non-racialism, anti-capitalism, worker selfactivity and union democracy, and was fundamentally concerned with the national liberation of the oppressed black majority. However, it distanced itself from the established traditions of mainstream Marxism and Congress nationalism – coming to a quasi-syndicalist1 position on many crucial questions, although this ran alongside a far more cautious “stream”, akin to social democracy. It fashioned a radical approach to national liberation that combined anticapitalism with anti-nationalism on a programme that placed trade unions (not parties) centrestage – a notable characteristic that made it the object of much suspicion and hostility. In the longer term, workerists developed a two-pronged strategy. This centred on, first, “building up a huge, strong movement in the factories” – strategically positioned at key loci of power in the economy (key sectors, plants and regions), with a view to “pushing back the frontiers of control”; second, it incorporated an extensive programme of popular education to ignite the growth of a “counter-hegemonic” working class politics, consciousness, identity and culture, thereby “ring-fencing workers from the broader nationalist history of our country” and continent. Right at the epicentre of this radical project was the creation of a conscious, accountable and active (in workplaces and communities) layer of worker leaders or “organic intellectuals”. I contend that a simple conflation of workerism with a form of Marxism, although prevalent in the literature, is misleading and inaccurate. Rather, workerism cannot be understood unless in relation to the far more eclectic and varied international New Left – through which it drew influence (direct and indirect) from a variety of sources, including revolutionary libertarian currents like anarchism, syndicalism and council communism, as well as others such as social democracy, and dissident forms of Marxism. But the unhappy co-existence of these contradictory tendencies (quasi-syndicalism and social democracy) interacted with a New Left-inspired, at times anti-theoretical, pragmatism to leave workerism weakened - hampered by inconsistencies and contradictions, expressed in ambivalent actions that were at once libertarian and more statist, revolutionary and reformist, spontaneous and premeditated, “boycottist” and “engagist”. This left a vacuum in the liberation struggle, paving a way for the resurgence of nationalism under ANC leadership. 1 Here I refer to the historical tradition of anarcho- and revolutionary syndicalism, not the so-called “Leninist critique”.

Estimates of the value of manufacturing sector output enter into many economic indices, especially those measuring productivity. The South African Central Statistical Services has twice made substantial errors in the output series. Revisions to correct the first of these raised the growth rate in manufacturing over the period 1970-80 from 2,6 per cent per annum (compound) to 5 per cent. This episode is not common knowledge. After examining the conceptual difficulties involved in producing output stimates, a practical technique for detecting errors in the series , the Euler Consistency Test, is presented. Developed, refined, and then applied to the South African data, it predicted, retrospectively, the first set of errors (using only the information available at the time those errors were made), then detected another set of errors , not previously known to exist. The study records the process by which the CSS was made to concede this second error. Acknowledgement only came after protracted correspondence and an examination conducted by a special committee formed to investigate my complaints. With 1979 set equal to 100, the output level in 1988 was originally given as 113,8. After investigation, the CSS raised this to 126,1. The magnitude of this second error is equivalent to the omission of the total output of the two SASOL plants commissioned during the early 1980s. Estimates of productivity growth by the National Productivity Institute using these incorrect figures are shown to have created a misleading picture of the sector's performance, especially in the sensitive debate over the relationship between wage and productivity growth. An attempt is made to lay the groundwork of an analytical framework for comprehending (from a Marxist point of view) the activities of ideological state apparatusses like the NPI. A review of the literature on theory choice is conducted, and the necessarily political nature of this activity is explored. The relative impotence of I science' in the face of ideology in a conflict-ridden society is considered. The question of the significance of disagreements between economists is examined, and prospects for convergence and consensus on certain issues are weighed. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-Unversity of Natal, 1994.

Thesis submitted to the faculty of arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of arts. / This thesis examines the political trajectories of the Independent union movement from 1970-1993. It argues that the political strategies adopted by tbe unions' leadership reflected significant difterences with regard to the political contest over the democratic form of South African society. The political ideology of the unions' leadership was made up of two contrasting 'logics' of political struggle. The one, which we characterise as "simple polarisation", viewed the objective of the unions' struggles primarily in terms of a competition for political dominance which involved a simple dichotomy between the apartheid state and a unified opposition movement. In this view the opposition was conceived of as a homogenous, collective subject, unified in its common assault on the state. Underlying this logic of opposition was a denial of specific and different identities and interests and democracy was seen to be directly associated with the destiny of one distinct social actor. The logic of "simple polarisation" was dominant within the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) throughout the 1980's. It was nourished primarily by COSATU's close relationship with the charterist section of the wider opposition movement There existed within the unions a second political tradition which emphasised a logic of "institutionalised pluralism". This current viewed the organisation of opposition primarily in institutional terms. It emphasised the building of union independence outside the aegis of the wider opposltlon movement. Underlying this tradition was a pluralist conception of democracy, Associated with the early Federation of South African Trade Unions legacy of institutional independence, this logic reared its head within COSATU towards the late 1980's when the federation entered a series of corporatist arrangements with employers and the state. Although there seems to be evidence that there existed (at least some) support within the ranks of FOSATU of a form of workers' control more easily reconellable with an anti-pluralist than pluralist conception of democracy, the nature of FOSATU was such, that. when sufficiently pressed on the issue of which logic of democracy - "simple polarisation" or "institutionalised pluralism" - it endorsed, the latter would have been selected over the former. / Andrew Chakane 2019

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / By the mid 1980s the Nationalist Party had sought to salvage almost four decades of apartheid policies that were based on white supremacy. In this regard it engaged in dual strategies of repression and reform. The state's strategies were challenged by organisations and movements within civil society. In this regard a number of community-based organisation mushroomed both nationally and regionally. These organisations were co-ordinated by adult political activists most of whom were perceived to lack the necessary skills to manage organisation more effectively. In this conjuncture, the Adult Education Departments at five South African universities developed certificate-level programmes to address this gap. This study focuses on three such programmes, the Community Adult Education Programme, based at the University of Cape Town, the Certificate for Educators of Adults at the University of the Western Cape, and the Community Adult Educators Training Course based at the University of Natal- Pietermaritzburg. This study investigates the social and political conditions that gave rise to the three certificate programmes. It also investigates the relationship between the external social and political conditions and the internal curriculum practices of the certificates. In this process it analyses the nature of the relationship and identifies shifts in the programmes and the curriculum practices between 1986 and 1996. The study uses a qualitative approach and draws on elements of critical theory and social constructionism to understand the data gleaned from interviews and documents. This study argues that all three certificate programmes have directly been tied into the social political context in South Africa between 1986 and 1996. In this decade the study argues, there are three distinct political periods, namely repression/reform, negotiations and fragile democracy. It argues that distinct features from each period have shaped the certificates in different ways. Along with the national political conditions as manifest at the level of the state, the private sector and civil society there are local and institutional dynamics that contribute to the different forms assumed by these certificates. The study further argues that the external social - political conditions from each period have demarcated and fixed the boundaries for the certificates as a social practice. In this process the curriculum practices for each period permitted certain words and practices in preference to others. Consequently, it argues that the external and internal social and political dimensions together construct the certificates as a discourse. This study is based on a belief that the role of a certificate practitioner is to creatively locate the day to day practices within different theoretical frameworks in order to advance studies into sites of adult education practices. This study represents a step in such a direction.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is a postcolonial analysis of Third World foreign policy, looking at an atypical case of state relations with national liberation movements. It is also an empirical contribution to an area of recent South African history through interrogating Cuba’s foreign policy towards South Africa’s liberation movements from 1959 until 1994. My starting point has been that meagre scholarship exists within the field of International Relations on this important area of South African history and on Cuban foreign policy. Mainstream scholars have largely overlooked relations between the Cuban state and civil society and liberation movements such as the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and Umkhonto we Sizwe. By interrogating an ignored area of Third World foreign policy, this thesis furthermore aims to probe into the field of International Relations and analyses of foreign policy. Applying the methodology of a postcolonial theoretical critique, I highlight the ontological assumptions within the field that make theorising foreign policy from states and societies in the Third World peripheral within IR, as well as render states and civil society in the Third World as objects rather than subjects of the theoretical endeavour. The conceptualisation of the Cold War as a mere Superpower affair, with states in the Third World as mere sites of conflict between the Superpowers and divorced from the causal dynamics of the conflict, exemplifies the ontological assumptions that exist within the field of International Relations theory. I use the case study of Cuba’s foreign policy towards South African liberation movements in carrying out a qualitative analysis of the available literature and well as conducting interviews with senior participants of South Africa’s various liberation movements. A broad reconstruction of relations between 1959 and 1994, as well as post-1994, reveals extensive relations between Cuba and South African liberation movements involving the Cuban state and civil society. The findings of my research include an overview of relations between Cuba and various liberation movements at the political and military level, as well as the role of Cuban civil society in areas such as education and strengthening the role of women in the liberation struggle. Respondents reveal that relations between the two spheres are not uni-directional, but in fact reveal a complex interaction in which the agency of South Africa’s liberation movements in determining the content of relations is central. In conceptualising foreign policy using a postcolonial theoretical framework, I look not only at the Cuban state but also at the role of civil society in Cuba in constructing and carrying out foreign policy towards South African liberation movements. This theoretical framework rejects a strict dichotomy between the foreign and the domestic by looking at social forces within the state as well as the role of ideology in the making foreign policy domestically. Lastly, the extensive relations between Cuba and South African liberation movements that my research reveals points to possibilities for further theoretical investigations within the field of International Relations from a postcolonial theoretical critique. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is ‘n post-koloniale analise van Derde Wêreld buitelandse beleid, dit kyk na die atipiese geval van staats verhoudinge met nasionale vryheidsbewegings. Dit is ook ‘n empiriese bydrae tot ‘n area in onlangse Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis deurdat dit Kuba se buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid- Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings tussen 1959 tot 1994 ondervra. My beginpunt is dat daar skamele vakkundigheid tans bestaan binne die studieveld Internasionale Betrekkinge met betrekking tot hierdie belangrike area van Suid-Afrikaanse geskiedenis en Kubaanse buitelandse beleid. Hoofstroom deskundiges hanteer tot ‘n groot mate die verhoudinge tussen staat en burgerlike samelewing van Kuba met vryheidsbewegings soos die African National Congress, die Suid-Afrikaanse Kommunistiese Party, die Congress of South African Trade Unions en Umkhonto we Sizwe met min aandag. Deur hierdie geïgnoreerde area binne Derde Wêreld buitelandse beleid te ondervra, is dit ook ‘n verdere oogmerk van hierdie tesis om die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge en die gepaardgaande analises van buitelandse beleid te ondersoek. Deur die toepassing van die metodologie van post-koloniale kritiek, beklemtoon ek die ontologiese aannames binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge wat die teoretisering van buitelandse beleid van state en samelewings in die Derde Wêreld marginaliseer, asook om hierdie state en burgerlike samelewings in die Derde Wêreld tot objekte in plaas van subjekte van ‘n teoretiese onderneming te reduseer. Die konseptualiseering van die Koue Oorlog as bloot ‘n supermag aangeleentheid, met state in die Derde Wêreld as blote ligging vir konflikte tussen die supermagte asook terselfdertyd vervreemd van die oorsaaklike dynamiek van die konflik, beliggaam die ontologiese aannames wat binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge bestaan. Ek maak gebruik van Kuba se buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid-Afrkaanse vryheidsbewegings as gevallestudie om ‘n kwalitatiewe analise te maak op die bestaande literatuur asook om onderhoude te hê met senior deelnemers in Suid Afrika se verskeie vryheidsbewegings. ‘n Uitgebreide rekonstruksie van verhoudinge tussen 1959 en 1994, sowel as post-1994, openbaar diepgaande verhoudinge tussen Kuba en Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings wat die Kubaanse staat en burgerlike samelewing behels. Die bevindinge in my navorsing sluit in ‘n oorsig van verhoudinge tussen Kuba en verskeie vryheidsbewegings op politiekeen militêre vlak asook die rol van Kubaanse burgerlike samelewing in areas soos opvoeding en die verstewiging van die rol van vroue in die vryheidstryd. Respondente openbaar dat verhoudinge tussen die twee sfere nie in een rigting geloop het nie, maar dat dit eintlik ‘n komplekse interaksie openbaar in wie die agentskap van die Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings om die inhoud van die verhoudinge te bepaal ‘n sentrale deel speel. Deur buitelandse beleid te konseptualiseer deur gebruik te maak van ‘n v post-koloniale raamwerk kyk ek nie net bloot na die Kubaanse staat nie, maar ook na die rol van die Kubaanse burgerlike samelewing in die konstruksie en uitvoering van buitelandse beleid teenoor Suid- Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings. Hierdie teoretiese raamwerk verwerp ‘n eng tweeledigheid tussen die buitelandse en binnelandse deur te kyk na die sosiale magte binne die staat sowel as die rol van ideologie in die binnelandse skepping van buitelandse beleid. Ten slote, die diepgaande verhoudinge tussen Kuba en Suid-Afrikaanse vryheidsbewegings wat my navorsing openbaar dui in die rigting van moontlike verdere teoretiese ondersoeke binne die vakgebied van Internasionale Betrekkinge vanaf ‘n perspektief van post-koloniale kritiek.