Associate Professor Andrew Nash of the University of Cape Town (UCT) Department of Political Science, argued that the implosion of South African Marxism at the moment of transition to a constitutional democracy resulted in the loss of the moral and political culture the country had known at the end of the struggle.
He was addressing a large audience yesterday (Tuesday, 16 October) as part of the critical conversation series hosted by the Rhodes Faculty of Humanities in conjunction with the South African Humanities Deans’ Association at Rhodes University. Prof Nash spoke to the topic “Marxism in South Africa: Crisis and Renewal”.
According to him, South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s was home to one of the fastest growing and possibly most militant working class movements in the world. The transition away from Apartheid was thus seen by many as a critical point for the future of human kind.
“Political organisations were committed to fundamental transition,” Prof Nash said, contrasting the liberation movement’s desire to change the character of South African economics and society with the more conservative wish to simply change the demographics of the university or boardroom. He said the early 1990s, offered a much needed opportunity for the monopoly of capitalist power to be shattered in South Africa.
This opportunity, Prof Nash argued, was not taken and that the African National Congress (ANC) clearly demonstrated its desire to stabilize capitalist relations upon coming to power, with the effect that system of poverty and privilege were perpetuated.
The aspirations of many on the eve of Mandela’s release from prison were not eventually realised. “That moment of hope did not last long,” he said.
He added that the university was a very different space in the 1970s and 1980s compared to the current academy. “Intellectual work was informed by the notion of not simply perpetuating the way the interests of the wealthy were represented academically, but in challenging that actively,” he said.
Students, in Prof Nash’s view, were also more engaged in social issues, with a strong youth political, intellectual and moral culture taking hold. He argued that Marxist theory provided a framework within which all of this political action was able to take place.
While he acknowledged the emergence of a number of social movements since 1994, he contended that the skeptical, and even sometimes scornful, manner in which these movements view Marxism demonstrates the theory’s fall from grace in South Africa.
The crisis for Marxism, Prof Nash argued, had the effect of undermining the culture of respect for common human dignity and equality that had characterized political organisations, and particularly worker unions, during the struggle.
He illustrated his point with reference to the contrast between the salaries earned by union bosses now and the fact that union staff member in the past were all paid an equal salary – that salary being equivalent to the salary of the average worker.
He argued that a renewal of Marxism is important if South Africa is to realize such fundamental change and achieve a society truly based on dignity and equality.
Prof Nash concluded by saying that the Marikana Massacre demonstrated that mine workers in South Africa are demanding a different life, not just a wage increase of one or two percent.
By Kyla Hazell
Picture source: UCT website