Previous page | New search |
The free AfricaBib App for Android is available here
Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | What's Left? The South African Communist Party after Apartheid |
Author: | Adams, Simon |
Year: | 1997 |
Periodical: | Review of African Political Economy |
Volume: | 24 |
Issue: | 72 |
Period: | June |
Pages: | 237-248 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | South African Communist Party Politics and Government |
External links: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056249708704255 http://ejournals.ebsco.com/direct.asp?ArticleID=4A6D902E09204685E080 |
Abstract: | The Communist Party of South Africa (SACP) survived the collapse of communist States by virtue of its remarkable record of opposition to apartheid and its alliance with the ANC and COSATU. Between its February 1990 legalization and South Africa's first democratic elections in April 1994, the SACP underwent a remarkable process of political reorientation and organizational reconstruction. Ideologically, the Party shifted from the politics of insurrection to the politics of 'structural reform' and the organization grew from around 2,000-5,000 clandestine members at the beginning of 1990 to around 75,000 by the time of its 9th Congress in April 1995. However, despite the fact that it could boast ministers, premiers, senators, mayors and most of the executive leadership of COSATU in its ranks, the SACP seemed to have gained influence while losing power. The Party leadership has found itself supporting conservative economic strategies and anti-union actions, turning it into a pressure 'five degrees to the left' of the ANC. What's left remains to be seen. Bibliogr., sum. |