Mondli Hlatswayo argues that the wave of militant socialist struggles led by the trade unions over the last 30 years are now coming to an end, and that the unions have been co-opted into the capitalist system.
The end of a cycle of struggles
In 1973 more than 60 thousand workers in Durban went on strike and opened up a wave of struggles that led to the fall of apartheid in 1994. By 1994 the militancy that had driven these struggles had declined considerably, and the politics of socialism that had guided the working class movement were no longer being followed. In this article I will look at the various ways in which this decline can be seen.
The decline in unionisation and worker militancy
During the 1970s and 1980s, the working class built militant unions that saw their role as going beyond concern with factory issues. Factory and community struggles were seen as part of the general struggle against apartheid and capitalism. In post apartheid South Africa, however, the levels of militancy and collective action have declined tremendously despite the fact that the social and economic conditions of the working class have worsened. This decline in militancy can be seen in the general decline in strike activity since 1987. In 1987 there were 9 million man-days lost as a result of strikes and lockouts. In 2002, the figure declined to 945 000 man-days, a decrease of about 8 million man-days.
This decline in militancy has also been accompanied by a decline in unionisation among workers. The general level of trade union organisation across all sectors has declined.
Trade union membership as a proportion of the economically active population declined from 24 percent in 1992 to 21 percent in 2001. The decline in unionisation has been mainly due to the wave of retrechments that have taken place in the 1990s and 2000s. Rising unemployment has also increased informalisation and casualisation.
The sector that has suffered the most from the retrenchment is the manufacturing sector. The blue-collar workers of the manufacturing sector led many of the struggles in the 1980s and contributed to building the links between workplace and community struggles. The decline of the manufacturing sector has led to the decline in the number of unionised workers in a sector that was the backbone of the labour movement that emerged in the wake of the 1973 Durban strikes wave. Notwithstanding this decline in the levels of unionisation, the labour movement has failed to develop and implement strategies to organise the unemployed, casuals, part-time workers, and the informal sector.
The decline of the shopsteward movement
The shopsteward movement that is the backbone of the present labour movement is also in decline. From 1973 to 1994 the shopsteward movement developed and consolidated a distinct political culture and practice, which combined a number of elements including workers control, democracy and accountability to the rank and file. These elements formed the basis of the unions’ socialist politics. This political culture and practice was then replicated in other structures of the mass movement such as the student and civic movements in the 1980s.
The decline of the labour movement and the defeat of the working class are graphically expressed in the demise of the shop steward movement. By the late 1990s COSATU conceded that union staff and workers had lost confidence in the shopstewards. It also conceded that union education had declined, and that union resources going towards education have dropped. Since the 1994 transition, leading shopstewards have been leaving unions for managerial positions, and government at various levels
The decline of the “activist organiser” and the rise of business unionism
During the height of militant unionism in the 1980s union organisers were also key activists in their own right. The ‘activist organiser ’ embodied two roles, that of a political activist as well as that of a full-time official of the union. As a consequence, working for the union was regarded by many as being part of a commitment to the goals of national liberation and economic emancipation and was thus non- hierarchical, collectivist and driven by selflessness.
The changing political environment has paved the way for a new type of union official – the business unionists and careerists who treat fulltime union employment as a “waiting room” and a stepping-stone up the social scale. These modern organisers seek to abolish worker control and see unions as business organisations.
There is a convergence between the interests of these officials and the emerging trend of ‘business unionism’ in the form of union investment companies. Business unionism creates opportunities and avenues for upward mobility for some union officials. The rise of business unionism has been accompanied by increasing instances of corruption within the labour movement. According to NEHAWU “COSATU is currently faced with immense challenges trying to free unions from corrupt careerist elements who are not committed to the working-class agenda…”
The retreat from socialist politics
Despite political differences that existed within the labour movement in the 1980s, the leadership of the labour movement provided a framework that facilitated a struggle against apartheid and capitalism. In the post 1994 period, while resolutions that support the struggle for socialism and a commitment to the “national democratic revolution” continued to be passed at union congresses, the leadership of the labour movement has not crafted an independent programme and a path to socialism. Despite the worsening social and economic conditions of the working class under ANC rule, the COSATU leadership remains in the ANC alliance. The COSATU leadership embraced GEAR and talked about the post-GEAR consensus in 1999 as a way of cementing relations within the alliance on the eve of the national elections.
Another indication of the retreat from socialist politics has been the labour movement’s response to privatisation. In 1996, the leadership of the three trade union federations, namely COSATU, FEDSAL and NACTU signed the National Framework Agreement, which accepted privatisation while seeking to protect workers from its ‘negative consequences’. The acceptance of privatisation is a major shift from the position of COSATU in the early 1990s, which argued for the nationalisation of the ‘commanding heights’ of the economy..
The acceptance of privatisation by the unions can also be seen in the activities of the union investment companies. Companies established by the labour movement have been involved in buying stakes in privatised state assets. For example, COSATU itself wanted to buy Aventura, which was being privatised by the state, but could not raise enough money.
The ideological integration of the labour movement into neoliberalism and the accommodation to capitalism is also expressed in the leadership’s full support for tripartite forums made up of labour, state and capital. These forums, like the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC), the Presidential Trade Unions Group, and the Millennium Labour Council have facilitated agreements like the union’s acceptance of privatisation on a ‘case by case basis’, so-called ‘public private partnerships’ and ‘fiscal discipline’. It was during the Job Summit hosted by NEDLAC in 1998 that the labour movement indirectly endorsed GEAR.
Suppression of democratic traditions in the labour movement
Another indication of the decline of the labour movement’s militant traditions is that the leadership has discouraged local shop floor initiatives that seek to entrench workers’ control on the shop floor. In 1998, the the NUMSA leadership agreed to a productivity agreement with Volkswagen (VW) in Uitenhage without consulting the workers. In response, workers elected shopstewards who were opposed to the trade union and management productivity deal. The union leadership rejected the duly elected shopstewards, and in response workers went on strike against the union bureaucracy. The COSATU leadership supported the union and labelled workers who participated in the strikes as “agent provocateurs”.
The retreat of radical intellectuals
The retreat of the mass movement and the labour movement has been accompanied by the retreat of the intellectuals who promoted radical politics and contributed in various ways to the building of the labour movement since the 1970s. Beginning with a few dozen, mainly white, intellectuals and activists in the 1960s, this generation of intellectuals matured in the late 1970s and had a powerful presence on South Africa’s political landscape in the 1980s. They formed organisations that helped build unions in the 1970s. They published journals and magazines, which often conveyed their views on labour and political issues, and their ideas shaped the academic curriculum in universities.
However, in the early 1990s many of these intellectuals began a shift to the right, and many joined the ANC and the SACP alliance, which they had criticised heavily in the 1980s. They strategically located themselves in key positions dealing with economic and industrial issues, and some participated in the drafting of economic policies such as GEAR. In the field of industrial relations, this layer argued for codetermination and the need for “international competitiveness”. The implementation of these policies has contributed to the wave of retrenchments that has weakened the labour movement.
The decline of intellectual and cultural life in the labour movement
In the 1980s, FOSATU workers developed their own cultural groups, which reinforced their social identity as workers opposed to apartheid and capitalism. Some of the worker leaders began to write autobiographies that also captured working class history and the struggle against apartheid and capitalism.
The rise in unemployment, retrenchments and the general decline of the living conditions of the working class have led to the decline of the intellectual and cultural life within the working class. These changes started taking place in the
1990s, and today the workers’ cultural movement poetry, drama, dance, music, and the like – and the workers’ education movement have lost their dynamism and richness.
COSATU and the emerging social movements
Another important indicator of the decline of worker militancy and solidarity, particularly among COSATU’s membership, is the lack of participation by unionised workers in struggles waged by the emerging social movements and community-based organisations. From the 1970s to the 1990s there are many examples of solidarity and common struggles between workers, communities and students. However, today a wide divide seems to have emerged between unionised workers and communities. Many activists and participants in the struggles of social movements see unionised workers as privileged elite that does not want to dirty its hands in struggles for social services.
The drift of the trade unions, and COSATU in particular, to the right and its acceptance of capitalism represents the end of a cycle of militant socialist struggles that began with the Durban strikes of 1973. The new social movements, although still weak, represent the beginning of a new wave that is taking up struggles against globalisation and neoliberalism.
Mondli Hlatshwayo is active in the Social Movements
Indaba. He works at Khanya College.
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