SRWP Statement on the Party leadership
8 April 2019
This weekend, from the 4th-6th April 2019, more than 1000 delegates of the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party met to attend the Launch Congress of the Party, at Birchwood, in Ekurhuleni South Africa. The main objectives of the Congress included among others, the adoption of the SRWP Draft Manifesto and Constitution, and to elect the leadership of the Party.
The SRWP is a Marxist-Leninist Party fighting for the establishment of a classless society. Our primary objective is to organize and unite the working class by raising the levels of consciousness, around the class divisions in society. We are in a struggle to overthrow the capitalist system and replace it with a democratic Socialist state.
The congress began with clear articulations of the struggles facing the working class today, a review of the State of Party Building and discussions around core ideological positions. The second day focused on delegate breakaway work in commissions that were tasked with critically engaging a specific area of concern, and developing resolutions to the burning questions affecting the working class today. These commissions laid a firm foundation for a roadmap towards Socialism.
The congress also sought to cast our sights on the histories of those revolutionaries who sought to eliminate the system of capitalism that lives off the exploitation and the suffering of the many, for the benefit of the few. As SRWP, we stand on the shoulders of revolutionary giants, and we are inspired by the communist ideas of revolutionaries such as Karl Marx, Alexandra Kollontai, VI Lenin, Claudia Jones, Fieldmore Mapeto, Ruth First, Mbuyiselo Ngwenda, Chris Hani, and many more revolutionaries who fought resolutely in the interest of the working class.
Revolutionary salutations were given to Comrade Fieldmore Mapeto, a Marxist Leninist, internationalist communist who fought against capitalism and imperialism throughout the world. Fieldmore passed away on the 16th August 2018. He was a member of uMkhonto weSizwe and fought against the brutal Apartheid government, and, he was one of the founding members of the SRWP. In recognition of the enormous contribution he made to the working class, we dedicated the congress to him. As a revolutionary socialist organization, we recognize that building working class socialist internationalism is central to the struggle for a classless society, and as SRWP, we are committed to fighting for a socialist South Africa, Africa, and world.
From the congress plenary, there was robust debate about how to build consensus on the question of leadership. As part of our commitment to genuinely democratic processes of leadership election, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa(EISA) was present to assist with the electoral process. The election results, of the core leadership, are as follows:
National Chairperson : Irvin Jim
Deputy National Chairperson : Moleko Phakedi
General Secretary : Oupa Ralake
Deputy General Secretary : Vashna Jagarnath
National Treasurer : Andile Zitho
The congress agreed to endorse the nominations of 30 women and men to lead the Central Committee, which is the highest decision-making structure second to Congress.
The congress also resolved to pursue the goals for a socialist revolution in South Africa.
Genuine democracy can only be realized when total power rests in the hands of the working class - economic, political, social, and cultural power.
“A united working class can never be defeated!”
Equality. Work. Land.
VOTE SRWP.
Issued by Vuyolwethu Toli, Acting Spokesperson, Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party, 8 April 2019
