Speech Delivered by COSATU President - Comrade Sidumo Dlamini in the sixth Presidential Council of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) held in Johannesburg from 9- 12 February

The General Secretary comrade George Mavrikos
Members of the Presidential Council
Invited Guests
Comrades and compatriots

COSATU is pleased to have been invited to give a welcoming address to this important meeting. We would like to thank and congratulate NEHAWU, NUMSA, CEPPWAWU and POPCRU for successfully taking up the responsibility of hosting this important meeting in the South African soil.

COSATU comes to this meeting not just as an invited guest but as one of your own.

It is a known fact that we share similar ideological perspectives on what should be the solution to almost all the political and economic challenges confronting the world today.

If we were to be asked as to what is the most sustainable solution to the challenges confronting the world today we all can answer without any ambiguity that Socialism is the answer!

It is for this reason that we will be entering into a discussion about the type of a relationship we must have with the WFTU and how such a relationship can take forward our commitment to achieve unity between the WFTU and the ITUC. In the meantime we are clear that we must cooperate on the bases of our common agenda to achieve socialism.

The current challenges confronting the world today which is manifested as poverty, unemployment and inequality attests to the fact that capitalism is a Big Scam and the world in looking for a way out!

The question is whether we have made people to see Socialism as a way out or we think it is common sense that Socialism is the answer!

I must say that it is unfortunate that when this inhuman system has been exposed at all levels of society the left forces in the world do not speak with one voice and present their own alternatives.

People in North Africa, in the Arabian Peninsula, in Europe and in USA are crying out loud for leadership and my observation is that we have behaved as if someone else must provide leadership. 

The fact of the matter is that no one will ever stand up and fight on our behalf , even if they try they will be doing so on their own behalf and the outcome will never be on our favor.

The communist manifesto explains this well when it says that "of all the classes that stand face to face with the bourgeoisie..., the proletariat alone is a really revolutionary class.

The other classes decay and finally disappear in the face of modern industry; the proletariat is its special and essential product.

The lower middle class , the small manufacturer, the shopkeeper, the artisan, the peasant, all these fight against the bourgeoisie to save from extinction their existence as fractions of the middle class. They are therefore not revolutionary, but conservative.

If by any chance they are revolutionary , they are so only in view of their impending transfer into the proletariat , they thus defend not their present , but their future interests; they desert their own standpoint to place themselves at that of the proletariat"

We are certain that your discussions in this meeting will be about the alternatives that the left forces must present to society given the glaring failures of capitalism.

We are certain that this meeting will be preoccupied with discussions on how to present practical and workable alternative solutions to address the growing levels of poverty, unemployment and inequality facing the world.

It is unacceptable that out of the 7 billion human beings that occupy this planet more than 925 million of them remains hungry without hope for any improvement given the deepening economic crisis.

In 2008 when the economic crisis was mildly reported , it is said that during that very same period food price increased and the spike pushed around 100 million extra people into poverty, and as I speak more than 44 million more people have been pushed into poverty . How can this happen and the world keeps quite to openly point out that Capitalism has failed humanity.

As this meeting sit, we must know that according to a recent report by the ILO, about 1.1 billion people in the world are either unemployed or living in poverty.

We must know that the we carry a heavy burden to provide answers to desperate people who wake up every day with hope to find a job.

It is us the left axis in the world who must provide an answer on how build the 600 million jobs needed to sustain economic growth and maintain social stability.

It is us who must table a solution before society on how to address unemployment by the more than 74.8 million youths who are part of the 3.3 billion global labour force.

It is us who must stand up and put a stop to the fact that these high levels of global poverty and unemployment coexist with high levels of accumulation which continues to happen at the expense of the working class and despite the fact that there was global economic crisis. 

The World Wealth Report", revealed that the assets of the wealthy in 2010 rose by almost 1 percent to a record high of 42.7 trillion US Dollars. Their wealth has even exceeded the peak of 40.7 trillion US dollars reached in 2007 before the financial crisis. In Germany there are 924,000 millionaires, according to the study-an increase of 7.2 percent. Among the super-rich in Germany there are 839 households with wealth exceeding 100 million US dollars.

I am worried that even in China there are similar trends. The number of dollar billionaires in the China has reached at least 271, up from 189 last year.

The average wealth of the 1,000 richest individuals-5.9 billion Yuan (equivalent to 923 million US dollars)-represented a 20 percent increase from 2010, while the hurdle for entry into the rich 1,000 list is now 310 million US dollars, up from last year's 220 million US dollars.

We are worried that instead of being ashamed and humiliated advocates of this inhuman system have been given more political space to maneuver and to continue with the big scam that capitalism is. When is this going to end comrades?

The fact of the matter is that what we see happening in Europe, in Tunisia, Egypt and in the USA is a sign that the people are taking the initiative the question is whether the socialist forces are there to illuminate the course and guide these struggles.

This gathering must provide answers to this important question of leadership.

Issued by NUMSA, February 9 2012

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