Few weeks ago the General Secretary of NUMSA and the leader of the United Front and the Movement for Socialism Irvin Jim, led a high powered delegation to the institute for policy studies in the Washington DC, USA. This unprecedented visit has generated much intense debates across the spectra of our society about the role of imperialism and neo colonial forces in our struggle for national liberation.

The theme of his inaugural address to the institute for policy studies was "Numsa and Post Apartheid South Africa: the state of the South African Revolution". We however remain hopeful that in his endless drive to embolden his movement, he still remember the great teachings of Vladimir Lenin, that the critique of the imperialist system is the most essential tool in uniting workers against capital.

In his polemics " WHERE DO CORRECT IDEAS COME FROM", the leader of the Chinese revolution Mao Tse-tung says the following about the importance of theory!

"Where do correct ideas come from? Do they drop from the skies? No. Are they innate in the mind? No. They come from social practice, and from it alone; they come from three kinds of social practice, the struggle for production, the class struggle and scientific experiment".

This is a deep reflection that the task of our national democratic revolution is unprecedented in its scope and complexity. First and foremost it requires a calibre of cadres capable of understanding the significance of the balance of forces at every turn of our historical period.

Our important political task is to grapple with the growing contradictions of the ever changing world material conditions and the extent to which they influence the character and posture of our revolutionary movement. This is the only way to analyse and understand correctly every turning point of our history and how to carry out our revolutionary programme for the total liberation of our people.

We all need to appreciate that our national democratic revolution is traversing the most complex and difficult period in its history since the advent of our democratic dispensation. A period at which our revolution has bestowed upon us the most difficult task of taking forward the process for the radical socio economic transformation of our society.

Many of us are staggering to understand why his first visit was to the capital city of the world imperialism and not Havana, Beijing nor Ho Chi Minh. A question we ask ourselves is how can a genuine revolutionary movement which claims to represent the struggle of the working class break its umbilical cord from the heartland of capitalism in the Washington DC.

How can the headquarters of the world imperialism become the fire of baptism to such a great movement which seeks to represent the wishes and aspirations of the struggle of the working class? What informs their strategic choice to gather moral, financial and political support from the heart of the world monopoly capital?.

In this instance, Havana the capital city of the republic of Cuba, one of our most successful modern day socialist societies, becomes the nearest from the institute for policy studies in the Washington DC. My choice would have to learn lessons and experiences from this first ever socialist republic at the backyard of the world superpower, the USA.

The question is in its formative and embryonic stage, where does the United Front and the Movement for Socialism get its ideas from? Is it from the East or from the West? Is it from the South or from the North?. Is it from the Washington DC or from Havana, Beijing or HO Chi Minh?

In the year 1963, just after the declaration of the socialist character of the Cuban revolution, the Commander in Chief Fidel Castro said the following when defining the theory of a revolution

" A Revolution is a developing dynamic process. But there is only one Revolution. If it is not a revolution, there is no revolutionary process. And if it stops, it is not a revolution.

If conditions exist to bring about a revolution, then it will continue its uninterrupted march. That is why it goes so far, as only a true revolution can do, because it carries within it the necessary roots for the development of a revolution. If it is a revolution from the first step, it will remain a revolution to the last one".

The leadership of any revolutionary movement is the first to understand the myth of post modernism theory that there are general laws that govern the laws of the development of society. They are the first to understand that historical materialism is the only theory that provides the framework for the analysis of human society and its laws of development.

What we have learned from the theatre of our revolutionary classes is that the development of human society is based on the development of productive forces. That the kind of society we find ourselves at all historical moments is determined by the way productive forces are organised.

The levels of the improvement of the productive forces determines social relations in society. Therefore meaning that the struggle of ideas in society reflects the struggle of class forces.

My argument has always been that the wave of syndicalism and opportunism in our country is the worst form of the enemy of the struggle for the liberation of our people. Syndicalism and opportunism are the first enemies of the struggle of the working class.

Therefore the visit to Washington DC must not be a confirmation that "leftists" phraseology and rabble rousing slogans of anarchism are always and everywhere the essential disguise to strengthen class forces against our revolutionary movement. That the United Front and the Movement for Socialism is confirming itself to be the most effective tool of the forces of counter revolution.

The leadership of the United Front and the Movement for Socialism has always portrayed itself as the hard core anti imperialist and anti colonial movement of our modern historical times. Therefore they are the last to be on the queue dancing to the tune of the powers that being in the Washington DC.

Without fear of any contradictions, a movement that gets inspiration from the US led imperialism cannot lead any revolution from the first to the last moment. Only a true revolutionary movement will carry within itself the necessary roots for the development of a revolution.

I am assuming that the leadership of the United Front and the Movement to Socialism went to the Washington DC, fully aware that the institute for the US policy studies represents the highest echelons of imperialism and neo colonialism.

Within the realms of the geopolitical and ideological power relations, it represents a war room that designs the battleground against the whole of the world revolutionary movement. It is in fact the most strategic powerhouses of the global capitalism.

Our concern has always been that powerful counter revolutionary forces are gathering momentum to undermine the objectives of our national democratic revolution. That there is a world wide effort by the monopoly capital to undermine the victories of the struggle of our people led by the ANC in our country.

The task of those opposed to the transformation of our country is to undermine the unity of our revolutionary Alliance led by the ANC. The overall strategic tactic of the enemy is to weaken our movement from within its ranks.

The task of the enemy of the struggle of our people is to undermine the unity of the ANC, SACP, COSATU, SANCO, the Mass Democratic Movement and the people of our country in general. The reason why anyone who seeks to destroy the foundations of the unity of our people is the enemy of our people.

The driving force of the South African revolution are the people of our country themselves. They are the only contingent of revolutionary forces to defend their own revolution.

The unity of the ANC led Alliance and our people is the only precondition for the success of our revolution. The ANC led Alliance carries the pedestal of the milestone achievements of the twenty of our democratic breakthrough.

What we dare not to loose sight of, in our forward movement into the future, is to leave our people behind. We need to walk side by side with the working class of our country into the better future of humanity, the future of socialism.

Phatse Justice Piitso is the former Ambassador to the republic of Cuba and the former provincial secretary of the SACP writing this article on his personal capacity

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