We remember the living memories of our fallen heroes and heroines of our struggles at Marikana

Today people of our country and the world will commemorate the first anniversary of the brutal killing of our thirty four mineworkers on the 16 of August 2012 at the Marikana platinum mine. Again from the deep bottom of our hearts we convey our condolences to the families of all of our heroes and heroines of our struggles who fell at Marikana.

The Marikana tragedy will remain to be one of the bloodiest events in the history of the struggles of the working class since our democratic dispensation. We lower our red flag in memory of the heroism of our fallen cadres.

We will forever remember these heroic leaders for the indomitable role they have played, in the cause of our struggles for the freedom and dignity of our people. Their blood has indeed nourished the tree that will bear the fruits of liberation for the victory of the working class struggles into our socialist future. 

We call their names as we remember their acts of heroism and exemplary leadership in the cause of our struggles for the liberation of our people. Their names belong to a roll call of countless long list of martyrs of our struggles, who volunteered their lifes, for the victory of the struggles of the working class against imperialism and neo colonial domination.

They belong to the category of the most rare spices in society, they belong to the category of the few but the better. Their extraordinary acts of heroism will forever decorate the glorious chapters of our history books. 

During his tribute delivered at the occasion of the plenary of the Second All union Congress of the Soviets to commemorate the death of the leader of the Russian revolution Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin expressed the following profound revolutionary words in his memory" 

Lenin never regarded the Republic of Soviets as an end in itself. He always looked on it as an essential link for strengthening the revolutionary movement in the countries of the West and the East, an essential link for facilitating the victory of the working people of the whole world over capitalism. 

Lenin knew that this was the only right conception, both from the international standpoint and from the standpoint of preserving the Republic of the Soviets itself. Lenin knew that this alone could fire the hearts of the working people of the whole world with determination to fight the decisive battles for their emancipation. 

That is why, on the very morrow of the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat, he, the greatest of the geniuses who have led the proletariat, laid the foundation of the workers' International. That is why he never became tired of extending and strengthening the union of: the working people of the whole world - the Communist International.

You have seen during the past few days the pilgrimage of scores and hundreds of thousands of working people to Comrade Lenin's bier. Before long you will see the pilgrimage of representatives of millions of working people to Comrade Lenin's tomb.

You need not doubt that the representatives of millions will be followed by representatives of scores and hundreds of millions from all parts of the earth, who will come to testify that Lenin was the leader not only of the Russian proletariat, not only of the European workers, not only of the colonial East, but of all the working people of the globe".

On the same occasion of the historic plenary of the second all Union Congress of the Soviets to bid farewell to this outstanding leader of the first world socialist state of the Soviet Union Vladimir Lenin, one of the finest leaders of the Russian Communist party, Zinoviev, spoke greatly about the way the Russian people responded to the death of Lenin. 

During the occasion, Zinoviev eloquently demonstrated how Lenin inspired the loyalty of his own people. He spoke confidently of the events of the previous week following his death. He spoke of how the sight of endless queues of mourners in Moscow revealed of the extent of Lenin historical significant.

Zinoviev spoke emotionally that"

The crowds were a wonder, have you ever before seen such a beautiful united mass of people, a living giant wave of hundreds of thousands of the proletariat who organized themselves in the street,

Who day and night stand and wait in this winter storm for their turn to pay their respects to the remains of the leader. The crowds are the post moterm confidence to Lenin. The huge crowds are the crowds of the October revolution".

On the same platform Cde Zinoviev had to read two letters written by two workers who paid their tribute to their beloved leader Comrade Lenin. The first letter reads as thus" 

to our father, our dear father, you have left your children forever, but your voice, your words will never die in our proletariat hearts, many thousands of us bid farewell to our dear leader, we weep at your coffin.

Our father has dealt us a terrible blow with his death. Reading the newspaper we have thought that he would return to us soon, and we waited for him every minute. But a vicious illness took away from us an unforgettable father, the father of the whole world".

The second letter start by saying" 

the sun has grown dim, the stars have disappeared, here through meadows, where horrible bombs exploded every minute amidst the corpses and the moaning of the wounded, there surged past Lenin.

" it is difficult for you, listen to me, follow me,thus lenin, " his call was a call of a leader, his call penetrated deeply into every soldier bloodstained heart. They followed him, they did not hesitate to follow his slogans, they did with joy, no one grieved for himself,

That which he promised come to pass, Red poppies bloomed, black grief was replaced by joy, hunger and devastation were left behind, there was plenty of bread,

He became ill, we took care of him consistently, and today each one of us carries a black spot in his heart. The star has disappeared, the sun has grown dim, the great Lenin is no longer amongst us".

Today as we remember our fallen heroes and heroines of the Marikana tragedy, 88 years after the historic second all Union Congress of the Soviets, we borrow the above mentioned and profound revolutionary words as we say" 

Our heroic leaders never regarded their struggle at Marikana as an end in itself. They always looked at it as an essential link for strengthening the revolutionary movement of the working class throughout the world, an essential link for facilitating the victory of the working people of the whole world over capitalism. 

They knew that this was the only right conception, both from the international standpoint and from the standpoint of preserving the our national democratic revolution itself. They knew that this alone could fire the hearts of the working people of the whole world with determination to fight the decisive battles for their emancipation. 

We have seen during the past twelve months the pilgrimage of scores and hundreds and thousands of the working people to the Koppie at the Marikana mine. Before long we will see the pilgrimage of the representatives of the millions of the working people to the monument of the victims of the Marikana tradegy.

We do not doubt that the representatives of millions will be followed by representatives of scores and hundreds of millions from all parts of the earth, who will come to testify that our fallen heroes and heroines of Marikana were indeed not only leaders of our country, not only of the African workers, but of all the working people of the globe.

The crowds are a wonder, have you we ever before seen such a beautiful united mass of people, a living giant wave of hundreds of thousands of the proletariat who organised themselves at a Koppie?

Who day and night stand and wait in this winter storm for their turn to pay their respects to the living memories of our heroes and heroines. The crowds are the post moterm confidence to the struggles of the working class of our country. The huge crowds are the crowds of our national democratic revolution.

To our leaders of our national democratic revolution, to our heroic leaders of the struggles of our people, you have left your children forever, but your voice, your words will never die in our proletariat hearts, many thousands of us bid farewell to you our dear leaders, we weep at your monument.

Our heroic leaders have dealt us a terrible blow with their death. Reading the newspaper we have thought that you would return to us soon, and we waited for you every minute. But a vicious tragedy took away from us an unforgettable leaders, the leaders of the whole world".

The sun has grown dim, the stars have disappeared, here through meadows, where horrible bullet guns exploded every minute amidst the corpses and the moaning of the wounded, there surged past our leaders.

" it is difficult for you, listen to me, follow me,thus our leaders , " theirs was a call of our leaders, their call penetrated deeply into every mineworker bloodstained heart. They followed them, they did not hesitate to follow their slogans, they did with joy, no one grieved for himself,

That which they promised come to pass, Red poppies bloomed, black grief was replaced by joy, hunger and devastation were left behind, there was plenty of bread,

They were shot at with bullet guns, we took care of them consistently, and today each one of us carries a black spot in his heart. The stars have disappeared, the sun has grown dim, our great leaders are no more with us".

In one of the earliest articles written in 1899 for publication in Robochaia Gazeta, which never appeared because of police interference, Vladimir Lenin says the following with regard to the policy of an independent party with clear revolutionary policy and free of opportunists"

International social democracy is at present going through a period of theoretical vacillations. Up to the present the doctrines of Marx and Engels were regarded as a firm foundation of revolutionary theory, nowadays voices are raised everywhere declaring these doctrines to be inadequate and antiquated. 

Anyone calling himself a social-democrat and having the intention to publish a social-democratic organ, must take up a definite attitude as regards to this question, which by no means concerns German social-democrats alone.

We base our faith entirely on Marx's theory; it was the first to transform socialism from a Utopia into a science, to give this science a firm foundation and to indicate the path which must be trodden in order to further develop this science and to elaborate it in all its details. 

It discovered the nature of present-day capitalist economy and explained the way in which the employment of workers, the purchase of labour power, the enslavement of millions of those possessing no property by a handful of capitalists, by the owners of the land, the factories, the mines, etc is concealed.

It has shown how the whole development of modern capitalism is advancing towards the large producer ousting the small one, and is creating the prerequisites which make a socialist order of society possible and necessary. 

It has taught us to see, under the disguise of ossified habits, political intrigues, intricate laws, cunning theories, the class struggle, the struggle between, on the one hand, the various species of the possessing classes, and, on the other hand, the mass possessing no property, the proletariat, which leads all those who possess nothing.

It has made clear what is the real task of a revolutionary socialist party, not to set up empty projects for the transformation of society, not to preach sermons to the capitalists and their admirers about improving the position of the workers, not the instigation of conspiracies, but the organisation of the class struggle of the proletariat and the carrying on of this struggle, the final aim of which is the seizure of political power by the proletariat and the organisation of a socialist society.

We now ask: What new elements have the touting "renovators" introduced into this theory, they who have attracted so much notice in our day and have grouped themselves round the German socialist Bernstein? Nothing, nothing at all; they have not advanced by a single step the science which Marx and Engels adjured us to develop; they have not taught the proletariat any new methods of fighting.

They are only marching backwards in that they adopt the fragments of antiquated theories and are preaching to the proletariat not the theory of struggle but the theory of submissiveness - submissiveness to the bitterest enemies of the proletariat, to the bourgeois parties who are never tired of finding new methods of persecuting social democrats.

We know that on account of these words we shall be drenched with a flood of accusations; they will cry out that we want to turn the Socialist Party into a holy order of the "orthodox," who persecute the "heretics" for their aberrations from the"true dogma," for any independent opinion, etc. We know all these nonsensical phrases which have become the fashion nowadays. Yet there is no shadow of truth in them, no idea of sense. 

There can be no strong socialist party without a revolutionary theory which unites all social democrats, from which they will draw their whole conviction, which they apply in their methods of fighting and working. To defend a theory of this kind, of the truth of which one is completely convinced, against unfounded attacks and against attempts to debase it, does not mean being an enemy of criticism in general". 

On his work about the proletariat revolution and the renegade Kautsky, Lenin says the following about a transition"

In these circumstances, to assume that in a revolution which is at all profound and serious, the issue is decided simply by the relation between the majority and the minority is the acme of stupidity, the silliest prejudice of a common or garden liberal, an attempt to deceive the masses by concealing from them a well-established historical truth.

The historical truth is that in every profound revolution, a prolonged, stubborn and desperate resistance of the exploiters, who for a number of years retain important practical advantages over the exploited, is the rule.

Never except in the sentimental fantasies of the sentimental fool Kautsky -- will the exploiters submit to the decision of the exploited majority without trying to make use of their advantages in a last desperate battle, or series of battles.

The transition from capitalism to Communism represents an entire historical epoch. Until this epoch has terminated, the exploiters inevitably cherish the hope of restoration, and this hope is converted into attempts at restoration.

And after their first serious defeat, the overthrown exploiters -- who had not expected their overthrow, never believed it is possible, never conceded the thought of it. 

Throw themselves with energy grown tenfold, with furious passion and hatred grown a hundredfold, into the battle for the recovery of the "paradise," of which they have been deprived, on behalf of their families, who had been leading such a sweet and easy life and whom now the "common herd" is condemning to ruin and destitution (or to "common labour"). 

In the train of the capitalist exploiters follow the broad masses of the petty bourgeoisie, with regard to whom decades of historical experience of all countries testify that they vacillate and hesitate, one day marching behind the proletariat and the next day taking fright at the difficulties of the revolution".

The commemoration of the first anniversary of the Marikana tragedy presents an opportunity to all revolutionaries in our country, to give a critical analyses of the unfolding objective realities of the balance of the balance of forces in our country and the whole world.

It is an opportunity to all of our people to deeply analyse the role of the enemy of our revolution from both within and outside the ranks of our revolutionary alliance, in the current epoch of our struggles for the liberation of our people.

The most fundamental question we have to ask ourselves, is the role of imperialism and neo colonial forces against the struggles of our people for the attainment of the objectives of our national democratic revolution. The objective realities present a picture of a worldwide phenomenon that seeks to undermine the gains of our struggles for the liberation of our people in the colonies and semi colonies.

In the whole of the African continent, the Southern African region and our own country, imperialism and neo colonial forces have waged an onslaught against the entire liberation movement. The main objective is to undermine the struggles of our people for socio economic emancipation.

Our national liberation movement and its collective leadership is under constant attacks from the enemy forces both from outside and within our own ranks. The same enemy which oppressed and exploited our people for the past three and half centuries is today claiming to have led the struggles of our people for their own emancipation.

Its strategic focus is to destroy the foundations of our revolutionary alliance. There are wedge drivers from both outside and within our ranks who seek to break our revolutionary alliance led by the ANC. The enemy also seeks to separate our revolutionary alliance from its own fortress which are the people themselves.

There is a much concerted effort to undermine the historic role of the Communist party in the struggles of the working class movement. The enemy of our revolution is determined to ensure that the working becomes hostile to its own political party. The Communist party is the only vanguard party of the working class.

Part of the strategy of the counter revolutionary forces is to drive a wedge between our vanguard party from the working class movement. The enemy is even formulating hypothesis that suggest that the trade union movement is capable of leading the working class into the socialist revolution independent of the role of the vanguard party of the working class.

The party is composed of the most advanced elements guided by the revolutionary Marxist Leninist theory. Its main fundamental task is to lead the working class into the victories of our socialist revolution. Any trade union that seeks to lead the working class without our scientific theory is nothing else but the extension of the work of the enemy of our national democratic revolution.

Imperialism and neo colonial forces have resorted to two methods in its struggles against the working class and our revolutionary alliance. One method is that of violence and sponsoring of low intensity counter revolutionary warfare and the other method is that of dividing the workers, disrupting their ranks, bribing individual representatives to win them over. 

The forces of imperialism and neo colonialism are responsible for the spate of violent mineworkers unrests sweeping our trade union movement especially within our mining sector. The same low intensity counter revolutionary activities are coordinated by the enemy throughout all of the affiliates of our revolutionary trade union movement(COSATU).

The Communist party is the vanguard party of the struggles of the working class. Ours is the most advanced political party of the struggles of the working class guided by the scientific Marxist Leninist theory

" Trade Unions are the schools of socialism. It is in trade unions that workers educate themselves and become socialists, because under their very eyes the every day struggle with capital is taking place."-Karl Marx

The Marikana tragedy has become a living testimony of how counter revolution from both outside and within the ranks of our revolutionary alliance can manipulate the fragile world economic circumstances to reverse back the gains of our national revolution. The reason why the enemy of our revolution has targeted the National Union of Mineworkers which is the strongest and historic leader of the struggles of the working class.

The appearance of the enemy may differ in form and content depending on our different circumstances. Some of the leadership of the affiliates of our own federation may be involved in activities that seek to sell our own revolution to the highest bidder. We can therefore not allow agent provocateurs to use our revolutionary trade union movement as a platform to undermine the unity and cohesion of our revolutionary alliance and our people.

Lenin would say that the democratic system is a feature of bourgeois society, the most pure and perfect bourgeois feature, in which the utmost freedom, scope and clarity of the class struggle are combined with the utmost cunning, with ruses and subterfuges aimed at spreading the "ideological" influence of the bourgeoisie among the wage-slaves with the objective of diverting them from their struggle against wage-slavery.

As we remember the living memories of the heroes and heroines of our struggles who fell at Marikana, as we expose the work of the enemy of our revolution, we also need to take a microscopic glance at our own selves. Lenin says in order to build a party that can resist the pressure of the bourgeoisie and to defeat them, it is necessary to mould a party and leaders capable of learning from their errors.

The attitude of any revolutionary movement towards its own mistakes is one of the most important and the best way of how it should take forward the struggles of its own people.

The hallmark of any revolutionary movement is the ability to acknowledge its own mistakes and to create the necessary conditions not to repeat them. In other words it will be wrong of us to blame counter revolution only without diagnosing our own mistakes.

What we are confident of is that the working class is the most resolute, disciplined and organised class in the struggles of the people. When it is infused with the far sighted revolutionary class consciousness, it is capable of taking forward the tasks of any revolution to its logical conclusion.

We are confident that we will eventually triumph over the counter revolutionary tendencies that seek to reverse the gains of our struggles. The ANC led revolutionary alliance is the only political formation with the necessary capacity to take forward the struggles for the socio economic transformation of our country. 

The South African working class movement should continue to have confidence in the strategic leading role of the ANC led revolutionary alliance. Ours is to build on our common perspectives of the unity of our people and our national democratic revolution. 

In memory of our fallen heroes and heroines at Marikana we will ensure that our national liberation movement gets an overwhelming majority during the forth coming national general elections. There is no any other formation to lead the struggles of the working class in our country rather than our revolutionary alliance.

We salute the heroism of our leaders who fell in line of duty at Marikana. We will forever be inspired by their living memories into the future.

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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