ghee” World ‘We must be ready,’ says SACP congress By WILLIAM POMEROY The accelerating pace of the revolution- ary struggle against apartheid in South Africa was vividly demonstrated in the proceedings of the 7th Congress of the South African Communist Party held ear- lier this year. They showed a deeply- rooted party growing at a rapid rate in consonance with the expansion of the mass democratic movement and_ they point to the developing stage in which the prospects for victory are discernible. In 1962 the SACP adopted a program entitled “The Road to South African Freedom.” It was put forward at a time when the people’s movements, driven “underground by the apartheid regime, were only beginning the long, patient pro- cess of building the structures of mass res- istance in illegal conditions. It projected the necessity for all forms of organization and struggle, including armed struggle. Over the past 27 years this program has _ been a salient guide in creating the power- ful anti-apartheid. movement. It has helped establish the SACP as the leading political force of the organized South African working class, and it has contrib- uted greatly to solidifying the alliance of the SACP and the African National Con- gress. The program adopted at the recent 7th Congress is markedly different in its tone and perspective, as its title, “The Path to Power,” indicates. Examination of the basic features of the present situation in Africa and the world and analysis of “the colonialism of a special type,” represented by South African apartheid, lead up to the final section, “The path to power in the national democratic revolution.” This sec- tion is on the feasibility of a democratic seizure of power by the mass movement. A Program Commission set up in 1987 prepared and circulated a draft among all SACP members. Some 1,250 amendments and suggestions were made. There were criticisms and differences over the final document, with some desir- ing a more agitational tine and others wanting more details on the immediate situation rather than a long-range out- look. Some complained that the draft (unlike the 1962 program) omitted specific CP proposals for the post-apartheid period. The leadership’s response to this indicates the SACP’s attitude toward its role in the broad democratic alliance: “Tt is the view of the Political Bureau and its Commission that we should not, at this stage, be seen to be pre-empting the current discussion throughout the liberal alliance and the mass democratic move- ment on the ANC’s Constitutional Guide- lines. As a party, we are participating in these discussions. Our final positions will no doubt take into account the thinking of the broad revolutionary forces.” The participation on the congress showed the SACP’s advances during the past decade. Since the 6th Congress in 1984, party membership has increased by 90 per cent. Racial composition is 70 per cent African, 16 per cent white, 10 per cent Indian and four per cent Coloured. The Congress was the biggest since the SACP was re-established following its banning in 1950. Most striking was the presence of a large number of delegates from the under- ground in South Africa, coming from every region. Strengthening of the underground party was made a priority. A pledge was made “‘to ensure that our 8th Congress will be dominated completely by our underground.” The new SACP program declares: “The prospects of a revolutionary advance are greater today than ever before in our his- tory. The regime continues to face an all- round crisis which can only be resolved by a qualitative transformation of the whole economic, political, social and cultural system.” The program deals at length with the 1961 decision, taken together with the ANC, for armed struggle. This confronted the liberation alliance with great difficul- ties, due to the unfavourable internal and external conditions for guerrilla warfare in South Africa. The SACP concludes that while armed struggle is an integral part of the mass struggle, a classical, guerrilla-style war based on winning more and more liber- ated territory is not possible, nor are there immediate prospécts of achieving a mil- itary victory. Nonetheless, the increasing integration of the SACP-ANC guerrilla force, Umkhonto we Sizwe, with the broadening mass democratic movement is shown in the mounting number of guer- rilla attacks. The SACP’s new program calls for escalating armed struggle, but the main perspective it puts forward is the likeli- hood of insurrection as the way to winning power: “Seizure of power will be a product of escalating and progressively merging political and military struggle with the like- lihood of culminating in an insurrection.” At the same time, “there is no conflict between this insurrectionary perspective and the possibility of a negotiated transfer of power,” it states. The program says in conclusion: “As always, we Communists, together with our brothers, sisters and comrades in the liberation alliance, will remain at our posts however long the road to victory.. The perspective of a protracted struggle can never be abandoned. But we are con- vinced that the situation has within it the seeds of a sudden transformation. We must prepare ourselves and be ready. Our watchwords are unity, organization and struggle. For a democratic victory and advance to socialism! Victory is certain!” Israeli imprisoned for talks with PLO leader By HANS LEBRECHT TEL AVIV — On Sept. 27, an Israeli court convicted Abie Nathan, an inter- - nationally-known Israeli peace activist, for © meeting with Yasser Arafat, chair of the Palestine Liberation Organization, and other PLO officials a year earlier. Last week, he was sentenced by Judge Aharon Fass of the Ramleh Magistrate Court to six months in prison. A 1986 amendment to the Anti-Terrorist Act passed by the Likud/Labor-dominated Knesset makes it a crime for Israeli citizens to have unauthorized meetings with offi- cials of the PLO, which is defined as a “terrorist” organization. Nathan, 63, a Jewish Israeli citizen who was born in India, is known in the peace movement as “loner.” He is the owner- operator of a pirate radio station which broadcasts from the 3,000-ton ship Peace, anchored in international waters off the Israeli coast. His station broadcasts a mix- ture of pop music, news and peace messages 24 hours a day in Hebrew, Arabic and Eng- lish. The operation is financed by commer- cials modelled after those in the United States. Nathan came to public attention in the 1960s, when he flew his small Piper plane Shalom One to Egypt hoping to meet the president, the late Gamal Abdel Nasser, to promote Israel-Arab peace. At that time 8 « Pacific Tribune, October 16, 1989 I don’t recognize this law as binding and intend to continue to break it whenever peace and the future of Israel are at stake. most Israelis considered such peace impos- sible. Nathan did not meet Nasser but, much to the amazement of the Israeli pub- lic, he was welcomed cordially by Egyptian officials before being sent back to Israel. Nathan has been involved for years in promoting Israeli-Palestinian peace. In addition to airing his “Voice of Peace” broadcasts over the past few years, Nathan has raised financial and other material aid for the hungry children of Africa and flood victims in Bangladesh. Most recently, he dispatched a shipload of food and medical supplies to Armenian earthquake victims. Nathan told the court in the Israeli town of Ramleh: “In no way do I regret my meetings with PLO officials, including Ara- fat. I was fully aware that I was breaking the law, but I did it to build a bridge of peace and to save lives. I don’t recognize this law as binding and intend to continue to break it whenever peace and the future of Israel are at stake. “My aim,” Nathan said, “is to convince — Abie Nathan our chief enemy, the Palestinians and their PLO, as well as the Israeli government, to put aside stones, fire bombs and arms, and to grasp in their stead the olive branch of peace. I shall keep on fighting this stupid anti-peace law until it is rescinded.” Last year the first four victims of the anti-peace amendment were sentenced to 18-month prison terms, although 12 months were suspended. The four were part of a 25-member group of Israel peace movement leaders who met with high- ranking PLO officials in Romania in November 1986. Two of them — one member of the Communist Party of Israel and one of the Left Socialist Party — belonged to the opposition wing of the Uni- ted Workers’ Mapam Party, which has con- stituted itself as the Committee for Israeli-Palestinian Dialogue. Currently on trial are eight activists in the movement “Stop the Occupation — Israeli- Palestinian Peace Now.” They held peace talks with the PLO in Budapest earlier this year. Two of those defendants are members of the central committee of the CPI. . Knesset member Charlie Biton, a member of the Democratic Hadash Front and chair of the Black Panther organiza- tion, was interrogated by the security service on his return from the Budapest meeting. His parliamentary immunity is in jeopardy. Despite their parliamentary immunity as Knesset members, CPI general secretary Meir Vilner and deputy general secretary Tawfiq Toubi were also interrogated by officers of the Police Division for Serious Crimes after meeting Arafat and some of his top aides last April in Prague. At that meeting a Joint Declaration of Mutual Friendship and Solidarity was signed by the PLO and CPI. Vilner had denounced the Ant-Terrorist Amendment as a terrorist law directed against Israeli peace activists when the Knesset debated and adopted it in July 1986. At that time, he termed the legislation an illegal act, which no Israeli concerned’ about peace in the region and the rights of the Palestinian people could obey. “Non-adherence to this outrageous law will be a matter of honour for every true patriot. I promise that we never will stop meeting with the PLO to pave the way to peace,” Vilner said then. Hans Lebrecht is a columnist for~ the People’s Daily World in New York.