12 – 15 December 2016, Cape Town

Building strong, vibrant and politically conscious workplaces!

This year is the 100^th anniversary of the Bolshevik’s victory in Russia. It set the standard, at least initially (before Joseph Stalin took over in the mid-1920s), for a party of workers and other oppressed people capturing state power.

Introduction

Among South Africa’s distinctive features is the largest union movement in Africa (as a proportion of the waged population), itself a reflection of another distinction, the country’s largely proletarian population and capitalist order.

Political system in crisis right now

The relatively recent history of Zimbabwe’s working class and its supporters is very rich and provides answers to the challenges for the future. The working class as a whole provided inspiration to the fights against unemployment and oppression.

Introduction

In an interview last year, Floyd Shivambu, the Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Deputy President, had this to say in response to Numsa’s reluctance to build unity with them: [1] “What we know is that efforts to start a rival socialist or workers’ party will dwindle into insignificance and will no

With the claims that a new trade union federation will be launched in March 2017, it is appropriate to draw up a balance sheet of the labour movement in South Africa, and ask whether the optimism of many that a new Left force is going to be unleashed is justified.

Introduction