The Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) is a Marxist-Leninist

communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The party was founded in March 2019 after a pre-launch convention at the end of 2018.

History

The roots of the SRWP lie in the split between the

NUMSA The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) is the biggest single trade union in South Africa with more than 338,000 members, and prior to its expulsion on 8 November 2014, the largest affiliate of the Congress of South African T ...

union and the

COSATU The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 1985 and is the largest of the country's three main trade union federations, with 21 affiliated trade unions.One Union expelled, ...

federation in 2013. The split was mainly caused by the growing discontention of the NUMSA leadership with the

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, which is supported by the

through the

Tripartite Alliance The Tripartite Alliance is an alliance between the African National Congress (ANC), the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). The ANC holds a majority in the South African parliament, while ...

, together with the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

. After the split NUMSA general-secretary

Irvin Jim Irvin Jim (born 1968) is a South African trade union leader. Born in on a farm in the Eastern Cape, Jim grew up in Motherwell. He became a university student, active in the anti-apartheid movement, but had to leave education to earn money in a ...

announced the formation of a "a new united front". Together with the new

SAFTU The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) is a trade union federation in South Africa. It was founded in 2017, and is the second largest of the country’s main trade union confederations, with 21 affiliated trade unions organisin ...

, the SRWP would be part of this new united front. The launch in December 2018 was attended by 1,100 delegates from all

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of South Africa in

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...

, with delegations from residence associations and members of

unions in attendance. The party contested in the 2019 South African general election and the provincial elections in all nine provinces, failing to win any seats.

Election results

National elections

, - ! Election ! Total votes ! Share of vote ! Seats ! +/– ! Government , - ! 2019 , 24,439 , 0.14% , , – ,

Provincial elections

! rowspan=2 , Election ! colspan=2 ,

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

! colspan=2 , Free State ! colspan=2 ,

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

! colspan=2 ,

Kwazulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

! colspan=2 ,

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

! colspan=2 , Mpumalanga ! colspan=2 ,

North-West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east ...

! colspan=2 ,

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

! colspan=2 ,

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

, - ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats ! % !! Seats , - ! 2019 , 0.24% , , 0/63 , 0.18% , , 0/30 , 0.13% , , 0/73 , 0.12% , , 0/80 , 0.10% , , 0/49 , 0.15% , , 0/30 , 0.20% , , 0/33 , 0.14% , , 0/30 , 0.15% , , 0/42

Municipal elections

, - ! Election ! Votes ! % ! Seats , - !

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, 5,444 , 0.02% , 2 , -

References

External links

Official Facebook page of the SRWP
{{South Africa political parties Political parties based in Johannesburg 2019 establishments in South Africa Communist parties in South Africa Political parties established in 2019 Political parties in South Africa