The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing National Party under the

Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the South African Communist Party, Communist Party ...

. The Communist Party was reconstituted underground and re-launched as the SACP in 1953, participating in the struggle to end the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

system. It is a member of the ruling

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 plurality in the South African parliament, ...

alongside the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and through this it influences the South African government. The party's Central Committee is the party's highest decision-making structure. Although the party has not left the Tripartite Alliance, the SACP has announced its intention to break with the ANC and run its own candidates in the 2026 local elections, following the ANC's decision to enter a unity government with right-wing parties.

History

The Communist Party of South Africa was founded in 1921 by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of William H. Andrews. It first came to prominence during the

Rand Rebellion The Rand Rebellion (; also known as the 1922 strike) was an armed uprising of white miners in the Witwatersrand region of South Africa, in March 1922. Following a drop in the world price of gold from 130 shillings (£6 10s) per fine ...

, a strike by white miners in 1922. The large mining concerns, facing labour shortages and wage pressures, had announced their intention of engaging blacks in semi-skilled and some higher-level jobs at low wage rates, compared to their white counterparts who enjoyed the monopoly of higher and well-paying occupations. The CPSA supported the strike as the struggle between the working class and the capitalist class, but it distanced itself from racist slogans associated with the strike. The party said in the statement a white South Africa was impossible, and all the workers had to organise and unite regardless of their race to fight for a non-racial South Africa and better conditions for all workers. The party thus reoriented itself at its 1924 Party Congress towards organising black workers and "Africanising" the party. By 1928, 1,600 of the party's 1,750 members were black. In the same year, the Communist International adopted a resolution for the CPSA to adopt the "Native Republic" thesis, which stipulated that South Africa is a country belonging to the natives, that is, the Indigenous Black population, and that most of South Africa's revolutionary potential laid with them. The resolution was influenced by a delegation from South Africa. James la Guma, the party Chairperson from Cape Town, had met with the leadership of the

Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...

. Contemporary scholars have argued that the party dismissed competing attempts at multiracial revolutionary organisations during this period, especially multiracial union organising by the syndicalists, and used revisionist history to claim that the party and its Native Republic policy was the only viable route to African liberation. Despite this, in 1929 the party adopted a "strategic line" which held that, "The most direct line of advance to

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

runs through the mass struggle for

majority rule In social choice theory, the majority rule (MR) is a social choice rule which says that, when comparing two options (such as bills or candidates), the option preferred by more than half of the voters (a ''majority'') should win. In political ...

". By 1948, the Communist Party had officially abandoned the Native Republic policy. In 1946, the CPSA along with the

participated in the general strike that was started by the

African Mine Workers' Strike The South African Mine Workers' Strike was a labour dispute involving mine workers of Witwatersrand in South Africa. It started on 12 August 1946 and lasted approximately a week. The strike was attacked by police and over the week, at least 1,248 w ...

in 1946. Many party members, such as

Bram Fischer Abraham Louis Fischer (23 April 19088 May 1975) was a South African Communist lawyer of Afrikaner descent with partial Anglo-African ancestry from his paternal grandmother, notable for anti-apartheid activism and for the legal defence of anti- ...

, were arrested.

Fight against apartheid

Aware that the National Party, elected to government in 1948, was about to ban the Communist Party, the CPSA decided by a majority to dissolve itself. A minority felt that the party should organise underground, but the majority apparently argued that this would be unnecessary, believing that support should be given to the African National Congress (ANC) in the drive to majority rule. After its voluntary dissolution, the CPSA was declared illegal in 1950. In 1953, a group of former CPSA members launched the ''South African Communist Party'' that remained — as had been the CPSA — aligned with the Soviet Union. The ban on the party was lifted in 1990 when the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations and individuals were also unbanned, and African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela was released from prison. The CPSA/SACP was a particular target of the governing National Party. The

Suppression of Communism Act The Suppression of Communism Act, 1950 (Act No. 44 of 1950), renamed the Internal Security Act in 1976, was legislation of the national government in apartheid South Africa which formally banned the South African Communist Party, Communist Party ...

was used against all those dedicated to ending apartheid, but was obviously particularly targeted at the communists. Following the dissolution and subsequent banning of the CPSA, former party members and, after 1953, members of the SACP adopted a policy of primarily working within the ANC in order to reorient that organisation's programme from a nationalist policy akin to the CPSA's former Native Republic policy towards a non-racial programme which declared that all ethnic groups residing in South Africa had equal rights to the country. While black members of the SACP were encouraged to join the ANC and seek leadership positions within that organisation, many of its white leading members formed the Congress of Democrats which in turn allied itself with the

and other "non-racial" congresses in the

Congress Alliance The Congress Alliance was an anti-apartheid political coalition formed in South Africa in the 1950s. Led by the African National Congress, the CA was multi-racial in makeup and committed to the principle of majority rule. Congress of the Peopl ...

on the basis of multi-racialism. The Congress Alliance committed itself to a democratic, non-racial South Africa where the "people shall govern" through the

Freedom Charter The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress (ANC) and its allies: the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats ...

. The Freedom Charter was adopted by the ANC, the SACP and other partners in the Alliance in accordance with its evolution. The Charter has since remained the cornerstone of the Alliance, as its basic, shared programme to advance a national democratic revolution, both a process of struggle and transformation to achieve a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa. The SACP played a role in the development of the Freedom Charter through its cadres who were openly active in the Congress Alliance and in the Party's underground organisation. In the same vein the Party played an important role in the evolution of the Alliance and the development of the liberation movement in South Africa. As the National Party increased repression in response to increased black pressure and radicalism throughout the 1950's the ANC, previously committed to non-violence, turned towards the question of force. A new generation of leaders, led by

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

and

Walter Sisulu Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (18 May 1912 – 5 May 2003) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and member of the African National Congress (ANC). Between terms as ANC Secretary-General (1949–1954) and ANC ...

recognised that the Nationalists were certain to ban the ANC and so make peaceful protest all but impossible. They allied themselves with the communists to form

Umkhonto we Sizwe uMkhonto weSizwe (; abbreviated MK; ) was the paramilitary wing of the African National Congress (ANC), founded by Nelson Mandela in the wake of the Sharpeville massacre. Its mission was to fight against the South African government to brin ...

("Spear of the Nation") which began a campaign of terror by bombing civilian targets like shopping malls and restaurants. However the leaders of Umkhonto were soon arrested and jailed and the liberation movement was left weak and with an exiled leadership. Communist

Joe Slovo Yossel Mashel "Joe" Slovo (23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Com ...

was Chief of Staff of Umkhonto; his wife and fellow SACP cadre

Ruth First Heloise Ruth First OLG (4 May 1925 – 17 August 1982) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and scholar. She was assassinated in Mozambique, where she was working in exile, by a parcel bomb built by South African police. Family and ...

was perhaps the leading theoretician of the revolutionary struggle the ANC were engaged in. The ANC itself, though, remained broadly

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

in outlook. In exile, communist nations provided the ANC with funding and firearms. Gradual work by the ANC slowly rebuilt the organisation inside South Africa, and the ANC was able to capitalise on the wave of anger amongst young South Africans during and after the

Soweto uprising The Soweto uprising, also known as the Soweto riots, was a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa during apartheid that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from various schools began to p ...

of 1976. Eventually external pressures and internal ferment made even many strong supporters of apartheid recognise that change had to come and a long process of negotiations began which resulted, in 1994, in the defeat of the National Party after forty-six years of rule.

Post-apartheid

With victory a number of communists occupied prominent positions on the ANC benches in parliament. Most prominently,

appointed

as Minister for Housing. This period also brought new strains in the ANC-SACP alliance when the ANC's programme did not threaten the existence of

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

in South Africa and was heavily reliant on foreign investment and tourism. However, the Freedom Charter had been considered only as a blueprint for a future democratic and free South Africa. In his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

Long Walk to Freedom ''Long Walk to Freedom'' is an autobiography by South Africa's first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela, and it was first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 yea ...

'',

famously remarked:

"The cynical have always suggested that the Communists were using us. But who is to say that we were not using them?"

After Mandela's death in 2013, the ANC confirmed that he had been a member of the SACP and served on its central committee. Through the Tripartite Alliance and the sitting of many SACP members on the ANC's

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

, the SACP has wielded influence from within the ANC, often serving as an ideological opposition against the presidency and socio-economic policies of

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

(1999–2008); this became most apparent with the ouster of Mbeki from the presidencies of both the party (2007, by vote) and the government (2008, by ANC party recall) and his eventual replacement in both offices with

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

, who was widely seen as being more conciliatory to the ideological demands of both the SACP and COSATU. Initially, the party did not contest elections under its own name. However, in December 2017, the party contested a number of local council by-elections in Metsimaholo Local Municipality in the Free State, failing to win any

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

ward seats, but gaining three proportional representation seats. In total the SACP received 3,270 votes (6,3%). In his address to the 2015 Biennial National Conference of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, South African President

credited South African Jews for being "among the first to organise the South African working class" as some Jewish activists occupied leading positions within the Communist Party.

General secretaries

:1921: William H. Andrews :1925: Jimmy Shields :1929: Douglas Wolton :1929: Albert Nzula :1932:

J. B. Marks J. B. Marks (21 March 1903 – 1 August 1972) joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) in 1928, at the age of 25.Roth, 2015, p. 200 He was sent to the Soviet Union for the first time in 1930, as a student at the Communist University of the ...

:1933: Moses Kotane :1936: Edwin Thabo Mofutsanyana :1938: Moses Kotane :1978: Moses Mabhida :1984:

:1991:

Chris Hani Chris Hani (28 June 194210 April 1993; born Martin Thembisile Hani ) was a South African military commander, politician and revolutionary who served as the leader of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and chief of staff of uMkhonto we S ...

:1993: Charles Nqakula :1998:

Blade Nzimande Bonginkosi Emmanuel "Blade" Nzimande (born 14 April 1958 in Edendale near Pietermaritzburg) is a South African politician, sociologist, and former anti-apartheid activist who is currently serving as Minister of Science, Technology and Innov ...

:2022:

Solly Afrika Mapaila Solly Afrika Mapaila is a South African politician who is the General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. He was elected unopposed on 15 July 2022 in his current position at the SACP National Congress. Solly Mapaila was appointed as ...

National chairperson

:1921: William H. Andrews :1925: Sidney Bunting :1931: Douglas Wolton :1933: Lazar Bach :1935: Issie Wolfson :1939: William H. Andrews :1953:

:2007: Gwede Mantashe :2017: Senzeni Zokwana :2022:

Prominent members of the Central Committee of the SACP

* Michael Harmel * Moses Kotane *

* Jeremy Cronin *

* Ronnie Kasrils *

Mac Maharaj Sathyandranath Ragunanan "Mac" Maharaj OLS (born 22 April 1935 in Newcastle, Natal) is a retired South African-Indian politician, businessman, and former anti-apartheid activist. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he was the ...

Govan Mbeki Govan Archibald Mvunyelwa Mbeki (9 July 1910 – 30 August 2001) was a South African politician, military commander, Communist leader who served as the Secretary of Umkhonto we Sizwe, at its inception in 1961. He was also the younger son of Ch ...

Raymond Mhlaba Raymond Mphakamisi Mhlaba OMSG (12 February 1920 – 20 February 2005) was an anti-apartheid activist, Communist and leader of the African National Congress (ANC) who became the first premier of the Eastern Cape. Mhlaba spent 25 years of his ...

Yusuf Dadoo Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo OMSG (5 September 1909 – 19 September 1983) was a South African Communist and an anti-apartheid activist. During his life, he was chair of both the South African Indian Congress and the South African Communist ...

* Sechaba "Charles" Setsubi * Rob Davies * George Mashamba * Mfengu Makhalima * Brian Bunting * Kay Moonsamy * John Nkadimeng * Esther Barsel * Charles Nqakula * Judy Malqueeny * Thenjiwe Mtintso * John Gomomo

Veterans' category

Sydney Mufamadi Fholisani Sydney Mufamadi (born 28 February 1959) is a South African politician. He was Minister of Safety and Security from 1994 to 1999 and Minister of Provincial and Local Government from 1999 to 2008. Early life Mufamadi was born on 28 Fe ...

* Charles Nqakula * Essop Pahad * David Niddrie * David Ivon Jones - founding member of the South African Communist Party

Literature

* ''Raising the Red Flag. The International Socialist League & the Communist Party of South Africa 1914 - 1932'' by Sheridan Johns. Mayibuye History and Literature Series No. 49. Mayibuye Books. University of the Western Cape, Bellville. 1995. . * ''Time Longer Than Rope'' by Edward Roux. The University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, Wisconsin. 1964. .

References

External links

South African Communist Party
– official site

* ttp://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/sacp/index.htm South African Communist Party Documentsfrom

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive, also known as MIA or Marxists.org, is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Enge ...

. {{Authority control Anti-apartheid organisations Communist parties in South Africa Marxist–Leninist parties in South Africa Political parties in South Africa International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Political parties based in Johannesburg Formerly banned communist parties