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Development,
Part 9 N.B. This post is one day early. Part 9a and 9b will follow. Part 10 is scheduled for 27 March 2011  Mineral-Energy Complex No question of “development” in South Africa can be properly addressed without reference to the mineral-energy complex. The SACP’s discussion document “Expanding Democratic Public Control over the Mining Sector” (download linked below) therefore has implications beyond the mining sector, and beyond the energy sector. This document is a window on the way that development - the dynamic dialectical unity-and-struggle-of-opposites otherwise called the class struggle - and its relationship with the state are playing out before our eyes. It is a remarkable document. Not only is it a theoretical masterpiece, helping us to see clearly what is what and who is who, but it also stands comparison with the best of journalism, because it illuminates the South African situation so well, as a narrative. One of the quotations given in the document is from Frederick Engels, on nationalisation, as follows: “the transformation…into state property, does not do away with the capitalistic nature of the productive forces… The more it [the bourgeois state] proceeds to the taking over of productive forces, the more does it actually become the national capitalist, the more citizens does it exploit. The workers remain wage-workers – proletarians. The capitalist relation is not done away with. It is rather brought to a head.” (Engels, “Socialism: Utopian and Scientific”, 1880). The workers in nationalised industries, including teachers, remain proletarians. They sell their labour-power for cash and they have constantly to renegotiate their pay and conditions with an employer who can be as ruthless as any other capitalist. This is the second last week of the “Development” series. In the remainder of this part we will look at some material on Local Government and on “Local Economic Development”. The next series on this channel will be “The Classics”, in ten parts. The recent posting here on Solomon Plaatje was a mistake. You may follow that series here (CU bog) or here (CU e-mail forum – please join). Please download and read this document: Expanding Democratic Public Control over the Mining Sector (11348 words) Further reading: Local Government Turnaround Strategy, Commission Draft (1071 words) Local Economic Development Commission Draft (1088 words) COSATU Growth Path Document, September 2010 (824 KB PDF) -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
