Discipline is the mother of victory
Adapted from a speech calling for organisational discipline In all the years of the struggle for national liberation, a struggle which still continues, we have upheld the following slogan: "Discipline is the mother of victory" If we also used to say that "Victory Is Certain", then it was only because we were sure that our discipline was strong. And it was strong. It had to be strong. The requirement for organisational discipline has not gone away. It has to be strong. It is not optional. There is no way to separate one part of our revolutionary theory and practice from another part. Our theory and our practice are woven into one indivisible revolutionary cloth. There are no parts of our revolutionary theory and practice that are merely "nice to have", or that can be left aside because some of us are feeling lazy. Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, in the Communist Manifesto of 1848, wrote that: "the first step in the revolution by the working class is... to win the battle of democracy." South Africa is still fully engaged in a serious National Democratic Revolution. All of us are in this NDR, and the only way out of it for us, is to win it. Defeat at this stage is unthinkable. But it is possible. Defeat is possible, if there is no discipline. The operative word in National Democratic Revolution is "Democratic". Everything about the NDR leads to democracy, because democracy is the only way to form the national will. Democracy is the only way to unity. Without unity in action, we cannot win this, or any battle. "Democratic" is not just a word, or a decoration that we award ourselves. It is the heart of the matter. If we are not democratic, we are nothing. Next, comrades, we have to grasp that organisational discipline and democracy are not possible without each other. We debate our concerns in regional, provincial and national structures. The decisions we take here, at this national level, are for the leadership to carry out without further discussion, and for the membership to follow, without further discussion. We know this process very well. We have been through it time after time, and we are now going through it again. It is all meaningless without discipline. Everything depends upon organisational discipline. Without organisational discipline, there is no democracy. Taken together, we usually call this democratic centralism. All of our constitutions contain this principle of democratic centralism, in one form of words, or another. They may not all call it "democratic centralism" but that is what it is, because all democracy requires democratic centralism. That is to say, democracy requires discussion, decision, and then discipline. Democratic centralism means that the decisions taken by the membership are binding. That is democracy in a nutshell. That's democratic centralism. It is compulsory. Democracy is not a soft option. Democracy is not the opposite of dictatorship, comrades. Democracy is dictatorship. Democracy is the dictatorship of the masses. It is hard like steel. It must be so if it is to complete its tasks. As usual, the South African Communist Party is very explicit about these matters. This is about simple principles of democracy, without which there is no democracy. Here is what the SACP Constitution has to say under its rule 6, on Basic Organisational Principles: "Members are obliged to defend the SACP and to carry out its decisions. All decisions taken by higher structures are binding on all lower structures and individual members. Members shall have the right to pursue their views internally in the lead up to conferences or congresses with powers under this constitution to determine or reverse SACP policies. "No groupings with their own ideology, theory and discipline shall be permitted. "All higher structures shall be accountable to lower structures and to the membership in the formulation and implementation of policies and, for this purpose, shall wherever possible ensure regular and effective consultation with lower structures" What the SACP is saying here applies to SACP members. All of them. But what the SACP is saying about itself is no more or less than the basic and universal principle of democracy. This principle equally applies to all democracies. We have enough time to get this right. So let us also consult Amilcar Cabral, from the book, "Unity and Struggle", as follows: "Democratic centralism means that each decision concerning a new question must be taken after a full and free discussion within the bodies affected by it or from the base to the top, if the matter is one which affects the whole life of the party. "After this discussion and in accordance with what emerges from it, the central bodies take a decision which must immediately be carried out at all levels concerned, and without further discussion. "Democratic because the exercise of power by these bodies does not depend merely on the will of those who give the orders, but is based on the interests and on the opinions expressed by the majority. "We must bring into operation all the bodies at the base of the party and allow constant prestige to the responsible workers and leaders who fulfil their duty. "Democratic centralism is a school of discipline, of respect for the views of others, of democracy and the ability to put into practice the decisions taken." We cannot afford to be in any doubt at this stage of our National Democratic Revolution, as to what democracy is, and about what the obligations of our leading comrades are within that democracy. Let us take one more quotation. This is not to repeat, but to look more closely at the opposite side of the matter, namely factionalism. The following is from an article in the latest edition of "Umrabulo", the theoretical journal of our liberation movement, the African National Congress. It is by Comrade Thando Ntlemeza, in an article called "In pursuit of unity and cohesion". Concerning factionalism, Cde Ntlemeza writes: "Factionalism requires members to be more loyal to the factions than to the organisation. "Hence leaders and members of factions are even prepared to act in a manner that threatens existence of the organisation they claim to cherish. "Faction loyalists do not believe that revolution can be entrusted in the hands of the people who are not members of their factions. "This means that factionalism produces members who regard themselves as 'super revolutionaries' who are ordained to influence the direction of the organisation, even if their approaches have a potential of pulling the organisation to the bottomless abyss of self-destruction." This is why the SACP Constitution says that "No groupings with their own ideology, theory and discipline shall be permitted." We are a union, and it should not be a surprise to any of us, that this union demands unity. We are not pre-empting the outcome of any disciplinary processes, if we say that this is the first principle around which such disciplinary processes will be decided, one way or the other. Exercise of power does not depend merely on the will of those who give the orders, but is based on the interests and on the opinions expressed by the majority. All decisions taken by higher structures are binding on all lower structures and individual members. This is democracy. This is organisational discipline. 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