From: "ben blumson" <autumnsprung-AT-freemail.com.au>
Subject: Class-strugle and reconciliation.
Date: Sat, 15 May 1999 20:37:38 +1000


Right now I've been doing a study on Apartheid for modern history. What I've found interesting is the continuing strenth of the class system there, how easily the ANC compromised on important issues and the amnesty for crimes commited under aparthied.
Whites still control the overwhelming majority of the wealth and wealthy blacks have simply become part of the white middle class while the majority still live ina absolute poverty and are subjected to poor working conditions. Most of the land is still controled by a small number of farmers and this land is less-productive (but more arable) than the remainder. It was however part of the ANC's 'freedom charter' to redistribute propery equitably. This aparently hasn't happened because of the compromises they made with the klerk government.
Under the truth commision south africans are encouraged to confess their crimes and then be forgiven...
Anyway all this is well outlined at:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3849/safrica_paper.html

and many other pages like it I'm sure (as well as the modern history videos and textbooks that most of you have read and seen) but the bottom line is that south-africans have passed up a brilliant oportunity for change by being too nice to the ruling class of capitalists- the only change has being for a few blacks to join the ranks of wealthy capitalists and for the entire population to be given voting rights- which haven't helped them much.

I think this is a situation that could very well occur in any revoulution or significant social change- that it could fail because of being too nice to those supporting the established order. An example i'm less sure about is that the Bolshevich basically took over the existing Russian bearucracy which was undoubtedley a factor in the resulting dictatorship. On the other hand its impossible to say that the bolshevichs were very nice!

But I also don't consider that it would be very productive to masacre them (i don't find killing people a great solution to anything). That would be an atrocity. The aren't going to give up their position volontarily so some kind of direct action is obviously nescasary. And afterwards we'll be left with a lot of quite embittered people.

I remember reading in 'wild swans' about a chinese man who had gained a lot of property from a crafty warlord who was smart enough to leave with what he could before the revoulution- he had formerly being a waiter. He was getting no priveledges or luxiries as a result and nor was his family and this was at least twenty years after the event- I don believe this a suitable fate for even the families of genuine warlords.

The question though remains of how to deal with the large groups of embittered people after a revolution- some form of reconciliation is necesary but we must be careful not to let an opurtunity pass us by for bing nice and we don't (well i don't) want a blood bath.
I doubt such a significant opurtunity is going to arrive in this country in my lifetime but if there was I wouldn't wan't to let it pass as has south africa. Not through blood-shed reconciliation or faulty negotiation and compromise.
Cheers
Ben Blumson.

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