Meroro - South West Africa People's Organization

David H. Meroro

National Chairman,

South West Africa People’s Organization

(Namibia)

Comrade Chairman,

Dear Comrade Erich Honecker,

The Distinguished General Secretary

of the Central Committee

of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany

and Chairman of the Council of State

of the German Democratic Republic,

Esteemed Comrades and Dear Friends,

I have the honour to represent Comrade Sam Nujoma, President of SWAPO and the embattled Namibian people at this truly historic international gathering which the Socialist Unity Party of Germany has organized to commemorate the one hundred and sixty-fivth (165) birthday as well as the centenary of the death of Karl Marx.

Comrade Chairman, it was the strong wish of SWAPO that its President, Comrade Sam Nujoma, should represent our national liberation movement at this meeting of unprecedented importance in the history of the world-wide revolutionary process. But the untimely death, last week, of one of SWAPO’s long-serving members of the Political Bureau of our Central Committee, Comrade Peter Nanyemba, Secretary for Defence, has made it impossible for the supreme leader of the Namibian national liberation movement to be here today. In this connection, the Central Committee of our movement has instructed me to convey to this conference our sincere apology for the absence of Comrade Nujoma at this momentous gathering.

Comrade Chairman and esteemed friends and allies in the struggle against imperialism, for national liberation, democracy, peace and socialism, allow me to state from the outset that we feel greatly honoured to be invited to pay our humble tribute to the personality and work of the founder of scientific socialism. As freedom fighters and revolutionary democrats who are today locked in a bitter and bloody struggle to destroy the last seats of the colonial system of imperialism, we of SWAPO cannot hide our indebtedness to Karl Marx. Through his theoretical and revolutionary activity, Marx has most admirably bequeathed the entire oppressed section of mankind with not only precise and, indeed, scientific understanding of the laws of social development, but also with a glorious tradition of militant struggle against all forms of oppression. Together with Frederick Engels, Marx discovered and analysed the objective laws of social development from the standpoint of historical and dialectical materialism. Their materialist and dialectical understanding of human history enabled them not only to disclose the historical root cause of the social evils of oppression and exploitation of man by man, namely, private ownership of the means of production. It also enabled them to develop a revolutionary theory which has provided the oppressed classes and nations with a dependable guide to action. This is to say that unlike the utopian socialists before them, the founders of scientific socialism understood perfectly well that in order to put an end to the social evil of the exploitation of man by man, the abolition of private ownership of the means of production must be brought about; and that the replacement of private ownership with collective and public ownership could not simply be achieved by sheer moral persuasion. Against this background, Karl Marx, together with Engels, was able to confer moral and ideological legitimacy upon the revolutionary concept of class struggle. This key Marxist proposition has remained valid to these days as the most realistic guide to action for the working class and other exploited strata to liberate themselves from oppression and exploitation.

Marx’s penetrating analysis of capitalism did not only bring to light the basic contradiction of that socio-economic system, namely, the contradiction between the social nature of production and the private method of appropriation. It also exposed the imperialist system to which capitalism gave birth in the form of colonialism. For example, in the last chapter of volume III of Capital, Marx has the following to say about colonialism in Africa as an offshoot of finance capital:

“Today this colonization is purely a subsidiary of the stock exchange, in whose interests the European powers divided Africa a few years ago, an the French conquered Tunis and Tonkin. Africa leased directly to companies (Niger, South Africa, German South-West Africa and German East Africa), and Mashonaland and Natal seized by Rhodes for the stock exchange."¹

Marx’s scientific understanding of the role played by finance capital in the colonial subjugation of the peoples of Africa and Asia shaped his views and attitude on the national and colonial questions; his views and attitudes were later elaborated upon by Lenin and other Marxists. The position which he adopted provides a sample of the revolutionary line which the proletarian parties and socialist states of the 20th century would pursue in support of the liberation of the oppressed nations. In other words, the basic propositions which Marx formulated regarding the national liberation movement in Europe during the last century remain valid for the contemporary Marxists concerning the present national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Marx and Engels, for instance, supported the national liberation movement for the restoration of the national unity and autonomy of Poland and Ireland against the “Holy Alliance” of Tsarist Russia, Austria and Prussia, which jointly oppressed and exploited Poland, and against England, which colonized Ireland. Proceeding from the vantage point of proletariat internationalism Marx and Engels supported the national liberation movement in Poland and Ireland not only because they were convinced that such a movement held forth promises and prospects for a democratic transformation of Europe, but also because they correctly regarded the liberation of Poland and Ireland to be an essential precondition for a successful struggle against the British and German bourgeoisie and Russian feudal reaction.

In line with this Marxist position, the states of the socialist community and the international working-class movement recognize national liberation movement in Asia, Africa and Latin America as a vital contingent of the world revolutionary process.

Another magnificient historical example of Marx’s proletarian strategy regarding the movement for national liberation was his attitude towards the civil war in the United Staates of America. He vigorously supported the actions of the Black people in the south of the United States against the reactionary Southern slave-owners and the British bourgeoisie.

Since the southern part of the USA was the source of raw cotton for the English textile industry and cheap slave labour was essential to produce that raw cotton, the English bourgeoisie pursued a foreign policy towards the USA based on the support for the reactionary South against the armed struggle of the North. The English bourgeoisie was interested in the preservation of Black slavery in the United States. Marx formulated a proletarian position to oppose that reactionary policy and urged the European working class, especially the English working class, to oppose the Southern slave-owners and the British bourgeoisie in support of the armed struggle of the Black and Northern bourgeoisie. In that way, Marx set a fine example of what was to be the standard Marxist revolutionary tactic of linking up the cause of national liberation with the revolutionary struggle of the international working-class movement. This tactic was, as mentioned earlier, later elaborated upon by Lenin and is today consistently followed by the states of the socialist community and Marxists elsewhere.

Comrade Chairman, in paying tribute to the towering personality and brilliant work of Karl Marx, we of the Nambian national liberation movement are appreciative of the fact that the invincible force of Marxism springs from the profoundly humanist motives of its founder. Marx’s entire theoretical work and revolutionary activity has been governed by a deep concern with the replacement of exploitative social formations with a just, non-exploitative, classless society in which the people, i.e. the toiling majority of the society, would be given real freedom to enjoy the fruits of their productive labour and to develop their intellectual and productive potentials.

It is this profound, socialist humanism which explains the attractive force of Marxism as far as the oppressed peoples of the world are concerned. And in chis regard, the oppressed Namibian patriots and revolutionaries are no exception.

Marx’s analysis of the laws of social development postulates that the inevitable downfall of the oppressive social systems, such as capitalism and feudalism, stems not only from the operation of the objective laws, but also from the subjective activities of the people. Thanks to this scientific proposition of Marx, the victims of class and national oppression, whether they are in the USA, South Africa, Namibia, occupied Palestine or El Salvador, are able to learn about the essential fact that social processes can be controlled; and, as such, society can be consciously and purposefully transformed for the benefit of man and mankind by those social forces who dare to struggle in order to overthrow repressive and fascist rule.

Moreover, Comrade Chairman, the genesis of the concept of the indissoluble bond between the anti-imperialist task of the national liberation movement and that of socialist revolution, which contemporary revolutionaries take for granted, can be traced to the work of Marx and Engels at the end of the 1840’s. According to a leading Soviet scholar and specialist on the contemporary national liberation movement, it were Marx and Engels who had predicted first that with the anticipated victories of socialist revolutions in Europe, the formerly colonized and dependent countries of Asia and Africa, whose people are still living under pre-capitalist conditions, would either by-pass or shorten the process of capitalist development in their parts of the world. In other words, the founders of scientific socialism were able to correctly predict that the success of the socialist revolution in Europe and the consequent coming into existence of a world of socialist system would significantly set the course for the newly liberated and underdeveloped countries to follow. Marx and Engels foresaw that with such a development, there would be no more historical necessity for the newly freed countries to go through the process of capitalist development before reaching the stage of socialist revolution.

Recent events have since confirmed this historic prediction. The evolution of a good number of the former colonies and semi-colonies is, since the Great October Revolution, continuously experiencing the revolutionizing influence of the world socialist system.

Thanks to the tremendous growth of world socialism, several of the newly liberated countries in Asia and Africa have taken the road of socialist orientation. Some others are proceeding directly with socialist construction, by-passing the exploitative capitalist formation in an eloquent confirmation of the Marxist-Leninist classics. In the Americas, too, the beacon of socialism has been lit when Cuba joined the socialist community.

The experiences of these countries are providing illuminating insights and methodological reference to the movement for national liberation in Namibia; and today the patriots and revolutionary democrats of our country, led by SWAPO, are showing considerable interest in Marxist science. They are searching for theoretical and practical guidance regarding the problem of national liberation revolutions in our epoch, of their socio-economic, political and ideological features, and their chief motive forces. Namibian patriots and revolutionary democrats are deeply concerned with the urgent theoretical and practical matters, such as the probable course of the class struggle in our country and continent as well as with the lines of social development, not only in the present stage of our national struggle, but also in the historical period immediately ahead.

In particular, our vanguard national liberation movement realizes today the need for an on-going discussion on socialist ideas and their application to the African conditions. Such discussion tries to focus attention on the complicated processes and stages of the African revolution. Of immediate concern to SWAPO is the revolutionary stage of non-capitalist development. The socio-economic and political platform of the non-capitalist stage of the national liberation revolution is national democracy. It is, in our views, a necessary transitional stage in a situation where the proletariat is still both numerically and organizationally too weak to assume the leading role of the revolutionary struggle. Experience elsewhere has clearly shown that when invested with a Marxist ideological perspective, the national democratic state could, indeed, advance the national liberation revolution to new height in the direction of socialism by consciously striving to create the material and social pre-condition for socialist construction. This entails the following steps: doing away with the domination of foreign capital, seeking to strengthen the country’s political and economic independence, giving the state a leading role in the economic activity of the country, guaranteeing broad democratic rights and freedom to the people and ensuring actual participation of the broad masses in the discussions of draft development plans, introducing agrarian reform and improving the living standards of the people. In addition, many a national democratic state, following a path of socialist orientation, prohibits exploiters from holding leading posts in the state apparatus while at the same time drawing into the state bodies people from the labouring sections of the population.

Such is the enriching experience against which background the Namibian national liberation revolution is unfolding. And it is in this light that we in SWAPO hold the conviction that a scope exists in our movement for national liberation for the assimilation and dissemination of the tenets of Marxism-Leninism towards the transformation of the movement into a socialist vanguard party. In this connection, we are also indebted to the African Marxists, their parties and their journals which are providing informative analyses of the problems being faced in the process of the African Revolution.

Comrade Chairman and esteemed friends, today, 165 years after the birth of Karl Marx and 100 years after his death, scientific socialism has set the peoples of the world an impressive example of rapid and comprehensive resolution of problems in the interest of the toiling masses, the majority of humanity. Moreover, the change, since 1917, in the balance of world forces in favour of socialism has given rise to a situation conducive to the advance of the struggle against imperialist oppression, capitalist exploitation and for peace and social progress. The socialist countries, true to the teaching of Marx and Lenin, are waging a determined and sustained struggle to solve one of the burning issues of our time—the problem of war and peace. In a sharp contradiction to the policies of confrontation being pursued by the imperialist states, the socialist countries, especially the Soviet Union, are following a consistent foreign policy of seeking to avert the danger of a global nuclear conflagration. They are mobilizing and uniting the forces of peace and progress against the forces of reaction and war. The world socialist system has, in other words, become the centre of attraction of all peace-loving forces of our time. Only continued unity of all the peace-loving forces against war and arms race can provide an effective obstacle to the plans of the most aggressive circles of imperialism. We of SWAPO are firmly on the side of the majority of humanity who is opposed to the arms race and irrational policies of nuclear confrontation.

Comrade Chairman, I would like, in conclusion, to state that the people of Namibia and South Africa remain locked in a bitter and increasingly bloody struggle to destroy the last seats of colonial oppression and racist dictatorship in Southern Africa. Our people, led by the ANC and SWAPO, are waging mass political and armed national liberation struggle which is bound to be the longest and the most horrendous in the history of our continent. This is so not only because our region is being held captive by a particularly reactionary state, but also because Southern Africa is regarded by the imperialist powers to be both economically and strategically important to the survival of world capitalism is now in a deep crisis.

In its irrational and obsessive anti-communism, the American imperialism is trying to block the advance of the liberation struggle in Southern Africa in open collaboration with racists of Pretoria. In Namibia, the Reagan administration is seeking to dictate a solution which will preferable exclude SWAPO from power or severely limit out movement’s options. The USA demand for the withdrawal of Cuban forces from Angola is intended to make Southern Africa safe for multinational capitalism. In pursuit of this imperialist objective, US imperialism is encouraging the Pretoria racists to continue with their aggressive attacks against the neighbouring independent states which give support to SWAPO and ANC, particularly the People’s Republic of Angola.

The American supported destabilization operation of racist South Africa against Angola involves, among many other things, blowing up of economic infrastructures, such as bridges and roads, as well as the use of local bandits to kill and abduct innocent civilians. These criminal activities of racist South Africa against Angola are clearly designed to roll back the advance of African revolution as exemplified by the existence of the progressive MPLA state in Angola. This counter-revolutionary offensive of imperialism must be firmly condemned and actively opposed by all those who love peace and social progress.

In carrying out these criminal activities, the imperialists and their racist clients are trying to hold back a powerful revolutionary current by the combined forces of the national liberation movement and the frontline states to break the dependency of the apartheid state and restructure the political economy of Southern Africa.

Finally, Comrade Chairman, I would like, once again, to express our deep gratitude to Comrade Erich Honecker, to the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany for the invitation extended to SWAPO to participate in this historic conference. We thank the people of the GDR and other countries of the socialist community for continued moral and material support rendered to the struggling Namibian people, through SWAPO. In giving our people, and other oppressed peoples, disinterested and all-round support, the GDR and other socialist countries are holding aloft the banner of Karl Marx’s uncompromising support and solidarity with all peoples who in his days were struggling against national oppression and class exploitation. In our view, the militant solidarity with oppressed peoples for which the countries of the socialist community are so well known, is one of the best tributes that progressive humanity is paying to the personality and work of Karl Marx. It is, in other words, one of the confirmations that the proletarian parties and states of our time are the true continuators and inheritors of the medal of Marx’s revolutionary tradition and socialist humanism.

Marx, as we have pointed out, was the first to appreciate and advocate the unity of the struggles of the international working-class movement against the bourgeoisie and the movement for national liberation against imperialism. He saw the two as complementary streams of one revolutionary process. The Marxists of today similarly understand and consciously strive to strengthen such unity; and herein lies the historical significance of Marx and his ideas the peoples still fighting for their national liberation.

On our part, SWAPO would like to assure you, comrades, that it will continue to deliver crippling blows to the rear of the colonial system of imperialism. In the same vein, we wish to reaffirm our undying solidarity with the struggling peoples of South Africa, Palestine, El Salvador, Western Sahara and East Timor.

LONG LIVE MARXISM!

LONG LIVE THE UNITY OF THE MAIN

DRIVING FORCES OF THE WORLD REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS!