13th Congress Political Programme of the SACP 2012 - 2017

13thCongresPoliticalProgrameoftheSACP2012-2017
peasant farmers, and restructuring the working class leaving billions
to correct the destructive path upon which it has launched the whole
of humanity. A different, a socialist world, based on meeting social
the survival of human civilisation itself. However, the fact that global
capitalism is enmeshed in crisis is no guarantee that a better world will
and drawing on the widest range of progressive forces. The section
concludes with a broad outline of the SACP’s strategic revolutionary
tasks on the international terrain. It outlines, in particular, the SACP’s
Colonialism of a Special Type. The struggle for socialism against
imperialist barbarism is an international struggle. But there is no
single road to socialism. The working class and progressive forces
in each country must develop their own strategic approach, their own
national road to socialism. To understand our own challenges, SARS
2012 revisits the crucial concept of Colonialism of a Special Type
our historic 1962 programme, “The Road to South African Freedom”.
more relevant than ever. The particular character that the capitalist
revolution assumed in South Africa was the result of three key factors:
territory;
The survival of indigenous African people and their societies as
an oppressed but overwhelming majority; and
The decisive factor – the imperialist implantation of a highly
developed “mature” capitalist system into this colonial setting.
The capitalist revolution was completed in South Africa by the early
20 th century. It located South Africa within the world capitalist system
internal colonial dimension which has seen a century and more
THE SOUTH AFRICAN ROAD TO SOCIALISM
5