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SOUTHERN AFRICASPEECH: Working Class Struggle,Blazing a Path to FreedomTalk by Lucien van der Walt at 24 Sept 2012, Heritage Day event,Joza Township, GrahamstownNOTE: Heritage Day is a post-apartheid South African national holiday; unlike most, it has no clear linkto major struggles in the past, although there are efforts to position it as a more “political” day. Thetalk below was given by Lucien van der Walt at an event organised by Sakhaluntu Cultural Group inGrahamstown, for black youth.Thank you all for coming. Thankyou, chair, for the invitation.Thank you, organisers, for theevent today. Today looks like a great day,a great day to look forward.But before we look forward, we mustlook back as well. Unless you knowwhere you come from, you will neverknow where you can go.LEARNING FROM THE PASTThis sort of relection is extremelyimportant to the working class struggle.Heritage Day provides a space tothink back, to look back at wherewe have come from, and to thinkabout where we need to go infuture. It’s an opportunity torelect on what we have achievedso far, but also on what we stillneed to achieve in order tosecure emancipation.If we look at that past from theperspective of the working classmasses, it’s clear that the past isbittersweet.It’s bitter: there are manyinjustices and horrors that wecannot avoid seeing. It’s bitter:there is a long dark night ofsuffering, dispossession and exploitationthat casts its shadow over today. It’sbitter: the past is the time of massacresof the working class, of the repression ofunions, of the pass laws, of the Land Actof 1913, of the Bantu Education system,of the imperialist wars against Africansand Afrikaners.STRUGGLES AND VICTORIESIt’s sweet also: the past saw ordinarypeople, the people on the ground – theworking class – rise up and ight forjustice, for equality, for our rights: todignity, to decency, to decide how to runthe basics of our lives.It’s sweet: the time of the mass strikesand uprisings, such as those of 1913,1918, 1922, 1946, 1960, 1973, 1976,1983, and 1993. These brought light intothe darkness, into the long, dark night ofsuffering and oppression, where bitterbattles were waged for freedom.Mine workers strike, 1946It’s sweet: when ordinary people stoodtogether, when the working classunited, when the sleeping armies of theexploited, the oppressed, the workers,the poor, woke up, the ground shook.The darkness was driven back.It’s sweet: every small victory fed thecampires of hope, fanned the lamesof resistance and rebellion, moved thepeople into more action.1913 saw massive struggles by whiteas well as black workers for basicrights. 1918 saw the first attempt ata general strike by black workers.1922 saw an armed rebellion byworkers, which led to the first lawsthat gave trade unions some legalstanding. 1946 shook the miningindustry. 1960 shook the pass laws.1973 revived the unions. 1976 rockedthe townships. 1983-1984 startedthe final dismantling of apartheid.Massive struggles in 1993 saw thetide finally turn, opening thedoor to the 1994 transition.A GLOBAL MOVEMENTThe struggles of the workingclass in South Africa do notstand alone. They are part ofthe larger struggle of ordinarypeople, the oppressed andexploited masses, worldwide.A struggle that has takenplace as long as society hasbeen divided between richand poor, rulers and ruled,masters and servants, kingsand commoners.The working class is a class forged inthe crucible of class struggle, hammeredin the ires and lames of class battles,hardened into a force that can changethe world.ZABALAZA: A JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN REVOLUTIONARY ANARCHISM - No. 14 14