What Strategy Do We Need to Win?

January 3rd showed the new world reality we live in. With his bombing of Venezuela and brazen abduction of Maduro and Flores, Trump sent a message loud and clear about what he intends to do with countries that refuse American diktats. Appeals to international law and the “rules-based order”, friendly ties with China: none of it is any deterrent if you can’t defend yourself.

This should be a wake-up call for South Africa, which has been high on Trump’s hit list since his return to the Oval Office. We must have no illusions: Trump will continue to press his relentless campaign of tariffs, sanctions and other attacks on the country. As one of the weaker BRICS+ member states, South Africa is seen as a soft target. By forcing a capitulation here, the US imperialists hope to isolate and indirectly weaken China–their main strategic target. (The 2025 round of tariff wars showed that as things stand, China is still too powerful for them to confront directly.)

In the face of this unmistakable threat, we hear more and more calls from leftists for some kind of anti-imperialist front. This is an important shift, reflecting at least a basic recognition that the left and trade unions are very weak and divided, and that unity is needed to defend ourselves against US imperialism. That’s a necessary starting point, but from there we must still take the first steps of building an anti-imperialist movement that wins the support of the masses and guides them in an effective struggle. Here, two main obstacles still hold back most of the left.

The first obstacle is clear when we look at those who refuse to defend EFF leader Julius Malema against the legal vendetta ordered by Trump. Whether out of sectarianism, workerism or subordination to the ANC, these leftists flee from the first major battle line to defend South Africa against US imperialism, weakening the working class and ceding the anti-imperialist struggle to the nationalists. (The Open Letter, “Why ALL Socialists and Trade Unions Have a Stake in Defending Julius Malema”, page 3, is directed at combating this obstacle on the left.)

On the other hand, there are many on the left who see that whatever our political differences, we must not let them stand in the way of forming a united front to defend Malema. This is a good thing, and we seek to work together with these leftists to strengthen and broaden this united front, making it into a rallying point to fight US imperialism. But to do this we need to be honest about where we are at, including the political obstacles that also hold back this section of the left.

In terms of promoting an anti-capitulationist line, the EFF is the overwhelmingly dominant pole on the left (it’s no accident they are in Trump’s crosshairs). However, it must be recognised that their struggle against imperialism is based on a parliamentarist-nationalist strategy. Their main emphasis is on the courts, parliamentary committees and commissions of enquiry. When they do seek to mobilise the masses—and they do—it is in a way that politically subordinates the working class to a middle-class leadership that channels struggle along lines acceptable to the black elites. As we discuss below, this strategy holds us back from building an effective defence against Trump and reinforces paralysis in the face of his attacks.

Against this, the task of revolutionaries is to fight to push the movement forward along class-struggle lines—ones that unite the toilers and oppressed against US imperialism, combining defence of national sovereignty with defending the masses and attacking the interests of the ruling class. Through this struggle, we must build a Bolshevik pole that competes for leadership. The main lesson from the anti-apartheid struggle is that when communists cede leadership of the national-democratic struggle to petty-bourgeois nationalists, no matter how radical, it inevitably leads to conciliation of imperialism.

To be sure, the forces of the Bolshevik pole are quite weak and disorganised today. To begin addressing this, let’s look at two key questions facing the movement today and why a class-struggle strategy is needed to answer them.

Will Ramaphosa Stand Up to Trump?

Keeping up with the Ramaphosa government’s response to Trump is dizzying. One week they denounce US aggression, declaring, “South Africa won’t be bullied, the White House cannot dictate our domestic and foreign policies.” The next they do a U-turn, offering concessions (e.g. Malema’s head on a platter) in the deluded hope that Trump will ease his pressure if they give in to some of his diktats. It’s an incoherent mess that only manages to piss off everyone.

To make sense of their confusing balancing act, we must start from the role that Ramaphosa and the ANC tops play in the neo-apartheid order. It’s not just that they are corrupt and spineless (they are). Above all, they are representatives of the black elites, who are simultaneously crushed by the white monopoly capitalists and utterly beholden to them. The white capitalists, in turn, are a Fifth Column for US imperialism—a bit more “refined” than Trump’s open fans like AfriForum, but no less committed to keeping the country under the American boot. Trump’s pressure is putting the squeeze on both sections of the South African elites, making the tension between them sharper and the government’s gyrations more frantic.

The EFF leaders do of course denounce the ANC’s spinelessness—at times quite powerfully, like when Ramaphosa and Co crawled for Trump in the White House last May. However, if we take a step back and look at things objectively, the overall picture is a balancing act similar to the ANC’s but further to the left. On the one hand, they give voice to the deep anger of the black masses who wish for a resolute stand against Trump. At the same time, the EFF’s nationalist strategy is centred on trying to win the allegiance of disgruntled sections of the black elites and show them that the EFF can do a better job of defending their narrow interests. So whenever the government shifts its balance onto that foot—around the G20 summit in December, or immediately after Maduro’s kidnapping—the EFF leadership falls into line behind Ramaphosa, pandering to the illusion that he will stand firm against Trump.

Since the 2024 elections, Ramaphosa and the GNU have drawn a consistent line against the EFF, a line which only gets sharper the more Trump bears down. Instead of a clear response, the EFF has answered with slogans and activity that pull in opposite directions. Radical slogans like “Year of the Pickets” and “class struggle against imperialism”, which speak to Ground Forces who want a militant struggle to defend their party, have remained empty words with no serious mobilisation to back them up. In contrast, the real activity has been centred on showing up the EFF as a “responsible”, purely parliamentary party and coalition-partner-in-waiting for the ANC. The end result of all these mixed signals is to confuse EFF members and reinforce the paralysis of the masses, undercutting the party’s own defence and the struggle against American imperialism.

This must be fought! For EFF militants and others who want to break the paralysis, the task is to work together to forge an anti-imperialist front to defend ourselves against Trump and the GNU. The only way to get Trump to back off is by making the US imperialists feel the pain. Although militarily and economically South Africa is relatively weak, we are a major supplier of platinum group metals and other critical minerals which along with rare earths constitute a key pressure point for the American empire. To maximise the impact and forge unity against US imperialism, we must fight:

• Shut down delivery of SA coal to Israel!
• No collaboration with imperialism! US bases out of Africa!
• China: Stop the supply of rare earths to the American empire! For African-Chinese economic/military cooperation based on unity against US imperialism!

Fighting for any of these things means crossing the red lines of the Randlords. That is something Ramaphosa and Co will do everything they can to stop. You can’t fight Trump with the butchers of Marikana.

How to Win the Workers?

The key to turning defence of Malema into a rallying point for a unified resistance to US imperialism is fusing it with the struggle to defend the masses against the enemy within—the Randlords and their GNU lackeys. Every success in defending the working class against the GNU will help strengthen and unify the forces of resistance to US aggression. And workers have a direct interest in Malema’s defence: standing up to Trump will put them in a better position to defend themselves.

The working class has its back against the wall right now. Strike activity is at a low point and the trade-union movement is weak and fractured. There is a widespread feeling of helplessness in the face of the combined onslaught of Trump’s tariffs and GNU neoliberal austerity. On top of fear of falling victim to the jobs bloodbath, workers are bitter and demoralised from decades of betrayal by corrupt and spineless trade-union bureaucrats who have sapped the unions’ power by using them as stepping stones to personal enrichment in ANC/government and corporate posts.

What should revolutionaries do in this tough situation? Many militants look at this mess and conclude that we must build new alternatives, particularly to COSATU unions. Although motivated by a just hatred of the leaders’ crimes, this means turning your back on the base of these unions—the majority of organised workers in many industries and regions—and leaving them to the treacherous tops. This is no way to win the confidence of the more class-conscious workers, who know in their gut that even with a rotten leadership their union is still a bulwark against the racist bosses.

Instead of abandoning the existing unions—which also worsens the organisational divisions undermining workers’ power—the task is to work within them to build a consistent opposition. We must fight to defeat the union bureaucracy from within and transform the unions into revolutionary mass organisations of the proletariat. (Needless to say, this has nothing in common with reversing the split of NUMSA and other unions from the Tripartite Alliance, as is now proposed by Irvin Jim.)

The fight to rebuild the trade-union movement must be waged hand-in-hand with revitalising the liberation struggle based on class-struggle leadership. Both movements have been systematically disorganised and hollowed out by decades of subordination to nationalist elites who rammed through austerity and anti-labour attacks dictated by white monopoly capital.

The task of the day is to organise and unify the defensive struggles, exposing how the trade-union bureaucracy’s reformist strategy worsens the losses and divisions. Their criminal silence on Malema’s case goes hand in hand with refusal to mount any serious defence of their members against Trump and the GNU. Against this, we must fight to tie the two struggles together, showing how this is in the vital interest of the trade unions and intensifying the pressure on the unions to mobilise. Fight the jobs bloodbath! Nationalise without compensation foreign-owned factories, mines and farms that retrench workers!

The EFF’s radical demands like nationalisation of the mines and banks are popular among workers, and a lot of them can see that Malema’s persecution is bad news. But the parliamentarist-nationalist strategy of the leadership undercuts this appeal. If the EFF leaders are just waiting for the opportunity to enter an ANC-led coalition government—which would mean betraying the EFF’s Cardinal Pillars—then workers can have no confidence that they will lead a serious fight for their jobs and livelihoods. For this reason, too, building a class-struggle pole of opposition is vital for the defence of Malema and the EFF.

Just as we can’t expect Trump to back off, it is hopelessly naïve to think that the persecution of Malema will fizzle out or drag on for years in the courts. The vendetta against Malema is not going away, and neither is US imperialism. We must brace ourselves for more shocks ahead.

Trade unions: Defend Malema to defend yourselves!

For class struggle against the jobs bloodbath!

For an anti-imperialist front to defend ourselves against Trump & the GNU!

Break with the butchers of Marikana!