Numsa | Terry Bell Writes

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Labour, socialism & the search for a party

April 5, 2019

History stalks us and the labour movement, especially, would do well to pay heed to what lessons it provides as South Africa heads toward it May 8 national and provincial elections faced with a confusion of 48 parties. Two, in particular, contain echoes of the ideological battles that raged in the labour movement for decades.

Thuma mina and social class

July 14, 2018

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That French expression certainly applies in South Africa where there has been major change in the legal deracialisation of society, but where the fundamental class divide is perhaps even more starkly evident.

Back to a messier present

August 4, 2017

In many ways the relationship between members of the governing, ANC-led alliance and the unions that stand in opposition is, on one level, an apparent repeat of the situation that existed 30 and more years ago when internal "workerists" were opposed by the exiled ANC alliance.

GM quitting SA is a wake-up call to all

May 29, 2017

The General Motors pull-out of South Africa is an excellent example of the dilemma facing more and more companies on a global scale: the need to remain profitable in a world of cut-throat competition in an environment of surplus capacity and production. And for every bit of corporate gain, it will be workers who will bear the pain.

New SA labour fed: a new wheel or a retread?

April 9, 2017

Will the launch in two weeks of a new labour federation in South Africa herald a new era for local trade unionism or will it merely signal the arrival of just another federation in the existing mould? Time alone will tell.

A luta continua — for 22 years

January 27, 2017

A labour dispute at the then Midrand municipality in 1994 has rumbled on for 22 years and has again, this year, come to the fore. In the process it has thrown into sharp focus some serious problems facing the South African labour movement.

No joy for SA labour in 2016 Budget

February 28, 2016

South Africa's 2016 Budget has come and gone — and has done little or nothing to assuage the anger felt in many sections of the embattled trade union movement. If anything, it has given added impetus to a move by those unions set to convene a “workers’ summit” to seek new directions both for the labour movement and the country.

Unity, cohesion and a pink flag

July 25, 2015

A façade of unity and cohesion continues to be promoted by Cosatu and, even more interestingly, by the SA Communist Party that is itself under pressure break from the ANC-led alliance. This pressure comes members who believe that party offers a radical alternative. But perhaps the SACP's red flag is now just "palest pink".