STATE CAPTURE
Hug a communist — they stand for a virtuous country too
Common preoccupations place capitalists and communists on the same side of society’s key political fault line, writes Anthony Butler
The time has come for every business leader to hug a communist — albeit discreetly, and preferably in private. This should not be a real revolutionary Marxist, of course, such as the recently departed Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. The communists who SA’s businesspeople need to love are the leaders of the South African Communist Party (SACP). Historically "the party" supported a multiracial political elite that granted its members opportunities to travel, study and influence the ANC mother body. Like the Soviet Union’s own establishment, SACP members did not need to display any sincere commitment to the moribund intellectual doctrines of late Marxism. Most ANC leaders let their SACP memberships lapse when the Russian empire imploded. Former ANC president Thabo Mbeki easily neutralised the post-apartheid SACP, at least until a 2007 purge of his loyalists. Membership has been opened up to a range of activists and citizens, and particularly the youth, and this has made the party a more vo...
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