Zambia: crisis for neo-colonialism!

crisis for neo-colonialism! zambia The most spectacular and clearly noticeable effects of the world wide economic recession of the capitalist economies are to be seen in the highly industrialised countries. Here whole in industries close down, huge plants lay off their entire work force, entire areas of the country become backwaters of economic depression. But if the recession's most dramatically visible effects are clearest in such areas it is not necessarily the case that its effects here are as statistically disastrous or as ultimately debilitating as imperialism's least developed client states. In this respect tne experience of Zambia over the past year is a microcosmic example of the fate of the entire neo-colonialist world - and particularly those sections which have a high degree of integration into and dependence upon the world economy. When the central economic activity in the money sector is the production of a single commodity which is exported into a volatile world market, the fate of the entire economy can depend absolutely directly on the state of the world economy as a whole. What is the nature of Zambia's dependence on copper? (1) In 1974, 93 per cent of exports by value were of copper (note that this proportion remains exactly the same as that at the time of independence in • 1964). (2) In 1974.34 per cent of government revenue derived from direct "mineral revenue' - ie. taxes on copper based on the selling price and profits accruing to the government through its ownership of 51 per cent of the shares of the copper producing companies. A further 33 per cent came from income tax. The average wage on the mines is nearly double that in the economy as a whole. It is safe to say therefore that government revenue direct from the mining sector was 45 per cent of (3) In 1974 34 per cent of Gross Domestic Product was produced by the copper mines. These figures clearly illuminate the kind of economy which colonialism bequeathed to Zambia and which has remained basically unchanged since 1964. On one side there exists a highly mechanised highly productive mining sector where the level of capitalisation, of technique etc. is equal to that of similar industry anywhere in the world. Almost all other investment in the 'modern sector' of the economy is ancillary to this ie. it supplies either equipment for use in the mines or goods and services which are consumed by the mining population. On the other hand stands the subsistence agricultural sector which embraces the great mass of the population who enter the money economy only marginally. Occasionally they are able to produce saleable products which can provide cash for certain basic needs. But overall with an average income of f37.50 per annum they are of necessity almost iotally outside the cash economy." It can readily be seen that the effects of a slump in the price of copper on the world market can have immed- 9 iately disatrous effects for the Zambian economy. Such a slump of a sharper and more prolonged character than ever before is currently being experienced: Average price of copper on London Metal Exchange: January- August 1974: 1538 Kwacha per ton January-August 1975: 813 Kwacha per ton Total balance of payments surplus first five months of 1974: 296 million Kwacha Total balance of payments deficit first five months of 1973: 70 million Kwacha Anyone following present trands in the capitalist economy world wide will recognise that these tendencies are unlikely to be reversed in the near future and that Zambia will be therefore certainly suffer from an acceleration of all the trends which are now beginning to be manifested. The second factor contributory to Zambia's economic problems, once again essentially imported from the economies of the imperialist metropoles, is the inflation of prices of goods and services. Unfortunately government statistical services are, perhaps deliberately, always near- Iy six months behind in producing figures on prices. But the latest to hand show a rise of 3.3 per cent over the first two months of 1975 in the low income consumer price index. This equals an annual rate of 20 per cent. While this is not as high as in many parts of the industrialised capitalist world, it spells for the average Zambian worker a disastrous drop in living standards. By law negotiated are limited to 5 per cent per annum. The wage rises trades union movement is totally integrated into the 10 state machinery. Intra bureaucratic mobility is illustrated by the fact that every Minister of Labour since independence has been a former Trades Union functionary. The formation of new trades unions is forbidden without permission from the government. Strikes in a whole number of 'essential industries' are forbidden by law (sometning which," as we shall note later does not prevent their taking place but does act as a powerful deterrent to their organisation). Above all with a population growth rate of 3.5 per cent per annum and near static growth in the number of jobs, the mass of available labour exerts a. constant threat to workers engaging in any form of industrial action. At present, inevitably we are seeing the declaration of a whole number of redundancies. These are affecting particularly firms in the small scale manufacturing sector which are suffering from the cut down in import license issue consequent on massively reduced copper revenue. Most of Zambia's manufacturing industry depends almost entirely on imported components. workers' response The area within which government moves most gingerly with regard to redundancy is the mines. Here a highly concentrated labour force (some mines like Nkana in Kitwe and Mufulira have up to 10,000 employees) possesses a long history of union organisation going back well before independence. Despite the fact that the MUZ (Mineworkers' Union of Zambia) is almost totally under government control it is not within the power of the bureaurcrats to restrain the erruption of sporadic outbursts of discontent. In the past months there have been three strikes, all conducted totally without the union's branch structure. The first of these involved a large section of the labour force at the Broken Hill Lead and Zinc mine in Kabwe around demands for parity of wages with the copper mines. This was broken only by extensive police harassment and intimidation of strikers and their families in the mine townships. In July the Copperbelt was suddenly hit by a dispute which showed the potential for rank and file action to outflank the union machinery. Simultaneously winding engine drivers, a very small section of the workforce, struck at every mine demanding implementaiton of a wage structure first laid down by a government commission in 1966 and still not effected! Clearly such an action could not have been initiated without considerable contact between its unofficial organisers right through the In August the majority of the 600 strong labour force at the Ndola Copper Refinery struck to protest the continued refusal of management to provide them with transport to and from work - a facility offered to employees in all the main mines. Incredibly this dispute was stated to have begun 17 years ago when the union first put in a request for this! Once again leadership lay in the hands of an informally organised grouping outside of the local union branch. The strikers eventually returned to work after a promise from the MUZ leadership to reppen negotiations on their behalf. But in doing so they stated their intention to resume the strike on September Ist were their demands to remain unmet long discussions This threat was sufficient to get management and the usually immobile MUZ leadership on the move and on 26 August it was announced that transport or transport allowances would finally be provided to all employees. In a move aimed blatantly at propping up the fast declining image of the MUZ it was left to its officials to make the announcement that agreement had finally been reached after 'long discussion' at the Mining Joint Industrial Council. It will not however be lost on the majority of the strikers that their 17 year old dispute had had not been resolved through back breaking labour at the negotiating table but through their own direct action in bringing the refinery to a halt for a week. These recent disputes all showthat despite a traitorous leadership, the high level of unemployment and sustained government propaganda which seeks to discredit any working class action as treachery to the sacred cause of national development, the Zambian working class partic ularly on the mines, is capable of independent organisation of struggle. It was almost certainly the signs of growing discontent that led the President and Secretary General of the Zambia Congress of Trades Unions (ZCTU) Frederick Chiluba and Newstead Zimba, to make some mildly worded attacks on government pol icies at the end of July. To maintain some credibility with the working class they criticised the government's decision at that time to raise the prices of bread, cooking oil, flour and certain other essential commodities but only on the grounds that such decisions should not be made without some prior consultation with trades union representatives. They were immediately subjected to an organised battery of ministerial attacks which culminated in a carefully prepared speech by Kaunda himself in which he outlined the government's conception of Trades Unions as organisations whose central function is to transmit government policy to the working class and to organise workers to increase productivity. The disarray produced by this presidential intervention was reflected at the recent ZCTU Executive meeting held in Kitwe. No official report has been issued but it appears that the main point of discussion was the proper response of the Trades Unions to the increasing spate of redundancies. According to the statements of some participants the discussions resulted in deadlock because 'many members were frightened by the recent warnings of President Kaunda to labour leaders' — frightened in particular no doubt by the threat posed to their own careers by even the mildest statements of dissent from government buy off The escalating industrial action in the crucial mining sector was primarily responsible for the announcement 29 August by Axon Soko, Minister of Mines and Industry of wage increases for all employees in the industry effective from 1 August. These ranged from 20 per cent for the lowest paid to 7 per cent for the highest paid. Government's anxiety to 'buy off' the miners in this way can only be explained by their recognition that the recent series of disputes might continue to escalate and that the militancy of this section of the labour force could begin to infect other sectors of the working class. It was much better to present such wage rises as an unsol- "icited 'gift' from 'Party and Government' than to be forced to concede them as a result of developing class struggles. A second key reason for their announcement at this particular point in time was the simultaneous unveiling of the long awaited Mwanakatwe Commission report on civil service wages. While this did not propose the sort of massive rises characteristic of the Nigerian 'Udoji'l proposals, it did give a 36 per cent rise to the lowest paid government employees. The simultaneous announcement of pay rises for the miners was designed to defuse the possibility of widespread demands for imitative The two pay increases described affect only 110,000 out of an estimated 380,000 strong workforce. But they are the most highly concentrated, crucial and well-organised. Attempts by workers in other sectors to seek rises along the same lines awill be much more difficult to organise and to bring to a successful conclusion. The propsect for the majority of the working class therefore remains one of a continued battle against the effects of inflation and unemployment in which they will perhaps be assisted however by the example offered on the mines in recent months. Solution? What solution does the Zambian government offer to the current problems of the economy? 'We have to understand', President Kaunda has said repcatedly in recent months, 'that we are a poor country'. Lost without trace are all the ambitious targets contained in the 2nd National Development Plan spanning the years 19/2-76 ot increasing wage employment by 100,000 principally through the expansion of the industrial sector. Instead the new emphasis of government economic policy is laid upon 'rural reconstruction'. worthy goal to be achieved through a massive injection of capital and expertise into the peasant economy to enable it to develop beyond its present subsistence level? The budgeted figure for 1975 of 29 million Kwacha for 'Lands, Natural Resources, Rural Developnent and Tourism' out of a total expenditure of 515 million Kwacha give the clear answer to that question. The main part of' state expenditure will continue to be used to subsidise the burgeoning state capitalist class which controls government and all major industry. No, the government's only formula for 'rural reconstruction' is the expansion of Zambia's rural subsistence sector. And in pursuing this end it addresses itself above all the 'problem' created by the ever growing urban population which currently stands at 35 per cent of the total and threatens to be more than 40 per cent by 1980 on current trends. In all the towns drives have been initiated by the ruling UNIP (United National Independence Party) organisation to 'round up'unemployed youth and herd them into 'Rural Reconstruction Camps'. Here they are to be settled upon hitherto uncultivated land, provided with 11 with virtually none of the necessary equipment and no wages whatsoever, subjected to the discipline of the army which has been seconded to this task, and forced to fend for themselves. While such moves currently affect the youth, a clear indication has already been given that they are slowly to be applied also to large nunibers of wage earners who are likely to be declared redundant in the near future. At the UNIP National Council meeting at the beginning of July a resolution was passed which stated that: 'Appreciating that this fecononic cutbacks) will mean a lot of re-organisation, probably resulting in redundancies (National Council) directs, as a measure of urgency, the government to see that all such workers as will be declared redundant should be drafted into the rural reconstruction programme and that workers so drafted will be helped to settle down on the land in their districts of origin'. Later the same resolution refers to the settlement of the unemployed 'in their home districts' where they will be directed to 'produce on the land' Bantustans The clear implication of such phraseology is that the urban workeris only a temporary resident of his/her place of work, whose home is in fact in a rural area. It will not be lost on readers that the use of such terminology is of course to be found in one other place in this part of the world ..namely South Africa. There the very very foundation of apartheid policy is that the African worker has no place of permanent residence except the 'reserve' or "Bantustan' The exigencies of their present economic plight have driven the Zambian ruling class into precisely imitating the methods of the white racists. The only difference is that this time we see an authoritarian policy of direction of labour based not upon colour of skin but upon social class and employment status. Without doubt in this situation the coming period can see the opening of a series of initially fragmented struggles by sections of the working and unemployed population. Already large numbers of 'youth' have revolted against conditions in the Rural 'Concentration Camps' and deserted from them. When the government begins to carry out its declared intention of using similar tactics on redundant members of the working class who have at least some history of collective action with their fellow workers, the results are likely to be far more explosive. The effects which we have detailed above of the latest recession in the world capitalist economy mark a key turning point in the short life of Zambia. The ruling clique which has got fat on the proceeds of its control over the state machinery is now faced for the first time with the need to deal heavy blows at the masses in order to secure its own position and the continuation of its parasitical existence as the mediator between world imperialism and the workers and peasants of the country. Recent moves which establish total government control over the mass media open a period in which more and more clearly repressive measures will undoubtedly be used to squash any threat of resistance. The extent to which this ruling class is able to carry out its present objectives and consolidate its own position will be determined by whether it will be possible for the ideas of revolutionists to gain even the most minimal implantation in an area where socialist organisation of any kind has no history whatsoever. This in turn will depend very largely on developments in neighbouring areas. It is crystal clear that there are few areas of the 12 world where any idea of socialism in one country is less realistic. The socialist revolution which provides the only answer to the present problems of Zambia's labouring masses will be a product of and a part of a generalised upsurge of the present and worker populations of southern Africa as a whole. The Zambian ruling class is itself well aware that the spark which can ignite its own population into revolutionary action can most likely be provided by events in the white racist dominated part of the continent. This is precisely why it is currently engaged in that obsessive search for a Rhodesian 'settlement'. John Blair August 1975 1. 'Udoji Report' was a Nigerian government appointed commission dealing with civil service wages and conditions which reported earlier this year. After its recommendations for near 100 per cent increases for civil servants were accepted by the government a whole number of strikes broke out throughout the rest of Nigeria's wage employees demanding similar increases. This is described further in our article on Nigeria. IN THE EYE OF THE STORM by Basil Davidson Penguin African Library price 90p Subtitled 'Angola's People', the book is useful back. ground reading necessary to understand the complex developrents that are taking place today in Angola. Its strong points are that it provides, in a readable way, basic information about the ethnic groups still in existence in and around Angola, the histo.y of the growth of Portuguese donination, and the consequences of these on the present day struggles for liberation. The book is divided into tour parts, the first two parts providing an excellent history of the region, the politics of underdevelopment, and the beginnings of national consciousness and struggle. The last two sections, however, are weak: Davidson is an uncritical supporter of the MPLA (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola), and as a consequence, the thoroughness with which he treats the first half of the book is somewhat lost in, at times, confusion of faets with opinion - to the detriment of a struggle of which he is a supporter. While correctly describing the regionalist character of the FNLA and its direct collusion with American imperialism and its puppet Mobutu of Zaire, Davidson's description of the movement tends to verge on hysterical loathe which tends to weaken his argument against the backward character of the FNLA. He dismisses the UNITA as 'little more that another distracting shadow' — which has been proved not to be the case if recent developments in Angola are anything to go by! The biggest weakness in the book is Davidson's attitude to the MPLA: he gives unfailing support to the movement - leaving the reader with the impression that at last humanity has found the perfect 'revolutionary party'! Such a position weakens his entire argument for the MPLA, and derives from Davidson's obvious confusion about revolution: by no means does he support the reformist road, nor does he consider revolt as the way forward; but the leap forward to revolution, for Davidson, appears somewhat difficult... He goes to great lengths to describe how, since 1964, there has been an enormous boom of investment from the international monopolies and imperialist countries, how those interested in the status quo were no longer the Portuguese alone, but'a conglomerate of world im- Africa in struggle supplement no.l ZAMBIA Humanist rhetoric = capitalist reality price 35p. order now! due out mid-november. BOOKS perialism. His answer of 'kicking out the Portuguese' alone is, therefore, inadequate; neither does he emphasise une need to mount an anti-capitalist struggle (perhaps because the MPLA leadership does not), nor the role that the workers would have to play in such a struggle. Instead, he puts forward a confused argument for'increased participation', destruction of 'elitism', and a united battle against imperialism! Davidson even gives credence to Neto's statements that after independence the decision will be made whether to follow a socialist path or not! Fortunately, this decision has already been made by the urban proletariat and MPLA militants in Luanda: 'We refuse to be the instruments or objects of enrichment in a process of exploitation that remains unchanged!' This, clearly, is the only way to orient a struggle which MPLĂ'S founding document describes as 'anti-imperialist'. Linked into tiris confused analysis, is Davidson's view (and that of the MPLA) that the struggle in Angola is simply a national liberation struggle, within the confines of what he accurately describes as the artificial boundaries imposed on the region by imperialism, rather than part of the necessary socialist revolution that must free Africa from its stranglehold of underdevelopment. Nevertheless, in spite of these serious weakness', the book provides useful background detail in a readable, though sometimes verbose, text, and in absence of any serious Marxist book anarysing Angola, is essential reading for those involved in work in this field. Julius Karanja Other useful books on Angola: Trade and Conflict in Angola; D. Birmingham The Mbundu and their Neighbours under the Influence of the Portuguese 1483-1790. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1966 Portugal in Africa. J. Duffy Penguin Books, 1962 D.L. Wheeler Angola. New York, Praeger and London,: and R. Pelissier, Pall Mall, 1971. 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