From about 7am on the 22nd June 2001 the police and army were out in full force patrolling the townships in Uitenhage and protecting the Volkswagen company premises. Later that day the Labour Appeal Court delivered its judgement on the case of the mass dismissal of the 1386 strikers. It is clear that the 'system' knew the result before the workers! If the state was on the side of the workers, they should have intervened on their behalf long time ago. One year and 5 months has gone by and they did not do so! [This was not surprising]. Rather it is clear that the state is fundamentally on the side of the capitalist class. They were so afraid of the consequences that they issued this blow against the workers from the Johannesburg Labour Court offices and not Port Elizabeth, where the case was heard. The ANC-appointed RMM Zondo, the liberal Dennis Davis and the Afrikaner BR Du Plessis were united in their execution of the workers, for that is what a confirmation of the dismissal is, a death sentence. This shows that the political belief or background of any judge under capitalism makes no difference; the courts are instruments of domination by the capitalist class/bosses.

Why was the case lost?

Firstly, we need to look at why the bosses could have dismissed the workers and get away with it. They could do this because the ANC, SACP, Cosatu and Numsa leadership divided the workers. Vavi played a key role in dividing workers, meeting them on the 2nd February 2000, and using his authority as a national Cosatu leader, urging them to return to work, then issuing condemnation of them over national television. He did not go with a strikers' delegation to confront the bosses. He did not return to the workers the next day as promised. Vavi proved to be a lackey of the bosses and the govt! If the workers had been united, not only would the company not have been able to dismiss anyone, but the bosses would have sent the Numsa leaders with a compromise position or they would have directly struck a deal with the strikers recognising their elected shopstewards. After all, for them, only production and profits matters! That the Numsa leaders continually shifted the goalposts when the strikers' leaders wanted to talk, shows that the Numsa leaders were in on the plan for the mass dismissal. That the Numsa leaders threatened the Numsa workers who were part of the Uitenhage Crisis Committee at other factories and thereby smothered it before it could get off the ground, also shows the treacherous role of the Numsa leaders - instead of supporting the strikers in the fight against GEAR policies on the shopfloor, they were instrumental in the isolation of the remaining VW strikers! They made it easy for the bosses to dismiss the steadfast and militant 1386 strikers. The blame for the mass dismissal must be put at the door of the VW bosses, as well as the govt and the entire ANC-SACP-COSATU and NUMSA leadership.

Crucial mistakes, obviously not of the same seriousness as those mentioned above, but still serious nevertheless, were made in the struggle for reinstatement and we also need to reflect on these: The leadership of the Uitenhage Crisis Committee made the crucial error of making threats against the inside workers at the beginning. This made the task of rebuilding workers' unity even more difficult. The building of OCGAWU inside VW further divided the workers. Instead of focussing on the treacherous role of the Numsa leadership, the workers argued rather over which union was better. WIVL made the crucial mistake of believing that OCGAWU could be the basis of workers unity between those outside and those inside the plant and we actively helped OCGAWU to recruit members. The OCGAWU leadership played almost no role in building workers' unity on the shopfloor. They were more interested in taking up individual cases rather than focussing the campaign among workers inside VW. [Individual cases should have been taken up, but the OCGAWU officials and the WIVL leaders lost sight of the decisive factor that the power lies in the hands of the employed workers. WIVL's first call was that the key in the fight was the rebuilding of unity between inside and outside workers but we did not follow this through properly. WIVL assisted in a lot of work trying to unite the employed workers but the focus was to recruit for OCGAWU, rather than build unity irrespective of union affiliation. WIVL also assisted greatly in the legal case instead of consistently warning of the dangers of an approach based mainly on the law courts. This helped create illusions in the capitalist courts. We did raise the importance of a political approach but spent more time patching up for OCGAWU when they failed in providing the basic day-to-day support for the legal case. We are not saying that the case should not have been taken up legally but we are saying that there should have been no illusions that any courts could deliver workers' justice. For the mistakes that we made we sincerely apologise to the working class.

That the arbitration award went in favour of the workers was precisely because of the intense political pressure on the state structures. Who can forget the demonstration against Mbeki at the Babs Madlakane hall on the 24th November 2000 when the working class confronted him over the govt's support for the mass dismissal?

But what happened since the arbitration award? Instead of intensifying the political pressure on the govt and strengthening the unity of workers inside VW and the surrounding plants, the Uitenhage local leadership of OCGAWU deliberately demobilised the workers. They boosted the ANC as being the party of the workers. They sidelined WIVL and whoever wanted to increase the pressure on the govt and strengthen the unity of the workers inside VW. Workers were led to believe that the ANC would make a plan to get them back to work! This policy was a disaster for the workers and produced the desired results for the bosses! The state knew that workers were divided and that they were fighting among themselves. They have their agents among the leadership of OCGAWU who directly or indirectly are keeping them informed. If the working class in Uitenhage had been united, across union barriers, on the political basis of defence of their comrades and a strike was likely, the state would never have risked upholding the dismissal!

The police and army are still daily guarding the VW premises. It is clear that the state, the police , the army, the courts under capitalism are an instrument of violence to keep the working class in chains for exploitation by the capitalist class. Lenin has further clarified that in a democratic republic, the capitalist class backs up its control through direct and indirect corruption of state officials, and through the alliance of the government with the stock exchange [the investors]. Indeed VW has bribed the state through a gift of a R300 000 Audi to the Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The government has shown their alliance with the VW bosses by purchasing almost 200 vehicles for their Scorpion gang; Vice President Zuma has been quick to welcome a German delegation of businessmen, showing how investor-friendly the govt is. Another lesson to learn is that no amount of changing of parties or structures within the capitalist state will bring workers' justice! The NP in the state machine was anti-working class and so is the ANC!

The way forward-the struggle continues!

To place illusions in the Constitutional Court or the ILO only, is to give false hope to the workers! Even if workers decide to go this route, we should remember these are structures, which have as their main aim the keeping of the capitalist system intact! The absolute control by the bosses is guaranteed by these structures. This same govt has appointed the judges of the Constitutional Court and the ILO is made up of the capitalist class/bosses, the governments [like the German and SA govt] and the trade union leadership [The same leadership that supported the mass dismissal of the workers are sitting on this structure].

WHATEVER WORKERS DECIDE, THE FOUNDATION OF THE WAY FORWARD MUST BE TO UNITE THE WORKERS INSIDE VW ACROSS UNION BARRIERS. THE OCGAWU, SAWU AND NUMSA MEMBERS INSIDE SHOULD FORM A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE AND SEND A DELEGATION TO MANAGEMENT TO DEMAND THE REINSTATEMENT OF ALL WORKERS! AT ALL FACTORIES, INCLUDING VW, WORKERS IRRESPECTIVE OF UNION AFFILIATION SHOULD ELECT COMMITTEES TO TAKE FORWARD THE FIGHT. FROM THIS PERSPECTIVE, SUPPORT SHOULD BE MOBILISED LOCALLY, ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND INTERNATIONALLY. A NEW WORKING CLASS CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE SHOULD BE SET UP. THIS COMMITTEE SHOULD ALSO MOBILISE SUPPORT FOR SUSTAINING THE FAMILIES OF THE DISMISSED WORKERS. THEY SHOULD ESTABLISH A NETWORK WITH THOSE WORKERS WHO MANAGE TO GET JOBS, SO AS TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT.

The bosses are using the division among the workers to attack workers gains: they want to force a 5 year wage agreement, cutting wages and wanting to end the Work Security Fund. If the bosses do not back down then the only way will be an indefinite national auto workers strike. This means that all workers, irrespective of union affiliation should unite in strike action. The demand for the reinstatement of the dismissed workers should also be added to the wage demands!

The working class is facing many other struggles across the country. Many fighters are facing the same govt and the same capitalist class. The fight against the VW bosses show that workers face common problems across the world and indeed we need to build an international network of fighters in our common task against the capitalist system. ALL POWER LIES IN THE HANDS OF THE WORKING CLASS! MANYANANI BASEBENZI! WORKERS UNITE! WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE BUT OUR CHAINS! FORWARD TO A REVOLUTIONARY WORKING CLASS PARTY! FORWARD TO THE REBUILDING OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL! FORWARD TO SOCIALISM!

Issued by Workers International Vanguard League 1st Floor, Community House, 41 Salt River rd , Salt River, 7925 ph/fax: 021 4476777 email: wivl@sn.apc.org

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