Brand: University Of KwaZulu-Natal Press Towards Socialist Democracy

Towards socialist democracy is written for those engaged in struggles against capitalism around the world. It examines the history of the struggle for socialism in the twentieth century, and draws on the lessons of the bureaucratic usurpation of the Russian workers' revolution, and of the revolutions that put a bureaucracy in power in China, Cuba and other countries. Outlining the conditions of wealth and poverty in the world economy today, and looking briefly at recent uprisings in Latin America, it argues that socialism is still a necessity, which can only be achieved through nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy, under workers' control and management, on an international scale. It explores the history of the battle for national and social liberation in South Africa, from the 1920s through the 1980s, critically examining the policies of the leadership of the South African Communist Party. Finally, it reviews the economic record of the ANC government since 1994 and stresses the need for a mass workers' party in South Africa to take up the struggle for national (and international) social justice and socialism.