Holding the Centre
Workers and `Popular-Democratic' Politics in South Africa
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2307969 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Devan Pillay (0000-0001-6988-0331, University of the Witwatersrand, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 43 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 279-305 |
| Publication date | 2008-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0021909608089255 |
| OpenAlex | W2017780978 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 15 |
The 2006 South African local election results confirm the approximately two-thirds support the African National Congress (ANC)-led Alliance - with the Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SA Communist Party (SACP) - received from those who voted in previous elections, a level of support that is also consistently reflected among COSATU members in surveys held during 1994, 1998 and 2004.1 However, the low voter turnout means less than a quarter of all eligible voters voted for the ANC. As tensions between the ANC leadership under Thabo Mbeki and its working class allies mounted, this should ordinarily have presented an opportunity to build a Left alternative among a disgruntled working class majority - except that the basis for such an alternative, organized workers, seem resistant to an independent `working class politics'. Instead, they put all their energies into replacing the Mbeki leadership with that of his deputy, Jacob Zuma. By remaining within the Alliance, are the increasingly outspoken COSATU and SACP leadership being constrained by a relatively conservative union membership, arguably one of the beneficiaries of the democratic transition; or are workers merely responding to signals from a (largely compromised) leadership that `working class hegemony' can only be realized through a `popular-democratic' politics within the Alliance
Alliance · Communism · Democracy · Hegemony · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Working class · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration · South African History and Culture
South Africa: Limits To Change
Building tomorrow today
Class, Race, and Inequality in South Africa
Between marginalisation & revitalisation? the state of trade unionism in South Africa
The workers' struggle — where does fosatu stand
The dynamics of working-class politics
The politics of trade unions in transition
Striking Back
The Unity Movement
South Africa
Toward a Class Compromise in South Africa's 'Double Transition
The Third Force
Coffin for the Councillor
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,17 |
| Citation span | 2014 - 2019 (6) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |