The South African Communist Party (SACP) in the Post Apartheid Period.

This article examines the SACP and its role in contesting the hegemonic project of neoliberalism in the post-apartheid period (1994-2004). I discuss the Party's written attacks on neoliberalism, support for the Congress of South African Trade Union's (Cosatu's) campaigns against privatisation, the formation of the Young Communist League (YCL), and the current campaigns surrounding cooperatives and financial se or reform. As the SACP is embedded within the ruling African National Congress (ANC), the Party's attempts to critique and fight neoliberalism have remained rhetorical and ineffective. Rather than directly confronting the neoliberal policies of the ANC, the SACP has instead cooperated with the ANC, hoping to pull it more to the 'left'. The SACP's dedication to influencing the ANC has come at the expense of building a mass base of support that opposes neoliberalism. This approach has ultimately resulted in an accommodation to neoliberalism, and exposes many difficult contradictions for the SACP. The South African Communist Party (SACP) has historically been a formidable political force in South Africa. Its role in the anti-apartheid struggle is generally well respected, and many of the Party's past leaders are considered ironic heroes of the struggle. Based on its historical alliance with the African National Congress (ANC), the SACP found itself working closely with the ANC government after the fall of apartheid. The two political formations are also partners with the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in what is known as the Tripartite Alliance. The SACP and Cosatu have supported the ANC through three election campaigns (1994, 199, and 2004), all of which have resulted in overwhelming electoral victories for the ANC. It is important to place the Party's post-apartheid political struggle within the context of its historical relationship to the ANC, and the struggle against white minority rule. Beginning with the Executive Committee of the Communist International's 'ECCI's) 1928 'Independent Native Republic' mandate to the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), the Party has followed a path market by cooperation and collaboration with the ANC. The two-stage theory of revolution (first national liberation, then socialism) has guide this strategy from its 1928 form to the Colonialism of a Special Type (CST) thesis of the 1950s, and ultimately to the Party's support for an overwhelming electoral victory of the ANC in 1994. In this sense, the class character of the struggle has always been subordinated to that of the national. In order to remain unified against the racist white minority regime, it was mutually advantageous for the two political formations to work closely together in exile, and within South Africa, throughout this period of oppression and resistance. This long