Agitprop, Part 6
SACP Banner, Cradock 4 Funeral, July 20, 1985. © Gille de Vlieg
Gille de Vlieg would like to hear from
anyone who is in this or any of her other photographs. She is on Facebook, or e-mail
at gille@mweb.co.za
Banners and Flags
The above image is of the display of an SACP banner at the
funeral of the Cradock 4 martyrs Matthew Goniwe, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fort Calata
and Sicelo Mhlauli in 1985.
This is a most powerful and actual image of a communist party
legalising itself. Before this, communist party insignia were hardly ever seen
in South Africa. The Party had been banned in May, 1950. But within less than
five years after the Cradock 4 funeral, the Party was not only de facto, but officially legal again.
That was in February, 1990.
Here is an edited version of e-mail correspondence with the
photographer, Gille de Vlieg, who very kindly responded to a request to send a
suitable version of her image of the SACP Banner being displayed at the Cradock
4 Funeral, 20 July 1985:
(Communist
University): “Your image will be
good to show the power of photography for a start, and then the use of the
banner. Not least is to remind people of the Cradock 4. Also the fact that to
an extent SACP unbanned itself, legalised itself, and this funeral of the
Cradock 4 was the emphatic moment when they "came out", and you were
there, taking the pictures. Less than 5 years later, the SACP was officially
legalised again after 40 years of banning. This is a very important point to
make in my opinion, because there are people who mistakenly glamorise
underground politics. I want to show evidence that the struggle of the
clandestine is firstly against being clandestine, and never to make a virtue of
it.
(Gille
de Vlieg): “I was a Black Sash
member and was fortunate to meet Matthew Goniwe briefly when he came to address
our Conference in March 1985. I remember
the Funeral of the Cradock Four very well.
Another Black Sash member and I had made a banner for the Black Sash,
and as we entered the 'stadium' the youth took our banner and ran around the
'stadium' grounds with it and then put it up next to the SACP banner. On the SABC news that night the 2 banners
were shown over and over.
“I also remember driving back through the
night and hearing that a State of Emergency had been declared. I had many friends on the buses that returned
from the funeral, and I actually went to John Vorster police station where they
had taken the buses and saw people being taken off the buses and searched.
“I agree that the SACP did unban itself at
that time. I believe the people who made
the banner were Obed Bapela and Maurice Smithers.
“SAHA (SA History Archives) has many of my
photographs, their website is www.saha.org.za and their physical
address is in the Womens' Jail on Constitution Hill. It is rather ironic for me because I spent a
time in detention just across the road from there in Hillbrow Police Station in
1986. I'm happy for you to have a low res of the image for the reasons you
outlined. I am also happy for you to link it to my email address [gille@mweb.co.za].
Gille de Vlieg is also on Facebook. She has particularly
requested that any people who recognise themselves in her photographs contact
her. She would love to hear from you.
SACP and Black Sash banners, Cradock 4 Funeral, 20 July 20 1985. ©
Gille de Vlieg
More about the
clandestine
The struggle to cease being clandestine, and to become legal,
does not end when formal legality is achieved. The struggle to be out and to be
openly proclaiming who we are, whether as SACP, as ANC or as COSATU unions, or as
any other mass organisation, continues against different kinds of opposition.
These include the bourgeois mass media, such as for example
eTV and eNCA, and print media, most of which strive at all times to show the
unorganised as the normal, silent majority that they speak for. At the same
time, they represent the organised people – those with collective agency – as
not having agency, or otherwise just ignore the Movement and do not report its
actions at all.
This conflict is at the heart of the question of Agitprop.
It is the reason why Agitprop is constantly necessary. The organised masses face
a constant counter-Agitprop, which is better funded and, in some media, but not
in all, more extensive than our own.
Then there is the extent to which the movement mistakenly
removes itself from the public realm. This happens when we say that the movement’s
business must not be done in public. But in fact the movement’s business is
supposed to be done in public. What we have to guard against is not exposure,
but manipulation by selective exposure combined with selective concealment,
distortion and lies. The best defence against all of these is openness.
Your Branch Banner
and Flags
Usually branches get their banners made for them, and pay.
The banner is likely to be any branch’s first big purchase.
It needs to be looked after carefully and kept ready for use.
SACP Flag
The SACP Constitution begins:
1. NAME
The name of the organisation shall be the South African
Communist Party (SACP).
2. SYMBOL AND FLAG
The symbol of the
SACP shall be a black star containing a gold hammer and sickle. The flag of the SACP shall be red with the
symbol placed in the top left-hand corner.
- To download any of the CU courses in PDF files please click here.
