FUNDAMENTAL CONDITIONS FOR REVOLUTION AND THE
SITUATION IN KENYA
From a
political standpoint, there are many definitions of revolution. When the Land
and Freedom Army (Mau Mau) took arms in Kenya during
the 50s to fight the British colonialists, the process constituted what has now
become known as the “Colonial revolution”. The main objective of the Mau Mau was to seize land that had been grabbed by the “White
settlers” and redistribute it to those who had been rendered landless as a
result of British colonialism. The colonial revolution did not just take place
in Kenya.
Such revolutions were also witnessed in Algeria,
Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola,
Ghana, Nigeria and
numerous other African countries which had been colonized by different
imperialist powers.
The methods used
during these revolutions by the leaders of the revolutionary movements varied
from country to country. In south Africa, a
revolution which ended the physical apartheid system of government was
witnessed even though this revolution has failed to transform the lives of
black South Africans to the better.
Apart from the
colonial revolution which was betrayed before the Mau Mau
could seize land from the British, there have been two major revolutions which
have taken place in Kenya.
The defeat of the one party dictatorship of former President Daniel arapMoi in 1990 was dubbed the
Saba saba revolution (7th day of July 1990) because
it is on this day that momentum for mass action against the one party
dictatorship reached a climax after a struggle which began in 1982, the same
year that Moi proclaimed Kenya a one party
dictatorship to block the registration of the Kenya Socialist Alliance. It is
the Sabasaba
revolution that eventually opened the way for the first multiparty elections in
December 1992 which was nevertheless rigged by Moi
after the emergent parties failed to agree on a strategy to remove the dictator
from power. Before 1982, the Kenyan constitution allowed for the formation of
political parties although in reality, only KANU existed as a party.
Another revolution
that can be mentioned here is the Narc revolution
which was also dubbed the Velvet revolution in Kenya. Although the Saba saba revolution stands out as
having been responsible for the overthrow of the one party dictatorship in Kenya, it
failed to remove Moi and his KANU party from power. The
Narc government has failed to change the social and
economic conditions of Kenyans but its leaders still remain the heroes of the
Velvet revolution which removed KANU from the scene and opened the democratic
space even further. In fact, this is the only credit that Narc
deserves because Kenya
is still in deep crisis despite a change of government.
In all the three
revolutions, the blood of Kenyans was spilled, hundreds of people died,
thousands of families lost loved ones, people were tortured, fighters
were sent to prison while those who refused to budge were sent to detention or
forced into exile. Despite the three revolutions, Kenyans are not happy and
after a short experience with the Narc government, a
cry for a new revolution has began to fill the air.
The Colonial
revolution, the Saba saba revolution and the Velvet
revolution tackled different aspects of the political problems in Kenya but
left one central issue unresolved or unaddressed - the issue of the capitalist
system of government that is the key problem in Kenya. Although the problem of
capitalism has been well known to many Kenyan revolutionaries, tackling it has
been difficult because of unfavourable circumstances
that have been in existence on the ground.
Today, Kenya does not just need another revolution to
overthrow the Narc government but a revolution to
overthrow the political system of government called capitalism, the central
ideology that has been adopted by various parties in Narc
at different levels but which has failed to solve the crisis in Kenya
for more than four decades. To overthrow this system, a new alternative system
to replace it must be put forward by a revolutionary Movement or Party. From
our view, we think that this system is Socialism and that the kind of
revolution needed in Kenya
today is called the Socialist revolution. Some Kenyans may disagree with us.
But we are open to a honest debate on the issue
because what we have seen is that capitalism is destroying our country and the
lives of millions of Kenyans especially the youth.The people to lead the socialist revolution
are not the corrupt ruling class or bankrupted politicians but workers who have
the biggest revolutionary potential in Kenya on the basis of their role in
the production of wealth being looted by greedy and corrupt politicians running
government.
CAPITALIST SYSTEM IN CRISIS
The revolutionary
process to overthrow capitalism in Kenya will not be easy. For the
Socialist revolution to take place, there must be two
fundamental conditions which we will summarise here. That
is, both the “Objective” and “Subjective” factors must be present.
The meaning of the
objective factor here is that the existing system of capitalism must be in
crisis for it to be overthrown. The point is that if the system is still
working, it can be difficult to convince people to overthrow it. But once it
gets into a crisis which cannot be resolved, then we say the system is ripe for
overthrow. This is the situation in Kenya today.
Another objective
factor is that there must be a crisis of political leadership to create room
for a new revolutionary leadership to take over the struggle. For more than two
decades, the “objective factor” has been in existence in Kenya although
the Socialist revolution has never taken place in the country. The crisis of
leadership has been evidenced by the chain of opportunists who have moved in to
fill the leadership vacuum, not to try and change Kenya but to fill their stomachs
using their positions. Unfortunately, this tendency will repeat itself over and
over again until Kenyans understand the core of the problem in the country.
The capitalist system
has been in crisis to an extent that almost all basic social services have
collapsed. Even now, the ruling class is in deep crisis with parties in the
Coalition failing to agree on many issues. Suddenly, politicians who united to
seize power just two years ago are fighting bitter battles in the media because
they seized power without a Program for change. The new government has been unable
to end corruption, unemployment, insecurity, dependency on imperialist loans,
mass poverty, retrenchments, starvation, tribalism, looting of the economy and
numerous other vices of the Capitalist system of government that used to be
witnessed during KANU dictatorship.Despite
the situation being ripe for revolution, the Socialist revolution has not been
possible because the “Subjective factor” has been missing.
CALL FOR A WORKERS PARTY
The “Subjective
factor” is the presence of a revolutionary Movement or Party lead by conscious
revolutionaries who understand what needs to be done to overthrow capitalism
and how power can be transferred from the hands of the capitalist ruling class
to the hands of the toiling and exploited workers. This Party must also arm
itself with a revolutionary Program and a revolutionary theory to guide action.
The description may sound academic but it is the task of the revolutionary
Movement or Party to explain to the masses what needs to be done to defeat the
rich in government and to educate the masses using political intervention on
the ground. The growing call for the launching of a Workers Party in Kenya is linked
to the creation of the “subjective factor” on the ground to hasten the
overthrow of capitalism currently moving the Kenyan society to a dead end. We
will expand on these bits of political education in the future.
Okoth Osewe
Published by Kenya Socialist Democratic
Alliance (KSDA)
email: harakatips@hotmail.com
