A. PREAMBLE
The Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) is convinced that the fundamental causes of colonialism, racism, and brutal exploitation in Zimbabwe are due to the capitalist system established by British imperialism in our country. The sole motive for the penetration and settlement of British settlers from 1890 onwards was to survey, seize, and exploit the resources of Zimbabwe - the labour of the people, and the land and all its natural resources - for the benefit of just a few people in accordance with the system. This is clearly stated in its Ideological Concept of 1971.
ZAPU is convinced beyond doubt that capitalism is the main evil facing the people of Zimbabwe today. It is the root cause of suffering today and, therefore, of the lack of harmonious relations among the people of Zimbabwe.
ZAPU is convinced that socialism is the better system of life and must therefore prevail and be the order of life in Zimbabwe. ZAPU conceives of socialism as the control by the people through their State of the basic means of production - the land and its natural resources, industry, transport, communications, financial institutions (banks), external and internal trade and social services.
The retention and use of all the means of production by and for the people through their State should not imply the negation of personal property. There will be personal property accruing from the just earnings of one's labour.
A revolution is not only inevitable in Zimbabwe, but necessary. To destroy capitalism, racism and all their apparatus or devices, it must be an armed revolution. To prevent their resurgence at any future stage it must be a socialist revolution. The revolution must mean and result in a complete and thorough change of the system of/ life. It must be guided by principles of scientific socialism.
B. BACKGROUND TO ZAPU
The Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU) is a revolutionary national liberation movement which has been born of a historical necessity to fight for the inalienable right of the Zimbabwean people to self-determination and national independence. Having come into existence in 1961, ZAPU inherited the banner of national unity in struggle held high by its predecessors, the various resistance movements since 1890, the African National Congress (1957-1959), and the National Democratic Party (1960-1961). Having weathered the storms of colonial repression over the years of its existence, ZAPU has remained the leading revolutionary force in advancing the Zimbabwe liberation struggle to a new and higher stage, that is, to carry it through the national democratic and socialist revolutions.
Carrying forward the banner of the various resistance movements since 1890, and the more recent ones which gave the initial organisational, national and militant expression to the contemporary anti-colonial revolutionary armed struggle, ZAPU has been instrumental in creating the Zimbabwe Patriotic Front under which all the genuine anti-colonial and anti-imperialist, patriotic and
democratic forces of Zimbabwe are rallied in the struggle to overthrow British colonialism and white supremacy in our country.
Determined to liberate themselves the people of Zimbabwe have, relentlessly and with increasing intensity, carried out the armed liberation struggle for nearly two decades. The edifice of reactionary settlerism and white racism, on which imperialism relied, is crumbling. Characteristically, in stubborn resistance to inevitable defeat and in search of fresh methods for continued political control and economic exploitation, the imperialist forces are combining efforts in Zimbabwe to divide in every conceivable way the forces of national liberation in order to pave way for neo-colonialism.
However, ZAPU shall stifle these imperialist manoeuvres in order to achieve genuine national liberation and social transformation.
C. THE COLONIAL SYSTEM IN ZIMBABWE
The militarist method of the so-called pioneer column in 1890, the Chartered British South Africa Company, the enactment of the land seizure laws — the Land Apportionment Act in 1930, now the Land Tenure Act, the privileged wage structure for the whites, the negligence and later throttling of African education, the imposition of the so- called Law and Order Act and minority rule itself are all devices of a single machinery to establish and maintain a capitalist way of life by the British settlers in Zimbabwe.
The fundamental causes of the political and armed liberation struggle being waged in Zimbabwe are class exploitation and national oppression. Beginning with the imposition of British colonialism in our country in 1890, a minority of colonial settlers has established itself as an extension of the British capitalist class. Therefore, the post- 1890 and pre-1945 class structure of Rhodesia consisted mainly of a minority of colonial settlers who seized most of the fertile land, the mines, the railways, roads, large estates, and controlled the colonial administration.
On the other hand, African workers were forced to work in the mines, on the farms and other sectors of the economy. African peasants were driven into the most infertile areas of the country.
The Post-World War II history of Rhodesia saw the rise of manufacturing industry in addition to the mines, exploiting African labour and vast raw materials. More and more people were forced to leave land to work in factories, thus giving rise to a fairly large African working class which, together with the peasantry became the backbone of the anti-colonial struggle. The pressure on the restricted amount of African land grew and poverty became widespread in the rural areas. The pressure was increased as settler farmers took up more land. With the help of the British Government, colonialists were given encouragement to settle in Zimbabwe from Britain and South Africa. In order to attract them, the British South Africa Company built for them schools, hospitals, and houses at the expense of the African people. As a result, there emerged within the settler community a settler bourgeois class and a highly privileged settler working class, both of which serve as agents of trans-national monopoly capital. As such, they have been used as the local gendarme in enforcing the brutal exploitation of the Zimbabwe people's labour and natural resources.
Utilising a state power based on the reactionary ideology of fascism and white supremacy, the settler community has constituted itself into a highly privileged and exploitative stratum of the Zimbabwean society. It is this brutal class exploitation and national oppression of the broad masses of the people of Zimbabwe which defines the nature of the colonial system in Zimbabwe. This oppression and exploitation of the masses and class privilege of the minority settlers forms the fundamental contradiction as a result of which ZAPU embarked on a political and military liberation struggle.
D. THE SOCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF ZAPU
The class forces behind the struggle which ZAPU, as a revolutionary national liberation movement is leading are the workers and peasants supported by progressive intellectuals. British and trans-national monopoly capital created a fairly large force of industrial workers in Zimbabwe. These workers have been subjected to ruthless exploitation and, in resistance to this exploitation, they have joined and continue to join the struggle for liberation.
Similarly, British colonialism alienated Zimbabwe peasants from their land in order to make room for vast settler estates. Many of the peasants who have been alienated from their lands have, furthermore, been turned into a huge army of seasonal agricultural workers. The Zimbabwe peasantry is also subjected to intensive exploitation. In consequence, many of them have joined ZAPU in order to fight for social liberation.
The racist system has suppressed intellectual development and creativity. Against this background, many Zimbabwe intellectuals have developed a deep hatred of the oppressive and exploitative colonialist regime in our country. Consequently, they are joining the liberation struggle. And in the dialectic of the struggle, many of them have developed a progressive world outlook.
It is the combination of these class forces which constitutes the main social foundations of ZAPU. In an independent Zimbabwe, the workers in alliance with the peasantry will play a leading role in the building of socialism.
E. THE FORMS OF OUR STRUGGLE
The nature of the struggle which ZAPU is waging is political, military, economic and social. These forms of struggle complement one another, but the political struggle shapes the overall. It gives direction to the other component parts of our struggle. The objectives of the struggle are national and social liberation, towards the creation of a classless society, free of exploitation of man by man.
F. THE OBJECTIVES OF OUR STRUGGLE
1. POLITICAL
(a) To eradicate the present capitalist system in Zimbabwe and establish a socialist State which places political power in the hands of the people;
(b) To consolidate the unity of the oppressed masses of Zimbabwe as a basic condition for the success of the liberation struggle, national reconstruction, and social transformation. To attain this objective, ZAPU will mobilise the masses to condemn and reject tribalism, regionalism and racism as reactionary and contrary to peaceful national development and progress;
(c) To inculcate consciousness in the people, that the political and armed confrontation between the forces of liberation and those of liberation and those of imperialism and reaction in all their forms is continuous and that the people must be prepared to make sacrifices;
(d) To lay a foundation for the building of a revolutionary Party based on principles of scientific socialism and the practice of democratic centralism;
(e) To foster revolutionary political consciousness in every Zimbabwean to enable him or her to understand the nature of the enemy and the objectives of the revolution at each stage; and
(f) Upon independence, to draw up a constitution laying down guidelines vesting political power in the workers and peasants as the leading force of the revolution, and with the government as an instrument of the Party.
(g) The constitution of an independent Zimbabwe shall provide for the legislature to make laws, an executive to administer the laws, a judiciary to interpret and enforce the laws.
In order to accomplish these objectives, ZAPU
(a) Shall mobilise the masses as the main political force of the revolutionary armed struggle, and for national liberation ap< social transformation;
(b) Shall disseminate this Ideological Programme to ail members and organs of the movement, and make it the basis of political lessons;
(c) Shall intensify its organisational work at branch, district, provincial and national levels, as well as in homes, work places, and institutions of learning;
(d) Shall draw up and systematically carry out a programme of training a core of political cadres which will lead the task of political education;
(e) Shall develop these cadres in the course of the day to day work of the movement.
2. MILITARY
History has proved that exploitative and oppressive ruling classes do not abandon their class privileges voluntarily, that is, without a bitter fight. In other words, they do not as a rule commit class suicide. Our experience under colonialism in Zimbabwe is clear demonstration of this historical fact. We have seen a determined refusal on the part of the British ruling class and its extension in Salisbury to yield to the loud and clear demands of the people of Zimbabwe to exercise their right to self-determination and national independence. It is in the light of this fact that ZAPU decided to embark on a revolutionary armed struggle in order to overthrow British colonial rule in Zimbabwe. In this respect, military education and training in a national liberation movement and among the people is regarded as an integral part of the revolution. The goal is development of a political-military force of the masses to ensure victory and defence of the gains of the revolution.
Towards these objectives, ZAPU shall
(a) Constantly strengthen its fighting wing, the Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) and build it into a genuine people's army, guided by socialist morality;
(b) Strengthen the political-military force of the workers and peasants.
3. ECONOMIC
Understanding that colonialism and imperialism are the direct products of capitalism
ZAPU considers its economic objectives an Integra' aspect of the Zimbabwe people's struggle for independence and socialist reconstruction. The struggle on this front consists of deepening the people's understanding of the present economic set up in Zimbabwe, particularly the nature and extent of control of all sectors of the economy by trans-national monopoly capital. All the natural resources belong to the people and must be retained and shared by them all. The state shall ensure their use in accordance with the growing needs of the people. Therefore, the economic principles shall be:
(a) Land Question
(i) All land is the common heritage of all the people of Zimbabwe;
(ii) It shall not be an object of any form of exchange or speculation.
(iii) It shall be owned and administered by the State on behalf of the people.
(b) Agriculture
(i) The objective shall be the production by the people of sufficient food and raw materials for industry;
(ii) An agrarian reform programme shall be instituted to ensure maximum and efficient use of land; to introduce efficient agricultural methods and techniques in order to increase productivity.
(iii) Efficient agricultural methods and technology shall be emphasised in order to increase production.
(c) Industry
(i) The State shall be the leading force of the national economy;
(ii) There shall be a harmonious and mutually supportive development between agriculture and industry;
(iii) There shall be a harmonious and mutually supportive development between heavy and light industry.
4. POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS.
Alongside land, water and air as the natural gifts to all the people, ZAPU maintains that the right to knowledge, the right to exercise political power and the right to material well-being cannot be the monopoly of individuals or a few people. Every Zimbabwean has the right to these. The social purpose of these is to lay a base for the elimination of all forms of exploitation and all forms of degradation through individual profit motive and class domination.
ZAPU, accordingly, recognises the urgency of providing every Zimbabwean with work and other social benefits.
(a) Obligations of the State
(i) The Constitution of the State of Zimbabwe shall declare socialism as the system of life, or the prevailing order in the country;
(ii) The Constitution shall enshrine the universally accepted human rights, with particular regard for the safeguarding of the socialist way of life of the Zimbabwe people.
(iii) The Constitution of the State shall protect the following rights: personal property, freedom of speech and assembly, freedom of press and creative expression, and freedom to elect one's government.
(b) Obligations of the Citizen
Every citizen shall
(i) Be loyal and patriotic in defending the State and upholding its laws;
(ii) Protect State and Party property.
(c) Labour
(i) The Party regards a sense of duty, hard work, diligence and honesty as foundations of socialism and, in the same sense, it regards laziness as the arch-enemy of socialism;
(ii) All citizens of age shall be entitled to work;
(iii) All workers shall have the right to rest;
(iv) The State shall stipulate by law a national minimum wage.
(v) All workers shall enjoy trade union rights.
(d) Education
(i) Education is the most fundamental factor in developing human resources, as such, its provision and planning deserve priority;
(ii) Education is the unleashing of the creative collective genius of a people towards solving their problems;
(iii) Education must cultivate in people a socialist consciousness which engenders habits of honesty, diligence, hard work, and a keen sense of duty;
(iv) Education shall equip Zimbabwean masses with knowledge which is relevant to our struggle for national liberation and socialist reconstruction;
(v) The State shall take necessary measures to provide compulsory and free education, and to eradicate illiteracy;
(vi) The education curriculum shall be diversified, and its technical and scientific base shall be strengthened to meet the needs of economic reconstruction and social transformation in Zimbabwe.
(vii) There shall be established vocational and research schools attached to factories and collective farms to stimulate production.
(e) Social Welfare
(i) Every citizen shall have the right to material and other assistance in case of old age, illness or any other form of disability;
(ii) The State shall take measures to eliminate economic and social vices such as speculation (stocks and shares), gambling, prostitution, drug addiction and alcoholism;
(iii) Women shall enjoy equal rights with men in all respects with equal protection by the State of each in case of abuse by the other;
(iv) Children shall be properly brought up and also protected by the State in case of abuse;
(v) The State shall give appropriate recognition to national revolutionary heroes. It shall render due compensation to those who have been disabled and suffered loss in the cause of the national liberation struggle.
(f) Health
(i) Healthy citizens are a priority in the development of a country;
(ii) Upon independence a public health scheme shall be provided throughout the country, and health services shall be free to ensure that free health services reach every home;
(iii) Emphasis shall be placed on preventive medicine.
(g) Culture
(i) Zimbabwe has a rich cultural tradition which can be further developed as a weapon in the social transformation of an independent Zimbabwe;
(ii) The State shall protect our rich cultural heritage, and shall encourage the cultivation of a social and cultural behaviour consistent with the life of a revolutionary socialist society;
(iii) There shall be cultural adjuncts to all - schools, factories, farms, army and other Party organs;
(iv) The State shall recover all cultural ornaments and items.
5. ZAPU'S INTERNATIONAL POSITION
As a movement waging a struggle against colonialism, fascism and racism which are them- direct products of imperialism, ZAPU holds high the banner of anti-imperialist and socialist solidarity and unity among all the progressive and working class movements, democratic and all peace-loving forces of the world which have helped to create favourable conditions for national liberation, peace and social progress. In order to achieve these goals it is important for ZAPU
(a) To inform the peoples of all countries about the struggle of the Zimbabwean people against colonialism and imperialism and for independence and social transformation;
(b) To strengthen fraternal ties with all other genuine liberation movements in Africa and other parts of the world; and
(c) To consolidate and develop further bonds of friendship with socialist countries, progressive and working class movements in capitalist countries, and all democratic forces of the world.
Upon Independence, the foreign policy of independent Zimbabwe shall be based on the following principles:
(a) Non-aggression and non-interference in the internal affairs of other States;
(b) Respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity and equality of all States;
(c) Peaceful co-existence of all States regardless of their size and social system;
(d) Upholding the principles of the Charters of the O.A.U. and United Nations.
(e) Continuing to make contribution to the world-wide anti-imperialist struggle aimed at ridding humanity of national oppression and class exploitation. In this way, ZAPU will also contribute to world peace and social progress.
G. CONCLUSION
Therefore, the objectives of our revolutionary armed struggle is the total overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of a socialist State in Zimbabwe. This is the meaning of the ideological objective of our revolution.
PUBLISHED BY:
Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU)
P.O. Box 1657, Lusaka, Zambia.
Compiled by the Department of National Commissariat, ZAPU November, 1978
