UNITY NEWSLETTER NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1967
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If we persist along the old lines, we shall only succeed in
undermining the solidarity and effectiveness of the Liberation
Movement in our country, dissipating the energies of our people and
repeating the mistakes of the past.  It is the duty of the leaderships of our South African organisations to mobilise the population
and inspire the people with hope and confidence that their just
cause must and will triumph.  This calls for realism and integrity
from the leadership.  For in this the population must not be
divided and self-seeking individuals whose self-interest is for
them greater than their interest in the South African Revolution.
But the sine qua non is readiness, willingness and preparedness on
the part of the leadership to exercise the very painful art of
honest criticism and especially self-criticism.  If we v/ere honest
enough to see the objective and subjective necessity for this, it
would not be impossible for us to admit some unpleasant things about
ourselves and our parties, instead of regarding any attempt to do
this as either the work of "traitors" or of "renegades".
Those who are prone to characterise others in this v/ay, would
do v/ell to remember that revolutionary morality and dynamism demand
just this kind of exercise - criticism and self-criticism.  Those who
have nothing to hide; those v/ho have the truth on their side; those
who have the masses on their side, have nothing to fear in criticism
and self-criticism.  Politically and ideologically this is a necessary
prerequisite for dynamic development.  Without it stagnation and
decadence result.
—Of course.those who are politically impeachable; v/ho have a lot
to hide; whose motives are questionable, cannot be expected to cherish
this kind of introspection.  Their greatest preoccupation is to build
up "a web of mystifications" about their past and "to show that every
new course of action is somehow related to, or the logical result off
an old victorious action".
To sum up: v/e need to assess the South African situation and our
role in the South African Revolution more realistically and on a non-
sectarian basis.  Our immediate task is planning and preparation for
seizure of power by revolution.  When this has been accomplished those
who love it may then retire to the sidelines of self-admiration and
adulation or continue to revel in the dubious comforts of self-
delusion.  At that stage they can do no harm to the Revolution, and
history, the final arbiter in these matters, v/ill simply brush them
aside and put paid to their old wives' tales.
THE THINGS THEY SAY
'Che1 Guevara - on The Struggle and Leaders, contained in his
message to the Tricontinental Conference:
"New uprisings shall take place in these and other countries
of Our America, as it has already happened in Bolivia, and they shall
continue to grow in the midst of all the hardships inherent to this
dangerous profession of being modern revolutionaries.  Many shall
perish, victims of their errors;  others shall fall in the tough-
battle that approaches;  new fighters and new leaders shall appear
in the warmth of the revolutionary struggle.  The people shall create
their warriors and leaders in the selective framev/ork of the war
itself."