{"id":388,"date":"2019-05-16T07:55:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T05:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolucionpermanente.com\/english\/?p=388"},"modified":"2019-08-03T08:03:28","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T06:03:28","slug":"sudan-for-revolution-to-triumph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolucionpermanente.com\/english\/2019\/05\/16\/sudan-for-revolution-to-triumph\/","title":{"rendered":"Sudan: for revolution to triumph"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

A bourgeoisie unable to unify\nthe country<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At the time\nof official independence (1956), the nascent Sudanese bourgeoisie divides itself\npolitically between two options. One stakes on religion to dominate other\nclasses; it is embodied in several movements: the Umma (born in 1945), hostile to\nEgypt, and also the Muslim Brotherhood of the Islamic Chart Front (ICF, today\ndivided between the NCP and the PCP). The other one reckons on Arab nationalism\nthat has the wind aft in neighbouring Egypt: the National Unionist Party (NUP, today\nDUP), the term \u201cunionist\u201d designating the initial will of the pro-Nasser party to\nunify Sudan and Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For want of\na sufficient accumulation of capital at the national scale, the Sudanese\nbourgeoisie has difficulty in unifying at the scale of the whole country, in\nstabilising the State, in ensuring its hegemony over other social classes. The\nimperialist powers (foremost Great-Britain and the Unites States), the regional\npowers (Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran) and even neighbouring States (Eritrea,\nChad, Ethiopia, Uganda \u2026) interfere in the political life and contribute to\nthe balkanisation of the country. More than elections and the parliament, the\nmilitary coups and popular uprisings will punctuate the political life of the\ncountry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can the\nworking class compensate for the historical failure of the bourgeoisie? The\nparty at the disposal of the proletariat on the independence, the Sudanese Communist\nParty (SCP), is one of the most important workers\u2019 parties in Africa. It is present\nin both the South and the North. It leads the young working class, in particular\nof the railways, it influences a great number of farmers, students, intellectuals,\nsoldiers and officers. But, despite the name \u201ccommunist\u201d, it is in fact Stalinist,\nMenshevik. It has no confidence in the working class. It subordinates the proletariat\nto the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie in the name of \u201cthe unity of the driving forces of the\nnation\u201d, <\/em>the \u201cunion of the working\nclass, the peasantry, the national bourgeoisie, the progressive intellectuals\u201d<\/em>\n(SCP, January 1, 1956).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1989: the putsch of sheikh\nTurabi and colonel Bashir<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In 1989,\ncolonel Omar Al-Bashir overthrows the Al-Mahdi government and takes power with\nthe help of the NIF. He proclaims an Islamic State, forbids political parties and\nindependent trade unions (the confederation SWTUF becomes an appendix of the\nState). The NIF massively purges the army, the police and the civilian administration.\nIt establishes a single party, an Islamist one, the National Congress Party (NCP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2003, the\nregime decides then to maintain Darfur by force within its borders, with the\nsame methods as in Southern Sudan before. As the army does not show itself very\naggressive, it pays and equips \u201cArab\u201d militias named Janjawids. The conflict has\ncaused to this day 300 000 deaths et 2,5 million displaced people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2011, the\npartition between North and South takes place. Southern Sudan inherits the\ngreatest part of oil deposits (between 70 % et 80 %). In January\n2016, Sudan breaks with Iran. It gets close to Egypt and the Gulf monarchies. Saudi\nArabia sells fuel at a low price and loans one billion dollars (about 900\nmillion euros); in return, Sudan supports the invasion of Yemen and provides\ntroops, mainly militias. The United States lift their sanctions in October\n2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China is\nthe main provider of Sudan and the main investor. The single party NCP invites the\nsingle party of China, the CCP, to its congress of 2017. It sends executives to\nbe educated at the training school of Chinese high-ranking officials, the\nPudong University (Shanghai).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2018: the beginning of a revolution<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The GDP goes\ndown 2.3 % in 2018. The trade deficit grows despite clandestine exports of\ngold. Inflation is at least 70 %. 70 % of budget expenses are\nallocated to forces of repression (secret services, among which NISS, militias\nreconverted into RSF, traditional army \u2026).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On December\n19, 2018 the Sudanese government announces, among other measures, the tripling\nof the price of bread. The very next day, the population, among which many\nwomen, demonstrates. This uprising fits into ongoing democratic struggles in\nAngola, in Ethiopia, in Gambia and foremost in Algeria. The demonstrations are\norganised by a petty bourgeois structure, the Sudanese Professionals Association\n(SPA) that regroups engineers, lawyers, physicians, academics … The repression\nis violent: arrests, beatings, shootings on the crowd by the NISS and the Islamist\nmilitias RSF. The outcome is 90 arrested journalists, 9 women sentenced to\nwhipping for inappropriate behaviour, 800 sentences to long-term imprisonment and\nat least 60 deaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the\nmasses, at the end of four months of sacrifices, tip conscripts and non-commissioned\nofficers. Some protect them against the exactions of the political police: on\nApril 8, soldiers confront a \u201cRapid Support Force\u201d (the RSF of colonel Daglo called\n\u201cHemetti\u201d). Forms of self-organisation appear in neighbourhoods. Revolution starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling\nclass prepares since long alternative bourgeois solutions with the help of the\nwestern imperialist bourgeoisies. On the one hand, the political police and the\narmy staff are ready to sacrifice the fuse Bashir (as their counterparts have\nousted Bouteflika in Algeria), solution to which China also resigns itself. On\nthe other hand, bourgeois political parties (DUP, Umma, PCP\u2026) integrate into\ntheir alliances and their strategy of defence of capitalism and safeguard of\nthe bourgeois State the militant organisation of the petty bourgeoisie, the SPA,\nand the only workers\u2019 party, the SCP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This national\nunion is named Forces of Declaration of Freedom and Change (FDFC). On January the\n1st<\/sup>, it publishes its programme. It is not even democratic: there is\nno question of an elected government, but of a civilian government leading the\ncountry for 4 years without consulting the population that is sent unarmed to\nconfront the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SPA, while\nit organises the demonstrations, begs the army staff to oust Bashir and preaches\npacifism to the masses. Workers and employees act as their troops, since they\ndo not have their own, independent (truly communist) organisation. The \u201cCommunist\u201d\nParty that had already set up a popular front with the political debris of pan-Arabism\nand even the Umma, aligns itself totally on the petty bourgeoisie and even the\nbig one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secretariat of the Central Committee of the Sudanese CP launched two appeals on December 31 and January the 1<\/em>st<\/em><\/sup>, calling for continued mass actions, based on the unity of opposition forces and around their declared demand: the overthrow of the regime, its dismantling and liquidation\u00a0\u2026 Furthermore, it called on the masses to stay firm and to unite around their aspirations for a bright future founded on equality, the rule of law and the independent participation of workers to the decision process and to the implementation. It affirmed its attachment to the principles contained in the democratic alternative adopted by the opposition. (SCP, January 8, 2019)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On April\n11, a junta called Transitional Military Council (TMC) dismisses Bashir, frees\ndemonstrators and imprisoned opponents, and takes power for 2 years. At its\nhead, general Burhan is one of the leaders of repression in Darfur; Hemetti is number\n2. China recognises immediately the TMC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cCommunist\u201d\nParty preaches pacifism and attempts to prevent the proletarian class struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SCP and all opposition forces carry on their revolution until the establishment of a civilian government that represents the masses and implements the democratic alternative programme accepted by all forces. (SCP, April 12, 2019)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On April 27,\nthe FDFC and the TMC announce a compromise for a mixed transitional government,\ncomposed of civilian bourgeois and of officers. On May 13, armed gangs, probably\nthe officially dissolved NISS and the RSF, more powerful than ever, attack\ndemonstrators. On May 15, the TMC and the FDFC publish an agreement to put\npower for 3 years in the hands of a Council of Sovereignty, unelected, composed\nof 67 % from the FDFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2019: for permanent revolution\n<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The fundamental\nfreedoms must be conquered by workers and serve for the working class to take\nthe lead of the masses, to build organs of soviet type, to disarm the NISS and\nthe RSF, to undermine the bourgeois army and to win soldiers, with their\nweapons, to the cause of revolution. The combination of political and social\ndemands of the working class, of working farmers, of minor civil servants, of\nstudents, of conscripts, etc., will raise the question of the taking of power by\nworkers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To lead revolution\nto victory, the workers\u2019 and students\u2019 vanguard must organise itself, in\nconnection with proletarian revolutionaries of the region and of the whole\nworld, in a workers\u2019 party independent of imperialism, of the bourgeois State, of\ncapitalist parties, whether they are Arab nationalists or Islamists, a party of\nthe Bolshevik type.<\/p>\n\n\n\n