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Nationalism and labor in the Sudan: the influence of communism (2)Abdel -Rahman E. Ali Taha Abdul Rahman Ali Taha Introduction: This is the second and final part of a translation of most of what was mentioned in an article published in 1976 AD in Volume No. 57 of the magazine “Sudan in Letters and Blogs (SNR),” pp. 81-89, written by Dr. Abdul Rahman Ali Taha. This paper is taken from a doctoral dissertation that the writer submitted to the University of California, Los Angeles in 1970 AD under the title: “On the Labor Movement in Sudan: A Study of Labor Unionism in a Developing Society.” The writer worked as an associate professor in the Department of Business Administration at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Khartoum until 1975 AD, when he began his professional career in the world of international and regional development financing institutions, until he retired with a pension. Translator* The labor movement and national parties are perhaps one of the most important factors that determined the role of the movements African workers in “national politics” was the nature of their relationship with the national parties. For example, in Guinea, where the relationship between the Democratic Party of Guinea (PDG) and the Confederation General of Labor (CGT) – and the latter’s successor bodies – was very close throughout most of the pre-independence period, it was like the relationship between two divisions in one army. In Kenya, where the ties between the National Party and the African Union of Labor were very close, it became almost impossible to distinguish between the roles played by the National Movement and the labor movement. What the National Party achieved was considered, in essence, an achievement for the workers as well. On the other hand, we find that in some countries where there were almost no ties (between the party and the workers) during most of the pre-independence period (as is the case in Nigeria after 1950 AD), the labor movement’s contribution to the national struggle through direct political action was somewhat limited. As for Sudan, neither of the two major national parties (the Nation and the Unionists) showed any interest in the emerging labor movement. In fact, their main contribution to the struggle of the railway workers in Sudan in 1947 (the struggle that resulted in the recognition of the Labor Affairs Authority as a trade union) was their success in mediating a dispute between the workers and the colonial administration (1). However, even after the railway workers and other workers succeeded in organizing their ranks and proving their ability to challenge the colonial authority through strikes, the two major parties made no attempt to win Their support for the national cause. The close relationship between the two main parties and the two major religious communities in Sudan has prevented the emergence of close ties (or even just cooperation) between these two parties and the labor movement. The two major parties continued to rely on the absolute loyalty that the two sects enjoyed among large segments of the population, as a ready and loyal source of their political support. In addition, it is very likely – although not certain – that the loyalties of the broad bases of trade union members (who were newly freed from tribal ties) were still directed towards religious and tribal leaders. This interpretation is reinforced by what Joan Davies (2) stated that “parties led by elites, whether tribal leaders or from the affluent middle class, tended to exclude unions as an important source of power, as parties such as the Northern Peoples Congress in Nigeria or the Kabaka Yokka in Uganda derived their strength from the entrenched tribal system…” The conservative ideology of the traditional parties (and their marked absence of socialist ideas) did not help direct their attention towards the importance of labor organization as a potential political tool. This trend may have been reinforced by prevailing social values that greatly diminish the status of manual labor and manual workers. On the other hand, the Sudanese Communist Movement showed great interest in the emergence and development of the labor movement, and succeeded in establishing strong relations with the “Sudan Federation of Trade Unions” since its founding in 1951 AD, which enabled it to exercise a great influence on its policies, especially with regard to its participation in the national struggle. It was natural for Sudanese communists to show interest in labor organizing and seek to influence (if not control) it; They view themselves as the “party of the working class,” and see trade unions as indispensable tools in their arsenal of struggle. On page 50 of the constitution of the Sudanese Communist Party (issued in Arabic in Khartoum in 1967), the following contents are stated: “The Sudanese Communist Party also affirms its role as the vanguard and teacher of the working class, as the party sees itself as an entity that includes in its ranks the vanguard of the revolutionary masses, and works – through theoretical and practical training and continuous revolutionary activity – to prepare leaders capable of guiding the working class to its historical role…” Details of the precise role played by the communists in the emergence of the global movement have not yet been determined. Sudanese. However, most of the available sources indicate that they were active in the field of organization and struggle for recognition of the “Labor Affairs Authority.” The Communists used to exaggerate in saying that the Sudanese Communist Party alone organized the labor movement in Sudan. However, Hashim Al-Saeed, the former secretary of the “Workers’ Affairs Authority” (3), was more humble when he stated the following to the author of this article (while collecting information on the subject of his thesis. The translator): that the communists “helped guide the workers to the cause and nature of their problems. They greatly assisted them in the processes of organization and mobilization, carried out studies on their economic conditions, and succeeded in directing their movement towards the struggle against colonialism.” Some non-communist leaders of the labor movement emphasized the role of the communists. In the establishment of the labor movement, however, some of those leaders (such as Tayeb Hassan Ibrahim, the first secretary of the Railway Workers’ Affairs Authority) (4) had mentioned to the author in a personal interview that the presence of communists in the leadership of the movement represented a source of distraction, if not harm. In the absence of clearer evidence, the only consistent fact regarding the early relations between the labor movement and the communists remains that the communists actively participated in the struggle to organize the Workers’ Affairs Authority and extract recognition. With it. They succeeded – at least – in planting the seeds of trade union work that had a political nature, and in forming a small cadre of trained communists within the labor movement, which undoubtedly paved the way for influencing the “Sudan Federation of Trade Unions” upon its founding in the late 1950s. The nature of the relationship between the communists and the “Sudan Federation of Trade Unions” still awaits investigation and scrutiny. However, there is enough evidence to show that the Communists were closely linked to that union. Perhaps the election of Al-Shafi’ Ahmed Al-Sheikh (a communist leader and veteran activist) to establish the “Workers’ Affairs Authority” represents the clearest evidence of the strength of communist influence within the union. In addition, the colonial administration believed that the Sudan Federation of Trade Unions had already fallen under the control of the communists. The annual report of the Labor Authority for the years (1952-1953 AD) described the leaders of the “Labor Affairs Authority” as “communists who do not hide their affiliation.” The British administrator KDD Henderson mentioned on page 99 of his book “The Sudan Republic,” published in 1965, that by the end of 1951, the Communists had completely dominated the “Labor Affairs Authority.” However, Saad al-Din Fawzi (in his book on the labor movement in Sudan) had a more moderate and realistic opinion, in which he rejects the idea of “communist dominance” and believes that “there was a form of communication between some of the leaders of the Sudanese Trade Unions and the local communists to exchange opinions and the broad lines of the agreed upon policy…” The Sudan Federation of Trade Unions and the National Political Entities Regardless of the aforementioned debate about the nature of the relationship between the “Sudan Federation of Trade Unions” and the communists, it is It is clear that the Communists played a decisive role in determining the role of the Union in the arena of national politics. This is clearly evident in the striking similarity between the strategy and tactics of the two organizations. In its first annual conference, which was held in December 1951, the Union amended its constitution in order to define its political role in terms that almost exactly match the communist political line that we mentioned in the first part of this paper. The new goals were as follows: 1/ Immediately eliminating colonialism in Sudan in all its forms: economic, political, administrative and military. 2/ Taking away Sudan’s right to self-determination in an atmosphere devoid of foreign influences. 3/ Absolutely not cooperating with the colonial regime. 4/ Uniting the Sudanese people in a unified front that includes political groups and others whose political goals are similar to the goals of the Union. The approval of these political goals was justified on pages 50-51 in the report. The “Sudan Federation of Trade Unions” issued in 1951-1952 AD based on the following reasons: “The struggle of our labor movement has proven that the demand for better economic and social conditions, and the hope of living in a life of peace and prosperity, has no obstacle other than this imperialist regime that rules our country. Therefore, we see, in the final analysis, that our goals will not be achieved until this imperialist regime is expelled from our country.” As we mentioned previously, the communists organized “Unified Front for the Liberation of Sudan” with the aim of uniting all “progressive” forces in the struggle against colonialism. The Sudan Federation of Trade Unions was an active member of this front, presenting a number of its prominent leaders and participating in organizing marches and demonstrations. In addition, the union worked to form “national workers’ committees” to organize and mobilize workers at the local level. However, despite the establishment of a small number of these committees, available information is scarce regarding the extent to which they succeeded in achieving their goals. As we mentioned earlier, the fate of the “Front” was decided under the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1953 AD (known as the Agreement on Self-Government and Self-Determination. Translator), which promised to grant the Sudanese the right to self-determination within three years. As for the communists (and others) who opposed this agreement, they were – in that opposition – contrary to national sentiments, as they did not gain support from any party except the “Sudan Workers Union”, which tried to organize a general strike to highlight its opposition to this agreement. However, the strike was not carried out, and the union was forced to declare that every worker has the right to adopt his own political opinions. Thus, any direct political action that the union contributed to the national struggle was carried out within the framework of communist strategy and tactics, which means – in the final analysis – that these efforts were made to a large extent outside the main stream of the national movement. However, all of the above should not be considered a detraction from the role that it played The labor movement as a whole contributed to the national struggle through strikes. There is no doubt that the strike carried out by railway workers to gain recognition by the authorities for their union in July 1947 AD, and the strikes in January and March 1948 AD in order to increase salaries, contributed to damaging the prestige of the colonial administration. They also contributed, by doing so, to undermining the aura of “invincibility and invincibility” that characterized the colonial regime, which gave the national forces the confidence they had in It is desperately needed in its dealings with that colonial system. In addition, the Sudanese Workers Union organized a number of strikes of a political nature during the year 1951 AD, such as the “Freedoms” strike, which was organized in protest against a constitutional amendment that granted the Governor-General the power to declare a state of emergency when strikes or other emergencies occurred. These strikes created a general climate of political unrest, which undoubtedly contributed to strengthening the national cause and pushing it forward (5). Conclusion: As we mentioned in the introduction to this paper (in the first part of the translation of this translated article), the nature of workers’ participation in the national struggle may bear great importance in view of the role played by the labor movement in the post-independence phase. In countries such as Guinea and Tanzania, where the labor movement was a close ally of the main national party – although not fully integrated with it – it was not difficult (and sometimes even natural) to integrate the labor movement into party and government structures after independence. As for Sudan, as we mentioned earlier, the labor movement – at the level of the General Union of Sudanese Workers at least – allied itself with a movement representing a minority (the communist movement), which led to its direct participation in national politics being marginal when compared to the main stream of the national movement in Sudan. Therefore, it was not surprising that the Sudanese labor movement found itself playing the role of political opposition to the traditional regimes in Sudan after it gained independence. The repercussions of this reality were not limited to the course of the labor movement, but it also proved to be a changing and important factor in the dynamics of political development in the country. *References 1/ The writer cited here what was stated on page 56 of a book in English entitled: “The Labor Movement in Sudan. 1946 – 1955 AD” by Dr. Saad Al-Din Fawzi. 2/ Joan Davies (1936 – 2000 AD) a British academic (from Wales) who specialized in sociology, and was known for her important writings about the labor movement in Africa. 3/ For more about the labor leader Hashim Al-Saeed, you can look at An article by Taj Al-Sir Othman (https://shorturl.at/lIQ3h), and another article by Abdullah Ali Ibrahim (https://shorturl.at/YCiAu).4/ You can look at this link to Abdullah Ali Ibrahim’s article about the labor leader Al-Tayeb Hassan https://shorturl.at/bga6s.5/ In this article, there is an account of the strikes that were carried out during the years of dual rule in Sudan. https://sl1nk.com/6o19ab7 sudanzebra@gmail.com Writer
