The CWI in South Africa
| name | Democratic Socialist Movement |
| address | DSM, P.O Box 596, Newtown 2193, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| telephone | Sheri ++ 27 83 345 2017 |
| Thato (mobile) ++ 27 82 837 1716 | |
| Thato (home) ++ 27 11 805 5039 | |
| democraticsocialist@mweb.co.za |
The Democratic Socialist Movement, the CWI's South African affiliate, for a brief period operated under the name, Socialist Alternative but is known mostly for its work in the mass movement as the Marxist Worker's Tendency (MWT) of the African National Congress.
The MWT produced the theoretical journal, Inqaba ya Basebenzi (Fortress of the Workers) and later the newspaper, Congress Militant. The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) now produces Izwi La Basebenzi - Socialist Voice for Workers and Youth.
The name was changed because of a shift in our orientation away from the African National Congress when in 1996, it adopted the Growth Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) strategy. This meant a departure from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (which offered only limited reforms to the black working class) to neo-liberalism. GEAR embodies the ANC's unavowed acceptance of capitalist neo-liberal economic policies that have led to massive job losses through retrenchment, privatisation and the lowering of trade barriers.
The DSM is campaigning for the building of a mass workers party on a socialist programme. Cosatu can play a leading role in this only if it breaks from the alliance with the ANC and SACP.
The DSM is active in the Anti-Privatisation Forum formed by trade unionists, political and community activists and NGOs fighting the privatisation of Johannesburg (iGoli 2002) and the Wits University (Wits 2001). DSM members are active in their communities, trade unions and student structures. DSM will be fighting for a mass campaign to fight Aids directed against the international drug companies represented by the Pharmaceutical Association.
