The African National Congress, within which the Communist Party of South Africa is influential, has a long history, a substantial apparatus, and well-established international links.
An examination of its record around three important moments - the African miners' strike of 1946, the mass strikes after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, and the ANC's turn to armed struggle in 1961 - shows, however, why there is good cause for militant black workers to turn away from the leadership of the ANC.