قراءة في كتاب الخاتم.... بقلم د. محجوب التجاني

Quote: Book Review - Al-Khatim ‘Adlan’s Ma al-Manfa? Wa Ma howa al-Watan? (3) Mahgoub El-Tigani December 24, 2006 Convergences between Mahgoub, Nugud’s Renewal, and ‘Adlan There might have been many reasons for al-Khatim ‘Adlan to pursue significant divergences from party lines. Based on his black-and-white style of political activism, he was destined to act liberally, apart from all bureaucratic rules, to wage public criticisms against the state of affairs, ideology, and political performance of the party. Predictably, his confrontationist move ended up his party membership, only to bring to being HAQ, a new off-shoot of the “National Democratic Stage,” to recall the communist conception, by the mid 90ies. It might be inferred, reading over Ma al-Manfa that, what inspired ‘Adlan by the thought of ‘Abd al-Khaliq was definitely “’al-Juraa’ al-Fikriya” [intellectual boldness, visions, and decisiveness] (see pp. 76-77). These are competencies that ‘Adlan highly attributed to the former secretary general of the party, while repeatedly accusing his successors of missing them (see for example, pp. 87; 230; 236). Although speaking highly of Nugud’s popularity, ‘Adlan criticized ‘Abd-al Khaliq successor’s intellectual performance: “He is dogmatic, hesitant, and is short of intellectual boldness. He wouldn’t play the leadership’s intellectual role; i.e., to act decisively with clear views, even if a decision results in error” (p. 262). Nugud’s initiative back in the early 90ies to renew the party and the difficult Task of transforming the 50 years’ communist body into a fashionable socialist entity in the Sudanese political arena, however, suggest a different view from ‘Adlan’s evaluation. ‘Abd al-Khaliq’s firm commitment to the needs and aspirations of the poor impacted ‘Adlan thinking throughout his political life, irrespective of formal membership or non-membership of the party. According to research on the Communist Party confrontations vis-à-vis the succeeding governments of Sudan, these characteristics had been largely shared by a great many leaders and members of the party whose principal mission had been founded and entrenched over long years based upon similar intellectual origins and political struggles. The party’s socio-economic and demographic milieu was mostly composed of urban workers, junior state employees, and small businesspersons, besides a smaller size of supporters among agrarian groups, Bedouins, and seasonal workers. A wealth of intellectual contributions in all lively issues of the Sudanese politics, socio-economics, cultural and aesthetic life by many members or supporters from the varying ranks of these party sources stand on equal grounds with the high quality of ‘Abd al-Khaliq thought and ‘Adlan’s sophistication. Omer Mustafa El-Mekki, Joseph Garang, al-Gizouli Sa’eed, for example, among several other thinkers, stand out as bright examples. This widely public accumulation of intellectual activities made of the Communist Party an influential learning institution despite its small voting size compared to the intellectual works by the other large-scale constituencies of the Umma and the DUP. In Nugud's Renewal of the CP Program, reference was made to the party’s official documents, conference materials, central committee sessions, and the ‘Abd al-Khaliq On the Program masterpiece that Nugud partially incorporated in his project to renew the party. The task of renewing the Program was a complex mission. It involved careful thinking on the party’s need to maintain the positive struggles and outcome of the past, without losing sight of the challenges of the present, or the required projection of the future. From the most part, the reader might see in Nugud’s Renewal the same language of ‘Abd al-Khaliq Program. The reader will find the concepts of working classes, surplus value, Sudanese revolution, and democracy cultures, etc. albeit with a most interesting attempt to use them within a revised frame of contemporary thought. The purpose of such revision, as Nugud asserted, was to meet the age’s challenges and concerns: "The Program is a concentrated version of the general aims and indicators of the direction of development and the political and social struggle. It is not a ready-made protocol or model of application," explained Nugud. ‘Adlan mentioned that “Nugud was absolutely unable to offer a clear definition of socialism [in his Renewal] because he rightfully negated the notion of socialism as the State ownership of the means of production; and affirmed that socialism is the collective ownership of the means of production” (p. 277). Apparently, however, the conceptual difficulties of superseding the concept of socialism, as well as many other communist outdated definitions by workable contemporary perspectives constituted one reason why Nugud's handling of the Task was meant to incite more discussion, not to offer final directives or ready-made solutions (see the complete work of Nugud’s Renewal for more details). --------------------------------------------- Book Review - Al-Khatim ‘Adlan’s Ma al-Manfa? Wa Ma howa al-Watan? (4) Mahgoub El-Tigani December 24, 2006 Continued Convergences between Mahgoub, Nugud’s Renewal, and ‘Adlan A task of special interest to a large number of Sudanese intellectuals and the others concerned with social change in the Third World Countries is to assess the extent to which "the direction of development and social struggles" might transcend a party’s foundation. How much success Nugud Renewal actually achieved is a major question whose answer remains to be seen. It is as Nugud himself wrote: "The judgment and final word is reserved to the standards of science, practice, and the will of peoples and the working masses." On his turn, ‘Adlan insisted consistently in the al-Manfa (pp. 37; 83-93; p.220-) that democratic reforms by widening up popular participation in the intellectual life of party, rather than entrusting the secretary general and/or other high-ranking leaders with the Task of renewal is the only possible Way to guarantee effective change in the development of party structure or orientation. Ma al-Manfa included illuminating statements by al-Khatim, then Chairperson of the HAQ Executive Committee. Important renewals were succinctly pointed by the Chair with respect to the notion of “diversity,” “the orientation towards sisterly political alliances with the social movements of rural Sudan in Darfur and the South,” and a serious emphasis on “party democracy” and “a strong civil society.” In this writer’s opinion, the most significant national action program was articulated by the strong emphasis of the HAQ Leader on the need to “gain confidence of the Southerner, in general, and the Southerners in the North, in particular. This [magnificent move] must start with the treatment of the southerners displaced people in the camps, workers in factories, students in universities, and intellectuals in the clubs and in the Press in a Way completely different from the persecution, humiliation, and segregation they have been continually suffering.” What a grandiose national democratic commitment! ‘Adlan sent with this powerful call a clear message of a possible national unity to the whole Nation: “This [new treatment] requires the commission of all political forces, government or opposition, to provide the minimum services and the [full] citizenship rights [to the Southerners]” (pp. 40-41). Needless to say, the comprehensiveness of this national scheme should definitely embrace all persecuted ethnicities or religious groups of Sudan , as 'Adlan elaborated in other parts of the Manfa. Equally importantly, HAQ emphasized in the Executive Committee’s address “the unity of Sudan ” on the basis of the full enjoyment of social justice, human rights and civil freedoms. Also, 'Adlan called [in another address] on the convening of a “national conference for the forces of the New Sudan, which is required to form a comprehensive democratic program for the upcoming democracy” (p. 192). The HAQ top executive affirmed the well-known “national democratic” concepts and struggles: “development, modernity, and progression,” “loud voices of the working groups to the right to work with fair wages and the attainment of basic needs,” “women’s emancipation,” and “society liberalization,” etc. (pp. 33-44). Noted, however, were the avoidance of “class” “national democratic stage” and the other historical concepts of the mother party. Regardless of the non-continuity of HAQ as a unified body, due to unresolved leadership disputes and other negativities slightly mentioned by 'Adlan in the book, HAQ opted under ‘Adlan’s leadership for more liberalization of the philosophical tenets of the communist party, namely the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and the centralized decision-making processes that al-Khatim consistently criticized as a stifling Stalinism of party democracy and progression. Despite a fresh approach to deal with social backwardness, political regression, and economic underdevelopment, HAQ apparently retained main contextual premises of the Sudanese socialist thought (the contradictory conflict between pauperized labor and exploitation relations, and the need thereof to apply emancipation methods). Hunted by a socialist ghost, namely the impacting ideas of the founding former communists, HAQ appeared as an intelligent attempt pressing for the “renewal” of the “mother party” with reformative organizational and administrative measures, albeit from outside the communist body itself, rather than a new political organization based on a fresh school of thought. Khatim’s pleasure with the reformative democratic adoptions of the new Constitution of the Communist Party (pp. 238-9) indicated further his genuine, liberal, and steadfast critiques of the party’s bureaucracy. Wasn’t it possible for party leadership to have accommodated all these convergences, timely?!