Transformation 3 (1987)                                         Editorial
    EDITORIAL
       The Imposition of the state of emergency and the state's relative
   success In dampening down popular struggles has shifted political Interest
   towards International pressure on South Africa. Opening up the Internatio-
   nal dimension to political debate Is of considerable Importance as South
   African social scientists and political activists often tend to assume
   uncritically that International pressure is the key to eliminating apart-
   heid, while falling to assess South Africa's economic and political place
   In the International division of labour.
       Three of the contributions In TRANSFORMATION 3 add to our understanding
   of the international dimension. Vishnu Padayachee tackles an area that has
   been ignored by local radical economists, but Is of major Importance to
   most students of Imperialism 1n the modern world economy - the role of the
   International Monetary Fund. He addresses the issue of South Africa's
   dependent relationship to the IMF both historically and currently.
   Padayachee makes it clear that the IMF are apt to have their own agenda for
   South Africa and certainly their own criteria for doing business with it.
   Such an agenda threatens to shape transformations in the region as well as
   to react upon them.
       The latest US Congress report on the Influence of the South African
   Communist Party in our document section, by providing us with another facet
   of imperialism and the world order, explores a major strand In the politi-
   cal perspective of the United States. The USA desires to play a central
    role in any significant political shifts 1n South Africa. A variety of
    pressures are operating to tilt the American government away from friend-
    ship with Pretoria and towards a more accommodating relationship with the
   ANC as well as black politics in general. This document suggests one way in
   which powerful voices in the USA assess what may be the greatest dilemna
    for them, the historic role of the SACP as ally to the ANC.
        Rob Davies deals with South Africa's dominant role in the region. His
    careful and detailed analysis focuses on the Nkomati Accord and the desta-
    bilisation of Mozambique. Revealing In its analysis of unity and division
    within the South African state as the article Is, It may be argued that the
    perspective of te Mozambican state needs equally careful scrutiny.
        Another focus of current interest is the relevance of the coming elec-
    tions on 6 May and how mass organisations should react to them. Attracting
    an apparently unprecedented level of registration amongst white voters, the
    election campaign invites considerable analytical interest as well. South
    African English language papers have concentrated mainly on the hopes of


   Trans format fon 3                                             Editorial
  the PFP-NRP alliance as well as the Nat breakaways, especially Denis
  Horrall, and their Impact 1n turn on the 'New Nats' remaining within the
  party. The document from the Centro de Estudos AfMcanos takes up the other
  side of the spectrum, the right-wing danger and its significance.
     Steve Friedman discusses the relative strengths and weaknesses of popu-
  lar and working class organisation and the ongoing struggles over different
  strategies within such organisations. He makes some very Interesting compa-
  rative remarks looking at resistance before 1960 and in the most recent
  period and provocatively suggests the merits of an organisational as
 opposed to a protest strategy.
  CONTRIBUTORS
 VISHNU PADAYACHEE is a researcher at the Institute for Social and
 Economic Research, University of Ourban-Hestvi1le, and is working on a
 PhD about South African international economic relations.
ROBERT OAVIES is based at the Centro de Estudos Africanos, Universi-
dade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, and Is the co-author with Dan O'Omeara
and S1pho Dlam1n1 of The Struggle for South Africa (Zed Books, 1984)
among many publications.
STEVE FRIEDMAN is presently a senior researcher at the Institute of
Race Relations, Johannesburg. His book, Building Tomorrow Today:
African Horkers in Trade Unions 1970-84 has just been published by
Ravan Press.