By way of introduction -- The roots of the present world crisis. World capitalism and the necessity of socialism ; The theory and practice of permanent revolution ; The rise of Stalinism -- South Africa : resistance to conquest and capitalism. The 1928 'black republic' resolution of the Communist Party of South Africa ; The rise of a mass African Nationalist Congress, 1948-56 ; From the Alexander bus boycott to Sharpeville, 1957-60 ; Sharpeville and its aftermath -- The nature of post-capitalist states in the twentieth century. The nature of the Soviet state ; The Chinese revolution and its significance ; The new South African Communist Party analysis of the Soviet state ; The debate around Slovo's 'Has socialism failed?' -- South Africa : the struggle for national and social liberation, 1960-94. The strategy of armed struggle in southern Africa, 1961-75 ; The revolutionary upsurge of the 1980s -- South Africa in the twenty-first century. The South African political economy ; Wealth, poverty and unemployment ; Conclusion : a political way forward.