A presuppositional analysis of key concepts of the worldview of the South African Communist Party

Abstract

Formed in 1921, the SACP has had an influence on South African politics totally disproportionate to their size. This was attained through its close alliance with the ANC in line with the commands given by Vladimir Lenin at the Third Communist International that communist parties must align with nationalist parties to achieve a two-stage revolution. The SACP used its influence on the ANC to guide it in a communist direction, and through its influence led South Africa in the same direction. For this reason, it is crucial to understand their worldview since this is the guiding force behind the National Democratic Revolution. James Anderson developed a tool for worldview analysis named TAKES (Theology, Anthropology, Knowledge, Ethics, Salvation). Understanding the SACP's views on each of these, as well as the ideological groundwork laid by Marx and Lenin for each, will allow for a better understanding of the party, the ANC, and communism in general. This will lay the groundwork for a holistic Christian response to it. Cornelius van Til developed the Presuppositional Apologetic approach of engaging with non-biblical worldviews, that can be simplified in a two-step process. First, the apologist must assess the competing worldview honestly by using its own logic and principles. This will show that any worldview not based on Scripture will always be self-contradicting and logically incoherent. Second, the apologist must present the Biblical response to the different aspects of the worldview to show that one may find hope and a coherent understanding of the world. This process will be applied to the worldview of the SACP. To do this, its worldview will be divided into five aspects based on James Anderson's TAKES method - namely, Theology, Anthropology, Knowledge (epistemology), Ethics, and Salvation. Following this method, various logical and ethical problems of the SACP's worldview will be clear, as well as the Christian response to them.