Cde Jack Simons was a dedicated revolutionary and Communist, an intellectual giant, a writer of books, a professor at universities, and perhaps the most consistent and dedicated activist committed to political education. He chose to live in the camps in Angola to undertake the political and ideological education of MK soldiers.

Comrade Jack used a similar teaching method everywhere he taught – in Cape Town, in Lusaka and at the Novo Catengue camp in Angola – but he was careful to tailor his method to suit each group he worked with. His teaching went alongside ongoing assessment of the course and of cadres’ progress, reflecting his critical approach to education and his belief that improvements can be made if practice is reviewed and examined. He firmly adopted a participatory education approach. There is no one better to honour in the SACP Online Party School for political education and ideological cadre development than Cde Jack, hence the name, “Jack Simons Party School”.

Most of the comrades who were trained by Cde Jack in the MK camps in Angola acknowledged how much his teaching method helped them to learn and to grow into political activists capable of arguing their positions and defending their views.

Comrade Jack’s methods embodied his concept of the role of the communist intellectual: one who takes seriously, at whatever risk, the business of developing others. But they also incorporated the acknowledged principles of effective adult education, deeply rooted in problem-solving as a methodology for learning, which involved posing questions rather than telling comrades what he thought. Comrade Jack was not only a gifted teacher, but an inspired trainer of trainers.  And his intention was captured in his statement: “They have to bloody well think”

The Jack Simons Party School aims through regular online classes to enhance the ideological and political depth of Party cadres, from Central Committee to branch level, and also provide the mechanism through provincial chapters of the Jack Simons party School for this to reach into all Party structures and members. To this end:

• A range of comrades are invited to lecture at the School, from the leadership of the SACP, fraternal organisations and academia.
• The format takes a public lecture, and then a closed class discussion.
• The School lectures are livestreamed to the Jack Simons Facebook Page.
• The presentations made to the School are loaded onto this website.
• Some of the presentations are also published in the SACP publications, The African Communist and Umsebenzi Online.

The intention is that through all of this, Party members and all users of the website can benefit from access to these lectures delivered to the Jack Simons Party School, and that over time Provincial and District Chapters of the School will be able to utilise the material to spread the political education and ideological development to a broader reach of cadres.

Cde Jack’s teaching methods were established on the following principles, which should inform the SACP approach to political education:

• The role of the teacher: start from where the students are.
• Build a political instructorate who can reproduce the political classes.
• Ensure an inclusive approach to political education and overcome any challenges to participation and learning, be they language, formal education levels, patriarchal attitudes or others.
• Validate the experience of learners and use it as a resource,
• There is no such thing as a stupid question – welcome all debates and inquiries.
• Build democracy in the classroom.
• Involve learners actively in their own education.
• Ground learning in students’ own experience and practice.
• Build up resources for learners, but teach flexibly, whatever the resources.
• Test ability, not rote learning.
• Train the trainers for widespread capacity-building.

In the Jack Simons Party School, we aim to draw on the strength of Comrade Jack’s approach, which was on the development of an independent, active, analytical ability which stayed with his students for the rest of their lives. His emphasis as a teacher was as much on the learning process as on informational content.

For political educators today, the lesson is clear. No matter what is taught, it is the “how” which determines effectiveness. As Comrade Jack himself wrote: “The students, not the teacher, should do most of the talking.”

Comrades should consider buying a copy of “Comrade Jack: The Political Lectures and Diary of Jack Simons, Nova Catengue” (STE Publishers)