Abstract: | During the last four Years various agents - employers, insurance companies, and most recently the state - have moved towards the introduction of a national system of preserved pension funds. This article looks at the following questions: 1) The scope and meaning of pensions in capitalist society, and why the state does not carry the cost of reproducing workers whose labour power has become 'redundant'. 2) The interests of various fractions of capital and of the state in the growth of pensions, as well as the objective interest of warkers; how are these different interests expressed? 3) Why and how have private pensions been introduced for the working class in South Africa. 4) What class forces have brought the present situation, where sections of the organised working class are rejecting not only preservation of funds, but compulsory private pension schemes in general? Tab. |