The SA Communist Party would try to double its membership in 2010, the party said in an end-of-year message on Tuesday.

It said its membership was now close to 100 000, and that of the  Young Communist League had grown by a quarter this year to about 50 000.

"We shall use the year 2010 to seek to double our membership, and call upon the workers of our country to join the SACP in their numbers," it said.

A challenge for the working class going into the New Year would be to maintain the unity of the tripartite alliance with the African National Congress and union federation Cosatu.

"It is clear to us as the SACP that there are vultures that are encircling our democracy whose sole mission is to capture the liberation movement for their own narrow selfish and greedy interests," it said.

It did not identify the vultures.

The SACP and its youth wing have been at loggerheads with the ANC Youth League, trading insults with each other.

Members of the SACP, such as its general secretary Blade Nzimande, are currently elected to Parliament under the banner of the ANC, of which they hold dual membership.