African Nationalism, 1948-59 Flashcards
(22 cards)
1
Q
Prior opposition
A
African people and other ethnic groups had protested against segregation and discrimination since the beginnings of South Africa. While each racial group had its own organizations, some, notably the ANC, embraced all South African people. In 1948, there were several key protest groups, all of whom adopted a policy of peaceful protest. By 1959, they were becoming increasingly militant in the face of frustrations with their lack of success and increasing government repression.
2
Q
The ANC
A
- The main African opposition was led by the ANC.
- This had been formed in 1912 by a middle-class elite and had concentrated on debate and argument.
- However, it always supported campaigns to improve the lives of African people and did attract grass-roots support.
3
Q
The South African Indian Congress (SAIC)
A
- The South African Indian Congress had been founded in 1919 to support the promotion of rights of Indian people and oppose segregation.
- It had advocated passive resistance and sought to work with the ANC and other groups in a common front.
- To this end, an alliance was made with the ANC in March 1947: the so-called ‘three doctors pact’.
4
Q
The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA)
A
- The communist party of SA was a multi-ethnic party founded in 1921 with the aim of organizing African people into trade unions and unite with white trade unionists on the basis of class rather than race.
- The CPSA often worked closely with the ANC, giving rise to the government accusation that the ANC leadership was itself communist.
- After the Suppression of Communism Act 1950, the CPSA dissolved itself and became an illegal organization, renaming itself the SACP.
- Its policy was that communism could only be successful if all races were equal.
5
Q
Cooperation between groups
A
- By the mid 1930’s, all non-white groups saw the need to cooperate in joint campaigns, but because of the restrictions on travel caused by the pass laws, simple communication was difficult enough, let alone joint action.
- In December 1935, 400 delegates did meet Bloemfontein to establish the All-African Convention (AAC), which emphasized both loyalty to South Africa wan its opposition to segregation.
- By the late 1940’s the scene was set for more radical and direct-action campaigns, particularly in response to grand apartheid.
6
Q
The revival of the ANC
A
- From 1940, under the leadership of Alfred Xuma, the ANC began to work more closely with other organizations, such as the SAIC, to develop a policy of non-cooperation involving civil disobedience.
- It also developed support at local levels, for example supporting the 1946 mine-worker’s strike which saw as many as 100,000 on strike and brutal repression by security forces.
- However it was still an organization run by and for the urban elites.
- Younger members were questioning the pace of its activities, as compared with the more direct action, as exemplified by the unionists who organized the 1946 strike.
- In short, the ANC seemed to follow rather than lead developments in the struggle against apartheid.
7
Q
The ANC youth league
A
- In 1943, Walter Sisulu formed the ANC Youth League, which included a new generation of leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Robert Sobukwe.
- The ANCYL sought a broader organization with mass support.
- In its manifesto, the ANCYL advocated direct action rather than protests and discussion.
- It emphasized the community-based culture of African people which could be built on to promote mass action.
- After the 1949 ANC conference, leaders of the ANCYL took control of the organization, capturing key positions.
- Walker Sisulu for example, became the first full-time ANC secretary.
8
Q
Africanism
A
- Some leaders felt that the ANC should only recruit African people, while others such as Mandela and Tambo, felt the ANC should effectively be multi-ethnic and welcome support from all groups, notably the communists.
- This notion of Africanism was to be vital in the development of the anti-apartheid struggle.
9
Q
The basic policy and programme of action
A
- In 1948, partly as a response to the National Party electoral victory, the ANCYL created the basic policy, which proposed three positions:
1. That African people should unite as one group rather than members of different tribes.
2. That African people had the right to the wealth and prosperity of Africa.
3. That African people should accept the help of other sympathetic groups.
This was formalized in 1949 into Programme of Action, emphasizing the need for direct action against apartheid and stressing: - The absolute rejection of white domination in South Africa.
- A pro-African policy, which meant supporting African nationalism both within SA and in liberation campaigns against colonialism throughout the continent.
- An assertion of pride in being African in the face of white assertions of racism and African inferiority.
- A demand for mass and direct action to oppose apartheid.
10
Q
The Defiance Campaign, 1952
A
The Defiance Campaign was the first large-scale example of direct action by the ANC. It was to be non-violent and divided into two stages:
- An initial stage of local protest in which supporters would break the law, for example, by refusing to carry passes and invite themselves for arrest – the idea being that the sheer numbers of those arrested would exceed the authorities’ ability to cope and would show the sheer weight to apartheid opposition.
- An extension of mass defiance with nationwide strikes and protests.
11
Q
participants in the Defiance Campaign
A
Over 10,000 people attended the inaugural meeting in Durban. The size of this crowd showed that the ANC was reaching a wide audience. Indeed, its membership rose from 4000 to over 100,000 thousand after the campaign.
12
Q
Results of the Defiance Campaign
A
- Any significant, organized protest rattled the government.
- In the six months of the campaign, 8500 participants were indeed arrested for various acts of defiance – but the vast majority of 8 million African people did not become involved.
- Nevertheless, the government subsequently passed a raft of measures to make civil disobedience a crime and the campaign organizers, including Mandela, where inevitably arrested.
13
Q
The end of the campaign
A
- The Defiance Campaign formally ended January 1953, having lasted 6 months.
- It never moved beyond one mass protest in the eastern Cape, and there was little participation in the rural areas.
- One could argue that the campaign only had limited success, yet by its end:
- The ANC had become a mass organization led by committed and experienced activists.
- The ANC realized it could embarrass the government by tactics of protest and non-participation, but not topple it – in other words, campaigns such as Defiance would not be successful in themselves if their goal was to abolish apartheid, no matter how many people participated in them.
14
Q
Women’s pass protest, 1956
A
- Women had always been involved in anti-apartheid protests.
- The Bantu women’s league, for example, joined the ANC as early as 1918, and the ANC Women’s League was formally inaugurated in 1948.
- The women’s pass protest of 1956 however, saw a movement almost exclusively organized and put into action by women.
- The Federation of South African Women (FSAW), formed in 1954 by anti-apartheid activists such as Helen Joseph, and the president of the ANC women’s league, Lilian Ngoyi, organized a significant women’s protest movement to protest against women having to register for passes and carry pass books, a new amendment to the pass laws.
- On August 9th, 1956, now known as Women’s Day in SA, 20,000 women marched on Pretoria with a petition bearing 100,000 signatures.
- The Government buildings were largely empty; they were received by Premier Strikdom’s secretary, but sent away with no promise for reform.
- The protest continued: 1000 women protested in Lichtenburg in the western Transvaal when officials tried to register them, and the police fired into the crowd, killing two.
- At Nelspruit in eastern Transvaal, a group of women attacked the official charged with their registration.
- Five were arrested; 300 marched on the local police station to demand their release – the police response again was brutal.
- By March 1960, 3,020,281 or 75% of the total African female population had been issued with passes but the fact of accepting them did not end their protests.
15
Q
Black Sash
A
- One effect of the women’s protest against passes was the radicalization of the white protest group Black Sash, which supported this action and also began to open advice centers for non-white African people.
- Black Sash arranged bail for women who had been arrested who otherwise wouldn’t be allowed to return home to look after their children.
- The group also built up a pool of lawyers who would represent African women for minimal fees – and gradually the group built up trust among African people who previously had been universally wary of white people offering to help them.
16
Q
The creation of a Freedom Charter
A
- The ANC and other protest organizations held meetings nationwide in the early 1950’s to hear people’s demands and grievances.
- These included a key meeting in 1954 where it was decided to create a charter of universal rights, based on what the African people wanted.
- With so many protest leaders caught up in trials and banning orders, this process took a long time.
- Eventually, a committee drew up the Freedom Charter which was to be presented to a People’s Congress.
- This took place at Kliptown near Johannesburg between 25 and 26 June 1955 and was attended by 3000 representatives of all the opposition groups.
- The different groups came together and began the call themselves the Congress Alliance, which ratified the Freedom Charter.
17
Q
The significance of the Freedom Charter
A
The Freedom Charter was a statement of ideals and aims rather than a strategy. Much of its significance was in its preamble.
1. Rural resistance
2. Potato boycott, 1957-59
3. Zeerust uprising, 1957
4. East Pondoland
18
Q
Rural resistance
A
- The ANC admitted it had more support in urban areas, but during the 1950’s there were many cases of rural unrest.
- These were often spontaneous and unplanned, making them more difficult to control of suppress.
19
Q
Potato boycott, 1957-59
A
- This was an ANC-sponsored boycott on buying potatoes because of the harsh conditions endured by potato workers.
- Potatoes rot quickly, and stocks piled up as people refused to buy them.
- In August 1959, farmers began to improve working conditions and the boycott was hailed as a success.
20
Q
Zeerust uprising, 1957
A
- This uprising was precipitates by the imposition of passes for women living in the Zeerust area of western Transvaal, as introduced in the 1952 Native Laws Amendment Act.
- When the local chief was ordered to enforce this measure, he refused and was dismissed.
- The result was widespread protest.
- Men and women living in Johannesburg chartered buses to join in the protest.
- They were subsequently arrested by the security forces and blamed for the unrest.
- The authorities were enraged when most were acquitted.
- The women in Zeerust meanwhile were forced to carry their passes by a special police squad.
21
Q
East Pondoland
A
- The local chief in this region, Chief Botha Sigcau, who sided with the government, was accused of corruption, for example, in selling mineral rights.
- Local people insisted on his dismissal and violent clashes took place, led by the Inaba movement.
- As part of the protest, locals boycotted white-owned stored.
- The chief survived, however, with help from the security forces, and the protests were called off in January 1961.
- Rural unrest and the lack of ANC influence in non-urban areas helped garner support for the newly formed Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC).
22
Q
A
