page_title: Oliver Tambo
section_title: League
hierarchical_section_title: Oliver Tambo / Biography / League
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB Franke 15.5.1978 Berlin: Eine Delegation des Afrikanischen Nationalkongresses (ANC) Südafrika unter Leitung seines Präsidenten, Oliver Tambo (l.), traf am 15.5. in Berlin ein. Sie wurde von Hermann Axen, Mitglied des Politbüros und Sekretär des ZK der SED (M.); Kurt Seibt, Vorsitzender der Zentralen Revisionskommission der SED und Präsident des Solidaritätskomitees der DDR (r.); sowie leitenden Mitarbeitern des ZK der SED willkommen geheißen.
context_page_description: Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo, also known as O. R. Tambo, was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress from 1967 to 1991.
context_section_description: In 1943, Tambo, Mandela and Walter Sisulu founded the ANC Youth League, with Tambo becoming its first National Secretary and a member of the National Executive in 1948. The Youth League proposed a change in the tactics of the anti-apartheid movement. Previously, the ANC had sought to further its cause by actions such as petitions and demonstrations; the Youth League felt these actions were insufficient to achieve the group's goals and proposed their own "Programme of Action". This programme advocated tactics such as boycotts, civil disobedience, strikes, and non-collaboration. 
  In 1955, Tambo became Secretary-general of the ANC after Sisulu was banned by the South African government under the Suppression of Communism Act. In 1958, he became Deputy President of the ANC and in 1959 was served with a five-year banning order by the government.
caption: Tambo being greeted on arrival in East Germany (1978)
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