African National Congress

*Formation and early history.* The African National Congress (ANC) was formed as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) in 1912 at a conference in Bloemfontein. After the Union of South Africa was created in 1910 the Black community in South Africa felt a need for a nationwide party that could represent them. The leaders of the black community realised that they could not stand by and watch as a segregationist society was built right in front of their eyes. But this wasn’t the first time the idea of a non-white party opposing racial discrimination had surfaced as Mahatma Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in 1894. The representatives of the first SANNC conference in Bloemfontein were all a part of a small elite of middle-class black professionals. John Dube was the first president and an ordained minister and a teacher. Other leading members had been educated at universities like Columbia and Oxfords, so it’s easy to say that the SANNC represented the black elite. SANNC’s strategy was to work with liberal white politicians in an attempt to reverse the tide of segregation and to petition politicians in London by arguing that the actions of the government were a betrayal of Britain’s colonial traditions. However they weren't as successful as they hoped, going to London to protest the 1913 Native Land Act in 1914 and again in 1919; both times being told to go back to South Africa and solve the problem with the Smuts government in Pretoria. Following the setbacks the SANNC became inactive and the organisation was run by conservative leaders. More radical organisations in the form of Clements Kadalie’s Industrial and Commercial Worker’s Union (ICU) took over where they left off.

In 1922 the SANNC changed its name to the ANC and in the late 20’s they experienced a short period of revival only to enter another period of dormancy in the 30’s when many Africans suffered form the Great Depression. The ANC was view as an elitist party and therefore their membership sank to just a few thousands.

Following the Second World War the ANC regained some of it support as the South African manufactures brought a lot of Africans into the cities. The Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) had a lot of influence during this time, forming new trade unions. In the 40’s the ANC started to acknowledge the black working class and the ANC Youth League was formed in 1944 (leading members including Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu). The Youth League brought a wind of change to the ANC and they came to the realisation that they could not rely on help from the system that discriminated against them.

*After 1948.* In the years before the Apartheid system was put in place the ANC had grown stronger and more organised than ever so when the National Party (NP) won the election in 1948 the ANC was quick to respond. They replaced their president-general Alfred Xuma with James Moroka in 1949 as the youth league mounted a successful coup against the old guard. The ANC also adopted the Programme of Action. Following this there was a increasing number of Africans that regarded the movement as a legitimate voice of the people. The party announced a series of one-day general strikes as the Apartheid Laws were increasing by the second. In 1950 a ”May Day stay-at-home” was organised with the South African Communist Party (SACP) in response to the Suppression of Communism Act.

The protest was successful in the sense that about half of Johannesburg’s black workers stayed at home but it was also met with the same response the ANC would face during the next decade and a half. Armed police fired on the protestors and at least 18 people were killed. Protests called at short notice would become the liberation movement’s weapon, in response to breaking political developments.

In 1952 the ANC started to notice that the irregular strike action was no longer gaining the response it once had and they decided that a more coordinated strategy was needed. This resulted in the Defiance Campaign (see non-violent protests for more information). The Defiance Campaign resulted in Chief Luthuli taking the place of president-general from Moroka. Since Luthuli was a committed Christian the government could no longer label the ANC as a communist-dominated revolutionary group.

The ANC had started to grow significantly however their main challenge following the Defiance Campaign and Luthuli’s lead was that many still viewed the ANC as an elitist party, a view that never really would disappear. They were accused of not taking the extreme poverty and homelessness into account which they responded to with adopting the ”Programme of Economic Advancement” in 1953. The ANC also saw a potential in women and started to work with other antiapartheid organisations which resulted in the Congress of the People (COP) in 1955.

The Verwoerd Bantu Education Act (1953) was also protested at the same time as COP but it was by large a failure since the ANC lacked the resources to educate the children in the  ”cultural centres" outside of the government schools. During this time the Resist Apartheid Campaign was launched opposing the forced evictions of Sophiatown, a part of the governments Western Areas Removal Scheme. This campaign was launched in 1954 in Johannesburg and Luthuli was planned to address it as his two-year banning ended on that particular day. He was however arrested at the airport and was issued with a second ban. The treason trial (1959-1961) split the movement which lead to the formation of the PAC in 1959.

In the 50’s the ANC failed to create the mass movement they were hoping for, mainly because they failed to gain the trust of poor and even middle class Africans. But in the early 60’s with the harsh repressive actions of the government, Rivonia Trials, a high national profile created after the formation of MK they almost reached their goal. They reached the high of their popularity just as they were broken down by the merciless apartheid government.

*What was the significance of the ANC’s actions between 1948 and 1964?* Despite the many setbacks the ANC faced they were successful in many ways. They managed to represent the majority if the South Africans in the fight against apartheid. They managed to go through with the Defiance Campaign, the COP and producing the freedom charter, several significant buss boycotts and the decision to adopt the armed struggle. They also managed to gain worldwide attention and through their non-violent protest was labeled as having high morals. They were also successful in working with other anti-apartheid groups like South African Indian Congress (SAIC), South African Coloured People’s Organisation and South African Congress of Democrats in the Congress of People (COP) producing one of the 20th century struggle’s most iconic documents, the Freedom Charter. Even though they were broken by the government in 1964 they managed to represent the majority of South Africa’s black population 1948-1964.

*The ANC’s failures.* ANC failed their ultimate goal to break down the apartheid system, they barely managed to touch the NP at all. They also failed to maintain party unity with the Africanist breakaways as PAC in 1959. Adopting the Armed struggle confirmed many white people’s theory that the ANC was a terrorist organisation at heart. When the government launched the Unlawful Organisations Act (1960) following the Sharpeville massacre they had no effective answer to the furthering of the apartheid system. The imprisonment of the ANC leaders in 1964 is another example of an ANC failure since it managed to force the party to stay quiet for more than a decade.