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| Resistance to Apartheid in
the 1950s |
Resistance in the first years of
apartheid was widespread but disunited. Organisations were divided and
government repression helped to stifle and squash new formations. As the 1950s
went on, however, the ANC (African National Congress) and other organisations
were able to successfully co-ordinate a common front.
In response to the 1950 Suppression of Communism Act, which
gave the Government sweeping powers to ban organisations, Sam Kahn, a Communist
Party MP, addressed a crowd of 6,000 people on the Parade, most of whom then
marched through the city streets shouting 'down with apartheid, we want
freedom'. The government reacted by clamping down harder and made any
like-minded party to the CPSA illegal, and sanctioned the 'naming' of members
with subsequent restrictions on their actions.
There were few whites who were prepared to engage in protest
that risked arrest. However during the 1950s a principled and articulate white
liberalism developed that enjoyed regular exposure in the Cape Times and Argus.
Important players included the Civil Rights League and the South African
Institute of Race Relations, the Black Sash and the multi-racial Liberal Party.
As well as challenging the principles and practices of
apartheid, they also provided a platform for social action to support the
disenfranchised, often through church-based work (more..)
The 1952 celebrations of the tercentenary of Jan van
Riebeeck's arrival in the Cape became a focus of protest as many organisations
boycotted the event, and alternative parades were organised in the subsequent
weeks.
Newspapers published interpretations of van Riebeeck's role in
history that differed from the 'party line' in school textbooks. The Archbishop
selected the biblical text 'forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin
against us' for his sermon on tercentenary Sunday.
The ANC-led Congress Alliance emerged in the 1950s consisting
of separate organisations representing each of the four 'national groups' (such
as the Indian Congress and the Coloured People's Congress). Each group focused
upon the issues that most affected their constituency, but the Congress
Alliance allowed them to act in unison.
The ANC, SACPO, the South African Indian Congress and the small
(white) Congress of Democrats had all cooperated in arranging the Congress of
the People and the Freedom Charter in 1955. In preparation for these events, a
torchlight procession took place on Green Point Common and a conference of
Western Cape representatives met in the City Hall.
In the late 1950s the Cape Town branch of the ANC focused on
anti-pass campaigns, and its ally SACPO (South African Coloured People's
Organisation) protested against issues such as Group Areas.
The single cross-racial member of the Alliance was the South
African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) but it had a relatively small national
membership of 20,000. They were able to raise wages and draw workers into the
political debate, but were suppressed by the state during the 1960s for their
political involvement.
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