There Is No Threat from the Eastern Bloc'
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There is no threat from the Eastern Bloc' http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.SADET009 Use of the Aluka digital library is subject to Aluka’s Terms and Conditions, available at http://www.aluka.org/page/about/termsConditions.jsp. By using Aluka, you agree that you have read and will abide by the Terms and Conditions. Among other things, the Terms and Conditions provide that the content in the Aluka digital library is only for personal, non-commercial use by authorized users of Aluka in connection with research, scholarship, and education. The content in the Aluka digital library is subject to copyright, with the exception of certain governmental works and very old materials that may be in the public domain under applicable law. Permission must be sought from Aluka and/or the applicable copyright holder in connection with any duplication or distribution of these materials where required by applicable law. Aluka is a not-for-profit initiative dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of materials about and from the developing world. For more information about Aluka, please see http://www.aluka.org There is no threat from the Eastern Bloc' Author/Creator Shubin, Vladimir; Traikova, Marina Publisher South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET), UNISA Press Date 2008 Resource type Articles Language English Subject Coverage (spatial) South Africa, U.S.S.R., Bulgaria Coverage (temporal) 1960-1994 Source South African Democracy Education Trust (SADET) Relation Chapter 12 in The road to democracy in South Africa, volume 3, International Solidarity Description This is a comprehesive review of the role of the Soviet Union in support for the liberation of South Africa, over three decades, by the leading expert on the subject. Shubin is also the author of two related books, The ANC: A View from Moscow, and The'Hot' Cold War: The USSR in Southern Africa. Format extent 83 (length/size) http://www.aluka.org/action/showMetadata?doi=10.5555/AL.SFF.DOCUMENT.SADET009 http://www.aluka.org 'There is no threat from 'There is no threat from the Eastern Bloc'1 By Vladimir Shubin with Marina Traikova Introduction Relations between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or Russia and its allies in Eastern Europe and the liberation movement in South Africa have been the subject of research by many academics, as well as an issue for official statements and speculation in the press. Unfortunately, too often their content has been obscured and distorted. Quite a number of publications in South Africa and in the West claim that the African National Congress (ANC) was playing the role of the Soviet 'proxy' or 'task force' during its liberation struggle.2 For example, in their book Comrades against Apartheid relying to a large extent on information supplied by spies and traitors, Stephen Ellis and co-author 'Tsepo Sechaba' got themselves (as well as poorly informed readers) into trouble by claiming that 'the Freedom Charter was sent to Moscow Africa Institute for approval'.' The institute had nothing to do with it: it was established in June 1959, four years after the Freedom Charter had been adopted. This chapter is primarily an attempt to assess the attitude of the USSR/Russia to the ANC in the three decades that the organisation was banned, especially the period of profound changes in the two countries. As for the other East European countries, Bulgaria has been chosen as a case study, because Bulgaria's relations with the South African liberation movement are undergoing thorough review by Marina Traikova, a Bulgarian citizen who worked in the archives of that country. 1 From an ANC song sung in exile. 2 See, for example, K. Campbell, The ANC: Soviet Task Force? (London: Institute of Strategic Studies, 1988). 3 S. Ellis and T. Sechaba, Comrades againstApartheid. TheANCandSouth African Communist Party in Exiie (London, Bloomington and Indianapolis: James Currey and Indiana University Press, 1992), 27. 985 The Road to Democracy in South Africa, Volume 3, International Solidarity, Part II 'You know better' A great deal has been said and written about the negative effects of the links between the Soviet Union and the South African liberation movement. For instance, at a recent conference in London, astonishingly an activist of the Treatment Action Campaign linked the current policy of the South African government on HIV with Joseph Stalin and so-called Stalinism. Such features of Soviet society as the cult of personality, dogmatism, and the lack of broad discussions before taking crucial decisions were not the best to emulate. But even if there was some 'borrowing' of these practices, its influence was insignificant. Undoubtedly, it was outweighed by the positive effect of the ANC's co-operation with the Soviet Union. Interaction between Russia and southern Africa goes back to the late 19th century: the Anglo-Boer war is significant here. Its importance for Russia can be seen from the order given by the war minister, Lieutenant General Kuropatkin on 30 November 1899: To the General Staff Today it was ordered at the most highest level [by Emperor Nicholas the Second]: all reports by Colonel Stakhovich [Russian military agent on the British side] from the Transvaal are to be immediately delivered to [the] Sovereign in [the] original by State messengers, specially appointed for this purpose.4 This intense interest of the Russian authorities, shared by the public, in developments 10 000 km from Russia was aroused by human sympathy for the weaker side, typical of the Russian mentality. However, a 'love of Boers' also originated from a strong aversion to Britain; the war in South Africa began when Russian-British rivalry in several areas of the world, especially Central Asia, was high. The establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and the South African Republic (ZAR), and the opening of a Russian consulate in Pretoria or Johannesburg was put on the agenda well before the war. This happened in March 1897, after the Tsar gave the instruction to the Foreign Ministry because of the 'ever growing importance of the African continent for the peoples of Europe and important political questions, related to the colonisation, of this part of the world'.5 By that time, between 7 000 and 8 000 Russian subjects, mostly of Jewish origin, had settled in the Transvaal. The 'important political role' of the ZAR became evident after the failure of Dr Jameson's raid, and the Russian government 'found it necessary ... to counter the desire of Englishmen to acquire a predominant influence in Southern Africa', and therefore to 4 The Russian State Archives of Military History (hereafter RSAMiIH): 488, file 1451/69. 5 Central State Archive of History St Petersburg (hereafter CSAH): 565, inventory 8 (1897), file 2932. Cited in Rossiya iAfrica. DocumentyiMaterialyXVII- 1960g. tI. Institutvseobshchei istorii RAN. (Russia and Africa. Documents 18"h century - 1960), vol.1 (Moscow: Institute of General History, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1999),73-74. 986 'There is no threat from the Eastern Bloc' accept a proposition by the ZAR envoy in Paris through the French Foreign Ministry.6 In September 1898, the Tsar agreed to the appointment of Dr Leyds, a South African of Dutch origin, as ZAR envoy to Russia. In December 1898 he presented his credentials to Nicolas I.7 Almost simultaneously, just prior to the arrival of the envoy from St Petersburg, Adolph Von Gernet, a Russian citizen resident in the ZAR, was appointed Russian vice-consul in Johannesburg.8 Apart from official military agents ('attaches' in modern terms) and a medical team, about 200 Russian volunteers (many of them officers in reserve or retired) went to South Africa to fight on the side of the Afrikaner republics. The history of their involvement is beyond the framework of this chapter. What is important is that sympathy for the Afrikaners was typical of Russian society and many people became aware of events in distant South Africa for the first time. The next stage of Russian-South African relations began after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. For almost two decades afterwards, they were maintained mostly through the Communist International (Comintern), which initially had its headquarters in Petrograd (St Petersburg) and then Moscow. In 1921 the newly established Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) became a member of this organisation. The first black secretary of the CPSA, Albert Nzula, was the first African from South Africa who not only visited the Soviet Union, but spent quite a long time there, working in the Profintern (communist-controlled international trade union organisation). Before his death in Moscow in 1934, under the pen name of Tom Jackson, he co-authored a book on African workers in his country with two prominent Soviet scholars of Africa, Ivan Potekhin and Alexander Zusmanovich. However, contacts between the South African anti-racist forces and Moscow were not limited to Comintern channels. The ANC president Josiah Gumede visited the Soviet Union (Russia and Georgia) in November and December 1927 as the guest of the All-Union Society of Cultural Ties with Foreign Countries (VOKS). After his return to South Africa, he is reported to have said that he had been 'to the new Jerusalem'.9 A new stage of Russian (Soviet) -South African relations began during World War II, when the two countries became allies in the struggle against Nazi Germany. In 1942, the Soviet consulate was opened in Pretoria with a branch in Cape Town. Until they were closed at the request of the National Party government in 1956, they naturally maintained contact with the CPSA (until its banning in 1950) and the Congress Movement. But those contacts did not serve as a channel for communication between South African political organisations and the ruling Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU).