An Exploration of the Communication Strategies of Three Early Think Tanks

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2018-04-20 An exploration of the communication strategies of three early think tanks

Hexham, Jeremy Johnston

Hexham, J. J. (2018). An exploration of the communication strategies of three early think tanks (Unpublished doctoral thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31819 http://hdl.handle.net/1880/106533 doctoral thesis

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An exploration of the communication strategies of three early think tanks

Jeremy Johnston Hexham

A THESIS

SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES

IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE

DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND MEDIA STUDIES

CALGARY, ALBERTA

APRIL, 2018

Abstract

This thesis discusses the development of communications strategies by three early think tanks. These are the British Socialist Fabian Society founded in 1884, the South African Afrikaner Broederbond founded in 1918, and the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) founded in 1929. All three are generally accepted as highly influential organizations. The Fabian Society is arguably the earliest modern think tank. Its members developed two modes of communication which are identified in this thesis as rational-scientific and cultural-identity communications. In practice the Fabian Society concentrated on rational-scientific communications. The Afrikaner Broederbond developed cultural-identity communications while the SAIRR primarily used rational-scientific communications combined with the strategic use of cultural- identity communications. All three organizations had a major impact on their host societies for good and ill. The Fabians and the Broederbond were the most effective although the long-term influence of the SAIRR should not be underestimated.

What the thesis does is create a vocabulary for understanding certain types of think tank communications and provides a framework for the future study and discussion of political communications.

Preface

This thesis is based upon archival sources, primary printed documents, and research interviews which are discussed in Appendices One and Two. The primary archive used was the London School of Economics digital library which contains the archives of the Fabian Society. Original printed sources included a large collection of documents published by the South African Institute of Race Relations which are part of a private collection housed in Calgary. Work on the Afrikaner Broederbond depended mainly on research interviews that complied with the Canadian Tri-Council agreement and the University of Calgary’s Conjoint Faculties Research Ethics Board.

Acknowledgements

My thanks and deep appreciation for all their support goes to everyone who was involved in the writing of this thesis. In particular, I wish to thank Professor Douglas Brent of the Department of Communications, Media, and Film, at the University of Calgary for stepping in after my original supervisor, Professor David Taras, accepted a well-deserved prestigious chair at Mount Royal University and was no longer able to participate as my supervisor. The office staff of the department and other scholars, like professors Charlene Elliott, Barbara Schneider and Tom Flanagan, from which I took my graduate courses at the University of Calgary also deserve praise as does Dr Lisa Micheelsen of Athabasca University for her encouragement during my master’s program. Margo Husby for whom I worked as a teaching assistant on several courses before her tragic death deserves to be remembered. She was an encouragement and inspiring teacher.

Outside of academia I want to thank all the people working at various Canadian and other think tanks with whom I corresponded or talked. In particular, I want to thank the General Secretary of the Fabian Society, Andrew Harrop and his staff for their interest in my project. Similarly, I need to thank staff member of the London School of Economics who from time to time were very helpful. Professor Nicholas O’Shaughnessy, who is professor of communications at Queen Mary, University of London, deserves thanks for taking time to meet with me to discuss my project. The Vice Chancellor of a leading British university, who remains anonymous, also needs to be thanked and it is important to acknowledge the inspiration and encouragement I received from the late Professor Kenneth Ingham who discussed possible research options with me during several meetings on visits to Britain.

As explained in my appendix on my research interviews the only South Africans I can thank by name are the current Chairman of the Broederbond, Jan Bosman and Professor Fika van Rensburg who is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the Potchefstroom Campus of Northwest University in South Africa, the Revd. Kobus Genis of Westminster Presbyterian Church here in Calgary and the late Professor Donovan Williams and his family who made several important books available to me in addition to making generous donations of invaluable research materials to the University of Calgary Library and Archives.

Finally, I want to thank former Prime Minister Stephen Harper for giving me what at the time was a devastating pep-talk on my need to go back to university and complete my degree in 2002. His blunt assessment of my need to get a degree was

iii hard to take but worked wonders. At the same time my friends Shiraz Sharif and Dale Galbraith confirmed his assessment of the situation for which they need to be thanked.

Dedication

To my long-suffering step-mother Karla Poewe, my father, Irving Hexham, and my sister Janet and her family.

Table of Contents

Abstract i Preface ii Acknowledgements iii Dedication v Table of Contents vi Abbreviations ix

Chapter One: Think tanks and their communication strategies 1 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 The origin of the term "think tank" 4 1.2 think tanks and the war of ideas 7 1.3 Manjapra’s global entanglements 10 1.4 How influential are think tanks? 12 1.5 Conclusion. 15

Chapter Two: Literature Review 16 2.0 Introduction 16 2.1 The Fabian Society: The first modern think tank 16 2.2 The Afrikaner Broederbond 21 2.3 Literature about the South African Institute of Race Relations 23 2.4 The early study of think tanks 24 2.5 The development of think tank studies 28 2.6 Alternative ways of viewing think tanks 34 2.7 Conclusion 43

Chapter Three: Theory and Methods 44 3.0 Introduction 44 3.1 An overview of the sources used in this study 48 3.2 Primary and secondary written sources 48 3.3 The role of oral history, interviews, and observations 52 3.4 Rational-scientific communications 55 3.5 Cultural communications 59 3.6 Terministic screens, ideologies, myths, worldviews, identity 63 3.7 Worldview visions 69

3.8 Rituals as modes of communication 71 3.9 The propaganda framework 76 3.10 Back to Burke 85 3.11 Conclusion 89

Chapter Four: The cultural-religious communications background 90 4.0 Introduction 90 4.1 The global dimensions of the Evangelical Revival 91 4.2 The Evangelical Revival as a communications revolution 93 4.3 The social impact of the Evangelical Revival 100 4.4 The Victorian crisis of faith 107 4.5 The Afrikaner Nationalist communications revolution 113 4.6: “Shall we forget a tearful past …” 116 4.7 The post-war South African communications revolution 126 4.8 Conclusion 132

Chapter Five: The Fabian Society, the first modern think tank 133 5.0 Introduction 133 5.1 Why study the Fabian Society? 133 5.2 The Founding Myth of Fabian Socialism 141 5.3 Rebels seeking a cause 144 5.4 The Fabian embrace of propaganda 146 5.5 Evidence based communications and social change 151 5.6 The Fabian Tract: Evidence based arguments 155 5.7 Developing a theory of evidence based propaganda 159 5.8 The Fabian use of cultural communications 165 5.9 Developing a theory of cultural propaganda 170 5.10 Conclusion 179

Chapter Six: The Afrikaner Broederbond 180 6.0 Introduction 180 6.1 The Broederbond: Think tank or South African KKK? 180 6.2 The origins of the Broederbond 185 6.3 The core idea of the Broederbond’s communications strategy 192 6.4 Establishing Afrikaans as the basis of Afrikaner identity 196 6.5 Communicating an Afrikaner identity 201 6.6 The return of the Voortrekkers 210 6.7 The importance of worldview thinking for Afrikaner Nationalist 212 6.8 Creating an Afrikaner high culture 218 6.9 The Broederbond’s war on poverty 223 6.10 Conclusion 229

vii

Chapter Seven: The Tragic Success of the SAIRR 232 7.0 Introduction 232 7.1 The origins of the SAIRR 233 7.2 Establishing credibility for the Institute’s communications 236 7.3 The communications strategy of the SAIRR 242 7.4 The SAIRR’s embrace of rational-scientific communications 244 7.5 Years of hope and progress 246 7.6 Gotterdammerung 249 7.7 The SAIRR use of cultural communications 256 7.8 The triumph of the SAIRR’s Fabian gradualism 262 7.9 Conclusion 266

Chapter Eight: Conclusion 267 8.0 Introduction 267 8.1 The communications revolution that influenced the Fabians 269 8.2 Rational-scientific communications 270 8.3 The power of cultural communications 271 8.4 The growth of mixed rational-scientific and cultural Communications 275 8.5 Comparing these communications strategies 276 8.6 Tools for the study of propaganda 277 8.7 Conclusion 281

References 284 Bibliography 287 Primary Published Sources 287 Secondary Published Sources 301 Appendices 335 Appendix One: Research Interviews 335 Appendix Two: The Afrikaner Narrative Paradigm 337

viii

Abbreviations: Broeder = a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond CI = Christian Institute of South Africa CNE = Christian National Education CPBA = Cape Peninsula Broadcasting Association DDR = German Democratic Republic DRC = Dutch Reformed Church DSAB = Dictionary of South African Biography FAK = Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge the Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organizations FT = Fabian Tract FSEC = Fabian Society Executive Committee Minutes FSPC = Fabian Society Propaganda Committee LSE = London School of Economics NWC = National Women’s and Children’s Monument OVS = Orange Free State REB = Research Ethics Board RRN = Race Relations News of the SAIRR SAIRR = South African Institute of Race Relations SAR = South African Republic TCPS = Canadian Tri-Council in their Policy Statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans TUC = Trades Union Congress of the United Kingdom WS = Website – See Appendix Two for a complete list. YMCA = Young Men’s Christian Association

Chapter One

Introductory Discussion

Think tanks and their communication strategies

1.0 Introduction

This introductory chapter has the following sections:

1.0 Introduction 1.1 The origin of the term "think tank" 1.2 think tanks and the war of ideas 1.3 Manjapra’s global entanglements 1.4 How influential are think tanks? 1.5 Conclusion.

This thesis is a study of the communications strategies of three early think tanks that developed two distinct forms of communication which continue to be the dominant forms of think tank communications. The think tanks studied are the British Fabian

Society, the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) and the Afrikaner

Broederbond.

A good case can be made that the Fabian Society is the earliest modern think tank. But, even if it is not and some earlier organization inspired the development of think tanks beginning our study with the Fabians and the communications strategies they drew upon makes sense. This is because, as will be shown, the leaders of the conservative counter-revolution that began with the work of Friedrich Hayek (1899-

1992) in the late 1940’s saw the Fabians as their primary opponent. Therefore, they deliberately developed their own think tanks on the Fabian model and in doing so utilized communications techniques pioneered by them. Consequently, by studying the

Fabians alongside the SAIRR and Afrikaner Broederbond, both of which used communications techniques developed by the Fabians, we have a basis that can be

1 used to reflect on the development of other think tanks and the way they developed their own communications strategies.

Members of the Fabian Society developed what at the time they termed

“propaganda” to promote their message. They developed two strategies which may be described as “rational-scientific” communications based on a “rhetoric of good reasons” and “cultural-identity” communications rooted in a “rhetoric of identity.” In South Africa the SAIRR almost exclusively relied on a rational-scientific approach for their long-term communication strategy for social justice in opposition to racism and, after 1948, apartheid. During the same period, the Broederbond developed a cultural communications strategy that successfully created a new form of Afrikaner identity.

These two communications strategies and the rhetoric that they utilized are discussed in detail in chapter three.

Before continuing, it is important for the reader to know what we mean by a “think tank.” For the purpose of this research think tanks are defined as:

Any organization that promotes social change through the communication of

policy ideas to the public, or select elite groups, such as policy makers, based on

the explicit or implicit claim that they have conducted, commissioned, or compiled

from the work of others, research that provides solutions to social, political,

economic and religious problems and issues.1

By studying the Fabian Society, the Broederbond, and the SAIRR we gain an insight in the ways different types of communication strategies can shape policy makers and society. As will be shown in the literature review, until recently, very little was

1 Here the author uses his own definition. 2 written about think tanks. Most of the existing studies were written in the last 20 years and are about American think tanks created after Second World War. Only a few works deviate from this general pattern and there are no serious studies of the communications strategies of the three think tanks that are the subject of this thesis.

At this point the reader may ask: “but were the Fabians, the Broederbond, and the SAIRR, really think tanks?” This is a good question which is best answered by pointing out that the definition use allows for them and similar organizations like the

London based Round Table Movement and German Rosa Luxemburg Foundation to be identified as think tanks. It is true that historically they did not use the term, but then the term did not exist. Now that the term think tank is in general use an examination of the activities of these and similar organizations shows that from their foundation they performed all the functions of a modern think tank.

It is also important to note that various other institutions that are now defunct fit this definition of think tank and are identified as such by scholars. These include some pre-1945 Soviet research organizations (Roh, 2010) and various institutions established by National Socialists in Germany and other regimes worldwide to advance their policies (Junginger, 2008; 142; Heschel, 2008). All such groups claimed to conduct research as a basis for public policy which was then communicated to the wider community and used by politicians and policy makers to shape public policy.

Further, once the term think tank came into general use the Fabians, the

Broederbond, and the SAIRR, were identified as think tanks by scholars and other

3 writers (Cockett, 1995; McBriar, 1962: 16-19; Harrison, 1981: 163; 253, 263; Weaver,

2000: 466-467). The also embraced the term and used it to describe themselves.2

While arguments rage about the influence, or lack of it, of contemporary think tanks there is a consensus among journalists and scholars that the three organizations which are the focus of this study were remarkably successful and made a significant impact on their host societies. Consequently, by studying their communications strategies, which no one has yet done, the thesis throws light on both the organizations themselves and the process of political communications.

In introducing their book, The History of Media and Communication Research, the editors David Park and Jefferson Pooley make the argument that the neglect of a historical consciousness has distorted and retarded the development of the field of communication studies. Therefore, they call for a rediscovery of the historical background to modern communications (Park & Pooley, 2008, pp. vii-xi; 43--60; 71-72).

This work responds to this by taking a historical approach to illustrate how forms of communication used by think tanks can influence society.

1.1 The origin of the term "think tank"

Some people may wonder why the three organizations that are the subject of this study are called “think tanks” when the term was not used to refer to them before the

1990’s. Therefore, it is useful to review the use of the term and its historical development.

2 The self description of the key think tanks discussed in this thesis: The Fabian Society: https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/our-history/ The Broederbond: Interview with the Chairman of the Broederbond: Jan Boseman. The SAIRR: https://irr.org.za/about-us/history

Today the term "think tank" is widely used to refer to public policy organizations that claim to produce policy recommendations and policies on the basis of informed research and study. Yet the common use of the term itself is a relatively new development that only came about in the 1980’s even though the term think tanks originated several decades earlier. According to the international newspaper database

Factiva the term “think tank,” in the modern sense of a policy institute, was not used by

The New York Times before 1960. In the next ten years, it was used four times. In the next decade it was used 23 times. Then during the following ten years its use increased to 339 times and after that it became a part of everyday speech.

The term “think tank” itself appears to have originated as a slang term for a person's brain or, more accurately, their ability to think in the late nineteenth century.

Thus, on August 22, 1882, the Washington Post commented that "on all subjects except politics" Governor Horace Boles of Iowa was "provided with a first class think-tank"

(Anon, 1882, p. 4).

Then on February 28 1896, in what appears to be a general announcement section, the Washington Post reported that "a blow on the jaw seems to have disabled the think tank of Mr. Pete Maher” (Anon, 1886, p. 6). Such usage seems to have been fairly common and the term “think-tank” continued to refer to a person’s brain until at least January 28, 1944 when it was used in this way by the Canadian newspaper, the

Globe and Mail, for what seems to be the last time by a newspaper (Carrick, 1944, p. 3).

The earliest use of the term think tank as a form of brains trust or research organization was on August 19th 1890 when it was applied to the Nebraska Democratic

Convention which was called a "big think tank" by the Washington Post (Anon, 1890, p.

4). This seems to have been an anomaly as it was not generally adopted by the press until the 1960’s.

The British writer P. I. Slee Smith, who wrote one of the first books on think tanks, claimed Time Magazine made “The first editorial reference to ‘think tanks’” in an article published on 5 August 1966 (Smith1971, p. 1). In doing so he overlooked an earlier journalistic use on November 5, 1962 when The Globe and Mail published the article "Profile of a Crisis: The Cuban Missile Affair Day by Day." It was written by a team of reporters led by F.W. Kenworthy, Anthony Lewis and Max Frankel which reported that President Kennedy's nine member "planning group" used the term "think tank" to speak about themselves (Kenworthy, et al, 1962, p. 7).

The first American usage, as Smith observed, occurred four years later in a short

Time Magazine article entitled "Top Hand at Rand" (Anon, 1966, p. 27). Shortly afterwards, on August 16, 1967, New York Times journalist, Sol Stern, published "Who thinks in a Think Tank?” (Stern, 1967, p. SM15). A year later, on July 13, 1968 The

Globe and Mail once again used the term think tank to describe the work of Herman

Kahn and his Hudson Institute (Gellner, 1968, p. A10). A few months afterwards New

York Times journalist Richard Kostelanet, also spoke about Kahn and the Hudson

Institute in his article "One Man Think Tank" (Kostelanet, 1968, p. SM58).

Around the same time the term began to be used by the British press starting on

August 19, 1968 with an article on "The world of management" that appeared in the

“Business and Finance” section of The Times of London (Anon, 1968, p.15). From that time on the term “think tank” began to be used to refer to and identify public policy research institutions.

Given the history of the term think tank it should be clear to the reader why this thesis identifies three influential public policy organizations, the Fabian Society, the

Broederbond, and the SAIRR as think tanks. Now we need a short discussion of why studying this type of organization is important today.

1.2 Think tanks and the war of ideas

The following comment from a British interviewee illustrates the importance of studying think tanks and the ways they communicate, or promote, their ideas (Interview

UVC). The person who pointed this out was the Vice Chancellor, which is the British term for a university President, of a well-known British university. For professional reasons they asked to remain anonymous to avoid causing any embarrassment or damage to their institution and its funding (Interview UVC). They said that shortly after the British General Election on May 7, 2010 which brought David Cameron to power as the new Conservative Prime Minister, an urgent meeting was arranged by Universities

UK, which is the body to which most universities in England belong. It represents their interests to the Government and other public bodies. On this occasion a panel was invited to inform the Vice Chancellors, about new developments in government policy.

The panel members were all relatively young people with graduation qualifications, not necessarily PhDs, in areas such as economics and social policy. It soon became clear that they were highly committed to a particular political and educational ideology that exists on both the left and right of the political spectrum in the world of think tanks.

What was remarkable was that a fairly young public policy person from a conservative think tank was the person who explained to the Vice-Chancellors what the

Government was doing and the rationale for its “market related” university policies. “He obviously was not an academic nor had he worked for any sustained period at a university. His particular think tank was formed by influential Conservative members of parliament when they were still in opposition and continue to influence the present government. We sat there and shook our heads” (Interview UVC).

He then explained that after the meeting the entire framework of higher education in England was different. Gone were many of the old and tested ways which were now replaced by new and untried ideas generated by people who had no long-term experience working in higher education, but were consumed by a zeal for the new.

Since then their plans have been systematically implemented totally changing the face of higher education in Britain.

If this had been a unique event it would be significant in itself, but, it was not. The

Conservative Government of Britain systematically replaced the advice of “tried and true” Civil Servants and university based academics with ideas generated by members of think tanks in many policy areas. The only unique factor of this meeting was that it was held with a group of the most highly educated and experienced academics in

England who “were treated like wayward children and told in no uncertain terms how they had to behave” (Informant: UVC; cf. Denham and Garret 1998).

The above example vividly illustrates the growing power of think tanks in Britain.

Evidence suggests that their influence is growing in the United States (A. Rich, 2004) and that they are becoming influential in Canada (Gutstein, 2014) and many other places (Stone & Denham, 2004). Further, as Abelson shows think tanks play an

8 important role in presidential elections and other political campaigns where they advise candidates and devise election strategies (Abelson, 2006).

These examples show that communications strategies play an important role in the power of think tanks to influence politicians and others. Anyone who doubts this has only to read the bestselling book Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative

Revolution (Kheiriddin & Daifallah, 2005). At its core is a strategy to promote conservative ideas in Canada through the creation of “a vast network of think tanks,” or policy research institutes, to redirect Canadian society in a right-wing, or neo-liberal, direction (Kheiriddin & Daifallah, 2005, pp. 49-50).

Here it is important to note that their view reflects the argument of the American rhetorician Richard Weaver found in his book Ideas Have Consequences (Weaver,

1948). This is because of his emphasis on the necessity of an intellectual revolution to challenge what he saw as the prevailing liberalism of contemporary society. Therefore, ideas must be changed, and for writers like Kheiriddin and Daifallah this was to be accomplished through the creation of think tanks (2005, pp. xxi-xx, 17-23, 51-57, 69-

81). Thus, Weaver had a profound, if somewhat delayed, impact on conservatives

(Nash, 1976:312-318; cf. Stromberg, 1994; Scotchie, 1997; Kimball, 2006, 2014).

Justifying their strategy, Kheiriddin and Daifallah point to the slow but steady growth of the new right in America and England where they argue think tanks played a key role in reshaping politics and political thought. They see this model as a blueprint for sweeping change in Canada (Kheiriddin & Daifallah, 2005 p. 50, pp. 54-55). Although many people, including local liberals the author has discussed the book with, see this argument as more bombast than political reality it is a mistake to dismiss it.

This is because a growing body of evidence supports the idea that think tanks have influenced public policy in most western and many non-western countries

(Denham, 1996; Tesseyman, 1999; Khleif, 2007; Browne, 2008). For example, Donald

Gutstein in his book Harperism: How Stephen Harper and his think tank Colleagues have transformed Canada (2014), argued that the transformation of politics through the intervention of think tanks reshaped Canadian public policy under the government of

Stephen Harper. Gutstein may overstate his case; nevertheless he points to a growing concern about think tanks in Canada. Unfortunately, he only criticizes the Conservative government’s use of think tanks and completely neglects the influence of think tanks on the formation of Liberal and New Democratic Party (NDP) policies. Taken together these arguments make a strong case for the serious study of think tank communications and the rhetoric used to spread their ideas. Yet virtually nothing has been written about the way think tanks communicate their ideas.

This is surprising because many writers note that the communication of ideas is very important for think tanks. But, they provide very few details about how this takes place. Consequently, this thesis is intended as a contribution towards understanding think tanks and their influence by examining some of the ways three specific think tanks promoted their ideas and policy proposals.

1.3 Manjapra’s “global entanglements”

The work of Kris Manjapra and his concept of “global entanglements” informs this study. His book Age of Entanglement (2014) shows that the history of politics in India, particularly that of the independence movement in the twentieth century, cannot simply

10 be understood in terms of a black and white struggle against British imperialism. Rather, he argues, there are many shades of grey that muddy the waters of any historical, sociological, or other work, such as a study of communications, which concentrates on what occurred in India.

This is because, as Manjapra demonstrates, many of the leaders of the Indian independence movement visited and often lived for long periods of time in America,

Britain, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Africa and other places. While outside of India they developed friends, came into contact with new ideas, and forged bonds that they later drew upon when they returned to India. At the same time their presence in other parts of the world, including Britain, impacted local people whose ideas were also changed through the bonds they created with Indians (Manjapra, 2014, pp.1-6).

In this way, a new post-Enlightenment discourse was created that “produced a sea change in scientific and scholarly production … marked by widening communications networks … across world regions” (Manjapra, 2010, p. 9). This can be seen in terms of “a ‘transformation,’ and not a rejection of positivism” which “sustained the national ideals of different groups worldwide” (p.10).

He explains his understanding of these developments by saying "Entanglements occur when groups, alien from each other in many other ways, begin to need each other like crowbars or like shovels to break apart or to dig up problems of the most pressing concern for themselves”. In other words, Manjapra argues these “entanglements are always political and have more to do with the realm of necessity and power than with the realm of freedom. And because they are political, they are also bound by historical conditions” (p. 6). In other words, as he makes clear in subsequent chapters, when

11 people need, or can use, each other, or each other's ideas, for particular tasks they freely borrow from one another.

Such entanglements involving Indians created a "bonding" which Manjapra identifies as a "cousins-in-arms against British world power" phenomenon that "was the product of pop culture" and "scholarly activities" (p. 57, 87). They were entanglements

"organized within fields of dialogue" that used the “Discourse of the natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities" to connect otherwise very different people determined to "undermine the British imperial worldview" (p. 89). As we shall see it is this type of entanglement that informs the thought of leaders of think tanks found across a wide political spectrum but united by a common discontent with the status quo.

1.4 How influential are think tanks?

Early studies of think tanks assumed that think tanks were enormously influential and had a significant influence on government policy. For example, think tanks are credited with creating the groundswell of support that led to the ascendency of neo- liberalism in both the UK and USA (Cockett, 1994, pp. 3-5; 287-317; Denham and

Garnet, 1999; Kheiriddin and Daifallah, 2005, pp. 51-55; Browne 2008). Similarly, it is said that the “Big Society” rhetoric of the ruling British Conservative party was hatched by the London based, right-wing, Center for Social Justice (Ellison, 2011).

As was already noted Conservative think tanks had a major influence on post- secondary education policy in the UK under David Cameron’s Conservative government. These policies are not isolated to post-secondary education or to conservative governments. Left-wing think tanks helped shape the primary school

12 education policies of Tony Blair’s Labour Government in England (Hume 2006). Think tanks are also credited with having a major impact on education policy world-wide

(Stone, Denham, and Garnett 1998; Leunig 2011; Bogdanor 2011; Brennan and Shah

2011, p. 18).

In Canada, for example, the Vancouver based Fraser Institute started issuing report cards on schools in 1998 and created The Barbara Michelle Centre for

Improvement in Education in 2012 (WS-BMC). Activities like these have had a significant impact on primary and secondary education because of the way they have influenced the views of many parents and the media (Raptis, 2012).

Although there are exceptions one of the results of the growth and acceptance of think tanks appears to be the increasing marginalization of universities and other traditional sources of public policy ideas such as the civil service. Thus, Medvetz argues that as a result of this marginalization traditional academics are now seen by the public, influential journalists and most politicians as people who live in ivory towers and are unable to cope with the rough and tumble of real world issues (Medvetz, 2012, pp. 213-

226).

Nevertheless, observing possible influences and proving real effects on public policy are quite different things as Murray Weidenbaum3 shows in his The Competition of Ideas: The World of Washington think tanks (2011). He notes that "trying to measure the impact on specific public policy changes, however, has frustrated scholars for years." Then, following David Ricci, he argues that it is clear that "power in Washington

3 Weidenbaum is a professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis who served as the first chairman of Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisors and acted as an advisor to five American presidents: https://source.wustl.edu/2014/03/obituary-murray-weidenbaum-noted-economist-professor- presidential-adviser-87/. Last accessed 19/07/2017. Therefore, while he was not quite a think tank insider he came fairly close to being one. 13 cannot be measured precisely" and "think tanks surely have a great deal of it…"

(Weidenbaum 2011, p. 91) But, he argues, measuring it precisely is almost impossible.

Therefore, he suggests "perhaps the intellectual sense of competition, rather than any impact on individual policy decisions, is the most fundamental and durable contribution that the major think tanks have made to American public policy over the years" (p.100).

Given the seriousness of these issues and the very different ways the influence of think tanks is evaluated, perhaps it is time to abandon attempts to precisely measure the influence of think tanks and explore another tack. That is to examine the communication strategies of specific think tanks from a historical perspective in situations where the majority of observers agree on the importance of their influence in shaping particular societies.

It is this approach that is pursued in the present thesis. That is, the thesis will not attempt to measure the influence of think tanks generally or even of contemporary think tanks in a place like Canada. Rather, it will explore the ways in which think tanks that are generally recognized as highly influential operated in the past. Thus, the research questions that guided this study are:

Is it possible to identify one or more dominant forms, modes, or strategies, used

by highly successful public policy think tanks to communicate their policy

proposals to members of the public, the media and politicians? If so is it possible

to say that a particular form of communication was more successful than

another? And what are the lessons we can learn from this that apply to the

present?

These questions may be reformulated into the following question.

How did the three widely recognized and highly successful public policy think

tanks studied in this work communicate their ideas and policy proposals in such a

way that they made an observable impact on society, political debate, social

attitudes and change?

1.5 Conclusion

This chapter has introduced the issue of think tanks as public policy institutions that are widely believed to influence social and political life through their carefully planned communications strategies. It has provided the reader with a brief history of the term “think tank” and drawn attention to the lack of serious studies of think tank communications. Now we turn to a more detailed discussion of the relevant literature about think tanks and their modes of communication before outlining the methods and theories used in this research.

Chapter Two

Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

The chapter has the following sections:

2.0 Introduction 2.1 The Fabian Society: The first modern think tank 2.2 The Afrikaner Broederbond 2.3 Literature about the South African Institute of Race Relations 2.4 The early study of think tanks 2.5 The development of think tank studies 2.6 Alternative ways of viewing think tanks 2.7 Conclusion

This chapter surveys the existing literature on think tanks, concentrating on key books. In the process, it points out that although communications are often mentioned as an important feature of all think tanks, and a major part of their budgets, there are no studies devoted to the issue. A few important unpublished theses are also mentioned since they are now readily available to people who have access to online academic resources.

2.1 The Fabian Society: The first modern think tank

The Fabian Society, which is largely ignored by North American writers on the topic, is recognized by Europeans as the best candidate for the title of the first modern think tank. For example, when Diane Stone provided a time line of the development of

British and American think tanks in her Capturing the Political Imagination (1996) she placed the Fabian Society, which was founded in 1884, at the top of the list. Then, thirteen years later she lists the Russell Sage Foundation, founded in 1907, as the

16 second think tank and the first to be founded in America (Stone, 1996 p. xiii; Denham and Garnett, 1998, p. 25; Tesseyman, 1999, pp.1-9).

Similarly, British historian Richard Cockett argues that the birth of the Fabian

Society represented an intellectual revolution led by leading Fabians that reshaped

British political thought and in the process impacted other countries. In time, this led to the rise of a new wave of think tanks in America following the end of Second World War which was part of an international “counter-revolution” against the ideals of Fabianism

(Cockett, 1994, pp. 4-6, 14-56).

The first booklet published about the Fabian Society, or any other think tank, was

George Bernard Shaw’s (1856-1950) Fabian Tract No. 41 entitled The Fabian Society:

Its Early History (1892). This was the text of a paper he read at the 1892 Fabian Annual

Conference. Most of this work concerns Shaw’s interpretation of internal disputes and his attempt to distinguish the society from other political movements of the time such as various forms of anarchism and radical socialist groups which Shaw described as forms of “Insurrectionism”. (Shaw, 1892 pp. 3-4, 15-17). Throughout this work he makes it clear that from its founding in 1884 the Society and its members engaged in ongoing empirical research as a basis for its public policy proposals. This strategy is summarized in his appendix the “Basis of the Fabian Society” (p. 31).

This publication was followed in 1916 by Edward R. Pease’s far more detailed

History of the Fabian Society. Like later works on early think tanks both writers emphasize a preference for the “practical” based on the “scientific investigation” of social problems (Shaw, 1892, pp. 4-5, 7, 16, 25-27; Pease, 1916, p.34, 41, 47, 59,157).

Yet, although the “investigation of social problems was one of the original objects of the

Society and had always been … part of its work” it was not until 1912 that the Society formally established its own Research Department (Pease, 1916, p. 227). Before, that research was conducted by individuals and various local branches of the Society.

The Fabians prided themselves on being Socialists who embraced gradualism and rejected revolutionary change. Therefore, they were prepared to present the results of their research as widely as possible and were happy if anyone, regardless of their political convictions, took it seriously. What was important to them was that it was used to work for the improvement of society (Pease, 1916 p. 248).

What is probably the greatest difference between these accounts of the origins of the Fabian Society and similar works about other early think tanks is the explicit emphasis by Fabian authors on communications, which they described in terms of spreading the Society’s ideas and policy proposals (Shaw 1892, p. 31; Pease, 1916, p.

41).

Both Shaw and Pease were quite frank when they claimed that the central task of the Society was to promote “propaganda” by which they meant a long-term program to promote social change with the intent of creating a more just society where workers were treated humanely and received the basic necessities of life. Thus, they used the term “propaganda” to describe a particular type of promotional activity which is discussed in more detail in chapter three (Shaw, 1892, p. 20; Pease, 1916, p. 80, 90,

99). Viewing propaganda in this way, the Society created a Committee for Propaganda which was dedicated to the task of spreading Fabian ideas and policies (Pease, 1916, p. 169). The frank embrace by the Fabians of research as a means of solving social

18 problems was always seen as a tool for the purpose of “reconstructing society” and promoting Socialism through what they called “propaganda” (pp. 37-39).

Probably the most prolific writer on the Fabian Society was Margaret Cole (1893-

1980) who wrote biographies of key figures including the Webbs and her husband G. D.

H. Cole (1889-1959) who became a professor of political theory at Oxford University4.

He also authored a short Fabian booklet The Fabian Society, Past and Present (1942) along with some major works on socialism that expounded Fabian ideas including his major five-volume History of Socialist Thought (Cole, 1953-1960). Together they also wrote at least thirty-three detective stories that have an underlying Fabian theme.

Important studies of the Fabian Society by outsiders, many of whom were very sympathetic to Fabianism, include Norman and Jeanne MacKenzie’s The Fabians

(1977). In this book the focus is on the development of the Society from its founding until 1914, although there is a brief overview of events until the death of the “last survivors” of the founding group in 1955. It is a mine of information that illuminates their activities, but nothing is specifically said about communications.

Similarly, while Willard Wolfe’s From Radicalism to Socialism: Men and Ideas in the Formation of Fabian Socialist Doctrines, 1881-1889 (1975) is a very useful study that concentrates on the development of political beliefs within the Society itself. It says virtually nothing about the way the Fabians communicated their ideas outside of their own circle. Another work that discusses Fabian ideas, this time in the American context, is Fabian Freeway; High Road to Socialism in the USA (Martin and Wright, 1966) which is a blistering attack on the Fabians that is now given away for free as a pdf by the

4 Because of their commitment to “the facts,” the Fabians saw universities and university research as supporting their cause. More recently many think tanks in Britain and America have seen universities as hotbeds of radicalism which they seek to counter 19 libertarian Mises Institute which also sells it as a book.5 The problem is that it presents a distorted image of Fabianism.

For example, former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson (1916-1995) is described as:

The plump, prematurely silver-haired Oxonian, whose formal speeches and

occasional witticisms are handily supplied by Fabian Research, was described by

news correspondents as a Socialist in a grey flannel suit. He might just as well

have been called a wolf in sheep's clothing--the Aesopian symbol, which George

Bernard Shaw long ago suggested was more appropriate than the tortoise as a

heraldic device for the Fabian Society--and which appears in the Shavian

stained-glass window at Beatrice Webb House in Dorking. It is not the outer

apparel, but the inner nature of the Fabian Society that has made Harold Wilson

what he is today (Martin & Wright, p. 99)

This passage is quoted at length because it illustrates the scurrilous nature of attacks on the Society that are to be found on the Internet and in American neo- liberalism. What is said about George Bernard Shaw’s suggestion that the logo of the

Society ought to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, and that this symbol was used in a stained-glass window he presented to the Webbs in 1910 and is now on display at the

London School of Economics, is strictly correct.6 What the comment does not make clear, which anyone who reads Beatrice Webb or George Bernard Shaw soon discovers, is that Shaw and the Webbs had a great sense of humor and often joked with

5 https://mises.org/library/fabian-freeway-high-road-socialism-usa 6 http://www.lse.ac.uk/alumni/LSEConnect/LSEMagazine/pdf/summer2006/FabianWindow.pdf 20 each other. Seen in context, Shaw’s comment and window was actually a joke which was appreciated all round. But, today many people take it at face value without understanding its social context. This explanation and the joking aspect of the Fabians will be documented in the chapter on the Fabians.

The role of Fabians like the Coles, George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells in promoting a form of cultural communications to spread Fabian ideas is discussed in Ian

Britain’s Fabians and Culture: A Study of British Socialism and the Arts: 1884-1918

(1981). In it Britain discusses the involvement of early Fabians in a wide range of cultural activities as actors, artists, architect, sculptors, playwrights and writers of both fiction and non-fiction works for adults and children. His focus, however, is on the arts as a revolt against the “excesses of industrial capitalism” and the tensions within the

Society between its more artistic members and others who George Bernard Shaw described as “philistines” because they saw the arts as a distraction (Britain,1982, pp. 3-

6). Consequently, while it is a rich source of information about the way a minority of

Fabians expressed their socialism through the arts, it never discusses the impact of their art as a form of communication or, as the Fabians called it, propaganda.

2.2 The Afrikaner Broederbond

Although there are no written records of direct connections between the Fabians and the creators of the Afrikaner Broederbond, there are nevertheless strong informal connections and considerable evidence that the founders of the Broederbond were well aware of the Fabian Society and its success. This issue will be discussed further in chapter six which is on the Broederbond.

Numerous books contain chapters on the Broederbond, most of which simply repeat the work of other scholars. A pioneering academic study of the Broederbond is

Charles Bloomberg’s posthumous The Afrikaner Broederbond in South Africa 1918-

1948 (1989). Another important academic work which devotes about half of its content to the Broederbond and its affiliate organizations is William Henry Vatcher Jr.’s White

Laager: The Rise of Afrikaner Nationalism (1965). Although not devoted to the

Broederbond as such, T. Dunbar Moodie’s The Rise of Afrikanerdom: Power Apartheid and the Afrikaner Civil Religion (1975) is especially helpful because it contains a long discussion of the Symbolic Trek of 1938 and the celebration surrounding the building of the Voortrekker Monument. Similarly, Christoph Marx Oxwagon Sentinal: Radical

Afrikaner Nationalism and the History of the Osserwabrandwag (2008) contains a lot of material related to the Broederbond and its cultural, political and social impact and is an invaluable work.

In addition to these works, there are two books of translated Broederbond documents and accompanying commentary by South African journalists. These are

J.H.P Serfontein’s Brotherhood of Power: An Exposé of the Secret Afrikaner

Broederbond (1979) and Ivor Wilkins and Hans Strydom, Hans’s The Super-Afrikaners

(1978). Both works are discussed in more detail in the chapter on research methods.

As will be argued in later chapters, all of these works to one degree or another were written during or in the immediate wake of the apartheid era. As such they project an apartheid mindset and commitment to racist policies on to past events, interpreting then differently from how they were understood when they happened. As a result these

22 events are viewed in terms of the end results that emerged after the election victory of the National Party in 1948 and its policy of apartheid.

2.3 Literature about the South African Institute of Race Relations

Turning from the Broederbond to the SAIRR, which was founded by English speaking academics in South Africa who were closely linked to the Fabian Society, one finds a dearth of external publications that explicitly deal with the SAIRR. In fact, the only book devoted to a study of the organization is Ellen Hellmann and Henry Lever’s in-house edited publication Conflict and progress: Fifty Years of Race Relations in

South Africa: 50th Anniversary Publication of the South African Institute of Race

Relations (1979).

Apart from this there are number of passing references, usually totaling no more than a page of text, on the SAIRR in various books on the struggle against apartheid and similar works (Harrison, 1981; Adam & Kogila, 1986; O’Meara, 1996; Guelke,

2005). A longer and highly critical account of the role of liberals and the SAIRR is found in Paul B. Rich’s White Power and the Liberal Conscience (1984) and his later Hope and Despair: English-Speaking Intellectuals and South African politics, 1896-1976

(1993). Grace Davie gives a far more nuanced account in her Poverty Knowledge in

South Africa (2015) which has several long sections on the SAIRR and its founding members. Overall, she presents them as children of their time who worked hard for social justice in a very difficult situation. A far more positive approach is taken in

Randolph Vigne’s Liberals Against Apartheid (1997) which while recognizing failures

23 makes the case that the SAIRR worked hard to abolish apartheid and that its methods ultimately succeeded.

2.4 The early study of think tanks

Although all three organizations discussed above effectively functioned as think tanks, it was not until the late 1960’s, as noted in chapter one, that the term itself came into use. Arguably, the earliest book to use “think tank” in its title was Paul Slee Smith’s

Think Tanks and Problem Solving (1971). Smith was a business executive who had spent over twenty years working for one of Britain’s largest industrial concerns the

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) where he was the Publicity Manager for the Plastics

Division and an expert in public relations. He provided his readers with a brief history of what he called “think tanks,” which he traced back to the Franklin Institute which was founded in Philadelphia in 1824 to use “applied science” to solve “national problems” (p.

5).

He also argued that the RAND Corporation typifies think tanks which are more accurately descried as “think factories” (Smith, 1971, p. 5). In making this case Smith argues that think tanks are essentially an American institution dedicated to problem solving through innovation (pp. 12-14, 102-120).

Smith never provides a precise definition of think tank. Instead he characterizes them as organizations that serve “a single sponsor such as one of the military services” employing “people from a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines, branches of engineering, social sciences, economics, etc.” held together by very complex problems that require “a team effort with representatives from the various fields of learning

24 mentioned above.” Finally, Smith argues that the reports think tanks produce provide policy makers and other professionals with “a set of options” that allow them to make practical decisions (pp. 2-3).

Two months later in June, 1971, Paul Dickson’s Think Tanks appeared in

America. Dickson, who was a journalist, drew attention to what he saw as a new type of

"uniquely American" political organization created to advise governments that was outside of the traditional government bureaucracy (p. 5). He was intrigued by think tanks but believed that their growth might undermine the normal workings of American

Government (pp. 45-48).

For Dickson, as for Smith, the RAND Corporation, or “Mother Rand,” as he called it, which was founded in 1948, was the prototype of the modern think tank. This was because he saw it as an entirely new type of organization that was advising American governments and industry about the complex decisions needed in the uncertain climate of the times. In particular, Dickson saw RAND as serving a key role in helping

Americans face up to the horrific realities of the new Cold War (pp. 75-88). Unlike

Smith, he saw think tanks not as creators of new knowledge but as organizations that addressed problems of government and management in innovative ways (pp. 28-31).

Dickenson believed that it was not easy to recognize an organization as a think tank because there was “no set pattern of financial objectives or affiliation” that is unique to them (p. 27). Rather he argues that what is important is that it is "a permanent entity" and not an ad hoc committee or group assembled for a specific, and short term, purpose. As such the “primary function” of a think tank is not "basic research, applied

25 research, or development." Rather it is one of communicating information in such a way that the think tank acts "as a bridge between knowledge and power” (pp. 28)

Overall, both writers tend to be optimistic about the role of think tanks in political life and their place in social decision making because they believed contemporary problems were far more complex than anything experienced in the past. As Smith put it,

"the best hope of finding answers lies with the intellectual elite of the think tanks"

(Smith, 1971, p. vii). Similarly, Dickson argues that as think tanks are knowledge agents they are "invariably multidisciplinary" organizations with considerable autonomy allowing them to make independent recommendations and proposals on a wide range of issues.

This he concludes makes them pacesetters that seek to "change goals and directions"

(Dickson, 1972, pp. 28-31).

These early books provide a good introduction to the study of think tanks from a sympathetic perspective. At the same time, they shaped the discussion of think tanks by creating a narrative that later writers drew upon and developed.

The narrative is fairly straightforward. It begins with the claim that rapid social and technological changes have created complex problems unlike those of the past.

Consequently, policy makers can no longer make informed decisions relying only on the help, or guidance, of traditional support systems such as the civil service. Therefore, a new approach to social and political problems is needed based upon specialist knowledge that addresses the problems from a multi-disciplinary perspective using teams of experts to discover practical solutions.

This type of policy advice is contrasted with both a reliance on a professional class of administrators, the civil service, and reliance on university scholars who work

26 within traditional academic disciplines. Both of these approaches to modern social and political problems are dismissed as too limited in their scope, shaped by existing vested interests and a tendency to theoretical arguments that produce impractical solutions.

Therefore, the answer to the needs of modern policy makers is said to be found in think tanks that are research organizations dedicated to serving human needs. They offer either contract research or research that is independently financed with the aim of solving problems in innovative and practical ways.

Developing this narrative, both Dickenson and Smith use a number of overlapping terms such as “research,” “complex problems,” “specialists,” “team effort,”

“interdisciplinary,” “decision making,” and “practical solutions.” These terms provide later writers with the basic terminology they use to describe the work of think tanks. Thus, the picture of think tanks that was created reflects the use of what Kenneth Burke identifies as “terministic screens” which are discussed in more detail in chapter three.

Significantly, as Burke observes, terministic screens, which work rather like reading glasses with different focal lengths and tints, both supply ways of understanding and limit, or block out, alternative ways of seeing (Burke, 1989, pp. 114-125).

Thus, the arguments of these books influenced later writers by framing arguments that act as screens to shape later discussions about think tanks. In doing so they left out both advocacy and communications which were central to the writings of

Shaw (1892), Pease (1916), and as Mafinezam observes, to the work of the earliest think tanks of the Progressive Era in America such as the Russell Sage Foundation, the

Council on Foreign Relations, and the Brookings Institution (Mafinezam, 2003).

2.5 The development of think tank studies

The effect of these terministic screens can be seen in James A. Smith’s The Idea

Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite (1991), which provided a comprehensive overview of the topic. This book is described on the cover by Martin

Anderson, of the Hoover Institution, as “The best book ever written on American think tanks” and has endorsements on the back cover from the presidents of the Brookings

Institute and the American Enterprise Institute plus the Washington Post and the New

York Times Book Review. Essentially, it is a very useful catalogue of American think tanks.

Essentially a eulogy to the value of think tanks, Smith’s work gives an idealized picture of the work of think tanks using the terministic screens developed by Slee Smith and Dickson. Nevertheless, it is mildly critical and points out some of the tensions between different think tanks created by what McGann was later to call “the competition for dollars,” in other words “funding” (McGann, 1995). It also briefly comments on their ability, or lack of such, to communicate their ideas. Overall, even though it presents think tanks in a somewhat romantic way, and stresses their importance while overlooking their defects, it has received a very sympathetic response from academics

(cf. Hames 1995, pp. 376-377).

Two years later David M. Ricci published The Transformation of American

Politics (1993). He makes the case that since 1970 a fundamental shift has occurred in

American governance as a result of the rise of think tanks. This he claims is a natural development given the ever increasing complexity of modern life and “proliferation of federal programs” that result from social change (Ricci, 1993, pp. 40, 72, 133). His core

28 argument is that governing modern communities requires a level of expertise that no one member of the government, or even branch, can master. As a result there was a growing problem with the ability of staffers to “keep track” of information (pp. 41-43,

138). This was made worse by the fact that many civil servants were actually

“amateurs” in terms of the expertise needed to cope with particular problems (pp. 3, 8,

17-18, 22, 69, 73). Consequently, the use of think tank “professionals” who are “experts” in given areas offered a solution to what was seen as a growing problem. Therefore, reliance on groups of outside experts in a variety of areas is necessary (pp. 17, 22, 29,

33).

Essentially an optimistic book that promotes think tanks as a valuable tool for modern governance, this work can be criticized for its trust in what Ricci sees as “the marketplace of ideas” which is described as a rather idealistic world where free competition allows the best to rise to the top. The influence of any one think tank, he argues, is kept in check by other competing think tanks that provide politicians and civil servants with a rich array of policy options creating what he calls “the great conversation” (p. 24). As a result he sees the rise and role of think tanks as a fact of life without really offering serious criticisms of their political biases. Instead he simply assumes that because think tanks are often politically biased the impact of any one think tank will be moderated by others that hold a different political position (pp. 15-25).

Further, while Ricci makes the case that think tanks are remarkably successful in communicating their ideas, which are often taken up by policy makers, he never really addresses how this communication takes place even though he recognized the growth of various new forms of communication (pp. 29-79, 149-181). Nevertheless, towards the

29 end of the book he indicates that the use of “stories” by think tanks is an important part of their self-presentation. In doing so he opens the way for the discussion of think tank communications that recognize the role of narrative and the use of rhetoric but these things are never really developed (pp. 208-238).

Four years later, James McGann published The Competition for Dollars:

Scholars and Influence in the Public Policy Research Industry (1995), which was a slightly revised edition of his 1991 University of Pennsylvania, City and Regional

Planning, PhD thesis. At the beginning of his thesis, but omitted from his book, McGann stated that the aim of his study was “to provide policy makers with a better understanding of these institutions” by “(1) defining this universe of institutions and (2) constructing a conceptual framework that will enable us to examine the internal and external forces that have shaped the public policy research industry and the firms that operate within it” (McGann, 1991, p. iv-v).

To do this he basically appropriates the terministic screens already developed to which he adds more information and an academic sophistication. His overall approach is to view think tanks as an “industry” where they are in competition with each other for a limited pool of funding. Consequently, he sets out to “examine the growth and evolution of the public policy research industry in the United States” focusing “on the internal and external forces that have shaped the strategies and structure of this class of institution.” The result is a detailed study of issues of definition, organization, and structure of think tanks, paying attention to “inputs and outcomes”; and “under what conditions” the information they generate is used by policy makers (McGann, 1995, pp.

4-7).

In the process McGann spends a lot of time discussing the nature of think tanks, how they are to be defined, and how they function. In doing so he provides brief outlines of various major think tanks in terms of their structure and aims but says almost nothing specifically about their communications strategies (pp. 25-38). Thus, he sees a development in the way think tanks function from their origins early in twentieth century

America to the growth of the “Advocacy Tank” in the 1970’s and 1980’s (pp. 77-80). In this connection McGann raises the question of the influence think tanks have on policy makers concluding that while it is real it is almost impossible to quantify except in terms of things like citations and funding (pp. 86-120).

Finally, McGann summarized what he sees as the “Implications for the Industry” of his study (pp. 121-143). Here he makes some suggestions about how think tanks can increase their influence and for future research on the topic, all of which concern issues of management and structure (pp. 308-310). In subsequent years, McGann has produced a series of articles, monographs, and edited books on think tanks. Since

2008, through the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies

Program, he has published the annual Global Go To Think Tanks Index. In it, policy research institutions are ranked according to their perceived influence.7

McGann’s work is important in cataloguing think tanks and the various ways they manifest themselves. He recognized the importance of communications and marketing but only in passing. As such his work is squarely within the framework set up by Smith and Dickson’s terministic screens.

7 These reports for 2008-2016 are available on the Internet at: https://www.gotothinktank.com/global-goto- think-tank-index. Last accessed 05/11/2017. 31

Although continuing the tradition of working within parameters of the terministic screens established by earlier scholars, Canadian Donald Abelson begins to break new ground in think tank studies with his American Think-Tanks and Their Role in US

Foreign Policy (1996). This was based on his 1992 PhD thesis. It is a careful study of a small group of American think tanks and their perceived impact on foreign policy. His second book, which grew out of his first, was Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the

Impact of Think Tanks of Public Policy Institutes (2002, revised edition 2009). He then returned to the theme of his first book in A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign

Policy (2006) where he further developed his ideas on this topic.

In Do Think Tanks Matter (2009), Abelson brings clarity to the discussion about how think tanks ought to be defined by arguing that while it is easy to identify universities and similar organizations that "engage actively in research and analysis," pinning down a think tank is much more difficult because "there is no typical think tank"

(Abelson 2009, p. 8). He then gives various examples of different sizes of organization, budgets, and programs, that belong to organizations legitimately identified as think tanks.

Nevertheless, Abelson argues that at least from the early 1900s one can observe policy advisory organizations that are identifiable as think tanks (pp. 10-13). In doing so

Abelson identifies think tanks in terms of five major types found in Canada and the USA.

The first he calls "universities without students," like the Brookings Institution and the

Hoover institution. These types of think tank are staffed by academics and produce research reports and provide seminars on selected topics sometimes devoting

"considerable resources to advocacy" (pp. 18-19).

The second class is government contractors which are distinguished from other think tanks by the source of funding. Thus, the RAND Corporation and Urban Institute, which are two leading think tanks of this type, derived almost all their funds from government sources (Abelson, 2009, pp. 19-20). The third and “the most common type of think tank to emerge in both Canada and the United States” are “the advocacy think tank” that developed in the early 1970s. These are strongly influenced by ideological factors and take a clearly biased position on topics. They also combine their research with "aggressive salesmanship" and are usually engaged in the "marketing and repackaging of ideas" rather than generating them. The fourth type of think tank is

“vanity or legacy based think tanks.” This type of think tank is created to advance the political and ideological beliefs of aspiring politicians and advance the policies of former leaders after they have left office. (p. 20). Finally, Abelson identifies “policy clubs” as the final type of think tanks. Policy clubs are nothing more than informal gatherings of academics, policy analysis and policy makers who meet to discuss public policy issues rather than providing long-term strategic analysis (pp. 20-21).

Abelson’s work is an excellent introduction to the study of think tanks which uses clear and precise terms which are carefully defined. Its main weakness is that, even though he is a Canadian, he tends to concentrate on American think tanks.

Finally, we need to note Andrew Rich’s Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the

Politics of Expertise (2004). He presents a fascinating discussion of the role of think tanks in America. But, in terms of theory and the discussion of think tank communications he adds little to the area except in terms of updating our knowledge through a very thorough listing of major American think tanks. As such this is a useful

33 catalogue of the growth and development of think tanks, but it leaves the question of how they actually influence policy making unclear.

2.6 Alternative ways of viewing think tanks

Five years after the publication of Smith and Dickson’s early studies, Daniel

Guttman and Barry Willner published The Shadow Government: The Government's

Multi-Billion-Dollar Giveaway of its Decision-Making Powers to Private Management

Consultants, "Experts," and Think Tanks (1976). The book carried a passionate introduction by Ralph Nader who warns about the danger of a corporate take-over of

American democracy (Guttman & Willner, 1976, pp. ix-xiv). It presented a totally different view of think tanks than that discussed in the last two sections and acts as a call to arms against what the authors see as the destruction of democracy by the substitution of contract workers for civil servants. In the process, they argue these new knowledge workers promote ideologies that undermine good government and are beyond the control of duly elected politicians (pp. 1-39).

Importantly, this book makes no mention of the work of Smith or Dickson.

Although the book appears to have gained a following among left wing critics of

American politics, it seems to have had limited impact in academia and on the study of think tanks generally. For example, of the early academic writers on think tanks, only

Abelson mentions Guttman and Willner.

A strikingly different approach to think tanks was taken by British historian

Richard Cockett in his Thinking the Unthinkable: Think-Tanks and the Economic

Counter-Revolution (1994). In this pioneering work, Cockett examines the historical

34 background to the “Thatcher Revolution” and growth of neo-liberal public policies in

Britain.

Instead of attempting to “prove” or quantify the influence of think tanks, he relies on statements by leading politicians who openly acknowledged their reliance on them.

Using statements by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her close colleagues, he shows that they admitted to relying on the advice and ideas generated by a small group of relatively new British think tanks inspired by the work of Austrian educated economist

Friedrich Hayek (1899-1992). On the basis of Hayek’s work, these organizations mounted a counter-revolution against the dominant economic and social practices and theories associated with Lord Keynes (1883-1946) and in the process changed the face of Britain.

Although well documented by the standards of history, Cockett’s book is largely overlooked by other writers on think tanks who view them from business, political science, or sociological social perspectives. This is probably because he avoids theorizing, offering carefully crafted definitions, or attempting to “prove” the influence of think thanks in ways that reflect the influence of positivism. For him, it is enough to show that the figures he discusses acknowledged the influence of other people, ideas, theories, the role of ideologies, and think tanks.

When Diana Stone published Capturing the Political Imagination: Think Tanks and the Policy Process (1996), her book was hailed as the first “good book” on British think tanks that did not get “bogged down in the vexed question of” definitions (James

1998, pp. 409-410). This is strange given that before her, Cockett also avoided things like definitions and Stone frequently cites him (e.g. Stone, 1996, pp. 102, 128, 150).

Instead of taking a historical approach like Cockett, she concentrates on the way think tanks are organized and managed. Thus, Stone investigates the innovative ways they promote their policies in the free-for-all of policy proposals.

Importantly, Stone, who is now Professor of Politics and International Relations at the University of Warwick in England, like Cockett, had no personal past involvement with think tanks either as a former employee or consultant. Her analysis is lucid and concentrates on the political influence and implications of think tanks on public policy.

Although she has a keen interest in public relations she spends little time discussing specific communication techniques used by think tanks.

One of Stone’s interesting contributions to think tank studies is to see them as a carefully qualified form of “epistemic communities.” That is, they are communities of knowledge consisting of specialists who share common goals through shared beliefs.

By this she means “groups of politically motivated intellectuals seeking to inform limited areas of policy on the basis of their expertise.” Expanding on this description she says:

“Epistemic communities are knowledge based networks who … help decision makers without expert knowledge to clarify … complex problems” (Stone, 1996, p. 36).

Further, Stone notes that the concept of epistemic community fits some think tanks better than others. In doing so she uses the term as synonymous with knowledge communities because “knowledge is a central aspect of power in the epistemic community perspective” (p. 86). Her description of the way epistemic communities work is fascinating (pp. 86-104).

In outlining her argument, Stone says that think tanks engage in “agenda setting” and that this is their main contribution to policy debates (pp. 1-7, 89-94). The closest

Stone comes to delving into the way these communities, and the think tanks they support, use communication strategies to promote their agendas is in chapter nine which has the provocative title “Second-Hand Dealers in Ideas.” There she argues that

“Think tanks promote ideas and simplify their policy analysis through the use of metaphor and the creation of symbols” (p. 136). In this way they embrace “rhetorical or discursive strategies” to “enhance the political potency of ideas and mobilize support”

(p. 218).

These strategies are based on what she calls “The Tactical Deployment of Ideas” which was advocated by Hayek as a response to the success of socialism (pp. 136-

137). The key to this approach according to her analysis is the use of “The Mixed

Metaphors of Markets, Religion, and War” (p. 139). Used carefully, metaphors simplify and shortcut theoretical debates by making their practical implications readily visible within communities that see themselves in a war of ideas that gains “firepower” from the work of think tanks (p. 140).

In such a war “there is no peace. Battles must be constantly fought and the war is never decisively won.” As a result, think tanks and their supporters are engaged in a continuing struggle for the ascendancy of their ideas (pp. 140-141). In this battle, think tanks are compared rather perversely to a person’s “church or synagogue” that is there

“for the long haul.” Consequently, think tanks create their own saints like Adam Smith, whose story functions as a narrative paradigm to inspire the faithful (pp. 141-143).

After discussing these metaphors, she then moves onto her second rhetorical category “Figures of Speech.” By this she means “the terminology of the intellectual entrepreneurs” who work for think tanks which is “the language employed by policy

37 entrepreneurs” as “part of the ‘softening up’ process of agenda setting” (Stone, 1996, p.

146). In expounding this idea Stone relies on the work of Carol Cohn who wrote about intellectuals working on nuclear policy and distils the debate to the theory of a threat.

This in turn can be used to get “some sectors of the business community” to fund think tanks and related bodies such as journals (pp. 146-151)

This is a suggestive argument, but is never fully developed in terms of the communications strategies of think tanks. As it is, Stone scatters allusions to metaphors such as that of “the market” to make interesting points without really developing her argument in terms of think tank communications (p. 152-154). Overall then this is a fascinating and helpful book that works well for what it is intended to do, but which still leaves a large gap in our knowledge about think tank communications.

With the publication of James McGann and R. Kent Weaver’s edited work Think

Tanks & Civil Societies: Catalysts for Ideas and Action (2000) we find a return to the old framework provided by the earlier writers on think tanks. Nevertheless, the book marked a milestone in think tank studies. With it the study of think tanks was transformed into a global enterprise. Here, Manjapra’s ideas about “global entanglements” come to life in the context of think tanks and their history begins to be taken more seriously (Manjapra,

2014).

Four years later Diane Stone and Andrew Denham’s edited work Think Tank

Traditions: Policy Research and the Politics of Ideas (2004) reinforced the importance of taking a broad perspective that spans both time and space. These very useful books moved the discussion of think tanks away from its almost exclusive focus on American think tanks. The problem with both books is that while they assume that

38 communications are very important for think tanks, the nature of such communications is not discussed. Further, although both books take an interest in the way think tanks contributed to changing regimes in Eastern Europe and other parts of the world, there is no mention of South Africa, even though throughout the twentieth century its leading think tanks, the Broederbond and South African Institute of Race Relations, played key roles in the transition to a multicultural society.

The next major development in think tank studies was the publication of Kevin G.

Welner, Patricia H. Hinchey, Alex Molnar; and Don Weitzman’s Think Tank Research

Quality (2010). This is the first really sustained attack on the core claims of think tanks.

This book is a careful examination of various pieces of research produced by think tanks used to promote proposals for changes in education policy. The authors subject the research to a careful analysis and produce evidence that report after report is seriously flawed in terms of research methods. As a result, they conclude that the work they examined was deeply flawed as they were based on ideology and not scientific evidence (Welner et al, 2010, pp. xiii, xxiii, 311-316). Not surprisingly, this report has been ignored by think tanks and no one has attempted to systematically answer its objections to the work it examines.

A very different, but related, approach is taken by Thomas Medvetz in his 2007

PhD thesis Think Tanks and the Production of Policy Knowledge in America which was published with minor revisions as Think Tanks in America (2012). He asks: “How do we know which agents, groups, and organizations to include within the study and which to leave out?” In answer to this he proposes a “relational mode of analysis, not to arrive at a better theoretical definition, but to convert the query itself (‘What is a think tank’) into

39 an empirical question.” Medvetz goes on to argue that think tanks are “constitutively

‘hybrid’ organizations: part academic research center, part technocratic agency, part advocacy group, part PR or lobbying firm, and so on” (Medvetz, 2012,p. 36).

To make his case, Medvetz questions the received opinion about the origins of think tanks. In his view “it is not just the appearance of certain organizations” but rather

“the process by which they became orientated to one another in their judgements and practices, forming a semi-distinct organizational network” that dates the origins of the modern think tank. Using this criterion, he dates their birth to “the 1970’s and even then only in a loose and tenuous sense” (p. 49). In doing so he brings the origin of think tanks firmly back to the United States of America.

The strength of Medvetz’s argument is that he circumvents endless discussions about definition and whether or not think tanks are pure research or advocacy organizations. Thus, he is able to argue that “think tanks were founded by elites for quite specific political purposes” and that “there has been no clear shift from ‘pure thinking’ to ‘tainted advocacy’ among American think tanks” (p. 51).

This and related arguments allow Medvetz to develop his key argument that think tanks are actually very influential in America because their main impact was a reordering of "the institutional space of knowledge production and consumption in the

United States in a way that prevented the most autonomous social scientists from constituting themselves as effective participants in policy debate" (p. 210). In other words, think tanks frame debates about public policy in such a way that established scholars working in traditional academic institutions, such as universities, are marginalized.

If he is correct, this means that conservative think tanks have an enormous impact in defining and shaping debates about such things as welfare reform and foreign policy by effectively excluding other voices (Medvetz, 2012, pp. 181-222). As a result, think tanks function as very effective gatekeepers (Entman, 1991; 1993; Scheufele,

1999; Scheufele & Tewksbury, 2007; Shoemaker & Vos 2009)

He claims that one effect of this is that the impact of social scientists and university faculty generally on policy makers is reduced through the growth of a new anti-intellectualism in American life. As a result today’s policy makers increasingly rely on people and organizations that are essentially committed to ideologically grounded policies (Medvetz 2012, pp. 181-222). Medvetz writes: "the growth of think tanks over the last forty years has ultimately undermined the value of independently produced knowledge in the United States" (p. 7).

Without making any reference to Medvetz’s work, Donald Gutstein makes similar points in his Harperism: How Stephen Harper and his Think Tank Colleagues Have

Transformed Canada (2014). Although not as carefully documented as Medvetz’s work, and open to criticism on specific points, Gutstein’s analysis shows Mr. Harper and his colleague turned from established scholarship and politically neutral discussions to people and writers who first and foremost proclaim their conservative, or perhaps one should say neo-liberal credentials. In his view, this is a disaster for both Canadian society and democracy. Once again, the issue of think tank communications lies under the surface of Gutstein’s book, but nowhere is it directly addressed.

Finally, it is worth noting that at the time of writing there is only one book entirely devoted to Canadian think tanks (Gutstein 2014), two academic theses (Lindquist 1989;

41 and McLevey 2013), and six academic articles that specifically deal with the topic of think tanks in Canada (Abelson & Carberry 1998; 2010; Fetherling 2007; Lindquist

1993; Taras 1996; Thunert 2003) There are also two chapters in academic books

(Tupper 1993; Thunert, 2003).

Canadian think tanks are briefly mentioned in several other books, theses, and articles, but these works do not focus on think tanks as such. For example, a search of the Canadian Journal of Communications database reveals 31 articles that mention think tanks. When these are examined only 19 of them, at the most, mention Canadian think tanks and only two give them more than a passing mention. A similar situation exists with regard to the other academic journals such as the Canadian Journal of

Political Science. In fact, the main article on Canadian think tanks remains David Taras’

“The Winds of Right-wing Change in Canadian Journalism” written more than twenty years ago (1996). He observed “The impact that Think tanks have had on governments and on the policy debate in Canada is difficult to measure … no major studies of

Canadian Think tanks have been conducted …” (p. 4) Since then nothing has changed.

It is possible that something has been overlooked, but if this is the case it is worth pointing out that in the bibliographies of their PhD theses neither Lindquist (1989) nor McLevy (2013) mention a major Canadian academic journal that has published an article on think tanks let alone think tank communication strategies. This leaves us with the conclusion that this is a largely unexplored area for academic research. On the other hand there are an increasing number of studies dealing with think tanks in Britain,

Europe, and the United States of America. These articles recognize the importance of think tanks in the political process and in the communication of the ideas that shape

42 modern politics and society (Hudson, 2005; McGann and Johnson, 2007; Pautz, 2007;

Smith & Marden, 2008; McNutt & Marchildon, 2009; Pigliucci, 2010).

2.7 Conclusion

None of the authors discussed above deal specifically with the communications strategies or go into any detail about the methods used by think tanks to communicate their ideas. The people who come the closest to this are Donald Abelson and Diane

Stone but neither addresses the communications issue directly.

This is strange because the pithy Mission Statement of what is arguably

Canada’s leading public policy think tank, the Fraser Institute, places “communicating the effects of government policies” at its core (WS-FI).8 Similarly, almost all think tanks stress the importance of communications in their mission statements. Yet although the existing literature on public policy think tanks repeatedly acknowledges the importance of communications to think tanks, this topic is almost totally ignored, or marginalized.

8 All citations beginning with a “W” refer to a website identified by the initials that follow. 43

Chapter Three

Theory and Methods

3.0 Introduction

This chapter has the following sections:

3.0 Introduction 3.1 An overview of the sources used in this study 3.2 Primary and secondary written sources 3.3 The role of oral history, interviews, and observations 3.4 Rational-scientific communications 3.5 Cultural communications 3.6 Terministic screens, ideologies, myths, worldviews, and identity 3.7 Worldview visions 3.8 Rituals as modes of communication 3.9 The propaganda framework 3.10 Back to Burke 3.11 Conclusion

The chapter provides an overview of the research methods and sources used in this thesis. The basic methods used are historical and inspired by David Park and

Jefferson Pooley’s The History of Media and Communication Research (2008). The approach taken draws on the writings about historical research methods published by

Louis Gottschalk (1950), Richard Evans (2001), John Vincent (2001), and G. R. Elton

(2002). The work of writers, who concentrate on written sources, was supplemented by the study of research methods for oral history (Dunaway & Baum, 1996; Charlton, 2006;

Richie, 2011).

Gottschalk, Elton, and Vincent are traditional historians who concentrate on the proper use of written sources, that are either hand written, typed, or printed, texts as the primary basis of historical research. For them other historical evidence, such as archeological evidence or various visual sources, such as sculptures or buildings, are

44 secondary and supportive of what is revealed in textual sources. Evans is also a traditional historian, but he spends a lot of time discussing contemporary trends in historical writing that are either not mentioned by the others or dismissed rather quickly because they pay far more attention to questions of interpretation and theoretical frameworks such as feminism or Marxism. The three works cited on oral history supplemented these discussions.

Reading these authors, it soon became clear that traditional history is essentially a study of communications based on written texts as a means of understanding the past. Thus, history is based on what the authors, who are usually dead, communicated about events, and their reactions to those events. As such it helps us understand both the past and the way it impacts the present. This is important because when we study think tank communications today, the way those communications developed over time and the impact they had on society in the past helps us understand how contemporary communications strategies are likely to be received and shape society.

These authors make it clear that the historian’s primary task is to interrogate the evidence before them, make judgements about its authenticity, and then walk a tightrope between the evidence they use in the form of sources and the way that evidence is interpreted to reconstruct the past. As a result, history is an ongoing task of interpretation, but the historian’s interpretations are based upon evidence that they must be able to justify in terms of the use they make of it

In learning how to study history, Louis Gottschalk’s Understanding History: A

Primer of Historical Method (1950) is particularly helpful because it systematically lays out the framework for any project involving historical research. It identifies sources and

45 helps the apprentice historian understand how best to evaluate them. Other similar issues and the place of theory in historical writing are dealt with in a systematic manner.

G. R. Elton’s The Practice of History (2002) covers much of the same material using different examples that give the reader of real sense of the issues historian face in constructing their arguments. John Vincent adds to all of this with his deliberately provocative An Intelligent Person’s Guide to History (2006) provides other examples and entertaining side swipes at writers with whom Vincent disagrees.

Finally, Richard J. Evans’ In Defence of History (2001) places history within the framework of the social sciences while critically supporting the idea of evidence based historical research. Importantly, Evans devotes an entire book to bringing the importance of historical research into a sharp focus with his carefully crafted Lying

About Hitler: History, Holocaust and the David Irving Trial (2002). This book brings alive abstract ideas about how to approach and interpret sources by placing his discussion in the context of a British libel suit brought by the Holocaust denier David Irving against the

American Jewish scholar Deborah Lipstadt.

In this book Evans shows in practice how and why sound methods and valid interpretations are important not simply as an academic exercise but to the functioning of society. In particular, Evans introduction to the trial and its potential impact on society shows the importance of sound historical methods (Evans, 2002, pp. 1-39) while his brilliant discussion of the misuse of historical sources in Irving’s description of the British bombing of Dresden shows the importance of evidence in refuting arguments like those that relativize the Holocaust (p. 149-184). Similarly, his chapters on Hitler’s attitude towards the Jews and role in the Holocaust leaves no doubt about the long term

46 intentions of Nazi policies (pp. 40-103). Read alongside his earlier book on historical method, one is left in no doubt about how the history student ought to read and interpret historical texts.

It is Important to note that the author attempted to recognize and take into account the advice of these writers. This means that he reflected on his biases, both conscious and unconscious. Therefore, a sincere attempt was made to let the evidence speak for itself so that, as far as possible, the conclusions grow out of the data used.

That means the research was not used to legitimate views the author held at the outset of the project. This is an important point that is stressed by most established researchers (Vincent, 2001, pp. 77-82; Evans, 2001, pp. 224-253).

What this meant in practice was that while he began his work with a strong bias against the Broederbond, based on his family’s involvement in the South African liberation struggle, his views were revised in light of the evidence. This does not mean that he developed sympathy for apartheid or its creators. Rather, he came to recognize, as is shown in chapter six, that the original intent of the founders of the Broederbond was to help a downtrodden people, not to oppress Black Africans.

In other words, the thesis attempts to let the evidence shape its conclusions and seeks to deal honestly with a very complex and, for many, emotionally charged topic.

This is what historians like Elton, Vincent, Evans and Gottschalk advocate and something that the author believes is important even though it is not easy to achieve and research is never purely “objective” (Beards, 1997).

3.1 An overview of the sources used in this study

Two complementary sources of evidence were used in this study. These were written sources and oral history interviews. The first aspect of the research involves what is best described as contemporary history. This is based on written sources such as archival documents, published works, including websites, and other forms of electronic communication. These written sources were supplemented by oral history based on interviews. It should be noted that in writing contemporary history there is an overlap between these two types of sources. Good examples of this type of work involving both written and oral sources for the writing of history are Kenneth Ingham’s biography Obote: A Political Biography (1994) and Donovan William’s book A History of the University College of Fort Hare (2001).

3.2 Primary and secondary written sources

Primary sources were used throughout the thesis wherever possible. A “primary source” is a written document that was authored by someone who participated in or observed the events discussed when they first took place (Gottschalk, 1963, pp. 52-61,

86-117). In this thesis these sources included the online archives of the British Fabian

Society which were digitalized and made available online through the London School of

Economics, which as noted earlier was founded by the Fabian Society. This archive includes the normally handwritten Minutes of the Fabian Executive Committee and various sub-committees like the Propaganda Committee and notes on the society’s meetings and lectures.

In addition to this collection of largely handwritten sources there were numerous primary published sources. These include a complete set of the published Annual

Survey of Race Relations from 1934 to 2004,9 and a remarkably well-preserved set of the monthly Race Relations News which although very rare was found in the University of Calgary Library. In addition to these there was a set of the SAIRR’s Hoernlé Memorial

Lectures from their origin in 1945 until 2006; various books, including autobiographies, written by prominent Fabians and members of the SAIRR including works by Sydney and Beatrice Webb, George Bernard Shaw, Edgar Brookes, and Alan Paton. There were also numerous published lectures and reports. (Cantor & Schneider, 1986, pp. 39-

91, 221).

For the Afrikaner Broederbond there are two major collections of primary source documents translated into English and published as books by Hans Strydom and Ivor

Wilkins (1978) and by J.H.P Serfontein (1979). The value of these books is that the documents and their translations are not in dispute. Even when they were first published in the 1970’s the Broederbond did not deny their authenticity or the accuracy of their translation (Informants: Jan, Piet).

In addition to these there are various small books written for a popular audience like Piet J Meyer’s Die Afrikaner (1940) and other works in the Tweede Trek series

(1940-1943), and the larger three volume Koers in die Krisis (1935-1941), which consists of short articles, that were promoted by the Broederbond and its affiliates that provide insight into the thinking of its leading intellectuals about cultural communications. Finally, there is a surprisingly large number of magazine and journal

9 Many of the SAIRR published materials came from a private collection 49 articles from places like Die Huisgenoot (Home Magazine or Companion) and the important Christian-Nationalist journal Koers available online.

In addition to the primary published sources mentioned above there are a number of excellent secondary sources. A “secondary source” is a work written by another historian, or writer that provides a second-hand account of an event

(Gottschalk, 1963, pp.115-117). These secondary sources include two excellent book length academic studies of the Broederbond by Vatcher (1965), and Bloomberg (1989).

Finally, many other works on South African history and politics, such as the work of

Moodie (1975) and Marx (2008), devote a lot of space to the Broederbond and provide valuable insights into it and related organizations.

The problem with most of these secondary works is that, although they contain large amounts of valuable information and insights, they are all framed in terms of the development of apartheid. This means that they are viewed through the lens of policy proposals that emerged in the 1940’s and came to fruition after 1948 with the gradual implementation of full scale apartheid by the Nationalist Government. As a result, they present the Broederbond and its affiliate organizations by briefly mentioning its very real achievements before quickly moving on to apartheid and issues of racial discrimination that are then used to view its origins and early history. This process, as will be shown, results in a distortion of the past.

Other primary published sources written by observers and earlier writers who influenced the three think tanks that are the subject of the thesis are readily available in book form. These include the influential Researches in South Africa (1828) by John

Philip (1775-1851) which influenced the founders of the SAIRR and the works of

50 evangelical preachers whose ideas about communicating the gospel influenced many early Fabians (Macmillan, 1927; Ross, 1986:215; MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977, pp.

16-22). Books by writers like William M. Macmillan (1927, 1929, 1975), who although neither Fabians nor members of the SAIRR, but who were very close to both organizations, also fall into this category of original sources written by either observers or people whose work contributed to the development of the communications techniques used by the institutions studied.

Scholars writing original research theses tread a fine line between their use of primary and secondary sources. The value of primary sources is obvious because they bring the reader in touch with writers who were contemporaries of the events discussed and often participated in them. Secondary sources illustrate the use of primary sources and the way theories are used to interpret evidence. As such they need to be read critically and used with care; nevertheless, they are very valuable for any meaningful study like this one.

It is also important to note that at a certain point secondary sources can become primary sources offering new interpretations of the available evidence. A case in point for this study is the widely held view that Afrikaner Nationalism arose out of a fundamentalist form of Christianity which was widely used to explain the origins of apartheid from the 1940’s until quite recently (Patterson, 1957). As we shall see later in the thesis Patterson’s work came to be cited as a primary source. This distorted many people’s understanding of Afrikaner Nationalism because although it claimed to be based on primary sources Patterson provided a distorted understanding of Afrikaner

Nationalism and the crucially important role of communications both by Nationalists and their critics (du Toit, 1983, 1985).

3.3 The role of oral history, interviews, and observations

Anyone who reads a book on oral history knows the importance of interviews and the way such research is interwoven with anthropological research (Dunaway & Baum,

1996:298-305). Similarly, books like Gubrium and Holstein’s Handbook of Interview

Research: (2002) illustrate how complex the issue of interviewing has become. Using that work as a reference point, the use of interviewing for this thesis was restricted to what Carol A.B. Warren identifies as qualitative interviews (Gubrium & Holstein, 2002, pp. 83-101). Within this sub-category of interviewing, aspects of life history, or as Robert

Atkinson calls them “life story” interviews and “elite interviews” as discussed by Teresa

Odendahl & Aileen M. Shaw proved very useful in providing guidance (Gubrium &

Holstein, 2002, pp. 191-140, 299-316).

Oral history interviews, mirroring the anthropological life history interview, are important in this type of study because they provide a “kind of description that offers an understanding” of a culture or society through “the details of a single person’s life”

(Spradley, 1979, p. 24). As such they illustrate and often reveal things that formal questions about work or ideas would miss.

While working on the thesis a small, but significant, number of formal interviews, and a larger number of informal interviews were conducted. By an informal interview is meant a conversation that lacks the formal structure of an interview that is usually

52 carried out in the early stages of a research project, which is a standard procedure in anthropology (Bernard, 1994, p. 209).

This method is also recognized by the Canadian Tri-Council in their Policy

Statement Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans in in terms of ethical compliance. There it is clearly stated that “REB review is not required of the initial exploratory phase (often involving contact with individuals or communities) …” (TCPS2,

2010, 10.1, pp. 139). Further, “where no personal information is collected, consent is not required” (TCPS2, 2010:10, p. 3; p. 143). In terms of this project no personal information was collected because the focus was on social history and no information is given in the thesis that can in any way identify informants (See Appendix: Research

Interviews).

For example, a visit was made to the headquarters of the Fabian Society in

London, in 2013, and to the London School of Economics in 2016. These visits, although more casual than formal research, nevertheless provided a physical context for the Society’s work.

For guidance in the area of interviewing the work of James P. Spradley (1980) was particularly useful. Although his book may appear dated to some people it is still in print and is a goldmine of practical information based on the author’s experience as a skilled interviewer. In fact, the much earlier work, and some would say “very dated” work of Beatrice Webb in her My Apprenticeship (1924) and Methods of Social Research

(1932), written with her husband Sydney Webb, were also found to be useful because they were clearly rooted in living experiences that resonated with my own experience of the frustrations of interviewing and conducting research with living subjects. Although

53 they added little in terms of methodology what they did was provide a confidence that what I experienced in terms of practical problems was nothing new or to be worried about.

In terms of the actual interviews an exploratory visit was made to the headquarters of the Fabian Society in London, England, where informal interviews were conducted. This led to a formal interview with the Vice Chancellor of a British university on the issue of think tanks. Exploratory meetings were held with Afrikaners living in

Calgary that led to a formal interview with a high ranking member of the Afrikaner

Broederbond. This interview took a long time to arrange and involved many different contacts, but was invaluable. The author also had the opportunity to have an exploratory talk with the former General Secretary of the British National Union of

Journalists who grew up in South Africa.

Because there is much more written material on the Fabians and SAIRR than the

Broederbond the interviews, of necessity, concentrated on the Broederbond. Five other interviews were held with people close to, members, or former members of this organization. There were also two informal interviews with former South African anti- apartheid activists. Finally, advice on my research plans was given by Professors

Kenneth Ingham (1921-2010) and Donovan Williams (1928-2015) both of whom had extensive experience in Britain and South Africa. More details about the interviews can be found in the Sources and Bibliography section at the end of this thesis.

3.4 Rational-scientific communications

The challenge facing anyone studying a specific example of communications in society is to find an adequate theoretical framework to explain observations and written documents. In the case of think tanks the big question is often whether or not they exert a social and political influence that impacts the development of public policy. As was shown in the literature review, although there is no real argument about the fact that think tanks contribute to public policy debates, how they do this is virtually ignored.

It is generally agreed that observing something and proving a direct influence are two totally different things. Therefore, while it is possible to agree that think tank communications affect public policy debates, most observers do not venture beyond general statements based on comments by participants in these debates (Dickson,

1971; Weidenbaum, 2009).

This present work does not seek to prove the influence of think tanks on public policy. Rather it seeks to understand how the three very successful think tanks that are the subject of this study attempted to promote their ideas and policy proposals. The available evidence shows that they employed two major modes of communication that are discussed in more detail in later chapters. These are best described as “rational- scientific” and “cultural identity” communication strategies. Both types were originally developed by the early members of Fabian Society and described as “propaganda.”

They were later used in varying degrees by the Fabians, the SAIRR, and the

Broederbond.

Here it needs to be noted that while the Fabian Society developed and discussed both forms of communication, its formal communications were, with a few rare

55 exceptions, based on the rational-scientific model. The SAIRR followed the rational- scientific model while virtually ignoring cultural communications. On the other hand, the

Broederbond may have used the rational-scientific approach among its members, but when it sought to reach out to the public and policy makers it embraced cultural-identity communications which it developed through numerous initiatives.

The first of these strategies is perhaps best described as evidence based communications grounded in a rhetoric of good reasons (Wallace, 1963, Fisher, 1964).

This type of presentation came to dominate the communications of the Fabian Society and the SAIRR. They developed a modified, or perhaps one should say modernized, use of classical rhetorical concepts, or situations such as ethos, pathos, Kairos, telos, and most frequently logos.

Ethos traditionally meant the credibility and trustworthiness of statements associated with a source or particular speaker. Traditionally, this concerned how a speaker presented him or herself to an audience. Today, in the work of Kenneth Burke and the new rhetoric it has been transformed within the think tank universe to the creation of a sense of community or identity for both individuals and communities.

Pathos originally meant an appeal to the sensibilities of an audience and was often understood as a direct appeal to emotions. Today this also has been transformed into a powerful tool for creating both individual and group identities.

Kairos concerns those elements of a communication that draw upon specific issues, locations, settings, etc. That is, it involves the time and place where a communication takes on a specific, and often urgent, relevance. In other words, the

56 setting in which communications are made and received has a major impact on the success of the communication.

Telos was the term Aristotle used to indicate the purpose or attitude expressed in a speech. In think tank communications this refers to the end goals and the outcomes of specific ideas and policies. Logos or the appeal to logic is the way communications are organized to rely on what is presented as evidence or reasons for accepting a particular policy. Here, in think tank usage there is a strong emphasis on logic and what is presented as “scientific evidence.”

Finally, there is logos or the appeal to logic which was the mode of communications favored by the Fabians. It is the organization of communications based on what is presented as evidence or reasons for accepting a particular policy. In today’s think tank language this involves a strong emphasis on logic and what is presented as

“scientific evidence.” Such ideas and the associated policy proposals were couched in the language of science and technology with appeals to historical and statistical examples as evidence (Shaw, 1890; Webb, 1892).

The use of rhetoric by early Fabians in a modified, or general way, ought not to come as a surprise to anyone who knows about British history. As Engels once pointed out, early members of the Society were “the ‘educated’ par excellence” of British society

(Marx-Engels, 1956, p. 537). As a result, Lenin, after citing Engels, could call them “a gang of bourgeois rogues” (Lenin, 1974, pp. 260-261).

The reason for citing these comments is that almost without exception the early

Fabians came from the British educated elite of the middle classes. This means that they were educated in what in England are known as “Grammar Schools” rather than

57 the elite Public Schools that relied on family connections and money. Grammar Schools were government funded public schools that were open to all who could pass their tough entry examinations. Beatrice Webb, who was educated by private tutors, was an exception to the normal background of members of the Fabian Society.

Only a few early Fabians went to university although some continued their education through organizations like the Workers Education Society which organized courses and public lectures (Wolfe, 1975, pp. 151-181; Norman and Jean MacKenzie,

1977, pp. 183-184). Recognizing the importance of higher education, the Fabian

Society eventually founded the London School of Economics (Dahrendorf, 1966).

The importance of recognizing these things is that the early Fabians were all people who received an education on a classical model that emphasized the writing of good English and crafted arguments such as those found in the immensely popular

Royal Readers (Nelson, 1892). As the Mackenie’s and Wolfe point out, most members of the Society were deeply influenced by the writings of three earlier thinkers. These were Auguste Comte who “deliberately adopted ‘a scientific style’” (Pickering, 1997, p.

153), John Stuart Mill, whose writings are also steeped in rhetoric, and Herbert

Spencer, who modified existing rhetoric to meet the needs of a new age (Pickering,

1997, pp. 151-175; Zappen, 1993; Rogers, 1987).

Consequently, one needs to see the writings of early Fabians in the context of books like Mill’s various writings on politics as well as his System of Logic (1850),

Comte’s two volume Positive Philosophy (1853), and Spencer’s Philosophy of Style

(1892). As a result, the mode of communication which came to dominate the communications of the Fabian Society and the SAIRR may be described as “rational-

58 scientific.” This means that, as with Comte, these arguments were offered as “scientific reasons” for belief grounded in evidence based research that assembled together empirical data.

This type of argument relies on the use of enthymemes that assume mutually agreed premises about the nature of evidence, science, and rational action. Here it needs to be noted that Kenneth Burke and other later writers on rhetoric described this appeal to science and evidence as a form or “rationalization” by which he meant it was based on a deeply rooted faith in science itself (Burke, 1984a, pp. 59-65).

3.5 Cultural communications

The second form of communications used by the three think tanks studied is perhaps best described as “cultural-identity,” communications. This form of communications utilizes myths, or narrative paradigms, rituals, symbolism, and world- and-life views. As with all scholarship these terms are used with varying degrees of precision by numerous scholars which often leads to confusion.

For example, in popular usage a myth means something that is untrue, but scholars use a variety of technical definitions or simply write about “myth” without ever defining it. For example, the religious studies scholar Mercia Eliade (1907-1986) writes:

The chief difference between the man of the archaic and traditional societies and

the man of the modern societies with their strong imprint of Judaeo-Christianity

lies in the fact that the former feels himself indissolubly connected with the

Cosmos and the cosmic rhythms, whereas the latter insists that he is connected

only with History. Of course, for the man of the archaic societies, the Cosmos too

has a ‘history,’ if only because it is the creation of the gods and is held to have

been organized by supernatural beings or mythical heroes … But this ‘history’ of

the Cosmos and of human society is a ‘sacred history,’ preserved and

transmitted through myths. More than that, it is a ‘history’ that can be repeated

indefinitely, in the sense that the myths serve as models for ceremonies that

periodically reactualize the tremendous events that occurred at the beginning of

time. The myths preserve and transmit the paradigms, the exemplary models, for

all the responsible activities in which men engage. By virtue of these

paradigmatic models revealed to men in mythical times, the Cosmos and society

are periodically regenerated” (Eliade 1959, pp. vii-viii).

By way of contrast anthropologist John Middleton (1921-2009) argued that

a myth is a statement about society and man's place in it and in the surrounding

universe ... Myths and cosmological notions are concerned with the relationship

of a people with other peoples, with nature and with the supernatural. (Middleton,

1967, p. x).

In fact, hundreds of slightly different definitions of myth are found in academic works.

Therefore, in this thesis, for the purpose of clarity, and to avoid endless arguments about the correct definition of these and related terms, a general framework for understanding of cultural communication is adapted from the writings of Kenneth Burke

(1897-1993) and other scholars, like Walter Fisher, who build upon his work.

This is done because Burke, one of the founders of the “new rhetoric,” provides an approach to understanding and interpreting cultural communications that reflects the way the Fabian Society, the SAIRR, and the Broederbond used these concepts and

60 techniques. He begins his Language as Symbolic Action (1966) with the observation that “man is a symbol using animal” whose “reality” becomes real through the use of symbols (Burke, 1966, pp. 2-9). Thus, it is through communication, using language, which is at its core is symbolic, that humans create their worlds (Burke, 1966, pp. 10-

24). A key element in this process is what Burke calls the “dramatistic” in contrast to

“scientific” perspective (Burke, 1966, pp. 63-80).

Thus, the process of dramatization treats every-day, and all other types of lived experience, like drama. That is, life is viewed as we view plays and films to integrate the acts, or actions, we observe and “build a theory of analysis about what is happening”

(Burke, 1984a, p. 24). In this way, dramatization is “a technique of analysis of language and of thought as basically modes of action rather than a means of conveying information” (Burke, 1984b, p. 89).

The starting point for understanding how Burke believes a dramatistic perspective works is his notion of “motives.” He develops this in his The Rhetoric of

Motives (1950/1969b) where Burke argues that “a rhetoric of motives” is “often present” in situations but “not usually recognized.” Presenting things in this way he seeks to develop rhetoric “beyond the traditional bounds of rhetoric” (Burke, 1969b, p. xiii).

In doing so he argues for the recognition of persuasion that leads to action as a key element in rhetoric. This he says is often neither conscious nor unconscious.

Instead it comes about through identification. He explains that in this way his analysis goes beyond, but does not contradict, classical rhetoric, which is concerned with

“persuasion” but tends to ignore the fact that people can be persuaded of something without it really affecting their lives. For Burke, the power of “identification” is that it both

61 persuades people of something and then leads them to take action once they are persuaded (Burke, 1969b, pp. xiv-xv).

Burke laid the foundation for this argument in his earlier book Permanence and

Change (1935/1984), where there is an entire section devoted to motives (Burke, 1984, pp. 19-36). Here he sees motives as part of a frame of meaning that helps us understand human actions. As such motives are “not some fixed thing.” Rather they are

“a term of interpretation” that is part of the “larger framework of our Weltanschauung” or worldview (Burke, 1984a, pp. 24-25).

The example he provides to illustrate his point, which actually precedes his discussion of it, is a living situation where a man mistreats his wife. To help understand this Burke offers a psychoanalytic explanation. Then he provides an alternative way of seeing the situation in terms of Marxist economic analysis and other psychoanalytic explanations. In these cases, Burke observes the act of mistreatment is interpreted using frameworks that imply self-deception either by using a psychological theory of

“transference” or invoking Marxist “false-consciousness” or some other rationalization

(Burke, 1984, pp. 20-21; 1984b, pp.28-29).

Burke then points out that the interpretation given reflects the language used by the interpreter and that language itself finds meaning through its use by a group of people who share a common vocabulary. This he argues can in itself become a form of self-deception (Burke, 1984a, pp. 24-26-, 33-36).

Recognizing that the actions of people may be explained in terms of a framework of motives, Burke argues that “as schemes of motivation change, one may expect a change in the very motives which people assign to their actions” (Burke, 1984, p. 38).

Thus, he sees the interpretation of actions in terms of motives taking place within a given worldview or “Weltanschauung” (Burke, 1984, p. 38-39).

Noting the power of words and worldviews to influence action, Burke cites the rhetorician I.A. Richards who stated that “a generally accepted account of how the mind works can make the mind work that way” (Burke, 1984a, p. 29). In other words, the way we describe things often shapes our understanding of the way things are. That is our concepts and theories can shape the way we see the world. To understand this better

Burke then develops his ideas about what he calls “terministic screens.”

3.6 Terministic screens, ideologies, myths, worldviews, and identity

Burke expands his understanding of the way worldviews work in terms of

“frameworks” and “orientations.” These he argues help people construct their realities

(Burke, 1984a, pp. 25-26). Later he develops this idea into what he calls “terministic screens” (Burke, 1966, pp. 44-62).

A terministic screen, he argues, is like the filter a photographer uses to bring out certain aspects of a scene while ignoring others. Terministic screens work because “the nature of our terms affect our observations, in the sense that the terms direct the attention to one field rather than another. Further, the many ‘observations’ are but implications of the particular terminology in which the observations were made."

Consequently, any act or situation can be seen in very different ways that lead to totally different interpretations while at the same time the interpretations themselves help shape the observation (Burke, 1966, pp. 45-46). In this way Burke suggests that many different types of terministic screen are possible (Burke, 1966, pp. 46-52).

Burke never provides a list of different types of terministic screen. Rather, he implies that it is the task of the interpreter to recognize them and identify them before analyzing their effect. Nevertheless, scattered throughout his writings are various examples of different forms of language that he identifies as functioning to filter, or screen, the “reality” people experience (Burke, 1984a, p. 35). Of course, the use of the word “reality” is bound to raise numerous questions as to what it means and whether we can really know it. Burke overcomes, or at least avoids, such questions by defining reality as “what things will do to us or for us” (Burke, 1984a, p. 22).

Three types of terministic screen reoccur in Burke’s writings. These are ideology, myth, and Weltanschauungen, or worldview (Burke, 1984a, pp. 25-26; 1966, 301,

1969a, 41, 88, 101-110, 162, 203-204).

In his Rhetoric of Motives (1950/1969) Burke explains that while ideology originally meant “the study of ideas,” it has come to mean “a system of political or social ideas, framed and propounded for an ulterior purpose” (Burke, 1969, p. 88). His use of the expression “ulterior purpose” here is somewhat misleading because it conveys a sense that Burke thinks of ideology as something that it bad. In fact, Burke argues that to see ideology as purely manipulative, in the Marxist sense, is not helpful.

Therefore, although he never explicitly states that ideology can be seen in a positive light, it is clear that he sees it positively when he describes it as a particular type of terministic screen that shapes our understanding through the explicit use, or appeal to ideas (Burke, 1969b, pp. 89-114). Here it is worth noting that Burkes’ definition of ideology in is similar to the conceptual approach used by political scientists like John Plamenatz (1970) and more recently Michael Freeden (2008, 2001, 2003).

Burke contrasts “ideology” with “myth” when he argues that “Ideology, like rhetoric, gravitates to the side of ideas while myth, like poetry, gravitates to the side of image” (Burke, 1947, p. 195). What he appears to mean by this is that one thinks about ideology while a myth creates an impression that grasps the person. Consequently, following Larousse he defines ideology as a “system of ideas that constitute a political or social doctrine and inspire the acts of a government or party” (Burke, 1947, pp. 195-

196). Then, building on the work of the anthropologist Malinowski (1884-1942) and Karl

Manheim (1893-1947), Burke contends that myth precedes ideology by providing a more basic terminology that people readily identify with (Burke, 1947, pp. 199-200;

1989, pp. 303-315; Malinowski, 1926, Manheim, 1936).

To illustrate his point, and show how the relationship between myth and ideology works, Burke cites the example of Virgil’s Aeneid, where the Roman Emperor, in both the story and ancient Rome, is identified as a “bringer of peace” and is mythic in nature.

But, embedded in these myths are the seeds of the ideology of Imperial Rome that justified Roman conquest and rule. Thus, the myth brings the ideology alive for the masses while the ideology sustains the educated ruling elite (Burke, 1947, pp. 202-

203).

At the same time, a myth is a story that transcends what Burke describes as

“ideological confusion” created when different elements in an ideology come into conflict with each other (Burke, 1947, pp. 196-197). As such, myths are narratives that present

“a vision” capable of transcending “the political” while having “political attitudes interwoven with it” (Burke, 1947, p. 201).

In making his argument, Burke appears to draw on an early paper where he defined myth as “the social tool for welding the sense of interrelationship” among people

(Burke 1935, p. 267). As such myths “perform a very real and necessary social function in organizing the mind.” In this discussion he places myth firmly in the realm of

“propaganda” saying that he will only considers myth “from the standpoint of propaganda” (Burke, 1935, p. 268).10

What Burke seems to be saying here is that myths are an essential element of propaganda and are always found in the context of propaganda campaigns whether this is recognized or not. In this he seems to be right because propaganda relies on stories that motivate individuals and communities (O’Shaughnessy, 2004, pp. 65, 87-100;

O’Shaughnessy, 2016, pp.139-213).

The concept of myth, in the sense Burke uses it, was clarified and re-defined in the early 1980’s by Walter Fisher who developed the idea of what he calls “narrative paradigms” (Fisher, 1984, 1985, 1989). The big advantage of Fisher’s work is that by replacing the term “myth,” which as we have seen can become entangled in endless argument, with the more descriptive narrative paradigm, the reader’s attention is directed to what such stories actually do and how they affect the audience.

According to Fisher, humans “experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, as conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends” (Fisher,

1987, p. 24). In other words, they see life as a story and these stories guide their imaginations and the ways in which they think and act (Fisher, 1984,1989). He continues by arguing that people accept or reject a narrative paradigm on the basis of

10 In the same article, he refers to “A project like the Douglas Social Credit plan …” which he argues is technological and lacks a grounding in myth. Consequently, it is weak and unlikely to succeed (Burke, 1935:268). 66 what he calls a “Logic of Good Reasons” (Fisher, 1978, pp. 105-123). What this means is that people judge stories in terms of their values and life experience on the basis of the story’s “probability” and the fidelity of the narrative (Fisher, 1978, pp. 5, 105-110). All of this, he points out, is similar to, but not the same as Aristotle’s arguments about reasonableness and retains rationality as a source of decision making (Fisher, 1978, pp.

119-121).

Returning from these issues to Burke’s terministic screens, the one he says the least about is Weltanschuungen, which in his work is translated as worldview (cf. Burke;

1984a, pp. 25, 35, 1984b, p. 122). What little he says indicates that he thinks of worldviews in terms of cultural frameworks that provide meaning, or definition, to other key terms. As a result, he argues that different societies establish and use different world views which in turn shape the way they use terms and see the world (Burke

1984a, pp. 24-27).

Although Burke does not explicitly say so, from his writings it seems that he sees worldviews, or as he likes to call them, using the original German term,

Weltanschauung, as a more comprehensive term than ideology or myth. That is a worldview represents a “larger orientation” which creates a more holistic framework

(Burke, 1984a, p. 25). As such the term worldview goes beyond ideology and myth to embrace the entire person (Burke, 1966, pp. 44-55, 301). If this interpretation is correct then Burke is reflecting a view found in both English and Afrikaner understandings of worldview popular at the time (Kuyper, 1898, pp. 1-45; Meyer, 1941, pp. 28-52).

All of this suggests that ideologies and myths are “shorthand” ways of interpreting “situations” and in doing so find their meaning within more general

“orientations” which may be termed worldviews (Burke1984a, pp. 29-36). Further, Burke makes it clear that such orientations create and reflect “certain specific patterns of thought” that are “serviceable” in specific social situations (Burke, 1984a, pp. 38-39).

Taken together Burke’s use of the concepts ideology, myth, and worldview, to identify three frameworks, or terministic screens, that enable people to understand and shape their realities is very helpful in understanding how think tanks communicate. This is because these three concepts of ideology, myth, and worldview, roughly correspond to the ways some Fabians and members of the Broederbond interpreted their own activities as will be shown in later chapters.

In the process of framing issues and events, or even describing a person, ideologies, myths and worldviews create bonds of identity which motivate people to act in particular ways while creating opposition to other people and groups that act differently. Throughout his writings Burke points out that many forms of identity exist. He focuses on the issue in his A Rhetoric of Motives (1950/1969b). There he argues that “A is not identical with his colleague, B. But insofar as their interests are joined, A is identified with B. Or may identify himself with B even when their interests are not joined, if he assumes that they are, or is persuaded to believe so” (p. 20). This is what he calls a “consubstantial” identification. He argues that consubstantial identities form the basis of most forms of identification when people work together on a common cause (p. 21).

At the same time, the very fact such identifications take place creates their opposite. That is, when people identify with a group of people with whom they share common interests they automatically disqualify other groups of people who are often seen as opponents, a threat, or "the enemy" (pp. 22-31). Thus, Burke argues that when

68 people identify with something or someone they are more likely to take action on behalf of the cause or person. Therefore, identification becomes a key factor in moving people to action (pp. 19-20).

Understood in this way, Burke’s arguments about identity and the reality of

“consubstantial” identification throw further light on the way the think tanks studied communicated their ideas and policy proposals. What it makes clear is that neither they nor any other think tanks need to totally convince people of their scientific truth or practicality to be influential. All they need to do is convince enough people that they share a common interest through identification of some sort. As a result, the creation of a perceived identity between the think tank theorists and their audiences is all that is needed for some people to be willing to accept their arguments and work towards the implementation of their policy proposals.

3.7 Worldview visions

When he discussed terministic screens, Kenneth Burke associated them with the idea of Weltanschauungen, or worldview, which he views as a framework that orders our thoughts and deeds (Burke, 1984, p. 25, 102). This is important because although neither the Fabians nor the SAIRR developed the idea it was a key concept used by

Afrikaner Nationalists. In his seminal book Die Afrikaner (1940), which was published as a popular work to drive home the uniqueness of Afrikaner identity following the success of the centennial celebrations of the Great Trek in 1938, the Broederbond theorist Dr

Piet Meyer stated quite clearly that worldviews express “the entire content of a people’s experience.” This he made quite clear involves intellectual, emotional and cultural

69 commitment and engagement. In fact, it involves everything that creates the identity of an individual or community (Meyer, 1940, pp. 28-30). In other words, as Burke suggested, worldviews constitute a communicative reality giving meaning to and therefore shaping the whole of life (Burke, 1973, p. 218)

For the purpose of this thesis the understanding of worldview given by the

Finnish World View Project in the book World Views in Modern Society (1996) will be used. 11 There a worldview is defined as “an abiding and serious attitude towards life, and to the trials, challenges and successes which this entails; this attitude is manifested through expectations, values, attitudes and behaviors, and can most readily be explored through its verbal expression” (Holm & Björkqvist 1996, p. 3). Anyone wanting a more historical approach should look at David K. Naugle’s Worldview: The History of a

Concept (2001) which gives a good overview of the term’s use in North America and the

English-speaking world.

What is important for this study is that the Finnish definition of worldview corresponds with the Afrikaner usage. Although slightly different from Burke’s definitions it is compatible with them and captures the essence of what he says. It also shows that the creators of Afrikaner Nationalism were rooted, as they claimed, in European intellectual traditions. It is also important to note that the concept “worldview” is an important one in modern studies of propaganda which we will discuss at the end of this chapter.

11 Since the idea of a worldview is a complex one, which was discussed in far more detail in terms of its current usage in North America in my 2010 master’s thesis, there is no need to repeat all the arguments here. See: http://bit.ly/2uDQFCu

3.8 Rituals as modes of communication

According to Joseph R. Gusfield, we can understand Burke as seeing “rituals and ceremony” enacting the dramas of social life, or as he puts it “It is in ritual and ceremony that the drama of social life is carried out” (Simons and Melia, 1989, p. 40). Thus,

Gusfield observes that according to Burke "Language is also performative as well as referential" therefore rhetorical analysis is capable of illuminating "both literary texts and human relations" (Burke & Gusfield, 1989, p. 18; Burke, 1969a, pp. xiv-xv, 20-35, 264-

276). Similarly, Michael Leff shows that for Burke ritual is “a specific type of discursive performance” and as such a form of eloquent social discourse (Leff, 1989, p. 118).

The views of Gusfield and Leff are cited because what Burke says about ritual is terse and embedded in discussions of actual rituals without his providing a definition or a systematic discussion of the meaning of ritual. Instead in Permeance and Change

(1935/1984a), for example, he discusses the “’scapegoat’ concept” which, as he points out, is “a sacrificial receptacle for the ritual unburdening of one’s sins” because “in unburdening a people of their sins, all that was needed was a formula and ritual whereby these sins could be transferred to the back of an animal …” (Burke, 1984a, pp.

15-17).

In another place he describes how John Dewey discussed a “woman being ritually seized” and again assumes that the reader understands what is meant (pp. 38-

39). The best explanation he gives of the function of ritual is when under the heading of

Piety as a System Builder he says:

Furthermore, piety is a system-builder, a desire to round things out, to fit

experiences together into a unified whole. Piety is the sense of what properly

goes with what. And it leads to construction in this way: If there is an altar, it is

pious of a man to perform some ritual act whereby he may approach this altar

with clean hands. A kind of symbolic cleanliness goes with altars, a technique of

symbolic cleansing goes with cleanliness … (pp. 74-75)

From these, and other examples in the book, it seems reasonable to say that Burke sees rituals as symbolic social acts that unify people in a common cause. This interpretation is supported by what he says about ritual in his Attitudes Towards History

(1937/1984b). Here he devotes a whole section to the “General Nature of Ritual.” In his

1984 Preface he explains that in this section he shows:

… the ironies whereby a group’s routines can become its rituals, while on the

other hand its rituals become routines. Or, otherwise put, poetic image and

rhetorical ideas can become subtly fused … (p. xii)

Then, when he begins his discussion of ritual, Burke makes it clear that he is discussing the way “groups tend to ‘move in on’ symbolic structures” and “A complex symbolism is a kind of spiritual currency” that creates “symbolic bridging and merging” in society (p.

179). In social situations rituals integrate (p. 184). As such they require a story, like that of the Biblical scapegoat, to give them meaning and agency that goes beyond the story

(p. 190). Finally, Burke makes the important point that rituals are linked to “authority symbols” either as ways of reinforcing or challenging them (pp. 202-203).

The problem with Burke’s discussion of ritual is that he gives vivid examples but leaves a lot of things still unclear. Applying Burke’s insights to political institutions is aided by Murray Edelman’s The Symbolic Uses of Politics (1972) where he builds on and applies Burke’s insights (pp. 18, 19, 33, 55). In this ground-breaking work Edelman

explores the meanings for large publics of the acts and gestures of leaders, of

the settings in which political acts occur, of the language styles and phrases that

permeate political discussion and action … (p. 20).

Carefully analysing political situations, he shows that the "administrative system" of government functions as a political symbol (p. 44-72). The process that Edelman outlines is very similar to what can be observed in the creation of the Fabian Society and its propaganda. This is because, as he shows, administrative, or organizational, systems have a symbolic as well as practical reality and this needs to be taken seriously

(p. 188-190).

Greater insight into how this happens is found in David I Kertzer's Ritual, Politics, and Power (1988) which builds on the work of both Burke and Edelman (Kertzer, 1988, pp. 4, 16, 42, 90, 101, 131). Kertzer argues that while anthropologists and other scholars recognize the communicative value of rituals and symbols in non-western, or traditional, societies, they have failed to make the transition from these societies to the study of modern industrial society (Kertzer, 1988, pp. 1-9; Bell, cf. Grimes, 2014).

Although over thirty years old this observation largely remains true today.

As a result, Kertzer argues, while "many political observers … have noted the ritual behaviour associated with politics," in complex, modern societies, "few have ever taken it seriously." This is because while they recognized the importance of rituals in small scale traditional societies, they "view ritual as mere embellishment for more important, 'real,' political activities" when it occurs in advanced societies (p. 3). In doing so they fail to recognize that in all societies "Rituals … are a form of rhetoric” that propagate “a message through a complex symbolic performance" (p. 101).

Kertzer's point about the neglect of ritual in complex societies is borne out by the recent publication of Gunter Senft and Ellen B. Basso's Ritual Communication (2009).

Although the book contains thirteen chapters that vividly illustrate the way rituals communicate messages to groups and individuals, all of them are based on studies of small scale, non-technological, societies and the reader is left to apply the insights to large technological societies on their own if they can.

Two exceptions to this lack of interest in the rituals of contemporary society are found in the work of the British anthropologists Victor Turner (1920-1983) and Mary

Douglas (1921-2007). Turner built on the work of the Belgian scholar Arnold van

Gennep (1873-1957) entitled The Rites of Passage (1960), which was originally published in French in 1906. He then showed how van Gennep’s theory about the ritual nature of social communication applied to the so-called "hippie" movement of the

1960's. In his widely acclaimed book, The Ritual Process (1969), Turner highlighted the value of studying traditional societies for an understanding of our own, but he failed to apply his insights to modern politics.

Similarly, Mary Douglas applied what she learned about ritual communication in the Congo to both the interpretation of the biblical Book of Leviticus (Douglas, 1966), the social structures of the way people construct their belief systems (Douglas, 1970;

1975;1978), and commercial cultures (Douglas and Isherwood, 1978). Here the importance of Douglas's work is that among other things it illustrates how rituals establish and maintain social boundaries that in turn sustain symbolic belief systems and group identities, but once again she did not engage in a sustained discussion of

74 politics, perhaps because her husband was the Chairman of the British Conservative

Party.

It comes as a surprise therefore that little thought has been given to organization as a form of political ritual. Yet when ritual is seen as "symbolic behaviour that is socially standardized and repetitive" one begins to realize that ritual can be seen as "action wrapped in a web of symbolism" (Kertzer, 1988, p. 9). Looked at in this way symbolism provides specific actions with "more important meaning." This meaning is found in the way rituals became an "important means of channelling emotion, guiding cognition, and organizing social groups" (p. 9).

Once we realize that rituals have a structure that requires organization, even though most books on ritual studies never use the term “organization,” we come closer to seeing how organization can communicate. In fact, Victor Turner makes no mention of organization in and of itself. But, the whole structure of his book is a description of the way people organize rituals that transform the lives of participants by communicating to them what it means to participate in a particular society (Turner, 1969).

What we see in the organization of the three think tanks studied here are rites of passage that move loosely committed sympathizers from their role as outsiders to a new status as members of a group that is committed to a particular vision of political activity. It is this long-term vision on non-violent change that distinguishes the Fabians, the SAIRR, and the Broederbond from other groups seeking social change because most political groups and movements seek rapid change, which is often associated with the violent overthrow of the existing order. How this works in terms of the development of a “propaganda framework” will now be examined.

3.9 The propaganda framework

Here it is important to begin by reminding the reader that the term propaganda originally mean nothing more than “the propagation of ideas.” In 1622, Pope Gregory

XV (1554-1623) created the Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide, or Sacred

Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, to combat Protestantism and centralize the Roman Catholic world mission (Steimer, 2001, p. 49). Naturally, Protestants objected to this new Catholic initiative and saw it in a very negative light. One consequence of this was that the Latin word “propaganda” entered the English language with very negative connotations (Taylor 2003, p. 111).

Nevertheless, it was soon adopted by Protestants and others to refer to efforts to spread an idea or promote a cause. Then, in the nineteenth century it was developed by the British in the wake of the Indian Mutiny, or as many Indians call it the or First Indian

War of Independence, of 1857-1858. It traumatized the British and became the catalyst for the development of British propaganda. At first the British reacted with an outpouring of anti-Indian sentiment and propaganda in the press and other accounts (Herbert,

2008). Then over time doubts crept in among some people in Britain about the legitimacy of British policies. It was not long however before novels set in India began to appear that over time increasingly became propaganda for British Imperialism

(Hendrickson, 2013). These novels were accompanied in both Britain and India by monuments and memorials to the events of the war and remembrance of British casualties (Coutu, 1993; 2014). Thus, over time a powerful propaganda developed that justified the British Indian Empire and Imperial rule (MacKenzie, 1984).

The development of Imperial propaganda reached a high point with the events

76 leading up to the Boer War (1899-1902). By the time war was declared the British public had been prepared for military action for a long time. Beginning in 1880’s after the discovery of gold in the South African Republic a powerful propaganda machine gradually developed in Britain. Beatrice Webb gives a fascinating account of this and the way the British were led into the war in her Our Partnership (1948) which was based on her diaries. Here she explains the deep splits in British society and the way even the

Fabians were divided over the issue of whether to go to war or not (Webb, 1949, pp.

139-143,191-203, 217-219). She also points out the public pressure on editor who did not agree with the war that could easily lead to their firing (Webb, 1949, p. 190). Most interesting of all is her casual observation that in all of these arguments between the pro-war faction and the pro-Boers no one paid any attention to the African majority or their concerns (Webb, 1949 p. 192).

The best and most obvious example of Boer War Imperial propaganda is Hume

Nisbet’s best-selling novel For Right and England (1900). Nisbet, who was also an artist, made good use of illustrations that encouraged a sentimental emotionalism. Thus, the work of Nesbit inspired pity for British citizens living in the South African Republic who were portrayed as oppressed innocents suffering under Boer rule; this led to outrage, and a desire for revenge disguised as justice (cf. Pettegree, 2005).

The story itself is was based on a real incident where Transvaal police shot dead, in the presence of his wife who attempted to hide him, a known thief and murderer who was resisting arrest. In Nisbet’s story the man becomes the symbol of “oppressed”

English miners brutalized by Boer policemen who are portrayed as brutal thugs. The following picture speaks for itself:

Front page picture from Hugh Nisbet’s For England and Right (1900). In the public domain

Although a novel Nisbet’s work was what today might be called a form of “reality fiction” where the storytelling gives the impression of being a reliable report of an actual event. To make sure that no one missed his point Nisbet wrote a stirring introduction where he told his readers “We do not call murdering bushrangers brothers. Society repudiates such pests, and regards them as vermin to be exterminated ... The

Transvaalers ceased to be members of civilization two centuries ago” (Nisbet 1900, p. x).

Whether or not Nesbit’s work directly contributed to the British propaganda offensive that accompanied the outbreak of World War I is unclear. What is certain is that the technique he used of blending fact and fiction, sentimentalism and outrage, was the foundation for what followed. As such, despite the fact that it is virtually ignored by

Taylor (2003), the Boer War played a key role in creating the framework for twentieth century propaganda offensives that accompanied the concept of “total war” (Meller

2011, pp. 206-208).

Building on their experience of Boer War propaganda the British launched an international propaganda blitzkrieg at the outbreak of the First World War. Until then the

Germans, especially the Prussians, were depicted in English school books as a peace- loving people in contrast to the blood thirsty French (Marshall 1913, pp. 439, 442-446,

449). Suddenly, with the outbreak of war, they became blood thirsty “Huns” who were no better than barbarians (van Schaack 2005; Moore 2010; Kelly, 201).

The phenomenal success of British propaganda during World War I and the widespread disillusionment following the end of the war created an interest in propaganda among American academics that led to the growth of the study of communication (Jowett, 1987, p. 97; Lilleker, 2006, pp. 162-165). The classic writers on propaganda and related issues during the 1920’s and 1930’s were Sigmund Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays (1891-1995), who pioneered the study and development of public relations, propaganda and marketing (See Bernays: 1923; 1927; 1928a, 1928 b,

1935; 1986); Harold Lasswell (1902-1978), who played a key role in developing the academic study of propaganda and communications (See Lasswell: 1927a; 1927b, and

1939); Walter Lippmann (1889-1974); the journalist and public intellectual (See

Lippmann: 1922, & 1927); and Leonard Doob (1909-2000) who published on the topic in the late 1930’s until the early 1960’s (1935, 1948, & 1964). As a result of their work propaganda studies flourished into the 1950’s.

After this promising start things came crashing down as a result of several inter-

79 related factors closely brought on by the onset of the Cold War (Jowett, 1987, p. 101).

These factors included 1) no clear definition was developed with the result that the term remained vague, 2) the term had a “negative connotation” that discouraged its use, 3) developing as it did at the height of sociological positivism, communication scholars failed to provide what was considered the necessary proof of the effects of propaganda,

4) it seems probable that the excesses of the McCarthy Congressional Hearings led to a reaction against any type of research that seemed to support McCarthy’s radical contentions about a Red plot to conquer America (Jowett, 1987, p. 101).

It is important to note that there was a short revival of interest in the mid-1960’s associated with the publication of Jacques Ellul’s Propaganda: The Formation of Men's

Attitudes (1965). The problem with this book, and a number of similar works, including

Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988), is that despite their widespread influence they tended to turn everything into propaganda (Chomsky, 1989; 1993).

As a result, they failed to stimulate the academic study of propaganda.

Therefore, although the study of propaganda once stood at the center of what became communications studies, the area fell out of favor and until recently was only mentioned in the context of the history of communication studies as an example of a promising idea that ended up in a dead end (Jowett, 1987, pp. 97-101).

Serious interest in the study of propaganda was revived in Britain during the

1980’s through the work of historians like David Welch12 (1983; 1993) and Philip M

12 He established the Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda and Society at the University of Kent and became its first Director: https://www.kent.ac.uk/history/centres/war-propaganda-and-society/ 80

Taylor (1954-2010)13 (Taylor, 1986; 2003) and the communications scholar Nicholas

O’Shaughnessy (1990; 2004; 2013). In North America these academics influenced the

Americans Garth Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell (1983 & 2012) as well as the Canadian scholar Randal Marlin (2002).

An important contribution to propaganda studies in this period was made by

Nicholas O’Shaughnessy in his book Politics and Propaganda: Weapons of Mass

Seduction (2004). In this work he developed a systematic theory of propaganda that successfully relates it to contemporary issues and politics. In doing so O’Shaughnessy recognizes that earlier communications theories dealing with propaganda floundered because they were influenced by a desire to bring “scientific” clarity to the issue by looking for causes and effects. This goal he argues was mistaken because propaganda is subtle and often double-edged. Thus, a propagandist may develop a seemingly convincing campaign that backfires in practice when people draw the opposite conclusion from the one intended (pp. 24-26, 241).

For example, he argues that the 1986 television film The Day After was intended to turn Americans against the confrontational policies of President Reagan. Yet it had the opposite effect by convincing many that nuclear war was survivable. As a result, polls showed a significant 9% increase in support for Reagan after it was aired (p. 25).

Therefore, O’ Shaughnessy argues for a “constructionist” approach to propaganda theory. That is, he recognizes that “the problem of objective proof … is an insoluble one.” We may recognize that the “great revolutionaries of the twentieth century certainly had faith in” propagandas “efficacy,” but “proving” its impact is another issue

13 Taylor was Professor of International Communications at the University of Leeds. See his Times Higher Education Supplement obituary, 6 January 2011: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/people/obituaries/philip-m-taylor-1954-2010/414741.article 81

(p. 239). In doing so he presents vivid illustrations that demonstrate the power of propaganda in action, drawing on examples of men like Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and

Reagan.

What O’ Shaughnessy emphasizes is “understanding rather than explanation.”

This means his theory of propaganda is an interpretive one that accepts indeterminacy rather than attempting to identify a causal relationship. Consequently, he gives “priority to showing patterns and connections” instead of presenting a close linear argument

(O’Shaughnessy & Henneberg, 1992; O’Shaughnessy 2004, p. 61-62; cf. Charmaz,

2006, p. 126).

Behind this view of propaganda stands O’Shaughnessy’s firm conviction “that emotion is always a factor in decision making and that rationality will always be invaded by emotional influences” (O’Shaughnessy & O’Shaughnessy, 2003, vi). For them rational choice theory is a mirage because evidence shows that emotions play a key role in decision making (pp. 6-17, 164-165).

By “emotion,” the authors mean: “a variety of mental states and bodily processes that arise from highly positive or negative appraisals of some real or imagined event, action, or attribute” (O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy, 2003, p. 20). Yet they caution

“if we seek a single definition of emotion that describes the essence of it, the answer will elude us, as any attempt to define emotion will have theoretical implications about which there will be debate” (p. 21). Nevertheless, using the idea of “family resemblances,” which is derived from the philosopher Wittgenstein (2009, pp. 36-37), they argue that it is possible to use the term “emotion” in a meaningful way (O’Shaughnessy and

O’Shaughnessy, 2003, pp. 21-24).

It is this raw power of emotion which Nicholas O’Shaughnessy argues lies at the root of propaganda theory (2004, pp. 39-42). As he puts it “Emotion is the core of propaganda” even though the “notion of human decision making … as rational and not emotional” lies at the heart of many academic disciplines such as economics and political science as well as the way most governments operate (p. 39). Such a view he argues is false because there is overwhelming evidence that for most people emotions play a key role in the decisions their make (pp. 40-42, 46). Therefore, all propaganda

“has a highly emotional foundation” (p. 110).

Nowhere in his book does Nicholas O’Shaughnessy provide a clear definition of propaganda. Rather, he argues that he takes an “elastic” approach because we rarely recognize well-constructed propaganda when we encounter it (pp. 1-2). The closest we come to discovering a definition of propaganda in this book is his argument that propaganda is the attempt to change perspectives through the skilful deployment of rhetoric, symbolism and myth (pp. 1-4, 13-23).

Propaganda, O’Shaughnessy argues, is the application of rhetoric for political purposes without the traditional constraints imposed by the Western intellectual tradition. These constraints were ethics and the assumption that the propagandist worked for the good of the community. Therefore, he says his “essential argument is that propaganda dramatizes our prejudices …” He then adds that effective propaganda

“becomes a co-production” between the propagandist and their audience that creates a synthesis “of myth, symbolism, 14 and rhetoric” 15 for the purpose of social and political

14 The value of symbolism becomes immediately clear when one thinks of Wolfsfeld’s example of “David and Goliath” in his discussion of the Palestinian intifada (Wolfsfeld, 1997, pp. 141-142). Not only does the David and Goliath story provide a powerful myth that can be spread as a means of gaining sympathy for the Palestinian cause, it also provides an equally powerful symbol. Thus, whenever the news media 83

“manipulation” (pp. 4-5, 65).

He asserts that “If myths are the heart of propaganda, symbolism is its outer garment” because “Symbols telegraph meaning.” Therefore, “A key function of propaganda is to manufacture such recognizable devices” (p. 100). Developing his ideas further he explains that “unlike an idea” a symbol is “something visual” that serves as “a sign that incorporates something in addition to its direct references” (p. 102).

As with myths, symbols “are not universally decoded in the same” way. In fact,

“their meaning varies among groups” with the result that they elude a “precise focus” and can, and do, at times backfire as do myths. The example of the swastika illustrates the complexity of symbolism. Since the 1930’s and particularly since World War II, it has been viewed by Western peoples as a symbol of evil and oppression because of its association with National Socialism. But, in India and Asia generally it remains a symbol of good luck and prosperity. Confusion arises therefore when Asians use the symbol in a Western context such as when immigrants make, or distribute, swastikas at traditional weddings among groups like the Ismaili’s.

With this book, O’Shaughnessy attempts to awaken an awareness of propaganda and its effects in the hope that a more informed public will make better decisions in the future. Therefore, his work is an appeal to take propaganda seriously so that they may recognize and judge its impact for themselves (p. 244).

publishes a photograph or video showing small Palestinian children throwing stones at heavily armed Israeli troops in full body armour the image evokes powerful Biblical paintings and graphics depicting the victory of David over Goliath. 15 O’Shaughnessy defines rhetoric as “the strategic and tactical use of language to persuade” (2004, p. 79). By language however he does not simply mean spoken language. Rather, he sees language as a multi-faceted means of communication. In fact, in the context of other things he says his definition of rhetoric he appears to be similar to that given by Lilleker in the context of political communication. For him “Rhetoric is the use of symbolism and language to ensure that a message is encoded in the way desired by the communicator. Rhetorical communication is intentionally persuasive, is central to propaganda, and is used to encourage a change in an audience member’s behaviour” (Lilleker 2006, p. 182). 84

After outlining O’Shaughnessy’s propaganda framework, it is helpful to return to the work of Kenneth Burke because O’Shaughnessy’s work reflects the influence of

Burke, who is mentioned briefly twice in his text (O’Shaughnessy, 2004, pp. 77; 99,

246). Although Burke wrote long before O’Shaughnessy many of his insights round off

O’Shaughnessy’s argument. For example, while O’Shaughnessy recognizes that

“Rhetoric, symbolism and myth are the interwoven trinity that has underpinned most propaganda through history” he never really explains how they interact (pp. 65-109).

Further, although he talks about ideology and sees propaganda as promoting ideologies he does not relate what he says about it to myth and symbolism (pp. 112-140). It is here that Burke’s works supplement that of O’Shaughnessy.

3.10 Back to Burke

Speaking at the American Writers’ Congress on April 26, 1935, to what he described as “a pro-Communist audience” (Burke, 1989/193, p. 268), Burke gave a lecture on “Revolutionary Symbolism in America.” By this he meant the current situation, which he saw as revolutionary and not, as the title might suggest, that of the American revolutionary era. In this talk Burke revealed his keen interest in propaganda and uses the term propaganda to describe the use of communications for the purpose of spreading social and political ideas. Further, arguing against Marxism he proposed a long-term propaganda strategy for social change which was remarkably Fabian in tone

(pp. 267-273).16

16 Although no one appears to have discussed the involvement of Kenneth Burke with the Fabians, or Fabian thought, the ideas expressed in this speech and other places are remarkably similar to those of the Fabians. It seems likely, therefore, that he was acquainted with Fabian literature and ideas. For example, in the speech he mentions and rejects “the Douglas Social Credit Plan,” which, as will be shown 85

In this speech and his other writing of that era, between 1931 and 1950 Burke very consciously wrote about propaganda. He began his speech by reminding his audience that the historical study of both “conservative or revolutionary movements” shows they rely on “some unifying principle” which is promoted by a “subtle complex of emotions and attitudes.” He then relates this to symbols and myths that bind people together. “Myths,” he argues “may be wrong, or they may be used to bad ends – but they cannot be dispensed with …” because they are “the social tool for wielding a sense of interrelationship” (p. 267). He then talks about “the symbol of the worker” in American

Communist rhetoric suggesting that it is a poor one that holds little appeal for most workers. Instead he suggests that it would be far better to use “the symbol of ‘the people’” (pp. 268-270).

In framing his discussion Burke told his audience that “I should also emphasize the fact that I shall consider this matter purely from the standpoint of propaganda” (p.

268). Throughout the short speech Burke develops his understanding of propaganda as

“the extension of one’s recruiting into ever widening areas” which he argues “is possible only insofar as the propagandizer and the propagandized have kindred values, share the same base of reference.” This is because propaganda does not seek to “convince the convinced, but to plead with the unconvinced” (p. 271). Therefore, the most effective propaganda is a “propaganda by inclusion” not “a propaganda by exclusion” which is

later, was deliberately set up in opposition to the Fabians. Burke also makes extensive use of John Dewey’s ideas throughout his writings. This is important as an indication of possible Fabian influences on Burke because Dewey was a founder of the League for Independent Political Action and elected its first President in 1929. The League was modelled on the Fabian Society (Burke, 1984, p. 38; Ueno, 2016, p. 56).

86 always a temptation to propagandists (p. 272). Further, he sees propaganda as a long- term project (p. 271).

In an interview with Herbert W. Simons shortly before his death Burke said that if he had to do it again “he wouldn’t change a single word” in his speech. Nevertheless, he admitted that afterwards he “felt ostracism” and his name became “a curse word” among members of the left. Consequently, he avoided direct references to propaganda in a political context in the immediate aftermath of such a vicious reaction (Simons &

Melia, 1989, pp. 19, 27).

Nevertheless, Burke did talk about propaganda in Permanence and Change

(1984b/1935), but his discussion centres on religious propaganda even though he makes it clear that what he says has political overtones. There he argues that we can

“discern the same incentives behind evangelism and education or propaganda, despite the differences in terminology” because they all “attempt to socialize” and “induce agreement in others” (p. 196).

Later, in Attitudes Toward History (1984/1937) he distinguishes between a

“didactic” form of propaganda and “a propaganda technique that spreads a ‘morale’ of collective symbolism” (pp. 75, 97). These forms of propaganda roughly correspond to the ones identified by this study in terms of appeals to rational arguments and those that create a sense of cultural identity although Burke does not say enough about them to be create a unified theory. Nevertheless, in all of his subsequent writing one can find vivid, but tantalizingly short insights into his understanding of the working of propaganda.

For example, in a footnote to his 1941 work The Philosophy of Literary Form

Burke writes “The ideal act of propaganda consists in imaginatively identifying your

87 cause with values that are unquestioned” (Burke, 1941/1973, p. 87). This, of course is what the Fabians did when they appealed to “science” at a time when scientific evidence was virtually unquestioned. Later Burke observed about Marxist propaganda that a “scientist stress, of course, adds to Rhetorical effectiveness insofar as the great growth of technological power makes science today the best name to conjure with, when invoking social powers” (pp. 207-209).

Where Burke’s work supplements that of O’Shaughnessy is in the way he develops his understanding of rhetoric. This goes beyond O’Shaughnessy’s basic framework of rhetoric, symbol, and myth to incorporate the concept of “worldview” which, in chapter six, will be shown to be a key element of Broederbond propaganda.

He also shows how ideology is not separate from myth, symbols, and worldviews.

Through his overarching theory of terministic screens Burke shows how the concepts of rhetoric, symbol, myth, and worldview interact with each other depending on circumstances to create a kaleidoscope of meaning that forms the basis for the construction of consubstantial identities. He also provides a useful way of understanding how worldviews help shape the lives and thoughts of individuals, groups, and societies.

As will be shown in chapters five, six and seven, this discussion reflects the way the three think tanks discussed in this thesis, the Fabians, the Broederbond, and the

SAIRR developed their own forms of propaganda. Although there are overlaps between the way each think tank developed its own propaganda, two dominant modes of propaganda emerged. These were the rational-scientific approach that came to dominate Fabian and SAIRR propaganda and the social-cultural appeal of the

Broederbond’ s propaganda.

3.11 Conclusion

Research methods and theories are in constant interaction as advocates of

“grounded theory” insist (Stebbins, 2001; Charmaz, 2006; Glazer & Strauss, 2008;).

But, one need not embrace grounded theory to recognize that interaction between observations, or data and the theory or theories used to explain and understand it, is something which most social scientists see as an important element of research (Stark

& Roberts, 1996). It is also important to note that this is not a new idea because it is found in the writings of early sociologists like Beatrice and Sydney Webb (1925, 1932).

With these thoughts in mind we now turn to an examination of the evidence that forms the basis of this thesis.

Chapter Four

The cultural and religious background to think tank communications

4.0 Introduction

This chapter has the following sections:

4.0 Introduction 4.1 The global dimensions of the Evangelical Revival 4.2 The Evangelical Revival as a communications revolution 4.3 The social impact of the Evangelical Revival 4.4 The Victorian crisis of faith 4.5 The Afrikaner Nationalist communications revolution 4.6: “Shall we forget a tearful past …” 4.7 The post-war South African communications revolution 4.8 Conclusion

The chapter presents what at first may seem to be a set of highly disparate historical, religious and cultural trends that come together in the Fabians, the Broederbond and the SAIRR. These trends shaped the communications strategies of all three think tanks.

It begins by examining the historical development of the Fabian Society and how its members developed both rational-scientific and cultural communications. Particular attention is paid to the religious background of early Fabians because this played a major role in shaping their activities which, as will be shown, mirror those of the evangelical Christian movement in the nineteenth century (Webb, 1941/1925;

MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977, pp. 15-29; Britain, 1982, pp. 71-95).

The chapter then discusses the background to the birth of the Afrikaner

Broederbond within the larger Afrikaner Nationalist movement. Here attention is drawn to the way historical circumstances shaped Afrikaner Nationalism which was

90 popularized as a result of a little known communications revolution involving poetry, novels, and the “new media” of film in the early twentieth century.

Beginning with a study of the religious background to Fabian communication strategies, this study follows the example set by Kenneth Burke who paid close attention to the role of religion in developing different forms of communication. For example, Burke took a close interest in the communications of evangelical movements, which also influenced early Fabian communications (Burke, 1984a/1935, pp. 111-141,

1984b/1937, pp. 71-82). In doing so he argued that we can “discern the same incentives behind evangelism and education or propaganda, despite the differences in terminology” (Burke, 1984b/1937, p. 82). Further, he saw history as a source for understanding the development of communications (Burke, 1984a/1935S).

4.1 The global dimensions of the Evangelical Revival

Before discussing the Evangelical Revival’s innovative use of communications, it is important to point out its global nature. Here we need to be aware of what Kris

Manjapra has called “global entanglements” and recognize that global movements are not something that began with the Internet (Manjapra, 2014).

It was a voyage to America that first brought the then unknown Anglican clergyman John Wesley (1703-1791) into contact with German Pietism which eventually led to his dramatic conversion. Later Wesley visited Germany to learn from the Pietist movement there (Wood, 1960, pp. 93-113; Semmel, 1973, pp. 32-33). Similarly, evangelist George Whitfield (1714-1770) made a number of visits to British North

America to preach the gospel and establish both schools and orphanages (Semmel,

1973, pp. 63-66).

In the closing decade of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century the global vision of the Evangelicals crystalized into the nineteenth century missionary movement inspired by William Carey (1761-1834) who sailed to India as the first British missionary in 1793 (Porter, 2004, pp. 15, 40-45). From then on the missionary movement, which gradually became closely linked to the anti-slavery campaign and attempts to eradicate the internal slave trade in Africa, developed fairly rapidly (Porter, 2004, pp.18, 83-90, 149-152).

This global vision can be seen in the work of Frank Lambert (1994), who has written one of the best books describing the innovations in communications created by eighteenth century evangelicals, particularly Methodists (Lambert, 1999). The book itself does not directly deal with communications; rather it is about the British colonies of

North America. Nevertheless, he spends a lot of time discussing what communication scholars will instantly recognize as innovations in communications.

These new communication techniques were trans-Atlantic because the works of people like revivalist preacher Johnathan Edwards (1703-1758) were published and read in London and other European cities. At the same time Edwards kept a sharp eye on what British and other Europeans, like John (1703-1791) and Charles Wesley (1707-

1788), were doing in terms of promoting Christianity (Lambert, 1999, pp. 69-81). As a result, the Evangelicals developed a series of inter-related trans-Atlantic networks for communicating the message of revival that changed the religious landscape of both

Britain and the American Colonies (Lambert, 1999, pp. 151-179).

Similarly, the Fabian Society owed its origin to a Scot, called Thomas Davidson

(1840-1900) who originally moved to Canada before settling in New York. In 1884 he visited London, England, to promote the American religious movement the Fellowship of

New Life which he helped found in 1883 (Knight, 1907). Out of the meetings where he spoke the Fabian Society emerged.

The importance of the Evangelical Revival in the creation of the Fabian Society is that many early Fabians came from highly committed Evangelical Christian homes.

Those who did not come from evangelical homes usually came from equally religious homes. But by the 1880’s they were all struggling with a loss of faith and the implications of a scientific worldview. Yet, at the same time they maintained an evangelical zeal for the salvation of society, but in increasingly secular terms

(MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977, pp.16-22).

4.2 The Evangelical Revival as a communications revolution

The Evangelical Revival developed in the mid-eighteenth and continued into the first third of the nineteenth century with the Methodist movement as a key component

(Semmel, 1973; Bebbington, 1989). Although none of the standard texts on the

Evangelical or Methodist revivals directly discuss the communications revolution that lay at their core of what they did they implicitly acknowledge the importance of a new style of preaching, evangelical activism, a tidal wave of publications and the organization of societies that gave instruction in personal piety. From the beginning of the revivals, which came in a series of waves, Evangelical preachers reached out to people

93 wherever they congregated. The technique used is described by David Bebbington as

“activism” (Bebbington, 1989, pp.10-12).

Here it is helpful to consider the activism of Evangelical revivalists as a form of organization that communicated the evangelical message. Reading the literature of the

Evangelical revivals, for example, books like Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of

Religion (1835), one cannot help but be struck by the fact that the organization of revivals was intended to create an ethos that communicated a message. This was done through the creation of numerous small groups and other activities that drew people together. As a result, prayer meetings, Bible studies, and numerous other activities created a sense of community and belonging among the newly converted. Thus, the religious organization became part of their lives and gave them distinct identities.

The argument that “organization” can constitute a means of communication makes a lot of sense when one studies the evangelical revivals and is supported by the writings of Mike Reed (2010), Dennis Schoeneborn (2011) and Dennis Schoeneborn and Swaran Sandhu (2013) on the communicative nature of organization. Although there is little doubt that the idea will be debated for some time they make a good case that in a certain sense “organization” in and of itself becomes a form of communication.

What they mean by this is that the characteristics of an organization shape the people involved in it and how outsiders see it. In other words, organizations create their own sense of identity and this makes an impact on both members and outsiders in a variety of ways. For example, one expects an officer in the army to dress and act very differently from a member of a utopian commune. In both of these cases the

94 organization to which these people belong communicate a message about their members.

Certainly, this seems to be the case with the Evangelical revival where organization appears to have conveyed a message that reinforced that of preachers and writers. As a result, outsiders became convinced of the urgency and truth of the claims made by the advocates of evangelical religion. What this meant in practice is discussed below.

Another, perhaps easier, way of seeing this is to view organization as sometimes functioning as a form of ritual. For the purpose of this study ritual is defined as:

“symbolic behavior that is socially standardized and repetitive.” As such it involves a

“web of symbolism … that gives the action (a) much more important meaning.” Thus rituals “help give meaning to our world” through symbolic action (Kertzer, 1988, pp. 9-

11). With this understanding in mind it is easy to see how evangelical organization created actions that “spoke” to people by signifying a spiritual reality above and beyond words. Organization implied a repetitive pattern which symbolized the religious

“realities” spoken about in evangelical preaching. Thus, the claims of the preachers impressed people because they brought a sense of urgency to the way they lived which matched the message they proclaimed in their preaching.

While the term “activism” sums up the frenzied activity of the emerging

Evangelical Movement it obscures the way they revolutionized the practice of preaching to bring about a religious revolution based on a communications revolution (Bebbington,

1989, pp. 2-3, 10-12). At the heart of this revolution was the application of rhetoric

(Grant, 1977). For example, both John Wesley and George Whitefield were masters of

95 rhetoric (Golden, 1961; White, 1948). But far more important, they trained their converts and followers in rhetoric to enable them to “read, write, and speak in public” (Burton,

2001, p. 65).

An example of the power of Evangelical rhetoric is recorded in Benjamin

Franklin’s (1706-1790) Journal where he describes Whitfield’s preaching. So powerful was Whitefield as a preacher that when Franklin heard him preach he eventually gave money to support Whitfield’s cause even though he had a strong dislike for evangelical religion (Franklin, 1901, pp. 103-107).

Unlike the traditional preacher who was “very much a member of the gentry in the way he spent his time” evangelical preachers were obsessed with using every minute of their time to spread the gospel (Bebbington, 1989, p. 11). Thus, they revolutionized the traditional practice of preaching by taking it out of Sunday services in poorly attended churches. Instead, they preached wherever people gathered at whenever time ordinary people had the opportunity to listen to a sermon. And if that meant getting up at 4 am and preaching at 5 am, that is what they did (Beddington,

1989, p.10). As a result, not only did they radically change the nature of preaching they brought to it new methods of organization.

These “methods” were first of all preaching outside of church buildings wherever crowds of people gathered in places like market squares. Then, interested individuals, existing believers, and new converts were organized into prayer meetings, Bible studies, and discussion groups held in people’s homes, village halls, barns and wherever such a meeting was possible. At prayer meetings people shared their hopes and fears, needs and cares, and prayed for each other. In the process this type of

96 meeting created a sense of belonging and identity. Closely linked to prayer meetings were Bible studies and discussions about “the Christian life.” Both of these types of meeting were linked to Bible studies.

Initially, Bible studies were led by preachers. Then the Wesleys developed the idea of the “local preacher” who could also lead Bible studies. To make such studies work it was also necessary for people to read the Bible at a time when the literacy of the general population was low. Therefore, people had to be taught how to read and this in turn led to the growth of “Sunday Schools” which originally were places where illiterate adults learn to read and write. No wonder the followers of Wesley readily embraced the name Methodist to describe themselves and their methods of evangelism (Shaw, 2012, pp. 209-213).

Communicating the gospel and Christian teaching through preaching, prayer meetings, and Bible studies was only one way the message of the new evangelicals was spread orally. The other innovative, and highly organized method, was to revolutionize the nature of pastoral care itself. This involved home visits to parishioners and anyone in a given area as a way of reaching out to people. The great innovator here was the Glasgow evangelical leader Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) who is said to have organized parish visits to 11,000 homes every year throughout his highly successful ministry. To do this Chalmers created church elders who with him participated in these time-consuming visits (Bebbington, 1989, p. 11).

Closely linked to the development of home Bible studies that promoted the growth of literacy was a growing literature providing supporting materials for those involved in church groups (Bebbington, 1989, pp. 67-69). These groups met a real need

97 because by the mid-eighteenth century a growing number of people, estimated at around 65% of the population, were functionally literate. In the home study groups their basic literacy turned into an active one (pp. 123-125).

One of the chief literary means of “spreading the Word” by Evangelicals was the religious tract. This was a short call to faith, often in the form of a story, published in the form of a leaflet or short pamphlet of one to ten pages. Very little is written about the tracts although the evidence shows that they blanketed Britain and North America for much of the nineteenth century (Chadwick, 1970, pp. 443-445).

Once again, the tract was not a new invention. In fact, the origin of the tract goes back to the Reformation. There they were used by the followers of Martin Luther to great effect (Edwards, 1994, pp. 15-28) and were soon taken up by his opponents who were not as successful in producing anti-Lutheran literature (Edwards, 1994, pp. 29-37).

The pamphlet war at the time of the Reformation provided a model for the propaganda of later religious groups that sought to persuade the unconvinced (Pettegree, 2005, pp.156-184). Later, tracts were commonplace among Puritans and post-Reformation religious dissenters (Haller, 1934; 1957; Haller & Davies, 1944; Hill, 1980; 1986).

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that they resurfaced in the Evangelical revival.

Although this renewed use of tracts originated with the Evangelicals its renewed use was taken up for propaganda purposes by High Church Anglicans, who acquired the name “Tractarians.” They, however, tended to restrict their use by appealing to the clergy and educated laymen (Chadwick, 1970, pp. 1567-211). Finally, tracts were very popular with the Christian Socialist Movement where their use was similar to that of the

Evangelicals (Bowen, 1968, pp. 314-315).

What made the nineteenth century use of tracts different from their use earlier in history was the extent to which they were used outside of traditional religious contexts, such as churches and religious meetings, to reach out to people wherever they were.

Perhaps the biggest difference between the earlier use of religious tracts and that of the

Evangelical revival is that now the production of tracts became a highly profitable commercial enterprise. As a result, the business in tracts, because that is what it was, boomed (Schantz, 1997; Fyfe, 2004).

While tracts were short pithy calls for action, nineteenth century British Christians also spread their message by means of novels that told stories intended to either bring people to faith or to revitalize the faithful (Chadwick, 1970, pp. 462-465; Bebbington,

1989, p.131). In fact, by the mid-nineteenth century explicitly Christian writers like

Elizabeth Sewell (1815-1906) and Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) were best-selling authors. Sewell’s best-known work Amy Herbert was described as “a tale for girls”

(1844). She also wrote travelogues and was a regular contributor to various magazines.

Kingsley’s The Water Babies (1862-1863) became a classic that was regularly read in

British schools until the 1960’s. Significantly, Kingsley was a very active Christian

Socialist with views that were similar to those of later Fabians (Vulliamy, 1914).

Nevertheless, despite the success of writers like these it was the now forgotten

Charlotte Yonge (1823-1901) who was the real literary sensation of the century. In fact,

J. B. Priestly has claimed that her book, The Heir of Redclyffe (1853) was “the most popular novel of the whole age” (Priestley, 1972, pp. 124-125). Whether he is right can be debated. Nevertheless, it appears that such prominent writers as Tolstoy and

George Eliot appreciated her work (Hayter, 1996).

Yonge’s work also needs to be seen in terms of the entanglements mentioned earlier. For example, the Dutch theologian turned politician, Abraham Kuyper (1837-

1920), who had a major influence on many Broederbond leaders, discusses his transition from a liberal theologian to the leader of the nineteenth century Dutch

Calvinist movement in his short tract Confidentie (1873).17 In it he describes the impact of Yonge’s writings on his life, saying that the Heir of Redclyffe “stands next to the Bible in its meaning for my life” (Kuyper, 1998, p. 51). This confession is doubly significant because Kuyper had, and continues to have, a major influence on Dutch Christian communities in both Canada and the United States of America in terms of both religion and politics (Heslam, 1998, pp. 2-8).

4.3 The social impact of the Evangelical Revival

Although it began with the preaching of men like John Wesley who called for repentance and the conversion of sinners, from the beginning the Evangelical Revival had a strong social conscience and activist component. The Evangelicals also embraced many of the ideas of the Enlightenment. This manifested itself in their appeals to “reason” and attempts to reform society (Bebbington, 1989, pp. 50-63).

By the end of the eighteenth century members of evangelical groups like the

British Clapham Sect were leaders of the anti-slavery movement, campaigns against child labor, and various other attempts to improve the life of the poor. Importantly, despite failures, Evangelical leaders supported reform in Parliament while Christian

17 Translated from the Dutch into English by James D. Bratt and republished in James D Bratt, (1998). Abraham Kuyper: A Centennial Reader. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W.B. Eerdmans, pp. 45-61. 100 farm workers played a key role in the development of Trades Unions (TUC, 2014;

Shaw, 2012, pp. 131-162; Bebbington, 1989, pp. 69-74; 132-137).

Of course, what is described above is the ideal image of the evangelical which functioned to motivate them and their families to strive to establish the Kingdom of

Christ on earth (Bowen, 1968, pp. 214-338; Shaw, 2012, pp. 197-230). On the other hand, from the beginning of the movement, critics of the Evangelicals accused them of hypocrisy and failure to live up to their high ideas. These criticisms developed over time and came to constitute a powerful anti-revivalist propaganda campaign against

Evangelical religion in Britain, Europe, and North America, which is discussed in more detail later in this chapter (Lambert, 1999, pp.185-221).

One of the best examples of evangelical social activism is found In South Africa where the work of Dr John Philip (1775-1851) a Scottish minister of religion changed the political and racial structure of the British Cape Colony.18 He developed a remarkable propaganda campaign based on rational-scientific modes of communication that were later taken up by the Fabians and the SAIRR. As will be shown later he changed South

African history by presenting evidence based research that led policy makers in Britain to change the way the Cape Colony was governed and initiate a color-blind franchise

(Davenport & Saunders, 2000, pp.122-125). The Liberals who later supported and

18 During his lifetime and afterwards Philip was seen by many White South Africans as the devil incarnate and is savaged in the South African Dictionary of Biography published at the height of the apartheid era by the Human Sciences Council of South Africa (1968). In that work Philip is described as someone who “concocted” his evidence to enable him to denounce the colonist’s treatment of indigenous peoples as “inhuman.” Thus “the good work of the mission was lauded to the skies” while the colonists and Cape government were “reproached” for “attempting to impede the extension of missionary activity.” The article then lambasts Philip for basing his arguments on hearsay evidence which, it was claimed, was naively accepted on account of his assessment of “the characters” of his informants. His work was then criticized for its “numerous contradictions and false statements” (de Kock, 1968, pp. 612-621). While it is true that Philip presented his evidence to sway his audience, Andrew Ross points out in his more recent, detailed, study of Philip’s work that it was essentially correct (Ross, 1986 pp. 77-81, 95-115). 101 helped found the SAIRR looked to John Philip as an example to follow (Macmillan,

1927; 1929).

After a very successful ministry in Scotland, Philip’s life changed dramatically in

1817 when the directors of the London Missionary Society asked him to assist the mission in South Africa. As a result, he arrived in Cape Town on February 26, 1819 and spent the rest of his life there. Once established at the Cape he soon became convinced that the local British Administration, the Cape Government, was not respecting the rights of the Khoikhoi people, who at the time were called Hottentots. As a result, he used his evangelical connections in London, particularly those involved with members of the Clapham Sect, the anti-Slavery Movement, and other religious groups associated with Exeter Hall,19 to lobby parliament to set up a Commission of Inquiry which was formally established on July 25, 1822 (Ross 1986, p. 105).20

In 1826 Philip and his family returned to Britain to lobby for the recognition of the

Khoikhoi people as British citizens with the same rights as all other inhabitants of the

Cape Colony. During his three years back in Britain he conducted extensive speaking tours, meet with politicians and government administrators, and wrote his two volume

Researches in South Africa (1828). The importance of this work for the present study is that Philip was a sophisticated rhetorician who sought to convince his readers to take action that would force the British Government to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples at the Cape (Ross, 1986, pp.102-115).

19 Exeter Hall was an auditorium on Strand Street in London that was the used by the Anti-Slavery society and other activist groups to hold rallies. Over time it became synonymous with social reform and the political wing of the reforming evangelical movement. 20 Philip’s other activities included creating a school for slaves in Cape Town, helping found the South African College which eventually became the University of Cape Town, and founding the Cape Town Library and various scientific societies as well as the bilingual, Dutch-English, South African Journal (Ross, 1986, pp. 215-228). 102

Philips work is possibly the earliest of its kind that sought to convince people to take political and social action on the basis of direct observations, interviews, and the presentation of facts to support its argument.21 Previously, the British anti-Slavery

Movement had used similar tactics of appealing to testimony, observation, and the collection of facts. But, their efforts, which were geared to changing both parliamentary and public opinion, used different types of literature for different audiences. For the general public, the tract was their chosen medium while for parliamentary committees large reports were carefully prepared and delivered when needed. What Philip did very successfully was combine both types of publication in one work which he promoted through his travels and speeches to both the public and influential supporters who could influence policy makers in parliament. Therefore, it seems fair to see this as a new and innovative approach to changing public policy.

In this way Philip anticipated the work of Beatrice Webb and the Fabian Tracts by combining field research, interviews, and observation, with factual information to convince people to change public policy. As a result, his work reads like a combination of Webb’s My Apprenticeship (1926) and her detailed studies of social conditions such as her The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain (1891), The Case for the Factory

Acts (1901), and Health of Working Girls (1917).

The importance of Philip’s work as propaganda was recognized by the South

African historian W. M. Macmillan whose own books The Cape Colour Question (1927)

21 An examination of library holdings shows that while two earlier books contained titles that spoke about “Researches in …,” both were travel books that were not written to change public policy. Following the publication of Philip’s book several other books used “researches” in their titles, but again none of them were designed to contribute to a political debate in the way his was. Only David Livingstone’s Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa (1857) came close to Philip’s work, but even it was far more of a travel and scientific report on Africa generally rather than a concentrated assault on a clearly identified injustice (Livingston, 1857). 103 and Bantu, Boer and Briton (1929) appeared almost exactly a hundred years after the publication of Philips’ Researches in South Africa (1828). As Andrew Ross observes, although written as histories of the Cape, based on Philip’s papers, Macmillan was

“quite explicit” about the aims of his books. In other words, he too was consciously producing propaganda to produce social change. Like Philip “his avowed intent was to bring about change in the social attitudes and political policies of South Africa in his day” (Ross, 1986, p. 215).

The publication of Philip’s Researches and his speaking activities while back in

Britain, between1826 and 1829, in conjunction with the work of the Anti-Slavery Society, swung public opinion in Philip’s favor. He also benefitted from the support of the anti-

Slavery Movement which successfully lobbied Parliament to abolish the practice of slavery in British domains in 1834 with the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. After this success, Philip successfully defended himself in a libel action that claimed he had falsely accused White settlers of mistreating Blacks (Ross, 1986, pp.102-111). He then returned to South Africa where he lived among the Khoikhoi and Griqua people until his death in 1851.

Although the British had already outlawed the slave trade in 1818 the new act freed slaves in British territories and was designed to meet the needs of large

Caribbean plantation owners who were paid compensation. At the request of the powerful slave owning lobby this compensation was paid out in London because most of the plantations were run by managers while the owners lived in Britain. As a result, the end of British slavery resulted in a smooth transition to a new economic system. In

South Africa, the situation was very different because there were relatively few slaves,

104 most of whom were domestic slaves, and no big plantations. Nevertheless, the investment of individuals and families in their slaves was significant and all would have gone well if the compensation had been paid in Cape Town (Walker, 1964, p.174;

Davenport & Saunders, 2000, pp. 122, 46-49).

As it was, South Africans wishing to receive compensation had to travel to

London and when a group representing slave owners did so they found that after their long journey the pound had been devalued and they received very little once their travel costs were paid. Naturally, this created a lot of anger at the Cape and contributed to the

Great Trek of 1836 when around 10,000 Cape Dutch left the Cape Colony and trekked into the interior of South Africa (Walker, 1964, pp.195-115; Muller, 1981, pp.146-182).

As Ross points out, many historians have argued that after his return to South

Africa Philip lost enthusiasm for reform and became a defeated man unwilling to continue the fight. Ross argues that this is the wrong way to view Philip and that his later inaction was the result of recognizing that the intellectual climate in Britain had changed with the decline of the old reforming evangelicalism and the beginning of the

Victorian crisis of faith. For Philip, this meant that his allies in London gradually died off without new ones replacing them. Equally problematic was the fact that the London

Missionary Society experienced a severe drop in income beginning in the 1830’s. As a result, Ross convincingly argues that Philips’ reluctance to speak out and push for further reforms was due to a realistic recognition that to do so might make the situation worse and undo much of what he had achieved (Ross, 1986, pp.191-193).

As it was, Philips’ South African supporters gained a significant victory shortly after his death when the first Constitution of the Cape Colony was promulgated in 1853.

105

In it the rights of all people were protected and a color blind franchise based on property ownership and a basic educational level was instituted. This created the basis for what was known as “the Cape Liberal tradition” which gradually improved the condition of non-White South Africans living in the Cape Province until the Act of Union in 1910 began to erode those rights (Ross, 1986, pp. 223, 228).22

To a very large extent the British were remarkably successful in the Cape with most

Dutch speaking people gradually conforming to British culture. As a result, by the end of the nineteenth century it was possible to speak of a Cape Liberal Tradition where

Anglicized Cape Dutch, who were beginning to call themselves Afrikaners, and Africans could work together on common projects because of their shared outlook (Giliomee,

2003, pp. 193-227).

In the early twentieth century, the gains made by Phillip and his successors were threatened by the creation of the new Union of South Africa, created in 1910, that began reversing the progress towards a common franchise made at the Cape over the past century. As a result, Philip and his work became an icon for social activists in South

Africa and offered a model on which they could base their own communications and arguments (Hellmann, 1979, p. 3).

22 Nevertheless, many South African missionaries continued in the tradition established by Philip and worked both for the education of Blacks and their right to take their place alongside whites in a common society. Here Tiyo Soga, a Xhosa convert who obtained his university education in Glasgow where he married a Scottish woman. is a classic example. The Soga family went on to become leaders of the Black community and examples of what Blacks could achieve given the chance. His son, John Henderson Soga (1860-1941), also travelled to Scotland where he obtained both a degree and his doctorate and like his father married a Scottish woman before returning to South Africa (Williams, 1967; 1978). The younger Soga also published extensively on South African life (e.g. Soga, 1930; 1932). Other examples of Africans influenced by this missionary culture include the founding of the African National Congress which came into being in 1912 after the British Government allowed the creation of the Union of South Africa without regard for the indigenous peoples (de Gruchy, 1979, pp. 26, 41-52; Davenport & Saunders, 2000, pp.273-276).

106

4.4 The Victorian crisis of faith

It was against this background of an increasingly active and successful religious movement based on oral and printed communications that what has been called “the

Victorian Crisis of Faith” needs to be understood (Symondson, 1970). Almost from their beginnings the various revival movements in Britain and North America encountered criticism for their “enthusiasm” and unconventional methods. At the beginning the arguments were largely theological between equally committed Christian theologians.

On the one side were enthusiastic revivalists; on the other sober observers who saw the revivals as “delusional” and to a large extent socially engineered events that often fabricated stories to evoke the response they then claimed to be the work of God.

Between the two groups were people like the American philosopher clergyman

Johnathan Edwards who accepted revival as a reality while maintaining a degree of skepticism about what was actually occurring in many cases (Lambert, 1999, pp. 134-

221).

The internal church criticisms of evangelical Christian movements palled in comparison to the outright attacks on Christianity itself by Deists, Unitarians, and others influenced by the Enlightenment (Robertson, 1899, 1912, 1929; Thrower, 1971). The most prominent of these critics was Tom Paine (1737-1809) who began his public career as an advocate of American independence from Britain and continued to become one of the most devastating of Christianity’s critics (Budd, 1967). This campaign fed into the great crisis of Evangelical revivalism which shattered the movement in the mid- nineteenth century as Susan Budd shows in her challenging and well documented

Varieties of Unbelief (1977). Budd documents the extent to which Paine’s writings

107 impacted British Victorian society (Budd, 1977, pp. 104-123). She also brings out very well what a painful process rejecting Christianity was for many people like Beatrice

Webb (Budd, 1977, p. 110; cf. Webb 1946, pp. 89-91).23

The early letters, diaries, and other writings of Beatrice Webb (1858-1943),24 who was a leading member of the Fabian Society and architect of the British Welfare State, demonstrate the enormous impact of both religion and loss of faith on her and many of her contemporaries (Webb Collection). In describing her personal struggles with religion, she maintained great respect for many of the Evangelicals she knew and even felt a sense of sadness at the thought that the progress of science would destroy their very real faith (Webb, 1946, pp.15-18, 142-146). At the same time, she records the ethos of the times in London and other major cities of Britain and the impact loss of faith had on many of her contemporaries who came from Evangelical and other highly committed religious backgrounds (Webb, 1946, pp. 39-50, 112-131).

23 Apart from the rise of science, which was seen to conflict with religion, the main catalyst in this widespread intellection movement was Tom Paine (1737-1809). We know very little about the early life of Paine who began his career as a highly successful publicist in America (Larkin, 2005:1-21). After the publication of his first major work Common Sense in 1776, Paine rapidly became the literary spokesperson for American discontent and in a very short time the key writer for the American Revolution. His political arguments made an immediate impression and included works like The American Crisis (1776) and The Rights of Man (1791), as well as numerous pamphlets and newspaper articles. But, it was his Age of Reason (1793-1794) that really hit home as far as Christian belief was concerned. One of the main reasons for Tom Paine’s success was what his critics called his “vulgar style” by which they meant his ability to appeal to ordinary, and often barely literate, people (Clark, 1978). More than Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), George Washington (1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) or any other American revolutionary leader, Paine’s works spoke to the times (Fruchtman, 1994). 24 She was the daughter of a wealthy business man, Richard Potter, who was a Director of the Hudson Bay Company (Webb, 1946, pp. 1-7). He came from an old Unitarian family but was strongly attracted to Anglicanism and regularly attended the local Anglican Church although he was never committed to orthodox Christianity (Webb, 1946, pp. 48-49). Her mother is described as a pious woman who read the New Testament in Greek and studied the Early Church Fathers (Webb, 1946, pp. 10-12). As a child, she attended the Anglican Church with her father and gained a positive impression of Christianity (Webb, 1946, pp. 12-13). After a trip to America, while taking confirmation lessons, she encountered and was attracted to Evangelical Christianity but eventually turned away because she found the idea of the atonement of Christ morally repulsive (Webb, 1946, pp. 62-72; 85-89). 108

Against this background of growing skepticism, it is hard to overestimate the impact of Darwinian thought on Victorian Britain, Europe, and North America. Suddenly the dominant narrative paradigm of Christianity was challenged by an equally all- embracing vision of a scientific world where there is no place for God (Ruse, 1999). As a result earlier published criticisms of Christianity by writers like Tom Paine gained a new credibility. Paine’s objections to miracles were no longer the ravings of a disgruntled radical because they gained a new scientific credibility. This counter- revolution also had a major oral component that took the form of secular societies where atheists and agnostics gathered to hear talks and “secular sermons” (Royle,

1974).

Socially and intellectually this new paradigm took two major directions. On the one hand, Social Darwinism consigned the poor and weak to the slag heap of history because they had failed to adapt to the challenge of evolutionary change. With this attitude came the development of “scientific racism” and a total disregard for the poor and the concerns of Evangelicals to improve the lot of everyone in society (Dubow,

1995).

On the other hand, a more humane version of social Darwinism developed that limited the impact of the theory of evolution to a severe criticism of religion linked to a belief in human progress. This development substituted a belief in the evolutionary nature of Socialism and the improvement of human life through steady progress and the application of science to daily life. It was this milder form of the evolutionary paradigm that appealed to the early Fabians (Pugh, 1984, pp. 2, 22, MacKenzie & MacKenzie,

1977, pp. 16, 36, 59, McBrair, 1962, pp. 60, 148-149).

109

The third feature of mid-century Victorian Britain was the rapid spread of and enthusiasm for Positivism. Here one has to be very careful because the term

“Positivism” has acquired numerous meanings with the result it is often applied to groups and individuals who were anti-positivist as is shown below.

As an intellectual movement, Positivism grew out of Enlightenment discontent with tradition and traditional societies. Here its moto could almost be taken from Tom

Paine’s Age of Reason (1794) where he claims to be attacking “false systems of government and false theology” (Paine, 1974, p. 50). The early Positivists saw a direct link between existing governments and an aristocratic social order that appealed to tradition, justified by metaphysical arguments about the nature of reality, to legitimate its rule. Like Paine, the Positivists sought to replace belief with an appeal to Reason. This they took one step further than Paine by identifying their criticism with what they called the “science method” which they claimed was objective and free from bias and prejudice

(Abbagnano 1972, pp. 414-419).

In talking about Positivism today we need to be very careful because many scholars, particularly those in some branches of communication studies, identify it with any form of empirical research and appeal to scientific methods of inquiry. In its place, they promote social construction. But, nineteenth century Positivism was not simply an appeal to scientific method. It involved a particular form of scientific method that totally rejected any consideration of the role of metaphysical or other factors in determining research results (Simon, 1963; Steinmetz, 2005).

For the Positivists knowledge had to be based on “the facts” which were seen as objective. The term Positivism was first coined by Henri Comte de Saint-Simon (1760-

110

1825) as a way to identify the scientific method of inquiry. It was then taken up and developed by Auguste Comte (1798-1857) who added a religious twist to it by creating a religion of humanity (Gane, 2006). Later it was popularized in England by Herbert

Spencer (1820-1903) whose writings came to represent British Positivism (Mingardi,

2011).

Over time the Positivist impulse developed into what became known as the philosophical school of Logical Positivism. This had its roots in Austria and a group of philosophers known as the “Vienna Circle” and in the English speaking world was promoted by A. J. Ayer (1910-1989) and for a long time dominated the teaching of philosophy (Passmore, 1972, pp. 52-57; Friedman, 1999).

Today Positivism is often associated with Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and

John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). Although they were certainly sympathetic to some of the ideas of the Positivists, especially in terms of its power to promote social change, they developed their own philosophy of Utilitarianism and rejected the narrow focus on “the facts” as interpreted by the Positivists (Halliday 1976; Mill, 1961; 1972). This dabbling in

Positivism, but qualified rejection of it in favor of a more eclectic approach to knowledge, characterized the attitude of many late Victorians in England particularly early members of the Fabian Society (B. Webb, 1946, pp. 20-25, 124-131, 154-155).

Finally, it needs to be noted that Positivism represented a highly successful movement for social reform and that it is wrong to view Positivists as naïve about social and other factors that influence knowledge. In fact, one of the great contributions of

British Positivists to discussions about the nature of social reality was their insistence on the importance of recognizing bias, prejudice, and subjective factors influencing the

111 researcher (Offer 2010). In this they continued a trend started by Jeremy Bentham whose Book of Fallacies, first published in 1824, drew attention to how easy it is for a person’s social background and education to shape the way they see the world

(Bentham, 1962a&b).

The influence of bias and prejudice is discussed at length in Herbert Spencer’s

The Study of Sociology (1873) where he devotes over four hundred pages to a discussion of factors that can distort the conclusions and work of scholars. Here he makes it quite clear that researchers are influenced by many factors including subjective ones and that research results must always be viewed skeptically because to a large extent they are constructions. Nevertheless, he believed that it was possible to aim at attaining objectivity because the argued a real world exists that can be discovered by the application of scientific methods.

Although originally tempted by Positivism, Beatrice Webb25 ultimately rejected it as too narrow (B. Webb, 1946, pp. 78-83, 120-121, 159, 166, 232). Her experience appears to mirror that of many other early Fabians who were influenced by the scientific tone of Positivism, but quickly came to reject it as a system. It was this awareness of the limitations of social research while at the same time recognizing the need to present evidence in favor of one’s arguments that deeply influenced the Fabians. Therefore, while not Positivists most Fabians were influenced by ideas generated by the Positivist movement.

25 Richard Potter, the father of Beatrice Webb, and his wife were close friends of Herbert Spencer who was a frequent guest at the Potter household when Beatrice was a child. Spencer befriended the children, especially Beatrice, and spent many hours discussing his ideas with the family. He argued with her mother about the nature and value of religion, politics, and various other topics while her father regarded his arguments with wry amusement (Webb, 1946:19-34; 49). Later in life Beatrice spent a lot of time arguing with Spencer herself and held him in great respect particularly because she admitted gaining much of her adult education from her association with him (B. Webb, 1946, p. 116). 112

4.5 The Afrikaner Nationalist communications revolution: A legacy of war

Historians argue about the early development of Afrikaner Nationalism and its political wing the National Party of South Africa.26 Nevertheless, they all agree that elements of what became Afrikaner Nationalist ideology were present before 1920 and that the key myths, or narrative paradigms, of the movement developed during this early period prior to the 1920s. Therefore, to understand the way the Broederbond, which was founded in 1918, developed its communications strategy it is important to look at the surrounding culture that gave birth to it and the broader Afrikaner Nationalist movement.27

This background is found in the Second Anglo-Boer War which was fought between Britain and the Boer territories of the Orange Free State and South African

Republic between 1899 and 1902. The root cause of the war was control of the rich gold mines of the Witwatersrand. At the outset of the war the combined forces of the two

Boer republics numbered around 50,000 men. To subdue them Britain quickly brought in over 500,000 troops from all over the Empire (Spies, 1977, pp. 9-54).

To the shock of the English commanders the Boers did not engage them in pitched battles. Instead they abandoned their towns and resorted to guerrilla warfare.

To subdue the Boer forces the British erected a series of block houses linked by barbed wire fences that crisscrossed South Africa. Then they herded Boer women and children

26 Where they disagree is whether or not Afrikaner Nationalism was a continuous development from 1902 onwards and whether it really developed its distinct features in the late 1920’s or 1930’s. Some like Moodie (1975), Davenport and Saunders (2000), and Giliomee (2003) argue for a continuous development. Others like O’Meara (1983), (Norval, 1996) and Marx (2008) argue that there is a fairly sharp break between earlier movements with nationalist inclinations and what eventually emerged as Afrikaner Nationalism. 27 Historians also agree about the major events that led to the development of a Afrikaner national consciousness. But, while they all note the importance of communications so far no one has looked at Afrikaner Nationalism in its early stages in terms of new developments in South African communications. 113 from farms and small towns into concentration camps. In the process they destroyed the farms, poisoned water holes, and shot the cattle leaving devastation in their wake

(Spies, 1977).

These tactics, described as “methods of barbarism” by the British Liberal politician Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (Spies, 1977, p. 126),28 soon brought the

Boer armies to the negotiating table. This resulted in the signing of a peace treaty, The

Peace of Vereeniging, on the 31st of May 1902 (Walker, 1964, pp. 503-504).

This is the famous photograph taken by Emily Hobhouse of seven year old Lizzie van Zyl in the Bloemfontein Concentration Camp. She died on 9 May 1901. It was widely circulated and known to all Afrikaners following the Second Anglo-Boer War. Picture in the public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Lizzie+van+Zyl+&title=Special:Sea rch&go=Go

The terms of the Treaty excluded Boer leaders from participation in politics and imposed British rule led by Alfred Lord Milner (1854-1925) who embarked on a policy of the Anglicization of the Boer population (Gollin, 1964). During the war around 5,000

Boer combatants were killed in combat. At least another 32,00029 Boer women and children out of 107,482 internees died in the concentration camps. As a result, when

28 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/census/events/britain7.htm 29 The official British figure was 27,927 women and children who died in the camps. 114

Boer troops, or prisoners of war, or women and children released from the concentration camps returned to their homes many found their families, or those of their neighbors, dead, their farms destroyed, and the buildings burnt out shells (Spies, 1977, p. 256).

The horrors of the war were brought to the attention of the British public by the opposition Liberal Party and the various people associated with the Fabian Society.

These included Bernard Shaw, Emily Hobhouse (1860-1926), and the South African writer Olive Schreiner (1855-1920) who was famous for her novel The Story of an

African Farm and other, often more political writings (1883, 1899, 1911, 1923 & 1987).30

This issue caused the Conservative Party, known as the Tories, to lose the 1906 British

General Election in a landslide victory for the Liberal Party led by Henry Campbell-

Bannerman (1836-1908) who embarked on a new South African policy.31 He appointed

William Palmer, Lord Selborne, (1859-1942) as the High Commissioner for Southern

Africa and Governor of the former Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free

State which were now British colonies (Walker, 1964, pp. 515-538).

This Liberal decision led to the lifting of restrictions on political activities by former

Boer leaders in 1907. That was followed by the calling of a National Convention in 1908 which led to the creation of the Union of South Africa on the May 31, 1910 and effective self-government for South Africa (Walker, 1964, pp. 503-538)

30 As a result of the exposure of the appalling conditions and unacceptably high death rate in the Concentration Camps, particularly by, Hobhouse (1999) and Shreiner, the ruling Conservative Party led by Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, who to be fair entered the war against his better judgement, came under increasing political pressure. Nevertheless, the war was pursued by the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain (1836-1914), who was an unrepentant imperialist (Cosby, 2011, pp. 40-47, 131-156). 31 The success of this policy was aided by the retirement of Lord Miller, due to ill health, from his post as High Commissioner to South Africa in April 1902. In fact, Milner began the process of establishing some form of representative government for the newly acquired British territories of the Transvaal, the former SAR, and the OFS. 115

4.6: “Shall we forget a tearful past …”32

The immediate response to the post-war situation and the tragic deaths of women and children by the inhabitants of the former SAR and OVS as well as the border areas of the Cape was a wave of new poetry written in the emerging language of

Afrikaans. It expressed the trauma and grief of surviving members of the Boer community. This outpouring of new writings was soon called “the Second Afrikaans

Language Movement” (Paterson, 1957, pp. 46-50).33

Among the earliest works of the Second Language Movement were the poems and other writings of C. Louis Leipoldt (1880-1947).34 In 1901 he published one of the earliest poems that captured the pathos of the Afrikaners both in “rebel” areas of the

Cape and the two former Boer Republics. The first poem of this type to capture the

32 Totius, Ragel (Rachel): Shall we forget a tearful past? Foolish, faithless People, Let the hills bear witness: Beware! - the faithful reply: Never! No! "We shall remember!" 33 The name comes out of a movement started in 1870’s by a group of high school teachers and their students in the town of Paarl, close to Cape Town. They started a campaign to have the spoken language of people of Dutch decent living at the Cape recognized as a language in its own right. In this way they hoped to replace the use of formal Dutch as the language of the church and government with the language that people actually spoke. This they named “Afrikaans” and set about turning the spoken language into a written language. This became known as the First Language Movement and met with limited success. As a result Dutch continued as the official language of many people who in practice spoke their own local language and increasingly turned to English in daily life. Now, following the defeat of the OVS and SAR, a new interest in preserving and developing Afrikaans developed as a result of the suffering of the war and Anglicization policies of the Milner regime (Thompson, 1985:33-38). 34 A friend of Jan Smuts, Leipoldt, began his career as a journalist before qualifying as a medical doctor in 1907. As a journalist, he was employed by the Cape newspaper De Kolonist and also contributed articles to numerous other newspapers including The Cape Times, The Manchester Guardian, Hamburgr Neueste Nachrichten, and The Chicago Record. He even contributed to the British magazine The Boy’s Own Paper (de Kock & Krüger, 1972, pp. 387-392). During the Second Anglo-Boer War he travelled widely both as a reporter and as the clerk for a circuit court. It was at this time that he observed the devastation of the war and trials of “Cape rebels.” These were Afrikaners living in the border areas of the Cape who were sympathetic to the Boer Republics and either accused of joining the Boer forces or giving them material aid. He soon developed sympathy for the rebels and began to doubt the British justice system and the harsh treatment, often death by hanging, handed out to people who were convicted of rebelling against the Crown. 116 popular imagination was entitled Oom Gert Vertel (Uncle Gert’s Story).35 It tells the story of a young Cape Afrikaner unjustly executed by the British because he provided his relatives who were in the army of the Boer Republics with food and shelter (Grove &

Harvey, 1969, pp. 33-51). His next major poem in this vein, Peace Night, reflects the disillusionment brought about by British victory among Cape Afrikaners who are only too well aware of the deaths of their kindred in the concentration camps. Once again the theme is one of death and despair. All of this raised the image of young men who raise their fists to a stony heaven cursing a God who does not exist in a world without hope

(Grove & Harvey, 1969, pp. 55-61).

This nihilistic ethos was changed in 1908 by the publication of Die Vlakte (The

Plains) a collection of poems by Jan F. E. Cilliers (1865-1940).36 The most influential of these poems is Dis al (That’s All). This is a remarkably short but hauntingly powerful work (Grové & Harvey, 1969, pp. 12-13).

Shortly after its original publication a print was made containing the words of the poem alongside a moving picture of a man who has returned from the war to find his wife is dead and his farm in ruins.

Soon after that a broadsheet was produced that was widely circulated and soon framed as a picture with the text of the poem written beneath it. The earliest of these pictures appears to have been a simple black and white drawing. Later, a modified photograph appeared with the same theme. From that time on the print could be found

35 It tells the tale of a group of young men caught between their legal responsibilities as British citizens of the Cape Province and their natural ties to relatives who form part of the invading Boer commandoes. Given the choice between an abstract loyalty to Britain and their personal loyalty to family members they choose to help their kin. For this they are tried and eventually executed. The poem ends on a note of resigned despair: 36His father was the former editor of the newspaper The People’s Paper (Het Volksblad) in Pretoria while he was a librarian who had fought on the Boer side during the war. In these poems he reflected on memories of a better time and the tragedy of the war (de Kock, 1968, pp. 158-160). 117 on the walls of almost every Afrikaner home throughout South Africa. Older Afrikaners continued to hang this picture in their homes until at least the early 1990’s such was its communicative power to speak to a history that was hard to forget (Informant-Jan).

These pictures can be seen below:

It's the yellow and the blue, It's the veld and the sky, And a lone bird above it Flies slowly and high - That's all.

It's an exile returned O'er the ocean drear, It's a grave in the grass, It's a falling tear - That's all.

Artist unknown. In the public domain. Dis al, From the collection Die Vlakte (The Plains), 1908, a by Jan F. E. Cilliers in Grové& Harvey, 1969, pp. 12-13.

118

Once again this is a picture that is in the public domain. But, the artist remains unknown. Both pictures appear from time to time on South African auction websites, but they never provide details about the artists who made them. They sell for around 2,000 rand, or about $170 CDN.

The successful publication of this poem, its powerful symbolism, and pictorial representation, changed the prevailing ethos from one of bitter despair to a recognition of the need for closure through the remembrance of the dead. Here, the figure in the print played a very important role in re-shaping attitudes because it portrays the grieving man standing in an attitude of prayer. His wife, and presumably his children, are dead, his farm destroyed, but lonely as the heavens may seem God looks down, brings faith, and offers hope.37

37 Although Cilliers’ poems are close to those of Liepoldt in expressing shock and disbelief at what has befallen the people they contained a hint that the death and destruction has some unknown purpose based on an underlying theme of Christian hope. Cilliers did not develop the religious theme to any great extent. Nevertheless, the way the poem was presented created a completely different response to that of Liepoldt. While not thrust in people’s, faces the theme of Christian faith resonated with the reader. 119

Totius The young J.D. du Toit (1877-1953). Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) theological college archives, Potchefstroom, South Africa.

This hope was made explicit in the poetry of J. D. du Toit (1877-1953),38 who wrote poetry under the pen name of “Totius” (Krüger & Beyers, 1977, pp. 253-257) The importance of Totius is that in his poetry he produced the basic framework for the later propaganda of the Broederbond and its affiliate organizations like the Federation of

Afrikaans Cultural Organizations (FAK) that is discussed in chapter seven.

Apart from the emergence of Afrikaans grief poetry, which quickly developed a large following, people in local communities of the former OVS and SAR as well as

38 He was the son of S. J. du Toit (1847-1911), one of the founders of the First Language Movement (de Kock, 1968, pp. 268-272). After being ordained as a minister in the Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) in 1899 he became a military chaplain at the outbreak of war. After some months in the field du Toit became seriously ill and was taken to Burgersdorp in the Cape where he received medical attention and slowly recovered. In 1901 he accepted a scholarship to the Free University of Amsterdam where he completed his doctorate on Methodism, which he saw in both a theological and social context as disruptive. Du Toit returned to South Africa at the end of 1903 to become a minister of the Reformed Church in Potchefstroom. Then, in 1911, he became Professor of Theology at the newly founded Potchefstroom college which later grew into Potchefstroom University and today is the Potchefstroom campus of Northwest University (Krüger & Beyers, 1977, pp. 253-257). In 1907 afterwards he began writing grief poetry as part of a new movement to build a monument to the women and children who had died in the recent war. 120 border areas of the Cape soon began erecting small monuments in memory of the dead. As a result, anyone visiting the smallest village or large cities in these areas can find monuments, often simply plaques, commemorating women and children and fallen soldiers who died during the Second Anglo-Boer War. Then on July 20, 1906, President

Marthinus Theunis Steyn (1857-1916), the former President of the Orange Free State

(OFS), called a meeting to discuss building a National Women’s and Children’s

Monument (NWCM) to commemorate the dead.39

The call to create a NWCM moved the poet Totius very deeply. Therefore, he threw himself behind efforts to raise funds for the project. To that end, in 1908, he published the first in a series of epic poems based on the history of the Afrikaner people. This series was entitled Bij die Monument (At the Monument). In it, as President

Steyn noted in his forward to the work, Totius envisioned in his mind’s eye the completed monument as an expression of the survival of the Afrikaners as a unique

People. Importantly, the proceeds from the sales went to the NWCM fund.

The poem was divided into three sections: The Child, The Woman; and The Man.

Each tells the story of the war from their own perspective beginning with the child who is terrified by the arrival of British troops that load the family into an ox wagon to transport them to a concentration camp. The rest of the poem is in the form of conversations between the mother and child as the food becomes more and more scarce and living

39 The gathering, which included General Hertzog and a number of prominent Afrikaners, was intended to commemorate the more than 32,000 women and children, out of 107,482 internees, who died in British Concentration Camps. By the end of the event it was decided to launch a campaign to raise the necessary funds and to build a monument in Bloemfontein the old capital of the OFS. It was also decided that this could only be done with the cooperation of the churches and various Afrikaans cultural organizations (van der Merwe, n.d. probably 1913; Spies, 1977, pp. 265, 363). 121 conditions worsen. It ends with the child begging for food. Close to the end of this section the reader is told:

Her child slept with this sweet thought, When I awake help will arrive from the Lord. The mother at last receive with eager hand her rations But the child was dead.40

Book cover with photo from the opening page. Van der Merwe, N. J. (n.d.). The National Women’s Monument. Bloemfontein: Die Sentrale Pers. Published around 1913 and now in the public domain.

Then readers were given the perspective of the mother. In this section Totius introduced two important themes. The first, Vergewe en Vergeet (Forgive and Forget), makes the point that while Afrikaners, as Christians, must forgive the British they can never forget what was done to them.

The second theme tells the story of a young thorn tree growing on the veld close to a wagon track. One day an ox wagon strays off the track causing its wheels to roll

40 The translations of Totius’ poetry made with the help of Informants. 122 over the thorn tree which is struck to the ground badly damaged. Over the years the thorn recovers and grows into a great tree, but the scar caused by the accident remains and is visible to all. In this section the wagon symbolizes the British Empire while the young tree represents the peoples of the Boer republics who lost control of their lands but nevertheless hope that in the future their republics will be restored.

Finally, the viewpoint of the man is presented. In these verses, a Boer prisoner of war returns to his farm to find his family dead and the buildings in ruins. But, instead of sinking into despair he begins again to rebuild what he has lost. Yet the pain remains.

Rather than dwelling on this dismal thought the man’s mind reflects on the resilient Besembos, a weed that grows wild and thrives where weaker plants die. As a result he comes to believe that the present trials of the Boer people will lead on to a great future.41

In these poems, the genius of Totius is clear. Long before Kenneth Burke pointed out the way gifted speakers often create a consubstantial sense of identity between themselves and their audience Totius began to mold the identity of his readers. He did this by creating a strong sense of consubstantial identity between a grieving people and the drama of Biblical history making the Afrikaners a new Israel.

In his poem Ragel (Rachel), the Biblical matriarch is presented as both the mother of the Israelites and of the Afrikaner People. This identification is never openly

41Five years later, after publishing two other epic poem sequences dealing with Afrikaner history, Totius returned to the theme of suffering and the impact of the Concentration Camps. This was in his epic poem Rachel (Ragel) which was published just before the commencement of the solemn ceremonies surrounding the opening of the NWCM. Like At the Monument it too carried a forward by President Steyn. Rachel may be seen as the last of the grief poems because with the opening of the National Women’s and Children’s Monument it appears to have brought closure to the painful memories surrounding the camps and opened the way for a new future.

123 stated; rather it is something the reader discovers as they reflect on both the Bible and their grief. The key verse used to create this identification is Jeremiah 31.15:

Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel is weeping for her children, She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

Clearly, the sentiment had an immediate appeal to anyone who was grieving for their lost children or other family members and virtually all Transvaal and Free State

Boers, as well as many in the Cape lost family members in British Concentration

Camps.42 Totius uses verses from Jeremiah 31:16-17 to suggest that it is not simply her immediate family that Rachel grieved for, rather it is all the Children of Israel, that is

Jewish and Christian believers, who died over the centuries because Rachel grieves for them from within her grave. Immediately after this reminder of a grim past comes the promise:

Thus says the Lord: Keep your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded says the Lord, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, Says the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:16-17)

Then a brilliant move Totius links the suffering of Rachel, and by implication the

Boer people, to the birth of Christ and the massacre of the innocents in Matthew 2:18, which the gospel writer sees as a fulfillment of the Jeremiah’s prophecy. Now he brings

42 The verse also takes the reader back to the story of Rachel who suffered greatly and died in childbirth without seeing her children grow to maturity (Genesis 30-35.20). 124 his Biblical reflections into the present time and addresses Boer suffering by talking about “the Rachels of my land” by which he means the women who were sent to concentration camps where their children died while they survived to remember a grim past.

With this poem, the cycle of grief poems comes to an end in the rituals surrounding the opening of the National Women and Children’s Monument in

Bloemfontein on December 16, 1913.43 All South Africans who identified with the Boer republics met on common ground to lament the horrors of their past and lay to rest the dead many of whom lay in unmarked and forgotten graves. With this act emotions were freed from the stultifying effects of grief and continual reflection on suffering and the often unknown fate of their loved ones.

The big questions “why” and “how” could God allow this horrendous suffering to happen are laid aside through the creation of a community of suffering that shared a common grief. In the process, for many if not all participants in these events, a new sense of a shared identity, based on what Kenneth Burke calls a sense of

“consubstantial identity” emerged.

Like Marxist views of comradeship this new identity obliterated differences of class, geographic location, education, and even religious differences, by creating a sense of what it meant to be an Afrikaner who shared a common history and destiny with other Afrikaners. As this new vision emerged the fragmented identity of people who previously saw themselves in some undefined way as “Boers” and were former citizens

43 The date “December16” had a double meaning because it was also the anniversary of the defeat of the Zulu king Dingaan on December 16, 1838. This was significant because before the Battle of Blood River, where Dingaan’s forces were defeated, he had murdered Boer leaders who were negotiating with him as well as Boer families in outlying settlements in Natal. 125 of the Boer republics, or its sympathizers in the British South African territories of the

Cape Province and Natal, gave way to a new and much firmer understanding of what it meant to be an Afrikaner.

With this poem cycle the first phase of the Afrikaner Nationalist communications revolution came to an end. Now a new propaganda war, which is discussed in chapter six, was about to begin.

4.7 The post-war publishing and communications revolution

To a large extent the Afrikaner Nationalist communications revolution was created by the poems, especially grief poems, following the end of the Second Anglo-

Boer War. The almost universal acceptance of the grief poems among Boers in the

Transvaal, OVS, and frontier regions of the Cape Colony created in their wake a longing for Afrikaans literature and reading materials. Therefore, as such publications appeared they replaced books, magazines, and newspapers, written in both the more formal

Dutch of the courts and church as well as what for many after the war became the hated

English language44 (Informant - Jan).45

In terms of this study one of the key events in the development of Afrikaans as a written language was the founding in 1873 of De Volksstem (The People’s Voice) as a

Dutch language newspaper in Pretoria by Dr. Frans Vredenricjk Engelenburg (1863-

1938). What made this newspaper different from similar ones in the Cape was that it

44As a language Afrikaans had slowly emerged from Dutch since the early days of the Dutch settlement at the Cape as a result of the presence of Malay servants and slaves as well as contact with Kohi-San and other indigenous peoples. The grammar was simplified through contact with the English who formally ruled the Cape and Natal from 1806 and the whole of South Africa from 1902 until the Statute of Westminster in 1932. 45 Jan is an Afrikaner whose parents were helped by the Broederbond. His story is told in chapter six. 126 pioneered the use of a simplified form of Dutch thus paving the way for the acceptance of Afrikaans as a written language (de Kock, 1968, pp. 277-279).

After 1902, Dr. Engelenburg, who had fought on the side of the SAR, fled to

Europe. The editorship of the newspaper was then given to a young journalist Gustav

Preller (1875-1943) assisted by C. Loiuis Leipoldt, and Harm Oost (1877-1964).

Together they began to promote Afrikaans. This practice was continued by Dr.

Engelenburg when he returned to South Africa in 1907.

Two years later Het Westen (The Westerner) was founded in Potchefstroom be

Hendrik de Graff (1869-1947) as a weekly newspaper promoting “Christian-Nationalism”

(Beyers & Basson, 1987, pp. 169-170). Then in 1910 Dr. W.M.R. Malherbe (1875-1964) and Gustav Preller in Pretoria founded the weekly magazine Die Brandwag (The

Sentry). This was followed in 1913 by the founding of The People (Het Volk) by Harm

Oost also in Pretoria. In 1915 two new newspapers De Burger (The Citizen), with Dr D F

Malan as its editor, in Cape Town, and Die Vaderland (The Fatherland) in the Transvaal with Professor Jan Kamp as its editor. At the same time, Het Westen changed its name to Het Volksblad (The People’s Paper) and moved to Bloemfontein in 1916. A year later the women’s magazine De Huisgenoot (The Home Magazine) was founded in

Stellenbosch near Cape Town. At this time the Afrikaans press came into its own

(Cutten, 2012).

127

Gustav Preller (1875-1943) The photographer is unknown. The photo is in the public domain: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gustav_Preller.jpg

In addition to these major commercial publications there was also the flowering of a host of local magazines and newspapers published by high school and university students, local organizations such as debating societies, and similar groups. Some of these predated the war as Dutch journals but most were founded after it. What made the post-war editions different was that they were increasingly published in Afrikaans and not Dutch. These included Fac et Spera (Act and Hope), Die Jong Kalvinist (The

Young Calvinist), Het Studentblad (The Student Magazine) and others.46 All promoted a nationalist, often described by English speaking observers as “republican,” outlook or, as the students called it, the Afrikaner worldview.

To one degree or another, all of these new publications promoted a nationalist vision that replaced the era of grief and pain with a new hope based on the creation of a received history of the Afrikaners as a unique people. This is most obvious in way they

46 There appears to be no general history of the development of these local and student Afrikaans publications. The above comments are based on library records and their date of publication. 128 presented the development of a sense of Afrikaner nationhood as a response to the harsh conditions of life in Africa which made that of Afrikaners quite different from

Europeans. At the same time, they encouraged resistance to what they saw as the forces of evil, primarily the English and Zulu, that sought to destroy the emerging nation.

Thus, the rhetoric of these publications foreshadows that of later German writers who drew similar conclusions about defeat in the First World War (Burke, 1973, pp. 191-

220).

The second phase of this communications revolution saw the appearance of

Afrikaans prose works which in comparison to the poetry made little impact. The exception here was the historical writings of the journalist Gustav Preller (de Kock,

1968, pp. 643-647). His biography of the Voortrekker leader Piet Retief which was first published as a series of articles in De Volksstem between 1905 and 1906. Then a revised and extended version of the articles came out as a book later in 1906 (van

Jaarsveld, 1964, pp. 77-79). What made this book, and others like it, particularly powerful is that in 1911 it was released as a silent film.47

What established Preller’s vision of Afrikaner history as the received version of the past was not the book but his work in the newly established South African film industry. Few people realize that South African studios were among the great pioneers of the silent film. The moving figure behind South African film was an American, Isadore

William Schlesinger (1877-1948)48 who started a newsreel program African Mirror in

47 For information about Piet Retief and the way his story was developed into Nationalist propaganda see Appendix Two: The Story of Piet Retief and its role in Afrikaner Nationalism. 48 Schlesinger, who had grown rich from investments in insurance and real estate, established a large film studio complex in the Johannesburg suburb of Killarney under the name of African Film Productions Ltd. In terms of his timing and the early development of film his productions facilities were similar to the German film sets at Bablesburg outside of Potsdam, Germany, and Hollywood, in California, USA, both of which started a few years before Schlesinger launched his own company. 129

1913 which ran until 1948 making it the longest running newsreel in the world (Botha,

2012, p. 23). Between 1916 and 1923 his company produced a series of silent films such as King Solomon’s Mines (1918) and its sequel Alan Quatermain (1919). These efforts came to an end with the production of The Blue Lagoon in 1923 because of a failure to market his films adequately outside of South Africa (Botha, 2012, pp. 23-24).

The most influential of his films in South Africa was one of the earliest. It is De

Voortrekkers (The Voortrekkers): The Winning of a Continent. 49 Significantly, it was released on Dingaan’s Day, December 16, 1916.50 This was an epic drama of 54 minutes based on the key events of the Great Trek of 1836 when the Boer migration from the Cape Colony began. The script was written by Gustave Preller and reflected his interpretation of events found in his historical writings particularly Piet Retief. The climax of the film was an epic battle between the warriors of the Zulu King Dingaan and

Voortrekkers led by Andreas Pretorius at the Battle of Blood River on December 16,

1838 (Saks, 2011).

49 The original title was written in a mixture of both Afrikaans and English. 50From the late nineteenth century, the 16 of December was celebrated by the Boer Republics and later Afrikaner Nationalists as Dingaan’s Day to commemorate the defeat of the Zulu king Dingaan in 1838. 130

De Voortrekkers (1916) This film poster was first printed in 1916 and is in the public domain.

Gustav Preller wrote the screenplay and Harold M. Shaw (1876-1926) was the director. Battle scenes were filmed on location and Preller insisted that as far as possible all the props used were authentic. As a result, over 500 period guns and

20,000 Zulu spears, or assegais, were used in the film as well as forty surviving ox wagons making it an impressive spectacle that still has a visual power today. (Botha,

2012, pp. 23-26).51

More than anything else the revolution in communications brought about by film provided Afrikaner Nationalists with inspiration and a model for using cultural

51 The film, which is now available as a DVD from Villon Films in Vancouver, and in short extracts on YouTube, depicts an epic struggle between savagery and civilization with the Zulu representing the forces of darkness and the Voortrekkers the bringers of light. While modern viewers may recoil from this clearly racist depiction of Africans, it was a theme that appealed to the original viewers particularly Afrikaners in their teens or early twenties. Further, when it was first released it met with universal acclaim (Botha,2012, p. 26). One has to be careful with the charge of racism though, because in Preller’s vision the British were as barbaric as Africans, if not more so, a fact confirmed by the grief poems and remembrance of the concentration camps. 131 communications to bind Afrikaners together united by a sense of consubstantial identity rooted in past suffering. What this meant and how it was developed by the Broederbond is discussed in chapter seven.

4.8 Conclusion

This chapter has shown the interwoven nature of the development of think tank communications more formally developed by the Fabian Society, the SAIRR and the

Broederbond. These techniques grew out of historical situations where they were first developed to meet specific needs.

Early Fabians developed both rational-scientific and cultural communications although eventually the rational-scientific mode came to dominate their official communications. Members of the SAIRR seized upon rational-scientific communications which, as with the Fabians, were rooted in aspects of the Evangelical Revival. The

Broederbond, by way of contrast, used cultural communications, rooted in the tragic experience of the majority of Afrikaners, to reach out to the public and policy makers.

In the next chapter, the contribution of the early Fabian Society to the development of these communication strategies will be discussed. This will be followed by chapters on the communications strategies of the SAIRR and then the Broederbond.

132

Chapter Five

The Fabian Society

The First Modern Think Tank

5.0 Introduction

The chapter has the following sections:

5.0 Introduction 5.1 Why study the Fabian Society? 5.2 The Founding Myth of Fabian Socialism 5.3 Rebels seeking a cause 5.4 The Fabian embrace of propaganda 5.5 Evidence based communications and social change 5.6 The Fabian Tract – evidence based arguments 5.7 Developing a theory of evidence based propaganda 5.8 The Fabian use of narrative paradigms 5.9 Creating a theory of cultural propaganda 5.10 The rituals of organization 5.11 Conclusion

Founded in 1886, the Fabian Society is arguably the oldest and most successful think tank, in the world, as the term is used today. As mentioned in chapter one the global entanglements of the Fabians have influenced both individuals and political movements worldwide. Throughout the first half of the twentieth century their ideology was a major political force (Cockett, 1995, p. 4-6, 14-16) This chapter examines their unusual origins and the way they developed their communications strategies.

5.1 Why study the Fabian Society?

What can only be described as the “unusual” origins of the Fabian Society provide insight into the way a small, and initially obscure, group of friends created an

133 organization that was to develop innovative communications techniques that changed

British and then world politics. The roots of the Fabian movement lie in the social conditions of the 1880’s. This was a world where the poor seemed to grow increasingly desperate while the rich enjoyed the benefits of what was called “Manchester liberalism”--that is, the laisse faire competition which drove down wages while enriching a small class of property owners (Asquith, 1919; Turner 1995).

Against this background a group of young people, accountants, junior civil servants, clerks, teachers, and others at the lower end of the educated ranks of

Victorian society met together in the London boarding rooms of a minor civil servant,

Edward Pease (1857-1955), to discuss religious and social issues. Although not academics, they were, in terms of the times, young intellectuals (Britain, 1982: 157-158;

Warner, 1967; MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977: 84-85; 120-121). Methodism, once a driving force of reform, had lost its appeal and was now part of the established order.

A number of these young people came from Methodist backgrounds where the institution of the lay preacher empowered individuals to aspire to leadership roles in their communities (MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977, pp. 183-185; Britain, 1982, pp. 71-

73, 156-157; Bebbington, 1989, pp. 123-125, 132-143; Semmel, 1973). For these folk, the revival of Christianity seemed out of the question. Earlier many of them had looked to Positivism but become disillusioned. Now they wanted a new social and religious outlook for what they saw as a new age of science and enlightenment (Jones, 1980, pp.

54-63; Smith, 1968, 27-83; Bowen, 1968; Chadwick, 1970; Royal, 1974).

134

The new movement that was to give birth to the Fabian Society began when an

American lecturer, Thomas Davidson (1840-1900),52 “in the autumn of 1883 … paid a short visit to London.” (Pease, 1916, pp. 28-29). If his speculations had remained purely religious, it is doubtful that Davidson would be remembered today except by some small religious groups. His main contribution was to use his new philosophy of inner purification and character building to develop a democratic perfectionism that advanced social reform. This became part of the vision of the Fellowship of the New Life which he founded in 1883 in New York (Knight, 1907, pp. 9-25; Davidson, 1893).

Frank Podmore (1856-1910), a Post Office worker who had previously helped found the Society for Psychical Research in 1882, heard about Davidson's visit and invited him to give a series of lectures at a hired hall in Chelsea. Following these lectures, a friend of Podmore’s, Edward Pease, invited those interested back to his rented lodgings to discuss Davidson’s ideas. The first meeting was held on October 24th

1883 with sixteen people present, most of whom did not know each other at the time. At that meeting it was decided to organize a branch of the Fellowship of New Life (Pease,

1916, pp. 28-39).

It was suggested that at their meetings they should set aside time “to become thoroughly acquainted with each other.” This suggestion was accepted and became part of the fledgling organization’s basic structure. The group also agreed to hold regular fortnightly talks followed by a discussion and to invite friends and acquaintances to

52 He was a former Scott, and University of Aberdeen graduate, who had moved to Canada in 1866. From there he moved to the United States of America in 1867 where he became an American citizen. Eventually he became a popular professional lecturer working with the Educational Alliance of New York. In doing so he developed a philosophy he called “Apeirotheism” which was based on the idea of an infinite number of gods and a “world soul” (Knight, 1907).

135 attend (Pease, 1916, p. 30). Here it is worth noting that the format of these meetings followed the basic structure of a Bible study except that the focus was on religion and society and not the Bible.

They met again on November 23rd 1883 when the number of attendees doubled.

A third meeting was held on December 7th to approve a set of articles that clearly identified the aims of the Fellowship as “the cultivation of a perfect character” and “the subordination of material things to the spiritual” (Pease, 1916, p. 32). At that meeting some people disagreed with the society’s aims and wanted more direct involvement in social reform. This meeting ended leaving a lot of issues unresolved (p. 31).

A month later, on January 4th, 1884, another meeting was held. This time Frank

Podmore took everyone by surprise by proposing that the group should concentrate on researching social issues and ought to be called “the Fabian Society.” In this they followed the example of Beatrice Webb’s cousin Charles Booth (1840-1916) whose well-publicized work pioneered social research in Britain. The importance of this name, as will be explained in more detail below, is that it symbolized gradual as opposed to revolutionary change. He also argued that they should hold regular meetings concentrating on “practical” problems and initially conduct their own research into them

(Pease, 1916, pp. 31-33). Most of the group then agreed that the stated purpose of the

Fabian Society would be “reconstructing society … in such a manner as to secure the general welfare and happiness” (p. 37). To further this end, members were asked to:

a) Hold meetings for discussion, the reading of papers, hearing reports, etc.

b) … attend meetings held on social subjects, debates at Workmen’s Clubs,

etc. in order that such members may … report to the Society … and put

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forward, as the occasion servers, the views of the Society.

c) Take measures … by the collection of articles … to obtain information on

all contemporary social movements and social needs (p. 34).

As a result, from the beginning we see that the society focused on two things.

The first was research, that is, gathering information through both reading and observation, and second, advocating the still undecided goals of the Society. In other words, it has all the features of a modern think tank except that it relied on the input of members and not a paid staff. At the same time provision was made to provide funds and pay expenses for such activities (Pease, 1916, pp. 34-35).53 According to Donald

Abelson in his book Do Think Tanks Matter? (2009), this describes “the majority of think tanks in Canada,” which fall into the category of what he calls a policy club which involves lay members as well as a few professional employees (Abelson, 2009, p. 20).

Although the way Fabian writers tell the story, everything appears to be a spontaneous development that created a new type of organization, they followed the well-established communications strategies established throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by evangelical organizations in Britain and America. This ought not to come as a surprise because biographies of the early members show that almost all of them grew up in very religious, usually evangelical Christian, families. Then, largely as a result of the impact of Darwinian, both as a scientific theory and social philosophy, they become agnostics (Smith, 1969, pp. 131-141; Wolfe, 1975, pp. 151-176, 262-266).

53 Not surprisingly some of those present at this founding meeting of the Fabian Society left to found their own branch of the Fellowship of New Life. Nevertheless, it seems that they maintained friendly relations with the newly formed Fabians. The New Life people continued their interests in spiritual issues and the Fellowship remained active until 1898 when it was dissolved (Pease, 1916, pp. 35-36).

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As the letters and other works of Fabian writers like George Bernard Shaw

(1856-1950) and H. G. Wells (1866-1946) show the idea of evolution perhaps more than any scientific theory motivated the imagination of many people and led them to Fabian socialism (Hale, 2001, 2009, 2011). As such an evolutionary vision entered the propaganda of the early Fabians deeply influencing the way they presented their ideas and inclining them towards gradualism (Brock, 1916, pp 2-3).

Further, the methods used by the early Fabians to organize their meetings and promote their ideas about long term, gradual, social and political change, appear to be secularized versions of popular evangelical communications strategies used to organize what were called “religious revivals” or “crusades.” Specifically, the Fabians organized what the evangelicals called “house meetings” in people’s homes, gave well organized lectures, and promoted study courses, all of which reflected evangelical prayer meetings, revival meetings, and Bible studies. This pattern is perhaps best seen in the

“Biographical Series” of the Fabian Tracts54 which provide examples of how the forerunners of Fabianism organized and spread their ideas (Hutchins, 1912; Townsend,

1912; West, 1912; Joad, 1917).

As noted, early Fabian recruitment methods are remarkably like those used by evangelical Christians which were systematized by the American revivalist Charles

Finney (1792-1875) in his best-selling book Lectures on Revival (1835). There Finney mixes pious sentiments and advice about such things as prayer with practical suggestions for communicating the evangelical message all presented using highly

54 The Fabian Tract series is available online from the London School of Economics Fabian Society Archive. They are available online at: http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/fabiansociety Last accessed 08/04/2017.

138 spiritualized language. Importantly, Finney was a dedicated anti-slavery campaigner, social reformer, and founder of Oberlin College, who also used such methods to promote secular causes (Vulgamore, 1963). Therefore, even if they never read Finney’s book in its entirety, most early members of the Society were aware of his insistence that organizational success, or “a revival” as Finney called it, “is the result of the right use of appropriate means” and not pious wishes (Finney, 1868, p. 13).

Throughout his book Finney gives a lot of practical advice on how to communicate with outsiders. For example, in his chapter on “Measures to Promote

Revivals” he discusses such diverse things as what ministers should wear to avoid creating unnecessary barriers between themselves and people they are seeking to reach, how to organize meetings by taking into account the size of an auditorium and the right temperature to ensure people listen to the speaker. All in all, he stresses the practical aspects of successful communication which later evangelicals called

“propaganda”55 (Finney, 1868, pp. 238-262).

Finney’s book was reprinted many times in the nineteenth century and gained popularity in England in the 1870’s following the highly successful and well-organized crusades of the American preacher D. L. Moody (1837-1899). While in England, Moody

55 Prior to Finney’s writings, religious revivals like the Great Awakening in American and Methodist movement in England were regarded as the work of God. What Finney did was to consciously reflect on the way they came about and propose practical, “how-to,” steps to promote them (Finney, 1835). After the publication and popularization of his practical approach to evangelism a host of other works followed, all written in a pious style but containing a “how to” approach to increasing church membership. These works were taken up by evangelical groups in Britain where they became an example of how to communicate Christianity. Importantly, many of these books were quite explicit in talking about “propaganda” and how to evangelize using practical means, including discussions and small group meetings, like those later adopted by the Fabians (e.g. Hamilton, 1909, p. 75; Ward, 1915, pp. 1-24). Although there is no mention of the Fabians in these works there are references to the “Socialist” movement, which is said to be doing things similar to Christian evangelists.

139 played an important role in founding the British YMCA which in its origins was an evangelical organization (Morse, 1913, pp. 122-124). The importance of this is that

Finney, and Moody after him, urged churches to embrace communications strategies to promote revivals and social causes and not simply to rely on prayer and in the expectation that God would do all the work (Moody, 1875; Elliot-Binns, 1953, 420-445;

Hatch, 1989, 125-161).

It was steps like those proposed by Finney and other evangelical writers that were mirrored by early Fabians as they developed their own campaign for social reform.

These began with an emphasis on personal communications that stressed the importance of personal contacts and relationships in galvanizing local groups to promote their form of socialism. Just as evangelicals were instructed to cooperate with existing churches, so too Fabian socialists were told to seek out other socialist societies, organize lectures, distribute literature, and generally to promote Fabian policies and ideas. They were also to report their activities to the “parent Society” in

London (FSPC,56 pp. 10 & 17 May, 4 June, 1907).57 Seen in this light the success of the

Fabian Society was no accident. Rather, it was based on an existing recognizable communications strategy that was known to work well in religious contexts. What the early Fabians did was adapt these communications strategies for secular social and political purposes.58

56 FSPC = Fabian Society Propaganda Committee 57 This type of approach can be seen in that suggested by best-selling author modern evangelical author Greg Stielstra in his book Pyro Marketing (2005). 58 Nicholas O’Shaughnessy contrasts this type of approach based on volunteer workers who are in close contact with the people they seek to influence with the slick techniques of modern political marketing (O’Shaughnessy, 1990, p. 6-13).

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5.2 The founding myth of Fabian Socialism

What made the Fabian Society different from other activist groups of the time was its commitment to a gradualist approach to politics and society. This meant a clear rejection of Marxism and all forms of revolutionary action. As a result, many early

Fabians changed their allegiances from supporting groups like the radical Democratic

Federation and various Marxist organizations to the Fabian Society based on their acceptance of the need for gradual rather than revolutionary change.

In this sense, the approach developed by the Fabians is remarkably similar to one proposed by Kenneth Burke in what he came to regard as his disastrous speech to the American Writers’ Congress on April 26, 1935. There too he advocated a gradualist approach that reached out to people by creating a sense of common ground. At the time, his idea was rejected and strongly denounced by other speakers (Burke, 1935, in

Simons & Melia,1989, pp. 267-296).

In adopting a gradualist approach, the Fabians justified their actions by embracing a narrative paradigm, or what is sometimes called a political myth, which was a story created by Frank Podmore. As explained in chapter three, the term

"narrative paradigm" was coined by Walter Fisher, who builds on the work of Kenneth

Burke to describe the way stories guide individuals and groups in making decisions

(Fisher 1987, pp. 18-19, 47-49; Goodman & Fisher 1995, pp. 169-192; Burke 1971). In explaining the meaning of the term Fisher argues that we "experience and comprehend life as a series of ongoing narratives, as conflicts, characters, beginnings, middles, and ends." In other words, we see life as a story (Fisher 1987, p. 24).

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Long before these theoretical reflections,59 Frank Podmore recognised the power of a narrative and used a story about the Roman General Quintus Fabius Maximus

(280-203 BC) to great effect. Podmore told his listeners how General Quintus Fabius

Maximus successfully led the Roman struggle against the Carthaginians at a time when

Hannibal (247-181 BC) was ravaging Italy and threatening the very survival of Rome.

Later other Fabians, like H. G. Wells, claimed that this story was pure invention on the part of Podmore and is “not discovered in any history” (Pease, 1916: p. 39).

Nevertheless, according to Podmore, knowing the military superiority of the

Carthaginian army, Fabius refused to engage Hannibal in open battle. Instead he opted for a war of attrition and a scorched earth policy. Although at the time most Romans looked down on his strategy the failure of other generals led them to recognize his wisdom and eventually, long after his death, he was honoured as the saviour or Rome.

Podmore interpreted this narrative to argue that modern social reformers needed to carefully choose their time and the issues over which they fought. Therefore, the new society ought to enshrine this strategy in their name by calling themselves the Fabian

Society to symbolize their commitment to gradual reform.

In making his case Podmore is quoted as saying “For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently, when warring against Hannibal, though many censured his delays; but when the time comes you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in vain, and fruitless.” Later this statement became the slogan of the society and was reprinted on the cover of various Fabian Tracts (Phillips, 1884, p. 1).

59 Which are discussed in chapter three.

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By applying the story of Fabius Maximus to their own activities the Fabians embraced what proved to be a very powerful narrative paradigm that has helped shape modern politics. We also begin to understand why the Fabians, unlike other political groups of the time that sought to challenge the existing order, were prepared to bide their time and take a long view. In this they were making an appeal to the traditional rhetorical concept of Kairos or finding the “right time.”60

Before joining the Society, after rejecting their religious upbringing, many of the early Fabians had dabbled in communism and were members of revolutionary socialist movements. By becoming Fabians they were able to lay aside the stress of seeking rapid change through means that inevitably led to violence. The story with its stress on gradualism also explains and legitimates the appeal of research to the early Fabians. As one book notes, unlike “Marxists, Socialist Leaguers and anarchists who passionately believed in a cause … the early Fabians … were unsure what they believed.” Therefore they “were tolerant of differences” (Norman and Jean Mackenzie, 1977, p. 71). In this situation research offered a way to avoid conflicts while at the same time discussing policies upon which everyone could agree because they were based on “scientific evidence” not speculation.

In these ways the story of Fabius, which, as already noted, H. G. Wells was to scorn as a fabrication and distortion of the truth because “Fabius never did strike hard,” was more than a call to action. It was that, but it was also a way of introducing a caution lacking in many similar movements founded around this time. Importantly, in the long run, this strategy worked (Pease, 1916, pp. 34-35; 61-65).

60 For a discussion of “Kairos" and similar rhetorical terms, see Chapter Three. 143

5.3 Rebels seeking a cause

Perhaps the strangest thing about the founding of the Fabian Society is that its original members were all deeply concerned about social conditions and injustices without having any real idea about how to improve things. There was a strong commitment to improving society, but how this was to be done no one really knew. One thing was clear though; they all rejected revolution and communism and sought peaceful change.

In this situation, as Frank Podmore suggested at the first meeting of the Society, the best thing seemed to be to collect information and discuss it. The discussions that began on January 4, 1884 continued through regular Tuesday meetings until well into the 1930’s and continue until today, if in a different format. It was this commitment to the gathering of evidence and long discussions about its meaning and implications for social change that drew the scorn of Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) in his tract British

Pacifism and the British Dislike of Theory, which was originally written in 1915 and published in 1924 (Lenin, 1974).

On September 5th, 1884 a young Irishman, from a Protestant background, attended a meeting of the Fabians and became a member. At that time, he was an unknown writer struggling to survive as a journalist, writer, and playwright, after his father had squandered away the family fortune. His name was George Bernard Shaw

(1856-1950) who was to become one of the most important writers in twentieth century

Britain. A few months after joining the Society, on January 2nd 1885, Shaw was elected to the Fabian’s Executive Committee (Pease, 1916, p. 44).

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Shaw then arranged for his friend Sidney Webb (1859-1947), a young Colonial

Office clerk, to read a paper on March 20, 1885, entitled “The Way Out” which discussed urban poverty. So impressed was Webb by the discussion that followed that he joined the Society on May 1st of that year. Another recruit at this time was the notorious Victorian publisher, author, atheist, freethinker, advocate of birth control and women’s rights, Annie Besant (1847-1933). She attended the meeting on March 20th and three months later on June 19th applied for and was elected a member of the

Society. She became a member of the Executive Committee a year later in March 1886

(FSEC, C/1 1886).61

Three years later, in 1889, a young heiress, Beatrice Potter (1858-1943), who was deeply involved with what at the time was known as “social investigation,” met

Sydney Webb. She had worked with the poor in London’s East End though the Charity

Organization Society and later as an assistant to her cousin, the social researcher,

Charles Booth (1840-1916) who pioneered early social surveys of London’s poor for his book The Life and Labour of the People in London (1889). On the basis of her fieldwork she published articles in various magazine and newspapers on social reform that caught Webb’s attention and led to their first meeting (FSEC, C/3 1891).

After their first meeting Webb encouraged her to join the Fabian Society which she did in early January 1891. At the same time, she published her first major book The

Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891). Then following the death of her father, she married Webb in November 1891 and shortly afterwards persuaded her husband to

61 FSEC = Fabian Society Executive Committee minutes. These are found online and may be downloaded from the Fabian Archives hosted by the London School of Economics and Political Science website and are found online at: https://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/fabiansociety/minutebooks Last accessed 11/11/2017. 145 give up his position at the Colonial Office and devote himself to writing and research.

Their marriage began a long collaboration that dominated the work of the Fabian

Society for the next fifty years (M Cole, 1955).

Here it is important to note that Beatrice Webb and a number of her fellow

Fabians had a great sense of humour and made good use of satire. This can be seen in the plays of George Bernard Shaw like Major Barbara (1907) and Pygmalion (1912).

We also see it in the political writing of the Fabians. For example, in Fabian Tract 2: A

Manifesto, which was approved by the Executive Committee of the Society and written by Shaw, we read “Men no longer need special political privileges to protect them against Women … the sexes should henceforth enjoy equal political rights” (Shaw,

1884, p. 2). This is, of course, a clever way of calling for the extension of the franchise to women which subtly ridicules men who oppose such a political development.

With this background in mind we now turn to the way the Fabians developed their communications techniques. Here two particular forms of communications, which today many people see as polar opposites, were combined to create a powerful new vision of politics and society. These were evidence based, or rational-scientific communications, which came to dominate the Society’s approach, and cultural communications.

5.4 The Fabian embrace of propaganda

As noted earlier, from its foundation in January 1884, two goals guided the development of the Fabian Society. These were research and advocacy. By "advocacy" they meant the creation of what they called "propaganda" to advance the Society's policy ideas. Twenty-three years later, in 1907, what until then was an assumed task for

146 all Fabians was formalized with the creation of the "Propaganda Committee" to oversee the activities of the Society and its members in this area (FSPC, 3 May, 1907).

To appreciate the Fabian use of the term “propaganda” it is important to recognize that when the Fabian Society was first formed in 1884 the word "propaganda" had a positive meaning. For example, in 1882 when John Ogilvie published a new edition of his Imperial Dictionary, which at the time was the standard work on the

English language, propaganda was defined as: "Any kind of Institution or system for proselytizing or for propagating a peculiar set of doctrines" (Ogilvie & Annandale, 1882, volume 3, p. 546).

This definition is important because Ogilvie’s work recorded the current usage of

English words and tells us how early Fabians and others at the time understood the term. Equally important is the fact that when the definitive Compact Edition of the

Oxford English Dictionary was published in 1971 the word "propaganda" continued to have a neutral meaning and was defined as either "1) A committee of Cardinals …" or

"2) Any association, systematic scheme, or concerted movement for the propagation of a particular doctrine or practice" (Murray and Philological Society, 1971, pp. 2326).

As a result, it ought to come as no surprise that a society dedicated to promoting peaceful social change, like the Fabian Society, would embrace propaganda. Beatrice

Webb, for example, described the Fabian Society as "a propagandist organization" in her writings (B. Webb, 1948, p. 145). Similarly, when George Bernard Shaw wrote the first history of the Fabian Society in 1892, a mere eight years after its founding, he saw one of its functions as "making propagandist addresses all over the place" and did not hesitate to talk about the Society's "propaganda" (Shaw, 1892, pp. 6, 20).

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Similarly, when the General Secretary of the Society, Edward R Pease, wrote its semi-official history in 1916 he used propaganda as a term for the communication of political ideas and policies and talked freely about the "the propaganda of the Society"

(Pease, 1916, p. 25). He also makes it very clear that Fabian publications were an exercise in propaganda aimed at the public and opinion makers as were Fabian public lectures and other activities such as "outdoor meetings" (pp. 90-98). Importantly, he makes it very clear that the sheer amount of activity was itself propaganda. He also notes that in the years 1890-1891 alone they published "10 new tracts" which had a combined print run of 335,000 reaching out to a wide audience (pp. 106-107).

Throughout this work propaganda is a recurrent theme that is presented as the major aspect of Fabian Society policy and practice. In doing so Pease carefully distinguishes the Fabian view of propaganda from that of other groups particularly what he calls "German Socialism" and "Marxism." Both of these movements, he argues, sought to use propaganda "to increase the number of adherents." On the other hand the

Fabians sought to advance ideas and principles by assuming that many people who were neither Fabians nor Socialists would agree with their proposed reforms once they understood the "social implications" (Pease, 1916, p. 241). Consequently, the "mission" or "object" of Fabian propaganda was to persuade people that embracing change and reform was in their self-interest (pp. 250-251).

Although the term propaganda was in use by leading Fabians, like the Webbs,

Shaw, and Pease, from at least 1882 it does not appear in Fabian Minute Books, or as a topic of discussion by the Executive Committee, before 1907 (FSEC, April 19, 1907).

Shortly before this a new Executive had been elected which held its first meeting on

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April 12, 1907. At the following meeting, it was agreed to reorganize the sub-committees to ease the Executive's work.

One of these sub-committees was the Propaganda Committee, which took over the work of organizing lectures and propagating the society's ideas (FSEC, April 19,

1907). Its fifteen-member committee included the well-known writers H. G. Wells and

George Bernard Shaw, the journalists Hubert Bland (1855-1914), the husband of the popular children's writer Edith Nesbit (1858-1924), Cecil E. Chesterton (1879-1918) the brother of the better known G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936), and Robert Ensor (1877-

1958) as well as the Christian Socialist, the Rev. Stewart Headlam (1847-1924) and historian Stanton Coit (1857-1944). Together they formed a formidable group of people all of whom were established experts in communication and the use of the available media. The Propaganda Committee outlined its mandate as:

There shall stand referred to the Propaganda and Membership sub-

Committee for consideration and report all matters relating to:

a) The Society's Meetings;

i. The arrangement of lectures &c. at the meetings of the Society.

b) Other lectures;

i. The organisation of propagandist lectures, courses &c.

ii. The supply of lecturers &c. to other organizations.

c) The means to be taken to maintain and increase the membership;

d) The provincial Societies and the London Groups.

(FSPC, April 19, 1907, p. 70).

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What strikes the reader about this list of objectives is how closely they correspond to earlier Fabian statements about the aims and objectives of the Society.

Thus, it confirms the view of Shaw, Pease, and Beatrice Webb, discussed above, that from shortly after its creation the Fabian Society was an organization committed to propaganda. A comparison of these objectives with earlier statements of principle makes this clear beyond any doubt.

For example, Tract 2, which was written by George Bernard Shaw in 1884, was published as the Fabian Society’s political Manifesto. It begins with the clear statement that:

The FABIANS are an association for the purpose of spreading the following

opinions held by them, and discussing their practical consequences (Shaw,

1884, p. 2).

A statement of political principles then follows that is highly critical of the existing order and claims of capitalism. In its place, limited State intervention is urged to secure justice and promote such things as universal education. What is important for this study is the emphasis all of these statements, found in snippets throughout the Minute Books, other records and publications, place on the "spreading of … opinions" and "organization," of the Society, which are grouped under the heading of "propaganda."

Finally, it should be noted that the London School of Economics (LSE) was founded by the Fabians in 1895 when Henry Hutchinson, a Derby Solicitor and Fabian

Society member, left what at the time was the huge sum of £20,000 “to the Society for propaganda and other purposes.” After careful consideration this donation was used to

150 create the LSE and the rest is history.62

5.5 Evidence based communications and social change

At the founding meeting of the Fabian Society on January 4, 1884, Frank

Podmore set the tone by arguing that the new society should concentrate on “practical” issues while holding regular meetings “for discussion, the reading of papers, hearing reports, etc.” He then suggested that they send people “to attend meetings held on social subjects, debates at Working Men’s Clubs, etc.,” and report back to the Society on the social and political issues they raised. Then he also encouraged those present to undertake their own research by assembling “articles from current literature to obtain information on all contemporary social movements and social needs.” Finally, they were asked to establish a fund to pay for the expenses of such activities (Pease, 1916, pp.

34-35).

Podmore’s vision was based on the assumption that lack of knowledge was the main hindrance to social reform. Therefore, if the Fabians could assemble the necessary evidence then revolution and violent change became unnecessary as all reasonable people would agree with their ideas. This belief in the power of science and the need for research reflected the early Positivism of many members of the society along with their continuing faith in science. By the time Podmore made this suggestion most members of the Society had moved well beyond Positivism largely as a result of

62 See the following websites: http://www.lse.ac.uk/about-lse/our-history. http://spartacus-educational.com/EDlse.htm http://www.fabians.org.uk/about/the-fabian-story/ Last accessed 11/11/2017

151 the criticisms levelled at it by writers like John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), although it is still possible to interpret people like Sydney Webb as “ethical positivists.” But, it is probably better to see them as “post-Positivists” (Pease, 1916, pp. 18-19; Bevir, 2002).

What made them different from classical Positivists was their awareness of the way social and personal factors influence the people as they develop their ideas and put them into action in daily life. Ironically, this move away from classical Positivism came about through reading works like Jeremy Bentham’s (1748-1832) Book of Fallacies

(1824) and even more importantly Herbert Spencer’s (1820-1903) book The Study of

Sociology (1873).

Following Spencer, who called himself a Positivist, they recognized various types of social and political bias and the way it can distort research. Therefore, they moved beyond Positivism and Spencer’s own views. Nevertheless, while they were no longer

Positivists they were firmly convinced of the value of empirical evidence and scientific study. In their view, it was the presentation of evidence that would awaken people to the reality of social injustice and other problems and provide ways to change society for the better.

Under Podmore’s guidance the early research of the Fabian Society, like that of many think tanks today, consisted of collecting other people’s research, analysing it, and making suggestions about how it might affect social policies. This research model seems to have lasted for the first few years, after which, largely as a result of the influence of Annie Besant and Sydney Webb, a more activist type of research was embraced by most members that was more empirical in its nature with an emphasis on

152 observation and the study of social problems (Pease, 1916, pp. 34-35, 69-70, 157-158,

226-233).

This new direction was strengthened by Sidney Webb’s growing impatience with economic theory that he came to recognize as lacking empirical foundations. Webb’s dissatisfaction with existing economic models was strengthened by reading the works of his future wife Beatrice Potter and her cousin Charles Booth’s empirical studies of life in the slums. After their marriage in 1892, they led the evidence based communications campaign of the Fabians (B. Webb, 1948, pp. 12-14; M Cole, 1955).

This campaign took a form that reappears in most modern think tanks. First, they encouraged suitably qualified and trained Fabians to undertake their own research.

Then the results of the research were presented to other members of the society for discussion. This led to the formulation of policy suggestions and some form of agreement about how the research should be applied to the current social situation.

Finally, it was made public and promoted to policy makers and the general public through lectures, pamphlets, and books which they called Tracts. Later, after the

Fabians founded the weekly magazine New Statesman in 1913, it became an outlet for their ideas and policy proposals (Hyams, 1963).

After two or three years of experimentation and continual discussion the Society began to take on the recognizable form by which it became known to the world. The clearest early statement of its goals came in Tract 6: The True Radical Program which is attributed to Sydney Webb (1887). There, after discussing various alternatives and contemporary issues, the Society’s activities were clearly defined, and written up in the following way, as:

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1) Meetings for the discussion of questions connected with Socialism.

2) Meetings of a more public character, for the promulgation of Socialist

opinions.

3) The further investigation of common problems, and the collection of facts

contribution to their elucidation.

4) The publication of pamphlets containing information on social questions,

or arguments relating to Socialism.

5) The promotion of Socialist lectures and debates in other Societies.

6) The representation of the Society in public conferences and discussions

on social questions.

7) The organization of conferences of Social reformers, with view to common

action.

Further the Tract clearly states that:

The members are divided into local groups, and are pledged to take part

according to their abilities and opportunities; in the general work of the Society,

especially as regards their own localities.

It also made very clear the inclusive nature of the organization, at least as far as it was understood by its early members, when it stated that:

The Society seeks recruits from all ranks, believing that not only those who suffer

from the present system, but also many who are themselves enriched by it,

recognise its evils and would welcome a remedy.

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The meetings of the Society are held on the first and third Fridays in the month

(S. Webb, 1887, pp. 10-11).

With the publication of Tract 6 the Fabian Society came of age and began the serious business of recruiting new members, spreading its message, and reforming

Britain.

5.6 The Fabian Tract: Evidence based arguments

At the heart of the Fabian propaganda campaign was the Fabian Tract. Here the choice of name is significant because, as the Oxford English Dictionary points out, a tract was originally and predominantly a religious publication (Pearsall and Trumble,

2002, p. 1526). Therefore, the fact that the Fabians chose the term “tract” rather than pamphlet, brochure, booklet, broadsheet, or some other secular term, is significant in reflecting the ethos of the times, their own religious backgrounds, the audience they were aiming to reach, and the lingering memory of Christian social activism originating with the Evangelical revival (Clifford, 1897).

The first Fabian Tract was published in 1884 with the title Why are the Many

Poor? No author was named, but the Society later recognized the author as a “house painter,” Mr. W l L Phillips, who was described by Pease as “the only ‘genuine working man’ in our ranks” (Pease, 1916, p. 39). As such it as a clear statement of socialist principles and was kept in print for the next thirty-five years as one of the Society’s foundational documents. The title page highlighted an abbreviated version of Podmore’s narrative paradigm which became the motto of the society. At the risk of sounding

155 repetitious the quotation is reproduced here in full because of its importance to the

Society from the time of its first publication to the present:

For the right moment you must wait, as Fabius did most patiently, when warring

against Hannibal though many censured his delays; but when the time comes

you must strike hard, as Fabius did, or your waiting will be in vain, and fruitless

(Phillips, 1884, p. 1).

Following this they published Fabian Tract No. 2 (1884) which was written by

George Bernard Shaw and continued in a similar way with the title A Manifesto. It was brief and to the point advocating the nationalization of land, a centrally organized system of taxation, State education for children, political rights for women, and the alleviation of poverty. At the same time, it drew attention to the failures of Capitalism and the need for reform in the national interest (Shaw, 1884, pp. 1-2). The third and fourth Fabian Tracts (Shaw, 1885, & Wilson 1886) continued in this assertive vein by setting out positions and calling for change without providing any arguments other than the assertion that things were not working and needed to be radically changed.

A very different tone emerges with Fabian Tract 5: Facts for Socialists by Sidney

Webb which was published in 1887. Now we get the beginning of a long program of evidence based arguments. What Webb did was to take government statistics about income and income tax and subject them to close scrutiny. As a result, instead of simply asserting that there is was a gross imbalance in incomes and land ownership, Webb bases his arguments about the growing disparity in wealth on data agreed upon by the government (S. Webb, 1887, pp. 1-2, 4).

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Further, he strengthens his argument against the abuses of Capitalism by refraining from attacking Capitalism and instead citing recognized authors who were seen as advocates of Capitalism such as Adam Smith and Professor Henry Fawcett.

Their work and observations were then used to interpret Census reports and other statistical data to show that Britain was encountering real problems that most politicians simply swept under the carpet.

As a result, opponents could not easily dismiss his arguments or label him a

“firebrand” like George Bernard Shaw. Another change in the way Webb presented his argument was its length. Suddenly, Fabian Tracts jump in size from two or three-page leaflets to short booklets of sixteen or more pages. In a similar way Sydney Olivier’s

Fabian Tract No 7: Capital and Land (1888) developed the arguments presented earlier by George Bernard Shaw but, following Webb’s lead, used publicly available evidence that was not in dispute to reinforce them. In this way, Shaw’s passionate call for reform was transformed into a careful argument as to why reform was necessary and how it could be implemented (Oliver, 1888, pp. 14-15).

Sidney Webb’s next contribution was Fabian Tract 8: Facts for Londoners (1889) a fifty-five page book that described and analysed the social and economic problems facing London. Full of publicly available facts and figures, this work argued for government intervention and the creation of a liveable city where everyone would benefit from London’s growth and industry (S. Webb, 1889, pp. 4-7, 13-14). Here it is worth noting that Sadiq Khan, the current Mayor of London and former chair of the

Fabian Society (2008 to 2010), edited Fabian Ideas 634 Our London (2013) that was an

157 eighty-five page book based on this particular Fabian Tract. This became his election manifesto.

Using evidence based arguments for social reform was only part of Sidney

Webb’s contribution to the Fabian Tract series. Webb also wrote proposals for new legislation such as his Fabian Tract No 9: An Eight Hours Bill (1889). It sought to regulate working conditions particularly the amount of time workers were allowed to work. With Tracts like this one, and the related Fabian Tracts No 17: The Reform of the

Poor Law (S. Webb, 1891), that also advocated State pensions for workers, Webb and other Fabians sought to work within the British political system to change it without recourse to violent revolutionary tactics (S. Webb, 1891, pp. 7-11; Pugh, 1984, pp. 2-7,

133-141).

From the way Fabians adopted an evidence based approach to the promotion of their policy ideas it is easy to understand how many people see them as Positivists or neo-Positivists. For example, as noted, Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924) attacked the

Fabians on several occasions precisely along these lines. In one of his last published articles British Pacifism and the British Dislike of Theory, which was originally written in

1915, Lenin argued:

The Fabian Society is undoubtedly the most consummate expression of

opportunism and of Liberal-Labour policy … exactly the same kind of agents of

the bourgeoisie that Engels called the Fabians long ago …With their dislike of

abstract theory and their pride in their practicality, the British offer … a naïve,

theoretically unreasoned, but profoundly correct warning against any vulgarising

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of socialism … The only thing they can do is to help the British Government …

(Lenin, 1924).

Similarly, Canadian political scientist Radhika Desai observes the Fabians appropriated the “style” of Utilitarianism through reading the writings of John Stuart Mill whose works strongly influenced Fabian writers (Desai, 1994). As a result, they stressed “practical” reforms and avoided theorizing about their proposals. This influence is evident in various Fabian Tracts and autobiographical writings (Sanders, 1913; B.

Webb, 1946/1925, p. 124, 154-155, 310, 323). What Desai says is correct but

“appropriation” for a specific communicative task is not the same as a complete embrace as he recognizes. What it does however is cast things in an “empirical mould”

(Desai, 1994, p. 39).

5.7 Developing a theory of evidence based propaganda

As shown, the Fabians had a very clear idea of what they meant by propaganda and its value. They were also committed to using evidence-based, or rational-scientific, modes of communication. Consequently, Pease could say that "other Socialist bodies have always used their propaganda primarily for recruiting …" and failed to make significant changes. The Fabians on the other hand founded "a society for the propagation of ideas" and in doing so was remarkably successful (Pease, 1916, pp.

252-253). This is because the "work of the Fabian Society" was "not to make Socialists, but to make Socialism" based on the view that "great social changes can only come by consent" (pp. 255-256).

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An examination of the Minute Books, other archival records, and publications of the Fabian Society confirms that, as the Fabian Tracts show, the Fabian leadership deliberately developed an “evidence based” approach to propaganda that claimed to be both rational and scientific. Anticipating, perhaps reacting to, criticisms by communists and perhaps even Lenin, the Fabian Society re-published a lecture by William Morris as

Fabian Tract 113 with the title Communism (1903). In the introduction, George Bernard

Shaw stressed that while Morris was “impatient” with the Fabian Society he advised other socialists not to dismiss the Fabians and recognized the importance of facts (p. 3).

These “facts” included recognizing the conservative nature of British society, which the

Fabians, unlike Communists accepted as a reality that they had to work with, not violently overthrow (pp. 3-4).

A later Fabian Tract by Ruth Bentinck, On Aristocracy and Socialism (1910), directly confronted communist theory by recognizing the service many aristocrats rendered to the country. It argued, against the communists, that many aristocrats took their responsibilities seriously and worked hard to improve the lot of ordinary people.

Therefore, they ought to be given credit for their service to the community and incorporated into efforts to create a new, socialist, society. Thus, the Fabian Society reached out to all ranks of society on the basis of factual information about what people actually contributed to society. In doing so they rejected any ideological lens used by communists and some forms of socialism that divided society into irreconcilable hostile camps between which communication was impossible.

In this way the Fabians anticipated Kenneth Burke’s warnings against the appeal of “the rationalist agitator.” Like Burke they recognized that “cooperation in human

160 society is never an absolute, but varies with conditions of time and place.” Therefore, communication, although “never an absolute” or totally clear, was something humans must strive for (Burke, 1984a, pp. xlix-l,17-18, 196).

The Fabians clearly saw this type of rationalization as a characteristic of Marxism and radical socialism which they saw as out of touch with social reality. Therefore, they believed it was important to take a realistic approach to society and not impose ideas based on a grand theory on it that contradicted reality (S. Webb, 1911, p. 2). Rather, they sought to reconcile people with different viewpoints and reach common ground for the good of all (pp 3-4). This, the Fabians sought to do through their commitments to what they called “facts.”

The key to their understanding of propaganda was a form of rationalism, or more correctly the influence of Positivism on their thinking, which stressed the importance of facts. As a result, the Fabians accepted that it was important to argue about what they called “facts” because they provided a bridge between people who held very different views. The Fabians were also aware of the use of narrative paradigms and cultural communication as propaganda tools. Strangely, however, they never really developed this aspect of propaganda which is discussed in more detail later in this chapter (FSPC,

1907, p. 3). What they developed was a clear theory of the use of evidence which they always presented as “facts.”

Within the first ten years of the creation of the Fabian Society Beatrice and

Sydney Webb became its most influential figures in terms of guiding the Society’s policies. That said it is also clear that most other Fabians agree with the way they formulated both Fabian policies and practice. This observation is particularly true for the

161 communication of Fabian ideas and policy proposals.

Although there was no official Fabian theory of propaganda, the Webbs laid out the framework that the Society adopted as its primary approach to communications in their books. In particular Beatrice Webb’s My Apprenticeship (1925) and Beatrice and

Sydney’s Research Methods (1932) presented their ideas about the best way to communicate policy proposals.,

What the Webbs developed was evidence based research as the basis for policy proposals. In My Apprenticeship, Beatrice tells how she “went underground” as a garment worker in the slums of London and later did further research incognito among workers in a mill town in Lancashire. Today anthropologists call this type of research

“participant observation” although they are more limited than she was by rules about research ethics (B. Webb, 1925/1946, pp. 221-295; Spradley, 1980, pp.53-62; Wolcott,

1995:86-121, n.b. p.101 for a good definition of participant observation).

Sydney Webb’s contribution to this form of research was to concentrate on

Government reports and statistics collected by the Government or other researchers … including himself. He also drew on the work of Beatrice’s cousin, Charles Booth (1840 –

1916), who pioneered survey research and statistical analysis in Britain (Booth, 1889).

To these two forms of research they also added historical insights and data (B. Webb,

1925/1946, pp. 186-220, 248; B. Webb, 1948, pp. 12-48)

Using this type of research, they made various policy proposals which are found in books like Beatrice Webb’s The Cooperative Movement in Great Britain (1891) and other publications B (Webb, 1892; S Webb, 1889). For example, working together with other Fabians and parliamentarians they helped produce a stream of works, like The

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Minority Report of the Poor Law Commission (1909), all of which combined historical research with empirical anthropological or sociological studies.

In their Research Methods (1932), which was written for students at the LSE, the

Webb’s outlined their ideas about research and the role of data for understanding society. Here one finds that while they stressed empirical research and “the facts” they were not insensitive to issues concerning interpretation and the limitations of such research (B. Webb & S. Webb, 1932, p. xx). Nevertheless, they were convinced that observation and research swayed social and political arguments. To convince the reader of this point they wrote:

A hundred years ago the accepted way of dealing with extreme poverty, which

was called destitution, was poor-law relief. This relief took two forms,

maintenance in the general mixed workhouse or a niggardly dole of unconditional

outdoor relief. A century of experience has discredited both. As a result of long-

continued observation, inference, and experiment … there has been gradually

evolved a whole new series of social institutions dealing with the problem …” (pp.

245-246)

The solutions they pointed to and the vast improvements in the treatment of the problem of poverty they then attributed to “the statisticians” and “applied science” (p. 247). At the same time, they recognized and explicitly stated that the methods of research they proposed were quite different from and should not be confused with the hard sciences

(pp. v, 1-17).

They were also quite clear that “the facts” were open to interpretation and therefore sometimes difficult to pin down (B. Webb & S. Webb, 1932, p. 30). Further,

163 the “state of mind” of the researcher and “bias” affects research. One can guard against this, but it is always there and must be taken into account. Additionally, researchers need to develop empathy with those they research (pp. 31-53).

Given all these differences from the physical sciences, the Webb’s insisted that some form of verification was necessary for social research. Without it one claim would be as good as another. Therefore, evidence was needed to “fortify … assertions” (B

Webb & S Webb, 1932, pp. 218-233). Only in this way could research, which needed to be published and judged by others, make a practical contribution to life (pp. 234-240).

Defending their position, the Webbs argued that the history of Britain showed the utility of sociological research. The first example they provided was the introduction of

“the audit” into public life which had the effect of curbing the rampant corruption of governments from early in the nineteenth century onwards (B Webb & S Webb, 1932, pp. 242-245). The second example was “poor relief” and the treatment of the destitute.

Here they argued that the introduction of public education; by this they meant free schooling financed by local authorities through an education tax, which was the result of careful study and not “Trial and Error,” made all the difference (pp. 246-248).

The systematic nature of the Webbs’ arguments for research based public policy confirmed the beliefs of other Fabians and set the tone for evidence based communications and Fabian propaganda. The Fabian Society embraced this approach and used evidence based arguments as the basis for their propaganda during their highly successful campaigns for things like a National Health Service (Cole, 1961;

MacKenzie & MacKenzie, 1977). In fact, as a visit to the Fabian Society’s website will

164 show this is still the approach taken by social reformers in Britain today.63 Now it is important to take a closer look at how the Fabian Society applied these ideas during its formative years.

5.8 The Fabian use of cultural communications

One of the paradoxes, or at least puzzles, confronting anyone who examines

Fabian Society communications and propaganda is the strange interaction between the heritage of Positivism, which most Fabians rejected in its pure form early in their adult lives, and the failure of the Society to make much use of culturally based forms of propaganda which are discussed in more detail later in this thesis (Pease, 1916, pp. 14-

19). This is all the more surprising when one remembers that the creation of the Fabian

Society itself was based on the acceptance of a Frank Podmore story about the Roman

General Fabius Maximus.

This story served as a narrative paradigm that provided the Society with a blueprint for action and justification for taking the long view even if the improvements they sought were slow to materialize. As such the story worked as one of the most powerful political narrative paradigms of all time. Therefore, it is very surprising that the

Fabians did not really develop many other narratives of a similar sort to mobilize support for their cause.

Although most of the official publications of the Society did not use narrative paradigms to drive home their arguments there was one major exception. Between

1912 and 1927 a series of biographical Tracts were produced that inspired support for

63 http://www.fabians.org.uk/ Last accessed 11/11/2017 165 the society by rooting its actions in the history of British politics and society through accounts of the lives of exemplary political figures.

These narrative paradigm style of Fabian Tracts (FT) were Francis Place, The

Tailor of Charing Cross (FT 165, Ervine,1912), Robert Owen: Social Reformer (FT 166,

Hutchins, 1912), William Morris and the Communist Ideal (FT 167, Townshend, 1912):

John Stuart Mill (FT 168, West, 1913), Charles Kingsley and Christian Socialism (FT

174, Vulliamy, 1914). Then there was a gap in the publication of these biographies until the publication of John Ruskin and Social Ethics (FT 179, Morley, 1917), Robert Owen:

Idealist (FT 182, Joad, 1917) followed by another gap until the appearance of William

Lovett, 1807-1877 (FT 199, Harmmond,1922), William Cobbett (FT 215, GDH Cole,

1925) and Tom Paine (FT 217, Martin, 1925). These Fabian Biographies came to an end two years later with one on Jeremy Bentham (FT 221, Cohen, 1927).

Why they ended the publication of this series is not clear because they told stories that were clearly intended to be inspiring and presented Fabian ideas through the story of these people who were portrayed as forerunners of the Fabian Society. In addition these narrative paradigms give the Society roots in British history. But, for whatever reason, perhaps the onset of the Great Depression in 1929, the series came to an abrupt end and with them the last formal attempt by the Society to use narrative paradigms to spread its message.

Despite this neglect of cultural communications by the Fabian Society itself a small but influential group of Fabians developed their own form of what is best described as cultural propaganda. This type of propaganda seeks to use powerful narratives, expressed through the arts and culture, to create an ethos that engages

166 people through the development of a sense of common identity. Surprisingly, although the Society made little use of this form of propaganda, George Bernard Shaw wrote two books on the topic which are discussed later in this chapter (Shaw, 1891, 1898).

Nevertheless, apart from the biographical Tracts series the Fabian Society, as a society, put very little effort into such cultural propaganda. Instead, it followed the example developed by the British Government during the nineteenth century to produce imperial and war propaganda.

British propaganda was remarkable in two respects. First, much of the propaganda produced by the British during the course of the war came from ordinary citizens, directed, or at least encouraged, by “a secret war propaganda bureau at

Wellington House” in London “directed by Charles Masterman” (Taylor, 2003, pp. 176-

178). Thus, the British government deliberately encouraged individuals, usually academics and writers, to whom it gave its support, to develop their own propaganda. In this way they were able to avoid the charge that it was official, and therefore highly suspect, propaganda created by the government. As a result, what was produced was relatively independent of direct government control. (pp. 187-190; Stuart, 1921).

Leading the charge against the Germans and Germany were British authors and writers many of whom were Fabians. They produced numerous books and articles in support of the war effort for distribution in Britain and around the world, particularly in

America. Among them the History Faculty at Oxford University stood out as an example of wartime commitment. Almost as soon as war was declared Oxford faculty members began producing books and leaflets proving that German history was one of barbarism and war (Ferguson, 1999, 228-230).

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Supporting their efforts Oxford University Press rushed the production of their works, taking the remarkably short time of two weeks to publish a book. Not to be outdone, poets and other artists joined the war effort with enthusiasm while British newspapers which had hesitated before the outbreak of war quickly joined the groundswell of anti-German opinion publications (Ferguson, 1999, pp. 231-235;

Ponsonby, 1928).

The second area where the British excelled in propaganda was their highly secret efforts to bring Americans into the conflict organized by Charles Masterman and based at Wellington House in London. He deliberately sought to harness artists and writers to support the war effort by either sending them on tours of America or having them produce literature for American distribution. They produced over two and a half million books, booklets, and pamphlets and published a regular newsletter that was used as a basic source on the European War by 360 American newspapers (Ferguson,

1999, pp. 222-224). 64

The Fabian leadership, like the British government, encouraged individuals to develop propaganda on their own initiative that broadly promoted Fabian ideas and policies. The most obvious proponents of this type of propaganda were the writers

George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and the children's author Edith Nesbit, who promoted Fabian and other forms of Socialist ideas in their novels and plays as well as

64 In addition to this propaganda campaign, the British had one great advantage over the Germans as far as gaining North American support went. They controlled access to the trans-Atlantic cable and cut the German branch of cable as soon as hostilities commenced (Taylor 2003, pp. 177). Consequently, German officials in the USA received information about events in Europe around two week later than British officials. This gave the British a huge propaganda advantage and the ability to virtually censor European news before it reached America (Anderson 2007, p. 11; Doenekcke 2011, pp. 16-17)

168 various journalists and artists who were members of the Fabian Society (Nesbit, 1887,

1906; Shaw, 1907, 1912; Wells, 1895, 1897, 1905).

Here it is important to recognize that not everything promoted in such propaganda was acceptable to all Fabians, or even all the members of the Executive

Committee; nevertheless, provided it promoted a Fabian outlook in general, it was accepted as "essentially Fabian." The most obvious examples of this type of propaganda are found in the plays and books of writers like George Bernard Shaw, H.

G. Wells and the playwright Harley Granville-Barker (1877-1946). These, and similarly minded individuals, wrote profusely producing works that contained and promoted core

Fabian values.

At the same time, they often added into their works arguments about things like sexual liberation which Beatrice and Sydney Webb found unacceptable despite their friendship with them. For example, Beatrice wondered if “these two supremely clever persons are not obsessed with the rabbit-warren aspect of human society” adding

“G.B.S. is brilliant but disgusting …” (B. Webb, 1948, p. 447).

Behind much of the apparent distain of leading Fabians for the use of art in propaganda was a firm belief that art was to be enjoyed and not exploited as they claimed it was by capitalists (Britain, 1982, pp. 99-100, 120-124). As result while they took care to ensure that their publications were tasteful they avoided using the arts in much of their propaganda. Added to this, many early Fabians shared what Britain identifies as a "Puritan" streak in both their thinking and life although other Fabians, like

Shaw, were openly "anti-Puritan" (Britain, 1982, pp. 107-108, 114-116, 163-166).

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Despite all of these reservations there were several artists, actors, and musicians in the Society who cooperated to develop cultural communications as a way of promoting Fabian ideas. For whatever reason, this never seem to have taken off, possibly because these artists were more interested in art for art’s sake rather than committing themselves to the development of propaganda (Britain, 1982, pp. 7-8, 32,

77-79). The only exception to this is the publication by the Fabian Society in 1908 of

Edith Nesbit's (1858-1924) Ballads and Lyrics of Socialism (1883-1908) which, after a long debate, was approved by the Fabian Executive as something that would spread and inspire Fabian ideals among member of the working class (FSEC, 1907).

As we shall see in the next chapter it was left to Afrikaner Nationalists to develop a truly powerful form of cultural communication. But, before considering this it is important to understand the contribution of Fabian thinkers to a theory of cultural propaganda.

5.9 Developing a theory of cultural propaganda

Although the Fabian Society failed to make use of an effective form of cultural communications some of its members, as noted above, experimented with the possibility of using novels, poems, plays, songs and plays to communicate Fabian ideas. Foremost among these was the playwright George Bernard Shaw who went beyond experimenting with the arts as a means of political communication to theorize about it.

The background to Shaw’s work in this area appears to have been a lecture he was invited to give at the Fabian Society’s Summer Lecture Series on “Socialism in

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Contemporary Literature.” This was delivered on July 18, 1890 in St. James Restaurant in London. For this he chose as his subject the Norwegian writer Ibsen. Using Ibsen’s work Shaw argued that “gradualism and penetration” of existing institutions was a far better way of achieving socialist goals than revolution or the promotion of Marxism.

Apparently, the paper ran on for two hours and was generally “well received” although it provoked a critical response from some journalists (Norman and Jean Mackenzie, 1977, p. 170).

This led him to write The Quintessence of Ibsenism which was published in

October 1891. In this book, he developed a radical criticism of society based on Ibsen’s plays by using arguments he adopted from Mathew Arnold who grouped humans into philistines, idealists and realists (Holyroyd, 1988, pp. 197-203). After apparently receiving an advance copy Sydney Webb wrote to Beatrice on September 18, 1891, describing it as “very clever, and not as bad as I feared” (B. Webb & S. Webb,1978, pp.

304-305).

Introducing his work Shaw argued that it was possible to discover a “perfectly definite thesis in the poet’s work” even if the poet himself was not aware of it. This thesis he argued in his first chapter was a radical critique of existing society, which provoked a strong reaction causing people to either see Ibsen as “a moral teacher” or be “revolted by his works” (Shaw, 1891, p. 5). As a result, he saw art as conveying important messages and not simply something that existed for its own sake.

Setting up his argument in this way Shaw then systematically expounds his own interpretation of all of Ibsen’s plays to show how they affect the reader or viewer in such a way as to create discontent with existing society and longing for a better world order.

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His concluding chapter “The Moral of the Plays” he explains that his commentary illustrates Ibsen’s “thesis that the real slavery of to-day is slavery to ideals of virtue” that exposes hypocrisy (pp.122).

To bring home his point Shaw compares Ibsen’s work to Walter Scott’s The

Heart of Midlothian which also shows “that people are to do” evil by following misguided

“religious and moral ideals” (Shaw, 1891, pp. 18 & 123). Ibsen’s aim, Shaw argues, is different. What he does is to bring home a “sense of moral responsibility” that awakens a sense of “private judgement in questions of conduct against all institutions” (pp. 131,

134).

Following his exposition of what he takes to be Ibsen’s meaning Shaw adds an

“Appendix” in where he further develops his ideas in relation to the difficulty of performing Ibsen’s plays, illustrated by reference to various works of British literature.

Here he stresses the need to abolish censorship and talk about “Free Art” as freely as his contemporaries used the term “Free Trade” (p. 151). In the process, he exposes the

Press as corrupted by wealth and the status quo and therefore unwilling to take such plays at face value and give them favourable reviews because they threaten the existing order (pp. 152-160). Finally, he ends his book with a quote from Richard Wagner (1813-

1883) that individuals must make their lives “a mirror of nature” that breaks away from existing constraints to become “a living man” (p. 161).

This final appeal to Wagner not only reflects his early love of the composer but also a trip he made to Germany while working on his book in 1890. This was done in the company of his fellow Fabian Sydney Webb and involved a visit to Oberammergau where they attended the Passion Play. Both men were deeply affected by the

172 experience although they responded very differently to the performance. Nevertheless,

Webb wrote back to his future wife, Beatrice Potter, on August 13, 1890, that what struck him about the play was that while Shaw viewed it as a “professional art critic” he was moved by the fact that the play could “hardly fail to have as good an influence on” the lives of the children who participated in it “as it has upon their language” (B. Webb,

1978, p. 168). Further, he noted that after visiting Munich, Augsburg, Ulm and Strasburg following their time in Oberammergau a person “understands medieval pictures better after seeing the Passion Play …” (p. 170).

The importance of Sydney Webb’s remarks is that they show a dim realization of the way plays can engage individuals by creating a sense of identity and communicating values through participation as Kenneth Burke was later to argue (Burke, 1935/1984).

This, in fact, was something Shaw developed in his next foray into this area in his later book The Prefect Wagnerite (Shaw, 1898). In this work Shaw applies his critical eye to the work of the German composer Richard Wagner which he loved. Ostensibly this work is a “commentary on The Ring of the Nibelungen” (p. v). In fact, it is an extended discussion of the way music and drama can promote political ideas.

Shaw begins by arguing that most English people who claimed to appreciate

Wagner were oblivious to his political motivation. Yet at its core his work was revolutionary. The genius of Wagner was his music. It was something everyone could enjoy, and this was its political power because within the performance was a core message of “urgent and searching philosophic and social significance” (p. 2).

After making his initial statements Shaw then begins a detailed analysis of the

Ring cycle that compares its characters to people everyone knows. The “poor devil of a

173 dwarf” is a figure everyone has encountered because “Such dwarfs are quite common in London” (p. 8). He then interprets the symbolism of the opera in terms of contemporary life and political concerns noting that in the story the dwarfs and the existence of overlords represent a reality we all know (p. 10). He comments “You can see the process yourself in every civilized country today, where millions of people toil in want and disease … All of this part of the story is frightfully real, frightfully present, frightfully modern and its effects on our social life are so ghastly and ruinous …” Yet

“only the poet” sees through the smokescreens created by the rich and powerful while most people remain blinded to the reality around them (p. 10).

Shaw’s exposition of the social importance of Wagner’s work continues for thirteen chapters before ending with some reflections on the importance of Wagner’s creation of the Bayreuth Festival Playhouse which opened in 1876. This is a place where, as with any Grand Opera, one is confronted with the realities of our civilization

(p. 134). Consequently, people who visit “Bayreuth never repent it” (p. 135). Therefore,

Shaw argues that other nations need to produce “a race” of their own “Wagnerian singers” suited to local conditions (p. 138). He then notes the difficulty of doing this but holds out the vision of using opera to effect social change (p. 135-140).

The impact of Shaw’s pioneering work in this area, which seems to have been inspired in part by Wagner’s own writings on art and politics (Wagner, 1895a; 1895b), was muted by his arrogance and individualism which expressed itself in his view of himself as a “superior intellect” (p. 2).65 As a result even many of his Fabian colleagues and friends doubted his wisdom on such issues (B. Webb, 1978, p. 305).

65 For example, in his book on Wagner he begins by saying “It is generally understood, however, that there is an inner ring of superior persons to whom the whole work has a most urgent and searching 174

Another lifelong Fabian who helped develop a theory of cultural propaganda was

Ramsden Balmforth (1861-1941). His work connects, or in Manjapra’s terminology

“entangles,” people, political movements, and think tanks, like the Fabian Society, the

SAIRR, and the Broederbond. He emigrated to South Africa in 1897 where he was the

Unitarian minister at the Hout Street church in Cape Town and strong promoter of

Fabianism. A prolific author, Balmforth published at least twelve books, various scholarly articles in national and international journals, and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. He enthusiastically embraced the newly developed medium radio when regular broadcasts were introduced by the Cape Peninsula Broadcasting

Association (CPBA) which launched its service from a new studio in Cape Town on

September 15, 1924 (Herman, 1977, pp. 44-45; Rahfaldt, 2007, pp. 42-43; Heller-

Wagner, 2004, p. 109).

When writing his four pioneering works in this area Balmforth was influenced by his fellow Fabian and good friend George Bernard Shaw (Hale, 2013a&b; 2014).

Building on Shaw’s work he wrote four books and various articles that recognized the importance of the arts as a communications medium for promoting social and political causes (Balmforth, 1912, 1913, 1925, 1928). The significance of these works is that

Balmforth shows how a transition from narrative paradigm as an oral or written story to the acting out of stories in dramas and opera brings stories alive in a way that involves all the senses. Thus, he pointed out, the audience is moved not only intellectually but through emotional participation in the ethos they create (Balmforth, 1928; Hale 1913b).

philosophic and social significance. I profess to be such a superior person; and I write this pamphlet for the assistance of those who wish to be introduced to the work on equal terms with that inner circle of adepts” (Shaw,1889, p. 2).

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He begins to develop his argument about the interaction between ethics and stories in his The Ethical and Religious Value of the Novel (1912) which, like most of his publications, originated as a series of talks given in Cape Town (Balmforth, 1912, p. v).

Novelists, poets, and preachers, he declares, all deal with the problems of life (p. vi).

Novelists, however, have the advantage of appealing "to most thoughtful and to many thoughtless people" because the novel "appeals more directly to our ideas and feelings" and acts like "a parable" (pp. vii-viii). Thus the "aim of the preacher, fundamentally, is the same as that of the great novelist, the poet, and the philosopher" which is to give insight and a guide to living (p. xii). Therefore, the "training of every minister should include" the study of "ethics, economics, politics, literature, and philosophy" to enable them to guide their congregations and represent them at "civic functions" (p. xiv). The rest of the book is an exposition of eight popular novels to show how they speak to specific situations in daily life and bring out their social and political impact.66 In this work he tends to disparage the role played by drama, music and art (p. viii).

With his second book on the topic, Drama, Music-drama, and Religion: As

Illustrated by Wagner's 'Ring of the Nibelung' and 'Parsifal’ (Balmforth, 1913) he remedies this apparent disparagement. There he notes "There is a healthy tendency beginning to manifest itself in thoughtful circles to the effect that the Drama might be utilized far more than it is at present as a means towards ministering to the higher side of life. Art, Music, Poetry, and the Drama are all attempts to bring joy, solace, or inspiration, purity and depth of feeling, truer taste and higher desires, insight and clearness of judgment, into our human life" (p. 7).

66 The authors he deals with are George Eliot, Nathanial Hawthorne, Victor Hugo, Mrs Lynn Linton, Charles Dickens, Oliver Wendel Holmes, Mrs Humphry Ward and James Lane Allen.

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This he explains is because they confront people with two key questions which are "what is" and "what ought to be" (Balmforth, 1913, p. 7). As such they move people to action by "holding a mirror up" that propels us forward "by means of symbolism" (pp.

8-9). Then he argues, ancient Greek and modern dramatists, like the Bible, shape the thought world of individuals and societies and are means for communicating the deeper truths of life that move us to action through our recognition that "on Earth we are soldiers, fighting in a foreign land" whose task is to "conquer and create" (pp. 9-19, 23).

This book was published to coincide with the anniversary of Wagner's birth and the visit to South African of the Quinlan Opera Company from London. Thus, his book was launched at a time that provided him with maximum publicity though the anniversary of a great composer and performances in all the major cities of South Africa by a professional opera company (Hale, 1913b).

Twelve years later he published The Ethical and Religious Value of the Drama

(1925). In the Preface, he modified his stance yet again by declaring that "Far more people are influenced by Art and parable than by metaphysical arguments and moral appeals." Then he further modified his earlier views by declaring that while literature can be "defined as 'a criticism of life'" drama is far more powerful because it provides both

"criticism" and "an interpretation of life" that offers a "vision" of the future (Balmforth,

1925, p. 5).

His reflections on the value of art as a means of cultural communication concluded with his The Problem-Play (Balmforth, 1928) where he argued that what he identified as “The Problem-Play” influences “the public mind not only on sex and marriage problems, but also on social, ethical, and religious problems.” Therefore, by

177 encouraging drama in school, societies, and theatres he believed it was possible to change society (pp. 7-8).

Through his talks, articles, and books, Balmforth laid down a theory of cultural communications intended to promote his Fabian vision of social and political change. An active writer and public speaker in his adopted home of South Africa, he is described by historians as a "well known" figure who "exerted an influence … throughout South

Africa"67 (Herman, 1977, p. 45; Hale, 1915, p. 21).

After his arrival at the Cape in 1897, Balmforth quickly adopted an anti-war, pro-

Boer, stance and worked hard to support Afrikaners who he saw as a downtrodden group. Initially he helped form a society to prevent Lord Milner's aggression against the

Boer Republics. But, this effort came to nothing with the outbreak of war on October 11,

1899 (Hale, 2001). Following the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War he campaigned for the rights of Afrikaners aid for those affected by it, especially concentration camp victims. After the Rebellion of 1914 he threw himself into a campaign to obtain justice for the rebels and worked to help poor Afrikaners (Hale, 2011).

Between them, Shaw and Balmforth developed a theory of cultural communications, but beyond their own writings there is little evidence that it had a major impact on the Fabian Society in terms of its propaganda. Nevertheless, as will be shown their theories proved a means of understanding the communication techniques of other think tanks particularly the Afrikaner Broederbond which is discussed in chapter seven.

67 The American scholar Webster F. Drake also suggests in passing that he "led the charge" in promoting the use of drama to communicate religious belief and practice in America (Drake, 2004, p. 42).

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5.10 Conclusion

From its very first meeting on January 4, 1884, the practical organization of the

Fabian Society was an issue. Therefore, they gave careful attention to the Society's goals and the type of activity it would undertake. Central to these was the decision to conduct research to promote social change through what they called “propaganda.” In chapter seven the way this idea was developed by the SAIRR is discussed in terms of their understanding of research based rational-scientific communications as applied to the racial problems of South Africa. But, before that is done we need to consider the way the Afrikaner Broederbond developed cultural communications to create a sense of national identity among a demoralized and downtrodden people.

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Chapter Six

The Afrikaner Broederbond

6.0 Introduction

The chapter has the following sections:

6.0 Introduction 6.1 The Broederbond: Think tank or South African KKK? 6.2 The origins of the Broederbond 6.3 The core idea behind the Broederbond’s communications strategy 6.4 Establishing Afrikaans as the basis of Afrikaner identity 6.5 Communicating an Afrikaner identity 6.6 The return of the Voortrekkers 6.7 The importance of worldview thinking for Afrikaner Nationalists 6.8 Creating an Afrikaner high culture 6.9 The Broederbond’s war on poverty 6.10 Conclusion

This chapter explores the cultural offensive launched by the Afrikaner

Broederbond, which will be referred to as the Broederbond, in the late 1920’s which brought about a remarkable change in Afrikaner society. The importance of this to the present thesis is that it was entirely based upon a highly sophisticated form of integrated communications.

6.1 The Broederbond: Think tank or South African KKK?

Before discussing the Broederbond it is important to note that this chapter is based on written sources supplemented by information obtained through interviews with

Afrikaners. Relying on informants was necessary in this case because there are virtually no written records available for the Broederbond during its early years or for local branches. Although none of my informants were alive when the Broederbond was founded, they were people who had links to the founders and early members as well as

180 people who played key roles at a later stage. These were people who were either members or ex-members of the Broederbond, or whose families were affected by its activities in some important way. At the request of some interviewees all of them, with the one exception of the high profile current Chairman of the Broederbond, remain anonymous. The reasons for this, and other details about the interviews including confirmation of their authenticity, is discussed in the Appendix: Research Interviews.

With this understanding in place we can now discuss the Broederbond and its innovative cultural communications.

Many people regard the Broederbond as a secret society like the Ku Klux Klan, therefore it is important to address this type of charge at the outset. For example, Dan

O’Meara, who originally wrote from an explicitly Marxist perspective (O’Meara, 1983, pp.1-17), condemns the Broederbond as a racist organization that is beyond contempt.

Consequently, he dismisses the founders of the Broederbond by refereeing to them as

“a gaggle of clerks, clerics, and policemen” (O’Meara, 1996, p.43). Nevertheless, he is forced to admit that it “developed into one of the most influential and successful organizations of the twentieth century” (p.46).

Other writers, mainly journalists, depict the Broederbond as the “unique” organization “shrouded in a mystical haze” that created apartheid (Serfontein, 1978, pp.11-12; Vatcher, 1965, pp. 78-81). As such it is often seen as an offshoot of Nazism committed to a vicious racism and credited with fostering the growth of Afrikaner

Nationalism by developing both the theory and practice of apartheid (Bunting, 1969, pp

.43-55).

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Such interpretations have a long history. In 1944, the South African Prime

Minister, Jan Smuts, suggested that the Broederbond was “a dangerous, cunning, political, Fascist organization” (Stultz, 1974, p.53). In 1952 the Canadian weekly magazine Maclean’s devoted an entire issue to South Africa in which they vilified the

Broederbond by comparing it to the Ku Klux Klan (Maclean’s, 1952, February 1; cf.

Vatcher, 1965, p.78). This attitude and theme was taken up by popular writers who opposed the South African Reformed National Party by comparing members of the

Broederbond to the Nazis (Bunting, 1964).

Attacking the Broederbond in these ways is relatively easy because around five years after its founding sometime in 1918, the exact date is not entirely clear, the

Broederbond went underground and became highly secretive. This was a result of violence against its members by English speaking South Africans. As a result, it became a closed non-public organization, rather like the Freemasons, Oddfellows, and similar organizations. This move led its critics to label it a dangerous secret society

(Giliomee, 2003, pp. 400-401; Informant Jan).

In fact, when it was first founded Broederbond members were encouraged to wear a lapel pin to identify themselves and were encouraged to recruit new members.

To this end they advertised their meetings which were open for anyone to attend.

Originally, many of its early members worked for the South African Railways; others were school teachers, or members of the clergy. All of them were united in openly advocating the use of Afrikaans as a national language and working to promote the welfare of the Afrikaner people and their culture.

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These activities produced a backlash among English speaking South Africans who saw them as disloyal to the British Empire and it was not long before gangs of louts began to beat up Broederbond members and disrupt their meetings. In reaction to such violence, early in the 1920’s, probably 1921, the decision was made to “go underground” and become a semi-secret society (O’Meara, 1983:59-66; Bloomberg,

1989:65-73; Giliomee, 2003:400-401. Almost all interviewees mentioned this too).

The term “semi-secret” society is used because while most members of the

Broederbond did not usually openly proclaim their membership they were often known, or strongly suspected to be, Broederbond members by other Afrikaners in the communities where they lived. English-speaking South Africans also had a fairly good idea who were prominent Broederbond members and suspected others (Giliomee,

2003, pp.400-401; Informants: Frank & Jan).

More recently scholars specializing in the study of South Africa have increasingly rejected such simplistic comparisons as political propaganda. Thus, Christoph Marx, in his monumental study Oxwagon Sentinal (2008), recognizes that some Afrikaner

Nationalists may have sympathized with the Nazis but very few embraced National

Socialism. Rather, he argues, it was a case of “my enemy’s enemy, is my friend” adding the Broederbond “really had almost nothing in common” with the KKK (Marx 2008, pp.219-228, 158). Similarly, Ruth Weiss in her Peace in their Time (2000) argues that although the Broederbond “was fervently committed to furthering the welfare of the

Afrikaner” they were “not committed to violence” (Weiss, 2000, p.80).

As things developed the Afrikaans Broederbond operated as a semi-secret society from within five years of its founding until after the parliamentary elections of

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1994, which brought the Government of Nelson Mandela to power (Wren, 1990). After that the Broederbond made an abrupt change of course and turned over its entire archive to the Heritage Centre at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria where it is now open to scholars and interested parties (Sly, 1993). Since then various scholars, including T. Dunbar Moodie, have used the archives and been surprised by what they found and the amount of internal debate and relatively liberal views of some of its members (Moodie, 2012). There is also a Broederbond Museum in Potchefstroom with a lot of information about the organization that is open to the public.

Given that the Broederbond has allowed access to their archival documents it appears to be far more open and less secretive than most other think tanks. It also seems clear that the explanation given for its earlier secrecy is correct. To admit this is not to say that the Broederbond was, or is, a “good thing.” It was certainly implicated in the development of the apartheid system. But, as we shall see it also participated in the dismantling of that system long before such a change was felt to be necessary by most

Afrikaners.

This thesis takes the position that the Broederbond has far more in common with think tanks like the Fraser Institute than with either the Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan. To say this is not to agree with everything it did, proposed, or supported. Rather it is to recognize the complexity of the situation and attempt to understand why so many intelligent and essentially decent people supported this organization despite the evils of apartheid and the many mistakes members of the Broederbond clearly made.

It is also important to recognize that today a wide spectrum of authors recognize the Broederbond as a highly successful think tank (Harrison, 1981, p.174; Sparks 1990,

184 p.177; Wren, 1990; Anon, 1993; Ottaway, 1993, pp. 36-37; Sly, 1993). From the available evidence, it seems that while it promoted Afrikaner Nationalism the

Broederbond was essentially concerned with the economic development of Afrikaners and the preservation of their culture (Vatcher, 1965, pp.76-88; Giliomee, 2003, pp .416,

420-422).68

6.2 The origins of the Broederbond

The standard, and frequently repeated, account of the founding of the Afrikaner

Broederbond was laid out by the Johannesburg Sunday Times correspondent and political opponent of the National Party, J. H. P. Serfontein in his Brotherhood of Power:

An Exposé of the Secret Afrikaner Broederbond (1978).69

By his own admission this was based on the work of a police spy who attended a political meeting in the Johannesburg at City Hall, named after the post -war British

Administrator Lord Selborne, in 1918. At that widely advertised meeting the editor of the opposition newspaper, Die Burger, and newly elected leader of the Cape branch of the

National Party, Dr D. F. Malan,70 gave a public speech. In it he attacked what he called the imperialist policies of the ruling political party led by General Louis Botha (1862-

1919) and his second in command General Jan Smuts (1870-1950).

68 In fact, the aims and initial outlook of the Broederbond seems very similar to those of the British Think Tank the Legatum Institute which concerns itself with the alleviation of poverty: http://www.li.com/about/about-the-legatum-institute 69 This book is based on secret reports compiled in the 1930’s and 1940’s for the government of South African Prime Minister Jan Smuts (1870-1950). These were supplemented by internal Broederbond documents leaked by disgruntled and former members of the organization. Therefore, the account is hardly unbiased, nevertheless it appears to contain a lot of reliable information and is widely accepted as essentially correct. 70 He was the leader of the National Party in the Cape who, in 1948, as leader of the Reformed National Party, he became Prime Minister of South Africa and brought in the policy of apartheid. 185

The report claimed that towards the end of the meeting a Union Jack was torn down and ripped to shreds by an Afrikaner radical who invoked the atrocities of the

Second Anglo-Boer war to justify his action. This was observed by a mob of English- speaking Empire loyalists, who, it was said, far outnumbered the Afrikaners attending the meeting. These people had arrived at the hall already outraged by publicity they had read and what they saw as the disloyalty of Afrikaners to the Empire. Consequently, a large group of them “gathered outside the hall” singing It’s a Long Way to Tipperary. A riot followed with the English mob attacking Afrikaners both inside and outside the hall.

The mob also set fire to at least one car (Serfontein, 1979, p.31; Bloomberg 1989, p.65-

66; Informant: Koos).

About a month after the attack around fourteen young men, who were inspired by

Malan’s vision, met together in Johannesburg. Their purpose was to discuss how they could resist what they saw as the Government’s policy of Anglicization and intimidation by English speaking South Africans. Out of this meeting the Broederbond was formed with the aim of improving the lot of Afrikaners by promoting Afrikaans and a pride in their own culture. Over the next few meetings the basic framework of the organization slowly emerged on the basis of three principles.

First, the goal was to work for the welfare of the Afrikaner community particularly through cultural and economic development to alleviate poverty. To put this in context it is reliably estimated that by the mid-1920’s around 300,000 Afrikaners living in the former Orange Free State, Transvaal, and border areas of the Cape Province were

186 extremely poor. That is one sixth of the total white population of South Africa and around a third of all Afrikaners (Lewis 1972, pp. 8, 94).71

Second, they decided that the best way for them to move forward was to begin by studying the organization of successful political and social organizations in South

Africa, and other places like America, Britain, Germany, and the Netherlands.72 Once this was done they discussed their findings and developed what they saw as the best ways to achieve their goals (Informant: Jan).

Third, it was decided that if they were to work effectively as a group they must avoid creating a cult of personality. This was because they disliked the way many politicians had a tendency to promote themselves rather than the public good.

Therefore, they embraced what they called “confidentiality” which meant that no one person was allowed to take credit for anything they achieved. To ensure this all memos, minutes of meetings, notes, and other written documents that identified individuals and their work, were to be destroyed once the task they referred to was completed.

Consequently, because there are no written documents from the early period of the

71 In a more recent analysis Johan Fourie points out that a report done for the Carnegie Commission shows that 17% of Afrikaners were “very poor” in the period 1929-1930 and that this figure excluded around 100,000 Afrikaners who lived on their own farms in very bad conditions (Fourie, 2006:2). As a result of a growing awareness of this problem, in 1929 the New York based Carnegie Foundation financed a major study of the issue largely because they saw it as analogous to similar problems of white poverty in America. The findings of what became known at the time as the Carnegie Commission were published in five large volumes in 1932. These volumes confirmed that the problem was an older one than most people recognized, but at the same time “By far the greater majority of the poor whites are Afrikaans-speaking.” (Carnegie, 1932:II 1) 72 The biographies of early Broederbond leaders show that many of them studied in America, Britain, Germany or the Netherlands. 187

Broederbond’s history, scholars cannot be certain how and why things developed the way they did (Informants: Jan and Koos).73

Nevertheless, it is very unlikely that they were not aware of the Fabian Society which was probably one of the organizations they studied. (Informant: Jan). Supporting this view is the fact that General Jan Smuts (1870-1950), who eventually became the

Broederbond’s chief antagonist, described himself "a Fabian," and was fond of citing the story of Fabius Maximus as promoted by the Fabians (Crafford, 1945, p. 246; Hancock,

1968, pp. 224; 259-260; 486). He also pursued a gradualist approach to social and political change in line with Fabian thinking.74

A more direct link between the Fabians and Afrikaner Nationalism is found the work of Mrs Julia Solly (1862-1953) and the Rev. Ramsden Balmforth (1861-1941) both of whom had close links to the English Fabian Society. Mrs. Solly was the wife of an engineer and a feminist who emigrated to South Africa from England in 1890. Initially she helped organize the South African temperance movement. She strongly opposed the Second Anglo-Boer War and afterwards worked hard to help impoverished Boer families gain justice for them. In 1907 she founded the Women's Enfranchise League and developed a close working relationship with the Afrikaner women who created the

Nasionale Vroueparty (National Women's Party) in 1914. These people played a key role in both the rise of Afrikaner Nationalism and the enfranchisement of White South

73 Some critics of the Broederbond argue that these documents were not destroyed until the late 1939 when members of the Broederbond faced increasing scrutiny from the government of Jan Smuts. While there may be some truth to this it still remains true that in most cases documents were routinely destroyed for the reason of confidentiality as members of the Broederbond claim. 74 Further, a number of prominent British and South African Pro-Boers, that is people who were vocal in their opposition to the Second Anglo-Boer War, were either Fabians or very close to leading Fabians. These including the early feminist writers, Emily Hobhouse and Olive Schreiner whose pacifism overcame her dislike of Boers. Both had close links to the Fabians and after the Second Anglo Boer War to Boer leaders (Fisher, 1971; Stanley & Dampier, 2012; Davie, 2015, pp. 38-40).

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African women (Hale, 2013a, pp. 99; HSRC, 2000, pp.74; McKinnon, 1995, pp. 55,

Schreiner, 2012).

Balmforth was a lifelong member of the Fabian Society who emigrated to South

Africa in 1897 where he became the Unitarian minister in Cape Town. He played a key role in opposing the imperialist sentiment that eventually led to the Second Anglo-Boer war in 1899 and worked closely with Mrs. Solly. He consistently opposed the war and afterwards worked hard to reconcile Boers and their English conquerors. He also sought reparations for impoverished Boer families and worked to relieve their suffering.

These activities brought him close to Afrikaners and their leaders (Hale, 2001, 2012,

2013a).

Finally, in his autobiography, A South African Pilgrimage (1977), the South

African liberal leader and long-time opponent of apartheid, Professor Edgar Brookes discusses his sympathy for Afrikaner Nationalism as a young professor at the Transvaal

University College from 1920 to 1927 (Brookes, 1977, pp. 16-17). He admits a friend of his was “alleged to have founded the Broederbond” before adding “but I always found him friendly and tolerant.” Then he adds that he was on good terms with Professor

Ferdinand Postma of Potchefstroom University College and other Afrikaners linked to the Broederbond. In fact, Postma eventually became the Chairman of the Broederbond

(p. 17). Significantly, during this period Brookes was strongly influenced by the Fabians and in 1927 used part of his first sabbatical leave to study at the LSE with the well- known Fabian leader Professor Harold Laski. He did this even though he had already obtained his doctorate and published two major books (pp. 16-19, 30-31; Informant:

Koos).

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What this shows is that early leaders of the Broederbond had close contact, and at times working relationships, with English speaking South Africans who were considered Fabians or were strongly influenced by Fabian thinking. At that time, in the aftermath of both the Second Anglo-Boer War and the First World War, these people were sympathetic to Afrikaner Nationalism even though two decades later those who were still alive strongly opposed its policy of apartheid. Therefore, it seems probable that Broederbond ideas about gradualism and, as we will see later in this chapter, cultural communications, were rooted in Fabian thought.

The original constitution of the Afrikaner Broederbond from around 1921 stated:

The purpose of the AB is formulated as follows:

(1) The UNITY of Afrikaners, Afrikaners over the length and breadth of our

country, the longing for our people's upliftment, to collaborate in eliminating

disagreements between Afrikaners and a healthy and prosperous unity of

purpose.

(2) The development of a genuine, generous democratic society, and the

education of the Afrikaner and the proper utilisation of this education.

(3) The awakening of the Afrikaner's self-awareness and identity, and the

cultivation of love for his language, history, traditions, country, people and

religion.

(4) The promotion of original South African art and culture in all respects.

(5) The cultivation of society on the basis of sober customs and characteristics of

our people.

(6) The defense and promotion of the economic interests of Afrikaners,

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(7) Maintaining the principles of Jesus Christ.75

After the Broederbond stabilized itself as an organization around 1925 members of the Broederbond began seeking ways to implement these principles. Their aim was to regenerate Boer society through a vision of Afrikaners as a distinct nationality.

From around 1925 onwards membership of the Broederbond was by invitation only and was restricted to Afrikaners over the age of twenty-five. In practice, the

Broederbond deliberately recruited lawyers, businessmen, farmers, members of the clergy, teachers, and the head masters of schools to join local cells. Members had to be respected in the community which they were expected to serve and influence, often at great personal cost as will be explained later in this chapter (Vatcher, 1965:76-88;

Serfontein, 1978:34-36; Bloomberg, 1989, 33-37; Marx 2008:59-61).

To achieve its goals, in 1929 the Broederbond established the Federasie van

Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge, or Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organizations, generally known as the FAK (Vatcher, 1965, pp. 80-81; Serfontein, 1978, pp.36-37). It was tasked with developing the distinct Afrikaner cultural identity through communicative cooperation.76 The main elements of this program were to bring alive the existing narrative paradigms of Afrikanerdom found in oral and written sources such as the grief poems discussed in chapter four. These were to be fleshed out through the revitalization of old monuments and erection of new ones, the development and popularization of what were claimed to be traditional Afrikaner folk songs, dances,

75 Translated by Jan Boesman, the current Chairman of the Broederbond, who kindly sent it to me by email on June, 8th. 2017. 76 This is similar to what Kenneth Burke talked about when he argued that communication is based on mutual cooperation (Burke, 1984: xlix). 191 complete with distinct forms of dress for festive occasions, and even the eating of

“traditional Afrikaner foods” (Moodie 1975; Bloomberg, 1989, pp.100-107).

6.3 The core idea behind the Broederbond’s communications strategy

To understand the development of Broederbond communications strategy and its propaganda techniques it is important to the recognize that from the beginning a number of important Broederbond leaders were clergy serving in the one of South

Africa’s three main Afrikaans churches.77 It is easy to dismiss such people as religious fanatics and to explain their involvement with Afrikaner Nationalism in terms of fundamentalism (Patterson, 1957; van Rensburg, 1962). However to do so is misleading and misunderstands both their goals and the development of their ideas. As

Lindie Koorts points out in her biography D. F. Malan and the Rise of Afrikaner

Nationalism (2014), many of these men were educated at Stellenbosch and in the

Netherlands. In both places, they came under the influence of liberal theology and the social gospel, not American fundamentalism (Koorts, 2014, pp.14-16, 42-44, 66).

It is also important to point out that many of these clergymen came from Cape

Liberal families and were pro-British before the Second Anglo-Boer War. Cape

Liberalism is the term used in South African history to describe people living in the Cape

Province who from the early to mid-nineteenth century developed “liberal” ideas about race relations and the need for both justice and the slow implementation of the franchise for non-whites. Many of these people were Afrikaners. Cape Liberalism is also

77 These are the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Dutch Reformed Church), which is by far the largest Afrikaans denomination with over 1,000,000 members today; the Hervormde Kerk (Re-formed Church), which has around 130,000 members today; and the Gereformeerde Kerke (Reformed Church) which has around 100,000 members today. For convenience, all three churches will be referred to as the DRC unless there is a need to identify one of the others for a particular reason. 192 associated with various well-known families like the Schreiners and Moltenos and people like John X. Merriman and F. S. Malan.78 The views of such people is often traced back to the influence of missionaries, particularly Dr. John Philip (Giliomee, 2003, pp. 243, 287).

What changed their attitudes was the brutality that they observed and sometimes experienced as they attempted to carry out their pastoral duties among poverty stricken families years after the conflict. Here the biography of Malan, which is representative of the views of many other clergy who became Afrikaner Nationalists, is highly informative.79

As a student in the Netherlands, future South African Prime Minister D F Malan read widely in European socialism and Marxism, but could never fully accept them. He appreciated their critique of capitalism, but felt they were both deficient in failing to take into account the way ideas shape people believing that “the individual’s character was at the core of every matter” (Koorts, 2014, pp.16, 49-50,102). This belief was reinforced when, like many other Afrikaans clergy, Malan worked among the destitute as a young

Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) pastor in Graaff-Reinet and other places (pp. 46-48, 55-

57, 60-64).

As a result, national regeneration and the lifting of people out of poverty began with a sense of worth that could be developed by creating a sense of pride in one’s people, language, and culture. Thus, education in one’s mother tongue was essential

(Koorts, 2014, pp. 77, 89). In his talks and articles “Malan made it clear that his

78 Not be confused with the Nationalist leader D. F. Malan 79 A check of the biographies of Broederbond leaders, particularly clergymen, in the South African Dictionary of Biography shows the same pattern coming up again and again see: de Kock, 1968, de Kock & Krüger, 1972, Krüger & Beyers, 1977, Beyer, 1981, & Beyer & Basson, 1987. 193 promotion of the Afrikaans language was not for linguistic reasons …” In his words, the promotion of Afrikaans was “…nothing less than an awakening of our nation to a feeling of self-worth …” (p. 62).

Here it is very important to recognize that Malan’s view about self-respect and the importance of the way people viewed their own situation was not unique to him.

Rather it was shared by many intellectuals and promoted in the new science of psychology about which Malan read avidly (Koorts, 2014, p. 60).

As a result, it shaped pastoral care in the DRC churches which had always seen caring for the poor as an important part of their mission and a task their ministers and elders were required to take very seriously. Now a new emphasis entered DRC thinking which was based on the idea that the poor needed to develop the will to help themselves (Davie, 2015, pp. 40-46).

This developed out of a form of the Social Gospel movement similar to what developed in North America.80 Thus, in the first few decades of the twentieth century it became widely believed that the poor were poor because they believed they were destined to poor. Therefore, the solution proposed by numerous scholars and authors was psychological regeneration as a basis for social change. In this, South African thinkers drew upon writers like William James and developed an attitude to life similar to that found in the American self-help “positive thinking” movements (Meyer, 1980, pp.

153-155, 211-213; Koorts, 2014, pp. 14-16, 42-44, 66).

80 Here it is worth noting that the teachings of Schleiermacher, who is known as “the father of modern theology,” were promoted by the Stellenbosch theologian Professor N. J. Hofmeyer who was Malan’s teacher. Schleiermacher’s ideas gave birth to theological liberalism and eventually through Walter Rauschenbusch, and others likeminded Americans, to the Social Gospel Movement (Rauschenbusch, 1917, pp. 20-28, 92-93, 124-126). It is also significant that Schleiermacher’s work was closely linked to the rise of German nationalism (Moxnes, 2012, pp. 62-90). 194

Here it is worth noting that Malan was strongly influenced by the Dutch theologian J. J. P. Valeton Jr. who befriended him as a graduate student in the

Netherlands, had no problem accepting higher criticism of the Bible and the theory of evolution embraced this type of theology which were the hallmarks of theological liberalism (Koorts, 2009; Becking, 2013). Valeton’s influence is reflected in Malan’s famous slogan “Believe in God, believe in your People, believe in yourself” which was adopted by the Broederbond and other Afrikaner Nationalists to communicate their central ideas (Malan, 1959, p. 9; Koorts, 2012, pp. 58-59).This catchy phrase, which echoes American positive thinking and was part of the Social Gospel movement, was adopted by the Broederbond and other Afrikaner Nationalists to communicate their central ideas (Koorts, 2012, pp. 58-59).

The arguments presented by Malan and likeminded Afrikaner intellectuals found support in the Carnegie Commission Report on Poor Whites in South Africa (1932).

Volume Two included a long section that identified the cause of poverty with the lack of self-esteem and low self-respect of poor whites. In other words, it made it very clear that poor whiteism was, as many already believed, in part a psychological problem

(Albertyn, et al, 1932-II, pp.1-87).

Once this idea took root the big question was how to communicate it in such a way that it changed people’s lives. How could ideas developed by intellectuals take root among ordinary Afrikaners who were worn down by poverty and despair? Here the

Broederbond began to innovate and develop what became a very powerful campaign of cultural communications.

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6.4 Establishing Afrikaans as the basis of Afrikaner identity

After the Broederbond stabilized itself as an organization around 1925 it began seeking ways to implement the vision of its founders. Their aim was to regenerate Boer society through creating pride among Afrikaners in their distinct language and nationality. The first major step towards creating this sense of peoplehood was the establishment of the FAK, in 1929, which was mentioned earlier. It was created as an affiliated organization and public face of the Broederbond (Vatcher, 1965, pp. 89-92).

Following a series of discussions, the FAK was formally founded at the Taal en

Kultuurkongres, or Language and Culture Conference, which was initiated by the

Broederbond and held in Bloemfontein on 18th and 19th December 1929. The close tie to the Broederbond is clear from the fact that I. M. Lombard, who was the current secretary of the Broederbond was also appointed secretary of the FAK (Pelzer 1980, pp. 119-120; Moodie, 1976, pp.106-109).81

Following its creation, the FAK was tasked with creating a sense of pride among former inhabitants of the defeated Boer states of the South African Republic and the

Orange Free State, as well as people who identified with them in the Cape Colony and

Natal, many of whom were identified as “poor whites” (Giliomee, 2004, pp. 315-354). In other words, these were people who identified themselves with the early Dutch settlement at the Cape and the subsequent expansion of Dutch speaking peoples along the Cape coast and into the interior of South Africa. Colloquially, these people were known as Boers, or farmers, but from early in the nineteenth century the term

“Afrikaner” had gradually come into use. Now the Broederbond and FAK sought to gain formal, or governmental, recognition for the Boers as Afrikaners and their language

81 The FAK website is: http://www.FAK.org.za/ 196

Afrikaans rather than Dutch, which in practice was only used in churches and for legal purposes (pp.347-348, 356-357, 359; Pienaar, 1943).

The steps taken by the FAK to develop a unique sense of an Afrikaans culture followed closely the action plan contained in the Broederbond’s constitution. Its first project was establishing a committee to choose a national song that could be sung alongside the British National Anthem, “God Save the King.” This had been imposed on the Union of South Africa after its creation in 1910 and replaced the old Boer anthems of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State. As a result, singing it reminded the inhabitants of the two former republics that they had lost the Second-

Anglo Boer and were therefore a subject and not a free people.

In 1936 the committee announced the adoption of a poem by Cape author, journalist, and politician, C J Langenhoven (1883-1932), Die Stem van Suid-Afrika (The

Call of South Africa), as the official Afrikaner anthem (Pelzer, 1980, pp. 99-100). Die

Stem was written in 1918 and set to music by the Revd. M. L. de Villiers (1885-1977) in

1919. From the beginning, even the staunchest critics of Afrikaner Nationalism admitted it was the hauntingly beautiful tune. What is amazing is the speed with which this song caught on and established itself as the semi-official anthem of Afrikaans speaking people in South Africa. It was first recorded in London in 1926 when Betty Styne sang it for the Zonophon record label. Three years later it was used at an official flag raising event in Cape Town. Soon the habit of singing it at public events such as rugby games or cricket matches, concerts, theatre, and wherever the British anthem God Save the

King was sung took firm hold throughout South Africa even though it had no official status (Lüdemann, 2003; Schutte, 2015).

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All the available evidence suggests that the FAK did not have to push very hard for Die Stem to become a shadow national anthem and that even English South

Africans enjoyed singing it. To a large extent this was due to the fact that the national

African Broadcasting Company (ABC),82 which was created in 1927 by merging existing smaller local and provincial for-profit companies, began to play Die Stem alongside God

Save the King at the end of a day’s broadcasting. Although some English speakers resented this, Afrikaners began to see themselves as people who could take pride in their land (Rosenthal, 1974, pp.128-134; Lüdemann, 2003, pp.19-24; Teer-Tomaselli,

Tomaselli and Muller, 2001, pp. 23-33).83

By the early 1930’s the Afrikaner Nationalist narrative paradigm of the Great Trek and long struggle for survival against both Africans and the British, which was discussed in chapter four, was entrenched in South African Society. Yet many Afrikaners still failed to see its relevance for contemporary life. Even writers like Gustav Preller and C. Louis

Leipoldt, who helped establish it, continued to support General Smuts and his South

African Party which sought to mold Afrikaners and British into a common nation that would eventually include Blacks. The main opposition leader General Hertzog was not so enthusiastic about a common South African identity, but even he saw the need for something along those lines in the long term (Harrison, 1985, pp. 58-62).

Only men like D. F. Malan, members of the Broederbond, and the Potchefstroom

Calvinists stood against this vision and longed for the restoration of something like the

Boer republics while at the same time ending the poor white problem. The question

82 This was succeeded by the South African Broadcasting Corporation that was created in 1937 83 Surprisingly, Die Stem did not become the official National Anthem of South Africa until 1957 and remained in use until 1994 when it was sung alongside the equally moving anthem of the African National Congress Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa). Eventually, in 1997, the two existing anthems merged into one. (See: http://www.gov.za/about-sa/national-symbols/national-anthem). 198 these people faced was how to make their vision a reality. It was this issue that led the

Broederbond to initiate a program that went well beyond its increasingly successful efforts to end poverty among Afrikaners through economic initiatives (Bloomberg, 1989, pp. 58-62).

This program embraced the idea of making the Afrikaner narrative paradigm come alive in the lives of ordinary Afrikaners and using it to motivate them to support the National Party. To achieve their goal Broederbond intellectuals turned from relying mainly on the power of narrative paradigm as a story to the use of language, performance, and ritual action that made it an enacted reality and centered on the use of Afrikaans as a cultural language. Afrikaans, it was argued, had all the beauty of

Dutch and German and shared in their rich literary traditions. But, it also had the advantage of being a new language that developed with the evolution of a new people, the Afrikaners. In this narrative Afrikaners were a new race forged in the heat and hardship of Africa. They were White Africans whose survival was a miracle that deserved respect (Harrison, 1985, pp. 53-57).

Here one finds a blending of the Christian, and Dutch Calvinist, view of God’s providence with what was at the time the contemporary theory of evolution. Contrary to what critics argued, educated Afrikaners were not a backward people stuck in

Appalachian fundamentalism that denied the importance of science. Rather many

Afrikaners saw themselves as the product of evolution guided by God (Dubow, 1995, pp. 270-275). This appropriation of evolution to a religious and social cause reflects the influence of Malan and likeminded DRC ministers who trained under Professor N. J.

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Hofmeyr84 (1827-1909) at the Stellenbosch Theological Seminary. Such people had no problem embracing both the theory of evolution and Biblical Criticism (Thom, 1990, pp.

29-36).

To promote Afrikaans and Afrikaner culture the Broederbond stressed the importance of education (Colijn, et al, 1935, pp. 311-352; Greyling, 1941). In doing so they joined forces with the Potchefstroom Calvinists by arguing for “Christian National

Education” (CNE).85 This was something that even the more secular nationalists like the economist-philosopher Nicolaas Diederichs (1903-1978),86 the sociologist Geoffrey

Cronjé (1907-1992), and Piet Meyer (1909-1984), all of whom were strongly influenced by their time as students in Germany, could agree upon with their more religious fellow

Nationalists (Venter, 2009, p.21). It also had the advantage of attracting a significant number of Afrikaner parents many of whom spoke poor English.

In practical terms, this meant that Afrikaner children began to be educated in their home language of Afrikaans in schools where an emphasis was placed on

Afrikaner culture and history. Yet even this did not produce the enthusiasm for a distinct

84 His name is also sometimes spelt as Hofmeyer. As a theologian, he accepted biblical criticism but retained a pietistic enthusiasm based on the indirect influence of the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher’s (1768-1834) view of revelation as an expression of religious experience (Schleiermacher, 1799/1958). Therefore, he was able to incorporate a version of evolution into his theology which was then picked up by his students like Malan. 85 The idea of Christian-National Education originated in the Netherlands in the nineteenth century. From there they spread to South Africa but gained very little support. Then, following the Second Anglo-Boer War it was taken up by a group of former Boer leaders who were banned from participating in politics. But, as soon as the British began to negotiate and offered limited self-government in 1907 most of them quickly abandoned the idea and opted to support existing state schools where the main language of instruction was English. Subsequently, the idea was revived by General Hertzog when he founded the National Party and after a long struggle by the Nationalists was gradually accepted as part of the school system in all the provinces of South Africa (Vattcher, 1965, p. 84, 100-103; Bloomberg, 1989, p. 86-107; Marx, 2008, p. 166,206-211; Malherbe, 1977, p. 1-74). 86 Diederichs, who became the South African State President in 1975, studied in the Netherlands and Germany where he was a “close” friend of the Buddhist scholar, and active Marxist, Edward Conze (1904- 1979). If Conze is to be believed Diederichs was attracted to Buddhism (Conze, 1979, 66-70). 200

Afrikaner identity that members of the Broederbond sought to produce (Malherbe, 1925, pp. 223-482; 1977, pp.56-81).

6.5 Communicating an Afrikaner identity

To remedy this failure and get Afrikaans speaking people to embrace their

Afrikaner identity and supplement what was taught in schools the Broederbond, through the FAK, began to build on the success of Die Stem, by making a concerted effort to popularize what it called “traditional Afrikaans folk music.” This was done by encouraging people to teach songs that were said to reflect the history of the Afrikaner

People to their children. Therefore, they were encouraged to sing them in their homes as well as to form folk-singing groups that met in churches, schools, colleges and universities. These groups were soon established in villages, small towns, and cities throughout South Africa.

To facilitate this, the FAK began circulating song sheets and eventually issued its own songbook. This was the FAK-Volksangbundel (FAK People’s Songs) which first appeared in Bloemfontein on June 7, 1937 (Lüdemann, 2003; Styne, 2007). This work was edited by the Revd. Hugo Gutsche (1869-1957) the son of a German Baptist missionary who had studied in Halle, Leipzig and London before obtaining his doctorate from the University of Erlangen in Germany in 1914. He became the principle of an

Afrikaans school in Steynsburg and later Christina, Cape, before becoming a school inspector in 1923. After his retirement in 1929 he spent a year in Germany in 1934 and wrote textbooks for Afrikaans schools. Working closely with the poet A. G. Visser (1878-

1929) and composer Stephen H. Eyssen (1890-1981) he began work on collecting

201 folksongs. This led to the publication of the FAK-Volksangbundel in 1937 (Beyers &

Basson,1987, pp. 312-313).

The semi-official book of “traditional” Afrikaner folk songs produced by the Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurverenigning (Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Societies) to promote folk singing and dancing in the mid-1930’s. In the public domain. Image found on Bid and Buy at: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/295613066/F_A_K_volksangbundel_vir_suid_afri ka.html

Before the FAK-Volksangbundel was completed a small delegation was sent to

Europe to collect ideas about folk culture and locate folk songs that could be adapted for inclusion in the proposed book. Songs that seemed suitable were then translated into Afrikaans and presented as “traditional” Afrikaner songs. To English speaking

South Africans this procedure appeared absurd because the FAK was clearly importing

European songs that it then appeared to be presenting as things that Afrikaners had sung for centuries (Informant: Christoph).

Such a reaction fails to understand what members of the Broederbond and its cultural affiliate the FAK understood by Afrikaner culture. As Jan Bosman pointed out

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Afrikaners prided themselves on the fact that they were European-Africans. The land of their birth was South Africa where their ancestors had lived for three hundred years often in areas, like the Cape, which were not originally occupied by Black Africans.87

This made them African. On the other hand, they were also Europeans whose ancestors had migrated to South Africa from Europe. Therefore, they claimed to belong to the European cultural tradition. Consequently, to say that a European folksong was part of their heritage was in their view perfectly legitimate. In doing so they were appropriating songs that belonged to their heritage (Informant: Jan). In this way folksongs played an important role in maintaining an Afrikaner identity that was both

African and European.

Closely associated with folk singing was folk dancing, known as Volkspele, which was also promoted by the FAK and had its own associations (Patterson, 1957, pp. 268-

269). This movement was begun in 1912 by S.H. Pellissier (1887-1978) who worked his way through the education system of the Orange Free State from schoolteacher to

Director of Education, a post he assumed in 1926 and held until his retirement in 1948.

On February 28 1914, he founded the Folk Dancing (Volkspele) movement in Boshof in the Free State (WS-VS).88

87 Although bands of the Khoi Kho lived there before the arrival of either whites or blacks. 88 http://volkspele.co.za/avvb/; and https://boegels.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/afrikaner-culture-volkspele/ 203

The pictures above are of Afrikaner Folk Dancing, Volkspele. In the public domain at: Pinterest at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/515521488569101446/

This resulted from a study tour he made to Europe in 1912 with a fellow teacher

J.M. Meiring where he stayed for some time in Sweden. There they studied the trade instruction in schools. In their evenings they visited various local events including

Swedish Folk Dancing contests which made him realize the potential of such activities, which the Swedes called “games.” These festivities included the singing of folk songs for creating a sense of community and historical identity.89

Upon his return from Europe, Pellissier became the Deputy Head Master at the

Boshof High School where he introduced folk dancing as a form of what he called social

“games.” In doing so he translated Swedish folk songs into Afrikaans and adapted

Swedish dances for Afrikaners. He also took every opportunity to talk about the wonders of such games for the community and began writing about them as did one of his pupils, Wynand Theron. The first big event where a group of dancers performed in public was at a Sunday school picnic on February 28, 1914 when people travelled to a park area outside the town in ten ox-wagons in imitation of the Voortrekkers of old.

89 http://volkspele.co.za/avvb/; and https://boegels.wordpress.com/2008/01/31/afrikaner-culture- volkspele/ 204

This became the forerunner of Afrikaner folk festivals that became a central aspect of the Nationalist Movement. Later this type of activity was promoted and elaborated upon by the Broederbond and FAK which incorporated folk dancing, folk singing, and festivals, into the national celebrations and local celebrations they organized to mark events in Afrikaner history, the best known of which is the Symbolic

Trek of 1938 which is discussed in more detail below (Harrison,1981, pp. 103-113).

The impact of this was summed up by one an elderly Afrikaner who said

“sometime in the 1930’s … our teachers started talking about traditional Afrikaans folk dancing.” He expected that his parents would forbid him form joining in because as members of the Reformed Church they objected to dancing. But, to his surprise they were quite enthusiastic about it. His mother explained that she had read in Die

Huisgenoot (The Home Journal) that “Afrikaners had always danced, but ballroom dancing was wrong because it was an English invention intended to Anglicize the

Afrikaner.” Therefore, they were happy for him to learn folk dancing which she said,

“had been lost in the Concentration Camps and Second Anglo-Boer War.” Now he was told that Afrikaners could recover their heritage. As a result, his parents also went to folk dancing classes (Informant: Koos).

He added that folk dancing was “very exciting” and that eventually his mother

“scrambled together enough money to buy some cloth to stich us children traditional

Afrikaner clothing to wear when we went dancing.” As a result, folk dancing rapidly

205 spread through the local Afrikaner community and “all Afrikaners” in his small time participated, but “the English were left out” (Informant: Koos).90

The impact of such dancing was that to be an Afrikaner slowly came to mean that one was a Nationalist who took a pride in one’s identity and the achievements of the

Afrikaner people. In this way, over time, many Afrikaners developed confidence in themselves and their future.

Two books from the mid-1930s and early 1940’s promoting “traditional” Afrikaans dancing. In the public domain. Source: Bid or Buy: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/266088397/A_M_KOHLER_Reddingsdaadbond_ RDB_Volkspele_Handleiding_1941_Uitgawe.html

These events became highly personal as Afrikaners were encouraged to celebrate their own history by wearing what were said to be traditional costumes.

90 To put this in context ballroom dancing, which began in the late 1880s, and became something of a craze after 1900, was growing in popularity. This was dominated by English speaking South Africans who eventually consolidated their hold of the movement by organizing the South African Dance Teachers Association in the 1920’s (Green:2009; 2015). Ballroom dancing also had the additional problem in that it was very popular among Black Africans and other racial groups during this period (Ranger, 1975). From the Nationalist viewpoint, the problem with such dances was that they attracted young English speakers and that they had the potential of leading to what at the time were called “inter-racial marriages” by which was meant marriages between Afrikaners and English-speaking South Africans. Here it is important to note that in many instances when this happened the Afrikaner partner of such a marriage was ostracised by their community and often by their parents (Informant: Christoph).

206

Although eventually these could be bought in shops, they were often made by the mothers, wives, and girlfriends, of the participants for themselves and their loved ones.

To ensure that ordinary people got the costumes right numerous magazine articles and a number of books were published on the topic or “traditional Voortrekker clothing”

(Kestell, 1942) Thus, the entire community was mobilized through a series of interactions that turned narrative paradigms into lived experiences.

Above is the Tweede Trek (Second Trek) handbook on traditional Afrikaner clothing scanned from the original by Jeremy Hexham. This was a small pocket book of 127 pages written by Trudie Kestell (1854-1946) the wife of the Afrikaner Nationalist leader J. D. “Father” Kestell (1854-1941). The book cover was scanned by Jeremy Hexham is in the public domain. Next to it is a copy of the cover page of Die Huisgenoot from 1938 that is discusses “traditional” Afrikaner clothing. It is in the public domain and found on the Internet at: http://afrikander.com/tydskrif-voorblaaie-van/

In this newly created, or as its proponents claimed, rediscovered tradition even cooking became a ritual act of remembrance. As one informant explained:

All sorts of other things went along with folk dancing. For example, my mother

was a good cook who made a great lamb dish known as bobotie, as well as two

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great deserts known as melktert and koeksisters91 … sometime, when I was

eight or nine years old, my mother read about “traditional Afrikaans cooking” in

one of the popular Afrikaans magazines. It was probable Die Huisgenoot this

made her realize that she was a traditional Afrikaner cook, before that she was

just an ordinary cook. This gave her a sense of belonging and pride and it made

us proud too (Informant: Koos).

Once again, the popular belief was that all of these things were “forgotten” as a result of the Second Anglo-Boer War and the Anglicization policies of Lord Milner. Now

Afrikaners were rediscovering their heritage.

The oldest and most popular women’s magazine in Afrikaans, Die Huisgenoot from December 1938 and a “traditional” Voortrekker Recipe book from the early 1940’s. Both works are in the public domain and were obtained from the website Bid and Buy: http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/56404961/DIE_GROOT_TREK_Gedenkuitgawe_van_ die_Huisgenoot_Desember_1938_R5_begin.html

http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/item/168784622/VOORTREKKER_RESEPTE_TRADISION ELE_SUID_AFRIKAANSE_GEREGTE.html

91 These are popular South African foods. Bobotie is a minced lamb dish with a touch or curry added. Melkters is a milk tart, or pudding, while koedksisters defy description. They are a plaited pastry soaked in a syrupy juice that makes them very sweet. 208

Alongside these activities the Broederbond encouraged Afrikaners to make the focal point of celebrations like of the centenary of the Great Trek a monument of one sort or another. Where older monuments existed, they were renovated and usually expanded by the addition of small museums. Where there were no monuments, they built new ones like the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria which became the end point of the Symbolic Trek (Moodie, 1975; 175-196).

These celebrations were always linked to events in Afrikaner history and made real for future generations by the building of monuments (van der Merwe, 1913;

Boshoff, 1954; Heymans, 1986; Oberholster, 1972; du Preez, 1974; Snijders, n.d.;

Beukes, 1971). In these ways, the invented traditions of Afrikaner folk dances and songs became lived experiences that shaped people’s lives as similar traditions did in other parts of Africa (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983). The social impact was that through the adoption of “traditional dress,” dances, and folk songs, a visible boundary was created between Afrikaners and the other peoples of South Africa, particularly the

English.

Afrikaners were not only a family that shared a common heritage, but they were a distinct Volk, or people, separate from the peoples around them.92 The way social rituals such as these create distinct identities among one group of people while separating them from their neighbours was recognized by Kenneth Burke who argued that such reactions are a normal part of human life (1984b, pp. 263-273). As such they result from the terministic framework that shapes a person’s vision of life (1969b, pp 19-23). As such “Identification,” or personal identity, “is affirmed with earnestness precisely

92 Here the work of anthropologists Mary Douglas and Victor Turner throws light on how social rituals often involve the creation of barriers that separate as well as bind groups of people (Douglas, 1966; Turner, 1969; Striff, 2003) and develops ideas similar to those of Kenneth Burke. 209 because there is division” (p. 22). In this way the songs and dances of Afrikaner

Nationalism formed a powerful communicative system that took on meaning as

Afrikaners behaved in ways they believed their ancestors had behaved. In the process, they became committed nationalists under the careful guidance of the Broederbond and

FAK.

6.6 The return of the Voortrekkers

Probably the most successful cultural venture of the FAK, with Broederbond support, was the development of a youth movement similar to the Boy Scouts and Girl

Guides. Drawing upon the narrative paradigms associated with the Great Trek, this was known as the Voortrekkers. Although the origins of the movement predated FAK involvement they promoted it and guided its development.93

The Voortrekkers were first proposed as a youth group for Afrikaans speakers by the Rev. C. F. Visser in Bloemfontein in 1913. According to Afrikaner accounts he first attempted to have his group recognized as an Afrikaans speaking branch of the Boy

Scouts which were founded by Baden Powel (1857-1941) in 1907. The South African scouting organization apparently rejected this idea and insisted that either all Scout

Troops use English as their working language or withdraw their application for membership. As a result, the Voortrekkers, as an Afrikaans speaking group similar to the Scouts, eventually developed as a movement which came to rival the Scouts in

South Africa.

93 Die Voortrekkers youth group are found on the Internet at: https://voortrekkers.co.za/ Last accessed 15/11/2017. There is also a section on the FAK website devoted to the Voortrekkers found at: http://www.afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za/organisasies-se-geskiedenis/die-voortrekkers/ Last accessed 15/11/2017 210

The inability of the Scouts and Voortrekker organizations to cooperate is easy to understand once it is recognized that the Scouts were the product of a class based society that respected social hierarchy and Empire (Galt-Brown, 2002; MacDonald,

1993; Parsons, 2004). On the other hand, the Voortrekkers, although they shared many things with the Scouts, developed in a far more egalitarian society where developing the leadership skills of individuals was more important than respecting a distant King

(Informant: Piet).

After the founding of the FAK in 1929 another Bloemfontein cleric, Revd. N.J. van der Merwe, brought the idea of an Afrikaans youth movement similar to the Scouts to the attention of the FAK central committee and the Broederbond. After careful consideration, they decided to throw their weight behind the new movement (Beyers &

Basson, 1987, pp .802-805). As a result, a Foundation Committee for creation of a nationwide Voortrekker Youth Movement met in Pretoria on August 1st 1931. It was not until July 2nd 1933, however, that the movement was officially inaugurated. 94

From that point on the Voortrekkers became a key vehicle for the communication of Afrikaner Nationalism. It was in Voortrekker groups that Afrikaans folk songs were sung, stories were told about the Afrikaner past, and the narrative paradigm of Afrikaner

Nationalism acted out in the lives of thousands of children and young people. The

Voortrekkers youth movement also played a key role in the celebrations surrounding the

Symbolic Trek in 1938 (Pattterson, 1957, pp.38-40, 264-265; Bloomberg, 1989, pp.117-

122; Sparks, 2007, pp.167-170).

94 An official account of the history of the Voortrekkers as a youth group is found on the FAK-Voortrekker website at: http://www.afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za/organisasies-se-geskiedenis/die-voortrekkers/die-vastrappers/ Last accessed 15/11/2017. 211

Here it is very important to note that Jan Bosman, the current Chairman of the

Broederbond, argued that the Voortrekker Youth Movement was far more important than Afrikaans schools in promoting Afrikaner culture and identity because it shaped a new generation of Afrikaners who had the confidence and skills to change their world

(Informant: Bosman). This world changing aspect of the Voortrekker Youth Movement cannot be understood apart from the economic initiatives that the Broederbond and FAK launched alongside all their numerous cultural endeavors (Informant: Jan).

6.7 The importance of worldview thinking for Afrikaner Nationalists

The next step was to turn the use of Afrikaans, singing nationalistic songs, folk dancing, and the widely accepted narrative paradigms of Afrikaner history into a lived experience that was designed to embrace all Afrikaners living in South Africa

(Informant: Piet). This type of communication is discussed by Kenneth Burke in his now classic Permanence and Change (1984a). There Burke argues that motives are a key factor in human action and as such form part of a broader understanding of human actions that involves what he calls “motives” and “the framework of our Weltanschauung as a whole” (pp. 25-36).

What he means by these terms is not exactly clear as noted in chapter three and by various scholars of rhetoric (Benoit, 1996). Nevertheless, his broader meanings are clear. Essentially Burke sees our mental states and actions bound together within broader frameworks that act like shaded sun glasses that affect the way we see the world. This is what the German term Weltanschauung, or in its English translation, worldview means.

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For this study the idea of a worldview is important because the Broederbond encouraged the promotion of Christian Nationalism as the “Afrikaner worldview”

(Greyling, 1941, pp. 24-25). By worldview they understood an all-embracing framework that went beyond ideology or narrative paradigms to embrace the whole of life (pp. 24-

25).

The roots of the term “worldview” go back to German philosophers writing in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (Naugle, 2002, pp. 55-67). Among

Afrikaner Nationalists, particularly the Potchefstroom Calvinists, the idea of worldview originated with the work of the Dutch theologian, Professor Abraham Kuyper (1837-

1820), who led a political movement and became the Dutch Prime Minister in 1901

(Vandenberg, 1960). His views found their clearest expression in his Princeton Lectures on Calvinism delivered at Princeton Seminary in 1898. There he discusses what he called religious “life systems” that are described in relation to science as a “world-view”

(Kuyper, 1898;1-45; 179).95 Kuyper opposed the Second-Anglo Boer War and taught many young Afrikaner Nationalists at the Free University of Amsterdam (Marx, 2008, pp.191-206).

As a result, while Afrikaner Nationalism developed several conflicting ideological expressions, such as “Christian Nationalism” and various forms of secular ideology, as various writers point out, the Broederbond minimized internal ideological conflicts within the movement (O’Meara, 1983, pp. 59-77; Marx 2008, pp. 212-228; Vatcher, 1965;

Bloomberg, 1889. It did this by creating an ethos where anyone who spoke Afrikaans

95 Since the 1960’s Kuyper’s ideas about worldview have gained increasing attention among American Christians on both the right and left of the political spectrum (Sire, 1976, 2004; Mouw, 2012; J Hexham, 2010) It was also used in South Africa by people like Beyers Naude and John de Gruchy to oppose apartheid (de Gruchy, 1986). 213 could easily identify as an Afrikaner and by definition a Nationalist.96 In this way the

Afrikaner Nationalist worldview created a sense of identification that made sense of the dire economic and living conditions prevailing among working class Afrikaners as a result of the suffering created by the Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902 (Louw, 2004, p.21; cf. Burke 1969, pp. xiii-xv, 19-46).

The concept of worldview was advocated in the 1935 theoretical publication Koers in Die Krisis (Direction in Times of Crisis) and popularized by the Tweed Trek (Second Trek) series of pocketbooks the first of which, Die Afrikaner, by P. J. Meyer (1909-1984) was published in 1940. The above pictures were scanned, from original books, by Jeremy Hexham in 2017. They are in the public domain.

The Broederbond leader behind the worldview based cultural offensive was

Henning Klopper (1895-1985), one of the organization’s founders and Chairman of the

Afrikaanse Taal en Kultururverenigning, or ATKV (Afrikaans Language and Cultural

Society), which was originally created for railway workers. As early as the mid-1920’s he came up with the idea of using the hundredth anniversary of the Great Trek to promote a consciousness of what it meant to be not simply an Afrikaner, but part of the Afrikaner

96 For a good discussion of the concept of worldview see Underhill, 2009, 2011, and Vidal, 2008. 214

People as a united community. He presented this idea to his fellow Broeders,97 but it took a long time before the idea gained general acceptance.

Finally, in 1931, under Klopper’s guidance the Broederbond through the FAK established a Sentrale Volksmonumentekommitee (Symbolic People’s Monument

Committee) to organize the centennial celebrations of the Great Trek. This was a stroke of genius which many scholars believe eventually led to the Afrikaner Nationalist election victory of 1948 by mobilizing people behind the Nationalist movement

(Harrison, 1985, pp. 99-100; Bloomberg, 1989, p. 120).

The start of the Second Trek was not too promising. The above picture shows the first ox wagon leaving Cape Town. But, it soon picked up momentum and became a national event. Photograph scanned by Jeremy Hexham from the book: de Witte, Teo (1939) Langs die Pad van Suid-Afrika, Pretoria, van Schaik, page 9, which is now in the public domain.

The aim of the FAK in doing this was to create a sense of Afrikaner identity through the commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Blood River and the events of the Great Trek in 1938. As Bloomberg rightly observes: “the

Voortrekker centenary celebration was one of the Broederbond’s greatest success. By

97 The term “Broeder,” or brother, was used for members of the Broederbond. 215 linking contemporary Christian Nationalism with the heroic Voortrekker ethos,

Broederbond activists gave a historical legitimacy to the new doctrine …” (Bloomberg,

1989, pp.117-118).

In the process of celebrating the Great Trek, which was given the name The

Second, or Symbolic, Trek, other events in Boer history were subsumed under its umbrella to provide a central focus for Afrikaans cultural movements (Vatcher, 1965, p.93; Moodie, 1975, pp.177-178; Marx, 2008, p. 267). All of these events are well known to historians and seen as decisive in engineering the ultimate Nationalist election victory in 1948 (Moodie, 1975, pp. 250-258, 281--282; Bloomberg, 1989, pp.117-118,

122; Marx. 2008, pp. 280-282).

What is surprising is that while numerous authors mention the fact that the

Symbolic Trek and surrounding events were crucial in the establishment of Afrikaner

Nationalism as a cultural and political force, none explain how this happened in any detail. Instead, after acknowledging the importance of the cultural movements they immediately switch to a discussion of the writings of Afrikaner Nationalist theorists, theologians, philosophers, poets, and writers (Wilkins & Strydom, 1978, pp. 97-107;

Harrison, 1985, pp. 99-108)

As result, the actual mechanisms used to transform the existing narrative paradigms, or political myths, into a broader movement to intended to create cultural engagement and a distinct Afrikaner identity are not explored (cf. Vatcher, 1965, p. 93;

Marx, 2008, pp. 176-190). Even Moodie, who provides the most detailed discussion of the Symbolic Trek and the key events surrounding it, does not explore the rhetorical and social impact of re-enacting the Trek as a social ritual (Moodie, 1975, pp.177-189).

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The Broederbond turned the Afrikaner narrative paradigm into a national ritual that itself created future rituals of a similar kind. The year-long celebrations of the Great

Trek culminated in the laying of the foundation stone for the national Voortrekker

Monument in Pretoria in 1938 which was opened ten years later and became Afrikaner

Nationalism’s most important symbol. Thus, as the events leading up to the Nationalist election victory on May 24, 1948 show, myths, rituals, and symbols envisioned by the

Broederbond and its affiliate organizations eventually played a major role in the defeat of General Smuts and his United Party which had been in office since 1933. They did so by motivating a significant number of people to support Dr Malan and his Reformed

National Party (Muller, 1981, pp.438-439, 462-465; Moodie, 1975, pp. 234-258; Furlong,

1991, pp.219-239).

Part of the massive camp set up for the laying of the foundation stone of the Voortrekker Monument. Photograph scanned by Jeremy Hexham from the book: de Witte, Teo (1939) Langs die Pad van Suid-Afrika, Pretoria, van Schaik, page 9, which is now in the public domain.

When we focus on the way this changed the lot of Afrikaners, transforming them from a downtrodden people to the dominant group in South Africa, we find a

217 communications process that is remarkably like the one described by Kenneth Burke in his various discussions of consubstantial identity. 98 This is because Afrikaner

Nationalists literally saw themselves as a big family that shared a common history and future. As a People (Volk) they were on their way to the creation of a new society full of hope and promise. All of this was rooted in the promotion of an Afrikaner identity through the development of a unique culture which was linked to the Symbolic Trek of

1938 (Paton, 1980, pp. 206-212; Informants: Koos & Piet).

6.8 Creating an Afrikaner high culture

Here it is important to recognize that the attitude of the FAK, and Afrikaner

Nationalists generally, towards music was not limited to folk songs. Although the promotion of folk songs was the cornerstone of their cultural offensive it is important to realize that this was only a small part of a much bigger program.

The theorists of Afrikaner Nationalism paid considerable attention to the development of European cultural activities which they sought to present as traditional forms of Afrikaner culture. As a result, funding was given to students to study classical music, composition, orchestral performance, opera, literature, poetry and the visual arts

(Muller, 2002; 2008; Schutte, 2014; Walton, 2004).

As with folk music, all of these activities were closely linked with the encouragement of local groups of enthusiasts throughout South Africa. Such developments are most clearly seen in the promotion of classical music and opera but

98 Here I wonder if the fact that Kenneth Burke first developed his ideas about worldviews and consubstantial identity in books like Permanence and Change (1935) written in the 1930’s was not influenced by ritual events in both Nazi Germany and South Africa. Although he makes no mention of Afrikaner Nationalism in his writings his thoughts seem to mirror what Malan and others put into effect which may reflect his broad reading and outlook. 218 also occurred in the other arts. As a result, even popular Afrikaans magazines were co- opted to promote European classical music and other forms of culture among Afrikaners

(Walton, 2004; Steyn, 2006; B Spies, 2014).

Here again churches and schools played a key role in the development of a sense of Afrikaners inheriting a variety of European cultures99 and the creation of their own unique culture in cities, towns, and even among people living in isolated rural areas

(Kloppers, 2002). The thrust of this was twofold. On the one hand Afrikaners were challenged to develop their talents and join local groups that practiced together and performed on special occasions. On the other professional groups were engaged to tour the cities, towns and remote areas to promote the arts, especially music and theatre, as part of what it meant to be an Afrikaner rooted both in African and European traditions

(Kreil 2010; Informant: Antje).

Apart from music, great emphasis was laid on authors touring the country to give readings from their books or to recite their poems as well as the production of children’s stories (du Plessis, 2010). At the same time, professional and semi-professional theatre groups were formed to tour South Africa bringing the joy of theatrical performance to the masses (Kruger, 1997). Similarly, the FAK placed great emphasis on developing

Afrikaner painting, sculpture, and architecture (van Eeden, 2008; Fisher and Clarke,

2010). All of these arts were deliberately brought into the service of the nationalist movement to create what they described as a wêreldbeskouing, weltanschuung, or worldview, that promoted Afrikaner identity (Meyer, 1940).

In all of this, the clergy of the three Dutch Reformed Churches, particularly the

Dutch Reformed Church itself, played a key role. Most English language commentators

99 Dutch, French, German and even British as well as Scandinavian. 219 attribute the enthusiasm of clergy for Afrikaans culture to their commitment to Calvinist forms of fundamentalism that rejected things like the theory of evolution and promoted biblical literalism (Vatcher, 1965, pp.110-112; Bloomberg, 1889, pp.1-30; Templin,

1984, pp.22, 261, 281-283, 306-314).

The problem with this apparently straightforward explanation of the rise of

Afrikaner Nationalism is that the Broederbond and FAK’s emphasis on culture, particularly high culture, is anything but fundamentalist. It really does not fit the reality of

Christian fundamentalism as it is known in North America where high culture was always suspect (Marsden, 2006). One of the characteristics of fundamentalism is its distancing itself from culture. Secular art, music, and literature were all seen as worldly distractions from the real Christian task of saving souls while opera was viewed as an incitement to sexual misconduct. Consequently, fundamentalists repudiated the arts

(Marsden, 2006, pp.153-164, 199-257; Callaway, 2013, pp.319-344).

Similarly, while Christian Fundamentalists, as opposed to Evangelicals, generally reject the scientific theory of evolution, most Afrikaner Nationalists, including members of the clergy, and those who explicitly promoted “Christian-Nationalism,” had no problem embracing forms of evolution (Dubow, 1995, pp. 67-74; 270-275). As mentioned earlier a case in point is the Revd. Dr D F Malan who became Prime Minister after campaigning for the implementation of apartheid. As a student at Stellenbosch

University he embraced Social Darwinism as a logical development of the scientific theory of evolution (Hale, 2011; 2013c; Koorts, 2014, p.66). This led him to see the traditional Christian and Jewish views of the Bible as outdated and to accept radical forms of Biblical Criticism originating from Germany but mediated by Dutch theologians.

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This resulted in a rationalized view of the Bible which in turn led him to promote what was known as "ethical theology" which replaced traditional beliefs with a belief in progress and a revelatory view of history and evolution of moral standards (Koorts,

2014, pp.66-70).

Here it is important to remember that Malan was far from alone in holding such views since all three DRCs insisted on high educational standards for their clergy.100 In other words, these were highly educated people in a society where the general level of education was low. Once ordained they then had to pass an ordination examination and be appointed to a church usually serving as an assistant minister for several years before taking on a congregation of their own (Informant: Piet).

Reading the biographies of these people one is struck by how often they completed their clerical training only to be sent to a fairly small town a long way from anywhere else. In such a situation, they and their wives, who were usually well educated themselves, joined the local lawyer, medical doctor, and to a lesser extent, school teachers as the only educated people in a relatively large area. It is perhaps the reality of this intellectual and cultural isolation rather than any supposed fundamentalism that turned these young men into promoters of cultural nationalism (de Kock, 1968, de

100 To become ordained candidates had to complete an undergraduate degree followed by a degree in theology at a South African university. In practice, for members of the DRC this meant Stellenbosh while member of the members of the Hereformeerde Kerk (Re-Formed Church), went to Pretoria University College, and Gereformeerde Kerk (Reformed Church) members to the Potchefstroom University College and Theological Seminary was the place to go. All three institutions maintained high standards and many of their students went on to do further study, often leading to a doctorate, in Britain, Germany, or the Netherlands while a few went to the United States of America. A study of the biographies of these people published in the five-volume Nationalist inspired, Dictionary of South African Biography which will be referred to as the DSAB (de Kock, Kruger, Beyers and Basson, 1968-1987) shows a very clear pattern of highly educated clergy and other Afrikaners returning to South Africa from studying overseas who became leaders of the movement to create an Afrikaner cultural Nationalism. 221

Kock & Krüger, 1972, Krüger & Beyers, 1977, Beyer, 1981, & Beyer & Basson, 1987.;

Informants Antje & Christoph).

Whatever the reason there can be no doubt that a relatively large number of men and women spread across South Africa, frequently living in small relatively remote communities, became composers, writers, and promoters of both culture and education among largely uneducated people. What these people shared is that, with a few exceptions, the lived in relatively isolated areas although they often travelled to larger centers, and in many cases, began life as bi-lingual South Africans who were pro-

British. Then, as the result of a traumatic experience or rejection they slowly became ardent Afrikaner Nationalists (de Kock, 1968, de Kock & Krüger, 1972, Krüger & Beyers,

1977, Beyer, 1981, & Beyer & Basson, 1987).

Here the example of the writer C. J. Langehhoven, who was mentioned earlier in connection with Die Stem, provides a good case study. Although a Cape Afrikaner by birth he was largely educated in English and was decidedly pro-British as a student and young attorney. In 1901, he was given the job of acting as defense council for a group of frontier Boers who had sided with rebels and the armies of the Orange Free State and South African Republic at the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War. For a variety of reasons Langenhoen felt that the trial was a travesty that paid no attention to the fact that most of the accused hardly spoke any English and were often closely related to members of the Boer Commandoes that they helped feed and to whom they had given shelter. After it, he resigned from his legal position with the British authorities and became increasingly sympathetic to Afrikaner Nationalism because of what he saw

222 as British brutality and Imperialism (de Kock, 1968, 459-465; Kannemeyer, 1996, pp.

225-226).

In all of this, as Charla Schutte observes, what the Nationalists were doing was remarkably similar to what happened in the Soviet Union, and later the German

Democratic Republic (DDR), where the arts were used to cement the ideology of communism (Schutte, 2014). What is amazing about the activities in South Africa as opposed to the centralization of culture in the DDR is its development under the guidance of the FAK. Rather than funneling everyone into one or two organizations the

FAK literally supported the creation of hundreds of cultural groups and organizations all of which promoted the sub-text of Afrikaner identity and the unity of the Afrikaner Volk

(Vatcher, 1965, p. 90; Bloomberg, 1989, pp. 54-57; Marx, 1998, pp. 165-166).

6.9 The Broederbond’s war on poverty

The situation facing the leaders of the newly reorganized Broederbond in 1925 was bleak with widespread unemployment and poverty among Afrikaners as was shown in detail earlier in this chapter.101 As the Carnegie Commission recognized in 1932 “By far the greater majority of the poor whites are Afrikaans-speaking.” (Albetyn, et al, 1932, p. 1).102

The Broederbond recognized this problem and, in addition to its cultural programs to change the mentality of the poor and provide them with the vision of a

101 Johan Fourie points out that the Carnegie Commission’s figures show that 17.% of Afrikaners were “very poor” in the period 1929-1930 and that this figure excluded around 100,000 Afrikaners who lived on their own farms in very bad conditions (Fourie, 2006, p. 2). 102 Although they did not give any statistics all of my Afrikaner informants mentioned the poverty following the Second Anglo-Boer War. Koos and Piet were highly emotional about the poverty of their own families while Antje was equally emotional about the poverty she witnessed among members of her father’s congregation. 223 better future, initiated a series of practical solutions to help families living in poverty.

This involved creating local and national institutions that were capable of improving the economic prospects of ordinary people.

To suggest that the Broederbond was a charitable organization that waged a war on poverty sounds almost bizarre in light of the exposés published by its critics from the late 1930’s to the 1980’s. Nevertheless, the evidence presented by the critics themselves suggests that its charitable activities motivated by the reality of extreme poverty among Afrikaners were one of the main reasons for its remarkable success.

From 1929 onwards the Broederbond began launching an extensive program of economic renewal. This included working with existing Afrikaner organizations, particularly women’s aid groups, and the founding either directly or indirectly of literally hundreds of organizations aimed at alleviating poverty (Vatcher, 1965, pp. 92-96;

Serfontein, 1979, pp.37-38, 287-290; Wilkins and Strydom, 1978, pp. 418-429;

Giliomee, 2003, pp .435-439).

The economic initiative was formally launched in 1931 when the Central

Committee of the Broederbond brought in an economic policy and held an

“extraordinary” meeting known as the Economic Bondraad, or Economic Council, in

November 1931 (Serfontein, 1979, p. 37). Thus, contrary to Marx’s statement that “the

Economic Movement was a direct result of the Carnegie Report,” and the argument that the economic movement did not really take off until 1939, it was well underway a decade earlier and a year before the publication of the Carnegie Commission Report

(Marx, 2008, p. 288).

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Initially, the Broederbond simply gave support to existing Afrikaner aid organizations like the Mutual Aid Organization, (Helpmekaar Vereniging) which was formed in the wake of the defeat of the 1914 rebellion, or as Afrikaners call it “armed protest movement” (Harrison, 1985, pp. 62-64, 89). It also supported the National Press

(Nationale Pers) established in 1915 which went on to create its own bookstore chain in

1917. An Afrikaans insurance company Sanlam, which was founded in1918, was also among the early Afrikaans organizations promoted by the Broederbond in the economic realm (Giliomee, 2003, pp. 387, 435).

Later, other institutions such as an Economic Institute, (Ekonomiese Instituut), the Rescue Action Society (Raddingsdaadbond), and the Afrikaans Commercial

Institute (Afrikaanse Handelsinstituut), were added throughout the 1930’s (Giliomee,

2003, pp. 387-388, 438-439). Arguably the most important of these economic initiatives and projects was the creation of Volkskas, or People’s Bank, established in 1933 (pp.

435-436). This was very similar to the Alberta Treasury Branch103 established in by the

Social Credit Government in 1938 (Hutchinson & Burkitt, 1997; ATB, 199).104

Apart from these very public commercial endeavors the Broederbond initiated numerous acts of kindness, short term help, and support for an unknown number of very poor Boers who were facing economic disaster at the local level. These acts were carried out by local branches of the Broederbond and their members who were asked to create and donate to a relief fund. Since they were the better off members of the

103 See: http://www.atb.com/about/Pages/our-history.aspx Last accessed 15/11/2017. 104 In fact, there was a branch of Social Credit in South Africa during the 1930’s but there appears to be no record of its activities. The movement was founded by Major C. H. Douglas (Swamm, 1971, pp.1-46) whose works seem to have circulated among Afrikaners in the late 1920’s, raising some interesting questions about possible global entanglements (e.g. Douglas, 1920). In Alberta, Social Credit was led by William Aberhart (Elliot & Miller, 1987).

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Afrikaner community, clergymen, doctors, lawyers, and teachers, with regular incomes their generosity made a big impact on local communities (Informant: Koos).

To a large extent this type of aid remains unrecorded while at the same time it made a deep and lasting impression in local communities. For example, informant Piet is a successful business man from an Afrikaans family. When asked about the

Broederbond as a think tank he told the following story:

In the 1950’s my father had a low paid job with a local firm where being an

Afrikaner was looked down upon by the English-speaking owners. We were three

children and so poor my parents could only afford to buy us one pair of shoes

each. During one particularly cold winter my shoes disintegrated and were

beyond repair. Our parents decided we share the remaining two pairs of shoes

even though they didn’t fit us all very well. We took turns going to school. Then, a

week or so later out of the blue a small parcel was delivered to our home. It

contained a sturdy pair of shoes that fit me very nicely and contained a note that

read: “A gift to a family in need. When times improve remember this and help

other members of your Volk. The Local Broederbond.” (Informant: Piet)

Piet’s family were astonished and immensely grateful. They knew about the

Broederbond and had read about it in the newspapers, but this was their first encounter with the organization. The parents and children never forgot this gift and from then on

“knew” that it was their duty to support the National Party. Now they became proud of being Afrikaners and fully supported the government because they knew the

Broederbond helped guide the nation.

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This story may sound like kitsch, but it is true. Piet, who told it, had tears in his eyes and said that he had never spoken about it outside of his family. The second story is similar:

My grandfather’s family were living on a farm that they had bought over almost

thirty years earlier. They had always paid their mortgage on time and the debt on

the farm was very low. Nevertheless, with the onset of the depression they

simply could not pay it. The bank threatened them with foreclosure. All the years

of work and the investments they had made in terms of both money and labor

was about to be lost and they were faced with the possibility of becoming tenants

on their own farm. Then a few days before the payment deadline a plain

envelope was delivered in the mail containing a letter from the Broederbond and

a cheque that gave them enough money to pay off the mortgage with just enough

left over to get the on their feet again … Before this my grandparents were

sympathetic to the nationalists … but were not very committed to the cause.

Afterwards they joined the Reformed National Party and became staunch

supporters of Dr. Malan because they knew its leaders really cared for ordinary

people like themselves. (Informant: Koos).

He went on to say that after about ten years the economic situation changed, and the family became relatively well off. Then his grandfather received a second letter from the Broederbond “that very politely asked him to consider making small donations to a local charity to aid poor Afrikaners until he had paid back the amount of the money they had given him to pay off the mortgage.” This he was very happy to do. Around five

227 years later, a year or so after the full amount was repaid, his grandfather was invited to join the local Broederbond which he “was delighted” to accept. Now he too could work for the uplifting of the poor.

What this story shows is that in a certain way charity work, when it is a systematic part of an organization’s policy, can be used to communicate a message.

Here the message that the Broederbond, and by implication Afrikaner Nationalists, cared for the poor and people in need was communicated by a gift. No one had to spell out the meaning of the gift. People were left to draw their own conclusions about that.

Both stories throw a completely new light on the Broederbond to that usually found in English language publications. Instead of being a manipulative political movement they show that in the experience of many Afrikaners it was dedicated to social welfare and rescuing Afrikaners from poverty. One of the striking things about the way these stories were told is that both informants said that at the time of these events their families “knew” that they “could not talk openly about what had happened.” These were “not things to be shouted from the rooftops” for all to hear. Nevertheless, they knew that they “had a duty” to tell friends and relatives “who were Afrikaners.”

(Informants: Koos & Piet).

By implication, and something that my informants confirmed when asked, they were not expected to tell English speaking South Africans no matter how friendly they might be with them. This was “a family thing” and was treated as such. Therefore, one informant said that their family “whispered” these stories to “people they could trust” which meant fellow Afrikaners. In these admissions, we see the formation of a sense of

228 community which helps explain why after the gifts were received both families became

“strong supporters of the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement.”105

There can be little doubt that the practical programs organized by the

Broederbond to raise poor Afrikaners out of poverty had a long-term impact. But, these programs alone do not explain the movement’s success. Most important of all was the changing of attitudes and Malan’s insistence that Afrikaners learn to “believe” in themselves. This belief was communicated by the cultural propaganda discussed earlier.

6.10 Conclusion

It is easy for English speakers, particularly those from liberal backgrounds, to dismiss the cultural activities of the Broederbond and FAK as symptoms of a latent

Nazism or simply a fantastic nostalgia for the past. To do so overlooks the degree to which they enabled Afrikaner Nationalists to lead a poor, downtrodden, people from abject poverty to become an economic success.

Together the Broederbond and FAK created an economic miracle based on the mobilization of the Afrikaners. It is true, they ignored Black Africans, but in their view, they did not exploit them “anything like English speaking capitalists” (Informant: Kurt).

What made the Afrikaner economic miracle different is that through their cultural communications the Broederbond and FAK, along with their numerous affiliate organizations, inspired Afrikaner like academics, clergymen, doctors, government employees, lawyers, school teachers, to donate part of their income to economic

105 Here it needs to be noted that some academics are beginning to explore the importance of whispering and secrecy in society. This type of study is not very well developed and something I hope to explore in the future. See: Cirrillo and Todt (2005) and Herdt, (2003). 229 projects aimed at overcoming poverty and creating work. Then they co-opted ordinary workers with low paid jobs to do the same on the grounds that every contribution counted, and such donations drew people together in a common cause (de Klerk, 1975, pp. 280-296; Marx, 2008, p.290).

It is for these reasons that veteran South African journalist, and staunch opponent of apartheid Allister Sparks, who is highly critical of the Broederbond and its role in apartheid, concedes: “The Broederbond is a remarkable organization, perhaps unequalled in the world ...” it uplifted “the Afrikaner people” launching “some ten thousand Afrikaner businesses between 1939 and 1949” and many after these dates”

(Sparks, 2007, pp.174-175).

None of this exonerates the leaders of the Broederbond, particularly in the years after the National Party’s election victory of 1948, in helping create and maintain apartheid. But, it does show that one must not read history backwards and in this case, it is important to recognize that the oppression of Black South Africans was not the original intent of the founders of the Broederbond. Therefore, there are things to be learnt from their remarkable success which may help people in the future to create successful programs of to alleviate poverty in other places.

The success of the Broederbond in shaping the South African political landscape for over fifty years provides a clear example of the power of a think tank to influence the political process yet it is a process that is difficult to measure. It is also an interesting example of the way an organization can promote identification with ideological, mythic, and worldview thinking, based on a desire to effect social change among a group of people who are identified as the victims of history.

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What is surprising about the Broederbond is that sometime in the 1970’s it began to transform itself from an Afrikaner organization, that after 1948 under the leadership of

Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-1966)106 came to promote hard-line apartheid, into one that encouraged change, and eventually the release of Nelson Mandela. Thereafter it worked hard to create the new South Africa. This is another story that involved a new generation of Afrikaner intellectuals, like F. W. de Klerk, Herman Giliomee, Andre du

Toit, D. J. Strauss, traditional Kuyperian Calvinists based in Potchefstroom, and others many of whom were more influenced by Christian teachings than nationalist ideology

(Giliomee, 2003, pp. 487-541, 635-666).

Thus, an organization that from 1948 onwards developed a racist society gradually guided Afrikaners towards a non-racial society (Munger, 1979, pp.168-170;

Giliomee, 2003, pp. 621-622; Wren, 1990; Sly 1993). Subsequently the Government of

Nelson Mandela recognized it as “the Afrikaner organization with which it preferred to work” (Giliomee, 2003, p. 660; Ottaway, 1993; Boehmer, 2008; Zucchino, 1990).

106 Who was Professor of Psychology at Stellenbosch University before becoming the editor of the hard- line Nationalist Newspaper Die Transvaaler founded in 1937and later, under Malan, Minister of Native Affairs. He became Prime Minister of South Africa in 1958 and was assassinated in 1966 (Hepple, 1967). 231

Chapter Seven

The Tragic Success of the South African Institute of Race Relations

7.0 Introduction

This chapter has the following sections:

7.0 Introduction 7.1 The origins of the SAIRR 7.2 Establishing credibility for the Institute’s communications 7.3 The communications strategy of the SAIRR 7.4 The SAIRR’s embrace of rational-scientific communications 7.5 Years of hope and progress 7.6 Gotterdammerun 7.7 The SAIRR use of cultural communications 7.8 The triumph of the SAIRR’s Fabian gradualism 7.9 Conclusion

Founded in 1929 by a group of young academics in Johannesburg with the encouragement of the American Phelps-Stokes Fund, the aim of the South African

Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) was to investigate and improve cooperation between South Africa’s many racial groups. Influenced by the Fabian Society, they chose a research based rational-scientific communications strategy which for the first nineteen years was increasingly successful (Brookes, 1977, p. 41). Then a new government, promoted by a highly successful cultural communications campaign organized by the Afrikaner Broederbond, came to power in 1948. The SAIRR members’ vision of a new South Africa was abandoned overnight and the long struggle against apartheid began. Ultimately, the SAIRR’s gradualist Fabian approach and fact based arguments won the day but only after a long period of painful struggle.

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7.1 The origins of the SAIRR

Like the Fabian Society and the Afrikaner Broederbond, the South African

Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) originated thorough informal meetings of friends and acquaintances. These people were concerned about the state of race relations and the development of African society in South Africa. Where the SAIRR differed from the two earlier think tanks is that from the beginning it was firmly entrenched in an academic environment.

Although not all of its members and supporters were academics, the core founding members were, and the majority of these academics were faculty at the

University of the Witwatersrand.107 From its foundation, the University of the

Witwatersrand strove to establish a world class institution that combined high level technical education with a first-class arts and humanities program. Consequently, it hired young academics who were committed to teaching, research, and publishing. It was out of this group that the SAIRR developed (Murray, 1982).

The catalyst for the creation of the SAIRR appears to have been a growing sense of retrograde laws and government policies towards Black South Africans. Here it is important to recognize that from 1853, non-White residents of the Cape Province, which was ruled by Britain, had a limited form of the franchise based on educational qualifications and property ownership (Trapido, 1964; Giliomee, 2004, pp. 117-122).

The situation in the two Boer Republics was totally different and neither the

Orange Free State nor the South African Republic (SAR), which was generally known as “the Transvaal,” granted any political rights to non-Whites. Indeed, one of the causes

107 The University of the Witwatersrand, or Wits as it became known, was founded in Johannesburg in 1922 as the first independent teaching university outside of the Cape.

233 of the Second Anglo-Boer War was the refusal of the government of the SAR under

President Kruger (1825-1904) to grant the franchise to recent White immigrants who moved there to work on the gold mines (Davenport & Saunders 2000, pp. 194-232).

With the defeat of the Boer Republics in 1902 the British Government imposed direct imperial rule until 1907 when a new Liberal Government in London relaxed the conditions of British occupation. This was followed by a long series of negotiations and a National Convention that resulted in the establishment of the Union of South Africa on

May 31, 1910. Although members of the African National Congress, supported by various Christian Missions, lobbied the British Government to include Black Africans and other non-White residents108 in the franchise of the soon to be created Union of

South Africa, their efforts were ignored. Worse still restrictions were placed on the existing Cape franchise which was not extended to other parts of the new state and things gradually began to get worse for non-Whites (Davenport and Saunders, 2000, pp. 233-264).

Cape Liberals and other like the Transvaal politician Jan Hofmeyr strongly objected to these new measures but to no avail (Paton, 1964). As a result, over time, a growing number of Government Acts were passed that gradually restricted the freedom and opportunities for all of South Africa’s indigenous peoples as well as the large and growing population of Indians living in places like Natal (Walker, 1964, pp. 538-607). 109

108 Which meant so-called “Cape Coloureds” or people of Malay origin, people of mixed race, and Indians (Marais, 1962). 109 At the time of the creation of the Union of South African many Liberals, particularly those living in the Cape, convinced themselves that in time the so-called “Cape franchise” would slowly spread to other parts of the new Union. They were sadly mistaken and the reverse began to happen as new government laws and regulations gradually restricted the rights of non-Whites. For example, things began to get worse with the Works Act, which was passed in 1911 at the urging of General Hertzog and which enshrined in law what until then had been an informal colour bar that restricted certain types of skilled labour in the Witwatersrand mines to Whites by prohibiting the training and employment of Africans in 234

Against the background of a deteriorating racial situation the American Phelps-

Stokes Fund sent a small delegation led by Dr Thomas Jesse Jones (1873-1950) and the distinguished American Black leader Dr J E K Aggrey (1875-1927) on a fact-finding mission to South Africa in 1921. After establishing contact with known South African

Liberals, including the Wits academics,110 a series of inter-racial contact groups, known as Joint Councils of Europeans and Africans, were established throughout the country.111 Jones returned to South Africa twice more in the 1920’s to establish an overarching body to coordinate the work of local Joint Councils. This body became the

South African Institute of Race Religions (SAIRR) founded in Johannesburg on May

9,1929112 as “the first national multiracial organization in South Africa.” (Brookes, 1977, p. 39; Hellmann, 1979, p. 7).

From the beginning the SAIRR relied on a large number of volunteers who over the years formed the backbone of its work and number of prominent African intellectuals worked closely with the Institute (Hellmann, 1979, pp. 4-7). These included Professors

these positions. This was followed in 1913, again at the urging of General Hertzog and his supporters, by the passing of the Natives Land Act which set aside certain areas for African use. It regulated African land tenure and created a tax system that had the effect of encouraging Xhosa men to find employment on White owned commercial farms. This new Act went a step further than its Cape predecessor by prohibiting the ownership of land in “white” rural areas and preventing Africans from buying land outside of the designated areas laid out in the Act. 110 There they worked closely with Charles T. Loram, (1879-1940), and J. D. Rheinallt Jones (1884-1953) to develop interracial councils similar to those found in America. 111 The first of these was the Johannesburg Joint Council of Europeans and Africans established in 1921. In the next decade, a total of thirty European-African Councils were established throughout South Africa as well as three European-Indian and one European-Coloured Council in Cape Town. Until the early 1950’s, over eighty such Joint Councils were set up. 112 The Institute was founded with a grant from the American Phelps-Stokes Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to the "education of Negroes, both in Africa and the United States, North American Indians, and needy and deserving white students" (http://archives.nypl.org/scm/20936). Later it received funding from the Carnegie Corporation before it managed to raise support in South Africa. Initially it had a small staff, which grew over the years until in 1979 it supported 77 staff, most of whom were researchers, and had a paid-up membership of 4,089 (Hellmann, 1979, pp. 6-8). 235

D. D. T. Javavu and Z. K. Matthews, as well as Drs. W. F, Nkomo and A. B. Zuma

(Hellmann, 1979, pp. 8).

Two years after its creation the Council of the SAIRR adopted a constitution that described its mission as:

1) To work for peace, goodwill, and practical co-operation between the various

sections of the South African population.

2) To initiate, support, assist and encourage investigations that may lead to a

greater knowledge and understanding of the racial groups and of the relations

that subsist or should subsist between them.

(Hellmann, 1979, pp. 4).

To achieve these goals the Institute adopted policies based on Fabian gradualism. As

Ellen Hellmann points out:

The Institute commenced its work with neither a pre-conceived programme nor

ready-made policy. It believed in the pursuit of the truth as a value in itself …

[and] recognized the inherent worth and dignity of every human being … [while] it

affirmed the values of democratic society … (Hellmann, 1979, p. 9).

These objectives and the means to achieve them have remained essentially unchanged until the present. To date no book and very few academic articles have been written about the SAIRR. Furthermore, no one has examined its communications strategy.

7.2 Establishing credibility for the Institute’s work

The founders of the SAIRR viewed credibility in terms of rational arguments, evidence, and scientific investigation. Therefore, they placed great value on the

236 academic credentials of their members and the conformity of the arguments they presented to the academic standards of the time. This meant peer review and the use of generally accepted scientific practices. In this way, as was seen in the previous chapter, they positioned themselves in sharp contrast to Afrikaner Nationalists and Broederbond leaders who based their credibility upon cultural identity and recognition as members of the Volk.

To understand this better a short summary of the biographies of the key figures in the development of the SAIRR is helpful. Under the short-lived leadership of Dr

Loram,113 and guidance of Rheinallt Jones,114 whose name became synonymous with the SAIRR during its early years, the Institute began by initiating various research projects and cultivating its image as an organization that based its proposals on scientific research. In doing so it communicated the message that race relations needed urgent attention.

Both men were firm believers in the power of the social sciences and rational discourse as a way of changing public opinion. Therefore, they invested their talents and those of their associates in gathering information and evidence that they believed would change White South African attitudes towards their Black compatriots. Behind

113 Charles Loram (1879-1940) was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa and educated at Maritzburg College before going to the University of Cambridge where he came into contact and was influenced by members of the Fabian Society. He obtained his PhD in 1917 from Columbia University of The Education of South African Natives. After returning to South Africa he became the Chief Inspector of Native Education in Natal and was a member of the South African Native Affairs Commission established by General Jan Smuts in 1920. He became the Chairman of the newly founded SAIRR in 1929. Two years later (1931) he accepted the post of Professor of Education at Yale University in America (Davies, 1976). 114 John David Rheinallt Jones (1884-1953) was born in Llanrug, Wales, and educated at a local grammar school. He moved to South Africa in 1904 for health reasons and was employed by a Bank. In 1915 he became the editor of the South African Quarterly and was made secretary of the Council of Education for the Witwatersrand in 1919. As such he played a key role in the creation of the University of the Witwatersrand, popularly known as Wits, which was founded in 1922 where he became the Registrar. He was given an honorary MA by the University of Natal in 1931. At Wits he established the African Studies Department and helped found the SAIRR in 1929 serving as its President on several occasions (Anon, 1953). 237 their attitudes lay the influence of “British Fabianism” from which they had “absorbed” the idea of “’value-neutral’ social research” (Davie, 2015, pp. 61, 66-67). Consequently, the Joint Council movement was “in conversation” with, not only Americans like those connected to the Phelps-Stokes Fund, but also “British Fabian socialists” (Davie, 2015, pp. 72-73; Jones, 1926).

From the beginning Loram and Jones were assisted by four exceptionally talented and very able individuals. These were the political scientist Edgar Brookes

(1897-1979)115 the internationally respected philosopher Alfred Hoernlé (1908-1982),116 his wife Winifred Hoernlé (1885-1960),117 and her student Ellen Hellmann (1908-

115 Edgar Brookes was born in England he was taken to South Africa by his parents who immigrated in 1901. After attending the newly established Maritzburg College he worked as a customs officer while studying in the evenings and as a distance education student for a BA followed by an MA through the recently created Natal University College and University of South Africa. He specialized in classics, history and political science (Brookes, 1977, pp. 1-5; Webb, 1979, pp. 39-41). He was awarded his MA in 1920 and shortly afterwards appointed lecturer at the recently created Transvaal University College in Pretoria. There he continued his studies to complete his D.Litt. This was published as The History of Native Policy in South Africa from 1930 to the present day (1924). As a result, he was quickly appointed to a professorship. He was awarded his first sabbatical in 1927 and appointed by General Hertzog to the South African Delegation to the League of Nations in Geneva (Brookes, 1977). 116 Alfred Hoernlé (1880-1943) was born and educated in Bonn, Germany, although he spent much of his childhood in Calcutta, India, where his parents were missionaries. He studied at Oxford, lectured as St. Andrews, before becoming Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town (1908-1912. From there he moved to the University College of Newcastle on Tyne before becoming an Assistant Professor at Harvard (1914-1920) and later Professor in Newcastle (1920-1923). Finally, he became Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Witwaterand in 1923 where he remained until his death (Laird, 1943)). 117 Winifred Hoernlé (1885-1960) was born in Kimberly, South Africa, but grew up in Johannesburg and studied philosophy at the South African College in Cape Town (Kriege, 1960). She was described by Peter Carstens of the University of Toronto as “the “Mother of Social Anthropology in South Africa” and “the first trained woman social anthropologist in the world to carry out fieldwork of the kind that we respect today.” A South African who “in 1908 read anthropology and psychology” at the University of Cambridge she worked with such founders of the discipline as Haddon, Rivers and Myers. After graduating in 1910. After that she visited Germany and studied with Emile Durkheim at the Sorbonne. Returning to South Africa in 1912 she undertook fieldwork among the Nama Khoikhoi on the Namibian during this time she worked closely with Radcliffe-Brown and married R. F. A. Hoernlé who was on the faculty at Harvard where she spent five years. She firmly “believed in the possibility of establishing a naturel science of society” through the use of the induction. After becoming a lecture at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1923, a post she held until 1938 when she became a full-time staff member of the SAIRR, her students included Max Gluckman, Ellen Hellmann, Eileen Krige, and Hilda Kuyper. Importantly she “refused to make a distinction between theoretical and practical social anthropology” or what today we would call “committed research.” In 1938, she resigned her post as senior lecturer, the equivalent of a Full Professor in Canada, “to devote” herself to “practical issues of public life, welfare work, questions of penal reform, 238

1982),118 both of whom were social anthropologists. Although a number of other young academics, mainly drawn from the University of the Witwatersrand, played an important role in developing and supporting the Institute it was these four more the others that gave the newly established SAIRR an institutional identity. Both of the women played key roles in the development of the Institute and, like Brookes, served as its President on various occasions. It also seems that they were present at the founding meeting although this is not mentioned in any official publication, including one written by

Hellmann (Pimstone & Shain, 2009).

As a result of the excellent academic records and personal integrity of these leaders and many of their supporters scattered all over South Africa, the SAIRR developed a reputation for reliability and trustworthiness. Regardless of how politicians may have viewed its work they all had to take its work seriously. As a result, even people who hated everything the Institute stood for were careful how they dealt with it.

Although they were accused of promoting propaganda and being anti-Nationalist very rarely were the facts they presented disputed. What was disputed was the interpretation they gave to those facts and their suggestions for developing a multi-racial society in

South Africa.

race relations, and the improvement of non-European education” and work with the SAIRR (Carstens, 1985, p. 17-18; See also: Gluckman and Shapera, 1960; Kriege, 1960; Gordon, 1968). 118 Ellen Hellmann (1908-1982) and born in Johannesburg and studied at Wits where was a student of Hoernlé. She obtained her MA in 1934 with a thesis on an African slum in Johannesburg. At the urging of Max Gluckman it was published as the book Rooiyard: A Sociological Sutvey of an Urban Native Slum Yard in 1948 (Celarent, 2012:274-80). After teaching at the University of the Witwaterand for almost twenty years she eventually became the first South African women to obtain a PhD from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1940. Her PhD dissertation was on the practical problem of early school leaving Among African School children and the occupational opportunities open to African Juveniles. It was published as The Problems of Black Youth in 1940. Hellmann was also active in the Joint Councils and various other welfare organizations before joining the SAIRR and, importantly, very active in the Jewish community (https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/hellmann-ellen-phyllis). 239

From the Institute’s founding in 1929, its reputation for solid scholarship largely rested on the reputation of Dr. Loram. His sudden departure for Yale in 1931 left a vacuum in the Institutes’ organization. This was quickly filled by Professor Edgar Brooks

(1897-1979) who in 1927 had studied with Harold Laski (1893-1950) at the London

School of Economics. Laski, was a member of the Executive of the Fabian Society, who befriended Brookes, and had a major influence on his thinking (Brooks, 1977, pp. 12,

14-16, 20, 30-31).

It was, however, a visit to America, and observations of the advancement of

American Blacks in such surprising places as North Carolina, that really changed

Brookes’ life. There he met American liberals and for the first time really well-educated

Blacks who were hospitable and intelligent. It was this experience that initially brought him into close contact with Dr Loram and Rheinallt Jones and led to his appointment to the new post of Campaign Organizer for the SAIRR (Brookes, 1977, pp. 33-39).119

After his appointment, Brookes immediately embarked on a fund-raising, publicity, and communications campaign. It was his activities in this area that shaped the early communications of the Institute by establishing a basic communications network throughout South Africa and overseas. At the time of his appointment Brookes was one of the few academics, other than Alfred Hoernlé, with an earned doctorate, several books to his credit, and an international reputation in South Africa (Brookes,

1977, p. 16-24, 31).

He also had the advantage of being located within at least three existing communications networks. These were the relatively small academic community, the

119 The timing was perfect because shortly before going on sabbatical Brookes had resigned his university post due to disagreements with other faculty at the Transvaal University College in Pretoria where he worked about language policy and the proper relationship between Afrikaans and English students. 240

Christian community consisting of established churches, like the Anglicans to which he belonged, and various ecumenical movements like the Young Men’s Christian

Association. Finally, through his wife, who was the daughter of a leading Swiss missionary and educator, he had easy access to the extensive missionary community and its supporters both in South Africa and overseas (Brookes, 1977, p. 9-10, 27-31).

Importantly all three communities were actively engaged in work among Black

Africans and many of their leaders saw the need to reform South African legislation in terms of what they all agreed were “Christian principles” (Brookes, 19, P. 47-48). As a result, Brookes was able to engage small groups of people all over South Africa and elsewhere. Therefore, after extensive travels around South Africa to establish discussion and actions groups that would also undertake local research he travelled to

America, Britain and continental Europe to sell the ideals of the Institute and solicit much needed support (Hellmann, 1979, p. 7-8).

Within a year of its creation the membership of the SAIRR had grown from a handful of people based in Johannesburg to 546 members scattered over the whole of

South Africa. In addition, under Brooks the Institute created a category of affiliated members for organizations like the Joint Councils and soon recruited twenty-four such members. Most importantly Brookes raised what was then the enormous sum of an annual income of £2,100 pledged by committed donors in South Africa freeing the

Institute from its dependence on American funds (Hellmann, 1979, p. 7).

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7.3 The communications strategy of the SAIRR120

From its foundation in 1929 the SAIRR established branches all over South

Africa through which, in collaboration with sympathetic academics, it established research projects and other initiatives. These initiatives led to numerous talks, lectures, all over South Africa as well as numerous publications (Hellmann, 1979, p. 18-27).

In the early years of the Institute, because local groups often published their own research in terms of booklets and lecture materials, many of these publications fell into the category of “fugitive literature,” which is the publishing term for materials produced and distributed outside of traditional publishing and distribution channels. Such publications do not always find their way into publication catalogues and libraries.

Therefore, when people want to consult them it at some future time it has to be searched for and literally hunted down.

To stabilize its position and gain academic credibility the Institute launched a new monthly publication Race Relations News (RRN) in July 1938. Introducing the new initiative Alfred Hoernlé wrote this “is an avowed experiment, the success of which will depend on the response which it meets.” He went on to say that the aim was to inform

“members of the Institute, and its sympathizers” about “what it is doing” and “the value of the work.” The publication was also intended to increase contact between members in what is a large country (RRN, 1938, 1, p. 1).121

120 Here it is important to note that all three of the organizations studied in any detail in this thesis took approximately nine years to develop from an informal meeting for friends to an influential movement with sophisticated communications techniques. 121 The University of Calgary Library has an excellent collection of the RRN from its first edition until 1983. These were probably donated by Professor Donovan Williams who told me about them. After consulting the Worldcat library catalogue this seems to be one of the better collections in North America. 242

After explaining the impetus for the new publication, he went on to say that it would “bring information under three general headings” These were “comments and discussions of principles” followed by “news” about the Institute’s “plans and activities” and what he described as “the race relations front.” Then he noted that among South

African Whites there was a serious “division of opinion concerning the principles” that ought to guide race relations with some people appearing to want to establish something like the Indian caste system (RRN, 1938, 1, p. 2). Explaining this framework

Hoernlé made the following statement:

On the answer to these questions depends the future of South Africa. They are

most difficult questions to answer. For the answer we give will depend, on the

one hand, on whether we know the facts to be taken into account and, on the

other hand, what are the ideals by which we are guided in dealing with these

facts. This is the main field of work of the South African Institute of Race

Relations. (p. 1)

Therefore, he argued that task of the Institute was “To spread information about the relevant facts” and then “to help each of us think out the meaning of his ideals – that is the two-fold aim of this News Sheet” which, he added, was being launched “as an experiment – the first of its kind” (RRN, 1938, 1, p. 1). Although Hoernlé stressed the experimental and possible short life of RRN it is a tribute to his foresight that it has remained in print until today.

In terms of its actual content RRN covered a wide range of issues ranging from the number of Blacks living in “White areas” to African education, the welfare of so-

243 called Coloured peoples, the place of Indians in South Africa and similar topics. It also alerted its readers to academic works on race, economics, and a variety of related issues while keeping them informed of developments related to racial issues in other parts of the world such as America, Germany, India, Australia, and New Zealand. The aim of all of this activity was to create an educated public that would reject segregation and embrace a multi-racial society where all people had the franchise. Importantly, the first edition of RRN set the tone by calling upon its readers to think out the meaning of their ideals and how they impact society (RRN, 1938, 1, p. 3).

7.4 The SAIRR’s embrace of rational-scientific communications

Hoernlé’s comments about the way he and others in the leadership of the SAIRR viewed facts and their relationship to what he called “ideals” is made clear in the arguments he presented in his posthumously published book Race and Reason (1945).

There he emphasizes the importance of “empirical evidence” and makes comments like

“Facts are annoying things when one wants to dream” (pp. 20, 101). In stressing facts, he argues that “White public opinion in South Africa” is “misinformed” and riddled with

“popular prejudices and misconceptions.” The only way to cure this he says is “by getting facts – all the facts, and each fact in its proper setting and seen in due proportion to the situation as a whole” (p. 112).

The importance of facts in this situation becomes clear when one looks at contemporary debates about African education. In presenting its case for social change and the inclusion of all racial groups within South African society the Institute stressed the importance of literacy. In doing so it pointed out that 60% of native children did not

244 attend school with the result that many became petty criminals. One solution to this proposed by the SAIRR was compulsory education in urban areas funded directly by a

Government grant (RRN, 1938, 5, p. 2). The topic of education was a major issue for the Institute therefore they made a big effort to both alert people to its importance and influence all level of government from municipal, to provincial, to that of the Union

(RRN, 1939, 9, p. 5; 10, p. 1-5).

At the time, the Institute and its supporters were arguing against what many regarded as “scientific evidence” presented by scholars like a Dr J. A. Jansen van

Rensburg in 1939. His research questioned the ability of Africans to benefit from

Western education (van Rensburg, 1938). His work, and that of other scholars like him, was based on psychological and other scientific tests that were viewed as cutting edge science (Fick, 1939). Here it is important to realize that these discussions were taking place during a period when many people identified with what was called “scientific racism” and looked to the newly emerging science of psychology for answers to all of society’s problems (Dubow, 1995; Louw and Danziger, 2000 Kelly, 2008).

Therefore, the SAIRR was arguing against what many regarded as “scientific evidence” that Blacks were incapable of understanding complex arguments and therefore of learning in school like the White child. The response of Hoernlé and the

SAIRR to this type of argument is summed up in an RRN editorial Hoernlé wrote which is a classic example of an academic analysis. In it he raised serious questions about the research methods used and the sampling process before weighing the conclusions against the evidence. In doing so he argued “There is little evidence of the existence of a general learning ability factor” among Black Africans that could not be improved by

245 good teaching (RRN 1939, 11:1-2). Here he used evidence based rational-scientific arguments which are seen at their best. As such the Institute increasingly, swung informed opinion towards its proposed solutions to South Africa’s racial problems.

Despite these clear successes Hoernlé and other Institute members recognized the power of arguments based on cultural identity and the failure of rational-scientific argument to reach people influenced by them. Consequently, they cautiously began to develop their own response in terms of what they called “Western Civilization” (Hoernlé,

1945, pp. 77-86).122 Since this type of argument by the SAIRR had little impact before the 1950’s the discussion of their limited use of cultural-communications is discussed later in this chapter.

7.5 Years of hope and progress: the early achievements of the SAIRR

From its founding in 1929 until 1948, on the basis of its first-class research and clearly stated arguments, the SAIRR made steady progress in influencing government policies and changing attitudes towards the race question. In this their communications strategy mirrored that of the Fabians. Their embrace of research based evidence to ground all their arguments and policy proposals on what they presented as “facts” paid off. As a result, from the beginning the SAIRR saw its role as encouraging scientific research into racial issues affecting individuals and society in South Africa. Therefore, its first task was to commission and encourage social research that could be used to

122 Today the very term “Western Civilization” sets many people on edge and is easy to interpret as a sign of an innate claim to superiority. But, Horenlé and other SAIRR writers repeatedly make it clear that this is not their meaning (Hoernlé, 1945. pp, 80-83, 145-167). To him “Western Civilization” was an amalgam of earlier civilization that from the beginning was multi-cultural, and multi- racial, expression of the best and worst found in what he describes as “higher civilizations” that are found across the globe (pp, 42, 78-81). 246 inform the public and various levels of government racial issues in South Africa

(Hoernlé, 1945).

With competent academic leadership, following the example of the Fabians, the

SAIRR began by harnessing the knowledge and expertise of its members. To do this they established small groups all over South Africa that met regularly to perform a variety of tasks. Where possible, with the support of academics and educated lay people, they conducted their own research projects into local issues. Members also met regularly to discuss racial issues and as far as possible attempted to include people from all racial groups in these discussions (Hellmann and Lever, 1974, pp. 9-11, 15-21).

Practically, they organized welfare programs and provided legal aid to poor people which served both to communicate their message of racial cooperation and provided a framework for research. Building on earlier efforts they encouraged the setting up of Joint Councils to facilitate communications between educated Whites and members of other racial groups such as Africans, so called Coloureds, or people of mixed race, and Indians, and arranging lecture series and conferences (Hellmann and

Lever, 1974, pp. 21-27).

To help coordinate and encourage these activities they organized speakers and public lectures. The most important of these lectures were the annual Phelps-Stokes

Lectures which after the early death of Alfred Hoernlé in 1945 were renamed the annual

Hoernlé Lectures (MacCrone, 1945, pp. vii-xxxvi).

As their grass roots support developed and small groups became active the

Institute’s RRN played a key role in informing the world about the South African situation during the apartheid era. This newsletter was supplemented by the more

247 substantial annual Survey of Race Relations which began publication in 1947 and is invaluable for understanding the development of South African politics and society.

Although occasional lectures and a fairly large number of smaller publications appeared before 1945, they took the important step of publishing the annual Hoernlé

Lectures as small booklets beginning in 1945 (Ross, 1954, p. 1). This series continues to the present and serves to stimulate debate about inter-racial issues. These publications were supplemented by a variety of fact sheets and booklets on special topics such as housing, the so-called Black Homelands, and issues like African health.

Later, from the mid-1950’s they published a number of longer books in English that analyzed specific issues such as the Group Areas Act, Trades Unions, and African, or as it was known under apartheid, “Bantu” education (Horrell, 1956; 1961; 1968).

Finally, the SAIRR was at pains to communicate with all levels of government to argue the case for the improvement of non-White living conditions and the inclusion of all racial groups in decision making with the ultimate goal of achieving the franchises.

During the first nineteen years after the founding of the SAIRR things seemed to be advancing at a steady pace and the SAIRR frequently “made representations to the government and local authorities” (Hellmann, 1979, p. 10).

During this period, before 1948, leading members of the Institute, such as

Rheinallt Jones and Edgar Brooks, obtained positions in the South African Parliament as Senators while another active member, Donald Molteno (1908-1972), won a seat in the House of Assembly (Scher, 1979). Throughout the 1940’s the Institute was increasingly consulted by the Government and civil service in addition to being asked to

“present evidence” to “government commissions” such as the “Native Mine Workers’

248

Commission,” the “Penal and Prison Reform Commission” and the “Native Laws

Enquiry Commission,” popularly known as “The Fagan Commission” They did this by presenting numerous reports and working papers as well as engaging in oral consultations with parliamentary commissions, individual MPs, and civil servants.

(Walker, 1964, p. 763; Hellmann and Lever, 1979, pp. 11, 20, 138-139).

As the 1948 General Election approached everyone believed that General Smuts and his designated successor Jan Hofmeyr would be swept to victory with the submission of the Fagan Commission’s report, marking the beginning of a new era in

South Africa. Unfortunately, this did not happen. To everyone’s shock the Reunited

Afrikaner Nationalist Party, which advocated a policy of apartheid, or racial separation, won a minority government.

7.6 Gotterdammrung

In Britain, the Labour Party’s success in the first post-war General Election on

July 5, 1945 and its implementation of the Welfare State proposals of the Fabian

Society gave members of the SAIRR hope for the future. After a long propaganda campaign that lasted over fifty years the dreams of Fabian Socialism became a reality.

In South Africa supporters of the SAIRR and liberals were hopeful that their dream of a new multi-racial society would at last be realized in South Africa once the Fagan

Commission’s Report was released and implemented by the new Government under

General Smuts (Hellmann, 1979, pp. 13-15).

Against this background the victory of the Reunited Afrikaner Nationalist Party under Dr D. F. Malan came as stunning shock. His party lost the popular vote by

249

100,000 ballots but it won seventy seats and with the smaller radical Afrikaner Party, which gained nine seats, was able to form a coalition government with the narrow overall majority of five seats over the seventy-four seats won by Smuts’ United Party

(Walker, 1964, pp. 771-774; Giliomee, 2003, pp. 479-482). One of the first decisions of the new Nationalist Government was to reject the findings of the Fagan Commission which were released a few days after the election and recommended moving towards a multi-racial society (Walker, 1964, p. 773; Hellmann, 1979, pp. 13-15; Muller, 1981, pp.

455-456).

Alan Paton, whose bestselling novel Cry, the Beloved Country had been published in New York earlier in January 1948, described the impact of Malan’s victory in the first volume of his autobiography Towards the Mountain (1980) as follows:

The publication and success of Cry, the Beloved Country changed my whole life.

In fact, it could justly be called one of the two decisive events of my life. The

extraordinary thing is that the second decisive event happened soon after. On

May 26, 1948, General Smuts, the Prime Minister, and J. H. Hofmeyr, his Deputy

Prime Minister, fell from power defeated by Dr. D. F. Malan and his National

Party, with his ally Mr. N. C. Havenga of the Afrikaner National Party. Malan

came to power pledged to separate the different races of South Africa in every

conceivable sphere of life, in schools, universities, trains, buses, hospitals, sports

fields and sporting events, and above all, residential areas. Marriage between

whites and persons not white would be forbidden, as well as sexual relations

between whites and others outside marriage. And at last the Cape franchise …

would be abolished. There would only be one franchise for the whole country,

250

and it would be for white people only … the coming to power of the National

Party brought a sudden stop to the painfully slow progress made by the Hoernlés

and the Rheinallt Joneses and the Hofmeyrs, and in thirty years it would make

South Africa the most hated country in the world … The events of May 26 1948,

were cataclysmic … (Paton, 1980, pp. 303-304).

Later in the same vein he describes himself as “full of anger and sick at heart” while the Afrikaners he knew who were not Nationalists “received the news in stunned silence.” Africans were also “stunned because they knew that the future of black South

Africans would be planned for them by an all-white parliament” (Paton 1980, pp. 304-

305).

Reflecting on this event Edgar Brookes, who at the time of the election was a

Senator in the National Parliament, wrote in his autobiography A South African

Pilgrimage (1977) that “Up to 1948 we hoped that we could go on slowly and steadily influencing Parliament in the right direction. The elections of 1948 taught us that this was not possible …” (Brooks, 1977, p. 79). Explaining this he says:

From 1937 to 1948, however, we had to deal with governments which were not

really hostile, but so conservative and so uncertain in their friendliness as to

make our task one of delicacy and difficulty. We were not in a position to either

force on legislation which we wanted or to secure the rejection of legislation

which we did not want. What we could do, however, was to secure amendments

which would increase the benefits or mitigate the hardships of the proposed

legislation (p. 79).

251

Brookes also points out that “In the 1948 election the Nationalists used the slogan ‘A vote for Smuts is a vote for Hofmeyr.’ On this slogan, they won the election”

(Brookes, 1977, p. 88). After their defeat, other members of what had been Smuts’

United Party turned on Hofmeyr, contributing, in Brookes’ view, to his early death a few months later. Before that Brookes and other liberals had “looked forward to” Hofmeyr succeeding Smuts, who was seventy-eight at the time of the election, and reforming

South Africa (p. 89). But this was not to be and within a few years the Nationalists were

“to sweep all these” hard gained reforms that the SAIRR and Hofmeyr had fought so long to implement (p. 90).

The immediate impact of this totally unexpected Nationalist victory was devastating. But liberals and other opponents of the new government, including SAIRR supporters, took courage from the fact that there would be another election in five years’ time which they believed the Nationalists were bound to lose. Therefore, they did not expect the National Party to remain in power for very long.

As seen in the previous chapter many scholars now attribute the Nationalist election victory to the Broederbond’s intense campaign of cultural communications beginning with the symbolic Trek of 1938. Since this was aimed at Afrikaners and most members of the Institute were English speaking South Africans, it appears that they simply did not take such propaganda seriously and made no real attempt to combat it.

Alan Paton in Toward the Mountain (1977) also points out that the Nationalist victory took everyone, including many Nationalists, by surprise. Their more liberal opponents were shocked and many, including General Smuts and his deputy Jan

Hofmeyr, fell into a deep depression. Then he comments that actually the Nationalists

252 won their victory in 1938 with the Symbolic Trek but the Second World War intervened in such a way that no one recognized the change that had taken place within the

Afrikaner community (pp. 303-310). To him this was a victory for the Broederbond brought about by:

the memories of the Second Anglo-Boer War and the immense influence of the

Afrikaner schools and universities, which taught that the most important

possession of Afrikaners was their Afrikanerhood (p. 308).

Following this crucial event, despite all the setbacks, the SAIRR continued to follow a policy of advocating reform by providing evidence based policy options and producing its numerous research papers. Initially, they attempted to work with the government as best they could and looked forward to things changing in their favour at the next election. This was not a wild expectation because, as Lindie Koorts points out,

Malan was an old man of seventy-four, who was open to persuasion and left to his own devices may well have revised his policies on the race issue (Koorts 2010, pp. 123-124;

2014, pp. 379-404).

The next South African General Election, of April 15, 1953, gave the National

Party under Dr Malan an absolute majority of 156 seats in the House of Assembly. Not only did the Nationalists take these parliamentary seats they also won the popular vote by over 20,000 or 49.48% of the votes cast. The new apartheid era had begun in earnest (Walker, 1964, pp. 839-840; Muller, 1981, pp. 466-507).

After that Malan slowly, lost power to a group of young radicals led by Johannes

Strijdom (1893-1958) and later Hendrik Verwoerd (Koorts, 2014, pp. 131-135; Hepple,

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1967). In 1950 Malan appointed Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-1966), who was the master mind behind the policy of apartheid, as the Minister of Native Affairs. From then on until

1989 apartheid was central to the Nationalist Government’s policies and South Africa entered a period that Canadian historian Dan O’Meara rightly describes as Forty Lost

Years (1996).

The growing conflict between the SAIRR, which now found itself excluded from the corridors of power, and the Nationalist Government came to a head in 1952 when the Institute presented evidence to the Government’s Commission on the Socio-

Economic Development of the Native Areas within the Union of South Africa popularly known as The Tomlinson Commission. In its evidence the SAIRR directly confronted the official policy of apartheid on the basis of numerous facts and research based evidence.

For the first time in its history the Institute faced a totally hostile situation where it had to state its view on race in unequivocal terms. This was done in a memo by the then

Director Quintin Whyte which was later published as the booklet Go Forward in Faith:

The Logic of Economic Integration (Whyte, 1952).

Whyte directly contradicted the Government position on the issue of race. He began his argument by carefully defining the terms of the debate “to avoid loose and confused thinking.” Then, he then went on to argue that the Institute’s research had shown again and again that the Government’s proposed legislation and racial policies were impractical and did not reflect the realities of South African society. The latter part of his presentation consisted of a detailed analysis of particular issues based on the available statistics which he claimed showed the weaknesses of the Governments

254 proposals (Whyte, 1952, pp. 7-14). He ended his presentation with a demand “that the values of all human lives be respected, whether black or white” (p. 15).

At the same time members of the Institute reaffirmed in no uncertain terms their commitment to a rational-scientific mode of communications which in their view was needed more than ever. This was because of the Government’s embrace of identity politics promoted by the Broederbond’s cultural communications. They also realized that if they were to survive and eventually bring about meaningful change they had to think in terms of the long view (Paton, 1968). As Hellmann wrote:

The Institute commenced its work with neither a pre-conceived program nor

ready-made policy. It believes in the pursuit of the truth as a value in itself. It

believed that the systematic seeking out of facts relating to the conditions with

determine the quality of life of the disadvantaged groups in South Africa would

increase public awareness and promote inter-racial understanding, an

understanding without which there could be no peaceful future for South Africa.

(Hellmann, 1979, p. 9)

Similarly, when surveying South African responses to the problem of poverty prior to the Nationalist victory of 1948 the American researcher Grace Davie observes:

Loram and fellow reformers followed through on this promise by espousing

political moderation, positivism, quantitative objectivity. They made frequent

reference to the "crying need" for reliable facts … At the same time, they equated

credibility with the capacity to partition empirical facts from politics. (Davie, 2015,

pp. 72-80)

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In doing so she pointed out that educated African leaders also shared a belief in the need to collect and present “facts” if they were to make a sound case and influence policy makers and the public (Davie, 2015, p. 280). But, as members of the Institute were beginning to realize, all of this fell on deaf ears.

7.7 The SAIRR use of cultural communications

Looking back to the successes and failures of the SAIRR in 1977 Edgar Brookes observed:

We who founded the Institute leant too heavily - it was in the years before Hitler -

on the reasonableness of the average human being. We believed in the liberal

principle, endorsed by the Fabian Society, of 'measurement and publicity'. Collect

all the facts and let them be known, and all will be well. (Brookes, 1977, p. 43)

It is easy to understand how in the dark days of 1977 Brookes thought in this way. But, in doing so he overlooked the small but significant venture the SAIRR made into the realm of cultural communications.

Shortly before his early death in 1943 Alfred Hoernlé saw the need for liberalism to engage the growing power of Afrikaner Nationalism. This he did in his lecture South

African Native Policy and the Liberal Spirit (1939) and his posthumous work Race and

Reason which was edited by Professor I. D. MacCrone and published in 1945, which as

MacCrone points out ought to be read together (Hoernlé & MacCrone, 1945, p. v). In these works, while stressing the importance of facts and rational arguments, he

256 acknowledged that appealing to facts involves an act of interpretation.123 Therefore, while empiricism is valuable one must see “facts” and interpretation as part of a whole.

The interpreter, he argues, has to see facts in a broad context because interpretations are molded by “group sentiments which are handed down from generation to generation” (p. 23).

Recognizing the interaction of facts and interpretation he discusses the arguments of “segregationists,” by which he clearly means Afrikaner Nationalists, showing that the way they manipulate selected facts while overlooking alternative facts that destroy their arguments. Consequently, such arguments fail in terms of the way internal facts are used to support them by misrepresenting external facts that refute them. As a result, such arguments are inconsistent and confused (Hoernlé & MacCrone,

1945, pp. 77-86, 95-109).

Against such sentiments he pleaded for an acceptance of the “universal,” or things that bind humans together rather than separate them (Hoernlé & MacCrone,,

1945, p. 25). Yet he was painfully aware that “the mind of man, as it expresses itself in, and is molded by, institutions, customs, folkways, established beliefs, is a social phenomenon” that often takes large numbers of people in different directions (Hoernlé,

1945, p. 46). This he argues is because ideas form “a framework” within which the realities of life are interpreted. Therefore, the critic must challenge both “the facts” and their interpretive “framework” (p. 100-101).

It is also important to note that Hoernlé was a skilled political thinker who, with his friend Jan Hofmeyr, viewed politics as “the science of the practicable” (Hofmeyr,

123 Here it needs to be remembered that Hoernlé was a respected philosopher who moved beyond crude empiricism. In fact, some of his books are still in print which is a tribute to his work. 257

1945, p. 10). Underlying all of his efforts, his rhetorical skill and ability to present complex philosophical and pragmatic arguments in ordinary language, Hoernlé was deeply committed to the idea of justice and the recognition of the humanity of all people.

To him the alternative to social justice was a “race war” which he saw as the logical outcome of the policies promoted by Afrikaner politicians like Oswald Pirow (1890-1959) and likeminded Afrikaner Nationalists (Hoernlé & MacCrone, 1945, pp. 25; 29, 52, 34-

37, 42, 46-48, 57). Unfortunately, as a result of his sudden death in 1943 Hoernlé never developed these ideas further.

This challenge was taken up by his friend Jan Hofmeyr (1894-1948) who recognized the need to reach out to people in search of an identity. He delivered the first of the annual Hoernlé Memorial Lectures in 1945. At the time Hofmeyr was both

Minister of Finance and Minister of Education as well as the deputy Prime Minister in the Government of General Jan Smuts. Hofmeyr began his lecture by briefly mentioning

Hoernlé’s academic stature, impact on South African education, and “the essential humanity of his spirit” (Hofmeyr, 1945, p. 10).

Then he developed his theme of “Christian Principles and Race Problems” which began with a warning to South Africans about the rise of anti-Semitism. In his view “The growth of Nazism was part of a world phenomenon” which had “deeply infected” the world with “germ-cells” of “intolerance, racial prejudice, thinking with blood” (Hofmeyr,

1945, p. 11).

It was in this broader framework, Hofmeyr argued, that South African politics needed to be viewed. He argued that what made Christian values, which he stressed were based on Jewish values, unique was that they stood together against “the

258 totalitarian state.” Therefore, it needed to be recognized that Christians and Jews stood together against anti-Semitism which was a form of totally unacceptable racism that went against everything taught in the Bible (Hofmeyr, 1945, pp. 18-20). Similarly, he argued for the inclusion and just treatment of Asians as well as Africans in South African society because they too shared our common humanity being made in the image of

God (Hofmeyr, 1945, pp. 20-24).

Hofmeyr also tackled the argument that racial separation was ordained by God, something he totally rejected. In his view “segregation cannot be defended on grounds of Christian principle.” Rather it was the duty of every Christian to “oppose … man- made inequalities of opportunity and power” (Hofmeyr, 1945, p. 27). Throughout his lecture Hofmeyr relied on an implicit knowledge of Christianity and the Bible among members of his audience and future readers. In doing so he reflects the widespread knowledge of both the Bible and history that was common at the time.124

There were no American style references to scripture. Rather, he takes it for granted that his audience, like himself, knew the scriptures and understood what he was talking about. Here, as in many other issues his religious background as a Baptist with an amazing knowledge of the Bible and formidable memory of its verses stood him in good stead (Paton, 1964, pp. 5-11). Segregation in all its forms was for him evidence of

“self-interest” replacing morality and as such as a “technique of … domination” that had to be rejected (Hofmeyr, 1945, p. 28). If people continued to support racism and segregation the he concluded South Africa had “no future” (Hofmeyr, 1945, p. 31).

124 For example, Afrikaners who presented nationalist arguments made similar statements in books like Koers in die Krisis (Direction in Time of Crisis; Colijn, 1935-1941) and Die Tweede Trek-Reeks (Second Trek Series; Keyter, et. Al. (1940-41) all assumed their audience knew the Biblical or historical references they were making without having to provide them with chapter and verse except where the reference or its meaning was widely disputed. 259

At the time, these arguments appear to have had little or no effect. Nevertheless,

Quintin Whyte, took them up in his 1952 booklet Go Forward in Faith: The Logic of

Economic Integration where in the first part of the booklet he developed a cultural argument based on the theme of “Western Civilization” before combining it with his fact- based arguments discussed earlier.

Early in his paper Whyte affirmed the Institute’s “fundamental beliefs and practices” beginning with the statement that it had “never tied itself to any party political doctrine” but rather “its approach and work” was “permeated by the fundamental principles of Christian living and by the values basic to Western Civilization. These

“values” were then spelt out in terms of the SAIRR’s founding principles as:

… belief in the value of the individual human being and his right, by virtue of his

being, to the fullest expression and development compatible with similar rights of

other individuals within the pattern of a democratic state; belief in the values of

democratic society with its accepted freedoms, rights and duties; acceptance of

the brotherhood of man in its Christian interpretation. (Whyte 1952, p. 2).

Then he argued that the Institute’s position was in keeping with the basic moral stance of Afrikaner Nationalists although it conflicted with the way they believed they applied their morality (Whyte, 1952, pp. 3-7). In making his case Whyte argued in terms of an expanded cultural-identity that saw all people as created by God. Therefore, he challenged Afrikaners who claimed to be Christians to rethink their values.

Here it is important to note that what Hoernlé, Hofmeyr, and Whyte were doing was developing what may be termed a “counter-narrative,” or as Julia Reid calls them

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“counter-myth,” to the one developed by the Broederbond and other Afrikaner

Nationalists (Reid, 2011). In doing so they did not directly attack the Afrikaner narrative paradigm. What they did was expand it and implicitly argue that the way it was presented in terms of the Great Trek was inconsistent with their claim that Afrikaner

Nationalism was based on the historic Calvinist Christianity which they presented as the root cause of Afrikaner identity (van Jaarsveld, 1961; Davenport, 1966; de Gruchy,

2005; Hurley, 1964).

Although it took around ten years to have an impact this argument which enlarged the Afrikaner narrative paradigm to stress its roots in Christianity, which was then shown to embrace all people, slowly affected the thinking of some leading

Afrikaner Nationalists. The success of this strategy of identifying opposition to apartheid with Christianity, which many Afrikaner Nationalists proudly embraced, can be seen from the fact that after arguing in support of Nationalist policies for many years the

Moderator of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Transvaal, Beyers Naude (1915-2004), whose father was one of the founders of the Broederbond, and a number of other prominent Afrikaner theologians including Professor Albert Geyser (1918-1985), Ben

Marais (1909-1999) and Theo Kotze (1920-2003), turned their backs on apartheid in the early 1960’s to became some of its most vocal critics (Walshe, 1983).125

This change came about when the cultural arguments of Hoernlé, Hofmeyr, and

Whyte about the inclusive nature of Christianity were presented alongside the SAIRR’s

125 Here it needs to be noted that in the 1980’s a group of young Afrikaner historians and political scientists, inducing Herman Giliomee, Andre du Toit, and others, who held tenured positions in major Afrikaans universities began to question the Afrikaner interpretation of history in ways similar to those used by the SAIRR and the CI to question the Nationalist narrative paradigm (Adam and Giliomee, 1979); du Toit, 1983, 1985, 1987; Giliomee, 1987). Later a number of them joined the SAIRR and Hereman Giliomee eventually became its President. 261 research based arguments that presented facts showing the suffering apartheid caused to fellow Christians who happened to be non-Whites.

Thus, the combination of an appeal to the culturally grounded theological claim that all people are created in the image of God, and that Christians share in a common identity “in Christ,” with fact based evidence that non-Whites were treated unjustly by the implementation of apartheid policies tipped the scale in favour of their rejection of apartheid (Ryan, 1990, p. 48).

Consequently, in August 1963, this group of Afrikaner dissidents were joined by the Congregationalist minister John de Gruchy who helped them create the Christian

Institute of Southern Africa (CI). As a theological think tank, it was devoted to exposing the injustices of apartheid and the “false theology” used to support it and the racism it encouraged. The SAIRR played a key role in helping Naude and his colleagues establish the Christian Institute. To do this it seconded its Associate Director Fred van

Wyk to raise funds to support the CI. Shortly afterwards he become its first secretary.

Fourteen years later the CI was banned by the South African Government for its radical views, support of Black Theology, and activists like Steve Biko (1946-1977). The times were beginning to change (Walshe, 1983; Randall, 1982, p. 18; Ryan, 1990, p. 55).

7.8 The triumph of the SAIRR’s Fabian gradualism

From its foundation in 1929 the SAIRR faced criticism for its Fabian gradualism.

This began with criticisms by the University of the Witwatersrand Professor of History

William Macmillan who declined to join the new venture. Writing in his autobiography years later he made it clear that:

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the Institute of Race Relations … I felt was likely, and perhaps intended, to draw

the political sting from the study of African disabilities and to supplant the Joint

Councils (Macmillan, 1975, p. 16).

Then, after making this stinging criticism he then reluctantly admitted that:

The Institute has survived all these difficult years, and today does good service in

recording for the world and posterity the iniquities of the South African system;

but it has never been able to do more, and, as I foresaw, it had no effect on

politics (Macmillan, 1975, p. 16).

In the 1980’s many young South African historians and political scientists living in exile overseas reflected this type of view. The problem is that it fails to take into account the social and historical context. As a result, it fails to discuss the ultimate goals, constraints that shaped their actions, and the Fabian gradualism of the SAIRR leadership. Instead it tends to criticize their reliance on “factual data,” and early willingness to work with government officials (Rich, 1984, pp. 66-73; Rich, 1993, pp. 40-

65).

For example, Ellen Hellmann is depicted as “one of the Institute’s leaders most resolutely opposed to its radical critics on the issues that emerged early in 1973 …”

(Rich, 1993, pp. 112-114). This criticism is made on the basis of her Fabian style commitment to cautious reform rather than pushing for radical change as the best way forward.

Here there is a failure to take the social and political situation facing Hellmann and her SAIRR colleagues seriously. As a member of the South African Jewish Board of

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Deputies, Hellmann was well aware of the danger of a failed radicalism and were all too well aware of what happened in Germany before the Nazis came to power (Informant:

Lisa). In her view radicals ran the risk of giving the South African Government of Mr.

Vorster an excuse to clamp down on all criticism. In fact, Vorster attempted just that with his notorious Schlebusch Commission. It was established in 1972 to investigate what the Government saw as opposition organizations funded by outside sources like the

Christian Institute, the South African Council of Churches, the National Union of

Students and the SAIRR (Merrett, 1995).

Hellmann and the other leaders of SAIRR were wise to be cautious and take a gradualist approach because the Schlebusch Commission’s reports were used by the

Nationalist Government to ban the Christian Institute, which meant it was forced to shut down, and to restrict the work of most other opposition groups. Despite the

Government’s intense dislike of the SAIRR, it escaped relatively well because of its insistence on research based reports, rational-scientific arguments, and avoidance of direct involvement in political or social action against the government in which it followed the Fabian model. As a result, they did not give the government an excuse to silence them (Giliomee 2004, pp. 412, 483, 551)

After the Nationalist Election victory in 1948 the SAIRR’s Annual Survey of Race

Relations, which began publication in 1947, and its numerous other publications, provided anti-Apartheid movements and governments world-wide with the evidence they needed to condemn apartheid and press for change. This was recognized by the

African National Congress (ANC) and other Black resistance groups, however much

264 they might have longed for a more radical approach to the internal situation in South

Africa.

Anyone who doubts this has only to read external anti-apartheid publications like the ANC’s monthly magazine Sechaba, check the ProQuest Historical Newspapers

Database for references to the SAIRR in leading international newspapers such as The

Washington Post, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, or The Times of London, or read United Nations reports on South Africa (e.g. Unesco, 1974).

For example, in 1959, when the ANC submitted a memorandum to the General

Assembly of the United Nations on the “Question of Race Conflict in South Africa resulting from the Policies of Apartheid of the Government of the Union of South Africa,” it supported its case by appealing to evidence provided by the SAIRR.126 Similarly, four years later, in his famous speech from the dock during the Rivonia Trial Mr. Nelson

Mandela cited the SAIRR in defense of his opposition to apartheid as did many Africans and other opponents of this unjust system.127

As a result, from 1948 until Nelson Mandela became Prime Minister of South

Africa in 1994, opponents of apartheid relied on the SAIRR to provide them with credible information about racial issues in South Africa. This information, this factually based information, enabled them to sway international opinion against the apartheid regime.

126 See: http://www.anc.org.za/content/memorandum-submitted-anc-1959-session-general-assembly-united- nations-question-race-conflict Last accessed 16/11/2017. 127 See: Nelson Mandela’s statement from the dock at the opening of the defence case in the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April, 1964. Found on the ANC website at: http://www.anc.org.za/content/nelson-mandelas-statement-dock-rivonia-trial. Lase accessed 16/11/2017. 265

7.9 Conclusion

Looking back on these events and reviewing the history of South Africa it is difficult not to be depressed by the marginalization of the SAIRR and its inability to influence government policy in any substantial way after 1948. Nevertheless, its activities, belief in gradualism and fact based evidence, was not entirely wasted particularly when it was united with the limited use of cultural communications to reach out to leading Afrikaner intellectuals and public figures.

Perhaps the best tribute to this organization, which has struggled throughout its history for justice and human rights, is that it still exists today and continues to monitor race relations in South Africa. The Institute had its weaknesses and it may not have changed the world or involved itself in direct political action as so many urged it to do.

But it provided journalists, politicians, and scholars with the facts they needed to access the South African situation and through them brought about the collapse of the apartheid regime and social justice in South Africa (Adam 1971, p. 60-61; Harrison,

1981, p. 5; Regher, 1979, p. 285-300; Adam and Giliomee, 1979, pp. 261-262).

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Chapter Eight

Conclusion

8.0 Introduction

This chapter has the following sections:

8.0 Introduction 8.1 The communications revolution that influenced the Fabians 8.2 Rational-scientific communications 8.3 The power of cultural communications 8.4 The growth of mixed rational-scientific and cultural communications 8.5 Comparing these communications strategies

This thesis examines the communication’s strategies of three early think tanks that are generally recognized as having made a significant impact on their host societies. Interest in the topic was aroused by the audacious claims of Kheiriddin, Tasha and Adam Daifallah in their book Rescuing Canada’s Right: Blueprint for a Conservative

Revolution (2005) that creation of a network of conservative think tanks was needed to drastically change Canadian society. Therefore, it seemed important to understand how think tanks communicate their ideas and policy proposals to the general public, opinion makers, particularly news reporters and politicians.

Richard Cockett’s Thinking the Unthinkable: Think tanks and the economic counter-revolution, 1931-1983 (1995) influenced the choice of think tanks to study because he makes a good case that the British Fabian Society is one of the earliest, and most successful, modern think tanks. Surprisingly, very little is written about the

Fabian Society as a think tank and virtually nothing on its communication strategies.

Exploring the global influence of the Fabians, and Fabian Socialism, it became clear that they strongly influenced the founders of the South African Institute of Race

Relations (SAIRR). Reading materials from the Fabian archives which are available

267 online through the London School of Economics,128 and SAIRR literature led to the realization that they shared a common communications strategy that is best described as rational-scientific communications.

Using this type of communications strategy, the Fabians argued for the creation of a welfare state in Britain while the SAIRR began to make a significant impact on the

South African Government’s racial policies prior to the 1948 General Election which brought in apartheid. This led to the discovery that the initial successes of the SAIRR were thwarted by a very different communications strategy which is best descried as cultural communications. This was used by a think tank known as the Afrikaner

Broederbond. It promoted Afrikaner Nationalism and laid the foundation for the policy of apartheid.

The origins and development of these very different communications strategies became the central theme of this thesis. In doing so the language of rational-scientific and cultural communications was forged to provide a vocabulary for talking about think tank communications in a variety of settings. At the same time, it is recognized that other think tanks may have developed very different communications strategies.

Nevertheless, the think tanks identified here can be shown to have made a significant social impact for good or ill. They also appear to have influenced a significant number of newer British and North American think tanks. For example, the Canadian Fraser

Institute was modelled after the London based conservative Institute of Economic

Affairs, which in turn was modelled after the Fabians. This was done with the specific intention of countering Fabian influences (Gutstein, 2014, P50; Cockett, 1994, pp.130 &

134).

128 Which the Fabian Society founded in 1895. 268

8.1 The communications revolutions that influenced the Fabians

This thesis began by surveying the development of innovative communication techniques during the eighteenth century Evangelical Revival. It went on to show how these techniques, which were originally used to make converts, were adapted by

Christian reformers in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century to oppose such things as slavery. In particular, it discussed the work of Dr John Philip, who devoted himself to the cause of emancipation and the inclusion of South African Blacks in civil society in the Cape Colony. The argument was then made that these reform efforts, particularly in South Africa, were brought to a grinding stop by the rise of Social

Darwinism and what Dubow calls “scientific racism” (1995).

With this background in place it was shown that early members of the British

Socialist Fabian Society acknowledged that they were deeply influenced by Evangelical movements, particularly the Methodists, and their campaigns for social reform.

Nevertheless, they were unable to commit themselves to such religiously based movements. In fact, as Beatrice Webb documents, their inability to accept the religious claims of the evangelicals often involved soul searching and deep sadness. Out of this loss of faith the Fabians developed their own movement for social reform by incorporating standard evangelical communications techniques devoid of religious content.

As the Fabian movement took shape, two forms of communication came to the fore. The first we call “rational-scientific communications”; the second is identified as

“cultural communications.” In practice the Fabian Society placed its emphasis on rational-scientific communications pioneered by Sydney Webb and others.

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Nevertheless, at the same time other Fabians like George Bernard Shaw, HG Wells, and Ramsden Balmforth, who emigrated to South Africa but remained a lifelong Fabian, laid the foundation for the development of powerful forms of cultural communications.

The Fabian Society demonstrated the power of rational-scientific communications in its many campaigns for social reform in Britain, leading to the development of the Welfare State. The Afrikaner Broederbond made the clearest use of cultural communications, demonstrating their power through the victory of Dr Malan’s

National Party in 1948 and the defeat of liberal reforms in South Africa. The South

African Institute of Race Relations stands between these two organizations by stressing rational scientific communications as its preferred method of communication while making very good use of cultural communications to appeal to a small group of

Afrikaner leaders who eventually deserted the Nationalist fold to join its most strident critics.

In this conclusion an attempt is made to evaluate the relative merit of these two major forms of communication. No attempt is made to say which is “the best;” rather, what we attempt to understand is the strengths and weaknesses of both forms of communication and the way in which they may supplement each other.

8.2 Rational-scientific communications

The Fabian Society provides the best early example of a think tank that almost exclusively used rational-scientific communications. Even in the early years of the

Fabian Society many people questioned the value of such arguments as they do today.

For example, as noted earlier, Lenin dismissed the Fabians in his 1915 paper “British

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Pacifism and the British Dislike of Theory” as biased defenders of their own class interests (Lenin, 1974, 260-265).

Therefore, it is important to remember that the early Fabians were very aware of the role of bias in both scientific and social research as a result of reading Herbert

Spencer and similar writers like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill (Spencer, 1882;

Bentham, 1824/1962; Mill, 1863/1972). At the same time, although many of them were originally attracted to Positivism, and lent towards Utilitarianism, they had moved on from these philosophes to form their own often unsystematic views.

This is important because what set the Fabians apart from Marxists and most other forms of socialism was their conviction that most industrialists and land owners were reasonable people who, while acting in their own self-interest, could be convinced by rational arguments and the presentation of evidence that they ought to embrace

Fabian policies. This is because the Fabians believed that such policies could be shown on the basis of rational arguments that involved using evidence gathered by systematic scientific research to be in the self-interest of everyone. Therefore, the Fabians were open to dialogue with their opponents and prepared to adjust their views and policies if they were given good counter-arguments based on solid evidence.

8.3 The power of cultural communications

It is probably true to say that no other think tank has ever used cultural communications as effectively as the Afrikaner Broederbond. The impact they made on

Afrikaners and South African society generally is incalculable. They took a defeated and downtrodden people and made them into a self-confident and highly successful nation.

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The problem with recognizing their very real achievements is that there was a flip side to everything they did because whether by deliberate intent or by oversight, they also created apartheid. There can be no doubt that as a system, apartheid oppressed

Black South Africans, the so-called Coloured People, and South African Indians. Let there be no doubt about this: apartheid was an evil system that destroyed countless lives. The irony is that in the end it destroyed the Afrikaner Nationalism and the lives of many Afrikaners as well. So, where and why did they go wrong?

It is easy to see racial oppression and apartheid at the root of the Afrikaner revival. But, the evidence does not seem to support this. At worst the founders of the

Broederbond were indifferent to the fate of Blacks and all other South Africans with the exception of the British who they associated with Capitalist oppression, but there is little evidence that they intended to harm them (Informants). Consequently, for the majority of Afrikaner leaders the focus was on helping Afrikaners, not exploiting Blacks.

This does not mean that some people, like Dr Verwoerd, who was a Professor of

Psychology before he became a newspaper editor and later politician, did not “hate”

Blacks.129 There is also strong evidence that he was anti-Semitic (Marx, 2008:254-256).

In fact, Marx describes Verwoerd as “a propagandistic rabble-rouser, and a journalistic lout” (Marx, 2008, p. 256).

The problem is that the very communication strategies that helped raise

Afrikaners economically were later used to convince them of the value of apartheid and

129 In the summer of 1981, after the death of my grand-mother, my parents visited her friend Mrs. Winnie Mandela (1936 – 2018) who was living in exile in a Black location on the outskirts of the small Free State town of Brandfort. She told them that as a child the young Verwoerd had lived in Brandfort and that local Africans claimed that his father was a notorious womanizer who had countless Black mistresses. She claimed that it was this that caused the young Verwoerd to “hate” Blacks and largely explained his role in creating apartheid. 272 to help implement this evil system. This fact tells us a lot about the use of cultural communication which lacks external checks and balances.

As a communications technique cultural communication has tremendous power and can be used for the improvement of individual welfare, the creation of a better life, and the improvement of society. The problem that is such communications rely on the creation of a sense of belonging, community, and shared identity. This in turn erects barriers and, as Burke observered, create divisions. In this way such forms of communication that rely on ideas like a world-view, or Weltanschauung, inevitably require a scapegoat (Burke, 1984a:9-17, 25-36). Thus, cultural communications can easily be turned in a direction that produces immense suffering for those identified as

“the other” (Burke, 1973: 191-220).

As a result, the problem with cultural communications is that there are no real checks and balances. Once someone is convinced that their identity and wellbeing rests on their embrace of a worldview that encompasses the whole of their being, from intellectual pursuits to how they spend their spare time and what they eat, it is almost impossible for outsiders to have any impact on them.

In such a situation only the recognition of internal contradictions by the participant, or perhaps one should say true believer, has the power to effect change and lead them to embrace an alternative lifestyle. By way of contrast people who embrace a rational-scientific mode of thinking are open to discussion and the possibility of change because it is built into the way they see the world and experience life.

As already shown, the scientific-rational mode of communications led the leaders of the Fabian Society to seek common ground with their political opponents based on

273 the discussion and evaluation of evidence. In this way the Fabian approach significantly affected the conduct of British politics. This has the danger of becoming arid and inviting endless discussion, but it makes everyone focus on evidence. The problem with cultural communications is that the evidence it uses can easily become fossilized and used in isolation from other evidence.

In the case of the Broederbond, this is what happened at least until the mid-

1970’s. As a result, the voices of Africans and other non-White South Africans, such as the Indian and so-called “Coloured” communities, were not heard. As one Afrikaner informant told me “After the Soweto riots of the mid-1970’s and the death of Steve Biko I thought the government had changed its ways and was making real changes in places like Soweto. Then, in 1981, I met a visitor from England and pointed this out to him saying that ‘this year there have been no riots in Soweto, at last we have got it right.’

Two days later the South African Broadcasting Corporation announced that there had been a lot of rioting in Soweto over the past few days. It was then that I knew things had to change” (Informant: Christoph).

From this and similar comments made by all of my informants it seems that there was a dim realization that while the narrative paradigm of Afrikaner Nationalism with all of its accompaniments in terms of pageants, theatre and music, etc., created a powerful vision of life and political myth that truly helped Afrikaners raise themselves from poverty, it contained within itself the seeds of its own destruction. This is because the worldview of Afrikanerdom blinded those who participated in it to the reality around them. In other words, to use an analogy, while it gave them protective sun glasses it did nothing to prevent the rest of their faces from becoming badly sunburnt.

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From this it seems that while cultural communication is probably the most powerful form of communication it is also the most dangerous. Used without any checks or balances it can destroy those who rely on it far more easily and often in ways that for a long time go unnoticed than can rational-scientific communications.

8.4 The growth of mixed rational-scientific and cultural communications

Although in the short term the SAIRR was the least successful of the three think tanks studied, seen from a long-term perspective it was possibly the most successful of the three in terms of its ultimate impact. This is because it faced far more strident and well-organized opposition, which for many years had the backing of the South African government, than the others faced in their own struggles. Yet in the end its achievements were remarkable because it played a significant role in the ending of apartheid.

Here one sees the advantage of taking what Alan Paton (1903-1988) wisely calls

“the long view” (Paton, 1968). He did not live to see the end of apartheid; even though there were signs of change visible in 1988 it was far from certain that the iron rule of the apartheid regime would yield to its critics. Yet in the end it did end and here a combination of cultural and rational-scientific communications played a decisive role.

Externally, the rational-scientific evidence presented by anti-apartheid groups worldwide prevented the South African Government from gaining the allies it needed abroad and brought trade sanctions in its wake. Internally, it was the cultural- communications created by the Institute that caused leading members of the

Broederbond and Afrikaners generally to choose between the narrative-paradigm of

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Afrikaner Nationalism and that of Christianity. As a result, doubts developed, and a small but highly vocal internal opposition movement developed from within the Afrikaner community itself.

8.5 Comparing these communications strategies

From the available evidence it is probably best to conclude that both communications strategies discussed in this thesis, the rational-scientific and the cultural, can be very effective. Therefore, one cannot definitively say that one is better than the other in terms of their power to communicate. Both work well depending on the purposes for which they are used and the social context of their use. This becomes clear when we remember that this thesis is not offering a cause and effect explanation for the successes and failures of the think tanks studied.

All we can really say is that over time the gradualist approach of the Fabians worked remarkably well in Britain where opinion makers, the press, and other forms of media, the general public, and parliamentarians, placed great trust in what they accepted as rational scientific arguments based on evidence and logical reasoning.

As a result, a succession of both Labour and Conservative governments, although primary Labour, embraced Fabian reforms without developing a full-blown form of Socialism. At the same time, while there is no doubt that the Fabians were remarkably successful, not all the reforms that they advocated can be attributed to them because other groups sometimes fought for similar ideas which the Fabians recognized as worth promoting.

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By contrast the Broederbond’s remarkably successful use of cultural communications worked well under circumstances where rational-scientific argument failed to reach the hearts and minds of a destroyed people engulfed by suffering. The creation of an Afrikaner identity did not come about by arguing that if Afrikaners worked together they would be better off, because they were so downtrodden that rational scientific arguments about the need to invest in the economy made little or no impact.

Rather, people had to be convinced emotionally that there was such a thing as an

Afrikaner and that they ought to take pride in their heritage and themselves. What was important was creating an ethos where people believed they could create a better future for themselves and their children. Only when this was done did the promise of economic development begin to make sense and eventually take off.

What seems important in both cases is the importance of time and place. It was the situation that made each approach work for particular people in specific times and places. Thus, we see that communication is, as Aristotle and other ancient writers recognized, subject to Kairos. Nevertheless, as noted earlier cultural communications bring with it the danger of scapegoating other people and because of this is potentially more dangerous than rational-scientific communications.

8.6 Tools for the study of propaganda

Although originally conceived as a study of think tank communications it soon became clear that propaganda, defined in the traditional sense as the propagation of ideas and social change, plays a key role in their communications strategies. Therefore, the examples discussed in this work and the vocabulary developed provides additional

277 tools for the analysis of contemporary propaganda once it is viewed as a long-term strategy for the promotion of social and intellectual change. The example of the three think tanks studies here, particularly the example of the Broederbond’s promotion of the

Afrikaner narrative paradigm and the criticisms of it by the SAIRR and its affiliate the

Christian Institute of Southern Africa, provides a glimpse of possibilities for the future application of the communications model proposed and its relevance to the analysis of propaganda.

In fact, from the late 1970’s a growing number of young Afrikaner singer songwriters, beginning with the David Kramer (b. 1951),130 began to give expression to the growing popular discontent among young people, particularly Afrikaners, with the policy of their government (de Villiers & Slabbert, 2011). As a result, they began to publicly question the Afrikaner narrative paradigm which they had accepted until the realities of military service on South Africa’s borders or in Black townships created experiences that were in sharp conflict with everything they had been taught. Then, some of them at least began to read the literature produced by groups like the SAIRR which they had been told was full of lies and misinterpretations. But, now it began to ring true (Informant: Antje).

As a result, a type of propaganda campaign developed on the basis of popular sentiments that, until they began to sing about them, remained under the surface of public debate. Once Kramer began singing others followed because his words expressed what many were thinking but were unable to express.

Kramer was clever because in his early songs he criticized English speaking liberal students who continually attacked the police but were the first to call on them for

130 http://www.davidkramer.co.za/ 278 help when they felt threatened by Blacks. One passage from his first record Backgat!

(1981)131 illustrates this. It goes:

You and your friends In their faded blue jeans You think you know what everything means. You've got big mouths You've got degrees But when the shit starts to fly Then you run overseas.

This and similar verses left the authorities uncertain of his intent. Therefore, the

South African Broadcasting Corporations played safe and banned the playing of his songs. From their viewpoint they were right because his next record Baboondogs

(1986) was an anti-apartheid bombshell. The title suggests feral dogs that according to popular belief are sometimes brought up by baboons. One example of his powerful critique is found in the lines:

Must be nearly midnight and still we have not arrived At the journey’s end you promised us when we left at 5 to 5 You said you knew the way and you reassured our fears Why is your hand sweating now as you try to change the gears?

Driver, driver, driver, I'm sure we are lost Tell me why they are burning down the bridges we just crossed?

Inspired by Kramer, a journalist Ralph Rabie (1960 – 2002), who was a former student at Potchefstroom University of Christian Higher Education, began to undermine the assurance of the received Afrikaner narrative with sharp criticisms of the complacency of Afrikaner politicians in the face of a growing crisis (Laubscher, 2005).132

131 Backgat” is an Afrikaans slang word for "excellent," which literally means "roast arse." 132 He took the stage name Johannes Kerkorrel, which translates as John the Church Organ, and called his group, Die Gereformeerde Blues Band, or Reformed Blues Band. This name was a play on words with connotations of the conservative Calvinism and links to the Broederbond. When my parents interviewed 279

He was joined in his protest by a group of young Afrikaners, most of whom had served in the Angolan war, on South Africa’s frontiers, or in Black townships, and were fed up with official policy and its lies, began a new and short-lived but highly influential music movement known as Voëlvry or "Free as a Bird" which also carries with it the connotation of outlaws (Grundlingh, 2004; Hopkins, 2006).

Perhaps the most powerful of these songs was Andre Letoit’s133 reworking of the

Afrikaans poet Totius poem Rachel, which was discussed in chapter four, and is about the suffering of Afrikaner Women and Children in British Concentration Camps. Totius had written:

Thus, I think of the Rachels of my land … Rachel, the suffering mother, weeps over Her children – they are no more.

Letoit gives this theme, which is central to the Broederbond’s nationalist paradigm, a new twist in his song Swart September, Black September, from his album

Niemendsland, No Man’s land (1985). Here we find the verse:

The Casspirs134 loaded with guns And the woman at the fence Were the first to hear the roar Weep, Rachel, for your child The bastards killed him.

This is not an Afrikaner killed by the British, but a contemporary Black African child killed by Afrikaners. So, the Nationalist myth is subverted by showing its relativity and

him for a CBC radio program they made in 1989 he told them that his band had received support from the Canadian Embassy on the instructions of Joe Clark who liked the idea of promoting alternative music to undermine apartheid. 133 His stage name is “Koos Kombuis,” or Jacob the Kitchen Sink, which can also have some other connotations such as “chamber pot.” See: https://www.kooskombuis.com 134 Casspirs are armored South African troop carriers often used by the police to quell Black unrest. 280 making the Afrikaners not the victims but the perpetrators of violence, suffering, and death (Pienaar 2012:519).135 In this way what Julia Reid (2011) calls a counter-myth, or in Walter Fisher’s terms a counter-narrative, developed that freed young Afrikaners from the grip of the dominant Nationalist narrative paradigm.

In this very powerful music we see the mixing of rational-scientific evidence of the type produced by the SAIRR and the traumatic personal experiences of the singer song writers during their compulsory military service which comes into conflict with their cultural identity and the narrative paradigms promoted by the Broederbond (Morrow,

2009; Informant: Antje). With this development a merger of these two forms of communication moved out of the realm of think tanks into the realm of spontaneously produced propaganda that questions official policies and information. Thus, popular culture becomes propaganda and a form of political communications. As such this offers some interesting possibilities for future research and the development of new tools for propaganda analysis.136

8.7 Conclusion

All three early think tanks discussed in this thesis were remarkably successful in influencing government policies. Yet it is important not to overemphasize their success.

As noted earlier some writers see the Fabians as the sources of everything that went wrong in the development of Western Society (Martin & Wright, 1966). Others claim that

135 Here I am indebted to Clara Pienaar for her translation of the song. While I agree with her overall analysis it is important to point out that she fails to observe that Letoit is drawing upon the work of Totius to make his point about the way the Afrikaner dream has died. 136 This closing section drew upon a paper I presented in at the University of Brighton’s Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, 7th Annual International Interdisciplinary Conference: Representation, Politics and Violence, held September 11-13, 2013. 281 the Broederbond was a shadow government that really ran South Africa (Serfontein,

1979). More recent research shows that both of these claims are wrong.

The Fabians were remarkably successful, but there was always a distance between them and government policy even when Tony Blair and all members of his

Cabinet were Fabians (Callaghan, 1996; Freeden, 1999; Goodhart, 2006). Similarly, recent writers on the Broederbond, who now have access to material that was not available to earlier critics like Serfontein, note the internal conflicts within the

Broederbond and a far more complex relationship to the South African Government than was assumed earlier (Marx 2008; Moodie 2012; Koorts 2014).

What is clear is that all three think tanks discussed here experienced varying degrees of success. Therefore, it is important to study the communications techniques that they developed and used to great effect.

Hopefully this thesis has created a way of talking about think tank communications and an awareness of their importance. It also creates an awareness of the way in which such communications are often political in nature and function as a form of propaganda. Thus, when a contemporary think tank like Canada’s Fraser

Institute produces its annual report on Canadian schools, it is not only helping concerned parents make wise choices, but it is also promoting a lifestyle, or worldview, that inevitably has political overtones and consequences. This recent appeal to worldviews by the Fraser Institute means that, like the early Broederbond. the intentions of the Fraser Institute and its scholars who write about education may be good ones, but where this type of reporting will eventually lead is another question.

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Similarly, when the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives appeals to a sense of fairness and the need to help the poor through stories about the effects of poverty it is also engaging in a form of propaganda that reflects elements of the communications techniques discussed in this thesis. The same goes, perhaps even more so, for environmental groups like Greenpeace when they show pictures of starving seals or polar bears and call for action on climate change. Here emotions are used to sway opinion.

All of these techniques are forms of propaganda that draw on the two main communications strategies discussed in this work. No doubt other such techniques remain to be identified. All we have done here is make a start and provide suggestions and tools for the analysis of think tank communications and their entwinement with propaganda campaigns. This, of course, leaves a lot of work to be done in the future.

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References

Archival and Other Sources

Fabian Society Online Archives http://digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/fabiansociety

This digital archive was used to access: FSCR - Fabian Society Common Room Notes 1915-1934 FSEC - Fabian Society Executive Committee Minute Books 1885-1940 FSPC - The Fabian Propaganda Committee Minutes 1907-1916 FSML Fabian Society Meetings and Lectures 1883-1940 FSMB - Fabian Society Minute Books from 1885-1940 FSSC - Fabian Society sub-committees minute books 1899-1940 FSFT -Fabian Tracts from 1884-1940 FSBT - Fabian Society Biographical Tracts

University of South Africa Online-Archive http://uir.unisa.ac.za/handle/10500/6431

Z K Matthews Collection: ZK Matthews: F Miscellaneous articles and other documents This was used to access: Whyte, Quintin. (1952) The Logic of Economic Integration original typescript Mathews Z. K. (1959) Obituary of Professor DDT Jabavu original type-script

The Hexham-Poewe Collection Located in Calgary this collection consists of hand written notebooks, papers, books and magazines, and some fugitive literature collected, but never used, by my parents Irving Hexham and Karla Poewe over many years. The collection contains an almost complete set of the SAIRR Annual Reports and the Annual Survey of Race Relations until 2003.

The Broederbond Materials Here the primary source used were interviews with former members and people closely related to, or whose lives were influenced by, the Broederbond. For more information see Appendix One.

It also includes two books of leaked Broederbond documents translated into English and published by journalists in the 1970’s. Since the Broederbond never challenged the translations or content of the actual documents, and my informants confirmed their accuracy, it can be safely assumed that the documents themselves are reliable. They are found in:

Serfontein, J. H. P. (1979). Brotherhood of Power: An exposé of the secret Afrikaner Broederbond. London: Rex Collings

284

Wilkins, Ivor., & Strydom, Hans. (1978). The Super-Afrikaners. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers

In addition to these sources a large number of primary published works were used for all three think tanks studied. These works are included in the bibliography under the heading of “Primary Published Sources.”

Films watched in connection with this research: De Voortrekkers (1916), re-issued by Villon Films, Vancouver, B.C. Various films found on YouTube showing events from the Symbolic Trek of 1938. Unfortunately, the availability of these films and film clips is unreliable and one has to search for them.

Websites consulted: WS-AU = Athabasca University Library website: http://www.athabascau.ca/

WS-BMC - Barbara Michelle Centre for Improvement in Education https://www.fraserinstitute.org/studies/education

WS-CSWPS = Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda and Society, University of Kent https://www.kent.ac.uk/history/centres/war-propaganda-and-society/

WS-FI: Fraser Institute https://www.fraserinstitute.org/

WS-FSH: The Fabian Society official history website: http://www.fabians.org.uk/about/the-fabian-story/

WS-FSP: Fabian Society current publications: http://www.fabians.org.uk/publications/

WS-GTTT = Go To Think Tank Global Index website: www.gotothinktank.com/global-goto-think-tank-index

WS-LSE: The London School of Economics official history website. http://www.lse.ac.uk/about-lse/our-history

W-NA-MB = National Archives of Great Britain – Methods of Barbarism http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/census/events/britain7.htm

WS-SAIRR: South African Institute of Race Relations: http://irr.org.za

WS-SPE: The Marxist website Spartacus Education for texts on Marx, Lenin, and the Fabian Society: http://spartacus-educational.com/EDlse.htm 285

WS-SW: Stellenbosch Writers Website: Breuer, Rosmarie, (nd) “J. C. Langenhoven.”Found on the Internet at: http://www.stellenboschwriters.com/langenhoven.html

WS-THES = Times Higher Education Supplement website: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/people/obituaries/philip-m-taylor 1954-2010/414741.article

WS-VML = The von Mises Institute Library website: https://mises.org/library/fabian-freeway-high-road-socialism-usa

WS-VS: Afrikaanse Volksang en Volkspele Beweging/Afrikaans Folk Song and Folk Dancing Movement: http://volkspele.co.za/avvb/

WS-VSH: The history of the Afrikaanse Volksang en Volkspele Beweging/Afrikaans Folk Song and Folk Dancing Movement: http://volkspele.co.za/avvb/tuisblad/geskiedenis-van-die-avvb/

WS-VYM: The Voortrekker Youth Movement. Found online at: https://voortrekkers.co.za/

WS-VYMH: The history of the Voortrekker Youth Movement. Found online at: http://www.afrikanergeskiedenis.co.za/organisasies-se-geskiedenis/die- voortrekkers/die-vastrappers/

286

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Appendix One

Research Interviews

Chapter Six of this thesis is heavily dependent on interviews and exploratory meetings held with Afrikaners who were either current members of the Afrikaner

Broederbond or people whose lives were deeply affected by it. The interviews were technically elite interviews with individuals who were contacted on the basis of a snowball sample. All the interviewees were professionals and university graduates and a number were retired and some now live outside of South Africa.

In consultation with my supervisor, who was provided with a means of authenticating the interviews, the primary informants are identified by pseudonyms and extra care was taken to remove any information that might lead to their identification.

This includes removing or altering such things as general demographic data, geographic location, and specific information about their education, including the university they attended and their field of study, marital status, relatives, profession, and in some cases exact relationship to the Broederbond. Such caution was deemed necessary due to the sensitive nature of the topic and related security concerns. The one exception to this procedure was the current Chairman of the Afrikaner

Broederbond, Jan Bosman. He is a public figure whose identity is well known in South

Africa. As such he was willing to allow me to use his name.

The reporting of the interviews complies with the University of Calgary’s research ethics policy for human subjects and with the Canadian Tri-Council Policy Statement on the topic (TCPS2, 2010). In the thesis the interviewees are called informants and identified as follows:

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Formal interviews were held with: Antje – Female Afrikaner whose father was a Broederbond member Jan, Boseman – Chairman of the Broederbond Christoph - Male Afrikaner whose father was a Broederbond member Frank – English speaking former member of the banned Liberal Party Koos – Main Afrikaner informant and member of the Broederbond Kurt – Non-Broederbond member whose family was impacted by Broderbond Piet – Afrikaner whose family was impacted by Broederbond membership unknown UVC – The Vice-Chancellor, i.e. President, of a British University

Informal interviews were held with: Professor Kenneth Ingham, University of Bristol – these took place prior to my PhD research when I was in England and talked with him about South Africa, his book on Jan Smuts, and potential research topics for a PhD. Professor Donovan Williams, University of Calgary, who I visited from time to time to talk about South Africa and my research. Various Afrikaner and English-speaking South African friends and acquaintances as well as politicians and others who had links to or knowledge about the Fabian Society who provided background information.

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Appendix Two

The Afrikaner Narrative Paradigm of Suffering and Survival

A key factor in the rise of Afrikaner Nationalism was the popularization through a variety of organizations, churches, cultural groups, schools, etc., that promoted what is best described as the Afrikaner Narrative Paradigm. As Professor F. A. van Jaarsveld pointed out in his The Awakening of Afrikaner Nationalism (1962) this began in the late nineteenth century and formed the basis of the Afrikaner’s Interpretation of South

African History (van Jaarsveld, 1964). It first gained currency in terms of political organization through the relatively short lived Afrikaner Bond (Davenport, 1966) and is discussed in various works on the development of South African history (Wright 1977;

Smith, 1988; Saunders, 1988). As shown in the thesis this series of related narratives was taken up by the Broederbond and made alive through numerous activities such as the creation of monuments and pageants like the Symbolic Trek of 1938 (Moodie, 1975)

Central to this narrative collection, which included stories about the Second

Anglo-Boer War was the story of the brutal murder of Piet Retief and his companions who attempted to buy land from the Zulu King Dingaan and the subsequent Battle of

Blood River. These stories lay at the heart of the Afrikaner Nationalist narrative paradigm (Walker, 1934).

The story of Retief was told and retold for at least a century from the 1880’s to the 1980’s. It emphasized the gulf between Afrikaners and Black Africans. It also proved the resilience of the Afrikaner especially when it was linked to tales of British oppression and the atrocities of the Second Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902.

Although elements of what became the narrative paradigm were told as a story from 1838 onwards it only appears to have begun to take on real meaning in the 1880’s.

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Then after 1902 it was revived and given new importance as it slowly took shape to become the foundation story of Afrikaner Nationalist the narrative paradigm.

Although the facts of the case are disputed by historians, the core story was based on a historical event that was then used to propagate the ideas of Afrikaner

Nationalism (van Jaarsveld, 1961, 1964; Smith1988; Saunder, 1988; Etherington,

2001). Interestingly, the bare bones of the story and its relationship to British imperialism and the oppression of Afrikaners was first given respectability by the

Canadian historian George McCall Theal (1837-1919) in his numerous works on South

Africa (Smith, 1988, pp.31-48).

Piet Retief (1780-1838) was one of the leaders of the mass migration, or trek, of

1836 involving Boer farmers from the Cape Province, across the Orange River which was the northern border of the Cape, into what became the two Boer Republics of the

OVS (Orange Free State) and what became the SAR (South Africa Republic). In 1836 he led a group of these migrants, later known as Voortrekkers, from the Cape Province, to what was to become the Transvaal, and then on to the coastal area of Natal.

North of Natal lay Zululand and the powerful Zulu kingdom (Muller, 1981:146-

182). After negotiations with the Zulu King Dingane (1795-1840) and a payment of a herd of over 700 cattle, Retief and the co-leader of the trek, Gert Maritz (1797-1838), went north with around 100 other trekkers to negotiate a permanent treaty ceding the land they were living on to the trekkers. This was dated on the 4th of February but only signed on the 6th. Following the signing of the treaty Retief and his men were invited into the Royal Kraal to witness a celebratory dance by Zulu warriors. The condition attached

338 to entering the Kraal was that they leave their weapons behind, which is what they did

(Walker, 1934)..

During the celebrations Dingane is said to have shouted “kill the wizards” whereupon his warriors overpowered Retief and his men and dragged them out to a nearby hill. There they were beaten to death with Retief being kept to the last after he witnessed the deaths of his comrades. This scene was witnessed by a European trader and missionary who were also living in the Zulu capital and were left unharmed by

Dingane. At the same time Zulu armies attacked white settlers throughout Natal although in places like what became the town of Pietermaritzburg they were driven off

(Walker, 1934; van Jaarsveld 1975:117-132).

After various setbacks and the loss of around 25,000 cattle to the Zulu a relief expedition arrived from the Transvaal led by Andreas Pretorius, after whom the city of

Pretoria was eventually named. He led a punitive expedition into Zululand and on the 16

December 1838 with 470 men in a fortified laager, or defensive compound built from ox wagons, he defeated a Zulu army of over 12,000 men. At the end of a three-hour battle over 3,000 Zulu, who were armed with spears against guns, rifles, and cannon, were dead causing the nearby river to run red with their blood. From that time one the Boers called this the Battle of Blood River. Facing defeat the Zulu army fled. Subsequently

Dingane was deposed and in 1840 was killed as a result of a rebellion by his half- brother (van Jaarsveld, 1975:123-126).

The significance of the story is that in 1844 former Vooortrekkers in Natal began to celebrate the defeat of Dingane in what they called “The Day of the Covenant,” or more popularly “Dinagne’s Day” on the 16 of December each year. These celebrations

339 spread to the SAR which declared it an official holiday in 1865. The OVS followed in

1894 and after the creation of the Union of South Africa in 1910 it was declared a national holiday for the entire country.

What transformed the celebration of the Day of the Covenant from a holiday shared equally by South African citizens of both British and Dutch decent was the linking of the celebration with the remembrance of the Concentration Camps at the opening of the NWCM in 1913. Closely associated with both the grief poems, and the writings of authors like Preller, the holiday developed into a national ritual that celebrated the essence of what it meant to be an Afrikaner.

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