A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE CONGRESS ALLIANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 1947-1956 by Corrie Gerald Haines Doctorate of Philosophy School of Oriental and African Studies ProQuest Number: 11010645 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11010645 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 ABSTRACT A POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE CONGRESS ALLIANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA 19^7-1956 by Corrie Gerald Haines Prior to the arrest of 156 leading Congressmen and Congresswomen, in December 1956, the Congress Alliance, a m ultiracial political coalition had sponsored, planned, and promoted domestic and international political initiatives to redress the grievances of its South African constituency. This history will assess the Congress Alliance’s political agenda. To accomplish that end, this thesis will draw upon a variety of source materials, many emanating from the Congress Alliance shelf, i.e ., presi­ dential addresses, constitutions, flyer/leaflets, public and private conferences, mass meetings, minutes, speeches, detective and United Nations reports, etc. These source materials will help to reconstruct a political history of the Congress Alliance. The overriding theme of this study is multiracial political opposition to State sanctioned oppression: legal discrimination, social segregation, economic exploitation, and political disenfranchisement. This thesis examines, therefore, the evolution of joint political strategies, priorities, programmes, and pressure tactics employed by the Coalition against the South African government. It presents a case study of a nonviolent political struggle for liberty, democracy, equality, and human rights. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS A b s tr a c t Acknowledgments P r e fa c e 3 Prologue: The Development of a Coalition 6 I. The Politics of Coalition 79 II. The Coalition Mobilises for Defiance 109 III. Repercussions of Defiance 124 IV. The Coalition Receives Reinforcements 142 V. The Coalition Mobilises for Resistance 167 VI. The Coalition's Last Campaign 209 Summary 260 Appendix A: The 156 Trialists 262 Appendix B: Detectives' Notes 279 Appendix C: Banned Leaders 328 Appendix D: Freedom Charter 330 Bibliography 334 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It is a high pleasure to publicly express my indebtedness to Professor J. R. Gray. His scholarly insights and positive criticism throughout the research and writing process contributed immensely to this thesis. Specifically, he expanded my understanding of the Christian reform ers, Ambrose Reeves and Trevor Huddleston. I would also like to point out that I received invaluable assistance from Massabalala B. Yengwa and Abednego B. Ngocobo . Both men enlightened me on the great Christian political leader, Albert J. Lutuli. I would be rem iss if I did not mention Yeyedwa Zungu and the London-based representatives of the African National Congress who found the time to answer the questions of an inquisitive graduate student. Finally, this research project could not have been completed without the educational grants awarded to me by Ionic Lodge #17 F&AM, PHA, and The Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F&AM of the District of Columbia I also received personal support from James E. Cheek, President of Howard University. DEDICATION To My Wife and Friend Roberta Elizabeth Haines PREFACE The Congress Alliance was a unique political coalition primarily because it was not''predicated upon race or class ideology, but upon liberal democratic concepts that were consistent with the principles of human equality proclaimed by the United Nations Charter (19^5) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (19^8). Human solidarity was the dominant characteristic of the coalition. It was the common political expression of Africans, Asians, Coloureds, and Europeans; of Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims; of C apitalists, Communists, Democrats, Nation­ alists, and'Socialists; of professional and Western educated elites as well as of manual, skilled, and semi-skilled workers; of women as well as men. The coalition was comprised of the following political organisations: African National Congress ANC Afhican National Congress Women’s League ANCWL African National Congress Youth League ANCYL African National Congress - Cape Province ANC-Cape African National Congress - Natal Province ANC-Natal African National Congress - Orange Free State ANC-O.F.S. African National Congress - Transvaal Province ANC-Tvl. Federation of South African Women FSAW South African Coloured People's Organisation SACPO South African Communist Party SACP South African Congress of Democrats SACOD South African Congress of Trade Unions SACTU South African Indian Congress SAIC Natal Indian Congress NIC Natal Indian Youth Congress NIYC Transvaal Indian Congress TIC Transvaal Indian Youth Congress TIYC 3 South African Peace Council SAPC Natal Peace Council NPC Transvaal Peace Council * TPC South African Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union SASPFSU In December 1956, the South African government ordered the arrest of 1-40 men and 16 women who were among the leading political activists in the Congress Alliance. Of those incarcerated by the State, 97 were African males, 7 were females; 20 were Asian males, 1 was female; 17 were -| European males, 6 were females; 6 were Coloured males; 2 were females. The outcome of this mass arrest was the South African Treason Trial of December 1956 to March 1961, an event which has already proved to be of 2 very considerable interest to scholars. By sharp contrast, very little has been written of the basic stages of development shaping the character, attending the formation, and influencing the emergence of the Coalition. An excellent essay has been written on the theme by the political scientist, Thomas Karis. However, a historical monograph on the rise of this multi­ racial political coalition has been clearly needed to fill a void in South African historiography. The primary purpose of this thesis, therefore, is to fill that void by reconstructing a documented narrative political history of the Congress Alliance prior to the Treason Trial. The major theme of this study is multiracial opposition. This thesis will not attempt For a list of the 156 trialists, see Appendix A. 2 See the bibliography in Thomas Karis, The Treason Trial in South Africa: A Guide to the Microfilm Record of the Trial (Stanford, Calif., 1965), pp. 122-124. 2 Thomas Karis and Gwendolen M. Carter, From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882-1964, 4 vols. (Stanford, C alif., 1977), vol. 3'- Challenge and Violence 1953-1965, by Thomas Karis and Gail M. Gerhart, pp. 3-82. to focus upon political organisations or movements that were not members of the Congress Alliance. There are several interpretations that a political historian could employ to illuminate the historical dynamics of the politics of oppression and tyranny on the one hand, and the politics of human liberty and equality, on the other. The most obvious interpretations are the 1 nationalist (race struggle) and the marxist (class struggle). This thesis will, based upon the socio-political argument raised collectively by the Coalition, consciously posit a liberal democratic interpretation herein defined as egalitarianism/human rights struggle. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the political assumptions of Jean Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract; Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobe­ dience; John Stuart Mill, On Liberty; and John Dewey and James H. Tufts, Ethics, as they will be applied throughout the study to answer the fundamental human rights thesis question raised by the multiracial opposition: By what right does the Government rule? 1 T. R. H. Davenport, South Africa: A Modern History (London, 1977), p. 370; and Bernard Makosezwe, The Political Economy of Race and Class in South Africa (London, 1979). 5 PROLOGUE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COALITION For over sixty years, the Congress Movement waged a nonviolent political struggle for liberty, democracy, and human rights. During that period of time, this revolutionary reform movement gave rise to two of the world’s most charismatic nonviolent revolutionists, Mahatma K. Gandhi in the pre-World War I era and Chief Albert J. Lutuli in the post-World War II period. Both leaders were outstanding spokesmen for egalitarianism in South Africa. Gandhi opened the liberal reformist phase of the political struggle in 1894. Lutuli presided at its watershed as the rise of the param ilitary UMKHONTO WE SIZWE, in 1961, began the era of armed revolution for national liberation. This study will concentrate on the pre-Treason Trial period of 19^7—1956. However, the alliance of the Congresses cannot be fully understood without an examination, albeit necessarily brief, of the earlier political development. Gandhi founded the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), the oldest wing i of the multiracial political coalition, on 22 May 1894. From the outset, this South African Asian nationalist movement was closely linked with the Indian National Congress. While upper class Indians, many with a Western education, comprised the basic component of the NIC, membership was extended to all classes of Indians in Natal, indentured labourers, 1 M. K. Gandhi, Satyagraha in South Africa (Ahmedabad, India, (1928) 1972), p. 42; M. K. Gandhi, Gandhi; An Autobiography (Boston, Mass., 1957), p. 149; and Indians in South Africa: Growth of Political Organi­ sations (pamphlet) Treason Trial Evidence of Regina v. Farid Adams and Twenty-Nine Others, Reel 11, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 6 emancipated Indians, Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and Parsis. The first political initiative of the NIC was to oppose the ^Disfranchisement Bill and the Poll Tax of 1894.