Title: Black Consciousness in South Africa : the Dialectics of Ideological
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Black Consciousness in South Africa : The Dialectics of Ideological Resistance to White title: Supremacy SUNY Series in African Politics and Society author: Fatton, Robert. publisher: State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin: 088706129X print isbn13: 9780887061295 ebook isbn13: 9780585056890 language: English Blacks--South Africa--Politics and government, Blacks--Race identity--South Africa, South Africa-- Politics and government--1961-1978, South subject Africa--Politics and government--1978- , South Africa--Social conditions--1961- , Blacks--South Africa--Social cond publication date: 1986 lcc: DT763.6.F37 1986eb ddc: 305.8/00968 Blacks--South Africa--Politics and government, Blacks--Race identity--South Africa, South Africa-- Politics and government--1961-1978, South subject: Africa--Politics and government--1978- , South Africa--Social conditions--1961- , Blacks--South Africa--Social cond Page i Black Consciousness in South Africa Page ii SUNY Series in African Politics and Society Henry L. Bretton and James Turner, Editors Page iii Black Consciousness in South Africa The Dialectics of Ideological Resistance to White Supremacy Robert Fatton Jr. State University of New York Press Page iv Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1986 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Fatton, Robert. Black consciousness in South Africa. (SUNY series in African politics and society) Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D)University of Notre Dame. Bibliography: p. 171 1. BlacksSouth AfricaPolitics and government. 2. BlacksSouth AfricaRace identity. 3. South AfricaPolitics and government19611978. 4. South Africa Politics and government1978 . 5. South AfricaSocial conditions1961 . 6. BlacksSouth AfricaSocial conditions. 7. South AfricaRace relations. I. Title. II. Series. DT763.6.F37 1986 305.8'00968 852855 ISBN 0887061273 ISBN 088706129X (pbk.) 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 Page v Contents Acknowledgments vii Abbreviations ix Chapter I Black Consciousness from a Historical 1 Perspective Chapter II Ideology, The Black Consciousness 39 Movement, and Social Change in South Africa Chapter III The Growth and Definition of the Black 63 Consciousness Movement Chapter IV Class, Blackness, and Economics 81 Chapter V Black Theology 107 Chapter VI Conclusions and Assessments 121 Notes 149 Bibliography 171 Index 187 Page vii Acknowledgments This book on the Black Consciousness Movement of South Africa grew out of a doctoral dissertation prepared for the Department of Government of the University of Notre Dame. It owes a great deal to Professor Peter Walshe, the director of my thesis, whose commitment to social justice and a more humane society sharpened my interests in the politics of development and guided my attention to movements of popular resistance to opporession and racism. I am also indebted to him for choosing the South African predicament as the testing ground of my ideas and arguments. It was his stimulating graduate seminar on Southern Africa that focused my mind on this troubled and conflict-ridden region of the world. It is with the greatest gratitude and respect that I wish to acknowledge his profound influence on this book without implicating him in its shortcomings. I wish also to thank him for his friendship and continuous intellectual and moral support as well as for providing me with a source of education and inspiration. Thanks are due as well to Dr. James Turner, Director of Africana Studies at Cornell University and Editor of the SUNY Series in African Politics and Society, who read the manuscript with care and offered many valuable suggestions. My debt to others who contributed to the making of this book is considerable. My former teachers, Lee Roy Berry, Peter Moody, Michael Francis and Gilburt Loescher generously directed and encouraged me during my undergraduate and graduate years. An acknowledgment of gratitude is also due to Daniel Britz, Bibliographer of Africana at the Northwestern University Library for guiding me through the maze of South African documents and materials. Page viii I wish also to thank my new colleagues at the University of Virginia and in particular Alan Cafruny for our daily and animated discussions, and Dante Germino for allowing me to teach with him a seminar on Marx and Gramsci. Indeed, this seminar strengthened my conviction in the indispensability of the Marxian tradition in the study of society and social change. It is in this tradition that I have rooted the analytical framework of this book. A book, however, requires also the disciplined leisure of thinking and reading, of researching and writing, all of which are impossible without financial support. Accordingly, I wish to acknowledge a research grant from the Zahm Research Travel Fund of the University of Notre Dame, a generous fellowship from the Institute for the Study of World Politics, and a summer research grant from the University of Virginia. I wish also to acknowledge the Carter G. Woodson Institute and in particular Mary Rose for giving me access to their typing facilities. But it is to my wife Kathie, that I owe the deepest thanks for her loving support, encouragement, and patience during this undertaking. To my daughter, Vanessa, who was born during the preparation of this work my loving apologies for not "having the time" to be a better father. Finally I dedicate this book to my parents with love, gratitude and respect for all that they have given me. ROBERT FATTON, JR. CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA, JANUARY 17, 1985 Page ix Abbreviations ANC African National Congress AZAPO Azanian People's Organization BAWU Black Allied Workers' Union BCM Black Consciousness Movement BCP Black People Community Programs BPC Black People's Convention BWP Black Workers' Project COD Congress of Democrat CPSA Communist Party of South Africa CYL Congress Youth League NF National Forum NUSAS National Union of South African Students PAC Pan Africanist Congress SACPO South African Colored Peoples Organization SACTU South African Congress of Trade Unions SADF South African Defense Forces SAIC South African Indian Congress SASM South African Students' Movement SASO South African Students' Organization SRC Students' Representative Council SSRC Soweto Students' Representative Council UCM University Christian Movement UDF United Democratic Front Page 1 Chapter I Black Consciousness from a Historical Perspective The history of South Africa can be viewed as the history of black resistance to white conquest and white domination. This resistance has taken many forms which naturally underwent profound modifications in the years following the arrival of the first colonists led by Jan Van Riebeeck in 1652. Each form of resistance represented a specific reaction and attempted solution to the political, material, and organizational problems generated by white hegemony; each expressed simultaneously continuity and rupture with the practices of the past. The forms of African resistance were determined by changes in African needs and consciousness, and by the structural transformations in the economic and political systems. In turn, these changes and structural transformations imposed serious limitations on the effectiveness of African resistance since they were seldom initiated or controlled by Africans. Moreover, for more Page 2 than half of the twentieth century, the cultural hegemony of white liberal values and white bourgeois lifestyles made it difficult for several generations of African nationalists to radically oppose a system to which they owed many loyalties and allegiances. 1 Furthermore, the tangible and painful memories of pre-twentieth century defeats had a chilling effect on the vigor of African resistance. Nonetheless, they preserved the dignity of future generations of Africans.2 The forms of resistance were therefore bound by the historical and social context in which they originated and matured. They were and still are determined by the means of livelihood and the mode of production; by the elements of continuity linking them to one another; by the iconoclastic departures differentiating them from one another; by the connections between ideological discourses and class interests as well as by the intellectual contributions of exogenous forces. All of these forms of resistance, however, had as their common denominator the continuous history of African opposition to white supremacy and exploitation. Thus, despite social change and economic transformations, they represented a reaction to the basic condition of African oppression, and as such they were imbued with an ongoing sense of outrage and injustice. From this perspective, the forms of African resistance share a common ground which transcends their differences and particularisms. The objective of this book is to analyze the ideology of these forms of resistance to white supremacy and specifically to trace the development and radicalization of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) of South Africa, which emerged during the late 1960's with the formation of the South African Student's Organization (SASO) and crystalized in the Black People's Convention (BPC). The whole movement was eventually banned by the