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Durham E-Theses Organized non-violent rejection of the law for political ends: the experience of blacks in South Africa Carter, David How to cite: Carter, David (1978) Organized non-violent rejection of the law for political ends: the experience of blacks in South Africa, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8073/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ORGANIZED NON-VIOLENT REJECTION OF THE LAW FOR POLITICAL ENDS THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACKS IN SOUTH AFRICA DAVID CARTER Thesis Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy At the University of Durham Department of Politics 1978 V 1 ABSTRACT Organized Non-violent Rejection of the Law for Political Ends The Experience of Blacks m South Africa DAVID GARTER The study sets down and assesses the record of organized militant non-violent rejection of the law for political ends by Blacks m South Africa. Its approach is historical. The study is intended to help meet a lacuna m South African historiography; it is thus not primarily concerned with the theory of non-violent resistance. The study focuses on the three main instances of sustained non-violent resisbance m South Africa The "Satyagraha"campaign of 1906-191^ led by M. K. Gandhi; the "Passive Resistance" campaign of 19^-19^ and the Defiance of Unjust Laws -(1952-1953) • permit comparison,, each phase is examined under the same headings background; aims; planning and orga• nization,, leaders and participants, resistance, reactLon. At its proscription m 1960, the African National Congress (ANC), and its Indian counterpart, had not succeeded m stemming the flow, let alone reversing the tide, of racial legislation. There was, as a consequence, disillusionment with the (non-violent) tactics on which the Congresses had traditionally relied. Moreover, the commitment of the Congress leader• ship and its organizational ability were called into question. This study seeks to redress the balance, m the belief that the shortcomings m tactics and organization have been allowed unduly to overshadow the real achievements of the resistance campaigns and those who led them. The progress made was essentially of a "preparatory" nature. The leaders succeeded, m difficult circumstances, m involving large numbers of people, of diverse background and persuasion, m co-ordinated political activity, m many cases for the first bime, with important longer-term implications within and outside South Africa. Militant non-violence has played a crucial role m black political development m South Africa, it has a continuing relevance there m con• junction with violent tactics and international pressure in bringing about fundamental change. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Title Page Abstract 1 Table of Contents 2 - 4 Acknowledgements 5 Introduction 6 - 12 Part I Non-Violent Resistance 1906-1914 I Background 13 - 26 II Aims and Organization 27 - 34 III Leaders and Participants 35 - 46 IV Resistance and Reaction - First Phase 1906-1908 47 - 59 V Resistance and Reaction - Second Phase 1908-1911 60 - 76 VI Resistance and Reaction - Third Phase 1913-1914 77 - 99 VII An Assessment 1906-1914 100 - 107 Annex A Case Studies m Resistance 1908-1909 108 - 111 Annex B Summary of the Recommendations of the Indian Enquiry Commission 1914 112-113 Annex C The Smuts-Gandhi Agreement 1914 114-117 Part II Passive Resistance Campaign 1946-1948 I Background 118 - 127 II Aims, Planning and Organization 128 - 139 III Leaders and Participants 140 - 151 IV Resistance and Reaction 152 - 166 V Resistance and Reaction - International dimension 167 - 180 VI An Assessment 1946-1948 181 - 191 Annex A Land Tenure Legislation discriminating against Asians 1885-1945 192 - 202 Annex B Members of Passive Resistance Councils 203 - 204 3 Page Parb HI Defiance of Unpust Laws Campaign 1952-1953 I Background 205 - 224 II Aims, Planning and Organization _ 256 IH leaders and Participants 257 - 281 IV Resistance 282 - 299 V Reaction -^QQ _ -^Zf VI An Assessment 1952-1953 325 _ 334 Annex A Report of the Joint Planning Council of the ANC and SAIC 335 - 3^3 Annex B Defiance Campaign Court sentences 3^ _ 3^ Conclusion 3^9 _ 366 Bibliography 367 - 389 4 LIST OF TABLES Page Part I 1906-191^ Table I Transvaal Indian Registration and Hawking Offences, 1 January 1906- 30 June 1910 Part II 19^6-19^ Table I Origins of Resisters by Province 1^5 Table II Origins of Resisters by Town 8c District 146 Table III Occupations of Resisters 1^7 Table IV Age Distribution of Resisters 150 Table-V Non-Indian Resisters 150 Table VI Recorded Acts of Resistance - Distribution by Period 157 Part III 1952 Table I Acts of Defiance - by Province 8c Race 265 Table II Acts of Defiance - by Town 266 Table III Totals of Resisters 267 Table IV Offences committed - categories by Province 288 Table V Offences committed - categories by Town 289-290 Table VI Acts of Defiance - by Period and Locality (Provincial) 292 Table VII Acts of Defiance - by Period 293 Table VIII Acts of Defiance - by Period and Locality (Towns) 29^-296 MAP Centres of Defiance Activity 271 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT S Of the many people to whom I am greatly indebted m making this study I should like in particular to mention and to thank Paul Joseph and his wife and Essop Pahad and those with whom they so kindly put me m touch, Stanley Trapido, my Supervisor, whose help goes back over more years than either of us care to remember, and to my wife, Sue, who will, I hope, find some recompense m this thesis for its lengthy and difficult gestation. I am grateful to the University of Durham and the Social Science Research Council for making it possible for me to carry out this research. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. 6 THE INTRODUCTION At its proscription m 19&0, the African National Congress (ANC), and its Indian counterpart,had not succeeded m stemming the flow, let alone reversing the tide of racial legislation. There was as a consequence disillusionment with the tactics the Congresses had traditionally employed. This feeling was subsequently reflected m the title of Edward Feit's work, African Opposition m South Africa The Failure of Passive Resistance, though he reserves his strongest criticism for the leadership and quality of organization. In the aftermath of Sharperille, consideration of the use of the tactics of non-violent resistance for political ends within South Africa was increasingly overshadowed by considera• tion of alternative strategies for action, relying principally on international pressure against South Africa and recourse to violent means, though these have been little used m practice (1). This study reappraises the use of non-violent resistance for political ends by the black population m South Africa m the period from 1906 till 1960 m the belief that it made a significant contribution at the time to furthering the respec• tive interests of the African and Indian Congresses and the people they represented. If the tactic did not succeed,directly, m bringing about favourable radical change m South Africa it has played a vital preparatory role and may yet have a further part to play m the replacement of the existing economic, political and social systems. (l) On the occasions since 19^0 m South Africa when there has been substantial politically-motivated violence by blacks it would appear generally to have been largely spontaneous, the number of incidents, for example, of organized urban guerilla activity have been very few. 7 Any assessment of the campaigns of non-violent resistance m South Africa must have particular regard to the circumstances m which they were conducted to appreciate why their tangible achievements do not perhaps compare with those m pre-Independent India or even occupied Europe (1). In his dismissive approach towards the "non-violent phase" of black South African political history, Feit has argued that, "the espousal of non-violent policies, however commendable for humanitarian reasons, is an example of the embourgeoisement of a radical movement ... The ANC leadership was inhibited by its tendency to think m res• pectable forms of political action as much as by the Government's restrictive legislation. Neither the leaders nor their follow• ers were real revolutionaries" (2). The import of these > remarks, and others by Feit, is that the ANC, as a "bourgeois" organization was divorced from the mass of the people it claimed to represent, that neither the leadership nor its followers were really committed to the cause of radical change and that the non-violent tactics they adopted was confirmation of this. It is the contention of this study that these criticisms were not applicable to the periods during which the Congresses were engaged m militant non-violent resistance which achieved as much as could be expected from any available tactic m the circumstances.
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