h OR WARD TO if B # % strategy, tactics and programme of the af rican national congress SOUTH AFRICA ? oku™ ^ t''"w ere a W r ^ f # * ^ ? c.n,ty that m.s document is a true reproduction/copy of the vsn die oorspronklike wat deur my persoorlik ht-vr-in *** «•» -»»■ >- »y dat. volgcr>a my waamcminCs. dlo corscfonViik.. r - -n lions, the original has „ « t ^ n altered in ^ ‘ * wyse gevvyslg is nie. /tc+~sJ- 198S - 0 7 ~ f } Handtekoniog/SlgfiEiure FORWARD TO FREEDOM Documents on the National Policies of the African National Congress of South Africa Ck 50ft: f GOHurT*<;n( *r' 1 cfertsly that thi& document is a true tproduciionJcopy o' the ven die oorspronklike wat deur my pp'foor! * i;*t ,s cn original whicn v.as examined by rr^ ancJth^t.?--: ■■ r : , dat, volocns my woarnsmings. d!o co r5,>:;/*►■ ;• c;; ©nije ' tions, trie origir.a' has net been aiierco :n z n / r:...\.ior.- f I i 4 i \ CONTENTS i Strategy and Tactics of the ANC: Revolutionary Programme of the ANC: An analysis of the Freedom Charter in the light of the 'p>»*cgt^orined phase of our struggle 19 The Freedom Charter: Full text os odopted on June 26. 1955 ot Kliptown, Johannesburg 29 fcx fsn:lisee< ty-yo-e cz<->r*rt .n ah--.- ! cr.riKy tr.ai Ifws document is 2 iruc rcp'ccyctic-'.'c-;:;, _■ 'no vsn d!a oorspronklike wat ciajr fny pers^j i k t'.' 'j -"-- 1: ' ori£’nsJ wtuch « w examines by ms t" rt. t *:*t. «v.>-; us - • a- dat, volgans my viaernerrtlnss, C.-i c-vrp" • v . '■ cp tr-oe liens, the or>:r.al ha3 not beer, al.-vi-C •:* / -! - i yyyss rc.vvs'Sjir.i Haodtekeninp^S'pnatufe .... - STRATEGY AND TACTICS OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS he struggle of the oppressed people os yet broken the chains of colonialism ond of South Africo is taking place rocism which hold them in oppression. In T within an international context of transi­MozambiQue, Angola, South West Africo, tion to the Socialist system, of the break­ Zimbabwe and South Africo White racialist down of the colonial system os a result of and fascist regimes maintain systems national liberation and socialist revolu­ which go against the current trend of the tions, and the fight for sociol ond econo­ African revolution ond world development. mic progress by the people of the whole This has been mode possible by the world. tremendous economic and military power We in South Africo are part of the xone at the disposal of these regimes built with in which nationdl-JiJtyjrotion is the chief the help of imperialism. content of the struggle. On our continent The main pillar of the unholy ollionce of sweeping odvonces hove been registered Portugal. Rhodesia ond South Africa is the which hove resulted in the emergence to Republic of South Africa. The strategy ond independent statehood of forty one states. toctics of our revolution reQuire for their Thus the first formol step of independence formulotion and understanding o full has been largely won in Africo and this appreciation of the interlocking and inter­ fact exercises a big influence on the weaving of International, Africon ond developments in our country. Southern African developments which play The countries of Southern Africo have not on our situation. ."9 Ek sertitiseer cat hierdis dokumanf v’n *.are ahJiukia'akri/ is I certify that this document is a true reprodwclion/ccpy o! the van die corspronkllke wat deur my per&ocnlik fcesigtiQ is en original wtiich was examinee by ms and t^>3t from my ofcsc^-a- dat. voipcms my waamofriings, dto cc-r?;.*’o:tv::vo r.is op 3~ire tions. the eternal hss not liiieri a !*.(,: i.a in t::r. wyse cev.y- > /tc^ \ 986 sr.-.ng/SKJTOl uru i , « .<■* i hfinVw ru ili i n ' l ~ ■ ^ . 4 - v * * a i Role by Force 1910. The 50 years which followed m s not o period of resignation or of acceptance. South Africo wos conQuered by force ond It was a period of development and of it today ruled by force. At moments when regrouping under new conditions; o White autocracy feels Itself threatened. It period in which newly created political *r •• . * -U does not hesitate to use the gun. When formations. of the people continued to the gun is not in us legal and admini­ struggle with the enemy ond grew Into strative terror, fear, social ond economic maturity; a period In which, above all, pressures, complocency and confusion ge­ national consciousness began to assert nerated by propaganda and "education", Itself agoinst tribal sectionalism. This ore the devices brought into play in an period witnessed the emergence and attempt to harness the people's opposition. development of the primary organisation Behind these devices hovers force. Whe­ of the liberation movement — The African ther in reserve or in actual employment National Congress. It also saw the evol- force is ever present and this hoy been so vement of national organisations reflect­ since the White mon came to Africa. ing the aspirations of other oppressed non-White groups — the Coloureds and Unending Resistance to White the Indians — and the creation of eco­ Do;nination nomic and political organisations — the South African Communist Party! Trade From the time alien rule was imposed Unions which reflected the special aims there hos been — historically speaking — ond aspirations of the newly developed unbroken resistance to this domination. and doubly exploited working class. This It hos taken different forms at different was a period of organisational growth. times but it has never been abandoned. It was punctuated by struggles involving For the first 250 years there were regular : ♦. techniQues ranging from orthodox mass armed dashes, battles and wars. The campaigning to general strikes, to mass •» !fr I superior material resources of the enemy, acts of defiance. It Culminated in the the divided and often fragmented nature decision taken in 1961 to prepare for of the resistance, the unchallenged armed confrontation. December 1961 saw ascendancy of imperialism as a world the opening stages of this campaign in system up to the beginning of the 20th the simultaneous acts of sabotoge which century, the historically unterstandable occured in most of the main urban centres absence of political cohesion ond leader­ on the 16th. ship in the people's camp; these and other factors combined to end the first The Move to Armed Struggle phase of resistance against alien domi­ nation. But the protracted character of Why was the decision for armed struggle this resistance uneQualled anywhere else taken in 1961. Why not 1951 o r '1941 or in Africa is underlined by the fact that 1931? Is it that the character of the state the armed subjugation of the indigenous had so altered fundamentally that only people wos only really accomplished by in 1961 did armed struggle become the the beginning of this century. The defeat only alternative? Not at all. There has ' of the Bambata Rebellion in 1906 marked never been a moment in the history of the end of this first phase and set the South Africo since 1952 in which the stage for the handing over of the admini­ White ruling class would have given pri­ stration of the country to local whites In vileges without a physical battle. Why £ k serti!;seai cat hie.-Cie Jstn"------------ z th,\tCUT'fcn'cur trueirr,v 136S!i » .g s r ly .r. ...........I. w »ijcc o.7m4 <•.«*3* . * i 3I, wfgens ny m u M p .'s, •MamMsT T I m i! 1 > "*'*• «• then did orgonisotions like the African be as counter-revolutionary os the odvo* Notional Congress not call for armed cocy of Its opposite in other situations. struggle? Wos it perhaps that they were Untintely, lllplanned or premature mani­ not really revolutionary or that it was only festations of violence impede and do not in the early 60‘s that they began to appre­ advance the prospect for Revolutionary ciate the correct strotegy? Is there perhaps change and are clearly counter-revolution­ substance in the occusations by some of ary. It is obvious therefore that policy our detractors that until the early sixties and organisational structures must grow the liberation movement was lacking in out of the real situation if they are not to military fervour and the desire for radical become meaningless cliches. change? In other words was its policy not a revolutionary one? What is our measu­ Conditions for Armed Struggle ring rod for revolutionary policy? A look at this concept will help towards a more Future historians may well be able to profound understanding not only of the pause at some moments during the evolu­ past but of the future. It is therefore not tion of our struggle and examine critically out of place to devote a word to It both its pace and emphasis. But in gene­ In essence, a revolutionary policy is one ral, without the so-called reformist activi­ which holds out the Quickest and most ties of the previous halfcentury, the pros­ fundamental transformation and transfer pect of advancing into the new phase of power from one class to another. In real would have been extremely small. This is life such radical changes are brought so because even in the typical colonial- about not by imaginary forces but by type situation armed struggle becomes those whose outlook and readiness to act feasible only if: is very much influenced by historically * there is disillusionment with the pros­ determined factors. pect of achieving liberation by tradi­ To ignore the real situation and to play tional peaceful processes because the about with imaginary forces, concepts and objective conditions blatantly bar the ideals is to invite failure.