Raymond Mhlaba and the Genesis of the Congress Alliance: a Political Biography
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
RAYMOND MHLABA AND THE GENESIS OF THE CONGRESS ALLIANCE: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY Thembeka Orie Submitted for the degree of M.A. UniversityDepartment of of Cape History Town University of Cape Town April 1993 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Life History as Evidence 1 Methodology 6 Chapter 1. 9 Formative Influences in the Eastern Cape: The Fortress and Heartland of Resistance The House of Phalo 9 Wars of Dispossession 13 Legacy of Resistance 14 Family Profile and Political Economy 15 The Birth of an Activist 20 Conclusion 28 Chapter 2. 31 Political Initiation, 1942 - 1946 From Fort Beaufort to Port Elizabeth 31 Labour and Political Movement in Port Elizabeth 32 Community Struggle 55 Advisory Board 60 Conclusion 62 Chapter 3. 65 Unity in Action, the Congress Alliance: 1947 -1953 The 'Task Force' 65 The Royal Visit 69 Food Protest: 1947 78 Laundry Strike: 1948 79 Bus Boycott: 1949 81 Frances Baard 84 Suppression of Communism Act: 1950 86 The 'coloured' Vote: 1951 88 The Defiance Campaign and after 90 Conclusion 98 Chapter 4. 99 Behind the Closed Curtain: 1954 - 1963 Mhlaba, the indomitable 99 Outrage Against Restrictions 105 The Struggle Continues 107 The Congress of the People 109 The Communist Party Underground 111 SACTU in Port Elizabeth 112 Ups and Downs! 113 Conclusion 118 Conclusion 119 The 'Voice of the Past'? 119 Epilogue 121 Bibliography 122 ABSTRACT The dominant and current theory about the African National Congress in the 1940s is that the Youth League in particular, led by the young, aspirant middle-class intellectuals, radicalised the organisation: that it was a bourgeois revolution within the ANC that led to its rejuvenation. This thesis presents an alternative viewpoint. The study reveals that in Port Elizabeth, there was a distinctively communist-trade unionist oriented group which revolutionalised the ANC: It was this group which consolidated racial and class co-operation against the apartheid system in the mid-1940s and early 1950s. This thesis postulates that in Port Elizabeth it was the working-class activists such as Raymond Mhlaba, with their militant working-class ideologies that gave the ANC a new lease of life and gave the organisation its broad mass appeal. The thesis therefore examines Raymond Mhlaba as an actor in the founding of the Congress Alliance in Port Elizabeth. It looks at how Mhlaba succeeded in building a firm alliance between the trade union movement, the Communist Party and the ANC. It is through this alliance that we learn about the political transformation of the ANC 'from below', that is, from a working-class cadre of activists rather than the middle-class leadership. Mhlaba himself was involved in all three formations and thus played a key role in the alliance politics. Chapter one examines the period before 1941 in order to provide background to the central focus of the study. It looks at the history of the Eastern Cape, Mhlaba's birth place Fort Beaufort, and his early life in the context of the subject of enquiry, the national struggle in its wider context, and the political economy of the period between 1910 to 1941. Through these perspectives the study is able to examine and show the changing forms that the struggle takes at different periods of time. It gives an understanding of the influence of those historical developments on the period and of the form that the struggle took during the period under study. Chapter two looks at the period 1942 to 1946, the years of Mhlaba's early involvement in the labour and political movements. It examines how, when and why Mhlaba got involved in these movements. The study considers the relationship between the Council of Non European Trade Unions (CNETU) trade unionists, the communists and the ANC activists. (Mhlaba belonged to all three formations.) It looks at how the ANC leadership was changed from a middle into a working class and Mhlaba's role in this transformation. Also the study examines how mass action in this period reflected racial and class co operation; and the emergence of a distinctively working class leadership. Chapter three examines Mhlaba's leadership role in the ANC and the Communist Party. It looks at examples of mass action and a selection of important events that took place between 1947 to 1952, in order to demonstrate how the foundation of the broad Congress Alliance solidified. That unity was influenced by the changing polity, post war conditions, and new leadership which included Mhlaba, in Port Elizabeth. Chapter four examines the clandestine conditions in which Mhlaba operated, from 1953 until his imprisonment at Rivonia in 1963. It looks at: the transition from open mass organisation to underground mobilisation; the implementation of the M-Plan; the activities of the Communist Party underground. At the same time it examines the sustenance of the mass organisation through the formation of the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) and the use of strategies such as stayaways and consumer boycotts in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The chapter also looks at repression by the government, which led to Mhlaba's departure to China, and finally his arrest at Rivonia in 1963. 1 Many other important events such as the school boycott, the women protests, the formation of the PE PAC, the internal conflicts within the PE ANC branches, the 1961 bus boycott and the Rivonia Trial took place in the mid 1950s and early 1960s. Mhlaba was involved in some of these events. However they will not be dealt with in any significant way because they go beyond the scope of this thesis. The focus of this political biography remains essentially on Mhlaba's contribution in the build up of the Congress Alliance in the 1940s and 1950s. This explains why the Rivonia Trial Record of Mhlaba is not used in the thesis. Acknowledgements The success of this study has been wholly dependent on the co-operation, enthusiasm, kindness of Raymond Mhlaba and his family in Port Elizabeth and Fort Beaufort. An honourable mention is made of Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Frances Baard, Henry Fazzie, Hilda Tshaka and many other leading stalwarts interviewed. Thanks to Christopher Saunders and Colin Bundy, my supervisors, for their helpful and patient guidance in writing up the thesis. Thanks to Norman Ngcongolo, Nkosinkulu Mjamba and Reginald. Sipho Makalima, who gave their time, interest and inspiration as oral historians. The Masters Student Program of the Community Education Resources (CER) provided a rewarding and invaluable experience. CER staff and students sensitised me to issues of openness in research and accountability. Thanks, also to the Centre for African Studies staff for their support, at the University of Cape Town. A special thanks to the following people who provided constructive criticism, information, sources and comments on drafts: Janet Cherry and Gary Baines (Rhodes University); Clifton Crais and Pam Scully (Kenyon College, Ohio); Sipho Pityana, the Special Assistant to the Rector and Abner Jack. Thandile Makubalo, Lindi Sisulu (Fort Hare University) and Alison Paulin (Oxford University Press) gave their time and linguistic skills in editing and proof reading this thesis. Kerry Ward, Tom Winslow, Kirsten Tatham, Hildegarde Fast, Nazeema Mohammed, Marijke du Tait and Eddie Maloka were all my colleagues with whom I shared a keen interest in historical research. Thanks to my loving parents and siblings, who were always there for me. Thanks to the special people in my life, who were often sacrificed, Emmanguluko, my daughter, and Bonakele Qabaka. This thesis is dedicated to Raymond Mhlaba and the liberation struggle. 1 INTRODUCTION Life History As Evidence The present Tripartite Alliance between the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the African National Congress (ANC) remains a matter of intense political debate both from within the alliance, and from critics outside. The efficacy of that alliance in the era of negotiations, compromise, a broadened patriotic front alliance, and possible post apartheid government of national unity, has been subjected to the most severe scrutiny. From outside criticism, the alliance has come under inspection from those threatened by what they perceive as the 'communist influence over the ANC'. However, the rootedness of this alliance in the history of resistance has made it difficult, even for those pragmatists in its leadership to bow to the political expediency and dictates of the present day polity. It is in this alliance that the subject of this study, Raymond Mhlaba, now a national leader, had his foundation and schooling. From 1942, Mhlaba was involved in the Non-European Council of Trade Unions (CNETU), the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA). Through Mhlaba's political biography - his involvement with the labour movement, the Communist Party and the ANC in Port Elizabeth- we get an insight into the real nature of this alliance. Thus the pertinence of this research. The study seeks to show how that alliance stood to strengthen the unity between racial and class groups working for the establishment of a democratic society against the apartheid system. As a corollary, the research seeks, further, to test and prove the hypothesis that the alliance was rooted and born out of the struggles of the masses in various formations. 2 The existing literature on the history and politics of black resistance in Port Elizabeth focuses inter alia on the formation of a strong political tradition in the townships.