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Unlock This CourseThe African National Congress (ANC) was founded in 1912 to speak up for the rights of Africans. For over thirty years it was a small organisation led by ministers, lawyers and doctors. It worked politely, sending petitions and groups of leaders to ask the government for change. These methods achieved very little.
In 1944 younger members set up the ANC Youth League. Its leaders included Anton Lembede, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and a young law student, Nelson Mandela. They believed that asking politely had failed and that Africans had to act for themselves in large numbers.
The Nationalist victory of 1948 gave them their chance. At the ANC's conference in December 1949, the Youth League won support for its Programme of Action. The ANC now promised boycotts, strikes and civil disobedience. Dr James Moroka became president and Sisulu became secretary-general.
Key terms:
The first big protests came in 1950. On 1 May a stay-at-home was held around Johannesburg. Police opened fire on crowds and 18 people were killed. At the same time the government was bringing in a new law, the Suppression of Communism Act (1950). The ANC called a national Day of Protest on 26 June 1950, against the new law and to mourn the dead.
On the surface the Act banned the Communist Party of South Africa, which closed itself down just before the law came into force. But the Act went much further:
So the Act was really a weapon against all serious opponents of apartheid, whether they were communists or not.
In 1952 the ANC joined with the South African Indian Congress to launch the Defiance Campaign. It began on 26 June 1952, with Mandela as the volunteer-in-chief.
Trained volunteers broke apartheid laws openly and peacefully. They walked through 'Europeans Only' entrances at stations and post offices, stayed out after the curfew and entered African townships without permits. They did not resist arrest. The aim was to fill the prisons, clog the courts and show that the laws could not be enforced.
More than 8,000 people were arrested over the following months. The ANC became a mass movement: its paid-up membership rose from about 7,000 to about 100,000. Africans and Indians had worked together, and the campaign won attention abroad. But not one apartheid law was changed.
Late in 1952 riots broke out in Port Elizabeth and East London, and people were killed. The ANC had not planned this violence, but the government blamed the campaign. By early 1953 the campaign had faded out.
The government hit back in three ways.
As well as the volunteers, the leaders were arrested. In December 1952 twenty of them, including Moroka, Sisulu and Mandela, were found guilty under the Suppression of Communism Act. They were given nine months' hard labour, suspended for two years.
Banning orders were used to cut leaders off from their followers. Mandela was banned from meetings and confined to Johannesburg. Chief Albert Luthuli was sacked as a chief by the government in November 1952 for refusing to leave the ANC. He was elected ANC president that December and was soon banned as well.
The Criminal Law Amendment Act made it a serious crime to break any law as a protest, or to encourage others to do so. The punishment for breaking a law in this way was up to three years in prison, a fine or a whipping, and those who encouraged others could get up to five years. The Public Safety Act let the government declare a state of emergency and set aside normal laws.
Not all opposition was black. The Torch Commando, a movement of white ex-servicemen, held large rallies in 1951-52 against the plan to remove Coloured voters in the Cape from the main voters' list. It soon faded, and the Nationalists won the 1953 election with more seats than before.
The position by 1954: resistance had grown from polite requests into a mass movement with new leaders and new methods. But suppression had worked in the short term. The leaders were banned, another Defiance Campaign was too risky, and every apartheid law was still in place.
Don't say the Suppression of Communism Act was only about communists: its real use was to silence any strong opponent. And don't write that the Defiance Campaign 'failed' or 'succeeded' without explaining. It changed no laws, but it turned the ANC into a mass movement.
'The main effect of the Defiance Campaign (1952) was that it made the Nationalist Government's repression harsher.'
How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [16 marks]
You may use the following in your answer:
You must also use information of your own.
The Defiance Campaign did lead to harsher repression, but I think its main effect was to turn the ANC into a mass movement, because that effect lasted longer.
There is a strong case for the statement. The campaign showed the government that thousands were willing to break the law, so in 1953 it passed two new laws. The Criminal Law Amendment Act punished anyone who broke a law as a protest with up to three years in prison, a fine or a whipping. The Public Safety Act allowed a state of emergency to be declared. Leaders also suffered. Twenty, including Mandela and Sisulu, were convicted under the Suppression of Communism Act in December 1952, and Mandela and Luthuli were given banning orders. This made another campaign of the same kind too dangerous, so repression clearly grew harsher.
However, the campaign also changed the ANC. Before 1952 it was a small organisation with about 7,000 paid-up members. More than 8,000 people were arrested during the campaign, and membership rose to about 100,000. The ANC was no longer a small group of ministers, lawyers and doctors. This mattered because a government can ban a few leaders, but it is far harder to silence a movement of that size.
A third effect was greater unity and stronger leadership among the opponents of apartheid. The ANC ran the campaign jointly with the South African Indian Congress, so Africans and Indians resisted side by side. It also brought forward leaders such as Mandela, the volunteer-in-chief, and Luthuli, who became ANC president in December 1952. However, this effect was less important than the growth in membership, because without mass support these leaders and allies could have achieved little.
Overall, I only partly agree. Judged by what happened straight away, repression was the clearest effect: the campaign was over by early 1953 and no apartheid law had been changed. But judged by how long each effect lasted, the growth of the ANC mattered more. The new laws could stop one method of protest, but they could not undo a mass membership, new leaders and new allies. So the main effect was the change in the ANC, with harsher repression as the most important short-term effect.
What lifts this to the top level: it covers three effects (one that is not in the bullets), supports each with precise facts, and reaches a judgement using clear tests, the short term against the long term.
An answer that uses only the two bullets cannot reach the top level, so plan your third effect before you start writing. Here it could be the unity between Africans and Indians, the rise of new leaders or the failure to change any law. For more on this question type, see the Exam Skills lesson Paper 1 Question (c): The 16-Mark How Far Do You Agree Essay.