Resistance in the 1950s

avatar
Created by
nicole

Cards (14)

  • The ANC's Programme of Action called for strikes, boycotts and other forms of civil disobedience
  • The ANC organised a May Day strike in 1950 with the South African India Congress (SAIC), the African People's Organisation (APO) and the Communist Party (CPSA). In Johannesburg, 18 strikers were shot by police
  • In response to the May Day strike shootings, the ANC called for a National Day of protest and Mourning on 26th June 1950
  • The ANC, SAIC and APO created the Joint Planning Council in 1951 to protest pass laws, the proposed Separate Representation of Voters Act, the Group Areas Act, the Suppression of Communism Act, the Bantu Authorities Act and the limitation of stock laws
  • Mass meetings about the Defiance campaign were held on 6th April 1952 and the campaign started on 26th June 1952
  • During the Defiance Campaign, Black South Africans broke Apartheid laws and when arrested, refused to apply for bail or pay fines to fill government prisons
  • The Defiance Campaign lasted 3 months and 8 000 people were arrested and ANC membership rose from 7 000 to 100 000
  • After the Defiance Campaign, the UN set up an inquiry into Apartheid
  • In 1953, the ANC held a national meeting of all resistance groups
  • Volunteers travelled up the country writing down people's demands in a Freedom Charter including a non-racial South Africa with no human rights violations and an equal distribution of wealth, social security and education
  • The Congress of the People was held in Kliptown on 26th June 1955, where over 3 000 representation voted to adopt the Freedom Charter
  • Some radicals in the ANC opposed the Freedom Charter because it didn't include clear guidelines for social and economic growth
  • In 1956, the government arrested 156 leaders of the Congress of the People and charged them with high treason. This included nearly all leaders from the ANC, Congress of Democrats, SAIC, Coloured People's Congress and SACTU
  • The Treason Trial lasted until 1961, where all the accused were acquitted, avoiding the death penalty