A political history of the Congress Alliance in South Africa, 1947-1956
Prior to the arrest of 156 leading Congressmen and Congresswomen, in December 1956, the Congress Alliance, a multiracial political coalition had sponsored, planned, and promoted domestic and international political initiatives to redress the grievances of its South African constituency. This history will assess the Congress Alliance's political agenda. To accomplish that end, this thesis will draw upon a variety of source materials, many emanating from the Congress Alliance shelf, i.e., presidential addresses, constitutions, flyer/leaflets, public and private conferences, mass meetings, minutes, speeches, detective and United Nations reports, etc. These source materials will help to reconstruct a political history of the Congress Alliance. The overriding theme of this study is multiracial political opposition to State sanctioned oppression: legal discrimination, social segregation, economic exploitation, and political disenfranchisement. This thesis examines, therefore, the evolution of joint political strategies, priorities, programmes, and pressure tactics employed by the Coalition against the South African government. It presents a case study of a nonviolent political struggle for liberty, democracy, equality,
Haines, Corrie Gerald
History
A political history of the Congress Alliance in South Africa, 1947-1956. Prior to the arrest of 156 leading Congressmen and Congresswomen, in December 1956, the Congress Alliance, a multiracial political coalition had sponsored, planned, and promoted domestic and international political initiatives to redress the grievances of its South African constituency. This history will assess the Congress Alliance's political agenda. To accomplish that end, this thesis will draw upon a variety of source materials, many emanating from the Congress Alliance shelf, i.e., presidential addresses, constitutions, flyer/leaflets, public and private conferences, mass meetings, minutes, speeches, detective and United Nations reports, etc. These source materials will help to reconstruct a political history of the Congress Alliance. The overriding theme of this study is multiracial political opposition to State sanctioned oppression: legal discrimination, social segregation, economic exploitation, and political disenfranchisement. This thesis examines, therefore, the evolution of joint political strategies, priorities, programmes, and pressure tactics employed by the Coalition against the South African government. It presents a case study of a nonviolent political struggle for liberty, democracy, equality,
political_history congress alliance south_africa prior arrest lead congress alliance multiracial political coalition sponsor plan promote domestic international political initiative redress grievance south_african constituency history assess congress alliance political_agenda accomplish end draw_upon variety_source material many emanate congress alliance presidential address constitution public_private conference mass meeting minute speech united_nations report etc source_material help reconstruct political_history congress alliance override theme study multiracial political_opposition state sanction oppression legal discrimination social segregation economic_exploitation political examines therefore evolution joint political strategy priority programme pressure tactic employed coalition south_african government present case_study political struggle liberty democracy equality