Some Thoughts on the National Democratic Revolution: The 1949 Programme of Action

Some Thoughts on the National Democratic Revolution: The 1949 Programme of Action

(Extracts from an Article by B.N., Sechaba, October 1982)

The strategic objective of a social revolution is the capture of state political power. The South African revolution is not unique in this. This is how the “Strategy and Tactics” document of the ANC states the latter point: “South Africa’s social and economic structures and the relationships which it generates are perhaps unique. It is not a colony, yet it has, in regard to the overwhelming majority of its people, most of the features of the classical colonial structures.”

It follows from this characterisation of the socio-economic structure of present-day South Africa that our struggle has as one of its main features a deep anti-colonial content. Political and ideological clarity are the prerequisites of correct strategy. The battle for the “hearts and minds” of the people requires from us clear understanding of our goals and perspectives. We cannot assume that the fact of national oppression automatically drives the people to revolutionary positions. Our ideas have to be taken to the people and explained. Only when our ideas “capture the imagination of the masses” can we speak of them as a material force for the revolution.

The 1949 Programme of Action

Our starting point must be that of our movement – with the Programme of Action adopted by the ANC in 1949. Without going into detail we can summarise the significance of this programme in the liberation movement’s search for a revolutionary theory with which to confront white domination. The Action Programme inspired by the Youth League in which Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, Anton Lembede and Ashby P. Mda, amongst others, played a leading role, broke with past traditions and methods of struggle in a number of important ways.

First, it placed on the agenda of black liberation mass political mobilisation and mass action as the basis of resistance and confrontation against white supremacy rule; Secondly, it postulated a programme of “immediate and active boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation” (with the racist regime, instead of petitions of grievances and demands by the leaders on behalf of the people; Thirdly, it defined the goal of the struggle as “National Freedom” meaning “freedom from white domination and the attainment of political independence”.

To this must be added a fourth and key element of future struggles, not referred to specifically in the Programme: solidarity and cooperation between the various oppressed national groups. Whatever the imperfections and limitations of the 1949 Programme, it sketched the core perspectives for revolutionary nationalism in South Africa. The Programme reflected the understanding by the ANC that the South African state, far from being impartial and above class interests, was indeed a source and instrument of national and class oppression. Nelson Mandela explained during the Treason Trial:

“Up to 1949 the leaders of the ANC had always acted in the hope that by merely pleading their cause, placing it before the authorities, they – the authorities – would change their hearts and extend to them all the rights that they were demanding … the Programme of Action meant that the ANC was not going to rely on a change of heart. It was going to exert pressure (by the forms and methods of political action set out in the Programme) to compel the authorities to grant its demands.” In short, the Programme of Action impelled the struggle in the direction of a National Democratic Revolution. (To be continued)

Source: B.N., “Some Thoughts on the National Democratic Revolution”, Sechaba, October 1982.

Castro Khwela
Good morning fellow Compatriots!🙏🏾✊🏾👊🏾