Rhodesia
Sir: I refer to Robert Blake's objective and impartial article 'War or peace in Rhodesia?', in your issue of 2 October. But I must express my reservations as to one sentence. as follows: 'The Home/Goodman attempt foundered because the Africans refused to believe—perhaps wrongly—that Mr Smith had ever abandoned that determination [the power to reverse African advancement], and also because under these proposals majority rule seemed a long way off even if he had.• It is very doubtful if in fact the vast majority of non-urban Africans in Rhodesia were opposed to the proposals. They were never consulted, and how could they be? Actually about 6 per cent were consulted, and there is reason to believe that even these were far from being a real cross-section of the population.
I do not blame the Pearce Commission. They were in any case attempting the Impossible, and any hope of a reasonably accurate assessment was ruined by the delays prior to the commencement of their work, which gave the small, but organised and vocal 'opposition' time to prepare their campaign. Apart from the general experience of some forty years in tropical Africa, I had some personal involvement in the 'Democratic' v 'Progressive' party elections in Uganda prior to independence. This provided an 'on the spot' insight into the uselessness of Western democracy and democratic methods under African conditions. Time has scarcely modified this view. What would have happened if Rhodesia had been granted independence in 1972 can be hypothesis only. At least she would have been able to expect support against external aggression!
0. S. Swainson Thie-ny-Chibbyr, Colby, Isle of Man
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