They also served
John Grigg
LIBERALS AGAINST APARTHEID: A HISTORY OF THE LIBERAL PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA, 1953-1968 by Randolph Vigne Macmillan Press, £45, pp. 280 When `the saints go marching in' there are likely to be quarrels — among the saints. Freedom movements tend to consist of factions whose mutual hostility can at times seriously impair their effectiveness against the common enemy. In the end one may achieve predominance, and its role is then exaggerated in retrospect, while that of others is played down. There is never any lack of instant historians contributing to the process of winner-takes-all.
This has certainly been true of the freedom movement in South Africa. To most people in the outside world the African National Congress must seem to have been the only significant force in the struggle against Apartheid, and the impression owes much, of course, to the universal and deserved prestige of Nelson Mandela. Yet in the early days of Apartheid the ANC was only one of a number of elements of resistance, and its eventual triumph, even within the freedom movement, was by no means predictable. Because it chose to ally itself with the South African Communists, and to assume a militantly anti-capitalist stance, it not only forfeited the goodwill of the United States and many other democratic govern- ments around the world, but also antago- nised non-communist freedom fighters, of all races, inside South Africa.
Among these a relatively small, but inter- esting and meritorious element was the Liberal Party of South Africa, which had the double distinction of being against all repressive regimes and also genuinely non-racial. Randolph Vigne, who has now written its history, was an enthusiastic member of it in his youth and played a very active part in some of the events he describes. He writes, therefore, with the advantage of first-hand knowledge, but at the same time tries hard to be objective, and largely succeeds. Nobody could dismiss the book as a partisan tract or self-serving apologia.
The Liberal Party was founded because the United Party, deprived of liberal leadership by the premature death of J. H. Hofmeyr, offered only token opposition to the Nationalists' programme of racial segregation. Throughout its life the new party's most eloquent spokesman was the novelist Alan Paton (author of Cry, the Beloved Country), but the practical dynamism that he lacked was supplied above all by Patrick Duncan, son of a former governor-general, who became the party's national organiser in 1956. Under his influence it moved from its initial commitment to no more than a qualified non-racial franchise to the adoption, in 1960, of a policy of universal suffrage on a common roll. He also controlled a paper, Contact, which performed a valuable service in keeping the world informed of what was really happening in South Africa.
Unfortunately Duncan's obsessive anti- communism made it difficult for him to collaborate with the ANC, and caused him, despite misgivings, to support the break- away Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), which was opposed to communism. Vigne admits to having shared his attitude to the ANC, 'if less vehemently', but now regrets that Duncan's 'loathing of commu- nism led him ignore the racialism with which he knew some in the PAC to be infected'.
The Liberal Party attracted members from all races, including Mani.lal Gandhi, a son of the Mahatma, and the African campaigner Jordan Ngubane, who had earlier written that Africans had ceased to be moderate because Europeans had failed to take an 'unfaltering stand on the vital Colour question'. The Liberals did take such a stand, but at a time when black racialism was naturally growing in response to the white variety a non-racial party could hardly be expected to achieve a mass membership. Even at its peak in the early 1960s the Liberal Party had only about 8,000 members.
Nevertheless it did a worthwhile job and had its moments of glory. In 1963 it helped to secure an anti-Apartheid popular vote in Transkei, so demonstrating that the government's claim of African support for its policy of 'separate development' was bogus. The party was also an important factor in frustrating the government's plan to turn its mandate for South-West Africa into effective annexation. The South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) was granted affiliated membership of the Liberal Party, which deserves considerable credit for ensuring that the future Namibia was never allowed to become another Rantustan.
As well as being non-racial, the party was also committed to non-violence. Yet as the Nationalist regime tightened its grip, and the scope for legitimate political activity was ever more drastically reduced, a few Liberals (19, to be precise) joined a group whose purpose was to carry out acts of violence without threatening human life. One who did so was Vigne. The group, called the African Resistance Movement (ARM), was exposed after another of its Liberal members, John Harris, set off a bomb in the whites-only concourse of Johannesburg railway station, in violation of the group's rules. Among the 22 people injured, one later died. Harris was tried and executed. Vigne escaped arrest in the general crackdown that followed, but went into exile. He now concedes that the ARM did 'grievous' harm to the Liberal Party. In 1968 the government enacted a measure prohibiting the 'interference' of whites in non-white politics. This was designed to make the Liberal Party no longer viable, and it was left with no choice but to dis- solve itself.
Vigne believes that its principles have ultimately triumphed in South Africa. One can only hope that this optimistic judgment Will hold good in the post-Mandela era. Meanwhile historic justice has been done to a noble experiment.
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