Liberals, radicals and the politics of black consciousness, 1969-1976

Abstract

The period from the demise of the Liberal Party in 1968, following the introduction of the Prohibition of Political Interference Act, to the 1976 Soweto students revolt can be seen as an important transitional period in South African politics that requires re-evaluation by students of contemporary history. These years mark in particular the eclipse of a tradition of paternalistic welfare liberalism in South Africa stretching back to the inter-war years and the foundation of the South African Institute of Race Relations in 1929. At the same time they also pinpoint the re-emergence of a tradition of democratic radicalism anchored around the Freedom Charter after its initial suppression at the time of the State of Emergency in 1960 and the banning of the P.A.C. and A.N.C. These two traditions have often confused in the minds of some analysts and a recent volume of essays has effectively sought to claim most of the recent phase of liberalism in South Africa in terms of a programme of democratic participation, despite the refusal of the Liberal party to take part in the organisation behind the freedom Charter in 1955.