SOAS Research Online

Abstract

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, and human rights.