MESSAGE TO THE CONGRESS OF THE PEOPLE, JUNE 1955⁽¹⁾

I was happy to get an invitation from the Action Council of the Congress of the People to send a message to the historic assembly, the Congress of the People, which will be meeting in Kliptown, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa, on June 25 ands 26, 1955.

A False Foundation made at the Foundation of the Union of South Africa

It should have been plain to the architects of the Union of South Africa that by excluding from the orbit of democracy the majority of the population, the non-whites, in the new state, they were laying a false foundation for the new state and making a mockery of democracy to call such a state democratic.

The National Convention, motivated by fear and selfishness, produced a constitution, oddly enough, with the approval and blessing of a supposedly Liberal British Government of the day, that belied the noble sentiments enshrined in the motto adopted for the new state: "Ex unitate vires" (Out of Union is Strength).

Position Worsening with the Years

Subsequent years since the founding of this exclusive union for "Europeans Only" have witnessed the growth and intensification among whites of the spirit of dominating over non-whites perpetually.

The spectre of the spirit of "For Europeans Only" has haunted the Union since, and has done incalculable harm, not only to the progress and happiness of non-whites who since Union have been victims of the so-called "traditional Native policy" of the Union, segregation or apartheid, but has done harm to the name and status of the Union and its general progress.

It must be doing much harm to the name and status of the Union in the world when its Prime Minister, in the person of the present Prime Minister, Mr. Strijdom, could unashamedly declare to the world that the policy of his party and government is that of apartheid accompanied by basskap (domination) of whites over non-whites for ever.

It must be hindering greatly the progress of the country to subordinate its economic progress to the policy of apartheid, as the Minister of Native Affairs has made a pronouncement to that effect more than once.

We thank the Nationalist government for its honesty but what harm their policy is doing to South Africa and race relations! In their dealing with non-whites the government of the Union ignores the fundamental truth so well expressed in the American Declaration of Independence: "Man is endowed with certain inalienable rights. Among these rights are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To secure these rights governments are instituted." It is tragic to note that in the Union of South Africa the opposite has been true in so far as non-whites are concerned. Successive Union parliaments and governments have systematically, not only denied non-whites the fundamental human rights they should have, but have deprived them of some of their existing meagre rights such as freedom of speech; freedom of association; freedom to sell their labour freely in the most profitable market; freedom to receive universal education; freedom to participate fully in all organs of government in the country. These and other rights are human heritages of freedom and equality the state should ensure to all its people.

The Spread of the Spirit of Disunity among Whites Themselves

Human attitudes and tendencies once developed cannot be arbitrarily confined within set limits and so we find that not long after Union the spirit of fear, mistrust and disunity spread among the whites themselves. About 1914 General Hertzog, who later became the first Prime Minister under the first Nationalist government in the Union, complained that the General Botha government of which has was a member was too pro-British and so did not give Afrikaners their full rights in the new state. He began to agitate for a two-stream white policy. This led to his exclusion from a reconstituted General Botha cabinet. General Hertzog then formed the first Nationalist Party which since then has gone through some stages of metamorphosis for the worse until now we have the present Nationalist Party of Dr. Malan and his recent successor, Mr. Strijdom. This party, led by some fanatical racialists, follows step by step the policy of ruthless dictatorship over non-whites and, to some extent, over its opponents in the other white political parties. It is not being unfair to the Nationalist Party to say that it is becoming a real danger to the peaceful progress and status of the Union of South Africa.

The Challenge of our Day

Notwithstanding the false foundation on which the Union was founded the challenge that confronts us is not to help tear this compact of Union, but rather, to strive in hope and faith to amend the error of its founders who sought to make it an exclusive possession of whites only instead of a true partnership of all communities making up its multi-racial nature.

I am happy to say that this is not the objective of the African National Congress alone but is a policy endorsed by all freedom-loving people in our land. It is this objective which gave birth in circles of the African National Congress to the idea of working for the convening of a multi-racial assembly on a nation-wide scale to formulate a Freedom Charter for our multi-racial nation.

It is now a matter of history that happily this initiative of the African National Congress received the enthusiastic support of her allies - the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats, the South African Coloured Peoples Organisation - who jointly with the African National Congress became co-sponsors of the Congress of the People.

All freedom-loving people have been anxiously waiting for the convening of this historic gathering and so it came as most welcome pleasant news to learn that this projected great assembly was scheduled to meet in Kliptown near Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa, on June 25-26, 1955.

For all people working for freedom for all in the Union of South Africa, the assembly will be a crowning climax to a long period of organisational work in a concentrated endeavour to rally the people of South Africa to participate in this historic and unique gathering, the Congress of the People, and to enlist, through appropriate national organisations as "FIGHTERS FOR FREEDOM FOR ALL" - all freedom-loving people in our country.

Why will this assembly be significant and unique? Its size I hope will make it unique. But above all its multi-racial nature and its noble objectives will make it most unique since it will be the first time in the history of our multi-racial nation that its people from all walks of life will meet as EQUALS, irrespective of race, colour, and creed, to formulate a FREEDOM CHARTER, for all people in the country. June 25 and 26, 1955 will go down in history as a significant landmark - a turning point for the better - in the struggle of making the Union of South Africa a Paradise of Freedom for all its people regardless of their geographical and racial origin.

Generations to come, who I trust will then be enjoying freedom, will thank the Almighty for this occasion of June 25 and 26, 1955 at Kliptown, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa. It is my hope and belief that the inspiration of this unique and most significant…⁽²⁾ will give a very strong momentum to our liberatory movement and so help bring nearer the day of the emancipation of the Union of South Africa from the shackles of the domination of one race over others as obtains at present when whites dominate over non-whites and the Nationalist Party attempting to dominate over all groups including whites who are its political opponents.

The …(3) of freedom will be consolidated and strengthened as never before by this great assembly, the Congress of the People. The challenge of the day for all those who truly love freedom for all will be to gear themselves to greater determination, courage, and unreserved surrender to the noble cause of freedom in our land and everywhere in the world where man is still denied it by his brother man. If we shun this challenge we shall rightly be held in contempt by our freedom-loving contemporaries in other lands but, worse of all, we shall earn the curse and disdain of posterity.

The sponsors of this great assembly and those who will associate themselves with it, whether they are present or absent, are under no illusions as to the magnitude of the task of liberating the Union from the error of its founders; nor are they so naïve as to think that this assembly will usher in a day of freedom we yearn for. But this day, no doubt, will stand as a bright torch or beacon of Liberty in the skies of South Africa that are already gloomily darkened by the dishonourable past action of those of its people who in the past and now have glorified and enthroned in the place of Moral Values the evils of racism, discrimination, apartheid and the like.

This task of gaining freedom in our multi-racial society is of considerable magnitude and will tax severely the determination and courage of the best of us. But the need and urgency of the task and the justice of the cause demand us to be willing to pay the supreme sacrifice for the noble cause.

The government of the Union, as did King Pharaoh of old in Egypt to the children of Israel, may increase the severity of its oppressive measures beyond anything we have so far witnessed even in what we now regard as the most ruthless acts, such as the Public Safety Act, Suppression of Communism Act, Riotous Assemblies and Suppression of Communism Act Amendment Act, Criminal Laws Amendment Act, Native Resettlement Act, etc. The suffering that awaits us in the pursuance of our task will make the present harsh laws as mere tokens of what was in store for us.

In my opinion worse than the ruthlessness of the Nationalist government is its cunningness in presenting in a camouflage fashion its poisonous apartheid policy. This camouflage is going to make some of the oppressed people fall prey to this cunning bait as already we see some of our people who ought to know better, giving their support to such apartheid laws as the Bantu Authorities Act, the Bantu Education Act, the Native Labour (Settlement of Disputes) Act, etc. These people seem to forget the avowed objective of the majority of the white people to dominate non-whites for ever. These non-white supporters of apartheid measures foolishly think that one can be your oppressor and benefactor at one and the same time - an impossible miracle. One is either a democrat or an oppressor and not both at the same time. By their own action and words the majority of the white people in the Union support the oppressive apartheid measures of the government and so are our oppressors.

In concluding this message let me pass on and commend to you the parting words of a friend of mine who said to me: "Chief Lutuli, remember that no movement of the people has ever failed in the world." It is this. If the movement of the people should fail in the Union of South Africa it will be you and I who will have shamelessly let down the CAUSE and the People.

Shall you fail the Almighty and the noble cause of Freedom? I pray not.

AFRIKA! AFRIKA! MAYIBUYE! Mayibuye!

INKULULEKO NGESIKHATHI SETHU!

1. The Congress of the People met in Kliptown, near Johannesburg, on June 25-26, 1955. This message was recorded as Chief Lutuli was restricted under banning orders.

2. Word missing in the original microfilm

3. Word missing in the original microfilm