I have been ordered by the Minister of Justice, Mr. C. R. Swart to resign from the African National Congress and from my position as Secretary-General. I was elected to this position by you in 1949, since when I have endeavoured to the utmost of my ability to serve my people and to be worthy of the confidence you placed in me.
Now I am forced to resign from the Congress but I wish to assure you that I shall be entirely at your disposal and will not hesitate to answer any call which may be made by the African National Congress. In my message to the members of the African National Congress and to all oppressed people I wish firstly to remind you about the statement of the A. N. C. and its allies in 1950 on the Suppression of Communism Act, in which we showed that the primary aim of the Act was to silence all opposition to the tyranny of the Malan Government, especially from the Non-European organisations. The truth of this assertion will not be denied today, even by those who did not believe us at the time. The wisdom of the leaders of the Liberatory Movement was shown by their swift action when for the first time they called a nation-wide political strike and created unity among all democrats as an answer to what they correctly believed to be a major step in the establishment of a police state.
The ruthlessness of the Government in the use of this Fascist measure has affected even those who feared to participate in a positive struggle against the Nationalist onslaught. Whilst we cannot deny the effects of these bans on the national liberation and workers’ movements, we are nevertheless confident, placing our faith in the invincible spirit of broad masses of the people, that they cannot succeed in their oft-proclaimed intention to crush the people's movement. The crippling effect of these bans on the leading most energetic and unwavering champions of freedom in South Africa must not be minimised. The people's leaders have been forbidden to attend any gatherings whatsoever, they have been forced to leave their place of employment, some have been exiled. Almost the entire National Executive of the African National Congress has been removed from office. Some of the provinces and branches have also been affected, and it is clear from what has already taken place that our organisations are going to be affected in all provinces and all the branches. Yet despite all this [our] movement is growing in strength, gaining new adherents and reaching new levels of effectiveness and determination.
Let me remind you once more that these bans have affected gallant and beloved leaders of the people with outstanding records in the liberatory struggle, such as Moses Kotane, J. B. Marks, Mandela, Tloome, Njongwe, Mji, Molema, Bopape, Matji, Tshume, Matthews, Ngwevela, Mhlaba, Motshabi; the exiled leaders Ngwentshe and Lengisi and many others of the African National Congress. Also Dr. Dadoo, Cachalia, and Nana Sita of the Indian Congress; Fischer, Williams, Kahn, Bernstein, Watts, Bunting and Hodgson of the Congress of Democrats; James Phillips of the Coloured People's Organisation and Ray Alexander, Kunene, Reddy, Du Toit, Moumakoe and Weinberg of the Trade Union movement. These and all the other banned leaders still belong to you. They will remain your leaders because they still believe in our liberation struggle and still find some way to make their contribution. They have not been rejected by us but forcibly thrown out by our enemies.
What should be our answer to this? The only way whereby the oppressed masses of this country can express their implicit trust and confidence in their elected leaders and prevent the effectiveness of these bans is:
to prevent opportunism, sabotage and careerism, and to expose relentlessly the reactionary tendency and reactionary leadership.
to fight vigorously the penetration of spies and government stooges planted in our organisations.
You are called upon to intensify your campaign in the fight for freedom
and to build the most powerful organisation and to produce even more efficient leadership, even more Illustrious Sons of the Soil than those I have already mentioned. You are called upon to recruit our fine youth and women for the struggle in a manner never before achieved. You are called upon to resist apartheid - to defeat the Western Areas Removal Scheme, the Bantu Education Act, the Group Areas Act, the Schoeman anti-trade union measures and many others. You are called upon to make the greatest sacrifice in the preparation of the great Congress of the People in the building of a united South Africa, by which means you can crush finally and for all times the reactionary rulers of the present day.
This is how you can make easy the tasks of those who still remain; the tasks of Chief A. J. Luthuli, beloved president of the people, the task of Dr. Naicker, Dr. Van Der Ross, Beyleveld and Massina, and all those who work and stand with them. In this you must be guided by the rich literature our organisations have produced, especially since the first nation-wide political strike of 1950 up to the present day of the Congress of the People.
This can only be useful and appreciated when you use it as a guide in your practical work so that your understanding is clear at all times. Honesty, selflessness, vigour, initiative, determination and faith are some of the qualities you require. The government has already been shaken, the time has passed when they could rule the country as if we, the people, did not exist. Time is against them, the world is against them! We on the other hand are encouraged by the great spirit of the people of South Africa, by the growth of the national liberatory movement, by the unprecedented political consciousness of the people, and by the fact that the truth is with us. We enjoy the confidence of the entire world in this noble and just task for which we are pledged to fight until the dawn of Freedom.
1 Thomas Karis and Gwendolen M. Carter (eds.) From Protest to Challenge, volume 3, pages 133-34.