Statement on the Call to the Congress of the People, June 19549
From every corner of the country, the first reports are coming in, telling of the enthusiasm with which the Call to the Congress of the People is being received.
"Let us speak together of freedom!" This is the slogan that helps us on. This is the spirit too which burned in all the national leaders of all our racial groups who gathered in two historic conferences of the S.A.I.C., S.A.C.O.D., S.A.C.P.O. and A.N.C. executives to plan the whole campaign and draft the Call to the People. Never has there been, between people of our different races, such a close spirit of association, friendship and cooperation, as was established at these two gatherings.
And to no one individual does the credit for that harmony more rightly belong than to the Chairman of both the meetings, Chief A.J. Luthuli, who set the tone for our working together, and handled the difficult and complex discussions so firmly and fairly.
From the United States, from the Council on African Affairs led by those outstanding world figures, Paul Robeson and Dr. Du Bois, has come a moving message, applauding "the decision of the African National Congress to invite the cooperation of other organizations of the people, in convening a great Congress of the People".
But what of our own people; what of the tasks that lie before us who have to turn the decision into living reality? All organizations have been asked to join in the campaign for a Congress of the People. Let us see to it that our organizations answer that call, and take their place with all who value freedom. All Provincial Congress organizations have been asked to convene Provincial conferences of all organizations. Let us work to see that those conferences succeed on a grand scale.
Above all, the national leaders have stressed that the campaign to build the Congress of the People and to gather the country's demands into a Freedom Charter must not be divorced from any of the daily grievances and issues of our people. Let us see to it that everywhere the Congress of the People comes to symbolize the struggle against that which people oppose, and that which they fight for, that they may know Freedom before they die.
LET US WORK TOGETHER, FOR FREEDOM