To My Friends and Brothers of the African National Congress,

It is a great privilege for me to send you greetings on the occasion of your 42^nd Annual Conference. I send also warmest greetings to your President-General, Secretary-General and your other leaders who have been barred from taking part in this Conference and in the work of the Congress.

We note especially this period of your struggle, note the most violent fascist-like attacks upon your basic freedoms, upon your profound hopes for a different South Africa.

In America, the position of your Government has been subjected to the sharpest criticism in the general Press and especially among Americans of African descent. We shall do all we can immediately to move great masses into the struggle behind you. This can be done.

Americans of one kind see Africa, particularly South Africa, as the continent of today and the future. This America of Industry and Finance seeks in subtle ways to deprive African workers and the African people of the fruit of their land.

But there is another America - and in relation to events in South Africa, the overwhelming majority of the American people of all groups recognise and will more deeply understand the demands of your Congress.

Americans are being forced to see a new world coming on, a new world getting stronger and stronger. They see hundreds of millions in India pressing on. They have seen 600 million of the Chinese people become a major Power. They see new People's Democracies leaping into struggles for their freedom. So they understand your aspirations, and great sections of opinion here can, and must, be moved into action in the United Nations, through our Council⁽²⁾ and in many parallel ways.

There should be, and must be, much closer and stronger bonds between us because of the very nature of our common struggle for human decency and dignity, for the welfare and freedom of all men, and for an enduring peace based upon democratic cooperation among all peoples. I shall continue to do all that I can toward the strengthening of these bonds and toward the final achievement of these goals.

I have been very happy to learn that my recorded voice is heard among you, and has perhaps contributed in some small way to your great courage and strength in carrying forward your banner in the face of the most cruel persecution and oppression. But I wish that my contribution, that the contribution of all of us here in the United States who support your just cause, could be much greater.

I know that I am ever by your side, that I am deeply proud that you are my brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces - that I sprang from your forebears. We come from a mighty, courageous people, creators of great civilisations in the past, creators of new ways of life in our own time and in the future. We shall win our freedoms together. Our folk will have their place in the ranks of those shaping human destiny.

With my most earnest hope for the success of all your undertakings,

Paul Robeson

1. New Age, Cape Town, December 23, 1954
2. The Council on African Affairs, led by Paul Robeson, worked for many years to promote support by American people to the struggles for freedom in Africa.