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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Bonds of War: The African National Congress, the Communist Party of South Africa and the Threat of 'Fascism'
Author:Furlong, Patrick J.ISNI
Year:1997
Periodical:South African Historical Journal
Issue:36
Pages:68-87
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:African National Congress (South Africa)
South African Communist Party
World War II
History and Exploration
nationalism
Politics and Government
Law, Human Rights and Violence
Ethnic and Race Relations
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02582479708671269
Abstract:It is generally accepted that the alliance between the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) and the ANC arose after the Second World War, particularly after the 1948 victory of the hard right National Party (NP). This paper examines the roots of the CPSA-ANC relationship through the lens of the wartime antifascist struggle. It shows how under Alfred Xuma the ANC shifted leftward and became more visible in this period. At the same time, the CPSA, hitherto beset by sectarianism and limited growth, expanded dramatically. The article goes back to the 1935 Italian attack on Ethiopia which enraged many black South Africans. It shows that in the heady atmosphere of fighting the worldwide fascist threat to democracy, existing barriers between the South African government, the ANC and the CPSA broke down. While in Europe the antifascist alliance collapsed after the war, in South Africa the centre-left resistance alliance solidified and consolidated in the face of the new rightist threat by the coalition of rightist and ultra-rightist political parties in the country. Ref.
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