Document 76 - The Speakers’ Notes - A Brief Course on the Training of Organisers [Document found by the police during the Rivonia raid of 11 July 1963]

From: South Africa's Radical Tradition, a documentary history, Volume Two 1943 - 1964, by Allison Drew

Document 76 - The Speakers' Notes - A Brief Course on the Training of Organisers [Document found by the police during the Rivonia raid of 11 July 1963]

Introduction

A. You have been appointed to perform the important task of organising the units of Umkhonto WeSizwe. You will realise at once how tremendous your task is, and that great trust has been placed in you by the high command.

B. The purpose of your appointment is to see to it that you recruit the best elements among the African youth into the ranks or even the vanguard of our liberation ' - the cream - the defenders and the liberators of our country. Thousands of young men in each region are urgently required.

(For this reason you will be required to; work according to a programme to achieve your target).

C. The salient features of your work will embrace the following: -

1. You must inspire confidence among the population in the area of your jurisdiction, and you must be well informed about your subject. You will be required to study local conditions and the requirements of the population in the area.

2. The organiser must be able to give information about the causes which led to the nation of Umkhonto WeSizwe. This means that one should be able to apply the brief history of the struggle, culminating in the formation of Umkhonto.

3 One must know the character of Umkhonto as an organisation. One must know about sabotage, its purpose and one must know about guerilla warfare as distinct form warfare from regular warfare. In other words, one must study the character and tactics of guerilla warfare.

4. The organiser must be able to satisfy the people on the following questions:

(a) Why is that we do not immediately prepare the people for open warfare, instead of wasting time with guerilla warfare and sabotage?

(Leballo and others have already raised this question).

(b) Why do we not do what the P.A.C. is doing? That is why do we not prepare the people for a sudden simultaneous attack in the big cities?

(c) Will the guerilla warfare develop ultimately into full-scale war, and under what conditions would this be done?

(d) Whom are we fighting and what forces has the enemy at his disposal? Can they be defeated?

5. The aims for which the war is being waged must be explained with absolute clarity, as it is imperative and vital that the people should understand and be convinced of the need to risk their lives for their ultimate freedom. This, in fact, is the key to the success of your recruiting campaign. Without this explanation you will never be able to get your-volunteers.

6. Particular attention must be paid to the question of relationship between Umkhonto and the masses of the people, as well as to the role of the masses since our success depends on the support of the masses in the struggle.

7. Having posed these problems, it is necessary for us to deal with them in a lecture form to enable the organiser not only to understand policies but also to equip him sufficiently so as to enable him to analyse policies of forces lining up against each other. [....]

SECTION A.

The period between 1880 and 1910 will show that it was the end of what we may call purely and simply a military struggle, and the beginning of a political struggle. Prior to this period, our country was characterised by bloody wars between the White from Europe and indigenous people of South Africa. The first of these wars on record was in 1659 in Cape Town, between the Dutch settlers and the Hottentots, under the leadership of Autshumayo, and continued thereafter for a period of 200 years at regular intervals. [....]

We have chosen the latter period because our main concern today is a political struggle and that period was the beginning of a political struggle.

The end of the 19th century saw the complete subjugation of the African people and the end of the military struggle over the land question. But it also saw the beginning of apolitical struggle based on political rights - franchise, land and freedom of movement. By this time Europeans had become firm rulers and masters over the African lands. The wars of conquest had ended in their favour. [....]

SECTION B.THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUGGLE 1910-1960 [....]

SECTION C.THE CHARACTER, THE NATURE AND POLICY OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT

The national liberation movement in South Africa has its roots in the struggle against White domination, oppression and exploitation. In particular against the three main pillars of the suppression and domination - the denial of franchise as enjoyed by Whites, restriction of movement under the pass laws and the confiscation of the African land. The national liberation movement came into existence at the close of the 19th century. Its spearhead was the African National Congress, which was established in 1912. Other organisations which constituted the United Front, were the African Peoples Organisa­tion for Coloureds, which existed up to 1950, the South African Indian Congress, the Communist Party founded in 1921 and which was banned in 1950, and other workers' organisations which arose from time to time, such as our present South African Trade Union Congress.

Although the African National Congress is nationalist in character, it was never racialistic. From its inception it accepted the realities of the situation in our country and worked with men of all colours. There was a close alliance between the African National Congress and the African Peoples Organisation. The last joint struggle waged by the above mentioned organisations was in 1950 - the May Day and June strikes which were called in protest against the Nationalist suppressive measures and the killing of the non-Europeans.

Policy

The policy of our national liberation movement is the Freedom Charter. The Freedom charter came into being when the African National Congress, after the Defiance n of 1952 called on its partners in the Alliance to come together and discuss the possibilities of summoning a People's Congress to draw up a Freedom Charter. This was done in 1954 at Kliptown, when 3 000 delegates met, coming from all parts of South Africa, representing all groups in the country - black and white. [....]

SECTION DTHE BIRTH OF M.K.

For more than 80 years the people sought to bring about reforms by constitutional means. But policies committed to white domination of the blacks have been intensified. The Government and Nationalist Party are arming and mobilising the entire white population because they fear the ultimate consequences. They arm themselves, not because of their strength or confidence, but because they are weak. Verwoerd and his gang are a government of frightened men. They -show it through their policies of segregation, white trusteeship, apartheid, race federation. Bantu authorities, self-rule, self-government independence in their own homelands.

A careful study of the Transkei plan, for example, will show clearly that the whole thing is fraud. These measures are born of fear and panic. They are afraid; afraid of the people whom they misgovern. The Nats do not have the slightest intention of letting angle up on a single one of the fundamental pillars of apartheid, of giving the people land, votes freedom, education, higher wages, skilled jobs or any other necessity for which the are crying out.

The government has driven the peoples' leaders and their movements underground. Jailed them, placed them under house arrest, forbidden their activities under the most extreme penalties even up to death. By doing this, they are forging the means of their own destruction. The people can take no more. When all attempts at legal, constitutional violent forms of political struggle are denied, and the government declares war on the people, the people are left with but one choice. They too, must arm themselves and fight for freedom and the overthrow of white supremacy. And so the organisation M. K. is born to wage a revolutionary armed struggle to overthrow white supremacy. Its immediate aim is to speedily bring about the achievements of the objects for which the A.N. C. and the national liberation movement are struggling.

Why did start with Sabotage?

Sabotage is an invaluable arm of people who fight a guerilla war. In the initial stages it fulfills the strategic task of creating the conditions necessary for the formation of guerilla units from among the people. But sabotage must be distinguished from terrorism.

There two types of sabotage.

1. Sabotage on a national scale against determined objectives.

2. Local sabotage against lines of combat.

In regard to the first, sabotage on a national scale should be used principally in disrupting communications, transport, railroads, railroad installations etc. It is the civil branch and should be carried out only outside the areas dominated by the guerillas.

Its organisation is commanded by the centralized high command of the revolutionary army who are responsible for deciding the targets to be attacked. Vital industries, arms factories, will at certain times be destroyed but this may bring about vast unemployment of workers and consequently must be carefully considered. The importance of sabotage against communications must be stressed. The great strength of the enemy is his network of communications. His ability to move freely across the country. We must constantly undermine that strength by knocking out railroads, bridges, electric lights, telephones and in general, everything that is necessary for his normal modem way of life.

Although sabotage is aimed principally against communications, we must, through various means, render useless all factories, all centres of production, that are capable of giving the enemy something needed to maintain his offensive against the peoples' forces. Emphasis should be placed on cutting supplies and blocking the roads.

In every action of sabotage the system of hit-and-run is employed. It is not necessary to put up serious resistance but simply show the enemy that in the area where the sabotage has occurred there are guerilla forces disposed to fight.

In regard to the second type of sabotage, we must little by little paralyse the cities and towns in the zones surrounding the guerilla operations. The two main types of operations are physical acts of expediency and general political acts. These two types should not be entrusted to the same people or leadership.

When the aim is to achieve the maximum effects - to affect the breakdown of a total factory, specialists are used to do everything themselves. These are people who are placed under the strictest security. They conduct no other political work. Acts, which are part of mass action, require no great skills.