The SACP in the headlines

60 years ago, the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) was declared an illegal organisation according to the 'Suppression of Communism Act, No. 44 of 1950'. This apartheid act was approved on 26 June in parliament and came into force on 17 July 1950.

The Suppression of Communism Act banned the CPSA, and gave the government the power to ban publications that promoted the objectives of communism, and the power to 'name' people who could be barred from holding office, practicing as lawyers or attending meetings.

The Act, later extended through the Internal Security Act, sanctioned the banning/punishment of any group or individual intending to bring about 'any political, industrial, social or economic change in the Union by the promotion of disturbances or disorder, by unlawful acts or omissions or by the threat of such acts and omissions'.

This definition of communism was so broad and crude that its liberal opponents suspected it was seeking also to trap liberals in its net. In 1953, the party was renamed the South African Communist Party (SACP) at a national conference, where it was decided that the organisation would operate underground.

It was no accident that the apartheid regime saw communism as its foremost enemy. The Communist Party had been the first to advocate non-racism, and to open its ranks to people of all races and cultures. It had pioneered progressive trade unionism, and supported rural struggles. It had run night schools, and worked on developing its cadres.

The Act was progressively tightened up in 1951, 1954, and yearly from 1962 to 1968. Between 1948 and 1991, the apartheid government banned more than 1,600 men and women. Banned persons endured severe restrictions on their movement, political activities, and associations intended to silence their opposition to the government’s apartheid policies and stop their political activity.

In addition, the Act facilitated the government’s take down of liberation organizations such as the ANC. The Act forced these groups to go underground with their activism. Ironically, because of this act, groups such as Umkhonto we Sizwe (armed and ‘underground’ wing of the ANC) did seek support from Communist parties for financial aid. Liberation struggle leaders like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki all received life sentences in prison partly because of this Act (Rivonia Trail).

Source: South African History Online