Appendix 1
The Spingarn Medal
The award, which consists of a gold medal, was created in 1914 by Joel Elias Spingarn, Chairman of the Board of the NAACP. It was first awarded to biologist Ernest E. Just in 1915, and has been given most years thereafter.
Well-known recipients of the award include: W. E. B. Du Bois, Colonel Charles Young, George Washington Carver, Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Thurgood Marshall, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King, Jr., Langston Hughes, Sammy Davis, Jr., Alex Haley, Andrew Young, Rosa Parks, Coleman Young, Lena Horne, Bill Cosby, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell, Earl Graves, Alvin Ailey and Maya Angelou.
A list of winners includes the following:
1915: Professor Ernest E. Just
1915: Professor Ernest E. Just
Head of Physiology, Howard University Medical School for research in biology.
1916: Major Charles Young
Services in organizing the Liberian Constabulary and roads in the Republic of Liberia.
Services in organizing the Liberian Constabulary and roads in the Republic of Liberia.
1917: Harry T. Burleigh
Excellence in the field of creative music.
Excellence in the field of creative music.
1918: William Stanley Braithwaite
Distinguished achievements in literature.
Distinguished achievements in literature.
1919: Archibald H. Grimke
U.S. Consul in Santo Domingo; President of American Negro Academy; for seventy years of distinguished service to his race and country.
U.S. Consul in Santo Domingo; President of American Negro Academy; for seventy years of distinguished service to his race and country.
1920: William Edwards Burghardt (W.E. B.) DuBois
Author, Editor Crisis Magazine; founding and calling of Pan-African Congress.
Author, Editor Crisis Magazine; founding and calling of Pan-African Congress.
1921: Charles S. Gilpin
Notable performance in the title role of The Emperor Jones and for excellence as an actor.
Notable performance in the title role of The Emperor Jones and for excellence as an actor.
1922: Mary B. Talbert
Former President of the National Association of Colored Women and for continued service to women of color.
Former President of the National Association of Colored Women and for continued service to women of color.
1923: George Washington Carver
Head of Department of Research and Director of the Experiment Station of Tuskegee Institute for research in Agricultural Chemistry.
Head of Department of Research and Director of the Experiment Station of Tuskegee Institute for research in Agricultural Chemistry.
1924: Roland Hayes
Singer; for artistry through interpreting Negro folk song; soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Singer; for artistry through interpreting Negro folk song; soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
1925: James Weldon Johnson
Former United States Consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua; former editor and secretary of NAACP.
Former United States Consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua; former editor and secretary of NAACP.
1926: Carter G. Woodson
Historian and Founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; editor, Negro Orators and Their Orations for his outstanding work as an historian.
Historian and Founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History; editor, Negro Orators and Their Orations for his outstanding work as an historian.
1927: Anthony Overton
President of Victory Life Insurance Company, the first black company certified by the state of New York.
President of Victory Life Insurance Company, the first black company certified by the state of New York.
1928: Charles W. Chestnutt
Author; for his pioneer work as a literary artist, depicting the life and struggle of Americans of Negro descent.
Author; for his pioneer work as a literary artist, depicting the life and struggle of Americans of Negro descent.
1929: Mordecai Wyatt Johnson
President of Howard University. For distinguished leadership as first black president.
President of Howard University. For distinguished leadership as first black president.
1930: Henry Hunt
Principal of the Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort Valley, GA. For twenty-five years of service in the education of black students.
Principal of the Fort Valley High and Industrial School, Fort Valley, GA. For twenty-five years of service in the education of black students.
1931: Richard Berry Harrison
For his fine and reverent characterization of the Lord in Marc Connelly's Play - The Green Pastures.
For his fine and reverent characterization of the Lord in Marc Connelly's Play - The Green Pastures.
1932: Robert Russa Moton
Principal of the Tuskegee Institute. For excellent leadership and service in the field of education.
Principal of the Tuskegee Institute. For excellent leadership and service in the field of education.
1933: Max Yergan
American Y.M.C.A. Secretary; missionary of intelligence, tact and self-sacrifice. For the excellence of his work in Africa.
American Y.M.C.A. Secretary; missionary of intelligence, tact and self-sacrifice. For the excellence of his work in Africa.
1934: William Taylor Burwell Williams
Dean of Tuskegee Institute, long service as field agent of the Slater and Jeanes Funds and the General Education Board.
Dean of Tuskegee Institute, long service as field agent of the Slater and Jeanes Funds and the General Education Board.
1935: Mary McLeod Bethune
Founder and President of Bethune Cookman College. For outstanding leadership and service to education.
Founder and President of Bethune Cookman College. For outstanding leadership and service to education.
1936: John Hope (posthumously)
President of Atlanta University; distinguished leader of his race.
President of Atlanta University; distinguished leader of his race.
1937: Walter White
Executive Secretary of NAACP. For his personal investigation of more than forty-one lynchings.
Executive Secretary of NAACP. For his personal investigation of more than forty-one lynchings.
1938: NO AWARD GIVEN
1939: Marian Anderson
Chosen for her special achievement in music.
Chosen for her special achievement in music.
1940: Louis T. Wright
Surgeon; chosen for his contribution to the healing of mankind and for his courageous position in the face of bitter attack.
Surgeon; chosen for his contribution to the healing of mankind and for his courageous position in the face of bitter attack.
1941: Richard Wright
Author; Uncle Tom's Children and Native Son. For his outstanding contributions to literature.
Author; Uncle Tom's Children and Native Son. For his outstanding contributions to literature.
1942: A. Philip Randolph
International President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. For his role in securing the presidential order to establish the FEPC in 1941.
International President of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. For his role in securing the presidential order to establish the FEPC in 1941.
1943: William H. Hastie
Jurist and Educator; chosen for his distinguished career as a jurist and uncompromising champion of equal justice.
Jurist and Educator; chosen for his distinguished career as a jurist and uncompromising champion of equal justice.
1944: Charles Drew
Scientist; chosen for his outstanding work in blood plasma; research led to establishment of blood plasma bank.
Scientist; chosen for his outstanding work in blood plasma; research led to establishment of blood plasma bank.
1945: Paul Robeson
Singer and Actor chosen for distinguished achievement in the theatre and concert stage.
Singer and Actor chosen for distinguished achievement in the theatre and concert stage.
1946: Thurgood Marshall
Special Counsel for NAACP. For distinguished service as a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Special Counsel for NAACP. For distinguished service as a lawyer before the U.S. Supreme Court.
1947: Dr. Percy Julian
Research Chemist chosen for many important discoveries that have saved many lives.
Research Chemist chosen for many important discoveries that have saved many lives.
1948: Channing H. Tobias
In recognition of his consistent role as a defender of fundamental American liberties.
In recognition of his consistent role as a defender of fundamental American liberties.
1949: Ralph J. Bunche
International civil servant; acting UN mediator in Palestine. For singular service to the United Nations.
International civil servant; acting UN mediator in Palestine. For singular service to the United Nations.
1950: Charles Hamilton Houston
Chairman, NAACP Legal Committee and stalwart defender of democracy.
Chairman, NAACP Legal Committee and stalwart defender of democracy.
1951: Mabel Keaton Staupers
Leader of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.
Leader of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses.
1952: Harry T. Moore
NAACP leader in the state of Florida and a martyr in the crusade for freedom.
NAACP leader in the state of Florida and a martyr in the crusade for freedom.
1953: Paul R. Williams
Distinguished architect, for his pioneer contributions as a creative designer of livable, attractive modern dwellings.
Distinguished architect, for his pioneer contributions as a creative designer of livable, attractive modern dwellings.
1954: Theodore K. Lawless
Physician, educator and philanthropist. For pioneering achievements in dermatology.
Physician, educator and philanthropist. For pioneering achievements in dermatology.
1955: Carl J. Murphy
Dedicated editor, publisher and farsighted civic leader.
Dedicated editor, publisher and farsighted civic leader.
1956: Jack Roosevelt Robinson
Brilliant and versatile athlete; for superb sportsmanship and for his singular role in athletics.
Brilliant and versatile athlete; for superb sportsmanship and for his singular role in athletics.
1957: Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dedicated and selfless clergyman; for leadership role in the Montgomery bus protest movement.
Dedicated and selfless clergyman; for leadership role in the Montgomery bus protest movement.
1958: Mrs. Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine
For their pioneer role in upholding the basic ideals of American democracy in the face of continuing harassment and constant threats of bodily injury.
For their pioneer role in upholding the basic ideals of American democracy in the face of continuing harassment and constant threats of bodily injury.
1959: Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington
Composer and orchestra leader. For outstanding and unique musical achievements.
Composer and orchestra leader. For outstanding and unique musical achievements.
1960: Langston Hughes
Poet, author and playwright.
Poet, author and playwright.
1961: Kenneth B. Clark
Professor of Psychology at the College of the City of New York; founder/director of the Northside Center for Child Development. For his dedicated service and inspired research in the field of psychology.
Professor of Psychology at the College of the City of New York; founder/director of the Northside Center for Child Development. For his dedicated service and inspired research in the field of psychology.
1962: Robert C. Weaver
Administrator, Housing and Home Finance Agency; for his long years of dedicated public service at municipal, state and federal levels.
Administrator, Housing and Home Finance Agency; for his long years of dedicated public service at municipal, state and federal levels.
1963: Medgar Wiley Evers
NAACP field secretary for the state of Mississippi. For his dedication and steadfast courage in the face of continued death threats.
NAACP field secretary for the state of Mississippi. For his dedication and steadfast courage in the face of continued death threats.
1964: Roy Wilkins
Executive Director, NAACP. For his leadership, integrity and his dedicated service.
Executive Director, NAACP. For his leadership, integrity and his dedicated service.
1965: Leontyne Price
Metropolitan Opera star, in recognition of her divinely inspired talent.
Metropolitan Opera star, in recognition of her divinely inspired talent.
1966: John H. Johnson
Founder/President of the Johnson Publishing Company of Chicago.
Founder/President of the Johnson Publishing Company of Chicago.
1967: Edward W. Brooke, III
First African American to win popular election to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.
First African American to win popular election to the United States Senate since Reconstruction.
1968: Sammy Davis, Jr.
Broadway/Hollywood star and civil rights activist.
Broadway/Hollywood star and civil rights activist.
1969: Clarence M. Mitchell, Jr.
Director, Washington Bureau, NAACP and civil rights lobbyist. For his pivotal role in the enactment of civil rights legislation.
Director, Washington Bureau, NAACP and civil rights lobbyist. For his pivotal role in the enactment of civil rights legislation.
1970: Jacob Lawrence
Artist, teacher and humanitarian.
Artist, teacher and humanitarian.
1971: Leon Howard Sullivan
Clergyman, activist and prophet.
Clergyman, activist and prophet.
1972: Gordon Alexander Buchanan Parks
In recognition of his unique creativity, as exemplified by his outstanding achievements as photographer, writer, film maker and composer.
In recognition of his unique creativity, as exemplified by his outstanding achievements as photographer, writer, film maker and composer.
1973 :Wilson C. Riles
Educator, in recognition of the stature he has attained as a national leader in the field of education.
Educator, in recognition of the stature he has attained as a national leader in the field of education.
1974: Damon J. Keith
Jurist; in tribute to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles.
Jurist; in tribute to his steadfast defense of constitutional principles.
1975: NO AWARD GIVEN
1976: Hank Aaron
Athlete, in recognition of his singular achievement in the sport which symbolizes America - baseball; his impressive home run record.
Athlete, in recognition of his singular achievement in the sport which symbolizes America - baseball; his impressive home run record.
1977: Alvin Ailey
Innovative dancer, choreographer and artistic director.
Innovative dancer, choreographer and artistic director.
1977: Alexander Palmer Haley
Author, biographer and lecturer; exhaustive research and literary skill combined in Roots.
Author, biographer and lecturer; exhaustive research and literary skill combined in Roots.
1978: NO AWARD GIVEN
1979: Andrew Jackson Young
Minister plenipotentiary and extraordinary United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
Minister plenipotentiary and extraordinary United States Ambassador to the United Nations.
1979: Rosa L. Parks
In recognition to the quiet courage and determination exemplified when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
In recognition to the quiet courage and determination exemplified when she refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
1980: Rayford W. Logan
Educator, historian, author for his prodigious efforts to set before the world the black American's continuing struggle against oppression.
Educator, historian, author for his prodigious efforts to set before the world the black American's continuing struggle against oppression.
1981: Coleman Alexander Young
Mayor, City of Detroit; public servant, labor leader.
Mayor, City of Detroit; public servant, labor leader.
1982: Benjamin Elijah Mays
Educator, theologian and humanitarian.
Educator, theologian and humanitarian.
1983: Lena Horne
Artist humanitarian and living symbol of excellence.
Artist humanitarian and living symbol of excellence.
1984: NO AWARD GIVEN
1985: Tom Bradley
Government executive, public servant, humanist; Chief Executive of Calvert, Texas.
Government executive, public servant, humanist; Chief Executive of Calvert, Texas.
1985: William H. Cosby
Humorist, artist, educator, family man and humanitarian.
Humorist, artist, educator, family man and humanitarian.
1986: Benjamin Lawson Hooks
Executive Director, NAACP. In tribute to his precedent-setting accomplishments.
Executive Director, NAACP. In tribute to his precedent-setting accomplishments.
1987: Percy Ellis Sutton
Public servant, businessman, community leader.
Public servant, businessman, community leader.
1988: Frederick Douglass Patterson
Educator, doctor of veterinary medicine, visionary and humanitarian.
Educator, doctor of veterinary medicine, visionary and humanitarian.
1989: Jesse Louis Jackson
Clergyman, political leader, civil rights activist; first American of African descent to become a major presidential candidate.
Clergyman, political leader, civil rights activist; first American of African descent to become a major presidential candidate.
1990: Lawrence Douglas Wilder
Governor, public servant, attorney and visionary in tribute to an extraordinary life of accomplishment.
Governor, public servant, attorney and visionary in tribute to an extraordinary life of accomplishment.
1991: Colin L. Powell
General of the U.S. Army, 12th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense.
General of the U.S. Army, 12th Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Department of Defense.
1992: Barbara Jordan
Lawyer, educator, political leader and stateswoman.
Lawyer, educator, political leader and stateswoman.
1993:Dorothy Irene Height
National Council of Negro Women; National YWCA; The Center for Radical Justice; President, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. For extraordinary leadership in advancing women's rights.
National Council of Negro Women; National YWCA; The Center for Radical Justice; President, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. For extraordinary leadership in advancing women's rights.
1994: Maya Angelou
Poet, author, actress, playwright, producer, educator and historian.
Poet, author, actress, playwright, producer, educator and historian.
1995: John Hope Franklin
Historian, scholar and educator; in recognition of an unrelenting quest for truth and the enlightenment of Western Civilization.
Historian, scholar and educator; in recognition of an unrelenting quest for truth and the enlightenment of Western Civilization.
1996: A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.
Jurist, Scholar, teacher and humanitarian; in honor of a distinguished jurist who emerged a giant of jurisprudence during a three-decade tenure as the nation's longest serving active Federal Judge.
Jurist, Scholar, teacher and humanitarian; in honor of a distinguished jurist who emerged a giant of jurisprudence during a three-decade tenure as the nation's longest serving active Federal Judge.
1997: Carl T. Rowan
Journalist, publicist, civic leader and public servant.
Journalist, publicist, civic leader and public servant.
1998: Myrlie Evers-Williams
Civil rights activist, risk-taker, mother, true believer.
Civil rights activist, risk-taker, mother, true believer.
1999: Earl G. Graves, Sr.
Founder, Black Enterprise Magazine; Businessman, publisher, educator, advocate, entrepreneur, family man.
Founder, Black Enterprise Magazine; Businessman, publisher, educator, advocate, entrepreneur, family man.
2000: Oprah Winfrey
Actress, producer, educator, publisher and humanitarian.
Actress, producer, educator, publisher and humanitarian.
2001: Vernon E. Jordan
Lawyer, Advisor to Presidents, Champion of Civil Rights and Human Rights, Exemplar and True Believer.
Lawyer, Advisor to Presidents, Champion of Civil Rights and Human Rights, Exemplar and True Believer.
2002: John Lewis
Public servant, protector of civil and human rights, community leader and inspirer of youth.
Public servant, protector of civil and human rights, community leader and inspirer of youth.
2003: Constance Baker Motley
Civil rights pioneer, jurist, public official, for her commitment and pursuit of the goal of equal opportunity and justice for all Americans.
Civil rights pioneer, jurist, public official, for her commitment and pursuit of the goal of equal opportunity and justice for all Americans.
2004: Robert L. Carter
Attorney, educator, federal judge and guardian of civil rights; for his extraordinary achievement of winning twenty-one cases argued before the Supreme Court.
Attorney, educator, federal judge and guardian of civil rights; for his extraordinary achievement of winning twenty-one cases argued before the Supreme Court.
2005: Oliver W. Hill
For his key role in the United States Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board; for his determined, quiet and persistent pursuit of justice.
For his key role in the United States Supreme Court Case, Brown v. Board; for his determined, quiet and persistent pursuit of justice.
2006: Benjamin S. Carson, Sr.
In tribute to a lifetime of growth and singular achievement, from the bottom of his fifth grade class, to become the youngest ever Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery in the United States.
In tribute to a lifetime of growth and singular achievement, from the bottom of his fifth grade class, to become the youngest ever Chief of Pediatric Neurosurgery in the United States.
2007: John Conyers, Jr.
Guardian of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, consummate legislator and public servant.
Guardian of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, consummate legislator and public servant.
2008: Ruby Dee
Actress, poet, playwright and civil rights activits
Actress, poet, playwright and civil rights activits
2009: Julian Bond
Former Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors and legendary civil rights activist
Former Chairman of the NAACP Board of Directors and legendary civil rights activist
2010: Cicely Tyson
Actress and civil rights activist
Actress and civil rights activist
2011: Frankie Muse Freeman
Attorney and civil rights activist.
Attorney and civil rights activist.
2012: Harry Belafonte
Singer, song writer, actor and social activist.
Singer, song writer, actor and social activist.
2013: Jessye Norman
Opera singer, Grammy Award winner.
Opera singer, Grammy Award winner.
2014: Quincy Jones
Composer, Producer, Grammy Award winner.
Composer, Producer, Grammy Award winner.
2015: Sidney Poitier
Actor and Social activist, Oscar Winner.
Actor and Social activist, Oscar Winner.
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Appendix 2
Timeline of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The following is a timeline relating to the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (Second Italo-Ethiopian War) to the end of 1936. A number of related political and military events followed until 1942, but these have been omitted.
January 3: Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for arbitration of the Walwal incident.
January 7: On Pierre Laval's visit to Rome, the French and Italians signed a pact which, among other conditions, allowed Italy a free hand in dealing with Ethiopia in exchange for Italian support against German aggression.
February 23: Benito Mussolini dispatched Emilio De Bono to Eritrea and Rodolfo Graziani to Italian Somaliland along with 100,000 Italian troops to prepare for an invasion.
March 8: Ethiopia again requested arbitration and noted the Italian military build-up.
March 13: Italy and Ethiopia agreed on a neutral zone in the Ogaden.
March 17: Ethiopia again appealed to the League due to Italian build-up.
March 22: The Italians yielded to pressure from the League of Nations for arbitration of the Walwal dispute.
May 11: Ethiopia again protested the Italian mobilization.
May 20 – 21: The League of Nations held a special session to discuss the crisis in Ethiopia.
May 25: League council resolved to meet if no fifth arbitrator was selected by June 25, or if a settlement was not reached by August 25.
June 19: Ethiopia requested neutral observers.
June 23 – 24: Britain dispatched Anthony Eden to offer concessions about Ethiopia. The concessions were rejected by Italy.
June 25: Italian and Ethiopian officials met in the Hague to discuss arbitration.
July 9: The Hague arbitration discussions fell apart.
July 25: Britain declared an arms embargo on both Italy and Ethiopia.
July 26: The League confirmed that no fifth arbitrator had been selected.
August 3: The League limited arbitration talks to matters except for the sovereignty of Walwal. They were to meet again on September 4 to examine relations between the two countries.
August 12: Abyssinia pleaded for the arms embargo to be lifted.
August 16: France and Britain offered Italy large concessions in Ethiopia to avert war. Italy again rejected the concessions.
August 22: Britain reaffirmed its embargo on armaments.
September 3: The League exonerated both Italy and Ethiopia of the Walwal incident since both powers believed it was within their border.
September 10: Pierre Laval, Anthony Eden and Samuel Hoare agreed on limitations to Italian sanctions.
September 25: Ethiopia again asked for neutral observers.
September 28: Ethiopia began to mobilize its large, but poorly-equipped, army.
October 3: Italy invaded Ethiopia. Italian forces under De Bono advanced from Eritrea into northern Ethiopia. Italian forces under Graziani stood ready to advance from Italian Somaliland into southern Ethiopia. Italy was condemned by the League for attacking without a formal declaration of war.
October 5: The northern Italian army captured Adigrat.
October 6: The northern Italian army captured Adowa.
October 7: The League of Nations declared Italy the aggressor and prepared to set sanctions against it.
October 11: League members voted to impose sanctions unless Italy withdrew.
October 14: De Bono issued a proclamation ordering the suppression of slavery in Ethiopia.
October 15: The northern Italian army captured Axum.
October 18: Britain assured Italy that it would not take independent action in the Mediterranean.
November 6: Due to the cautious approach of General De Bono, Mussolini threatened to replace him.
November 8: The northern Italian army captures Mekele.
November 18: Sanctions went into effect against Italy. However, they did not include oil or steel.
December 8: Hoare-Laval Plan was signed, which conceded two-thirds of Ethiopia to Italy.
December 9: The Hoare-Laval Plan was made public. It was rejected by Ethiopians and caused large political embarrassment in France and Britain.
December 17: De Bono was replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio as Commander in Chief of the entire operation and as the commander in the north. Soon after, Haile Selassie launched his "Christmas Offensive" to test the new Italian commander.
December 26: Aviator Tito Minniti was killed. Badoglio received permission to use mustard gas to speed up the invasion. This was in direct violation of the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions, which outlawed the use of chemical weapons. The alleged torture and mutilation of Minniti was claimed as justification for the use of mustard gas.
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Appendix 3
Timeline of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The following is a timeline relating to the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (Second Italo-Ethiopian War) to the end of 1936. A number of related political and military events followed until 1942, but these have been omitted.
1930
- Italy constructed a fort at Walwal, an oasis in the Ogaden, as part of their gradual encroachment into what had been generally considered Ethiopian territory.
1934
- September 29: Italy and Ethiopia released a joint statement refuting any aggression between each other.
- November 23: An Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission discovered the Italian force at Walwal. British members of the delegation soon retired to avoid an international incident.
- December 5: Tensions resulted in a border clash at Walwal.
- December 6: Abyssinia protested Italian aggression at Walwal.
- December 8: Italy demanded an apology for Walwal incident.
1935
Appendix 3
Appeal to the League of Nations
APPEAL TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Haile Selassie
June 1936
"I, Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia, am here today to claim that justice which is due to my people, and the assistance promised to it eight months ago, when fifty nations asserted that aggression had been committed in violation of international treaties.
There is no precedent for a Head of State himself speaking in this assembly. But there is also no precedent for a people being victim of such injustice and being at present threatened by abandonment to its aggressor. Also, there has never before been an example of any Government proceeding to the systematic extermination of a nation by barbarous means, in violation of the most solemn promises made by the nations of the earth that there should not be used against innocent human beings the terrible poison of harmful gases. It is to defend a people struggling for its age-old independence that the head of the Ethiopian Empire has come to Geneva to fulfil this supreme duty, after having himself fought at the head of his armies.
I pray to Almighty God that He may spare nations the terrible sufferings that have just been inflicted on my people, and of which the chiefs who accompany me here have been the horrified witnesses.
It is my duty to inform the Governments assembled in Geneva, responsible as they are for the lives of millions of men, women and children, of the deadly peril which threatens them, by describing to them the fate which has been suffered by Ethiopia. It is not only upon warriors that the Italian Government has made war. It has above all attacked populations far removed from hostilities, in order to terrorize and exterminate them.
At the beginning, towards the end of 1935, Italian aircraft hurled upon my armies bombs of tear-gas. Their effects were but slight. The soldiers learned to scatter, waiting until the wind had rapidly dispersed the poisonous gases. The Italian aircraft then resorted to mustard gas. Barrels of liquid were hurled upon armed groups. But this means also was not effective; the liquid affected only a few soldiers, and barrels upon the ground were themselves a warning to troops and to the population of the danger.
It was at the time when the operations for the encircling of Makalle were taking place that the Italian command, fearing a rout, followed the procedure which it is now my duty to denounce to the world. Special sprayers were installed on board aircraft so that they could vaporize, over vast areas of territory, a fine, death-dealing rain. Groups of nine, fifteen, eighteen aircraft followed one another so that the fog issuing from them formed a continuous sheet. It was thus that, as from the end of January, 1936, soldiers, women, children, cattle, rivers, lakes and pastures were drenched continually with this deadly rain. In order to kill off systematically all living creatures, in order to more surely to poison waters and pastures, the Italian command made its aircraft pass over and over again. That was its chief method of warfare.
Ravage and Terror
The very refinement of barbarism consisted in carrying ravage and terror into the most densely populated parts of the territory, the points farthest removed from the scene of hostilities. The object was to scatter fear and death over a great part of the Ethiopian territory. These fearful tactics succeeded. Men and animals succumbed. The deadly rain that fell from the aircraft made all those whom it touched fly shrieking with pain. All those who drank the poisoned water or ate the infected food also succumbed in dreadful suffering. In tens of thousands, the victims of the Italian mustard gas fell. It is in order to denounce to the civilized world the tortures inflicted upon the Ethiopian people that I resolved to come to Geneva. None other than myself and my brave companions in arms could bring the League of Nations the undeniable proof. The appeals of my delegates addressed to the League of Nations had remained without any answer; my delegates had not been witnesses. That is why I decided to come myself to bear witness against the crime perpetrated against my people and give Europe a warning of the doom that awaits it, if it should bow before the accomplished fact.
Is it necessary to remind the Assembly of the various stages of the Ethiopian drama? For 20 years past, either as Heir Apparent, Regent of the Empire, or as Emperor, I have never ceased to use all my efforts to bring my country the benefits of civilization, and in particular to establish relations of good neighbourliness with adjacent powers. In particular I succeeded in concluding with Italy the Treaty of Friendship of 1928, which absolutely prohibited the resort, under any pretext whatsoever, to force of arms, substituting for force and pressure the conciliation and arbitration on which civilized nations have based international order.
Country More United
In its report of October 5th 1935, the Committee of Thirteen recognized my effort and the results that I had achieved. The Governments thought that the entry of Ethiopia into the League, whilst giving that country a new guarantee for the maintenance of her territorial integrity and independence, would help her to reach a higher level of civilization. It does not seem that in Ethiopia today there is more disorder and insecurity than in 1923. On the contrary, the country is more united and the central power is better obeyed.
I should have procured still greater results for my people if obstacles of every kind had not been put in the way by the Italian Government, the Government which stirred up revolt and armed the rebels. Indeed the Rome Government, as it has today openly proclaimed, has never ceased to prepare for the conquest of Ethiopia. The Treaties of Friendship it signed with me were not sincere; their only object was to hide its real intention from me. The Italian Goverment asserts that for 14 years it has been preparing for its present conquest. It therefore recognizes today that when it supported the admission of Ethiopia to the League of Nations in 1923, when it concluded the Treaty of Friendship in 1928, when it signed the Pact of Paris outlawing war, it was deceiving the whole world. The Ethiopian Government was, in these solemn treaties, given additional guarantees of security which would enable it to achieve further progress along the specific path of reform on which it had set its feet, and to which it was devoting all its strength and all its heart.
Wal-Wal Pretext
The Wal-Wal incident, in December, 1934, came as a thunderbolt to me. The Italian provocation was obvious and I did not hesitate to appeal to the League of Nations. I invoked the provisions of the treaty of 1928, the principles of the Covenant; I urged the procedure of conciliation and arbitration. Unhappily for Ethiopia this was the time when a certain Government considered that the European situation made it imperative at all costs to obtain the friendship of Italy. The price paid was the abandonment of Ethiopian independence to the greed of the Italian Government. This secret agreement, contrary to the obligations of the Covenant, has exerted a great influence over the course of events. Ethiopia and the whole world have suffered and are still suffering today its disastrous consequences.
This first violation of the Covenant was followed by many others. Feeling itself encouraged in its policy against Ethiopia, the Rome Government feverishly made war preparations, thinking that the concerted pressure which was beginning to be exerted on the Ethiopian Government, might perhaps not overcome the resistance of my people to Italian domination. The time had to come, thus all sorts of difficulties were placed in the way with a view to breaking up the procedure; of conciliation and arbitration. All kinds of obstacles were placed in the way of that procedure. Governments tried to prevent the Ethiopian Government from finding arbitrators amongst their nationals: when once the arbitral tribunal a was set up pressure was exercised so that an award favourable to Italy should be given.
All this was in vain: the arbitrators, two of whom were Italian officials, were forced to recognize unanimously that in the Wal-Wal incident, as in the subsequent incidents, no international responsibility was to be attributed to Ethiopia.
Peace Efforts
Following on this award. the Ethiopian Government sincerely thought that an era of friendly relations might be opened with Italy. I loyally offered my hand to the Roman Government. The Assembly was informed by the report of the Committee of Thirteen, dated October 5th, 1935, of the details of the events which occurred after the month of December, 1934, and up to October 3rd, 1935.
It will be sufficient if I quote a few of the conclusions of that report Nos. 24, 25 and 26 "The Italian memorandum (containing the complaints made by Italy) was laid on the Council table on September 4th, 1935, whereas Ethiopia's first appeal to the Council had been made on December 14th, 1934. In the interval between these two dates, the Italian Government opposed the consideration of the question by the Council on the ground that the only appropriate procedure was that provided for in the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. Throughout the whole of that period, moreover, the despatch of Italian troops to East Africa was proceeding. These shipments of troops were represented to the Council by the Italian Government as necessary for the defense of its colonies menaced by Ethiopia's preparations. Ethiopia, on the contrary, drew attention to the official pronouncements made in Italy which, in its opinion, left no doubt "as to the hostile intentions of the Italian Government."
From the outset of the dispute, the Ethiopian Government has sought a settlement by peaceful means. It has appealed to the procedures of the Covenant. The Italian Government desiring to keep strictly to the procedures of the Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928, the Ethiopian Government assented. It invariably stated that it would faithfully carry out the arbitral award even if the decision went against it. It agreed that the question of the ownership of Wal-Wal should not be dealt with by the arbitrators, because the Italian Government would not agree to such a course. It asked the Council to despatch neutral observers and offered to lend itself to any enquiries upon which the Council might decide.
Once the Wal-Wal dispute had been settled by arbiration, however, the Italian Govemmcnt submitted its detailed memorandum to the Council in support of its claim to liberty of action. It asserted that a case like that of Ethiopia cannot be settled by the means provided by the Covenant. It stated that, "since this question affects vital interest and is of primary importance to Italian security and civilization" it "would be failing in its most elementary duty, did it not cease once and for all to place any confidence in Ethiopia, reserving full liberty to adopt any measures that may become necessary to ensure the safety of its colonies and to safeguard its own interests."
Covenant Violated
Those are the terms of the report of the Committee of Thirteen, The Council and the Assembly unanimously adopted the conclusion that the Italian Government had violated the Covenant and was in a state of aggression. I did not hesitate to declare that I did not wish for war, that it was imposed upon me, and I should struggle solely for the independence and integrity of my people, and that in that struggle I was the defender of the cause of all small States exposed to the greed of a powerful neighbour.
In October, 1935. the 52 nations who are listening to me today gave me an assurance that the aggressor would not triumph, that the resources of the Covenant would be employed in order to ensure the reign of right and the failure of violence.
I ask the fifty-two nations not to forget today the policy upon which they embarked eight months ago, and on faith of which I directed the resistance of my people against the aggressor whom they had denounced to the world. Despite the inferiority of my weapons, the complete lack of aircraft, artillery, munitions, hospital services, my confidence in the League was absolute. I thought it to be impossible that fifty-two nations, including the most powerful in the world, should be successfully opposed by a single aggressor. Counting on the faith due to treaties, I had made no preparation for war, and that is the case with certain small countries in Europe.
When the danger became more urgent, being aware of my responsibilities towards my people, during the first six months of 1935 I tried to acquire armaments. Many Governments proclaimed an embargo to prevent my doing so, whereas the Italian Government through the Suez Canal, was given all facilities for transporting without cessation and without protest, troops, arms, and munitions.
Forced to Mobilize
On October 3rd, 1935, the Italian troops invaded my territory. A few hours later only I decreed general mobilization. In my desire to maintain peace I had, following the example of a great country in Europe on the eve of the Great War, caused my troops to withdraw thirty kilometres so as to remove any pretext of provocation.
War then took place in the atrocious conditions which I have laid before the Assembly. In that unequal struggle between a Government commanding more than forty-two million inhabitants, having at its disposal financial, industrial and technical means which enabled it to create unlimited quantities of the most death-dealing weapons, and, on the other hand, a small people of twelve million inhabitants, without arms, without resources having on its side only the justice of its own cause and the promise of the League of Nations. What real assistance was given to Ethiopia by the fifty two nations who had declared the Rome Government guilty of a breach of the Covenant and had undertaken to prevent the triumph of the aggressor? Has each of the States Members, as it was its duty to do in virtue of its signature appended to Article 15 of the Covenant, considered the aggressor as having committed an act of war personally directed against itself? I had placed all my hopes in the execution of these undertakings. My confidence had been confirmed by the repeated declarations made in the Council to the effect that aggression must not be rewarded, and that force would end by being compelled to bow before right.
In December, 1935, the Council made it quite clear that its feelings were in harmony with those of hundreds of millions of people who, in all parts of the world, had protested against the proposal to dismember Ethiopia. It was constantly repeated that there was not merely a conflict between the Italian Government and the League of Nadons, and that is why I personally refused all proposals to my personal advantage made to me by the Italian Government, if only I would betray my people and the Covenant of the League of Nations. I was defending the cause of all small peoples who are threatened with aggression.
What of Promises?
What have become of the promises made to me as long ago as October, 1935? I noted with grief, but without surprise that three Powers considered their undertakings under the Covenant as absolutely of no value. Their connections with Italy impelled them to refuse to take any measures whatsoever in order to stop Italian aggression. On the contrary, it was a profound disappointment to me to learn the attitude of a certain Government which, whilst ever protesting its scrupulous attachment to the Covenant, has tirelessly used all its efforts to prevent its observance. As soon as any measure which was likely to be rapidly effective was proposed, various pretexts were devised in order to postpone even consideration of the measure. Did the secret agreements of January, 1935, provide for this tireless obstruction?
The Ethiopian Government never expected other Governments to shed their soldiers' blood to defend the Covenant when their own immediately personal interests were not at stake. Ethiopian warriors asked only for means to defend themselves. On many occasions I have asked for financial assistance for the purchase of arms That assistance has been constantly refused me. What, then, in practice, is the meaning of Article 16 of the Covenant and of collective security?
The Ethiopian Government's use of the railway from Djibouti to Addis Ababa was in practice a hazardous regards transport of arms intended for the Ethiopian forces. At the present moment this is the chief, if not the only means of supply of the Italian armies of occupation. The rules of neutrality should have prohibited transports intended for Italian forces, but there is not even neutrality since Article 16 lays upon every State Member of the League the duty not to remain a neutral but to come to the aid not of the aggressor but of the victim of aggression. Has the Covenant been respected? Is it today being respected?
Finally a statement has just been made in their Parliaments by the Governments of certain Powers, amongst them the most influential members of the League of Nations, that since the aggressor has succeeded in occupying a large part of Ethiopian territory they propose not to continue the application of any economic and financial measures that may have been decided upon against the Italian Government. These are the circumstances in which at the request of the Argentine Government, the Assembly of the League of Nations meets to consider the situation created by Italian aggression. I assert that the problem submitted to the Assembly today is a much wider one. It is not merely a question of the settlement of Italian aggression.
League Threatened
It is collective security: it is the very existence of the League of Nations. It is the confidence that each State is to place in international treaties. It is the value of promises made to small States that their integrity and their independence shall be respected and ensured. It is the principle of the equality of States on the one hand, or otherwise the obligation laid upon small Powers to accept the bonds of vassalship. In a word, it is international morality that is at stake. Have the signatures appended to a Treaty value only in so far as the signatory Powers have a personal, direct and immediate interest involved?
No subtlety can change the problem or shift the grounds of the discussion. It is in all sincerity that I submit these considerations to the Assembly. At a time when my people are threatened with extermination, when the support of the League may ward off the final blow, may I be allowed to speak with complete frankness, without reticence, in all directness such as is demanded by the rule of equality as between all States Members of the League?
Apart from the Kingdom of the Lord there is not on this earth any nation that is superior to any other. Should it happen that a strong Government finds it may with impunity destroy a weak people, then the hour strikes for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment.
Assistance Refused
Faced by numerous violations by the Italian Government of all international treaties that prohibit resort to arms, and the use of barbarous methods of warfare, it is my painful duty to note that the initiative has today been taken with a view to raising sanctions. Does this initiative not mean in practice the abandonment of Ethiopia to the aggressor? On the very eve of the day when I was about to attempt a supreme effort in the defense of my people before this Assembly does not this initiative deprive Ethiopia of one of her last chances to succeed in obtaining the support and guarantee of States Members? Is that the guidance the League of Nations and each of the States Members are entitled to expect from the great Powers when they assert their right and their duty to guide the action of the League? Placed by the aggressor face to face with the accomplished fact, are States going to set up the terrible precendent of bowing before force?
Your Assembly will doubtless have laid before it proposals for the reform of the Covenant and for rendering more effective the guarantee of collective security. Is it the Covenant that needs reform? What undertakings can have any value if the will to keep them is lacking? It is international morality which is at stake and not the Articles of the Covenant. On behalf of the Ethiopian people, a member of the League of Nations, I request the Assembly to take all measures proper to ensure respect for the Covenant. I renew my protest against the violations of treaties of which the Ethiopian people has been the victim. I declare in the face of the whole world that the Emperor, the Government and the people of Ethiopia will not bow before force; that they maintain their claims that they will use all means in their power to ensure the triumph of right and the respect of the Covenant.
I ask the fifty-two nations, who have given the Ethiopian people a promise to help them in their resistance to the aggressor, what are they willing to do for Ethiopia? And the great Powers who have promised the guarantee of collective security to small States on whom weighs the threat that they may one day suffer the fate of Ethiopia, I ask what measures do you intend to take?
Representatives of the World I have come to Geneva to discharge in your midst the most painful of the duties of the head of a State. What reply shall I have to take back to my people?"
June, 1936. Geneva, Switzerland.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The Manifesto
of the
African National Congress Youth League
WHEREAS Africanism must be promoted i.e. Africans must struggle for development, progress and national liberation so as to occupy their rightful and honourable place among nations of the world.
AND WHEREAS African Youth must be united, consolidated, trained and disciplined because from their ranks future leaders will be recruited;
AND WHEREAS a resolution was passed by the conference of the African National Congress held in Bloemfontein in 1943, authorising the founding and establishment of the Congress Youth League;
WE therefore assume the responsibility of laying the foundations of the said Youth League.
STATEMENT OF POLICY
South Africa has a complex problem. Stated briefly it is: The contact of the White race with the Black has resulted in the emergence of a set of conflicting living conditions and outlooks on life which seriously hamper South Africa`s progress to nationhood.
The White race, possessing superior military strength and at present having superior organising skill has arrogated to itself the ownership of the land and invested itself with authority and the right to regard South Africa as a White man`s country. This has meant that the African, who owned the land before the advent of the Whites, has been deprived of all security which may guarantee him an independent pursuit of destiny or ensure his leading a free and unhampered life. He has been defeated in the field of battle but refuses to accept this as meaning that he must be oppressed, just to enable the White man to further dominate him.
The African regards Civilisation as the common heritage of all Mankind and claims as full a right to make his contribution to its advancement and to live free as any White South African: further, he claims the right to all sources and agencies to enjoy rights and fulfill duties which will place him on a footing of equality with every other South African racial group.
The majority of White men regard it as the destiny of the White race to dominate the man of colour. The harshness of their domination, however, is rousing in the African feelings of hatred of everything that bars his way to full and free citizenship and these feelings can no longer be suppressed.
In South Africa, the conflict has emerged as one of race on the one side and one of ideals on the other. The White man regards the Universe as a gigantic machine hurtling through time and space to its final destruction: individuals in it are but tiny organisms with private lives that lead to private deaths: personal power, success and fame are the absolute measures of values; the things to live for. This outlook on life divides the Universe into a host of individual little entities which cannot help being in constant conflict thereby hastening the approach of the hour of their final destruction.
The African, on his side, regards the Universe as one composite whole; an organic entity, progressively driving towards greater harmony and unity whose individual parts exist merely as interdependent aspects of one whole realising their fullest life in the corporate life where communal contentment is the absolute measure of values. His philosophy of life strives towards unity and aggregation; towards greater social responsibility.
These divergences are not simplified by the fact that the two major races are on two different planes of achievement in the Civilisation of the West. This is taken advantage of to `civilise` the African with a view to making him a perpetual minor. This obstruction of his progress is disguised as letting him `develop along his own lines`. He is, however, suspicious of any `lines` of development imposed on him from above and elects to develop along what the Natives` Representative Council1recently called the `lines of his own choosing`.
In practice these divergences and conflicts work to the disadvantage of the African. South Africa`s two million Whites are highly organised and are bound together by firm ties. They view South African problems through the perspective of Race destiny; that is the belief that the White race is the destined ruler and leader of the world for all time. This has made it imperative for the African to view his problems and those of his country through the perspective of Race. Viewing problems from the angle of Race destiny, the White man acts as one group in relations between Black and White. Small minorities view South African problems through the perspective of Human destiny. These number among their ranks the few Whites who value Man as Man and as above Colour. Yet these are so few that their influence on national policies is but little felt.
The advantages on the side of the Whites enable two million White men to control and dominate with ease eight million Africans and to own 87 per cent of the land while the Africans scrape a meagre existence on the remaining 13 per cent. The White man means to hold to these gains at all costs and to consolidate his position, has segregated the African in the State, the Church, in Industry, Commerce etc., in all these relegating him to an inferior position where, it is believed, the African will never menace White domination.
TRUSTEESHIP
To mislead the world and make it believe that the White man in South Africa is helping the African on the road to civilised life, the White man has arrogated to himself the title and role of Trustee for the African people.
The effects of Trusteeship alone have made the African realise that Trusteeship has meant, as it still means, the consolidation by the White man of his position at the expense of the African people, so that by the time national awakening opens the eyes of the African people to the bluff they live under, White domination should be secure and unassailable.
A hurried glance at legislation passed by the Trustees for the African during the last forty years shows what a bluff Trusteeship is. The very Act of Union2 itself established as a legal right the claim of the White man to dominate the man of colour. It did not recognise the African as a citizen of the then newly formed Union; it regarded him as a beggar at the gate.
This was followed by the 1913 Land Act which deprived the African of Land and Land Security and in that way incapacitated him for that assertion of his will to be free which might otherwise have been inspired by assured security and fixed tenure. The Act drove him into urban areas where he soon made his way to skilled trades etc. But the Trustees had not brought him to urban areas to civilise him by opening to him avenues to skilled work. They had brought him so that he might be a cheap and nearby reserve of unskilled labour. This was finally established by the Colour Bar Act3 which shuts Africans from skilled trades etc., thereby blocked their way to Civilisation via these channels.
In 1923 the Trustees passed the Urban Areas Act and this measure as amended warned Africans clearly that they were bidding farewell to freedom.
This Act imposed forms of control on the Africans which would have stirred into revolt any other section of the population. But because the Africans were not organised they yielded to more oppression and allowed themselves to be `controlled` from birth to the grave. This control had the effect of forcing Africans to remain impotent under unhealthy urban conditions which were set up to add their due to the ruining of the African`s resistance to disease. The legalised slums, politely called Native Locations, were one aspect of these conditions.
But the Trustees were not satisfied with the emasculation of an entire community. In the 1927 Native Administration Act4, they established the White race as the Supreme Chief of the African people. The conquest of the African was complete.
As the African accepted none of these measures to `civilise` him without a struggle, the Trustees had always been worried by his prospects as long as the Cape Franchise remained. With little compunction, in 1936 the last door to citizenship was slammed in the face of the African by the Natives Representation Act which gave us three White men to represent eight million Africans in a house of 150 representing two million Whites. At the same time a Land Act was passed to ensure that if the 1913 Land Act had left any openings for the African, then the Natives Land and Trust Act would seal them in the name of `humanity and Modern Civilisation`.
The 1937 Native Laws Amendment Act closed up any other loophole through which the African could have forced his way to full citizenship. Today, Trusteeship has made every African a criminal still out of prison. For all this we had to thank the philosophy of Trusteeship.
While Trustees have been very vocal in their solicitations for the African their deeds have shown clearly that talk of Trusteeship is an eyewash for the Civilised world and an empty platitude to soothe Africans into believing that after all oppression is a pleasant experience under Christian democratic rule. Trusteeship mentality is doing one thing and that very successfully, to drive the African steadily to extermination. Low wages, bad housing, inadequate health facilities, `Native education`, mass exploitation, unfixed security on land and halfhearted measures to improve the African`s living conditions are all instruments and tools with which the path to African extermination is being paved.
But Africans rejects the theory that because he is non-White and because he is a conquered race, he must be exterminated. He demands the right to be a free citizen in the South African democracy; the right to an unhampered pursuit of his national destiny and the freedom to make his legitimate contribution to human advancement.
For the last two hundred years he has striven to adapt himself to changing conditions, and has made every exertion to discover and derive the maximum benefits from the claims of the White man that they are his Trustees. Instead of meeting with encouragement commensurate with his eagerness and goodwill, he has been saddled with a load of oppression dating from the unprovoked wars of the last century and now containing such choice discriminating legislation as the 1913 Land Act, and such benefits of Trusteeship as official harshness which recently attempted to hang an African under the very roof of the very State Department established to protect him and guide him on his way to civilisation, just because he could not answer questions as quickly as the impatience of the Pass Office Trustees wanted.
In this very war5 South Africa is fighting against oppression and for Freedom; a war in which she has committed herself to the principle of freedom for all. In spite of this, however, it would be the highest folly to believe that after the war South Africa will treat the Africans as citizens with the right to live free. South African blood - of Whites and Africans alike - has been shed to free the White peoples of Europe while Africans within the Union remain in bondage.
For his loyalty to the cause of human freedom and for his sacrifices in life, cash and kind, he has been promised a `Suspense Account` - another way of telling him that, in spite of all he has done for his country in its hour of darkest need, for him there will be no freedom from fear and want.
LOSS OF FAITH IN TRUSTEESHIP
These conditions have made the African lose all faith in all talk of Trusteeship. HE NOW ELECTS TO DETERMINE HIS FUTURE BY HIS OWN EFFORTS. He has realised that to trust to the mere good grace of the White man will not free him, as no nation can free an oppressed group other than that group itself.
Self-determination is the philosophy of life which will save him from the disaster he clearly sees on his way - disaster to which Discrimination, Segregation, Pass Laws and Trusteeship are all ruthlessly and inevitably driving him.
The African is aware of the magnitude of the task before him, but has learnt that promises, no matter from what high source, are merely palliatives intended to drum him into yielding to more oppression. He has made up his mind to sweat for his freedom; determine his destiny himself and THROUGH HIS AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS IS BUILDING A STRONG NATIONAL UNITY FRONT WHICH WILL BE HIS SUREST GUARANTEE OF VICTORY OVER OPPRESSION.
THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
The African National Congress is the symbol and embodiment of the African`s will to present a united national front against all forms of oppression, but this has not enabled the movement to advance the national cause in a manner demanded by prevailing conditions. And this, in turn, has drawn on it criticisms in recent times which cannot be ignored if Congress is to fulfill its mission in Africa.
The critics of Congress attribute the inability of Congress in the last twenty years to advance the national cause in a manner commensurate with the demands of the times, to weaknesses in its organisation and constitution, to its erratic policy of yielding to oppression, regarding itself as a body of gentlemen with clean hands, and to failing to see the problems of the African through the proper perspective.
Those critics further allege that in that period Congress declined and became an organisation of the privileged few - some Professionals, Small Traders, a sprinkling of Intellectuals and Conservatives of all grades. This, it is said, imparted to the Congress character taints of reactionism and conservatism which made Congress a movement out of actual touch with the needs of the rank and file of our people.
It is further contended by the critics of Congress that the privileged few who constituted the most vocal elements in Congress strongly resented any curtailment of what they considered their rights and, since the popularisation of the Congress character would have jeopardised or brought about the withdrawal of those rights by the Authorities, Congress was forced to play the dual role of being unconscious police to check the assertion of the popular will on the one hand and, on the other, of constantly warning the authorities that further curtailment of the privileges of the few would compel them, the privileged few, to yield to pressure from the avalanche of popular opinion which was tired of appeasing the Authorities while life became more intolerable.
These privileged few, so the critics of Congress maintain, are not an efficiently organised bloc. Their thinking itself lacks the national bias and this has made Congress a loose association of people who merely react negatively to given conditions, able neither to assert the national will nor to resist it openly. In this connection, Congress is accused of being partly suspicious of progressive thought and action, though it is itself unable to express correctly the views of the mass of the people.
Finally, the critics say that because the privileged few who direct Congress are poorly organised and have no marked following, Congress cannot openly defy popular wishes; hence to maintain its precarious existence, it is compelled to be very vocal against legislation that has harsh effects on the African underdog while it gives no positive lead nor has any constructive programme to enforce the repeal of all oppressive legislation.
CHALLENGE TO YOUTH
Some of these criticisms are founded on fact, it is true, but it does not advance the national cause if people concentrate on these while little or no effort is made to build Congress from within. It is admitted that in the process of our political development, our leadership made certain blunders. It was inevitable that this should have been the case, encompassed as the African people were and still are with forces inimical to their progress. But it does no good to stop at being noisy in condemning African leaders who went before us. Defects in the organisation of the people against oppression cannot be cured by mouthing criticisms and not putting our heads together to build what has been damaged and to find a way out of the present suffering.
Both the oppression and the causes that give rise to the criticisms of Congress cannot be allowed to go on indefinitely. Soon the point must be reached when African Youth, which has lived through oppression from the cradle to the present, calls a halt to it all. That point, happily, is now reached - as witness some of the clear-cut national demands by Youth at the Bloemfontein conference and the formation of Youth movements and political parties. All this is proof that Youth wants action and is in sympathy with the rank and file of our oppressed people. It is all a challenge to Youth to join in force in the national fight against oppression.
In response to the demands of the times African Youth is LAYING ITS SERVICES AT THE DISPOSAL OF THE NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT, THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS, IN THE FIRM BELIEF, KNOWLEDGE AND CONVICTION THAT THE CAUSE OF AFRICA MUST AND WILL TRIUMPH.
CONGRESS YOUTH LEAGUE
The formation of the African National Congress Youth League is an answer and assurance to the critics of the national movement that African Youth will not allow the struggles and sacrifices of their fathers to have been in vain. Our fathers fought so that we, better equipped when our time came, should start and continue from where they stopped.
The formation of this League is an attempt on the part of Youth to impart to Congress a truly national character. It is also a protest against the lack of discipline and the absence of a clearly-defined goal in the movement as a whole.
The Congress Youth League must be the brains-trust and power-station of the spirit of African nationalism; the spirit of African self-determination; the spirit that is so discernible in the thinking of our Youth. It must be an organisation where young African men and women will meet and exchange ideas in an atmosphere pervaded by a common hatred of oppression.
At this power-station the league will be a co-ordinating agency for all youthful forces employed in rousing popular political consciousness and fighting oppression and reaction. It will educate the people politically by concentrating its energies on the African homefront to make all sections of our people Congress minded and nation-conscious.
But the Congress Youth League must not be allowed to detract Youth`s attention from the organisation of Congress. In this regard, it is the first step to ensure that African Youth has direct connections with the leadership of Congress.
Circumstances call upon African Youth to make the League specialise in championing the cause of Africa; and to serve this end best, the League will sponsor a Congress political bloc, the Congress Progressive Group within the national movement. This will be the wing of the Youth League entrusted with the duty of organising Youth . . .
The Congress Progressive Group will stand for certain clear-cut national ideals within Congress; it will stand for specialisation within the national movement, to reinforce the latter`s representative character and to consolidate the national unity front; it will keep a vigilant eye on all un-national tendencies on the national unity front and in Congress policies.
We must be honest enough to realise that neither Congress nor the African people can make progress as one amorphous mass. At a certain stage we must cultivate specialised political attitudes. Failure to recognise this will wreck Congress and encourage revolts from it until it ceases to be a force in national politics.
By recognising this fact, Youth does not confess sympathy with those who revolted against the national movement. These failed to realise that the formation of parties out of Congress was a serious weakening of the national unity front. They recognised the fact that Congress is a national liberation movement but were not sufficiently experienced politically to form their party within the national fold and to develop opposition from within, while strengthening the national unity front.
The result of their inexperience has been the creation of serious rifts and splits on the national unity front. For this, there can be no pardon because we cannot afford to cause any rift on the national unity front at this critical moment. By weakening the national unity front we invite more oppression for Africans after the war. By strengthening the national unity front, we are preparing a strong front against onslaughts that will be made on the real aims of the national struggle and on its significance and that will make the co-ordination of our political activities difficult, with the result that the African cannot take advantage of situations which, if intelligently exploited in time, may bring the African nearer full and free citizenship.
Congress is destined for a great purpose and mission, but shortsighted policies will cripple it and make it unable to rise to its destiny. To prevent this and therefore the setting back of the clock of African progress, African Youth must join the League in their numbers to strengthen the national movement in view of the fact that divisions just now are being sown among the people by sections of the so-called privileged few, while no convincing effort is made to narrow down and finally eliminate the gulfs that divide our people even by those who clamour loudest for national unity. Those who sow these divisions direct their activities against the national unity front in order to make the national movement incapable of expressing the wishes of the people effectively; they are the enemies of a free Africa.
The Congress is the symbol of the African people`s common hatred of all oppression and of their Will to fight it relentlessly as one compact group. Youth recognises the existence of specialised attitudes and, where these lead to differences of opinion, that must be strictly a domestic matter within the national liberation movement and must in no way be allowed to interfere with the national unity front.
THE IDEAL OF NATIONAL UNITY MUST BE THE GUIDING IDEAL OF EVERY YOUNG AFRICAN`S LIFE
OUR CREED
- We believe in the divine destiny of nations.
- The goal of all our struggles is Africanism and our motto is `AFRICA`S CAUSE MUST TRIUMPH`.
- We believe that the national liberation of Africans will be achieved by Africans themselves. We reject foreign leadership of Africa.
- We may borrow useful ideologies from foreign ideologies, but we reject the wholesale importation of foreign ideologies into Africa.
- We believe that leadership must be the personification and symbol of popular aspirations and ideals.
- We believe that practical leadership must be given to capable men, whatever their status in society.
- We believe in the scientific approach to all African problems.
- We combat moral disintegration among Africans by maintaining and upholding high ethical standards ourselves.
- We believe in the unity of all Africans from the Mediterranean Sea in the North to the Indian and Atlantic oceans in the South - and that Africans must speak with one voice.
OUR PROGRAMME - THE THREE-YEAR PLAN
- Drafting and framing of the Constitution.
- Improving and consolidating our financial position.
- Establishing the Congress Progressive Group.
- To win over and persuade other Youth organisations to come over to the African National Congress Youth League, i.e. to create national unity and consolidate the national unity front.
- To win over and persuade other African Organisations to come over to and pool their resources in the African National Congress, i.e. to create national unity and consolidate the national unity front.
- To work out the theories of African urbanisation and the system of Land Tenure.
- To make a critical study of all those forces working for or against African progress.
Footnotes
- An African advisory board established in 1936 to replace the limited voting rights for Africans in the Cape Province. It had no powers and dissolved itself in 1946 after one of its members had described it as a `toy telephone` (quoted in H J and R E Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa 1850-1950)
- In 1910, following the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902, the whites of the four territories - Cape and Natal (formerly British) and Transvaal and Orange Free State (formerly Boer) - joined together to form the Union of South Africa under the British Crown. Only in the Cape did some blacks retain a qualified franchise: it was later withdrawn.
- The Mines and Works Act of 1926.
- This Act made the Governor-General (representing the British Crown) `Supreme Chief` over all African areas, which were thenceforth ruled by proclamation. When South Africa became a Republic in 1961, this power passed to the State President.
- The Second World War 1939-45, in which the Union of South Africa fought with the Allies against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
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