Southern Rhodesia Communist Party
Southern Rhodesia Communist Party | |
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Founded | 1941 |
Ideology | |
The Southern Rhodesia Communist Party was an illegal, underground
Overview
Southern Rhodesia was a British colony established under minority settler rule; this repressive structure continued to expand throughout the colonies existence. In the 20th century, much of Rhodesia's GDP was made up of extractive methods such as agriculture and mining.[2] However, these sectors were developed on an uneven, unequal, and racist platform. These themes of inequality and racism only continued to grow over the 20th century. In the early 1900s, this led to significant unrest between the Rhodesian working class and the Rhodesian regime and its ruling class. The ruling class faced resistance from the peasantry and the working class. However, the working class and peasantry was not organized or coordinated, so the government quickly crushed any attempts by the workers to strike during this period.[2]
The strikes lacked success because they did not receive large amounts of support from the white working class citizens. Most of these workers came from
However, because of this there was a possibility of developing an independent movement through the Southern Rhodesia Communist Party, which was gaining traction and popularity in the early 1940s; the party had been formed from the radical elements in the
Movements
In its short-lived existence, the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party and its leaders provided a platform for the black and white working class, which played a part in forming a mass meeting attended by approximately 40,000 people in Bulawayo on April 13, 1948.[11] However, the meeting triggered a strike, which was not the intention of the black and white middle-class workers and party leaders that had organized the event. The strike erupted the following day and was marked by intense militancy as tens of thousands of workers protested at the poor wages and demanded a national living wage as well as better living conditions. The strike was able to gain momentum and spread across the state; it was able to gain support from farmworkers, domestic workers, the unemployed, and even some housewives.[1]
The colonial state was able to suppress the strike only by the use of unprecedented force, including that of soldiers. Nevertheless, the government was forced to grant significant concessions to the strikers, including a national minimum wage and recognition of trade unions, which was a win for many supporters and members of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party.[10] While the organizers of the event did not plan or anticipate the uprising, it was able to enact the change that members of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party had advocated for throughout the party's existence.
Four years after the Bulawayo strike of 1948, the movement was described by a Zimbabwean writer and anthropologist named Lawrence Vambe as "The first strike which truly threatened the white man."[12]
Notable figures
Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing was known for her commitment to socialism, which began in the British colony of Southern Rhodesia. Doris Lessing moved from England to Southern Rhodesia with her family at the age of 5.[13] Like many of the Southern Rhodesian Communist party members, she was unhappy about the political situation in Southern Rhodesia, particularly the ingrained racism of the white ruling class.[14]
At twenty-three years old, Doris Lessing joined the Southern Rhodesian Communist party, where she found other like-minded people who felt a similar sentiment to her about Rhodesia and its white ruling class.[14] While in the Southern Rhodesian Communist party, she met and married Gottfried Lessing, another prominent member of the party. During her time in the Communist party, she wrote her first book titled: “The Grass is Singing,” which takes place in Southern Rhodesia, and it addresses the racial politics between blacks and whites in Southern Rhodesia. The book achieved great success in Europe as well as the United States.[14]
However, after the dissolution of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party, she left Rhodesia and returned home to England. Where she became a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. She is most well known for winning the Nobel prize for literature for her work in 2007.[15]
Gottfried Lessing
Gottfried Lessing was another well-known intellectual and member of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party. He was born in Petrograd, Russia, in 1914. He moved to Rhodesia, where he was a Lawyer in Salisbury (Harare) from 1941 to 1946.[12] It was there that he became a founding member of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party and one of its leading members. It was during his time in the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party that he met and married Doris Lessing, and the couple had a son. After the dissolution of the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party, Gottfried returned to Great Britain, where he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Relationships with other communist parties
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Southern Rhodesian Communist Party had links to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). The CPGB saw Rhodesia as an arena of the same battle against capitalism and imperialism in Southern Africa. Furthermore, the CPGB viewed Rhodesia as the “weakest link” in the chain of the imperialist system and an essential battle against racial oppression in the fight against apartheid.[9] Because of this, The Southern Rhodesian Communist Party drew on support from the CPGB to achieve the group’s mutual goals. The Communist Party had long been involved in anti-colonial and anti-imperialist politics in Africa, which aligned with the Southern Rhodesian Communist party,[9] and the CPGBs publicity material proudly stated:
“ The Communist Party is the only political party that has always opposed imperialism and all forms of colonial rule and exploitation. It fully supports the efforts of the colonial and newly independent peoples.”[16]
“We have stood consistently by the peoples of Africa and Asia and never hesitated in that cause to oppose our government and condemn the actions of our military forces.”[16]
South African Communist Party
During the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party's existence, the group also had links to the South African Communist Party.[1] However, that was short-lived. When the Southern Rhodesian Communist Party tried to strengthen its links with its fellow communist counterparts in South Africa, the South Africans questioned the basis for a communist party in Rhodesia and said that "black masses [in Zimbabwe] have no political consciousness."[9] Because of this, the two groups links were short-lived and never very strong.
Dissolution
A significant reason for the party's short-lived existence was that it was underground and was not officially recognized by the colonial government, making it hard to draw in support and awareness. Also, at the time of the Rhodesian Communist Party,
Furthermore, because the party lacked outside support from organizations other than the Communist Party of Great Britain,[18] it could not increase its popularity or prominence, which was a significant reason for the movement's short-lived existence. Ultimately this proved to be too much to overcome. By the turn of the decade, the party had dissolved, with many of its key members leaving Southern Rhodesia to return home to Europe or South Africa.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d Revolutionaries, resistance and crisis in Zimbabwe
- ^ a b c d e Crisis in Zimbabwe
- ^ Green Left - ZIMBABWE: Women and the fight against HIV/AIDS
- ^ "Doris Lessing". BBC Archive. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ Liukkonen, Petri. "Doris Lessing". Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi). Finland: Kuusankoski Public Library. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008.
- S2CID 161705321.
- ^ "The First Globalisation and Transnational Labour Activism in Southern Africa". The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- S2CID 154908282.
- ^ a b c d hatfulofhistory (11 November 2015). "Rhodesia, the UDI and the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1960s". New Historical Express. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Rethinking Worlds of Labour". The Anarchist Library. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- S2CID 182602947, retrieved 15 November 2021
- ^ a b Zvomuya, By: Percy; Features (23 August 2018). "What's left of Zimbabwe? Part II: Less than conscientised". New Frame. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ Callaghan, Jon (2021). Doris Lessing: A Person of Interest. pp. 76–100.
- ^ a b c "Her Story | BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
- ^ a b "Her Story | BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- ^ S2CID 145809030.
- S2CID 145809030.
- ^ hatfulofhistory (11 November 2015). "Rhodesia, the UDI and the Communist Party of Great Britain in the 1960s". New Historical Express. Retrieved 17 November 2021.