South Africa's Freedom Struggle

"CALL FOR RENEWED STRUGGLE AGAINST GHETTO ACT": JOINT STATEMENT OF DR. DADOO AND DR. NAICKER ISSUED AFTER A MEETING OF THE JOINT PASSIVE RESISTANCE COUNCIL, DECEMBER 1947

"RESISTANCE OR DEATH": ADDRESS AT PUBLIC MEETING, JOHANNESBURG, JANUARY 1948

"HIS SPIRIT LIVES ON": TRIBUTE TO MAHATMA
GANDHI, JANUARY 30, 1948

"BAPU": REMINISCENCES OF MAHATMA GANDHI, FEBRUARY 1948

REPLY TO SMUTS` STATEMENT ON INEQUALITY OF RACES: PRESS STATEMENT, FEBRUARY 1948

STATEMENT IN COURT BY DR. DADOO AND DR. G. M.
NAICKER, WHEN CHARGED WITH AIDING AND
ABETTING UNDER THE IMMIGRANTS REGULATION
ACT OF 1913, FEBRUARY 26, 1948

FAREWELL SPEECH ON EVE OF IMPRISONMENT, FEBRUARY 29, 1948

STATEMENT TO COURT BY DR. DADOO AND DR. G. M. NAICKER, MARCH 3, 1948

MESSAGE TO THE INDIAN COMMUNITY, MARCH 3, 1948

"APARTHEID OVER OUR DEAD BODIES:" SPEECH, JULY 1948

YUSUF MOHAMED DADOO

SOUTH AFRICA'S FREEDOM STRUGGLE

Statements, Speeches and Articles including Correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi - Edited by ES Reddy

Dr. Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo played an outstanding role in the South
African liberation movement for over half a century - in persuading
the Indian community to link its destiny with that of the African
majority, in building the unity of all the oppressed people and
democratic whites of that country in a common struggle against
racism, in promoting fearless and militant resistance to the
oppressors, and in developing the international outlook of the
movement and international solidarity with it. He led the non-violent
Indian passive resistance movement - uniting Gandhians, Marxists
and others. He was a founder and leader of the Non-European United
Front, and of the Communist Party when it was revived as a clandestine
organisation. And since going into exile in 1960, he played a
key role in promoting underground and armed struggle in South
Africa and a world-wide anti-apartheid movement.

His contribution was recognised by the national Indian organisation
and by the Communist Party which elected him chairman. It was
acknowledged by the African National Congress which awarded him
its highest honour, Isitwalandwe-Seaparankoe in 1955, and elected
him the Vice-Chairman of its Revolutionary Council and later
of its Politico-Military Council. It was also recognised by the
racist regime which imprisoned and restricted him on numerous
occasions.

Dr. Dadoo began his political activities as a young pupil in
South Africa in his teens. Inspired by the spirit of defiance
of injustice that Mahatma Gandhi tried to impart in the Indian
community in South Africa, he took part in demonstrations against
anti-Indian measures by the racist regime and organised a meeting
of students to hear Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the Indian poet and
national leader, who saw, already in 1924, that the struggle
of the Indian community is linked with that of the African and
Coloured people. Though he came from a prosperous Indian family,
he developed a sense of solidarity with the African people suffering
inhuman exploitation, and took an interest in the African trade
union movement (ICU). He even helped African workers in his father's
business in their strike for better conditions.

In later years, during his sojourn in India and in Britain
as a student, he not only identified with the Indian national
movement and the anti-fascist and anti-colonial movements in
Europe but actively participated in them. He was first arrested
in 1929 in London in a demonstration for Indian freedom. The
unity of the oppressed people and democratic whites, advocated
by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the League against Imperialism,
and the united front against fascism which was espoused by progressive
leaders in Europe, were an inspiration to him. He saw clearly
that such unity was essential in the struggle against racism
in South Africa.

Returning to South Africa in 1936, he soon began to confront
the authorities, as well as the rich traders in the leadership
of the Indian Congresses who saw the future of the community
in an accommodation with the racist regime and kept aloof from
the struggle of the Africans. He began to organise the community
for resistance and at the same time pressed for unity with the
Africans and the Coloured people in a common struggle. In 1938-39
he became the founder and secretary of the Transvaal Non-European
United Front and leader of the Nationalist Group of the Transvaal
Indian Congress. Above all, he fully dedicated himself to the
struggle for freedom and equality for all the people of South
Africa. His first two trials in South Africa were, in fact, not
in the struggle of the Indian community but for his work as a
leader of Non-European United Front. From the dock of the racist
courts, he denounced the oppression and exploitation of all the
black people in South Africa. In 1944-45 he was associated with
Dr. A. B. Xuma, President of the African National Congress, in
a campaign against the humiliating pass laws imposed upon the
African people, and was again arrested for leading a procession ... READ MORE