(The meeting was held to welcome Mr. Sorabjee Rustomjee, delegate of
the Joint Passive Resistance Council, on his return from the United Nations.)

Whilst conducting an historic struggle, the eyes of the Indian people were
focussed on the General Assembly of the United Nations, particularly during
the debate on the Indian question. The Indian people in common with the other
oppressed peoples had expected the United Nations to take stern measures
in order to uphold and implement the great and noble principles of human
equality and opportunity consecrated in the Charter of the United Nations.

Vital Principle

The delegation of the Indian Government, ably assisted by the Pakistan
delegation, put up a great fight on behalf of the Indian people of South
Africa and indeed for a vital principle which affects the lives and future
of millions of oppressed non-white peoples all over the globe, a principle
on which depends the peace of the world.

Our hearts and affection go out to Shrimati Vijayalakshmi Pandit -
may she live long to serve the noblest cause in the world, the cause
of the oppressed and downtrodden people. We would be failing in our duty
if we did not pay our tribute to the whole of the Indian delegation,
and Sir Mohammed Zafrullah Khan and the Pakistan delegation, for their
yeoman and unforgettable services to the struggle for freedom and national
emancipation of all peoples irrespective of race colour or creed.

We would also like to express our profound appreciation to those champions
of true democracy, the Soviet Union and the democracies of Eastern Europe;
to the countries of Asia and Africa who in the common struggle for freedom
from imperialism and racialism stood four square behind us; and to all
the 31 countries, big and small, who condemned the racialist policies
of South Africa and supported the Indian resolution. It is well to remember
that they constituted at a conservative estimate over 80 per cent of
the total world population.

But in spite of this overwhelming support, a procedural technicality
deprived India from obtaining the two-thirds majority of the General
Assembly to make the Indian resolution a binding resolution. This resolution
merely sought to implement the Assembly resolution of 1946, by calling
upon South Africa, India, and Pakistan to meet at a Round Table Conference.

Outrageous Fascist Policy of South Africa

Although the Assembly failed to pass the resolution by the required
two-thirds vote to make it binding, the fact remains that the Indian
resolution obtained a very large majority. Moreover, not a single country
could be found to defend the outrageous racialist and fascist policy
of the South African Government.

If the background and circumstances of this year's General Assembly
are taken into consideration, then the majority of 31 votes against 19
for the Indian resolution assumes an important significance.

An understanding of the background of the Assembly's discussions is
necessary in order to obtain a clear picture and perspective of the whole
international situation through which the world is passing at the present
moments and it is more necessary in order to understand the outcome of
the United Nations debate on the Indian and South West African issues
so that we may be enabled to plan properly for the future in the hard,
difficult struggle for basic democratic rights which lies ahead of us
and the Non-European peoples of South Africa.

By the continued efforts and sacrifices of the common man, both white
and non-white, the evil hordes of the fascists were defeated on the battlefields
of Asia and Africa; and the imperialist Powers who had held in subjection
vast territories and millions of people for two centuries and more emerged
weaker and faced the determined onslaught of oppressed peoples demanding
and fighting for the inviolable right to determine their own destiny
in their own way.

Spirit of Resurgence

It was in this spirit of resurgence and freedom that the first Assembly
of the United Nations met in 1946 and it demonstrated its will to secure
freedom for all and maintain world peace by removing all those causes
which led to war.

But the imperialists, faced with the disintegration of their stranglehold
over the vast colonial empire and faced with growing economic crisis
at home, have regrouped themselves into the notorious Anglo-American
bloc.

This reactionary bloc has embarked on a world-wide war-mongering campaign
and, by means of dollar diplomacy and political methods of coercion and
intimidation, is attempting to intervene in the affairs of other countries
and by its world expansionist policy is trying to stop the forward march
of the world towards greater democracy and progress.

It was this bloc which spared no efforts to turn the United Nations
into an instrument of its policy, and South Africa has openly and unashamedly
associated herself with this bloc.

It is significant to note that this bloc played no unimportant part
in getting various delegations to vote against the Indian resolution.
It is an open secret that the British Commonwealth members of the United
Nations, minus the Dominions of India and Pakistan, decided as a bloc
to canvass among the delegations to vote against the Indian resolution.

But despite the machinations and intrigues of the Anglo-American bloc,
31 nations stood firmly against racial discrimination and in favour of
the Indian resolution.

In the words of Mrs. Pandit:

"My delegation had hoped
once again that the nations of the world would give a clear verdict
against racial discrimination, but the fact
that the Indian resolution failed to get the two-thirds majority must
not be regarded as a failure."

An International Issue

General Smuts and his Government
can find little or no consolation in the outcome of the United Nations
decision. The world condemns the
Union Government's policy; Asia and the non-white population of Africa
are no longer willing to tolerate it. The Indian question in South Africa
has now become an international issue of the first magnitude and Mrs.
Pandit said in her press statement: "The cause we represent is far-reaching
in its implications and the question of the Indians in South Africa is
merely a symbol of a much bigger issue which will sooner or later challenge
the attention of the world in a manner which will then brook no denial."

The importance of this fact, however distasteful it may be for them,
has dawned on General Smuts and Mr. H. G. Lawrence, the leader of the
South African Government's delegation at the United Nations. For all
the Smuts horses and all the Smuts men couldn't prop up racialism again.

The whole policy of racial discrimination pursued by the Smuts Government
has also raised an issue of far-reaching importance as far as the future
of the British Commonwealth is concerned.

Can the two Dominions of India and Pakistan remain in the British Commonwealth
whilst their kith and kin in South Africa are subjected to humiliation
and injustice? The responsibility clearly rests on the shoulders of South
Africa.

In the international field a great struggle has unloosened itself between
the forces of democracy and progress on the one hand and the evil forces
of reaction and imperialism on the other. It is this struggle, carried
on by the masses within each individual country for progress and democracy,
which will to a large extent determine the future of the United Nations
as an organisation for the maintenance of democratic world peace.

East Africa an Arsenal

In the imperialist strategy for world domination, the continent of
Africa assumes an important position. This continent is being prepared
as a strong military base. East Africa has already become an arsenal
for the withdrawing of British forces from the Middle East and Asia.
The recent visit of Field Marshal Montgomery is also not without significance
in this respect.

This sinister plan of imperialism places a great responsibility on
the masses of the exploited and oppressed peoples and on their national
movements on the continent of Africa. Will they rise to the occasion?
Now is the time...

We have had a clear call from the leaders of India and Pakistan to
stretch out a helping hand to our fellow African citizens and work in
unison with them in our mutual task of bringing freedom to the oppressed
non-white peoples of this continent.

Untold Harm

The stubborn and intransigent attitude of General Smuts, in attempting
to put into operation the Ghetto Act (the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian
Representation Act, 1946) and in refusing to abide by the decision of
the United Nations, is doing untold harm to South Africa and to South
Africans of all races and colours.

By taking upon himself to pilot the Act through Parliament, he invited
the Indian Government to recall the High Commissioner and impose trade
sanctions. There is no use denying the fact that the shortage of grain
bags due to the trade sanctions is having a very serious effect on the
economic life of South Africa. In spite of all the efforts of the Union
Government to substitute other materials, the transport of food and grain
from the farm to the town remains a serious problem. The only sensible
thing for General Smuts to do is to make every effort compatible with
the dignity of both South Africa and India, and in terms of the United
Nations decision of last year, to settle the dispute.

Whilst General Smuts is fiddling with this grave issue, the farmers
and the people of South Africa are suffering. It is an outrage on the
people, both white and non-white.

Difficulties of Farmers

We can get the gunny bags--we can have trade with India and Pakistan.
We can remove the serious difficulties confronting the farmers, provided
General Smuts and his Government act in earnest and with promptitude
by agreeing to a Round Table Conference on a basis satisfactory to and
compatible with the dignity of the three governments concerned.

In the interest of the farmers
and the consumers, I make this public plea to General Smuts to have
a Round Table Conference arranged before
the next harvest sets in. We say to General Smuts: "Save the farmers
in time: otherwise you and your Government will be responsible for their
plight."

India has time and again shown her willingness to meet at a Round Table
Conference provided the basis of such a Conference is just and honourable.
The responsibility is now of the Smuts Government.

Much has been said of the forthcoming General Elections and it has
been used as a pretext by the Smuts Government to do nothing before the
elections are held. These delaying tactics can do nobody any good. They
can only aggravate the economic difficulty and prolong the dispute with
India and Pakistan.

Ours is a struggle for justice and freedom, ours is a struggle for
human rights, ours is a struggle not directed against a section of a
community and, therefore, we are desirous as far as it is possible to
solve this question in a peaceful and amicable manner.

But this spirit of conciliation on our pert must not be taken as a
sign of weakness - it is merely an earnest of our determination to remove
all forms of discrimination which threaten racial goodwill and understanding
and deny fundamental human rights to non-white sections of the population.

We therefore welcome the
recent statement made by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in the Constituent
Assembly in which he assured the House: "We
shall not falter in our resolve to secure justice for Indians in South
Africa, neither in our desire to achieve this object by methods which
are consistent with the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter."

We are profoundly thankful to India and Pakistan for maintaining the
trade sanctions for as long as it is necessary in order to bring the
South African Government to its senses. This policy of sanctions imposed
by India at such great sacrifice to herself, is welcomed by the South
African Indian community.

The Indian people stand in a much stronger position today than they
did when the Ghetto Bill was introduced in Parliament during the early
part of 1946. In the intervening period of 18 months the Indian people
of South Africa have written a glorious chapter in the history of the
struggle of mankind for freedom. Our people gave their all - the community
stood united - 2,000 gallant men and women suffered imprisonment.

A New Spirit

We have by our determined Passive Resistance struggle infused a new
spirit into the minds of the Non-European people. The struggle called
a halt to the disastrous policy of cap-in-hand compromise followed by
a handful of reactionaries in our midst after the departure of Mahatma
Gandhi from the shores of this country. For the first time in the past
32 years, the Government of the day finds that despite an act of Parliament
it is unable to carry out its policy of segregation. The determined opposition
of the Indian people made the Ghetto Act inoperable in a large and effective
manner.

The struggle strengthened the hands of India in her great efforts to
fight for the status and honour of her countrymen abroad particularly
in South Africa.

The struggle has lifted the whole of the Indian question and the policy
of racial discrimination of the Union Government from the domain of domestic
affairs into the arena of international concern and judgement with the
eyes of oppressed humanity focussed on what has become a symbol of their
own struggle for freedom and national emancipation.

Smuts` Attitude

The struggle has brought the possibility of a Round Table Conference
nearer realisation. In this respect we recall the attitude of General
Smuts when a large and representative delegation of the South African
Indian Congress, assembled in Conference, interviewed him in February
of last year. He rejected outright the plea for a Round Table Conference
on the pretext that it would constitute an interference in the domestic
affairs of South Africa.

Since then South Africa has been condemned by the United Nations and
if South Africa today thinks in terms of a Round Table Conference it
is primarily due to the united resistance struggle of the Indian people.

The Government left no stone unturned to break the back of the struggle by
attempting to divide the Indian people. Many methods were employed, but they
did not avail the Smuts Government. The Natal Indian Organisation, although
boosted up by the press, failed to make any headway. In the Transvaal the handful
of reactionaries could not even form a mushroom organisation.

Danger on the Horizon

But today the danger is beginning
to loom on the horizon. Only recently a few discredited individuals,
not more than 25 in number, got together
in a private house and formed the Transvaal Indian Organisation. We are
not concerned with such puny organisations, but it is our duty to warn
the Indian people against their reactionary and suicidal policy. The
best commentary on their policy is the fact that none other than the
very Mr. H. G. Lawrence who defended South Africa's repugnant racialist
policy at the United Nations, will open their "conference on January
11, 1948, in Durban. These reactionaries are attempting to subserve the
policy of the Government by asking the Indian people to accept townships
and locations, in other words to accept segregated areas. Any such move
on the part of the Indian people will lead them to disaster. It will
constitute a betrayal of the stand of India and Pakistan for our cause.
It will be a gross betrayal of the support given by 31 nations of the
world. Acceptance of the Ghetto Act or its implications would drive the
Indian traders out of business and the workers from their fields of livelihood
and concentrate them to segregated areas to rot in poverty and slums.
We warn the Indian people against these dangers. We must ignore these
ignoble attempts and rally behind the Natal and Transvaal Congresses
and the Passive Resistance movement.

Crucial Question

The crucial question before us is whether we should give up the struggle
and follow the path of ruin - or to continue the struggle and make use
of the strong position in which we find ourselves today.

The Joint Passive Resistance Council after prolonged discussions and
weighty considerations has come to the decision that the vital interests
of the community dictate that the struggle should be not only continued
but intensified. Plans are being prepared for the extension and intensification
of the Passive Resistance struggle.

We call upon the Indian people to stand united. We call upon them to
exert every ounce of energy to help the struggle in every possible way.
With confidence in our united stand and implicit faith in our determination
to win through, we should reject all moves to enter into dishonourable
compromises.

No Alternative

Resistance or death. There is no other alternative. Submission to the
policy of the Government will only strengthen the hands of the extreme
racialists and fascist forces within South Africa to make further inroads
into the already meagre rights of the Non-White people, with the ultimate
aim of destroying all vestiges of democracy.

The danger could be averted only by the extension of the full franchise
to all sections of the South African population. The demand for the franchise
becomes the order of the day. We must fight for it - we must attain it
- or else allow South Africa to slip back to the dark days of serfdom.

We have India and Pakistan behind us. We have the moral support of
the democracy-loving peoples of the world behind us. We have 8,000,000
allies in South Africa to fight with us in the common struggle. We have
European democrats, although few in number, but determined in spirit,
to stand with us in order to save South Africa from a catastrophic end.

We shall resist! Long live Resistance!

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