A REPLY TO JOHN REX

to sponsor the Newsletter Conference .was taken ‘without the matter having been put to the committee’.

This is simply untrue. The Editor of The Newsletter was present in the café used by the stewards as their headquarters when the decision was taken, and he was told of it by Hugh Cassidy, Federation steward, in person:

Kidron’s complaint about the publication of the South Bank Special as a supplement to The Newsletter was answered in advance by Cassidy.at the Conference on November 16; as he said, ‘the decision to accept the paper’s.offer of space was taken by the thirty-two stewards on the site’.

. . “There was: nothing ‘artificial’ about the South Bank Special. The, bulk ofthe material was written by Cassidy himself, and prospect of mobilizing their forces in. thé struggle .for the the rest by various stewards on the site.

La The Newsletter’s big crime in the eyes of the capitalist Press oie’ ASE tions in South Africa, and accusations against some of them, without examining their composition or policy.

The Unity Movement :is a federal body embracing various organizations. Its main strength comes from the workers and peasants.

Its significance lies in its policy of non-collaboration with . the machinery, created by the ruling class to enslave the nonwhites. ee , It not only teaches the people to cut the chains tying them to the oppressors and their agents, but also gives them the overthrow of white supremacy... oes That the leadership ofthe Unity Movement is ‘Jargely Cape

THB NEWSLETTER.

Coloured petty bourgeois’ and that the movement ‘consists very largely of white-collar groups’, is simply not true.

Perhaps John. Rex has been away from South Africa too long to be acquainted with the real state of affairs there.

He does mention that many teachers have been drawn into the Unity Movement, but does not seem to understand the importance of this.

In a country where the mass of the population is illiterate, teachers can educate people about political affairs and organize them.

This is what members of the Unity Movement did, and that is why they were sacked from their jobs and hounded from their homes.

The ‘Freedom Congress’. far from being a ‘broadly-based mass movement uniting democrats of all races’, is in fact dominated by oportunists who from time to time hurry the DECEMBER 13, ‘1958 The defiance stunt was calculated to show that under the extremely oppressive rule of the nationalists. the Africans were ’ being driven into revolt. Therefore, they reasoned, the white clectorate would be frightened into returning the United Party.

The Freedom Congress must be judged in terms of a leadership that represents the interests of merchants, traders and puppet officials who have reason to fear the organized might of the people, and who exploit their militancy.

It is true that the Congresses reccive more attention in the White Press that does the Unity Movement. While the nationalist sector of the ruling class will suppress any opposition, the more subtle United Party and Liberal wings appreciate the value of a mass movement controlled by opportunists and have given them publicity, and even support at times.

One final point. The Unity Movement criticizes Congress; it exposes its bad leadership. This is what any organization trying to liberate people from oppression is in duty bound to do when it thinks mistakes are being made.