History Making and Present Day Politics - Stolten's African Studies ...

H i s t o r y i n t h e n e w S o u t h A f r i c a
Visser’s analysis explains the tensions between proletarian and religious
factors among poor Afrikaner workers and describes the ideological offensive
of the Afrikaner churches against communism in the trade unions. Even liberalism
was condemned by certain Afrikaner ideologists as a so-called “fifth
column” of communism. With the establishment of the Institute for the
Study of Marxism at the University of Stellenbosch in 1980, communism as a
historical factor also drew serious academic interest.
Many Afrikaners are in the process of coming to terms with their past and
Afrikaans-speaking historians are at present trying to assess the historical role
of Afrikaners in South African history. Visser’s account provides a unique insight
into the creation of the ideology of apartheid throughout the twentieth
century. The article concludes that Afrikaner anti-communism has come to
a halt, but also suggests that a new kind of anti-Marxism could emerge from
government and certain ANC leaders’ critique of the so-called “ultra-left”.
Allison Drew’s contribution “1922 and all that” examines the construction
of facts in history writing, while using the early history of the Communist
Party of South Africa as a case study. Drew finds a paucity of political history
writing in South Africa as compared to other types of history, and with an
impressive source collecting work behind her, 109 she defends the importance
of written sources.
As an expert in the history of the early communist party, CPSA, Drew
is aware that the party, during the white workers’ “Rand revolt” in 1922,
had a problem recognising the position of the black workers, but she reasons
that the CPSA was not responsible for the notorious slogan “Workers of the
World Fight and Unite for a White S.A.”, and that many communists argued
strongly for the need to organise black workers. The aim of Drew’s article is
not so much to clear the early South African socialists of all accusations of
racism. The focus is on the way a myth has been institutionalised by recognised
historians.
Drew feels that the challenge in the post-apartheid era is to develop an
intellectually autonomous practice of history. At the same time, her article
can also be seen as a reaction to the subjectivism and relativism of certain
postmodernists. She emphasises the need for more workers’ history and feminist
history, but how should this be furthered? In professional autonomy, by
109. Drew, Allison (ed.), South Africa’s Radical Tradition, A Documentary History, Vol.
1–2, UCT Press / Buchu Books / Mayibuye Books, 1996–97; Drew, Allison, Discordant
Comrades. Identities and Loyalties on the South African Left, Aldershot, Ashgate,
2000.
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