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The National Union of South African Students: a Case-Study of the Plight of Liberalism, 1924–77

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Benjamin Kline
Affiliation:
Modern History Department, University College Cork, Ireland

Extract

Liberalism in South Africa has had a history of importence because of its failure to adhere consistently to the belief that when the ‘loss of liberty for non-whites’ occurs, it ‘inevitably meant [the] loss of liberty for whites as well’. Instead, the predominantly English-speaking South Africans who backed this movement have attempted to promote liberal ideals while maintaining their white prerogatives, and have subsequently found the two to be ‘incompatible’.1 As a result, neither the uncompromising Afrikaner Nationalists nor the demanding Africans and revolutionaries have supported liberalism, and those South Africans in the middle have been discouraged by its vacillating nature. The National Union of South African Students is an example of a liberal organisation's inability to solve this dilemma. Initially Nusas concentrated on academic needs, following a ‘students as such’ policy, and then later transformed its ideals into a ‘students in society’ view, becoming socially active in defiance of the Nationalist Government.2

Type
Africana
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

page 139 note 1 Robertson, Janet, Liberalism in South Africa, 1948–1963 (Oxford, 1971), p. 231.Google Scholar

page 139 note 2 The terms ‘students as such ’ and ‘students in society’ have been taken from Legassick, Martin, ‘The National Union of South African Students’, African Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, 1967.Google Scholar

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page 141 note 3 Ibid. p. 37.

page 141 note 4 Marquard, op. cit. p. 213.

page 141 note 5 Legassick, op. cit. p. 37.

page 141 note 6 Robertson, op. cit. p. 205.

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page 143 note 1 Ibid. p. 46.

page 143 note 2 Ibid. p. 47.

page 143 note 3 Ibid.

page 143 note 4 National Union of South African Students Handbook, p. 19.

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page 144 note 1 South African Institute of Race Relations, A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa, 1972 (Johannesburg, 1973), pp. 52–3.Google Scholar

page 144 note 2 Arnold, op. cit. p. 220.

page 144 note 3 Ibid. p. 199.

page 144 note 4 International University Exchange Fund, Summary of the So-Called Schlebusch Committee's Report on the National Union of South African Students (Geneva, 1975), p. iii.Google Scholar

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page 145 note 1 Ibid. p. 35.

page 145 note 2 Rand Daily Mail (Johannesburg), 4 08 1976.Google Scholar

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page 145 note 4 Ibid.