MICHAEL HARMEL

What do we mean by Congress unity? Do we mean that a single philosophy and outlook should be imposed on the whole movement? No: as a national liberation movement there is room within the A. N. C. and its sister organisations for men and women of all shades of political and religious belief. We are in full agreement with the statesmanlike and broadminded view expressed by Congress' President [Albert J. Luthuli] in the quotation that stands at the head of this article. Does Congress unity imply that the A. N. C., for example, should become a political party composed of and representing a single class? No: the struggle for national emancipation brings together many classes: workers, peasants, business and professional men---despite the deep cleavages between them. Congress unity, then, does not imply a uniform ideology, or a homogeneous class composition. But it does mean the subordination of differences in the common struggle. The alliance of the Congresses does not mean their merging into one, or the loss of their separate identities. But it does mean their close brotherly association against the common enemy: monstrous White domination, and for the aschievement of a common programme: the grand, inspiring Freedom Charter.

-Anonymous [Michael Hammer], "Editorial: Wreckers at Work", Liberation, no. 18, April 1956.