South African Communist Party, 1953–present 3103 South African Communist Party, 1953–present Allison Drew Formed as an underground party in 1953, the South African Communist Party (SACP) is the successor of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) launched in 1921, and banned in 1950 with the Suppression of Communism Act. While the CPSA had generally stressed working-class organization and class struggle, the SACP emphasized close collaboration with the African nationalist movement. The SACP’s politics should be understood in terms of its relationships with both the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From its birth – at a high point in the Cold War – the SACP prioritized alliance politics over the development of an independent profile. In turn, the party’s commitment to the liberation struggle protected it for decades from pressure to address its relationship with the USSR. Most South African communists joined the party because of their desire to fight apartheid. They were then acculturated into an international communist world to which they remained loyal. Thus, following the criticism of Stalin at the CPSU’s 1956 twentieth congress, party stalwart Michael Harmel applauded the CPSU for con- demning the cult of the individual that had developed around Stalin, while praising Stalin for promoting economic development and fighting Trotskyism. The South African government rationalized the apartheid system of white minority rule in part by the need to fight communism. Reflecting the mounting repression of the 1950s, for the ten years following the CPSA’s dissolution South African communists issued no public statements. Instead, individual communists worked within the Con- gress Alliance, formed in 1952 and composed of the ANC, the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), the Colored People’s Congress, the white Congress of Democrats, and the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU). The Treason Trial of 1956–61, in which almost the entire Congress Alliance leadership was charged with treason and conspiracy to use violence, and eventually found not guilty – strengthened the relationship of communists and nationalists. Several leading African activists joined the SACP at this time, overlapping membership at the leadership level was common, and non- communist ANC leaders like Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela were increasingly appreciative of communists’ contributions. However, this close relationship exacerbated the discontent of Africanists in the ANC, who were concerned International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, ed. Immanuel Ness, Blackwell Publishing, 2009, pp. 3103–3109