The Defiance Campaign Long Walk Original Manuscript (Image #113)

delivered a brilliant adress welcoming delegates and visitors and stressed that the political situation called for a momentous decision. One may get a picture of the mood of the delegates when I say that whereas it met with a lukewarm reception when I outlined my views on the form the campaign should take, I was warmly cheered later during the conference when I spoke as National President of the Youth League and pledged the support of the Youth for the campaign. Shortly before the conference the ANC and SAIC established a joint planning Council consisting of Dr. Moroka, Walter Sisulu, Yusuf Dadoo, J.B. Marks and Yusuf Cachalia to plan for action. Their report of the Coucil was accepted enthusiastically by the conference, the only dissentient being M.T. Moerane who was later to become editor of the newspaper "The World". The conference went further and called upon the government to repeal by not later than February 29th 1952 the Suppression of Communism Act, the Group Areas Act, the Separate Representation of Voters Act, the Pass Laws and the Rehabilitation Scheme. Finally the conference resolved that the ANC would hold protest meetings and demonstrations on April 6th 1952 as a prelude to the launching of the campaign for the defiance of unjust laws. In January 1952 the SAIC formally adopted a resolution supporting the decision of the ANC. The actual campaign was preceded by an exchange of letters between the ANC and the government, which disclosed the existence of irreconcilable differences in the views of the two parties. Our letter drew the attention of D.F. Malan, the Prime Minister, to the series of efforts we had made since 1912 to bring to the government by every constitutional means our legitimate