Account for the history of the Nationalsit Party in 1948 South Africa.

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HI 2121 ESSAY

ACCOUNT OF THE ELECTORAL TRIUMPH OF THE NATIONALIST PARTY IN 1948.

1948 was a crucial year in the history of South Africa. In May of that year the National Party (NP), leaded by Dr. Daniel F. Malan, won the general elections for the parliament of the Union of South Africa. It was surely a turning point in the history of race relations in South Africa: the election of the Nationalist took racial discrimination one step further that completely wiped out any remaining chance of social improvement for the Blacks; it meant legalising it in every aspect and giving it a new name: Apartheid.

The victory of the NP came as a big surprise to many…especially to General Smuts, the leader of the United Party (UP), who had been solidly in charge since its formation in 1933. Smuts was sure of maintaining his leadership of the country, but many whites had changed their opinion and voted for Dr. Malan. The NP was formed in 1939 when General Hertzog went against Smut’s pro-Allies policy in the II World War and separated from the UP. Malan took over from Hertzog in 1944 and used his “White South Africa” policies as a platform to win the elections. Also his anti-English war policy and his alliance with Havenga’s Afrikaner Party attracted many votes from the Afrikaners, who always had and always would dislike the English. Before the 20th century the importance of the state was limited because poor and weak: the English speaking whites were predominant and the Afrikaners were only interested in maintaining their rural supremacy. After the discovery of minerals  the main goal for whites became  to be an active part in political life. So it is obvious that the NP was formed to represent the Afrikaner’s interests in Parliament. The role of the Blacks in the state was limited to the kingship of the local tribes. They had no chance of accessing any higher role than that.

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So, it would seem that 1948 was a fundamental year because the new policy of Apartheid was created. This is not entirely true: although Apartheid was legally created in that year, racial discrimination was born the day imperialism started and the Dutch settled into Cape town in 1652. The idea of blacks as inferior beings  in every sense (politically, socially, physically, mentally…) was implicit in the minds of the majority of the white population way before 1948. The 1913 Land Act (later modified in 1936) proves this point: it restricted the African’s leasing and buying rights to a mere 7% ...

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