How did the ANC fit into the widerframework of South Africa's nationalist movements?

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How did the ANC fit into the widerframework of South Africa's nationalist movements?

The South African Natives National Congress, later to become the African National Congress (ANC), was founded in 1912 in reaction to the formation of the Union of South Africa without the participation of the majority of inhabitant who were black. As Davis notes, the ANC was "the first modern, nontribal organisation of blacks formed to discuss black interests under white rule" and, until recently, it was probably also the most unsuccessful (1987, p3). Analysing the dominant tradition in the ANC is not an easy task given that the organisation's ideological and, in particular, its strategic position has not remained static throughout its history. The following discussion therefore will concentrate upon continuities and change in the outlook of the ANC. I will argue that while its commitment to multiracialism has remained steadfast, even when this commitment threatened to split the party and indeed did so with the breakaway of the Pan African Congress (PAC) in 1959, other traditions within the ANC have not been so stable. The demands of the party have undergone a transition from the early position in which the reality of white rule was