ANC HEAD OFFICE
Party in Johannesburg

Over the last 80 years the ANC has brought together millions in the struggle for liberation. Together we have fought for our land, against low wages, high rents and the dompas. White settlers from Holland first came to South Africa in many bitter struggles were fought over land and cattle. Many communities or families immediately lost their land because of the Land Act. The Land Act and other laws and taxes forced people to seek work on the mines and on the white farms. The ANC also supported the militant strike by African mineworkers in However, some ANC leaders disagreed with militant actions such as strikes and protests. The Youth League aimed to involve the masses of people in militant struggles. Many more people moved to the cities in the 1940s to work in new factories and industries. The Defiance Campaign was the beginning of a mass movement of resistance to apartheid. Women also led a militant campaign against municipal beerhalls. There were many other community struggles in the 1950s. The struggles of the 1950s brought blacks and whites together on a much greater scale in the fight for justice and democracy. People were asked to leave their passes at home and gather at police stations to be arrested. They declared a state of emergency and arrested thousands of Congress and PAC activists. But the underground organisation was no match for the regime, which began to use even harsher methods of repression. MK would first have to make its way through those countries before it could reach home ground. In the 1970s workers and students fought back against the system. The South African Students Movement (SASM), one of the first organisations of black high school students, played an important role in the 1976 uprising. The 1976 uprising also led the regime to change its strategy. For the first time reforms were introduced to apartheid. These aimed to win some support from the black community, but without making substantial changes. One of the biggest organisations formed at this time was the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) with branches in towns and cities throughout South Africa. At its national conference inside the country since 1959, the ANC restated its aim to unite South Africa and bring the country to free and democratic elections.