“A Fatal Compromise”: South African Writers and “the Literature Police” in South Africa (1940–1960)

Abstract

After the victory of the National Party (NP) in the 1948 elections and the establishment of the apartheid regime in South Africa, politics and culture were subordinated to one main goal – the preservation and protection of Afrikaners as an ethnic minority. Since 1954, the government headed by Prime Minister D. F. Malan had begun implementing measures restricting freedom of speech and creating “literary police”. In 1956 the Commission of Inquiry into “Undesirable Publications” headed by Geoffrey Cronje was created. In his works, Cronje justified the concept of the Afrikaners’ existence as a separate nation, with its own language, culture, and mores. Cronje considered the protection of “blood purity” and prohibition of mixing, both physically and culturally, with “non-whites” as the highest value for Afrikaners. The proposals of the “Cronje Commission” were met with hostility not only by political opponents but also by Afrikaner intellectuals One of Cronje's most ardent opponents was the famous poet N.P. Van Wyk Louw. Yet, the creation of a full-fledged censorship system began with the coming into power of the government headed by Prime Minister H. Verwoerd, who took a course to tighten racial laws and control over publications. 1960 became the turning point in the relationship between the government and the South African intelligentsia. After the shooting of the peaceful demonstrations in Sharpeville and Langa, the NP declared a state of emergency, banned the activity of the Communist Party and the African National Congress (ANC), and apartheid opponents turned to a military struggle. The political struggle against censorship became more difficult during the armed stand-off between the apartheid loyalists and the NP deposition supporters. The transition to the military struggle was an important force for the radicalization of the intellectuals and the appearance of the “literary protest” and “black voices”. The time for negotiations and searching for compromises was over.