THE STALIN-MALAN PACT
Students of history know about hinge-points where leadership and quirky factors could have led to very different outcomes. For instance, if Winston Churchill had never been born or had died earlier, would Britain have prevailed against Nazi Germany?
Alternative histories are interesting, answering questions like what if the Soviet Union had won the Cold War. Communists in South Africa are remarkably self-righteous given their past support for appalling tyrannies that murdered millions. They bewailed the fall of the Berlin Wall, a great liberation event that also allowed a reformist South African prime minister to release Nelson Mandela and negotiate with the ANC.
History is full of ironies as illustrated by this alternative history that is not quite beyond the bounds of possibility:
In 1948, the Afrikaner Nationalists under DF Malan won an unexpected election victory over Jan Smuts' United Party. They were quite unprepared for power, but determined to hold on to it for as long as possible. The enemy was not just the hated British and local English-speakers, but also the majority black population. There was a long cabinet debate about foreign policy.
British Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee and American President Harry Truman were not natural allies. Prime Minister Malan resented the British naval base at Simonstown, and was aware of the strategic value of the Cape sea route.
The Western nations seemed to be in retreat in the face of an aggressive Soviet Union under Stalin which had taken over countries in Eastern Europe. Malan recalled the Hitler-Stalin Non-Aggression Pact signed in August 1939, which surprised the world but suited the realpolitik needs of the two dictators. He remembered fondly that the Russians had supported the Boers in their war against British imperialism. He also recalled that the Communist Party of South Africa had supported white mineworkers in the Rand Revolt of 1922 with the slogan"Workers of the world, unite and fight for a white South Africa!"
This was followed by the 1924 National Party coalition government with the Labour Party that pledged to oppose "capitalistic domination". South Africa was a great strategic prize for the Soviet Union, and it made economic sense to cooperate on the exploitation and sale of their mineral resources. Secret meetings preceded the announcement of a deal signed with Stalin, who was greatly pleased to pull South Africa away from the Western powers.
Orders went out to the local Communist Party to support the deal, which they did as loyally as they had supported the pact with Hitler. So did Communist parties all around the world as South Africa cut ties with the British Commonwealth and joined the anti-imperialist front. Following Stalin's advice on an internal nationalities policy, ethnic republics were formed for peoples like the Xhosa and Zulu.
This involved mass deportations and strict influx control to the cities based on the USSR's internal passport system. Visiting communist party delegations and some western journalists showered praise on the new native republics. They illustrated the principle of self-determination under local native leadership, part of the Union of South African Socialist Republics, the country's new name.
USASR Foreign Minister Eric Louw raged at the United Nations about British and American imperialism denying self-determination to developing world nations. Peace and order prevailed in the USASR, helped by the VKS, the Volkskommittee vir Staatssekuriteit (Peoples' Committee for State Security).
The Socialist Workers National Party (SWNP) ruled as the only legal party, winning all elections with close to a unanimous vote. Cadre deployment was managed by the Afrikaner Broederbond, including key placements in the nationalised mines and industries.
When SWNP General Secretary Hendrik Verwoerd died in 1994 at the age of 93 there was mass mourning like that following Stalin's death. World leaders including the USSR's Mikhail Gorbachev and Cuba's Fidel Castro attended the funeral of the great man.
It was widely acknowledged that the Stalin-Malan Pact of 1949 had kept the world safe for communism and the brotherhood of man.
Jack Bloom MPL is a DA Member of the Gauteng Legislature. This article is written in his personal capacity.
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