{"id":95766,"date":"2023-03-14T15:40:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T19:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95766"},"modified":"2023-03-17T14:38:41","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T18:38:41","slug":"why-did-nelson-mandela-join-the-african-national-congress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/why-did-nelson-mandela-join-the-african-national-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did Nelson Mandela Join the African National Congress?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Why did Nelson Mandela join the African National Congress? Why did he later help create the ANC Youth League?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nelson Mandela&#8217;s struggle against a culture of oppression and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/trevor-noah-apartheid\/\">apartheid<\/a> wasn\u2019t just about securing legal rights for Blacks but also about fostering national and racial pride.<em> <\/em>That led him to join the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) in the early 1940s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn his motivations to join the ANC and his early efforts within the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-nelson-mandela-joins-the-anc\">Nelson Mandela Joins the ANC<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Why did Nelson Mandela join the African National Congress? He had come to understand that Black South Africans had to truly <em>believe<\/em> that they deserved to be free and that they had the ability to rule themselves. A strong supporter of this movement of African nationalism, he later would join the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/anc-party\/\">ANC party<\/a>. Let&#8217;s take a look at the background of his involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela notes that his lack of a law degree didn\u2019t stop him from getting heavily involved in both law and politics. In the early 1940s, one of Mandela\u2019s cousins introduced him to Walter Sisulu, a real estate broker and anti-apartheid activist who soon became a prominent figure in Mandela\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: As well as being a prominent part of Mandela\u2019s life\u2014and thus his biography\u2014Walter Sisulu was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/people\/walter-ulyate-sisulu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">an important figure<\/a> in South African history in his own right. He was a political activist who spent his life campaigning for racial equality in South Africa, and he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/people\/walter-ulyate-sisulu#:~:text=after%2026%20years%20in%20prison%2C%20Rivonia%20trialist%E2%80%99s%20Walter%20Sisulu%2C%20Ahmed%20Kathrada%2C%20Andrew%20Mlangeni%2C%20Elias%20Motsoaledi%2C%20Raymond%20Mhlaba%20and%20Wilton%20Mkwayi%2C%20were%20released\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spent 26 years in prison<\/a> for his anti-apartheid actions. Sisulu served as deputy president of the ANC from 1991 until 1994, when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/people\/walter-ulyate-sisulu#:~:text=Walter%20Sisulu%20was%20deputy%20president%20of%20the%20ANC%20until%20ill%20health%20forced%20him%20to%20retire%20from%20active%20politics%20in%201994.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">his failing health forced him to retire<\/a>. He passed away on May 5, 2003, shortly before his 91st birthday.)&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sisulu arranged a clerk job for Mandela at one of the largest law firms in Johannesburg, where Mandela met another Black clerk named Gaur Radebe. Sisulu and Radebe were both heavily involved with the African National Congress (ANC), a political party that welcomed all Africans. The ANC sought to use peaceful methods\u2014mainly petitions and peaceful demonstrations\u2014to garner public support for overturning the racist, segregationist laws that held back Black South Africans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Inspired by Sisulu and Radebe, both of whom he greatly admired, <\/strong><strong>Mandela soon became involved with the<\/strong><strong> organization as well. <\/strong>Sisulu and Radebe thought the ANC was the best way, and perhaps the only way, for Black South Africans to effect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/political-development\/\">political change<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Mandela notes, many people at the time had become frustrated with the ANC. Its leaders were afraid of the National Party and therefore unwilling to lead large-scale marches, demonstrations, and similar disruptive actions, which they feared would cause the NP to violently crack down on them. As a result, many South Africans saw the ANC as a privileged and complacent organization, whose senior members were more concerned with protecting their own welfare than with fighting for equality like they\u2019d promised to do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Although the ANC had an enormous surge in popularity in the 1990s, its reputation has backslid to much the same place it was before Mandela joined\u2014the ANC today is <a href=\"https:\/\/brownpoliticalreview.org\/2022\/11\/fall-of-anc\/#:~:text=Today%2C%20the%20ANC%20government%20has%20become%20synonymous%20with%20corruption%20and%20ineptitude%2C%20its%20leadership%20marred%20in%20scandal%20and%20misconduct%20allegations.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mired in accusations of incompetence and corruption<\/a>. Though the ANC was effective in the post-apartheid years, many South Africans now say that it was <a href=\"https:\/\/brownpoliticalreview.org\/2022\/11\/fall-of-anc\/#:~:text=democratic%20world.-,This%20is%20not%20new.%20History%20is%20littered%20with%20examples%20of%20parties%20forged%20in%20revolutions%20that%2C%20although%20effective%20at%20creating%20change%2C%20failed%20to%20lead%20in%20the%20single%2Dparty%20systems%20they%20created.,-Perhaps%20the%20most\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more effective at creating change than in leading the new country it created<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>That\u2019s why, in 1943, Mandela, Sisulu, and others spearheaded the creation of an ANC Youth League: <\/strong>They believed that the aging leaders of the ANC couldn\u2019t relate to young people anymore and that the ANC\u2019s leadership lacked the courage and drive to effectively fight for change. They hoped to help the ANC expand through new membership and to motivate the organization as a whole with youthful energy and determination. The ANC Youth League officially met for the first time in 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The ANC Youth League <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anc1912.org.za\/anc-youth-league\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">still exists today<\/a>, and any South African between the ages of 14 and 35 can be a member. People aged 18 and older are expected to take active roles in the ANC and the community, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.anc1912.org.za\/membership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">similar to members of the wider ANC<\/a>. However, like the ANC as a whole, the popularity of the Youth League is declining as many South Africans feel that it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rosalux.de\/en\/news\/id\/43345\/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-anc-youth-league#:~:text=Most%20people%20in%20my%20generation%20say%20about%20the%20ANC%20that%20yes%2C%20we%20appreciate%20that%20they%20liberated%20us%2C%20but%20they%20don%E2%80%99t%20speak%20to%20us%20and%20our%20challenges%20today.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">no longer represents their interests<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why did Nelson Mandela join the African National Congress? Why did he later help create the ANC Youth League? Nelson Mandela&#8217;s struggle against a culture of oppression and apartheid wasn\u2019t just about securing legal rights for Blacks but also about fostering national and racial pride. That led him to join the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) in the early 1940s. Continue reading to learn his motivations to join the ANC and his early efforts within the party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":95772,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33,275],"tags":[940],"class_list":["post-95766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","category-politics","tag-long-walk-to-freedom","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Did Nelson Mandela Join the African National Congress? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why did Nelson Mandela join the African National Congress? 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