About this site

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Congress Of Democrats (COD)

A grouping of the white left, both socialist and liberal, formed in 1953. Many of the members of the Congress of Democrats belonged to the newly-formed underground SACP*. Committed to their socialist background, members identified strongly with the new mobilization of the ANC* and its drive for mass action, strikes and civil disobedience. The Congress of Democrats thus threw its weight behind the ANC (the leading member) and the South African Indian Congress*(SAIC), to form the Congress Alliance* to promote the liberation struggle. The Congress Alliance planned the Congress of the People held at Kliptown in 1955, where the Freedom Charter* was approved.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.