In 1955 the Congress of the People adopted the Freedom Charter, which was declared as a communist document by the National Party government. The Freedom Charter is the backbone of the South African Constitution which is the most progressive constitution in the world. This paper aims to determine whether or not the Freedom Charter is a communist document, by examining the history of the Freedom Charter and why the National Party considered it a communist document, defining communism, finding similarities between communist principles and the Freedom Charter. With these, this paper will aim to show that the Freedom Charter is or is not a communist document.
The Freedom Charter was the statement of core principles of the South African Congress Alliance, which consisted of the African National Congress and its allies the South African Indian Congress, the South African Congress of Democrats and the Coloured People's Congress. It is characterized by its opening demand; The People Shall Govern!
The initiative for the Freedom Charter came from a multi-racial coalition of organizations, including the African National Congress (ANC), Congress of Democrats, Indian National Congress, and South African Coloured People’s Congress. . The Charter came to represent ANC policies over the next four decades (Willcock, 2005). The document formulated not only basic demands for human and political rights that had been included in previous petitions and deputations, it also spelled out the kind of society that was envisioned to replace apartheid, including ideals such as sharing the wealth of the country and adequate housing, education, and healthcare for all (Freedom Charter, 1955).
The apartheid government regarded the Freedom Charter as communist. five months after its inscription, it charged 156 organizers of the Congress of the People with high treason. Thirty of these leaders