Reviewed in African Studies Review

Jeremy Seekings’s history of the United Democratic Front (UDF) is a masterful compilation of information based on scores of interviews. Given the nature of the organization, record keeping was initially poor, while in later years files were often confiscated or destroyed. His has thus been a tediousjob of reconstruction. The UDF set out to replace the ANC after it was outlawed and its leaders imprisoned or in exile. Like the ANC, the UDF based its policies on the Freedom Charter, which had been adopted by a mass meeting at Kliptown in 1955 and by the ANC in 1956. The major weakness of the charter was its call for “nationalization” of industry, which even then was suspect to many.

From the very beginning the goal of the UDF was to coordinate existing organizations. This made the raising of funds difficult and also left the party open to criminal charges by the government if anything went wrong-for example, in mass protests. There were always hot heads who were attracted to the possibility of some action in street demonstrationsa few people can turn a peaceful parade into a riot. Since the UDF was following the goals of the ANC, many crypto-Communists or ANCers supported it, which led others to shy away. Once the ban on the ANC was lifted in 1990, the UDF became redundant. The special value of this book for researchers is as a record of political activists who have since taken positions with the ANC.

African Studies Review