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РОССИЯ - АФРИКА
RUSSIA AND SOUTH AFRICA: HISTORICAL MEMORY
This is the second part of an article written within a framework of the joint research project “International Solidarity and Struggles against Apartheid. Historical memories in Russia and South Africa” with the assistance of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project № 19-514-60002) and the South African National Research Foundation (RUSA 180 7043 494 44).
Its first part, using South African sources about the relations between the African National Congress and the Soviet Union, by Professor Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu was published in a previous issue of the journal.
Part 2
SOURCES IN THE RUSSIAN CENTRAL ARCHIVES
© 2021 Alexandra Arkhangelskaya, Daria Turianitsa, Vasily Sidorov, Vladimir Shubin
ARKHANGELSKAYA Alexandra A., PhD (History), Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian Federation, 123001, Moscow, Spiridonovka str. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
SIDOROV Vasily A., PhD (Economics), Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian Federation, 123001, Moscow, Spiridonovka str. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
SHUBIN Vladimir G., Prof., DSc., Principal Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian Federation, 123001, Moscow, Spiridonovka str. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
TURIANITSA Daria A., PhD Candidate, Junior Research Fellow, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences. Russian Federation, 123001, Moscow, Spiridonovka str. 30/1, e-mail: darya.turyanitsa@gmail .com
Abstract. This part of a joint article contains a survey of the sources regarding the histone of cooperation between the Soviet Union and the national liberation movement in South Africa in the Russian central archives. The main ones are the Russian State Archive of Modern History, the State Archive of the Russian Federation, the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, the Russian State Archive of the Economy and the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation.
Keywords: Soviet Union, African National Congress, archives, cooperation, military training.
DOI: 10.31132/2412-5717-2021-54-1-5-16
"Without your support we would not be where we are now", these are the words Nelson Mandela used to characterize the co-operation between the African National Congress and Moscow when he met the Russian co-head of this project during the ANC conference in
Durban in July 1991. However, the time is running and the leaders of Russia and South Africa had a good reason to underline in their Joint Declaration the need "to preserve the historical memory of cooperation in the struggle against apartheid" and to educate "young generations of both countries in the non-racial spirit" [1].
For a joint project on the historical memory to serve this purpose it should be based on reliable sources, in particular on archive documents. One has to remember (or be reminded) that according to the 1977 USSR Constitution the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was regarded as "The leading and guiding force of the Soviet society and the nucleus of its political system, of all state organizations and public organizations" [2]. Therefore, the most important documents on relations with African liberation movements were housed at the time in the CPSU archives.
There were three of them: the Archive of the Politbureau of the CPSU Central Committee, the Archive of the General Department of the Central Committee and other Departments and as well as the Central Party Archive of the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. What happened with them after the dramatic political changes in the USSR followed by its "dissolution" in December 1991?
As most of former CPSU institutions, the Archive of the Politbureau was "apprehended" by the highest authority in Russia and became in 1992 the Archive of the President. However, some years later it was "absorbed" by the Information and Documentary Support Department of the President of the Russian Federation. Just like in the days of the Politibureau, the archive documents there are practically not accessible for researchers, though fortunately many historical documents were transferred recently to other archives.
The other two former CPSU archives were put under the Federal Archive Service, later Agency (Rosarkhiv). The former Archives of the CC General Department and other departments were originally reorganized in October 1991 into the Centre for Preservation of Modern Documents (TsHSD) and then in 1999 into the Russian State Archive of Modern History (RSAMH, RGANI in Russian).
The second archive that had been run by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism was similarly firstly reorganized into the Russian Centre for Preservation and Study of Records of Modem History (RTsHIDNI) and later, also in 1999, into the Russian State Archive of Social and Political History (RSASPH, RGASPI in Russian) that incorporated also the Centre for Preservation of Documents of Youth Organisations (former YCL Central Committee Archive).
The RSASPH houses mostly the documents up to late 1952, that is prior to active cooperation between Moscow and South African liberation movement. However, as far as the youth organizations are concerned, they cover the later period of Moscow’s extensive ties with the ANC Youth Section. Besides, it contains also the documents of the International Lenin School (Institute of Social Sciences) where dozens of South Africans studied, however, they are still classified.
Other central archives to be discussed in this article are two more public archives, the State Archive of the Russian Federation (SA RF, GA RF in Russian) and the Russian State Archive of the Economy (RSAE, RGAE in Russian), and one departmental archive, the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (AFP RF, AVP RF in Russian). Naturally some important documents on the bilateral co-operation should be available in the archives of the Russian defence ministry and security services, but so far, they are practically out of reach for researchers.
RSAMH
The conditions of research work in this archive have changed several times during the last three decades. Initially many documents were easily accessible, perhaps, too many. They
included the decisions of the CPSU Central Committee (Collection 4), and the very first document related to South Africa and dated 29 November 1952 had a peculiar title: "On the unfavorable situation with the staff of the USSR Consulate General in the Union of South Africa" [3]. It was mentioned in the papers related to this issue that the diplomatic postal service between the Consulate and the Soviet MFA "ceased in May 1952" and "the Consulate General staff is left to itself' and the facts of the improper conduct of some staff members have been reported.
No surprise, therefore, that soon the Soviet Consul General was replaced, and for some period of time these duties were performed by Vasily Dozhdalev [4], and this story is of interest to us, because four decades later he, then retired Major General of the KGB, gave an interesting interview [5]. He was acquainted with a number of prominent South African communists. Moreover, according to him, he conveyed messages from Bram Fischer to the "Soviet leadership", and as far as he can remember, one of them contained a request for "material assistance", although he stressed that he "did not transfer the money to Fischer or any of his comrades". However, it looks like the memory did not serve well the old general. Furthermore, perhaps even some names were suggested to him by the journalist. For example, he spoke about Ruth First, the wife of Joe Slovo, as about a male.
Yet more important is the fact that archive documents do not contain any information about contacts between Moscow and the organized anti-apartheid forces in South Africa at that period. Some of South African communists, including Ruth First, as well as Brian and Sonia Bunting did visit Moscow in mid-1950, but they did not try to establish inter-party contacts [6].
The lack of bilateral ties at this stage is confirmed also by the important document of February, 1956 that was recently transferred to the RGANI as a part of Collection 3 of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, marked "top secret" and titled "Review of the World Communist Movement".
Brief information contained in the section of the "Review" devoted to "the Communist Parties of the British Empire" spoke about the creation of "the Communist Party of the Union of South Africa" in 1921 and indicated that "In 1950 the party had about 2 thousand members. A month before the law banning the Communist Party, which was adopted by the Senate on July 23, 1950, the Central Committee of the Communist Party decided to dissolve the party in order to preserve party cadres and funds. The Central Committee of the party has set the task of continuing to work in all legal and semi-legal organizations in the country" [7]. So, the "Review", just as the visits of South Africans mentioned above, said nothing about the establishment of ties between Moscow and reconstituted South African Communist Party at that stage.
A breakthrough happened on July 5, 1960, when the Central Committee Secretariat of the CPSU issued a decision “On the invitation to Moscow of the representative of the Communist Party of the Union of South Africa Cde Vela Pilay" [Vella Pillay] [8]. This visit was requested by the SACP leadership through the CP of Great Britain, and its General Secretary John Gollan recommended Pillay as "a reliable man" [9].
Though initially Pillay was expected alone, he came together with Dr Yusuf Dadoo, the SACP Chairman who had left South Africa some months earlier, and that visit meant the resumption of Moscow’s ties with the communist and national liberation movement in South Africa. The most important milestones on this way, such as initial discussions in November-December 1960 on the use of the armed form of the struggle [10] and the invitation of the ANC Deputy President Oliver Tambo to the USSR in December 1962 [11], are reflected in the documents of this archive.
Yet, then in a couple of years the situation changed dramatically, when most of the archive documents, including Collection 4 (Central Committee of the CPSU) and Collection 5
(its International and other departments) were "sealed" again and remained so for two decades. The bitter irony was in the fact that while in Moscow the documents were inaccessible, many of them had reached the US archives and Russian researchers could read them there on-line, though mostly translated into English.
However, a "silver lining" was the formation of the Collection 89 that contained 3615 declassified documents, often sensitive, taken from the President’s Archive, then Ministry of Security and other institutions. These documents were selected and used by President Boris Yeltsin’s side during the process in the Constitutional Court in 1992 on the issue of legality of his decrees on the banning of the Communist Party, while their opponents had no such chance. As strange as such arrangement was, it resulted in the creation of a very rich collection, and that was especially valuable when most of other collections were not accessible to researchers.
Among rather "sensitive" documents we can mention the information about financial assistance to ANC and SACP through so called International Fund for Assistance to Left Workers’ Organisations or a decision to organize training in "party technique" (clandestine work) to a SACP activist.
Finally, about five years ago some collections in the RGANI were opened; however, for a very short time, because from May 2016 to December 2018 the Archive was closed due to its move from the premises of the Presidential Administration (former premises of the CPSU CC) to a building on the bank of the Moskva river opposite to the Kremlin, followed by complete review of all stored documents. Then the year of 2019 was very productive for researchers who worked in the RGANI, but from 23 March to 27 July 2020 it had to be closed again, this time because of the pandemic.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the RSAMH is a real gold mine for researchers and the volume of gold there is growing due to the continuation of the arrival of documents in Collection 3 (Politbureau), even if Collection 5, "Apparatus of the Central Committee of the CPSU", especially documents of its International Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU (inventories 58-69, 73, 75-77, 84, 88-90), remains the most informative and interesting as far as Moscow’s ties with the South African liberation movement are concerned.
Yet so far not all the gold a researcher can dig out. It is hard to understand, for example, why out of 26 documents attributed to the newly established Africa Section of the International Department (1958-1961) only one has been declassified. Fortunately, the situation is much better as far as a later period is concerned (so far documents are available up to 1976).
Here are some examples of the documents. The first one refers to the practical assistance to the SACP in holding a meeting of its Central Committee in Moscow in 1964. Ten people, including Party’s Secretary General Moses Kotane and Chairman John Marks, were to participate. "The other six members of the Central Committee are in South Africa (in prison or underground), " stated the accompanying document from the "special folder" (the highest level of secrecy). It also mentions that "217 activists of the SACP and the leading national liberation organization of the African National Congress are undergoing military and political studies in the Soviet Union" [12] (mostly in the first group in the military college in Odessa).
Another example is a 1971 letter from the USSR Ambassador to Britain asking for assistance to the editor-in-chief of the African Communist magazine, Michael Harmel, in his historical research. According to the letter, "During the conversation [with the Soviet ambassador] Comrade Harmel said that he was able to establish through the certain materials that at the end of 1917 the International Socialist League of the Union of South Africa sent its representative to the International Conference of Socialists in Stockholm. This representative was instructed to stop in London on the way to Stockholm and to meet with Comrade Litvinov M.M. [representative of the Central Committee of the Russian Social Democratic
Labour Party - RSDLP]". As the author of the letter further explains, "the South African friends, however, have no information about whether the meeting took place in London". Harmel asked to check this information in the Soviet archives, and the note of the head of the African Section says: "Comrade Harmel will be acquainted with the archival materials [13].
Of special importance for the history of Moscow’s cooperation with the ANC is a detailed 15-page report on the studies of the second group of Umkhonto we Sizwe fighters in the Odessa Higher Combined Arms Command Red Banner College. Written by its commander, it was sent to the International Department of the Central Committee by Colonel General of Aviation N.P. Dagaev, head of the 10th Main Department of the USSR Armed Forces General Staff on April 30, 1965 [14].
It is worth noting that the second group of cadets was quite "mature" - out of 163 people 79 were 25-34 years old and 10 people were 35-39, one "cadet" was 57 years old [15]. Another important matter is the level of education: among the same number of South Africans, only 6 finished 12 classes (that is, completed secondary education), whereas 30 people were completely illiterate [16]. The work with such "specific" students was carried out according to a special method - "in five groups the educational process was organized with double translation from Russian into English and from English into national [language]" [17]. One third of the students has already received military training in other countries: China, United Arab Republic (Egypt), Algeria and Ethiopia. As stated in the document, "the main method of conducting classes is the personal demonstration of the teacher, teaching the students to act in conditions close to a war situation" [18].
The state of military discipline, according to the Soviet military, "on the whole can be assessed as satisfactory". There were no "cases of unhealthy relationships with the local population and other cadets". Yet one of the cadets reacted painfully to any demands of the commander, showed tactlessness, was indignant at the strict regime at the first-aid post, where he was sent after an operation for appendicitis, and he even said that "your orders here are worse than that of Verwoerd" [19].
Yet, in comparison with the first group, "there are cases of manifestation of hostility to each other and the hosts". Several students were rude towards staff and commanders. "The main disadvantage of the group," military commanders noted, "is the desire of a significant part of it to consume alcoholic beverages" [20]. There were cases when students returned to their studies "from the day-off being drunk" [21].
Unlike the cadets of the 1964 enrollment, that is, the very first group that included future famous political figures of the ANC, for example, Joe Modise, Moses Mabhida and Ronnie Kasrils, the cadets of this group were "politically less developed and less active" [22]. They "exercised caution" in their speeches in political education classes. At the same time the document also mentions that "there were almost no cases when cadets openly and actively defended the views of the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party" when discussing issues of the modem international communist movement, as the students of the last year did [23].
The system of recmiting the ANC personnel for study in the USSR was not perfect. One of the cadets said "everyone who took the risk and managed to take the difficult path to Dar es Salaam, overcoming the Verwoerdian complex system of passes, is considered a tme patriot" [24]. Moreover, the possibility of sending Pretoria's agents to the ANC camps was high. One of cadets even said that he and some of his comrades knew the names of the traitors who were studying in Odessa, but did not name them.
Contrary to popular belief that the majority in the ANC military cadres were people from poor townships, this is not entirely tme. According to one of the students, "my father worked as a neurosurgeon, and he has a servant and two cars". According to her, she arrived in the USSR in order to "personally see what the Soviet Union looks like. Parents were against her trip" [25].
In conclusion the document stated that, "most of the cadets understand the purpose of their stay in the USSR". Nevertheless, it was advisable, in the opinion of the command of the Odessa College, "to inform the leadership of the ANC about the need for more careful selection [of future SA representatives] for sending to the USSR" [26].
Finally, it should be noted that the RSAMH is a researcher-friendly institution where scholars themselves are allowed to make copies of the documents and can always receive a valuable advice from archivists.
SARF
The archives of the State Archive of the Russian Federation contain documents of various socio-political and cultural-educational (non-governmental in international terms) organizations: the collections of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (VTsSPS), the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (VOKS), the Union of Soviet Societies for Friendship and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (SSOD), the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee (SKSSAA), the Committee of Soviet Women (KSZh), the Soviet Peace Committee and etc.
Here we will consider the archive documents of the two of them, VOKS (and its successor SSOD) and the SKSSAA.
VOKS
The first social and cultural ties between the young Soviet state and foreign countries were carried out through a specially established organization for relations with foreign citizens. Today it would probably be called a non-governmental organization - the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, or in abbreviated form VOKS. The beginning of its work starts in 1925, and the main materials of the organization's activities are kept in the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Collection 5283.
Archival materials concerning the early ties between Soviet Russia and South Africa are concentrated in several inventories. The most numerous collections of reports and letters are presented in the VOKS British Department (previously it was known as the joint Anglo-American department until 1930), which then included the Union of South Africa as the dominion of Britain [27].
The VOKS Bureau for the Reception of Foreigners, which closely observed those who arrived in the Soviet Union, recording the number of foreigners, the number of visits, the country of origin and in some cases indicated the profession and social status of the tourists. Small groups or individual South African tourists, usually from intelligentsia of that time, also passed through VOKS. This organization, according to its documents, "helped foreigners in the shortest possible time to get acquainted with a number of cultural achievements of the USSR" [28].
It was VOKS that hosted in the USSR Josiah Gumede, National President of the ANC in November 1927, when the friends of the Soviet Union celebrated the tenth anniversary of the October revolution.
Curiously enough, a year earlier Moscow was visited by the son of then prime minister of Union of South Africa J. В. M. Hertzog, who graduated from Oxford University and was travelling in Europe. He wanted to make some photographs "in memory of his stay in the capital of the USSR" [29].
Correspondence between South African colleagues from various cultural and educational organizations (especially the South African Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union) and VOKS was quite positive, many cultural and educational issues of cooperation
being discussed, for example, the exchange of photographs of political leaders, the study of the flora and fauna of the Soviet Union from the lantern slides, acquaintance with the philatelic and scientific societies of South Africa and the USSR, the exchange of books by Russian classics and magazines [30]. It was even planned in the late 1950s to organize an exchange of young people between South African Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union and VOKS, though it was mainly negotiated about "white" youth.
The friendship between the two organizations is well seen from a letter from VOKS to the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 24, 1956 with information that the South African Society for Peace and Friendship "made a statement to the press in connection with the decision of the government of the Union of South Africa to close the Consulate General of the USSR in Pretoria and [its office] in Cape Town". In the same document it is noted, however, that "according to the information of the secretary of the Society H. Barsel... the leading newspapers of the South African Union practically refused to publish this statement" [31].
SSOD
In 1958 VOKS was reorganized into the Union of Friendship Societies with Foreign Countries, or in abbreviated form SSOD, another cultural and educational channel which existed till 1992. One of such societies was SADNA, the Soviet Association of Friendship with the Peoples of Africa.
SKSSAA
A special place among the Soviet NGOs, as far as contacts with the South Africa are concerned, was occupied by the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee (SKSSAA), formed in 1958, whose work made a significant contribution to helping the national liberation movement in South Africa, namely, the African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing - Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
The documents presented in the archive provide an insight into how first steps were taken to establish working relations between the Committee and representatives from the antiapartheid organizations. The first documents relating to the work of the SCSSAA and South Africa date from 1961 and refer to the distribution of scholarships for students from Africa. Other documents from this time reflect the difficulties faced by the first students who left South Africa and ended up in foreign countries. Such students were usually accepted for study in the USSR.
It is also worth noting that the cooperation of USSR and ANC from the very beginning was declared as one that "should be based on complete equality and respect for the opinions of both parties". South African representatives explained that "the active support of the Soviet representative [in the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organisation (AAPSO)] can be misinterpreted, and the South African representative can be accused of blindly following the instructions of the Soviet leadership" [32].
It can be also noted that the SKSSAA maintained relations with similar organizations of the European socialist countries, in particular, the GDR. Also a rather interesting document dated September 14, 1987, was found, sent from the USSR embassy in the GDR, under the title "On the relations of the GDR and the ANC" [33].
In the late 1980s, contacts also took place with the mass anti-apartheid organization in South Africa, the United Democratic Front (UDF) that became an informal ally of the ANC. In particular, an invitation to Prof. Jakes Gerwel, the Rector of University of the Western Cape, and his spouse to visit the USSR for eight days was sent [34]. It should be noted that
after the political changes in South Africa he became the director-general of Nelson Mandela’s Presidential office.
It was the Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee that hosted the ANC Mission opened in Moscow in 1987. Unfortunately, soon the mission and its head Sipho Makana (who later became South African Ambassador to Russia) had to face negative changes in the attitude towards the ANC among some of Soviet scholars. The archive contains a document dated April 2, 1990 from the head of the ANC mission who "was shocked by the news that an employee of your institute [Institute for African Studies], Dr. Tikhomirov made his way to South Africa, despite our [ANC’s] clear political positions on this issue" [35]. This document is one example of how, instead of retaining and developing relations with the future ruling party, the ANC, some personalities and political forces in the USSR sacrificed many of well-established connections for imagined profit from the outgoing Pretoria’s regime.
Unfortunately, while many of the SKSSAA documents have never been classified, the process of declassification of the rest of them is extremely slow. Alas, even with regard to accessible documents, as the number of signatures in the records shows, not many researchers are interested in the history of the bilateral relations in this field.
Finally, the RSAE (the Russian State Archive for the Economy) holds the largest number of economic documents; its collections contain a rich deposit of information about the most important stages of the development of the Russian economy, science, technology and the social sphere. The main set of documents includes funds of the central economic management bodies of the USSR: people's commissariats, ministries, state committees and their main departments.
In particular RSAE has a large number of documents dealing with South Africa over the period from 1920s to late 1950s until Moscow’s economic ties with that country were severed. This includes, for instance, documents from Ministry of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Communications and Central Union of Consumer Cooperatives.
AFP RF1
The Archive of Foreign Policy of Russian Federation contains many documents that show the role of the USSR and its influence on the development of the situation in South Africa. Unfortunately, however, the conditions of researchers’ work in this archive are far from perfect because they are not allowed to see the inventories and the choice of documents entirely depends on the archivists. Neither are they allowed to take copies of the documents by photo. Therefore, the process of acquaintance with documents is rather slow and, in our case, it was so far limited to the pre-1960 period.
A distinctive feature of South Africa's foreign policy during this period was its dualism. This was facilitated, among other things, by the difficult and lengthy process of the formation of the sovereignty of South Africa, the former dominion of the British Empire, and the almost complete lack of diplomatic experience among civil service of the Union of South Africa. Later, in the early 1960s, a unique phenomenon of "diplomatic emigration" from South Africa appeared when anti-apartheid activists regularly, be it alone or in groups, left their country to establish political contacts with friendly African and other states in order to organize international pressure on the apartheid regime and train personnel for armed struggle.
Relations between the governments of South Africa and the USSR in the 1950s were characterized by constant deterioration. South African government did not always issue visas to Soviet diplomats and confiscated films under the pretext of fighting communist agitation, even if they were intended for internal viewing at the consulate [36]. The reason for this was
1 This part of the article is written with the assistance of Dmitry Kochetov.
the deep difference between the anti-communist and racist South Africa and the socialist and internationalist ideology of the USSR.
This led to the fact that in 1956 the USSR Consulate General was closed. The secretary for foreign affairs D. D. Forsyth issued an official statement according to which the "Russian consular mission" was opened during the Second World War, when Soviet Russia and the Union of South Africa were fighting against a common enemy. And now this reason for the existence of the consulate has long disappeared [37].
Moreover, in the same document, the South African Foreign Ministry accused the USSR Consulate of contacts with subversive organizations in South Africa, of spreading communist propaganda, inciting the Bantu2 and non-European populations, and especially the "African and Indian congresses" to resist the South African government. As an additional reason, it was even indicated that "the law on alcoholic beverages was not observed on the premises of the consulate-general," and more than once. At the end of the statement, the Foreign Ministry announced that the consulate should be closed, and further relations can be carried out by the USSR Ambassador in London through the South African High Commissioner.
On the other hand, in a TASS statement, the USSR Foreign Ministry called such accusations unfounded, and the contacts of the consular office with the Bantu and the Indian population were completely natural for its work [38].
From the other side, in the 1950s the Soviet consulate in Pretoria really had close contacts with the Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union, whose secretary, for example, an activist of the Communist Party Hilda Bernstein (Watts), came to the attention of the consulate back in 1944 [39]. At least as early as 1950, the consulate was able to transfer literature, films, bulletins to members of the society, and to specify addresses for sending materials by mail [40]. That is, one can agree with the fact that the consulate was engaged in communist agitation, although, of course, it was natural for the consulate to support those local residents who already sympathized with the USSR and wanted to tell others about it.
But even this transfer of propaganda materials was directly prohibited by the 2nd European Department of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was in charge of relations with South Africa in those years, so as not to endanger the consulate, although the South Africans themselves asked them to send literature, especially fiction, and Soviet movies [41]. Secondly, it was hampered by the fact that as the repressions against the communists in South Africa intensified, the bourgeoisie, with whom the Society was accustomed to work, turned away from it. Campaigning was minimized by showing films several times a year in private homes [42]. According to reports from the consulate, the society itself was actually crushed already in 1950 [43]; however, its chairman, Rev. D. Thompson, in 1951 went to the USSR on a trip, which he later talked about at meetings in South Africa attended by 100-250 people; yet, almost all newspapers refused to publish his interview [44]. So, information about the crushing of the society was premature.
But, although the backbone of the Society for Peace and Friendship with the Soviet Union was ready to continue its work even under the threat of prison, in the 1950s it became clear that if the USSR wants to pursue its course of supporting the peoples oppressed by colonialism, then it needs to move from supporting a completely peaceful society, focused on agitation among the bourgeoisie, to supporting those who represent, in fact, the most oppressed inhabitants of South Africa.
The long-term cooperation with the Society turned out to be valuable because, among other things, in the context of events with their participation, the ANC, which in the future became the organization which the USSR supported, had been mentioned by the Soviet consulate in Pretoria.
2 This term was used by the South African authorities to indicate Black Africans.
In 1950, the ANC and its, as it was written, "general president Dr. Moroko" (actually, Dr. James Sebe Moroka) were mentioned in passing in the consular statement among those who opposed the law on separate individual elections and deputies for coloureds [45]. On December 30 of the same year, Hilda Bernstein, as already mentioned, the secretary of the Society, mentioned the ANC and its “general secretary” W. Sisulu among those who sent greetings to the meeting held by the society in honor of the 33rd anniversary of the October Revolution in Trade's Hall in Johannesburg [46].
Then, the ANC, together with the Society participated in the Transvaal Peace Conference on April 28-29, 1951, about which the USSR Foreign Ministry received a detailed report through the consulate, including the original copies of its agenda and resolutions [47]. Thus, already in the early 1950s Soviet diplomacy knew that the ANC represented the African population and was friendly to the pro-Soviet Society.
The principal position of the USSR was expressed on July 24, 1959, that is, even before the massacre in Sharpeville, in a memo of the head of the 2nd European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs N. D. Belokhvostikov who proposed to break off trade relations with Union of South Africa, to oppose it at all international events, since the South African Union itself, especially under Verwoerd, did not restrain itself in public speeches against the USSR, and most importantly through the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions and Soviet Afro-Asian Solidarity Committee to establish regular communication with the ANC and the South African Indian Congress, and also to invite the youth of the ANC to the USSR [48].
After the Sharpeville massacre Moscow took steps to curtail trade and cultural ties with the Union of South Africa3, to support "Afro-Asian" resolutions at the UN, and the Soviet Trade Unions and the SCSSAA made strong statements against Pretoria’s policy and actions.
* * *
Summing up, we can determine that as the documents of the Archive of Foreign Policy show on the eve of the 1960s the relations between the USSR and the Union of South Africa passed a transition from cold but official diplomatic relations conducted through the diplomatic missions in London to being openly hostile, under which Pretoria directly declared itself an outpost of anti-communism in Africa, and Moscow switched to supporting fighters against apartheid in various forms of their struggle. Therefore, quite naturally the AFP holds a lot of valuable documents on the next three decades of cooperation between the USSR and the South African liberation movement headed by the ANC. Though it has to be taken in mind that the discussions in Moscow with the leaders of the South African liberation movement till mid-1980s were conducted in the CC International Department, and the MFA stepped in only in 1986, the Soviet embassies were regularly reporting about their contacts with the leaders of the ANC and its allies, so our research team still have a lot to look for in the AVP.
References
1. Joint Declaration on the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the Russian Federation and the Republic of South Africa, http://en.kremlin.ru/supplement/1428 (accessed 20.12.2020)
2. Constitution (fundamental law) of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics https://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/77cons01 ,html#chapO 1 (accessed 20.12.2020)
3. RSAMH, collection 4, inventory 9, file 536, p.10.
3 The issue of tourism was still discussed, since the impressions of tourists about the USSR published in the South African press undermined the anti-Soviet agitahon of Pretoria.
4. Kolpakidi A. Vneshnyctya razvedka SSSR (Soviet Foreign Intelligence) (Moskva: Eksmo, 2009). https://itexts.net/avtor-aleksandr-ivanovich-kolpakidi/138272-vneshnyaya-razvedka-sssr-aleksandr-kolpakidi/read/page-39.html (accessed 21.12.2020)
5. New Bridge. Moscow, no 2, 1992.
6. Discussion with B. and S. Bunting, Cape Town, 20 May 1993.
7. RSAMH, collection 3, inventory 23, file 28, p. 150.
8. RSAMH, collection 4, inventory 16, file 847, p. 146.
9. Ibid. p. 148.
10. RSAMH, collection 4, inventory 18, file 1017, p. 61-63.
11. Ibid. Card file of the resolutions of the Secretariat f the CPSU CC, from minutes 52, i. 10 g, 22 December 1962 r.
12. RSAMH, collection 3, inventory 23, file 273, p. 10.
13. RSAMH, collection 5, inventory 63, file 592, p. 1-2.
14. N.P. Dagaev to the International Departments of the CPSU CC, 30 April 1965. RSANH, collection 5, inventory 50, file 694, p. 75-89. General Dagaev headed this department from 1962 to 1975. In 1992 it was reorganized into the Main Department of the International Cooperation of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
15. RSAMH, collection 5, inventory 50, file 694, p. 74-89.
16. Ibid.
17. RSAMH, collection 5, inventory 50, file 694, p. 76.
18. Ibid, p. 77.
19. Ibid, p. 84.
20. Ibid
21. Ibid
22. Ibid, p. 82.
23. Ibid
24. Ibid, p. 86-87.
25. Ibid, p. 87.
26. Ibidp. 88-89.
27. Meanwhile, inventories of this collection under numbers 24, 25, 26 - (1946-1958), (1943— 1957), (1939-1958) are for some reason not available to researchers.
28. SARF collection 5283, inventory 2, file 12, p. 111.
29. SARF collection 5283, inventory 2, file 12, p. 26.
30. SARF collection 5283, inventory 1, file 79, p. 114.
31. SARF collection 5283, inventory 1, file 79, p. 8.
32. Ibid, p.31.
33. SARF collection 9540, inventory 2, file 598, p. 95-97.
34. SARF collection 9540, inventory 51, file 3898, p. 19-20.
35. SARF collection 9540, inventory 1, file 658, p. 11. It was proved later that his trip was funded by Pretoria's military intelligence.
36. AFP RF. collection 145, inventory 12, folder. 6, file 11, p. 26-29, 34-35, 37-38; inventory 14,
п. 3, д. 4, p. 2.
37. AFP RF. collection 145, inventory 15, folder. 3, д. 1, p. 5-6.
38. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 15, folder. 3, file 1, p. 4.
39. SARF collection 5283, inventory 2a, file 24, p. 380-382.
40. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 12, folder. 6, file 2, p. 1-3.
41. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 11, folder. 5, file 12, p. 2-4; inventory 12, folder 6, file 11,
р. 4, 20-22.
42. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 12, folder 6, file 2, p. 5-7.
43. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 11, folder 5, file 12, p. 8-10.
44. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 12, folder. 6, file 2, p. 18-20, 26-28.
45. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 9a, folder. 2, file 1, p. 16.
46. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 12, folder. 6, file 2, p. 1.
47. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 12, folder 6, file 2, p. 9-16.
48. AFP RF collection 145, inventory 18, folder 8, file 1, p. 3-12.
РОССИЯ И ЮЖНАЯ АФРИКА: ИСТОРИЧЕСКАЯ ПАМЯТЬ
Данная публикация - вторая часть статьи, написанной в рамках совместного исследовательского проекта «Международная солидарность в борьбе против апартеида. Историческая память в России и Южной Африке», осуществляемого при поддержке Российского фонда фундаментальных исследований (проект № 19-514-60002) и южноафриканского Национального исследовательского фонда (RUSA 180 7043 494 44).
Ее первая часть, посвященная южноафриканским источникам по отношениям между Африканским национальным конгрессом и Советским Союзом, написанная профессором Сифисо Мксолиси Ндлову, была опубликована в предыдущем номере журнала.
Часть 2
ИСТОЧНИКИ В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНЫХ РОССИЙСКИХ АРХИВАХ
О 2021 А.А. Архангельская, В.В. Сидоров, Д.А. Туряница, В.Г. Шубин
АРХАНГЕЛЬСКАЯ Александра Александровна, кандидат политических наук, научный сотрудник Института Африки РАН. Российская Федерация, 123001, Москва, ул. Спиридоновка, д. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
СИДОРОВ Василий Александрович, кандидат экономических наук, научный сотрудник Института Африки РАН. Российская Федерация, 123001, Москва, ул. Спиридоновка, д. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
ТУРЯНИЦА Дарья Андреевна, аспирант, младший научный сотрудник Института Африки РАН. Российская Федерация, 123001, Москва, ул. Спиридоновка, д. 30/1, e-mail: darya. fury anitsa@gmail .com
ШУБИН Владимир Геннадьевич, доктор исторических наук, главный научный сотрудник Института Африки РАН. Российская Федерация, 123001, Москва, ул. Спиридоновка, д. 30/1, e-mail: [email protected]
Аннотация. Вторая часть совместной статьи (первая часть опубликована в журнале « Ученые записки Института Африки РАН» № 4 за 2020 г.) содержит обзор источников по истории сотрудничества между Советским Союзом и национально-освободительным движением в Южной Африке в российских центральных архивах. Основными из них являются Российский государственный архив новейшей истории (РГАНИ), Российский государственный архив социально-политической истории (РГАСПИ), Государственный архив Российской Федерации (ГА РФ), Российский государственный архив экономики (РГАЭ) и Архив внешней политики Российской Федерации (АВПРФ). Особое внимание при этом уделено РГАНИ, в котором хранятся архивные документы аппарата ЦК КПСС. Он представляет собой для исследователя «шахту по добыче золота», причем его запасы увеличиваются по мере передачи в этот архив исторических документов Политбюро ЦК КПСС.
Ключевые слова: Советский Союз, Африканский национальный конгресс, российские архивы, сотрудничество, военная подготовка
DOI: 10.31132/2412-5717-2021-54-1-5-16
