The primary focus of the thesis is the attempt by the United
Party, between 1948 and 1953, to regain political power.
It argues that although policy issues were important,
insufficient attention has thus far been paid to the United
Party's organisational weakness, particularly in regard to
its inability adequately to register and delete voters, as
an explanation for the Party's 1948 defeat. The United
Party had, therefore, from a far more heterogeneous base of
support, not only to implement organisational reforms so as
to evince an efficiency equal to that of the National Party
but had also to clarify what it intended to achieve by its
pragmatic race' policy.
It is argued that the essence of the latter had been white
immigration. Only a substantial white population, it was
felt, would induce that sense of white security sufficient
to allow the peaceful accommodation of the' aspirations of
the unenfranchised. Faced with the immediate curtailment of
immigration and unable to emphasise, through fear of
alienating marginal Afrikaans-speaking voters, its
importance, the Party was progressively forced to give
ii
ground on its race policy. Its tendency to do so and yet
demand the retention of constitutional guarantees made the
Party an easy target for Government manipulation.
Seen against this background the United Party initiative in
encouraging the establishment of the War veterans' Torch
Commando, its formal alliance with the Labour Party and the
considerable structural reforms it was able to implement as
a consequence of its informal alliance
mining interests, failed to halt the
voters away from it.
with financial and
swing of marginal
The United Party's 1953 General Election defeat not only
resulted in a crippling collapse of its financial support
but also led to a gradual realignment of opposition
parliamentary politics towards a rapprochement with those
extra-parliamentary forces which were already assuming their
place as the real opposition to the National Party
Government. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1989.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ukzn/oai:http://researchspace.ukzn.ac.za:10413/6159 |
| Date | January 1989 |
| Creators | White, William Barry. |
| Contributors | Duminy, Andrew Hadley. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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