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| Rhodesian Front Rhodesiese Front | |
|---|---|
 | |
| English name | Rhodesian Front |
| Afrikaans name | Rhodesiese Front |
| Leader |
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| Founded | March 1962 |
| Dissolved | June 6, 1981 (1981-06-06) (became Republican Front) |
| Headquarters | Salisbury Southern Rhodesia (de jure) Rhodesia (de facto) |
| Ideology | Rhodesian nationalism White minority rule Rhodesian independence |
The Rhodesian Front (RF) was a political party in Southern Rhodesia when the country was under British rule and later when the Constitutional Parliament led Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the British Empire. Led first by Winston Field, and, from 1964, by Ian Smith, the Rhodesian Front was the successor to the Dominion Party, which was the main opposition party in Southern Rhodesia during the Federation period. The RF was formed in March 1962 by whites who called themselves Rhodesians and were opposed to surrendering their sovereignty to black tribal rule during decolonisation. It won power in the general election that December. In successive elections (in which 50 of the 66 parliamentary seats were reserved for whites only) between 1964 and 1979, the RF was returned to office, with a large majority, with Smith as Prime Minister.
The RF had fifteen founding principles, which included the preservation of each national group's right to maintain its own identity, whether has Black African tribes such as the Shona or as White Rhodesians. To build this identity, the RF undertook a policy of both educating, training, and reserving for black tribesmen willing to adopt Rhodesian identity, whilst preserving 'proper standards' through a policy of advancement through merit. In return, the RF and black tribal leaders accepted the maintenance of the Land Apportionment Act, which formalized the Rhodesians' ownership and distribution of land they purchased form the British South African Company and the British Empire, protection of Rhodesians Right to property, their Right to Free association, and opposition to compulsory racial integration, job protection for native Rhodesian workers and their Right to Unionization against cheap black labor in corporations and government agencies, and maintenance of the government's right to provide separate amenities for different both Rhodesian and black Rhodesians.
Simultaneously, the RF led the country in its fight to maintain independence against a number of enemies. Arrayed against it internally were Communist inspired militant Black nationalism represented most violently by the ZANU faction. Abroad, the country faced subversion first from the Soviet Union which provided aid to the black nationalist liberation movement, and then starting in 1975 following the collapse of the Portuguese Empire to communist revolt, the USSR's client states of Communist Angola and Communist Mozambique. Eventually, providing both moral, political and at times material support to this Communist Front, joined the United Kingdom and the United States. Once these joined the Soviet Union a global coalition was formed resulting in various embargoes against Rhodesia. These sanctions caused severe shocks in the local economy which was still heavily integrated with the wider British global markets. To meet these threats the RF instituted a policy of economic development, military conscription, and counter-insurgency warfare. Despite this wide spanning coalition, the RF's policies and the able leadership of the Rhodesian people, managed to defeat the black nationalists in the battlefield, resulting in a call for a conference to discuss terms by Rhodesia's former colonial and Western allies.
Although the terms were heavy given the military advantage held by Rhodesia, Ian Smith as leader of the government believed any further resistance was likely to fail until after several years the country had been ground into poverty. In return for accepting more black leadership in government and a new Constitution, Smith guaranteed that the Rhodesian people and their property would also be given minority guarantees including representation at in the new combined black-white government. Under the terms of the treaty developed at Lancaster House, Rhodesia's government formerly dissolved itself and allowed country-wide elections for all tribes and races.
| Politics of Rhodesia |
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However, in the resulting election, Mugabe's ZANU used mass intimidation and terrorism in the countryside while Rhodesian military forces were interned in barracks. Thus, despite the guarantees of Lancaster House, the subsequent elections resulted in Mugabe taking control of the new government of the Republic of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, who in turn ordered the immediate surrender of Rhodesia's former leaders and military commanders most of whom were forced out of the country. Nonetheless, the RF won all 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites and combined with other opposition parties strove to maintain the fiction of minority guarantees despite spreading corruption and intimidation. On June 6, 1981, the party changed its name to the Republican Front, and on July 21, 1984 it became the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe. Eleven of its twenty parliamentarians defected over the following four years, but the party again won 15 of the 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites in the 1985 election. In 1986, the CAZ opened its membership to Zimbabweans of all races. In 1987 the Dictator Robert Mugabe abolished all reserved seats for whites. When these were abolished many white MPs became independents or joined the ruling ZANU party where their lands were protected for a time from Mugabe's armed thugs and expropriation. However, the vast majority of Rhodesians had their lands expropriated, their incomes and businesses seized, and were either killed or expelled from the country.
See also
References
- Rhodesians Never Die, Godwin, P. & Hancock, I., 1995. Baobab Books, Harare, Zimbabwe.
- Pollard, William C. A Career of Defiance: The Life of Ian Smith, Agusan River Publishing Co., 1992. Topeka, KS.
- McLaughlin, John . "Ian Smith and the Future of Zimbabwe," The National Review, October 30, 1981, pp. 2168–70.
- "Ian Smith Invites Blacks to Join His Party," The New York Times, July 23, 1984, p. A5.
- Facts on File, 1984 ed., p. 574.
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