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Rhodesian Front

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Rhodesian Front
AbbreviationRF
LeaderIan Smith
Founded1 March 1962 (1962-03-01)
Dissolved6 June 1981 (1981-06-06)
Preceded byDominion Party
Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party
Succeeded byRepublican Front
HeadquartersSalisbury, Rhodesia
IdeologyWhite minority interests
White supremacy
Rhodesian nationalism
National conservatism
Social conservatism
Anti-communism
Political positionRight-wing to far-right
Colours  Purple   White
Party flag
border=black
Politics of Rhodesia
Political history
Government
Legislature
Elections
Political parties
Foreign relations
National symbols

The Rhodesian Front (RF) was a far-right, conservative political party in Southern Rhodesia, subsequently known as Rhodesia. It was the last ruling party of Southern Rhodesia prior to the country's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI), and the ruling party of Rhodesia from 1965 until 1979. 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 when the territory was a part of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The RF was formed in March 1962 by conservative white Rhodesians who opposed decolonisation and majority rule. It carried the general election in Southern Rhodesia that December, and remained in power until 1979.

History and ideology

The RF was founded on 13 March 1962 in a merger of the Dominion Party (DP), defectors from the anti-Whitehead faction of the United Federal Party (UFP), as well as former members of the Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party. It was shaky and ideologically split in its early days, with its heterogeneous membership (ranging from advocates of more gradual transition to explicit segregation) united only in their opposition to then-Prime Minister Edgar Whitehead's plans for transition to majority rule, as well as the UK's demands for majority rule before independence. The party harnessed white anxieties of a Congo and Kenya-style majority rule scenario in its successful campaign for the 1962 Southern Rhodesian general election, pledging to keep power "in responsible hands", ensure Southern Rhodesian independence from the Federation, and thwart "this mad idea of a hand-over, of a sell-out of the European and his civilisation, indeed of everything he had put into his country". Its opposition to the UK government's demands for majority rule was so great that the RF-led government eventually declared unilateral independence in 1965.

The RF had fifteen founding principles, which included the preservation of each racial group's right to maintain its own identity, the preservation of "proper standards" through meritocracy, the maintenance of the Land Apportionment Act, which formalised the racial imbalance in the ownership and distribution of land, opposition to compulsory racial integration, job protection for white workers, and the practice of Christianity. Historians have generally defined the party as conservative and wanting to maintain white Rhodesian interests by staunchly opposing majority rule, which the RF argued would lead to a collapse in economic development, law and order, and the emergence of a communist regime in Rhodesia. The party also encouraged immigration of whites from other African former colonies to Rhodesia. The RF maintained an all-white membership and wanted to continue the provision of separate amenities for different races in education and public services; thusly, the party was often characterised as racist both within Rhodesia and abroad. Ian Smith and the RF claimed that they based their policies, ideas, and democratic principles on meritocratic ideals and "not on colour or nationalism", stating that these policies and separate economic advancement would ultimately result in an "equal partnership between black and white" as an alternative to majority rule.

In contrast to the South African National Party, the RF never completely disenfranchised non-white voters, and apartheid-style legislation governing interpersonal relationships was never introduced: marriage and relationships between whites and non-whites were possible and legal, albeit uncommon. The white minority's economic domination and ownership of land, however, was staunchly maintained, amenities and education were still divided among racial lines, and the political system was far from equal: before the RF's rise to power, separate 'A' and 'B' electoral rolls based on differing income and property qualifications had de facto disenfranchised the black electorate for decades, with the larger 'A' roll mainly consisting of the wealthier white minority, and the smaller 'B' roll almost exclusively consisting of the small number of Africans eligible and willing to register. Combined with a largely successful boycott campaign from the black majority, this resulted in de facto white minority rule.

The RF government 1969 constitutional reform further enshrined white domination of the state by explicitly delineating the two electoral rolls on race: With the European 'A' roll increased to 50 seats as opposed to the African 'B' roll only having 8 (with an additional 8 indirectly elected to represent chiefs and tribal interests), this resulted in 270,000 whites having 50 seats and 6 million Africans having 16 seats in the Assembly. These reforms served only to reinforce black rejection of the system. The Rhodesian Land Tenure Act was introduced the same year, which ostensibly introduced parity by reducing the amount of land reserved for white ownership to the same 45 million acres as for blacks: in practice, the most fertile farmlands continued to be in white hands and some farmers took advantage by shifting their boundaries into black-populated territories, often without notifying others, thereby necessating government evictions.

In 1977, the party had a schism in which the more hardline wing broke off to form the Rhodesian Action Party (RAP), which opposed Smith's proposals to negotiate a settlement with black nationalist leaders.

In the elections leading to the country's independence in 1980, as the Republic of Zimbabwe, the RF won all 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites in the power-sharing agreement that it had forged. On 6 June 1981, the party changed its name to the Republican Front, and on 23 July 1984, it became the Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe (CAZ) and opened its membership to Zimbabweans of all colours and all ethnic groups. Eleven of its 20 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 October 1987, the ruling government of Robert Mugabe officially abolished all reserved seats for whites. When these were abolished many white MPs became independents or joined the ruling ZANU–PF party.

Electoral history

Legislative Assembly elections

Year Popular Vote Percentage Seats Government
1962 38,282 54.9% 35 / 65 RF
1965 28,175 78.4% 50 / 65 RF

House of Assembly elections

Year Popular Vote Percentage Seats Government
1970 39,066 76.8% 50 / 66 RF
1974 55,597 77.0% 50 / 66 RF
1977 57,348 85.4% 50 / 66 RF
1979 11,613 (White Roll) 82.0% 28 / 100 UANC
1980 13,621 (White Roll) 83.0% 20 / 100 ZANU

See also

Further reading

  • 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.
  • Facts on File, 1984 ed., p. 574.

References

  1. Lipschutz, Mark R.; Rasmussen, R. Kent (1989). University of California Press (ed.). Dictionary of African Historical Biography. p. 265.
  2. Leaver, John David (2006). "Multiracialism and nationalisms: A political retrospective on 1950s Southern Rhodesia ('Colonial Zimbabwe')". Journal of Third World Studies. 23 (2): 167–188. JSTOR 45194313.
  3. ^ Donal Lowry (2009). "The impact of anti-communism on white Rhodesian political culture, c.1920s-1980". In Onslow, Sue (ed.). Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation. New York: Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 978-0-415-47420-7. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  4. Cilliers, Jakkie (17 April 2015). Counter-Insurgency in Rhodesia (e-Book 1st ed.). London: Routledge. p. 18. ISBN 9781315713854. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  5. Good, Kenneth (1974). "Settler Colonialism in Rhodesia". African Affairs. 73 (290): 10–36. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a096439. JSTOR 720978.
  6. Preston, Matthew (2004). I.B.Tauris (ed.). Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 107. ISBN 9781850435792.
  7. West, Michael O. (2002). Indiana University Press (ed.). The Rise of an African Middle Class: Colonial Zimbabwe, 1898-1965. Indiana University Press. p. 229. ISBN 0253215242.
  8. Rhodesian Front
  9. Hume, Ian (2018). Outskirts Press (ed.). From the Edge of Empire: A Memoir. Outskirts Press. p. 149. ISBN 9781478794554.
  10. Roscoe, Adrian (2007). Columbia University Press (ed.). The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945. Columbia University Press. p. 35. ISBN 9780231503792.
  11. Evans, Michael (2007). "The Wretched of the Empire: Politics, Ideology and Counterinsurgency in Rhodesia, 1965–80". Small Wars & Insurgencies. 18 (2): 175–195. doi:10.1080/09574040701400601. S2CID 144153887.
  12. Hsu, Chia Yin; Luckett, Thomas M.; Vause, Erika (2015). The Cultural History of Money and Credit: A Global Perspective. Lexington Books. p. 142. ISBN 9781498505932.
  13. Onslow, Sue (2009). Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation. Routledge. p. 92. ISBN 9781135219338.
  14. Butler, L. J. (2002). Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World. I.B.Tauris. p. 164. ISBN 9781860644481. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  15. Wood, J.R.T. (June 2005). So Far and No Further! Rhodesia's Bid For Independence During the Retreat From Empire 1959–1965. Victoria, British Columbia: Trafford Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4120-4952-8.
  16. Selby thesis:p58 Archived 15 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  17. RRT Research Response Refugee Review Tribunal. Retrieved 20 December 2022
  18. Nelson, Harold. Zimbabwe: A Country Study. pp. 137–153.
  19. Raeburn, Michael (1978). Black Fire! Narratives of Rhodesian Guerrillas. New York: Random House. pp. 189–207. ISBN 978-0394505305.
  20. *Hall, Lee (27 May 1966). "Rhodesia's Face of Defiance". Life. p. 22. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  21. Ian Smith Invites Blacks to Join His Party, The New York Times, July 23, 1984, p. A5.
  22. Zimbabwe whites lose special political status. End of reserved seats in Parliament brings one-party state closer, Christian Science Monitor, August 25, 1987
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