CENTRAL HEAD OFFICE

Transcription

1 UNISA LIBRARY UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES CENTRAL HEAD OFFICE Marié Coetzee 1988 Revised and updated Marié Coetzee 2013

2 UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES CENTRAL HEAD OFFICE: Introduction In terms of an agreement with the United Party in 1969, the Unisa Library became the official custodian and processor of the Party s political archive. The Archives also include the United Party s predecessors and its successor the New Republic Party and the records of parties which broke away from the UP e.g. the Progressive Party (later the Progressive Federal Party). The Collection continued to grow even after the dissolution of the UP in 1977 and the final meeting of the trustees of the New Republic Party in The scope of the archival records (173 boxes) The Central Head Office files consist of 17, 5 linear metres of records (large format volumes and 173 boxes). The Central Head Office is part of the larger United Party Archives which are available to national as well as international researchers. According to the Party constitution, the Central Head Committee / Office consisted of the Leader of the Party, the Deputy Leader of the Party, Ministers, deputy Ministers and ex ministers. The Archives are of particular value in that the records are the official documents of a South African political party which ruled for 38 years. The United Party and its successor, the new Republic Party, represented the official opposition from 1948 until Over the years the Archives have been consulted by biographers, historians, politicians, educators, TV and film directors, lawyers, socialists and others. The Central Congress elected the Chairman and Party Leader, dealt with agendas and drafted the Party constitution. The Central Committee edited the discussion points at the central congress which Provincial Head Committees had submitted in advance. All decisions taken by the Central Congress were binding on all structures and party members. The Central Head Office budgeted for the financial requirements of the Party, drafted action programmes, policy documents and maintained party discipline. The Central Head Office also collected information files on important issues and events such as Native and Coloured franchise, parliamentary and provincial elections, labour matters, delimitation commissions, defence and republicanism. These files contain reports, pamphlets and press cuttings. Louis Esselen s UP correspondence files give the researcher some insight into the important role which the party secretary played in government during the thirties and forties. Other interesting files are Wallachs Printing and Publishing Company, the Smuts Government s intelligence files ( ), Second World War memoranda on Black, Coloured, Indian and Jewish soldiers, the Broederbond, the relationship with Germany and German companies such as Siemens, Bayer-Pharma and Adlerwerke, the Springbok Legion, Ossewabrandwag, South West Africa / Namibia, SABC, War Veterans Torch Commando, Communism and party leadership issues. The Central Head Office files also include information on the leaders e.g. General Louis Botha, General Jan Smuts, General Hertzog, JGN Strauss, Sir De Villiers Graaff, Vause Raw and RR Cadman. The South African Party and its successors, the United Party and the New Republic Party were key players in 20 th century South African party politics. The arrangement of the UP Archives From an archival view point, the arrangement and description of the United Party records was problematic. The Archives were created by a few paid party officials, volunteers and individual members who at times broke away from the UP and created new parties - agents and representatives over many decades. The United Party never had a unified filing system for records each province, constituency and branch followed its own system. The state of Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page i

3 disorder of party materials, made it obvious that there was never a file plan or any control over the creation of party records. The archivist therefore had to design a new filing system to accommodate past and future donations. In order to keep track of all donors, a donor index was created. Records were not placed under the names of individual donors as it would have divided the contents e.g. if the agendas of the central congresses were donated by four donors, a researcher working on the agendas of the central congresses ( ) would need to consult four different donor accessions. In the end, the archivist followed the provenance principle and created a basic party structure for the Central Head Office, the Division of Information, Division of Organization, the Cape, Transvaal, Natal, Free State Provinces and Namibia. See the structure below: Central Head Office Division of Information and Research (administrative files, files on people and subject files) Division of Organisation Provincial Offices of the Cape, Natal, Free State, Transvaal and Namibia. These offices were sub-divided into regional offices, constituencies, branches, subject files and files on people. Photograph and cartoon collection Film Collection Banner Collection Map Collection Party periodicals and newspapers Speeches on tape Posters Private papers of individual members To assist with the identification of records, an index of candidates of all parties who participated in elections and by-elections between 1910 and 1987 in South Africa and Namibia, was created. A perpetual calendar also known as a forever calendar - was used to find the year in cases where records were only identified by the day, the month and not the year. Thanks to the archival process of arrangement and description, the rich information resources of the United Party have become accessible and useable for past, present and future researchers. Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page ii

4 UNITED PARTY ARCHIVES: CENTRAL HEAD OFFICE SOUTH AFRICAN PARTY 1. Constitution, rules and regulations of the SAP pamphlets Congresses (national) 2.1 first annual congress minutes, circulars and photograph second annual congress minutes third annual congress minutes special congress speeches delivered by Gen. L Botha and ministers congress speech by Gen Smuts special combined National and South African Party congress ("Herenigings Kongres") report seventh Union congress minutes eight Union congress minutes and speech by Gen Smuts ninth Union congress minutes tenth Union congress minutes eleventh Union congress minutes, agenda, delegates and extracts from Gen Smuts's speech Elections (See 11.3 Wallach s Printing and Publishing Co Ltd) accounts for general election material Flag Bill 4.1 League of Women of South Africa correspondence and memoranda Transvaal Flag Committee memorandum South African Flag Committee resolution pamphlets and proposals press cuttings Pamphlets 5.1 Gen. Botha's manifesto South African National Party The republican deputation to Europe Rijk, republiek en ras Waarom saam gaan met de Engelsen Beware the Election Law is strict Over onze koalitie Gaan Suidafrika 'n tweede Ierland word? General Smuts begins the battle Beknop historiese oorsig van die werkstaking in die goud- en steenkoolmijne van Transvaal Gen. Smuts's great speech SA Party manifesto 1924 Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 1

5 5.11 Here it is! A brief outline of party policies in SA during the past quarter of a century Die SA Party in opposisie speech by Gen Smuts What should be done to organise pamphlet by Harry Miller Labour fallacies An impartial tribute (to Gen. Smuts) Doings in and out of Parliament" Pact finance The unholy alliance Labour Party and National Party Die Naturelle en Kleurling-politiek van die Nasionale Party SAP pamphlet Smuts's claim for fusion Roos documents negotiations between Tielman Roos and the South African Party 5-16 Jan Youth fourth Junior South African Congress minutes 1927 SOUTH AFRICAN PARTY and UNITED PARTY 8. Afrikaans SAP/UP newspaper 8.1 minutes correspondence financial statements Coalition and fusion correspondence, notes and pamphlets Louis Botha Memorial Committee minutes, correspondence and circulars, finances, memorandum, notes and photographs Wallachs Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd (Many of the records in this file were donated by the Wallach family) 11.1 minutes and extracts from minutes correspondence. memoranda and agreements 1903; election material accounts English morning newspaper correspondence, memo and annexures financial statements Supreme Court of SA (Transvaal) Charles Wallach versus Wallach Printing and Publishing Co Ltd photographs of staff publications Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 2

6 UNITED PARTY and NEW REPUBLIC PARTY 12. Constitution, programme of principles and regulations (UP, UP Youth and NRP) pamphlets, correspondence and memoranda Congresses 13.1 Inaugural congress (Gen. Hertzog s programme for the new United Party is included) report, delegates, constitution and regulations Second union congress agenda and delegates Third union congress agenda, V-plan and photograph Fourth union congress agenda, UP constitution and Gen Smuts's speech Fifth union congress agenda Sixth union congress agenda and constitution of Junior UP Seventh union congress agenda, resolutions, correspondence and circulars, speech by JGN Strauss, UP constitution and follow-up campaign Eighth union congress agenda, circulars and press cutting Ninth union congress agenda, record of proceedings, UP native policy and circulars Tenth union congress agenda and circular Eleventh union congress agenda and record of proceedings Twelfth union congress agenda, record of proceedings, circulars and press cutting Thirteenth national congress agenda and speech by Sir De Villiers Graaff Fourteenth central congress agenda, circular and tape-recordings of Sir De Villiers Graaff's speeches and congress discussions Fifteenth central congress agenda, summary and tape-recordings of Sir De Villiers Graaff's speeches and congress discussions Sixteenth central congress agenda, resolutions and tape-recordings of Sir De Villiers Graaff's speeches and congress discussions Seventeenth central congress agenda and circulars Eighteenth national congress agenda, speeches by Sir De Villiers Graaff, circulars and notes Nineteenth national congress agenda, speeches by Sir De Villiers Graaff, tape-recordings of congress discussions, circulars and press cuttings Twentieth national congress agenda, Sir De Villiers Graaff's speech, UP constitution, tape-recordings of congress discussions and circulars 1975 Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 3

7 14. Committees 14.1 Action Committee minutes Candidates Committee correspondence and annexures Constitutional Committee minutes, memoranda, correspondence and pamphlets Disciplinary Committee correspondence, reports and press cuttings Executive Committee minutes, annexures and photograph J L Horak's working files J D Opperman's working files Finance Committee minutes, correspondence, reports and statements Head Committee minutes, annexures, correspondence and circulars Indian Policy Committee correspondence and reports Leader's Committee on native policy correspondence and memoranda Leader's Congress Committee minutes Leader's Executive Committee minutes and correspondence National Advisory Committee memoranda on UP organisation, nomination of candidates and party policy Native Affairs Committee memoranda, correspondence and policy statements 1948-c Parliamentary Publicity Committee minutes Union Central Finance Committee Union Publicity Committee minutes and annexures Urban Bantu Committee correspondence, memoranda and annexures Correspondence General correspondence of the UP general secretaries Louis Esselen and O A Oosthuizen (incoming and outgoing) Correspondence A Correspondence B Correspondence C Correspondence D Correspondence E Correspondence F-G Correspondence H Correspondence I-K Correspondence L-N Correspondence O-P Correspondence Q-R Correspondence S Correspondence T-V Correspondence W-Z 15.2 Correspondence on behalf of J H Hofmeyr and W B Madeley Gen Smuts's correspondence Amalgamated Insurance Agencies correspondence, annexures and financial statements Biographies of UP candidates Broederbond (see also ) correspondence, memoranda and reports Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 4

8 19. Circulars Coloured affairs 20.1 Coloured vote issue and Senate Reform Bill correspondence, reports and memoranda Select Commission to inquire into the Separate Representation of Voters Act correspondence, memoranda and statistics Constitutional crisis correspondence and annexures Constitutional development plans for South Africa 23. Delimitation Commissions correspondence, summary of Delimitation Commissions no. 1-11, memoranda, number of registered voters in various polling districts and government gazettes th Delimitation Commission UP memoranda, schedules and report, Progressive Party memorandum, and data regarding the Coloured Divisions of the Cape Province th Delimitation Commission UP memoranda and schedules, NP memoranda, Progressive Party memoranda and Commission's press release Elections and by-elections 24.1 General election: statistics Parliamentary by-elections in Riversdale and Hottentots Holland: correspondence and Gen Smuts's message to the voters Provincial by-elections in Bechuanaland, Cathcart, Humansdorp, Namaqualand, Newcastle and Vereeniging: correspondence and political messages to the voters Parliamentary and provincial elections: correspondence re candidates, complaints, donations, election procedures, military election matters, negotiations with the Labour and Dominion Parties, paper and petrol control, printers, propaganda and requests for speakers General election: statistical estimate of results Parliamentary by-election Wakkerstroom: correspondence, pamphlets and press cuttings Provincial elections: correspondence, memoranda reports and press cuttings Election guide to conduct, postal votes and postal vote agents correspondence, annexures and circulars Electorial laws amendments Finances 27.1 correspondence with the Standard Bank financial statements income and expenditure (4 volumes) inventory of furniture and office equipment staff salary register 1962 Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 5

9 27.6 Union Donors Fund 1955 Germany (see file 28 below) 28. Intelligence reports 28.1 Afrikaner cultural economic and political movements inter alia Federale Volksbelegging, Reddingsdaadbond and the Voortrekkers Ammunition quality reports Broadcast House security and staff Broadcasts Sarah Gertrude Millen's American radio programme on Gen Smuts; "mystery radio" transmissions; suspected subversive use of electro-medical appliances for transmissions; and the subversive use of Lourenco Marques Broadcasting Station German economic and trade affairs policy; German firms (Adlerwerke, Bayer-Pharma, Scherag, Vernleigh and Siemens); German trade marks; and suspected smuggling of industrial diamonds and precious stones to Germany German subject Helmut Blenck's tour through Africa German and Spanish relations (including information on Hitler and Gen Franco) Iron and steel production Iscor and the Sheffield High Speed Steel Association Labour affairs miners' strikes and trade unions Press The Argus and Voortrekkerpers Political disturbances and political meetings (Greyshirts, National Party, Ossewabrandwag and Springbok Legion) Capt G H Ribbink's reports on the Broederbond, Communism, Labour unrests, National Party and the royal visit Shipping around the South African coast Intelligence reports (files donated by Prof Kriek 2005) Files contain information on Nasionale Pers, Ossewabrandwag, Broederbond, German / Nazi activities in South Africa & South West Africa, Communist Party, Nasionale Instituut vir Opvoeding & Onderwys (Education), Nuwe Orde, Springbok Legion, Stormjaers, Subversive influences in schools and colleges, Die Transvaler and Union Unity Fund Security Police reports from Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Heidelberg, Johannesburg, Oudtshoorn, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 6

10 28.16 Dictaphone cylinders (six) - severly damaged and no longer useable - kept for artefactual value only 29. Leader's files 29.1 J G N Strauss correspondence and speeches Sir De Villiers Graaff correspondence Leader's Special Study Group minutes, correspondence, circulars, memoranda and pamphlets Tour programmes Legal opinions and Parliamentary Bills inter alia the Donations Tax, the Electoral Act; and the case of A H Jonker vs Prof I S Fourie National Party Congress report of closed meeting by senator D Murray Native affairs (including franchise and Land Acts) correspondence, memoranda and information on native land Pretoria area New Initiative 33.1 Save South Africa Campaign correspondence, reports and press cuttings Graaff initiative (including Mr Gerdener's proposals) Marais Committee proposals New Republic Party 34.1 Founding Congress of new opposition minutes, agenda, constitution, delegates, resolutions correspondence, circulars and tape-recordings 29th June Interim Federal Council memoranda, resolution, circulars, speech by Mr R R Cadman, drafts and notes Federal Council (No national congresses were held between The Federal Council dealt with former national congress issues.) minutes, reports and annexures National Congress minutes, agenda, delegates, correspondence and press cuttings 26 March The Independent Movement correspondence with Dr D Worrall and annexures Membership correspondence, memoranda and reports Newspapers and newsletters (UP) (Weekblad, Ons Land, Onwards/Voorwaarts, Volkstem and Politics Today 36.1 Kuruman Commission minutes, correspondence, subscription, circulars and balance sheets advertising contracts Nomination regulations correspondence, memoranda and pamphlets Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 7

11 38. Organisation 38.1 letter from J W Mushet re UP organisers for the Cape Miss P F Hamelberg (women's organiser) correspondence and reports memoranda, and proposals c organisers' conferences minutes, correspondence and annexures Parliament 39.1 caucus correspondence and circulars points for debate review of parliamentary sessions Policy 40.1 general policy statements correspondence, memoranda and notes by Gen Smuts c agriculture correspondence, memoranda and pamphlets Blacks (see also files 14.3; 14.13; 14.17; 32) Gen Smuts's proposed organisation for Native Representation and conferment of certain powers of self-government to Blacks; correspondence, memoranda and pamphlets Coloureds correspondence, annexures and memoranda Indians (see file 3.8) 41. The Press 41.1 Press Board and Press Commission correspondence, memoranda and press cuttings press liaison and relations correspondence and press cuttings Progressive Party correspondence, pamphlets and press cuttings Provincial Offices, General Councils and Divisions 43.1 Cape Provincial Head Office correspondence, circulars, memoranda and annexures Boland General Council correspondence and circulars Border and North-Eastern Districts General Council correspondence, circulars and reports Cape Peninsula General Council correspondence, circulars and reports Eastern Province General Council correspondence, reports and pamphlets Karoo General Council minutes,correspondence, circulars, reports & finances Natal Provincial Head Office correspondence, circulars and press cuttings Orange Free State Provincial Head Office correspondence, memoranda and annexures Transvaal Provincial Head Office correspondence, circulars, reports and pamphlets Platteland General Council correspondence, circulars and reports Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 8

12 Witwatersrand General Council correspondence, circulars and pamphlets Division of Information and Research correspondence, annexures and reports Division of Organisation correspondence, circulars and reports Publications and journals mainly correspondence re subscriptions and circulars Publicity and propaganda 45.1 correspondence and pamphlets written by Harry Miller articles by Col. J R Bowring, correspondence, memoranda and speeches Race federation and separate development correspondence, memoranda and press cuttings Rebels in the UP : expulsions and resignations reports, annexures and press cuttings re Arthur Barlow, Bailey Bekker, Blaar Coetzee, Kobus van Eeden and Abram Jonker Relations with political parties and organisations (e.g. Union Federal Party, Progressive Party, HNP, South African Bond and the Black Sash) correspondence and annexures Save South Africa Campaign (see file 33) Scrap-books (5 volumes) press cuttings Senate / Senatorial elections correspondence and memoranda Smuts Memorial Committee minutes, correspondence and annexures South African Air Force Regimental Fund correspondence with Sir De Villiers Graaff and memoranda South West Africa correspondence and reports (inter alia reports by Sir De Villiers Graaff, Gray Hughes and Louis Steenkamp on the 1950 election campaign) Speakers requests for speakers for public meetings Tape recordings and computerized voters' roll tapes correspondence Telex messages Unie-Volkspers correspondence and report Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 9

13 58. Union Unity Fund and Union Unity Truth Service correspondence, memoranda and press cutting United Front correspondence United South African Trust Fund correspondence and pamphlets War Veterans Torch Commando constitution, correspondence, memoranda, pamphlets, and press cuttings Women's affairs 62.1 Women's Action Committee pamphlets and reports Women's National Advisory Committee and Women's Council minutes, correspondence, circulars and reports World War II 63.1 Army Education Scheme correspondence and reports Black soldiers correspondence and press cuttings Bureau of Information correspondence Demobilisation correspondence, circulars and and publications Discharged soldiers applications for land and loans Employment recommendations for employment by UP Secretary outside employment of Italian prisoners of war Governor-General's National War Fund correspondence and pamphlets Grievances correspondence and annexures Jewish officers correspondence Kommandant for the Burger Kommando correspondence Officers' course for MP's correspondence and annexures Recruitment of Black, Coloured and Indian volunteers correspondence and circulars Security police reports (see file 28.15) Serving schoolmasters correspondence and circulars Soldiers and recruits correspondence of a personal nature A-D E-N O-R S-W United Party pamphlets on war issues Veiligheidskorps correspondence 1941 Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 10

14 64. Youth affairs 64.1 Constitution pamphlets 1948; Youth congresses congress resolution congress agenda congress speech by J R Steyn Young South Africans Federal Council minutes, correspondence and reports Youth correspondence and annexures Union Youth Front newsletters, circulars and press cutting club statistics (Cape Province) Unisa Archives. United Party Archives Central Head Office Page 11