User talk:El C
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name given to the Southern African territory (formerly South Zambezia) which was chartered from the British Government to be administred by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company (1896-1923); a British Self-Governing Colony (1923-1953); a Federal Territory in the Central African Federation (1953-1963); briefly, a Self-Governing Colony again (1963-1964); an unrecognized nation having declared independence unilaterally under the Rhodesian Front (1965-1979); and briefly, the internationally unrecognized nation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia (1979-1980). Since 1980, Rhodesia entirely ceased to exist and it is now an independent Republic of Zimbabwe.
Introduction
Both Southern and Northern Rhodesia were named after Cecil Rhodes, the British Empire-builder and an avid proponent of the Cape to Cairo approach. He is widely considered to be the most prominent figure in the European expansion into Southern Africa. Southern Rhodesia was first claimed in 1888 after Rhodes obtained mineral rights from local chiefs under questionable circumstances.
While its borders remained largely unchanged throughout the various stages in its history, for our purposes, Southern Rhodesia will only be depicted throughout the 1888-1964 period (for 1964-1979, see Rhodesia). The reason for this is that the name, Southern Rhodesia, became obsolete following the independence of Northern Rhodesia into Zambia, as only a single 'Rhodesia' remained in existence.
Following historiographical convention, the name Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia are used interchangebly in this article, unlike Northern Rhodesia which is always stated as such. Southern and Northern Rhodesia are refered to jointly as 'the Rhodesias,' whereas Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland jointly are the 'Northern Protectorates' or 'Northern Territories,' depending on the time frame.
Chartered Company, 1888-1923 (Expand)
Southern Rhodesia was administred by Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company rather than the Colonial Office. Virtually since its establishment, Southern Rhodesia's white settler population wavered between two different, often times hostile, traditions: that of relatively liberal Great Britain on the one hand, and the intolerant Republic of South Africa on the other. This became especially true following the formation of the Union of South Africa and the seperation of Northern Rhodesia (today an independent Zambia), as a protectorate, from Southern Rhodesia in 1910. Contd.
A Self-Governing Colony: the first deacade, 1923-1933
When in 1923, the charter of Cecil Rhodes’ BSA Co. expired, the European inhabitants of Southern Rhodesia gathered to vote in a referendum which was to decide whether the territory was to become a province of the Union of South Africa, or whether it would be a Self-Governing British colony. The Populists were in favour of Responsible Government while the Establishment were promoting Union with South Africa. Interestingly, in the following three decades this tendency was to almost entirely reverse itself, as the pro-British Populists, in less than a decade, were to become the Establishment, while the pro-South African Rhodesian Front was to assume reign under a wave of populism.
The pro-Union forces were comprised of the much-despised BSA CO., the press, the great mining companies, the upper echelons of the civil service, the Dutch Reform Church, Afrikaner Rhodesians, and even, albeit mildly, the British government itself, though officially neutral. The Responsible Government' side included the bulk of Rhodesian European society: farmers, artisans, railroad workers, lower echelon civil servants, British patriots, the clergy (with the exception of Dutch Reform), and in general, the vast majority of non-bilingual English-speaking men and women. The governments of Portugal and Belgium, while like Britain officially neutral, also favoured the Responsible Government side for their own interests.
Responsible Government won the referendum with 8,744 to the pro-Union’s 5,989. To a large measure, the Responsible Government vote was based on ‘racialist’ anti-Dutch, anti-Afrikaner sentiments. Much like the anti-African racialists of the 1960s, ironically highly linked to Afrikaners, the security of employment was a central factor. The Constitution which soon followed stipulated that Southern Rhodesia was self-governing, but Britain could still veto the decisions of its government when it came to 'Native Affairs,' a veto which Great Britain never saw fit to execrcize.
Despite this final break from South Africa, as seen in the lack of a concrete union, Southern Rhodesia remained highly linked to South Africa. Its legal system remained based on the Dutch-Roman code and South Africa remained a pivotal trading partner, the only significant one in the continent. The leader of the Responsible Government campaign and Southern Rhodesia’s first Premier, Sir Charles Coghlan, was in contrast to many of his supporters, far from an anti-establishment man. I can only trust you bloody ex-Unionists, he once exclaimed to the mildly pro-Union (but also pro-British) Sir Godfrey Martin Huggins who was to later become Rhodesia’s Prime Minister for an uninterrupted twenty years.
The Land Approtionment Act In 1931, the legislated division of land amongst the inhabitants of the colony on the basis of racial lines was formalized. To white Rhodesians it was arguably the most important law ever devised in the colony’s history. On 1 April, 1931, the Land Apportionment Act (LAA) was made law after being recommended by the Carter Land Commission (presided by Sir Morris Carter). Following the recommemdation of the Commission, the LAA apportioned out of 96 million acres: for one million Africans — 7 million acres for special African Purchase Areas and 21 million acres for African Reserves (in Tribal Trust Lands, or TTLs); for 50,000 Whites — 48 million acres exclusively, and 18 million acres remained unassigned (while a great many of these were to be used only by Europeans as parks and game preserves, some were apportioned to Africans). Significantly, European land included every-single urban areas in Rhodesia, meaning that Africans now, by law, were prohibited from ‘permanently’ residing in these (not only purchasing land, but renting and leasing as well). Over half of the land apportioned to Europeans (which was agriculturally the most valuable) was at the time unoccupied. This further added to African grievance over land.
The Great Depression and the rise of Huggins, 1933-1939
In 1933, a decade after Responsible Government was granted, Huggins (who was leader of the Rhodesian Reform Party, RRP, not to be confused with Ian Smith’s short-lived party of the same name) was elected as Rhodesia’s second Prime Minister (following Britain's Ministerial Titles Act of 1933, the title of Rhodesia's leader was elevated from Premier to PM). At the time, the colony was suffering from the economic malaise of the Great Depression, but Southern Rhodesia, nonetheless, fared much better than many other places in the 'West.' This was because its tiny white population commanded vast pools of cheap and expendable African labour. The colony was also rich in natural resources, and Rhodesian domestic gold mining operations profited when the colony followed Britain in going off of the Gold Standard while their main competitor, South Africa, retained it for another year. Nevertheless, the Great Depression was the only period in Rhodesian history which saw significant white unemployment.
To combat the Depression, Huggins opted for the Keynesian path that most of his counterparts in other Western nations and territories adopted. A public works programme funded and organized by the Southern Rhodesian government vastly improved the colony’s roads and infrastructure. Farmers were subsidized to avoid mass bankruptcies; mining was expanded, and tariffs and other protectionist measures were introduced. Huggins also surprised many of his peers when he nationalized (though not expropriated) the Cold Storage Company. With Britain’s decision to rearm against the threat of Nazi Germany, there was an increasing demand for the colony’s base metals, the coal deposits from Wankie (for smelting), and the vast copper deposits recently discovered in Northern Rhodesia.
Huggins’ approach to ‘Native Affairs’ was largely based on his ‘Twin Pyramids’ approach which theoretically, at the height of maturity (maturity of the native, that is) could result in a senior-junior ‘partnership’ between European and African Rhodesians. Huggins was the first Rhodesian leader who made a ‘national’ issue of the native question. Until the Huggins era it was nearly a taboo to highlight European-African relations in Rhodesian assembly politics. Huggins, at one instance, compared this partnership to the relationship between a ‘horse and its rider,’ an infamous remark which was to haunt him in later years.
Huggins aspired for a ‘Greater Rhodesia,’ by tying Rhodes’ three territories (Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia, and Nyasaland) as an independent nation, and he favoured ‘amalgamation,’ a unitary state, over a Federal one. Towards this end, Huggins was offered consistent support from Britain’s Commonwealth Relations Office (CRO) and opposition from the Colonial Office (CO) which took a stronger stand in promoting African rights and national identity.
WWII: the Great Boost, 1939-1945
Huggins’ efforts to secure an amalgamated unitary state was abruptly interrupted by the British declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Huggins, at the time visiting England, did not hesitate to immediately join Britain. South Africa, which was to become Rhodesia’s most significant immediate ally entered the war, however, "on the narrowest of parliamentary margins" (as opposed to neutrality). Rhodesia’s own contribution to the war was exceptional and disproportionate to its size but due to its miniscule population, its actual impact in manpower was insignificant. 8,500 white men, 1,500 women, and 14,000 African men (under the ARR) fought on the Rhodesian side.
Equally important, for both Rhodesian society and the war effort in general was the British Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Empire Training Scheme. The Rhodesian air training facilities brought 15,000 Britons to the colony. For a white population who in 1940 numbered 65,000 people, having to feed and house, on ‘civilized’ standards, a group which accounted for twenty per cent of the total Rhodesian population was an unprecedented undertaking as was the task of attending to air craft equipment. Arguably, this was the greatest economic boost Rhodesia had thus seen since Responsible Government. Despite a certain 'culture shock,' especially with regards to racial matters, many of the RAF trainers and trainees were to become fond of Rhodesia and in the post war population explosion, immigrated to live in the colony.
Notwithstanding the economic boom brought by the Empire Training Scheme and the fact that fighting did not reach Rhodesian soil, shortages of various commodities were at times acute. Huggins, who was “anything but a socialist” but at the same time, “anything but a doctrinaire” introduced rationing and even nationalized the South African-owned Iron and Steel Works Company (for fear that after the war they would pull out of the colony). In 1943, the Rhodesian Labour parties reunited, thus becoming sizable enough to become Rhodesia’s official opposition, and Huggins was careful to avoid any element of “class confrontation.” He invited the two principal Labour leaders into cabinet and they accepted his offer, though securing the consent of their party’s caucus prevented this from materializing.
The Rhodesian Labour party posed little electoral threat to Huggins’ United Party (UP) especially as war necessitated left of centre measures which Labour promoted anyhow. Two high level resignations also took place from within the cabinet. The conservative Jacob Smit who was Minister of Finance but was not included in the exclusive Defense Committee, resigned his post and formed a new right-wing party the Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party. By contrast, Sir Robert Tredgold, who was by Rhodesian standards a genuine liberal and held the dual portfolio of Defense and Justice (and was included in the Defense Committee) resigned over the Land Apportionment Act once fighting has ceased and become a High Court Judge.
In 1944, Labour having recently remerged, split again. The issue of having nominal African representation re-divided the more progressive wing of Labour now titled the Southern Rhodesia Labour Party (SLRP), from the more reactionary wing, now titled Rhodesia Labour Party (RLP). Both parties would not survive the era of Federation and were to soon become extinct from Rhodesian politics. Prior to the general election of 1946, Huggins passed the significant Native (Urban Areas) Accommodation and Registration Act, which obliged white employers to provide free accommodation for their African employees while they worked and lived in the urban areas.
The Post-War Era: Towards Federation
Arguably this measure, which so enraged the reactionary (Smit) Liberals, nearly cost Huggins the election. Huggins’ UP won thirteen seats while Smit’s Liberals won twelve. The RLP and SRLP won three and two seats respectively. Despite the close call, Huggins was able to rule the colony effectively in the assembly by frequently joining forces with both Labour parties against the (Smit) Liberals.
African participation in Rhodesian politics remained absolutely infinitesimal. In 1939, with a white electorate of 28,000, the number of Africans eligable to vote was limited to a laughable 70, of which 39 registered to vote. In 1946, following Huggins' electoral reforms, 6,000 Africans became eligable to vote, of which a scant 136 registered. Legally, the franchise, based on property and income qualifications, was colour-blind. In practice, it meant that a white population of 60,000 (1939) could command tens of thousands to the polls, while Africans, numbering over one million people, less than 100 qualifying to and/or voting.
It is, then, a testament to the extent of the mistrust of the white system that a mere two per cent of these eligible Africans bothered to register themselves to vote in 1946. Near the end of the war, African associations began taking shape in the form of highly conservative African trade unionism and Huggins (wisely, as they posed no threat to the status quo) resisted calls from his opponents to use drastic action. The historian Robert Blake, who had many conversations with Huggins, maintains that he viewed their grievances as “largely justified”.
Huggins claimed that “We are witnessing the mergence of a proletariat and in this country it happens to be black”. It also happened to be disenfranchised, segregated, and discriminated against on that basis. This was something Huggins wanted to change, albeit gradually and relatively mildly. He continued to view African enfranchisement in accordance with his old ‘Twin Pyramid’ scheme, theoretically able to approach, but not exceed, parity in the assembly.
By contrast, Smit, whom Huggins personally disliked (perhaps the reason why as Minister of Finance he was excluded from the prestigious wartime Defense Committee), was pushing towards Apartheid. In a sense, his ‘Liberal Party’ was the first significant party of white backlash against African rights (the struggle for this on the part of Africans at least, still largely in embryonic form). It was a prototype for the Confederate Party (CP), the Dominion Party (DP), Ian Smith's DP-breakaway Rhodesian Reform Party (RRP), Winston Field’s Rhodesian Front (RF), and then, finally, Ian Smith’s Rhodesian Front. Contd.
SR during the CAF, 1953-1963)
Self-Governing Colony, um..., again, 1963-1965
References
- Gann, Lewis, H. A History of Southern Rhodesia: Early Days to 1934 (Chatto & Windus, London, 1965).
- Blake, Robert. A History of Rhodesia (Eyre Methuen, London, 1977).
- Mutambirwa, Chmunorwa, James. The Rise and Fall of Settler Power in Southern Rhodesia, 1898-1923 (Assoc. Univ. Press, 1980)
- Ranger, Terence O. The African voice in Southern Rhodesia, 1898-1930 (Northwestern Univ. Press, 1970).
- Meredith, Martin. The Past is Another Country : Rhodesia, 1890-1979 (Andre Deutsch, London, 1979).
- Colin, Leys. European Politics in Southern Rhodesia (Oxford Univ. Press, 1965).
- Murray, D. J. Governmental system in Southern Rhodesia (Clarendon P., Oxford, 1970).
- Weinmann, H. Agricultural research and development in Southern Rhodesia, under the rule of the British South Africa Company, 1890-1923 (Univ. of Rhodesia, Salisbury, 1972).
- Palley, Claire. The Constitutional History and Law of Southern Rhodesia, 1888-1965 (Oxford Univ. Press, 1966).
- Van Onselen, Charles. African mine labour in Southern Rhodesia, 1900-1933 ( Pluto Press, London, 1976).
- Bean, Elizabeth Ann. Political development in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1953 (Univ. of Cape Town Libraries, 1969)
- Kumbula, Tendayi J. Education and social control in Southern Rhodesia (R&E Research Assoc., Palo Alto, Calif, 1979)
- Parker, Franklin. African development and education in Southern Rhodesia (Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1970).
- Evans, Henry St. John Tomlinson. The church in Southern Rhodesia (Society for the propagation of the gospel in foreign parts [etc.], London, 1945).
- Summers, Carol. From Civilization to Segregation: Social ideals and social control in Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1934 (Ohio University Press, 1994).
- Symonds, Jane. Southern Rhodesia: Background to Crisis (Royal Inst. of Int. Aff./Oxford Univ. Press, 1965).
- Yudelman, Montague. Africans on the land: Economic problems of African agricultural development in Southern, Central, and East Africa, with special reference to Southern Rhodesia (Harvard Univ. Press, 1964).
- Haw, Richard C. (fwd. by Sir Godfrey Huggins) No other home: Co-existence in Africa (S. Manning, Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, 1960?).
- Rogers, Cyril A., Frantz, C. (fwd. by Sir Robert Tredgold) Racial themes in Southern Rhodesia: the attitudes and behavior of the white population (Kennikat Press, Port Washington, NY, 1962).
- Kane, Nora Sophie Hoffmann. (fwd. by Sir Godfrey Huggins) The World's View: The Story of Southern Rhodesia (Cassel, London, 1954).
- Hone, Percy Frederick. Southern Rhodesia (Negro Universities Press, 1969).
- Kennedy, Dane Keith. Islands of White: Settler society and culture in Kenya and Southern Rhodesia, 1890-1939 (Duke Univ. Press, 1987).
- Rayner, William. The Tribe and its Successors: An account of African traditional life and European settlement in Southern Rhodesia (Faber and Faber, London 1962).
- Akers, Mary (ed.). Encyclopedia Rhodesia (College Press Pvt. Ltd., Salisbury, Rhodesia, 1973).
Ongoing thoughts — & SR Talk section
I.
Southern Rhodesia = 1888-1964 (during Federation, emphasis as Territory)
CAF = 1953-1963 (emphasis on Federal events).
Rhodesia [no more NR means only R, S is superfleous] = 1964-1979 (emphasis: UDI, UDI-Rep and Guerilla Warfare, internal settlement Z-R mentioned - historical overview in Zimbabwe article should be retained)
Zimbabwe = 1980-Present (already written - read more closely though).
II.
- Rhodesia (disambiguation), the next step for the above, chronologizes the political (imperial) status and/or geographic changes to Southern (and Northern) Rhodesia, but the periodization needs to be further looked into. Problem is, I do not have that many sources here for the 1888-1924 (and esp. 1888-1910), so I have to remember to find the time to obtain these.
- Accordingly, I got a list of Pms and PMs for Self-Governing era, but not Administrators for BSA Co. (probably not necessary to list the Governors, I do not recall any of them doing anything particularly remarkable, except for Gibbs; suffice that their role be mentioned):
- Sir Charles Coghlan — RRP (1923-1927) — LAA
- Howard Unwin Moffat — RRP (1927-1933) — Looked freaky, must find pic.
- George Mitchell — RRP (1933) — Only 2 months.
- Sir Godfrey Huggins (1933-1953) URP — Formally, URP; UP was short for.
- Sir Garfield Todd — UFP/URP — Todd's URP loses to Whitehead's UFP, but it isn't the same URP anymore (i.e. UP), will need to be qualified, and of course, being ousted for being too sympathetic to 'Native' issues.
- Sir Edgar Whitehead — UFP (1958-1962)— Last mandate for Establishment.
- Winston Field — RF (1962-1964)— Still quasi-Establishment, represents former DP in the RF
- Ian Douglas Smith — (1964-1979)— Populists, represents former (new, unrelated to old) RRP in RF.
- Sir Charles Coghlan — RRP (1923-1927) — LAA
III. Added References section for Southern Rhodesia.
Talk section about the Southern Rhodesia draft:
General (unrelated to above) Talk section
Image:Meow2.jpg
Hi there! Thanks for adding the image Image:Meow2.jpg. It currently doesn't have an image copyright tag, and I was hoping that you would add one as untagged images may be deleted eventually. (You can use {{gfdl}} to license it under the GFDL, or {{fairuse}} if you claim fair use, etc.) Thanks! --Diberri | Talk 23:45, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)
- I conveyed your request to the copyright owner, my cat, and he responded with: Meow2. Not Meow, not Meow1 or 3 — Meow2! I attempted to obtain further details, but was ignored (he just started licking). How would you suggest I proceed? :-] El_C
Nazism and Religion
El_C, could you also take a look at mysticism in Nazi Germany ? Thanks Andries 19:04, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)
- Andries, please see my response in your user page's discussion field. El_C
Nothing really
Hello,
You talk page has an interesting setup. Anyway, thanks for fixing "an saying" in Nothing comes from nothing. I do have one question. Why do you say it relates to the law of conservation of energy? It my experience it's generally used as an analogy for the Law of conservation of mass (e.g. matter can neither be created nor destroyed).
Thanks,
Acegikmo1 20:36, 19 Sep 2004 (UTC)
P.S. Does your username have anything to do with El Cid?
My talk page is mostly comprised right now of my current big project, a draft for (the ~70 year history of) the Southern Rhodesia article rewrite; though I haven't added anything to it in quite a while, the plan is to afterwards move to a rewrite the Central African Federation, and then Rhodesia article(s). Empedocles speaks of the transformation of something into something else, so the emphasis was placed on the energy rather than mass area of mass-energy. But on second thought, mass could be similarly applicable to that notion, so I retract (at least partially). Since NCFN is so unrefined in relation to both theories (and their grasp of mass-energy), perhaps the article will benefit from having both accounted for. So point taken on that front, let me know what you think of the revision. My username is only related to El Cid in that it sounds very much like it, minus the dh.
Yours sincerely,
Greetings (from) 172!
Hi,
I first ran across you work about a month ago on Efraín Ríos Montt, when you added that excellent list of recommend readings. Since then, I've been meaning to thank for elevating the research, writing, and standards of Wikipedia. After devoting so much time to the site myself, I cannot praise you enough for your acting as a force for scholarly standards and adding a wealth of content on the 'developing world', even though that is certainly not always the path of least resistance around here. Best regards, 172 08:02, 4 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Greetings! Thank you so much, 172! I have also noticed your work quite some time ago (how could I not? I primarily write about history). Your own contributions to a great multitude of important articles are nothing less than prodigious, and of an exceptionally high quality. As well, your tireless and dedicated efforts as an Admin did not go unnoticed. You are truly a driving force in this groundbreaking encyclopedia. This is why your extremely generous praise means so much to me.
Cordially & sincerely yours,
El_C.
Thanks for the comments, though I haven't been too active lately while leaving quite a large number of unfinished articles... On that note I won't be able to keep track of the mess on Communist state. Could you please take a look at that article? A professional historian is needed there to make sure that the coverage stays relevant and on topic. Thanks, 172 01:22, 10 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I will look into it, but it is a somewhat considerable project for me to commit to at this point as, at least for the immediate future, I am rather pressed for time. Also, I would like to put another dent towards the Rhodesia project — untouched for quite some time. But I'll certainly give it a cursory glance soon. All the best, El_C
Images (Copyright)
I have added a number of your pictures to Wikipedia:Copyright_problems#October_10 if you would like to explain your reasoning for using them there. A couple I listed I suspect could be used as "fair use". Rmhermen 19:19, Oct 10, 2004 (UTC)
Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Rmhermen, and welcome once again to my talk page. I am afraid that at this point I cannot expend the time — though perhaps I will revisit the discrpencies you cite in the future. El_C
European National Socialism RfD
- Please see Wikipedia:Votes_for_deletion/European_National_Socialism and consider voting AndyL 16:04, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Hi AndyL. I presume you deleted your comment here since the dispute was concluded. Though I have not read the aforementioned article, having read the VfD, I am satisfied with the outcome (we already have Nazism -and- Nazi Germany), and I support the course of action you have taken. Addendum: a brief glance (google cache), confirmed to me everything said above. Best wishes, El_C
Neocolonialism
I don't really know what that comment meant, or indeed who wrote it. Feel free to add yourself to the list of participants on WP:Bias --Xed 11:24, 19 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Please see my response in your talk page, Xed. Thanks. El_C
'White Pride'
The discussion between Sam [Spade and myself has become increasingly lengthy. I, therefore, moved it to a newly-created User talk:El C/White Pride. El_C
Karl Marx
I give up with that page.--198 03:11, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)