Historical Organization
Congress Alliance
Congress Alliance
Details
Organization Timeline
The Defiance Campaign begins
📅 26 June 1952Multiracial groups deliberately violated curfews, pass laws and segregation regulations. More than 8,000 volunteers were arrested during the country's largest civil-disobedience campaign to that date.
The South African Congress of Trade Unions is founded
📅 5 March 1955SACTU united nonracial unions and linked workplace struggles with the wider Congress Alliance campaign against apartheid.
The Congress of the People opens at Kliptown
📅 25 June 1955Nearly 3,000 delegates and observers gathered to debate demands collected from communities across South Africa for a democratic and nonracial future.
The Congress of the People adopts the Freedom Charter
📅 26 June 1955Delegates adopted a programme declaring that South Africa belonged to all who lived in it and demanding democratic government, equal rights, land reform and social welfare.
Police arrest Congress Alliance leaders for treason
📅 5 December 1956Police raids across the country led to the arrest of 156 activists of different racial backgrounds. The resulting Treason Trial attempted to criminalize the Freedom Charter movement.
The defence opens its case in the Treason Trial
📅 14 March 1960After years of prosecution, defence lawyers began presenting the case for the activists accused of plotting to overthrow the state. The proceedings had already imposed heavy costs on the Congress...
The defence closes its case in the Treason Trial
📅 7 October 1960Bram Fischer completed the defence case for the remaining accused, bringing the long political prosecution closer to judgment.
The Treason Trial defendants are acquitted
📅 29 March 1961After a trial lasting more than four years, the remaining defendants were found not guilty. The judgment was a major defeat for the state's attempt to criminalize the Congress movement.