Guerrillas in their Midst: Armed Struggle in The South African Anti-Apartheid Movement

Echoing a general silence in social movement theory, discussions of South Africa's antiapartheid movement tend to ignore the impact of armed struggle on mobilization. The antiapartheid movement is usually described in terms of mass mobilization and civil rights struggle rather than as an anticolonial movement involving military attacks by guerrilla infiltrators and clandestine links between open popular groups and guerrilla networks. This article explores some of the reasons why researchers might avoid discussing armed struggle, including some discomfort around its morality. Then it considers how more systematic investigation of armed struggle might change our understanding of the anti-apartheid movement, including its legacies for post-apartheid politics. Finally, it suggests that these questions may be relevant for social movement theories.