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Communist props were everywhere. There was a Communist "pavilion of peace" and a little African girl at the entrance, selling a booklet entitled "South Africans in the Soviet Union." Communist China's Premier Chou En-lai cabled a message of support. To most of the 4,000 Africans who listened to the vivid harangues, much of the Marxist language probably made little sense when translated into Zulu or Sotho. But to the small group of Negro intellectuals, a "Freedom Charter," introduced at the meeting, did have an appeal. With the literates among them leading, Africans, Indians and colored folk alike cheered charter phrases such as "ownership of the people" with the cry: "Mayibuye, Afrika" (Africa, come back). The only thing they seemed sure of was that the charter was antigovernment.
Readymade Opportunity. In its countermeasures, the Nationalist government was at its most inept. On their way to the congress at Kliptown, many of the "delegates" were hauled out of their trucks and cars by cops on the pretext that they did not have proper papers. Police photographers shot pictures of every white man attending the congress, including newsmen ("Just for the record," they explained), and at one point, armed police forced the male delegates to empty their pockets and the women to turn out their handbags, on the suspicion that some of them were carrying "inflammatory material."
"Angered and frustrated by the police, many of the Africans seemed willing to acknowledge the leadership of the Congress of Democrat Reds," cabled TIME Correspondent Edward Hughes. "This is the tragedy of non-white politics in South Africa: Nationalist officialdom crushes all African leadership, extreme and moderate alike. The ordinary black man is left so frustrated that he is willing to listen to anyone who curses the government loudly enough. It is a readymade opportunity for the Communists."