Alan Paton - Opposition To Apartheid

Opposition To Apartheid

In 1948, four months after the publication of Cry, The Beloved Country, the separatist National Party came to power in South Africa. In 1953 Paton founded the Liberal Party of South Africa, which fought against the apartheid legislation introduced by the National Party. He remained the president of the SALP until its forced dissolution by the apartheid regime in the late 1960s, officially because its membership comprised both blacks and whites. Paton was a friend of Bernard Friedman, founder of the Progressive Party (South Africa). Paton's writer colleague Laurens van der Post, who had moved to England in the 1930s, helped the party in many ways. Van der Post knew that the South African Secret Police was aware that he was paying money to Paton, but could not stop it by legal procedures. Paton himself adopted a peaceful opposition to protests against apartheid, as did many others in the party; some SALP members took a more violent route, and consequently some stigma did attach to the party. Paton's passport was confiscated on his return from New York in 1960, where he had been presented with the annual Freedom Award. It was not returned for ten years.

Paton retired to Botha's Hill, where he resided until his death. He is honored at the Hall of Freedom of the Liberal International organization.