THESEGREGATIONERA
In 192 I, meanwhile, a small group of white intellectuals had founded
the South African Communist party. It was the only political organization
in South Africa that recruited members from all racial groups and had a
multiracial executive. But, like other Communist parties outside the Soviet
Union, it was subject to directives from Moscow, notably in 1928, when
the Communist International ordered it to cease giving priority to the class
struggle and to adopt the slogan and analysis of an "independent South
African Native republic" or "black republic," which threw the party into
turmoil and led to schisms. The Communist party never gained a wide
following. Its membership peaked at about three thousand in 1930 and
then declined. Nevertheless, it exerted a considerable influence on the ICU,
and by 1939, it was beginning to attract several of the younger and more
frustrated members of the ANC, APO, and SAIC. 7 1
World \VarII and the Triumph of Afrikaner Nationalism
During World War II, South African forces fought in East and North
Africa and in Italy. At war's end, 218,260 South Africans were in uniform:
135,171 white men, 12,878 white women, 27,583 Coloured men, and
42,627 African men. All were volunteers. The Coloured and African men