THESEGREGATIONERA
and the alliance with communist Russia. It denounced Smuts as a British
toady, pointing out that, in spite of his obsession with global politics, he
had not deterred the United Nations from refusing to allow South Africa to
incorporate
South West Africa, nor had he stopped the United Nations
from rebuking South Africa for limiting the rights of Indian traders in
Natal and the Transvaal. It criticized the government for its liberal reforms
and for its failure to stop both the flow of Africans into the towns and the
outburst of African industrial strikes.f?
Afrikaners were deeply worried about the state of race relations. Nearly
all believed that the state should do more to maintain white supremacy and
the "purity" of the white "race." They differed as to how that should be
done. Farmers and businesspeople wanted unimpeded access to African
labor, combined with stringent government controls over its allocation and
discipline. By contrast, Afrikaner workers wanted greater protection from
African competition-an
attitude that harmonized with the ideas of intel-
lectuals who were developing a blueprint for complete economic as well as
political segregation of South African society.I"? Professor of Sociology at