Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Impact of Anti-communism on White Rhodesian Political Culture, ca.1920s–1980

2007; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 7; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/14682740701284108

1743-7962

Donal Lowry,

Australian History and Society

Abstract Anti-communism has often been seen as a marginal aspect of white Rhodesian political ideology, designed to manipulate eccentric metropolitan and American opinion. However, it was neither shallow nor peripheral, but integral to it and essential to an understanding of the politics and ideological resilience of White Rhodesia in its closing decades. Many white Rhodesians regarded African disaffection as externally fomented and international, so that there appeared to be no need to address any grievances. The Cold War crucially sealed Rhodesia's political fate, since the successful encouragement of anti-communist sentiment made it difficult for a Rhodesian government to advocate compromise of any kind. Acknowledgements The author wishs to thank Dr Jo Duffy of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum Archives, Bristol, and Dr Kent Fedorowich of the University of the West of England for their kind assistance in consulting the Rhodesian Army Association Archives. 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He has held visiting fellowships at Rhodes University, University College Cork, the University of Trier, and the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, at King's College London.