1950s: (The ANC Rejuvenated — Mandela, Tambo, and Sisulu Leading a New Generation, the 1952–1953 Defiance Campaign Against Pass Laws, Non-White Groups Callin…

1950s: (The ANC Rejuvenated — Mandela, Tambo, and Sisulu Leading a New Generation, the 1952–1953 Defiance Campaign Against Pass Laws, Non-White Groups Calling for a Democratic Non-Racial South Africa by the Mid-1950s, Tensions Between Africanists and Those Welcoming White Liberal and Communist Allies, and the PAC Breaking Away by the End of the Decade): A fortunate elite managed to pass through the apartheid system and emerged to organize and lead popular protest. In the 1950s, African nationalist leaders faced a newly aggressive regime and recognized the need for more vigorous resistance. Public demonstrations erupted across South Africa against apartheid legislation, while the traditionally moderate and cautious ANC was rejuvenated under a new generation of young, gifted leaders — Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu. The 1952–1953 defiance campaign involved widespread protest against pass laws and resulted in mass arrests. By the mid-1950s, the various non-white groups had joined together calling for a democratic, non-racial South Africa, though the alliance was fragile given potential hostility between Africans and Asians, manifest in the 1949 Zulu riots against Indians in Durban. There were also tensions within the ANC leadership, some of whom resented the influence of non-Africans — notably white liberals and those in the communist movement. By the end of the 1950s, a breakaway section had formed the Pan-Africanist Congress. The nationalist struggle was gaining momentum, and the conflict would become increasingly bitter — the system that classified and divided human beings by the color of their skin had created the very solidarity it sought to prevent.