The Case against the Union, by Ronald B. Ballinger

The Case against the Union, by Ronald B. Ballinger. South African Institute of Race Relations. Johannesburg, South Africa 1961

Since the main part of The Case against the Union by Ronald B. Ballinger was written, further events bearing upon it have followed one after another with great rapidity.

[...] I do not propose to describe them in detail or to try and bring the account completely up to date. To do so would require a lengthy introduction I had not originally envisaged. It was no part of my intention to attempt to keep up with every development in the contemporary situation. I had hoped rather to provide a background against which such developments might, perhaps, be a little easier to follow and more readily understood. In any case they do not in themselves invalidate any part of this account of earlier developments. They are indeed foreshadowed in the events described here. For one thing is clear beyond doubt. We in this country cannot in truth say that we have been without warnings and signs concerning the international consequences of the policies we have chosen to pursue; whether from responsible and informed citizens within, or from those whom we have had good reason to count as friends beyond our borders. The present international situation in which the Union finds it has followed of necessity from the events briefly analysed here. I do not mean, of course, a necessity stemming from inexorable, imponderable or super-natural determinist forces in history. I mean - if I may quote Professor R. R. Palmer - "the familiar necessity of practical life, that one who wills an objective must will the means to attain it, or, if the means are unacceptable, change the objective." What is the appropriate policy in any particular situation may only rarely be obvious even to those who have a detailed knowledge of the problem. At best it must be a matter of judgement and purpose. But unless it is to court disaster, it must surely have a constant regard for the realities of the time. And as Bismarck once said: "The statesman cannot create the stream of time, he can only navigate upon it." Among the most recent events to which I refer, some relate directly to the disputes at United Nations over South-West Africa and the Union's racial policies. They indicate that South Africa must now expect an intensification of the attacks described here, together with greater efforts to obtain positive Security Council measures against the Union. These may now take place even before the proceedings pending before the International Court of Justice are heard. Others effect immediate changes in our international position in a different way. The decision of the South African Prime Minister at the recent Conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers, to withdraw the Union's application to remain a member of the Commonwealth after May 31, 1961 - when the Union becomes a republic - has added to the Union's international isolation. The unhappy events of the last few weeks have shown that the Union Government was much too sanguine about the prospects of the Union remaining within the Commonwealth. Whether it is now, likewise, too sanguine about the Republic's future outside the Commonwealth, only time will tell - but that probably soon. At this moment, it is by no means clear whether the Union will be accorded the privileged position of Ireland, which is, and whose inhabitants are, treated in large measure as though they were members of this international association. Internationally the Union must inevitably find her position more perilous outside the Commonwealth. It appears at least likely that this intimation that even the Commonwealth finds South Africa's policies so unpalatable as to justify exclusion, has already acted as a stimulus to other Powers and other measures. [...]

This is an excerpt from South-West Africa. The Case against the Union, by Ronald B. Ballinger.

Title: South-West Africa
Subtitle: The Case against the Union
Author: Ronald B. Ballinger
Publisher: South African Institute of Race Relations
Johannesburg, South Africa 1961
Original softcover, 14 x 21 cm, 58 pages