African Studies Seminar series. Paper presented February 1986This paper is about one of the least successful of South Africa's
revolutionary movements. Several thousand Poqo insurrectionists were
arrested during the course of the 1960s. The vast majority of these
were detained and convicted before they had had a chance to strike a
single blow. Fewer than thirty deaths can be attributed to the activities
of Poqo adherents of whom nearly the same number were sentenced
to death in South African courts. The history of the Poqo uprisings
is a history without a climax. Its final act takes place in the
courtrooms not the barricades. Perhaps for this reason the Poqo story
has lacked a chronicler. This paper is an attempt to compensate for
the perfunctory treatment Poqo has received from historians. It
provides a narrative of Poqo's development and a description of its
social following. It then attempts to assess Poqo's historical
significance
