Editing Rhodesian Front

{{Short description|Ruling party of Rhodesia (1965–1979)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Rhodesian Front
| abbreviation     = RF
| logo             = [[File:Logo of the Rhodesian Front.svg|120px]]
| colorcode        = {{party color|Rhodesian Front}}
| leader1_title    = Leader
| leader1_name     = [[Ian Smith]]
| founded          = {{Start date|df=y|1962|3|1}}
| dissolved        = {{End date|df=y|1981|06|06}}
| successor        = [[Republican Front (Zimbabwe)|Republican Front]]
| predecessor      = {{nowrap|[[Dominion Party]]<ref>{{cite book|last1= Lipschutz|first1=Mark R.|last2=Rasmussen|first2=R. Kent|title=Dictionary of African Historical Biography|editor=University of California Press|date=1989|page=265}}</ref><br />[[Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party]]}}
| headquarters     = [[Harare|Salisbury]], [[Rhodesia]]
| ideology         = [[White Zimbabweans|White]] [[minority politics|minority interests]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leaver |first1=John David |title=Multiracialism and nationalisms: A political retrospective on 1950s Southern Rhodesia ('Colonial Zimbabwe') |journal=Journal of Third World Studies |date=2006 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=167–188 |jstor=45194313 }}</ref><br />[[White nationalism]]<ref name=Lowry>{{cite book |author1=Donal Lowry |editor1-last=Onslow |editor1-first=Sue |title=Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation |date=2009 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=978-0-415-47420-7 |page=84 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj-MAgAAQBAJ |access-date=7 April 2020 |chapter=The impact of anti-communism on white Rhodesian political culture, c.1920s-1980}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cilliers |first1=Jakkie |title=Counter-Insurgency in Rhodesia |date=April 17, 2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9781315713854 |edition=e-Book 1st |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHRKCAAAQBAJ |page=18<!--&q="rhodesian+front"+"white+supremacy"&pg=PT18--> |access-date=9 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/720978|jstor = 720978|title = Settler Colonialism in Rhodesia|last1 = Good|first1 = Kenneth|journal = African Affairs|year = 1974|volume = 73|issue = 290|pages = 10–36|doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a096439|url-access = subscription}}</ref><br />[[Nationalism|Rhodesian nationalism]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Preston|first=Matthew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dND1vyuZefwC|title=Ending Civil War: Rhodesia and Lebanon in Perspective|editor=I.B.Tauris|date=2004|page=107|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |isbn=9781850435792}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=West|first=Michael O.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=epkrt-Y-qOkC|title=The Rise of an African Middle Class: Colonial Zimbabwe, 1898-1965|editor=Indiana University Press|date=2002|page=229|publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=0253215242}}</ref><br />[[National conservatism]]<ref>[https://www.mdpedia.net/view_html.php?sq=Obama%20Care&lang=en&q=Rhodesian_Front Rhodesian Front] {{dead link|date=April 2023}}</ref><br />[[Social conservatism]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Hume|first=Ian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aKVdDwAAQBAJ|title=From the Edge of Empire: A Memoir|editor=Outskirts Press|date=2018|page=149|publisher=Outskirts Press |isbn=9781478794554}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Roscoe|first=Adrian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIJ4ZTdc5VYC|title=The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945|editor=Columbia University Press|date=2007|page=35|publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231503792}}</ref><br />[[Anti-communism]]<ref name=Lowry/> <br /> [[Republicanism]] (after 1968)
| position         = [[Right-wing politics|Right-wing]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09574040701400601?journalCode=fswi20|doi = 10.1080/09574040701400601|title = The Wretched of the Empire: Politics, Ideology and Counterinsurgency in Rhodesia, 1965–80|year = 2007|last1 = Evans|first1 = Michael|journal = Small Wars & Insurgencies|volume = 18|issue = 2|pages = 175–195|s2cid = 144153887|url-access = subscription}}</ref> to [[far-right]]<ref>{{cite web|title=
'HOOLIGANS, SPIVS AND LOAFERS'? : THE POLITICS OF VAGRANCY IN 1960s SOUTHERN RHODESIA politics, c. 1950–62
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259430188|date=2013-01-09|access-date=2025-03-13|quote=The 1950s in Southern Rhodesia has often been cast as a relatively progressive and prosperous passage, falling between the austerity and turbulence of the war years and the economic contraction, political repression, and rise of the far right Rhodesian Front that marked the end of the decade and early 1960s.|first=Jocelyn|last=Alexander}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title="Kith and Kin" or "Rhodesia First?": Kenyan decolonisation and inter-party competition in Southern Rhodesian politics, c. 1950–62|first=Marmon|last=Brooks|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/cch.2021.0023|quote=the far-right Rhodesian Front came to power in 1962.|journal= Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History|date=2021|volume=22 |issue=2 |doi=10.1353/cch.2021.0023 |access-date=2025-03-13|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
| colours          = {{Color box|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}|border=silver}} Purple {{Color box|#FFFFFF|border=silver}} White <!-- do not link colors per [[MOS:OL]] -->
| slogan           = <i>Rhodesia to the Front</i>
| flag             = [[File:Flag of the Rhodesian Front.svg{{!}}border|border=black|200px]]
| country          = Rhodesia
}}
{{Politics of Rhodesia}}
The '''Rhodesian Front''' ('''RF''') was a [[Conservatism|conservative]] [[political party]] in [[Southern Rhodesia]],<ref name="hsu-luckett-vause">{{cite book|last1=Hsu|first1=Chia Yin|last2=Luckett|first2=Thomas M.|last3=Vause|first3=Erika|title=The Cultural History of Money and Credit: A Global Perspective|date=2015|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9781498505932|pages=142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByLuCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Onslow">{{cite book|last1=Onslow|first1=Sue|title=Cold War in Southern Africa: White Power, Black Liberation|date=2009|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781135219338|page=92|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xj-MAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Butler">{{cite book|last1=Butler|first1=L. J.|title=Britain and Empire: Adjusting to a Post-Imperial World|date=2002|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=9781860644481|page=164|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FciqvzTfAuEC&pg=PA164|access-date=19 February 2017|language=en}}</ref> subsequently known as [[Rhodesia]]. Formed in March 1962 by white Rhodesians opposed to decolonisation and majority rule, it won that December's [[1962 Southern Rhodesian general election|general election]] and subsequently spearheaded the country's [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|Unilateral Declaration of Independence]] (UDI) from the [[Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland]] in 1965, remaining the ruling party and upholding white minority rule through the majority of the [[Rhodesian Bush War|Bush War]] until 1979. Initially led by [[Winston Field]], the party was led through most of its lifetime by co-founder [[Ian Smith]]. Following the end of the Bush War and the country's reconstitution as [[Zimbabwe]], it changed its name to the [[Republican Front (Zimbabwe)|Republican Front]] in 1981.

==History and ideology==
The RF was founded on 13 March 1962 in a merger of the [[Dominion Party]] (DP), defectors from the anti-[[Edgar Whitehead|Whitehead]] faction of the [[United Federal Party]] (UFP), as well as former members of the [[Southern Rhodesia Liberal Party]]. It was shaky and ideologically split in its early days, with its heterogeneous membership (ranging from advocates of more gradual transition to explicit segregation) united only in their opposition to then-Prime Minister [[Edgar Whitehead]]'s plans for transition to majority rule, as well as the UK's [[No independence before majority rule|demands for majority rule before independence]]. The party harnessed white anxieties of a Congo and Kenya-style majority rule scenario in its successful campaign for the [[1962 Southern Rhodesian general election]], pledging to keep power "in responsible hands", ensure Southern Rhodesian independence from the [[Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland|Federation]], and thwart "this mad idea of a hand-over, of a sell-out of the European and his civilisation, indeed of everything he had put into his country".<ref>Wood, J.R.T. (June 2005). So Far and No Further! Rhodesia's Bid For Independence During the Retreat From Empire 1959–1965. Victoria, British Columbia: [[Trafford Publishing]]. {{ISBN|978-1-4120-4952-8}}</ref> Its opposition to the UK government's demands for majority rule was so great that the RF-led government eventually [[Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence|declared unilateral independence in 1965]].

The RF had fifteen founding principles, which included the preservation of each racial group's right to maintain its own identity, the preservation of "proper standards" through meritocracy, the maintenance of the [[Land reform in Zimbabwe|Land Apportionment Act]], which formalised the racial imbalance in the ownership and distribution of land, opposition to compulsory [[racial integration]], job protection for white workers, and the practice of [[Christianity]]. Historians have generally defined the party as [[Conservatism|conservative]] and wanting to maintain white Rhodesian interests by staunchly opposing majority rule, which the RF argued would lead to a collapse in economic development, law and order, and the emergence of a [[communist]] regime in Rhodesia. The party also encouraged immigration of whites from other African former colonies to Rhodesia.<ref>Selby thesis:[http://www.zwnews.com/3-Main%20Body.pdf p58] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615023739/http://www.zwnews.com/3-Main%20Body.pdf |date=15 June 2007 }}</ref> The RF maintained an all-white membership and wanted to continue the provision of separate amenities for different races in education and public services; thusly, the party was often characterised as racist both within Rhodesia and abroad.<ref>[https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/505c4f502.pdf RRT Research Response] Refugee Review Tribunal. Retrieved 20 December 2022</ref> Ian Smith and the RF claimed that they based their policies, ideas, and democratic principles on meritocratic ideals and "not on colour or nationalism", stating that these policies and what he called "separate economic advancement" would ultimately result in an "equal partnership between black and white" as an alternative to majority rule.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Unlike the South African [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]], the RF never ''de jure'' disenfranchised non-white voters in their entirety and did not introduce ''[[apartheid]]''-style legislation governing interpersonal relationships: marriage and relationships between whites and non-whites were possible and legal, albeit uncommon. In all other aspects, however, the RF government perpetuated existing racial segregation and inequalities{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}: the white minority's economic domination and ownership of land was maintained, as was the racial segregation of public services, education and electoral rolls through the party's policy of "separate economic advancement". In contrast to the National Party, whose rule expanded and escalated white domination, the RF sought mainly, with some notable exceptions, to maintain minority rule through inexplicit means.

Before the RF's rise to power, separate 'A' and 'B' electoral rolls based on differing income and property qualifications had already ''de facto'' disenfranchised the black electorate for decades, with the larger 'A' roll mainly consisting of the wealthier white minority, and the smaller 'B' roll almost exclusively consisting of the small number of Africans eligible and willing to register. Combined with a largely successful boycott campaign from the black majority, this resulted in ''de facto'' white minority rule. In an exception to their usual policies, the [[1969 Rhodesian constitutional referendum|1969 constitutional reform]] explicitly delineated the two electoral rolls by race: With the European 'A' roll increased to 50 seats as opposed to the African 'B' roll only having 8 (with an additional 8 indirectly elected to represent chiefs and tribal interests), this resulted in 270,000 whites having 50 seats and 6 million Africans having 16 seats in the Assembly. These reforms only served to reinforce black rejection of the system.

The Rhodesian Land Tenure Act was introduced the same year, which ostensibly introduced parity by reducing the amount of land reserved for white ownership to the same 45 million acres as for blacks: in practice, the most fertile farmlands remained in white hands, and some farmers took advantage by shifting their boundaries into black-populated territories, often without notifying others, thereby necessating government evictions.<ref>Nelson, Harold. ''Zimbabwe: A Country Study.'' pp. 137–153.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Raeburn |first=Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/weareeverywheren00raeb/page/189 |title=Black Fire! Narratives of Rhodesian Guerrillas |publisher=Random House |year=1978 |isbn=978-0394505305 |location=New York |pages=189–207}}</ref>

<ref name="hall22">*{{cite magazine |title=Rhodesia's Face of Defiance |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XVYEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22&pg=PA22 |last=Hall |first=Lee |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |date=27 May 1966 |access-date=11 June 2013 |page=22}}</ref> In 1977, the party had a schism in which the more hardline wing broke off to form the [[Rhodesian Action Party]] (RAP), which opposed Smith's proposals to negotiate a settlement with black nationalist leaders.

In the [[1980 Southern Rhodesian general election|elections]] leading to the country's independence in 1980, as the Republic of [[Zimbabwe]], the RF won all 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites in the power-sharing agreement that it had forged. On 6 June 1981, the party changed its name to the [[Republican Front (Zimbabwe)|Republican Front]], and on 23 July 1984, it became the [[Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe]] (CAZ) and opened its membership to Zimbabweans of all colours and all ethnic groups.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/23/world/around-the-world-ian-smith-invites-blacks-to-join-his-party.html Ian Smith Invites Blacks to Join His Party], ''[[The New York Times]]'', July 23, 1984, p. A5.</ref> Eleven of its 20 parliamentarians defected over the following four years, but the party again won 15 of the 20 parliamentary seats reserved for whites in the [[1985 Zimbabwean parliamentary election|1985 election]].  In October 1987, the ruling government of [[Robert Mugabe]] officially abolished all reserved seats for whites.<ref>[https://www.csmonitor.com/1987/0825/ozim.html Zimbabwe whites lose special political status. End of reserved seats in Parliament brings one-party state closer], ''[[Christian Science Monitor]]'', August 25, 1987</ref> When these were abolished, many white MPs became independents or joined the ruling [[ZANU–PF]] party.

==Electoral history==

===Legislative Assembly elections===
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Popular Vote
! Percentage
! Seats
! Government
|-
| '''[[1962 Southern Rhodesian general election|1962]]'''
| 38,282	
| 54.9%
| {{Composition bar|35|65|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{yes|RF}}
|-
| '''[[1965 Rhodesian general election|1965]]'''
| 28,175
| 78.4%
| {{Composition bar|50|65|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{yes|RF}}
|}

===House of Assembly elections===
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Popular Vote
! Percentage
! Seats
! Government
|-
| '''[[1970 Rhodesian general election|1970]]'''
| 39,066	
| 76.8%
| {{Composition bar|50|66|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{yes|RF}}
|-
| '''[[1974 Rhodesian general election|1974]]'''
| 55,597	
| 77.0%
| {{Composition bar|50|66|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{yes|RF}}
|-
| '''[[1977 Rhodesian general election|1977]]'''
| 57,348
| 85.4%
| {{Composition bar|50|66|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{yes|RF}}
|-
| '''[[1979 Rhodesian general election|1979]]'''
| 11,613 (White Roll)
| 82.0%
| {{Composition bar|28|100|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{no|UANC}}
|-
| '''[[1980 Southern Rhodesian general election|1980]]'''
| 13,621 (White Roll)
| 83.0%
| {{Composition bar|20|100|{{party color|Rhodesian Front}}}}
| {{no|ZANU}}
|}

==See also==
{{Portal|Politics}}
* [[Politics of Rhodesia]]
* South African [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] governing party from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994,

==Further reading==
*''Rhodesians Never Die'', Godwin, P. & Hancock, I., 1995. Baobab Books, Harare, Zimbabwe.
*Pollard, William C. ''A Career of Defiance:  The Life of Ian Smith'', Agusan River Publishing Co., 1992.  Topeka, KS.
*McLaughlin, John . "Ian Smith and the Future of Zimbabwe," ''The National Review'', October 30, 1981, pp.&nbsp;2168–70.
*''Facts on File'', 1984 ed., p.&nbsp;574.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Rhodesian topics}}
{{Zimbabwean political parties}}{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct political parties in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Conservative parties in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Political parties in Rhodesia]]
[[Category:White nationalism in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:Anti-communist parties]]
[[Category:Pro-independence parties]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1962]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1981]]
[[Category:Protestant political parties]]
[[Category:White nationalist parties]]
[[Category:Right-wing parties]]
[[Category:Ethnicity in politics]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in Southern Rhodesia]]
[[Category:1981 disestablishments in Zimbabwe]]
[[Category:White separatism]]
[[Category:White supremacy in Africa]]
[[Category:Political parties of minorities in Zimbabwe]]