RE: No doubt he was a Marxist-Leninist (Communist), just a peaceful one which many see as redeeming.
When he was released from prison everything was going his way, so it was easy at that point to back off from any violence that he and his associates like his ex-wife Winnie were involved in.
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Lost in all these is the role Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II played in DEFEATING communism in the early 1990’s.
Before Mandela was released, the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union collapsed, and most of the Eastern bloc countries of Europe repudiated communism. Even China moved towards capitalism. Mandela at least slowly realized that Communism wasn’t in South Africa’s future ( plus, his Soviet benefactors were no more ).
At least Mandela has the good sense not to impose communism on South Africa.
Many liberals castigated Reagan and Thatcher for not focusing on apartheid in South Africa when they were in power. Many do not realize that they had a BIGGER PICTURE in mind... they did not want a South Africa ran by someone who would be controlled by the communists in the Soviet Union.
The fall of communism paved the way for Mandela’s release, the end of apartheid, and a South Africa that (thank God) DID NOT TURN MARXIST.
The Soviet Union was no longer in a position to help him promote Communism in SA by the time he got out of prison.
Good point.
South Africa is Marxist in everything but name. The ruling ANC's "Black Empowermen Program" is all about taking money and resources from prosperous and successful whites and handing them over to indigent blacks.