ABSTRACT
The government's swift and harsh response to the unrest proved to be a critical turning point for the anti-apartheid movement. In response to this sudden increase in repression, the African National Congress (ANC) and Pan African Congress (PAC) both determined that the time had come to abandon what had been wholly non-violent movement tactics and turn instead to a mixed approach involving armed struggle. The South African liberation movement provides a useful laboratory to investigate the role that intra-movement competition plays in these processes. The fact that intra-movement competition did not produce a spiral of radicalization in the case of the ANC and PAC in the South African liberation movement is only puzzling if one can expect such a dynamic should occur. Social movement groups operate in an environment of scarcity. Nothing that a movement needs to be successful material resources, access to sympathetic elites, public exposure, and dedicated activists comes with an endless supply.
