Introduction

This introduction frames the parameters in the social and cultural tone of Afrikaner anticommunism in South Africa is investigated by focusing on the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) as an active agent in this twentieth-century phenomenon. A conceptual framework is developed in which anticommunism encompasses more than mere opposition to state-sponsored communism, which is state-centric, and confined to the Cold Era. Rather, anticommunism is seen as a broad ideology that opposes all progressive movements of reform, where ‘communism’ becomes a proxy for all challenges to the status quo. With this conceptual framework in mind, this introduction explains how existing literature on Afrikaner nationalism, anticommunism, and the DRC is synthesised with a range of archival sources drawn from the DRC and other organisations, and central role-players into a chronological narrative. A brief chapter outline of the book is also given.