Preparing for Power: Oliver Tambo Speaks

In these lectures, articles and interviews dating from 1955 to 1986, the head of the African National Congress, in exile since 1960, explains the history, aims and attitudes of his organization. As the South African regime became more repressive and massacred hundreds of people in Sharpeville, Soweto and elsewhere, ANC defiance, which originally had been nonviolent, hardened into underground warfare. Nevertheless, Tambo reiterates that the ANC's objective is a South Africa in which there is no racial discrimination, no inequalities based on creed or color. Also included are talks delivered at the U.N., which Tambo has addressed as the ""legitimate representative of the South African people,'' and a discussion with Mikhail Gorbachev. A useful sourcebook for policymakers and subject specialists. Photos. (February)