Die Kruithoring (1943-1944)

In Afrikaans, this fortnightly newspaper of the National Party was a belligerent advocate of apartheid (social, residential and other separation of the races) well before the word gained currency with Dr Malan's victory in the 1948 general election.

Some 33 issues of this fortnightly newspaper are bound into this volume - from No 31 of 29 September 1943 to No 65 of 20 December 1944. The issues vary between 4 and 8 pp.

With the first number in this binding, issue 31, Die Kruithoring adopted a new, larger, format. (The price per copy was three pence, with the yearly subscription rate six shillings.)

Copies of this bound version are rare.

Blue cloth-boards, gilt to the upper panel and spine. Plain endpapers. There is a library stamp on the front paste-down, but no other markings. The newspaper pages are evenly and lightly toned.

There is hardly a better guide than this volume to the policies and propaganda of the National Party during this relatively late phase of the Second World War. A study of these pages, in conjunction with the demographics of the electorate of the day, which included a 15% delimitation advantage for rural constituencies, seems to have shown the writing on the wall. Looking back, a victory for the National Party in the first post-war election may already have been a fait accompli - despite the professed shock of the ruling United Party and much of the press.

This is a very good copy.