Political ideology
Mandela was an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC,[337]
also being a democratic socialist,[338] thereby being "openly opposed to capitalism, private landownership
and the power of big money".[339] Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the
revolution he advocated scientific socialism.[340] During the Treason Trial, he denied being a communist,
[341] although later historians and biographers believed that this was a lie; biographer David Jones Smith
stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s,[342]
while historian Stephen Ellis found evidence that he had been an active member of the South African
Communist Party (SACP).[110] This was confirmed after his death by the SACP and the ANC. According
to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also served on the party's Central Committee,
when he was arrested in 1962 and this was denied for political reasons.[111][112][113]
In the 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, it called for the nationalisation
of banks, gold mines, and land, believing this necessary to ensure equal distribution of wealth.[343]
Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his presidency, in line with
trends in other countries of the time.[344] This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist
states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.[345] In contrast, China was
developing rapidly within a "socialist market economy", and Mandela began to quote Deng Xiaoping's
aphorism: "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice."
Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, Mandela was a
devout believer in democracy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them.
[348] He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals
of democracy,[349] and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights,[350] pursuing not only racial
equality but also promoting gay rights as part of the post-apartheid reforms.