This began his entrance into politics. His most notable involvement began in 1944 when he joined the ANC or African National Congress. It was in 1949 when the group adopted the Program of Action. He was chosen as the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign in 1952. It was the campaign's goal to be civically disobedient against six of the unjust laws. Along with 19 others Mandela would be charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their participation in the campaign. This would result in nine months hard labor and a two year suspension. It was a two-year diploma in law that allowed Mandela to open the first South African black law firm. Of course at the end of 1952 he would have his first ban from the bar. .
From Trials to Revolution.
On December 5th, 1955 Mandela would be arrested in a countrywide police hunt, this would lead to the 1956 Treason Trial. 28 people, including Mandela, would be acquitted on March 29, 1961. About a year before the verdict, on March 21, 1960, police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest in Sharpeville. This resulted in the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on April 8. It would also result in the first state of emergency for the country. After his acquitting in 1961, Mandela began planning a national strike. In June of 1961 he was asked to lead an armed revolution. This would result in the formation of Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) on December 16, 1961. Mandela would leave the country in 1962 to receive military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned later that year. He was arrested on August 5, 1962 and was charged with leaving the country without a permit and inciting workers to strike. He would be sentenced to five years' imprisonment. On October 9, 1963 he would join ten others on trial for sabotage. This would become one of South Africa's most notable trials. The trial would become known as the Rivonia Trial, and although he faced the death penalty, Mandela's words would ring in revolution for South Africa in his famous ˜Speech from the Dock' on April 20, 1964.
