Word: commonwealth
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...patriarchal figure to whom the entire royal family turned for counsel, "Uncle Dickie," as they called him, was noted for a keen political sense and enlightened liberal conscience; he despised extremism, ridiculed narrow nationalism, welcomed a multiracial Commonwealth as a natural part of the Third World's emergence, which he foresaw long before it became a reality. Significantly, Mountbatten was an important influence in the careful royal upbringing of his great-nephew, Prince Charles. Said the future King recently: "Uncle Dickie is a person I admire almost more than anyone else...
During World War II, colonials of many races throughout the Empire fought under the Union Jack. In 1948 a grateful Labor government introduced the British Nationality Act; it said that citizens of the Commonwealth countries were also citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies, thus providing the legal framework for future waves of immigration. By 1955 the first brown and black faces appeared in Yorkshire mill towns, drawn by high wages and, ironically, a vision of colonial-era civility. In 1962, after this immigration reached a peak of nearly 90,000 a year, a worried Parliament began limiting Commonwealth entry...
...immigration to the wives and children of male heads of families already legally settled in Britain; that would chiefly affect nonwhites, since many would-be white immigrants would be admitted under a provision allowing immigration of persons who have a British-born grandparent. Under the Tory plan, the new Commonwealth inflow would drop in twelve months from the 1978 total of 42,939 to as low as 28,000, and would further decline over the next five years to under 5,000 annually. Also, those who are admitted would have to prove they can support themselves without aid while looking...
...other side, Prime Minister Bishop Abel Muzorewa called the Commonwealth proposal "an insult" to his "government of national unity." Former Prime Minister Ian Smith, now a Minister Without Portfolio in Muzorewa's government, dismissed the results of the Lusaka conference as "so much hot air" and suggested that Rhodesians "forget about new elections." In South Africa, which has close ties with Salisbury, Foreign Minister Roelof F. ("Pik") Botha declared that his government was "deeply disturbed." South Africa was reported to be considering military support for Muzorewa if he decides to reject the Commonwealth proposals...
Despite the bellicose rhetoric, Commonwealth leaders remained relatively optimistic. Zambia's Kaunda implied that the Patriotic Front's reaction was little more than posturing, explaining: "Just now, various parties must react in a certain way." His colleague, Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere, said flatly: "The Patriotic Front [leaders] are going to a constitutional conference called by the decolonizing power." Nyerere suggested, however, that the British government might have a much harder time getting the Muzorewa-Smith bloc to the conference table. Snapped back Mrs. Thatcher: "If Julius Nyerere can deal with his problem," i.e., producing the guerrilla leaders...