Disguising himself as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled the country incognito

Disguising himself as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell structure and a mass stay-at-home strike for 29 May. Sony  VAIO VGN-FZ31M Battery

Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press – a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel – the police put out a warrant for his arrest.[97] Mandela held secret meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, Sony Vaio VGN-FZ19VN Battery

he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo.[98] He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli – who was morally opposed to violence – and allied activist groups of its necessity.[99] Sony Vaio VGN-FZ39VN Battery

Inspired by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK) with Sisulu and the communist Joe Slovo. Becoming chairman of the militant group, he gained ideas from illegal literature on guerilla warfare by Mao and Che Guevara. Sony Vaio VGN-FZ39VN Battery

Officially separate from the ANC, in later years MK became the group's armed wing.[100] Most early MK members were white communists; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31ZR Battery

Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution.[101] Although Mandela himself denied ever being a Communist Party member, historical research has suggested that he might have been for a short period, starting from the late 1950s or early 1960s.[102] Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31SR Battery

Operating through a cell structure, the MK agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Sony Vaio VGN-FZ31ER Battery

Mandela noted that should these tactics fail, MK would resort to "guerilla warfare and terrorism."[103] Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.[104] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31E/S Battery

The ANC agreed to send Mandela as a delegate to the February 1962 Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[105] Traveling there in secret, Mandela met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selaisse's at the conference.[106] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31ER/S Battery

After the conference, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave him £5000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Sony Vaio VGN-NR31J/S Battery

Liberia and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian President William Tubman and Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré.[107] Leaving Africa for London, England, he met anti-apartheid activists, reporters and prominent leftist politicians.[108] Returning to Ethiopia, Sony Vaio VGN-NR31MR/S Battery

he began a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South Africa.

On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with Cecil Williams near Howick.[110] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31S/S Battery

 Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, he was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court.[111] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31SR/S Battery

Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, in his cell he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London.[112] His hearing began on 15 October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Sony Vaio VGN-NR31Z/S Battery

Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika.

On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those they found there and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. Sony Vaio VGN-NR31Z/T Battery

The subsequent Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court on 9 October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government. Their chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar, who called for them to receive the death penalty.[115] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31ZR/S Battery

 Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from December until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents and photographs to the trial.[116] Sony Vaio VGN-NR38E/S Battery

With the exception of James Kantor, who was innocent of all charges, Mandela and the accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political cause; Sony Vaio VGN-NR38M/S Battery

one of Mandela's speeches – inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me" speech – was widely reported in the press despite official censorship.[117] The trial gained international attention, with global calls for the release of the accused from such institutions as the United Nations and World Peace Council. Sony Vaio VGN-NR38S/S Battery

The University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency, and nightly vigils for him were held in St. Paul's Cathedral, London.[118]However, deeming them to be violent communist agitators, South Africa's government ignored all calls for clemency, and on 12 June 1964 de Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges, sentencing them to life imprisonment rather than death. Sony Vaio VGN-NR38Z/S Battery

Mandela and his co-accused were transferred from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years.[120] Isolated from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep.[121] Sony Vaio VGN-NR38Z/T Battery

Verbally and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the lime permanently damaged his eyesight.[122] Sony Vaio VGN-NR31E/S Battery

 At night, he worked on his LLB degree, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked insolitary confinement on several occasions for possessing smuggled news clippings.[123] Classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, he was permitted one visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.[124] Sony VPCW11S1E/P Battery

The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikes – the latter considered largely ineffective by Mandela – to improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid struggle.[125] ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ" along with Sisulu, Sony VPCW11S1E/P Battery

 Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba, while he also involved himself in a group representing all political prisoners on the island, Ulundi, through which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members.[126] Initiating the "University of Robben Island," whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, Sony VPCW11S1E/T Battery

he debated topics such as homosexuality and politics with his comrades, getting into fierce arguments on the latter with Marxists like Mbeki and Harry Gwala.[127] Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela studied Islam.[128] He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the warders and convert them to his cause.[129] Sony VPCW11S1E/W Battery

Various official visitors met with Mandela; most significant was the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed Mandela's cause outside prison.[130] In September 1970 he met British Labour Party MP Dennis Healey.[131] Sony VPCW12S1E/P Battery

South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but he and Mandela did not get on.[132] His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral.[133] Sony VPCW12S1E/T Battery

His wife was rarely able to visit, being regularly imprisoned for political activity, while his daughters first visited in December 1975; Winnie got out of prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort, still unable to visit him.

From 1967, prison conditions improved, with black prisoners given trousers rather than shorts, games being permitted, and food quality improving.[135] Sony VAIO VGN-NR21E/S Battery

In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but it was abandoned after being infiltrated by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape.[136] In 1970, Commander Piet Badenhost became commanding officer. Sony VAIO VGN-NR21J/S Battery

Mandela, seeing an increase in the physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenost reassigned.[137] He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.[138] Sony VAIO VGN-NR21S/S Battery

 By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner,[139] allowing greater numbers of visits and letters; he corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu.[140] That year, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained unpublished at the time; Sony VAIO VGN-NR21S/T Battery

prison authorities discovered several pages, and his study privileges were stopped for four years.[141]Instead he devoted his spare time to gardening and reading until he resumed his LLB degree studies in 1980.[142]

By the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). Sony VAIO VGN-NR11Z/T Battery

Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but following the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island.[143] Mandela tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists.[144] Sony VAIO VGN-NR11Z/S Battery