23rd October 1962
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Although Mandela was initially committed to non-violent protest, he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in 1961, in association with the SACP, to carry out a sabotage campaign against the white apartheid government. In 1962 he was serving a five-year sentence for inciting workers to strike and leaving the country illegally, when he was charged with - recruiting persons for training in the preparation and use of explosives and in guerrilla warfare for the purpose of violent revolution and committing acts of sabotage; conspiring to commit the aforementioned acts and to aid foreign military units when they invaded the Republic; acting in these ways to further the objects of communism; and soliciting and receiving money for these purposes from foreign sympathizers. He was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state, and sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 27 years.