Issue 10, Vol 11: 15 August 2014 In this issue: The Revolutionary Jew The Revolutionary Jew OJ Fourie Ruth Heloise First was born on the 4th of May 1925 in Johannesburg. She was the daughter of Jewish immigrants Julius and Matilda First. Julius, a furniture manufacturer, was born in Latvia and came to South Africa in 1906 at the age of 10. Matilda came to South Africa from Lithuania when she was four years old. They helped establish the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA, later renamed theSouth African Communist Party). Ruth and her brother Ronald grew up in a household, in which intense political debate between people of all races and classes often took place. They were exposed to revolutionary politics at an early age and at the age of fourteen, Ruth was already a member of the Young Left Wing Book Club. After matriculating from Jeppe High School for Girls, Ruth studied at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, from 1942 to 1946. She graduated with a BA degree (Social Studies), focusing on sociology, anthropology, economic history and native administration. Her fellow students included Nelson Mandela, Eduardo Mondlane (Mozambican freedom fighter and the first leader of FRELIMO), Joe Slovo (future husband), JN Singh (executive member of both theNatal and South African Indian Congress), andIsmail Meer (a former Secretary-General of the South African Indian Congress). Ruth helped found the Federation of Progressive Students and served as Secretary to the Young Communist League, later re-launched as the Young Communist League of South Africa (YCLSA) in 2003. In 1947 Ruth First worked, briefly, for the Johannesburg City Council, but left because she disagreed with the actions of the council. She then became the Johannesburg editor of a left-wing weekly newspaper. As a journalist she specialised in investigative reporting and her incisive articles about slave-like conditions on Bethal potato farms, the women's anti-pass campaign, migrant labour, bus boycotts and slum conditions remain among the finest pieces of social and labour journalism of the 1950s. Having grown up in a politically conscious home, Ruth's political involvement never abated. Apart from the activities already mentioned, she did support work for the 1946 mineworkers' strike, theIndian Passive Resistance campaign and protests surrounding the outlawing of communism in 1950. Ruth was a Marxist with a wide internationalist perspective. She travelled to China, the Union Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) and countries in Africa, experiences that she documented and analysed. In 1949, Ruth married Joe Slovo, a lawyer and labour organiser and, like her, a communist. Throughout the 1950s their home in Roosevelt Park was an important centre for multi-racial political gatherings which was also raided frequently by the security forces. In 1950, Ruth and Joe Slovo were among the first 600 to be 'named' under the Suppression of Communism Act. In 1953, Ruth helped found the South African Congress of Democrats (COD), the White wing of the Congress Alliance, and she took over as editor of Fighting Talk, a journal supporting the alliance. She was on the drafting committee of the Freedom Charter, but was unable to attend the Congress of the People at Kliptown in 1955 because of her banning order. In 1956, both Ruth and Joe Slovo were arrested and charged in the Treason Trial. The trial lasted four years, after which, all 156 co-accused were acquitted on the 29th March 1961. On the 9th of August 1963, Ruth was detained at the Wits University library. This took place following the arrests of members of the underground ANC, the SACP and Umkhonto we Sizwe in Rivonia on the 11th of July 1963. In the trial which followed, political leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbekiwere sentenced to life imprisonment. However, Ruth was not among the accused. She was kept in solitary confinement under the notorious 90-day clause. After 90 days Ruth was released but immediately re-arrested on the pavement outside the police station. She was held for a further 27 days. Her book 117 Days, an account of her arrest and interrogation in 1963, was published in 1965, it was also made into a film with Ruth playing herself. In 1977, Ruth was appointed professor and research director of the Centre for African Studies at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Maputo, Mozambique. She began work on the lives of migrant labourers, particularly those who worked on the South African gold mines. The results of this study were published as Black Gold: the Mozambican Miner (1983). Ruth First was a prolific writer and her penetrating investigative journalism exposed many of the harsh conditions under which the majority of South Africans lived. After the advent to power in 1948 of the National Party, her courageous writing exposed the evils of apartheid that were reflected in every facet of life for black South Africans. Her work increasingly highlighted the struggle between labor and capital and the exploitative role played by the state in that struggle. On the 17th of August 1982, Ruth was killed by a letter bomb, widely believed to have been the work of security agencies within South Africa. Until her death, she remained a 'listed' communist and could not be quoted in South Africa. On the 24th of August 1982, Ruth's funeral was held in Maputo, Mozambique, and was attended by 3000 people. She is buried in Maputo near 13 other South Africans who had been killed in 1981 in the Matola massacre. Her close friend, Ronald Segal, described her death as 'the final act of censorship'. Presidents, members of parliament and ambassadors from 34 countries attended her funeral. Till the day of her death she was a committed Revolutionary and her work undoubtedly contributed in many ways to the liberation of the South African people. Ruth First's whole life was dedicated to the fight against what was unjust and oppressive. As we are celebrating Women's Month we should continue to acknowledge the women who have also contributed to the freedom of our people; but also acknowledge the women who are continuing the fight against poverty, unemployment and equality today. OJ Fourie YCLSA National Committee Member -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. 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