Selected Writings

by Ruth First

Ruth First held multiple roles during the struggles of her time as a
communist militant,



journalist, and leading intellectual in South Africa. She was born into
a political family in



Johannesburg in 1925 and, as a student in the 1940s, founded an
important organisation, the



Federation of Progressive Students with other anti-apartheid activists.
Her cohort of fellow



students and comrades included a broad swathe of activists, such as
Nelson Mandela and



Eduardo Mondlane, the first leader of the Liberation Front of Mozambique
(FRELIMO).



 



While in exile in Mozambique and the United Kingdom, First carried out
pioneering research on



the lives of migrant labourers in South African gold mines, critiquing
the apartheid state’s



imperialist ambitions and the impact of Western imperial nations on
Africa. Tragically, on 17



August 1982, she was assassinated by a spy for the apartheid state who
sent a deadly letter



bomb to her office in Maputo.



 



Ruth Selected Writings, the sixth joint book published by the International Union of Left



Publishers, brings together five stirring essays on a range of topics
including the landmark 1956



Women’s March, the workings of the apartheid state, and the history of
armed struggle against



this state, introduced by an essay on First’s life and legacy, written
by Vashna Jagarnath, a



labour activist who works in the office of the general secretary of the
National Union of



Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA).

85 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 1, 2023

About the author

Ruth First was a South African politician, scholar, reporter and anti-apartheid activist.