Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Marxist School of Sacramento


Upcoming Events:
 
Our Point of Vew Lecture Series starts Thursday, Sept. 19 at the Sol Collective 2574 21st Street, Sacramento, CA (1 blk south of Broadway)

book cover, Ruth First and Joe Slovo

Thursday, Sept. 19, 7–9pm: Alan Wieder will present his new book: Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid

Join author Alan Wieder for a discussion of his new book, Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid. This engaging and richly detailed work recounts the extraordinary lives of First and Slovo, their contributions to the anti-apartheid struggle, and their sometimes tumultuous relationship.
Ruth First and Joe Slovo, husband and wife, were leaders of the war to end apartheid in South Africa. Communists, scholars, parents, and uncompromising militants, they were the perfect enemies for the white police state. Together they were swept up in the growing resistance to apartheid, and together they experienced repression and exile. Their contributions to the liberation struggle, as individuals and as a couple, are undeniable. Ruth agitated tirelessly for the overthrow of apartheid, first in South Africa and then from abroad, and Joe directed much of the armed struggle carried out by the famous Umkhonto we Sizwe. Only one of them, however, would survive to see the fall of the old regime and the founding of a new, democratic South Africa.
This book, the first extended biography of Ruth First and Joe Slovo, is a remarkable account of one couple and the revolutionary moment in which they lived. Alan Wieder’s heavily researched work draws on the usual primary and secondary sources but also an extensive oral history that he has collected over many years. By intertwining the documentary record with personal interviews, Wieder portrays the complexities and contradictions of this extraordinary couple and their efforts to navigate a time of great tension, upheaval, and revolutionary hope.
Copies of the book will be available for purchase.

About the author:

Alan Wieder is an oral historian who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina and has also taught at the University of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In the last ten years he has published two books and numerous articles on South Africans who fought against the apartheid regime.
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All Marxist School events are free and open to the public.


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