Definitive and gripping narrative history of the Communist Party of South Africa.

Examines the South African Communist Party and how it took over the leadership of the ANC between 1960 and 1990, during the time when both organisations were banned in South Africa and were forced to establish their headquarters in exile. It also concerns Umkhonto we Sizwe, the Spear of the Nation, the guerilla army set up jointly by both organisations under the overall command of Nelson Mandela. North America: Indiana U Press

Since the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, communist parties are widely regarded as passe or irrelevant. But these parties still exist, act and sometimes thrive in various corners of the world. This comprehensive history describes how the South African Communist Party has not only survived but flourished in a harsh political environment. Formed in 1921 as an umbrella organization of leftist groups, the SACP for decades fought against the racist Apartheid regime, ascending to power in 1994 with its senior alliance partner, the African National Congress. Approaching its centennial, the SACP now faces possibly its greatest challenge: working towards a socialist future for South Africa while governing a diverse and complex capitalist country.

Why is the history of communism in a country at the bottom of the African continent still important enough to warrant this book? South Africa is one of the few countries in the world that still has a strong communist party whose views are not only taken into account by the government, but whose members hold important positions in both the cabinet and in government offices. This is the first account of the history of the Communist Party of South Africa based on archival sources. The initial accounts were written by party members and had very little to do with reality. The months that Mia Roth spent in the newly opened Russian and South African Archives in 1998 and the number of years she spent in writing it, revealed to her not only the racism in the South African party but also the role it played in destroying the ICU, the only genuine African mass movement of that time. Its depiction of the part played by African communists was only a facade.

The book is a short biography covering part of Mofutsanyana's eventful life, a period of turbulence within the Communist Party of South Africa, of which Mofutsanyana was at one point General Secretary. Edgar bases his account on extensive archival work both in South Africa as well as in Russia, and has some notable interview material. Robert Edgar is Professor of African Studies at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He has written primarily on twentieth-century Southern African political and religious history. Among his works are African Apocalypse; the story of Nontetha Nkwenkwe, a Twentieth Century South African Prophet (with Hilary Sapire) and An African American in South Africa: the travel notes of Ralph J. Bunche, 1937.