Ruth First

Ruth First was a South African anti-apartheid activist, journalist, and scholar whose investigative reporting and political work made her a leading figure in the struggle against racial segregation in South Africa. A member of the South African Communist Party and a contributor to publications such as Drum and New Age, she combined Marxist analysis with investigative journalism and academic research. Exiled in the 1960s, First continued to write and teach abroad until her assassination by a parcel bomb in Maputo, then Portuguese Mozambique, in 1982.

Early life and education

Born in Lisbon to Jewish parents of Lithuanian origin, First grew up in Johannesburg, where she attended Parktown High School for Girls and matriculated into public life during a period shaped by the Great Depression, the rise of fascism in Europe, and the politics of the Union of South Africa. She studied at the University of the Witwatersrand alongside contemporaries who later became prominent in African National Congress and South African Communist Party circles. Her undergraduate and postgraduate education exposed her to debates linked to World War II, anti-colonial movements in India, and Marxist theory through contacts with figures associated with the Communist International and the international left.

Anti-apartheid activism and Communist Party involvement

First joined activist networks that included members of the African National Congress, the South African Indian Congress, and the South African Communist Party, working on campaigns opposing segregation laws such as the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act. She participated in mobilizations tied to mass movements like the Defiance Campaign and responded to state repression exemplified by the Treason Trial (South Africa) and the later Sharpeville massacre. Collaborating with leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Albert Luthuli, and Walter Sisulu, First helped coordinate clandestine publications and party activity that connected to solidarity networks in Britain, France, and the United States. Her commitment to the South African Communist Party placed her under increasing surveillance by the South African Police and led to bannings under laws administered by successive administrations like those of Prime Minister D. F. Malan and Prime Minister John Vorster.

Journalism and investigative work

As a journalist and editor, First wrote for and edited outlets including Drum, New Age, and the The Guardian in exile, producing investigative pieces on removals under the Natives Land Act and the impact of legislation such as the Bantu Education Act. Her reportage connected to research on liberation movements in Mozambique, Angola, and Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), and her scholarly work engaged with theorists and institutions including the London School of Economics, the Institute of Development Studies, and intellectuals influenced by Karl Marx, Antonio Gramsci, and Frantz Fanon. First authored and co-authored studies that analyzed the political economy of apartheid and the role of white minority regimes in southern Africa, forging links with publishers and academic networks in Britain, Portugal, and Germany.

Arrest, trial, and assassination

First was detained under security legislation enacted by the National Party state and faced protracted legal harassment including bannings and house arrest under ministers associated with the Immorality Act era. In the 1960s, following crackdowns after events like the Soweto uprising precursors and intensified police operations by the Security Branch (South Africa), she was detained and placed on trial in contexts connected to the Rivonia Trial milieu that targeted African National Congress and South African Communist Party leadership. Expelled from South Africa in 1964, she lived in exile in United Kingdom and Mozambique, where she taught at institutions such as the University of Manchester and the University of Bradford. On 17 August 1982, First was killed in Maputo when a parcel bomb, later linked to operations by agents of the South African Defence Force and the Bureau of State Security (BOSS), detonated; the assassination reverberated through solidarity networks in Europe, Africa, and the United States and prompted international condemnation from bodies including the United Nations.

Personal life and legacy

First married anti-apartheid leader Joe Slovo, who became a leading figure in Umkhonto we Sizwe and the South African Communist Party; their children include screenwriter Shawn Slovo and novelist Gillian Slovo, both of whom later chronicled family and political histories linked to the struggle. Her death influenced artistic and scholarly responses from figures such as Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and intellectuals in the anti-apartheid movement, inspiring biographies, plays, and documentary projects. Archives of her papers are held in collections associated with the University of the Witwatersrand and repositories in London. Her work remains cited in studies of the anti-apartheid movement, southern African liberation struggles in Mozambique and Angola, and histories of resistance to the National Party regime.

Category:1925 births Category:1982 deaths Category:South African activists Category:South African journalists