Joe Slovo (1926 - 1995)
Sun May 23, 1926
Image: Joe Slovo speaking with Pallo Jordan, another SACP and ANC leader, in the background. [africasacountry.com]
Joe Slovo, born on this day in 1926, was a South African communist politician and miliant opponent of the apartheid system whose wife, Ruth First, was assassinated by the South African police.
A Marxist-Leninist, Slovo was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Party (SACP), a leading member of the African National Congress (ANC), and a commander of the ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Slovo was married to Ruth First, another prominent South African anti-apartheid activist who was assassinated by state police via bomb. He, along with First, was arrested and detained for two months during the Treason Trial of 1956, and lived in exile from 1963 to 1990, conducting operations against the apartheid regime from the United Kingdom, Angola, Mozambique, and Zambia.
"No matter what vision one has of South Africa, the first thing that must be done is to destroy racism."
- Joe Slovo
- Date: 1926-05-23
- Learn More: en.wikipedia.org, www.sahistory.org.za, www.sahistory.org.za.
- Tags: #Communism, #Marxism, #Civil Rights, #Birthdays.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org