Ruth First (1925-1982) was a South African socialist, anti-apartheid activist, and scholar. She fled South Africa in 1963 after serving 117 days in solitary confinement in South African jails. She worked from exile in England until 1977 when she travelled to Mozambique to fight Apartheid from the front-lines. On August 17, 1982, she was assassinated by a parcel bomb in Maputo, Mozambique.

Ruth First was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1925, the daughter of socialist immigrants, Tilly and Julius First. Educated in Johannesburg, she completed a bachelor's degree in sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1946. Her years as a university student were filled with political exploration and sent her down her path to pursue the struggle for social justice and freedom for all South Africans. First was instrumental in the foundation of the non-racial Federation of Progressive Students and joined the South African Communist Party, the principal party open to whites forging inter-racial political relationships.

Upon graduation First worked as researcher for the Johannesburg municipality and taught evening classes in black schools. As a Communist party member, she collaborated in organization of the African Mine Workers Union. When the mineworkers went out on strike in 1946, the government brutally suppressed the strike and arrested the Communist party's entire executive body. First then resigned her research position to become acting party secretary and ultimately editor of the Johannesburg edition of the party newspaper, The Guardian.

Having grown up in a politically aware home, First's political involvement was bred into her and never abated. Apart from the activities already mentioned, she did support work for the 1946 mineworkers' strike, the Indian Passive Resistance campaign, and protests surrounding the outlawing of communism in 1950. First was a Marxist with an internationalist perspective. She travelled to China, the USSR and various countries in Africa. She was central to debates within the Johannesburg Discussion Club, which led to the formation of the underground South African Communist Party (SACP), of which First was a member, and to closer links between the SACP and the African National Congress (ANC).

In 1949, First married Joe Slovo, a lawyer and labour organiser and, like her, a communist. Throughout the fifties, their home in Roosevelt Park was an important centre for multiracial political gatherings. They had three daughters: Shawn (who was to script a film about her mother called "A world apart"), Gillian (who based her novel, Ties of blood, on her family) and Robyn. House searches and the banning and arrest of their parents by the police constantly unsettled their childhood.

In 1953, First helped found the Congress of Democrats, the white wing of the Congress Alliance, and she took over as editor of Fighting Talk, a journal supporting the alliance. She was on the drafting committee of the Freedom Charter, but was unable to attend the Congress of the People at Kliptown in 1955 because of her banning order. In 1956, both First and her husband Joe Slovo were arrested and charged with treason. The trial lasted four years after which they were acquitted.

Following a UNESCO conference in 1982 First was killed by a letter bomb widely believed to have originated from military sources within South Africa. Until her death, she remained a "listed" communist and could not be quoted in South African publications and media. Her close friend, Ronald Segal, described her death as "the final act of censorship." Presidents, members of parliament and ambassadors from 34 countries, attended her funeral in Maputo.

Sources:
ANC
Answers.Com
African History
Jewish Women's Archive

Page Last Updated 11 May 2010