J. B. Marks (21 March 1903 – 1 August 1972) joined the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing N ...

(SACP) in 1928, at the age of 25.Roth, 2015, p. 200 He was sent to the Soviet Union for the first time in 1930, as a student at the

Communist University of the Toilers of the East The Communist University of the Toilers of the East (KUTV) (russian: link=no, Коммунистический университет трудящихся Востока; also known as the Far East University) was a revolutionary training scho ...

(KUTV), as a result of funding from the Soviet Union in 1929. When he returned in 1933, he became the Communist party secretary. In 1934 rumours arose that he was a police informer and this may have been the reason he lost his position as party secretary in 1934-35.Roth, 2015, p. 201 As supporter of party secretary Lazar Bach, who was recalled to the Soviet Union and killed there in 1936, Marks was also summoned to Moscow, but managed to bungle his exit and never arrived there. Moscow was in no doubt that he did this on purpose and he was then expelled from the SACP in 1937. Expulsions from the party were generally suspensions rather than actual expulsions and by 1945 he managed not only to rejoin the party but to become the head of the African Mine Workers' Union, in spite of the fact that he had no previous experience of union work. Thus the miners strike of 1946 was poorly supported last for only three days and Marks was arrested. Marks was elected as president of the Transvaal African National Congress in 1951, but later lost this position to

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

. In 1962 he became chairman of the SACP and in 1968 treasurer of the ANC. He had a stroke in 1971. Yusuf Dadoo took over as SACP chairman after following his death in 1972. On the 1 March 2015,the remains of Marks were returned to South Africa together with

Moses Kotane Moses Mauane Kotane (9 August 190519 May 1978) was a South African politician and activist. Kotane was secretary general of the South African Communist Party from 1939 until his death in 1978.

's remains and he was reburied on 14 March at

Pella Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great. On site of the ancient cit ...

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

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* 1903 births 1972 deaths South African Communist Party politicians African National Congress politicians South African expatriates in the Soviet Union International Lenin School alumni Communist University of the Toilers of the East alumni {{SouthAfrica-bio-stub

See also

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