The Workers Party of South Africa (WPSA) was the first

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

organisation in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

to have a national base. It published a regular newspaper, ''Spark''. The party was founded in 1935 by the majority of the

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

-based Lenin Club and the

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

-based Bolshevik-Leninist League of South Africa. Founding members included

Isaac Bangani Tabata Isaac Bangani Tabata OLG (1909-1990), also known as "I.B" or "Tabby", was a South African political activist, author and orator. A Marxist in the Trotskyist tradition, he was central to the Non-European Unity Movement from its inception in 19 ...

, Dora Taylor, Ralph Lee and Isaac Blank (later known as

Ted Grant Edward Grant (born Isaac Blank; 9 July 1913 – 20 July 2006) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the group Militant and later Socialist Appeal. Early life Grant's father had s ...

). Its first initiative was to intervene in the All African Convention, called to oppose the Hertzog Bills, which aimed to complete the implementation of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

in the nation. The group opposed both the system of apartheid and calls for

black nationalism Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...

. The group founded the

Non-European Unity Movement The Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) is a Trotskyist organisation formed in South Africa in 1943. It had links to the Workers Party of South Africa (WPSA), the first countrywide Trotskyist organisation, and was initially conceived as a broad p ...

(NEUM), in which Tabata would play a central role for many years, while Goolam Gool represented the group on the similar but

Communist Party of South Africa 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 Na ...

-led National Liberation League. In 1939, facing increasing repression, the group went underground and began working solely through the NEUM. As a result, when the government banned groups based on the teachings of

Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 1 ...

and

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian M ...

in 1950, its activities were unaffected. Some sources claim that the WPSA ceased to exist in 1953, although due to its secretive nature, this is difficult to confirm.

References

* Baruch Hirson
A Short History of the Non-European Unity MovementDora Taylor: South African Marxist
*

,
History of British Trotskyism
' {{Political history of South Africa , state=expanded 1935 establishments in South Africa Anti-Apartheid organisations Communist parties in South Africa Defunct political parties in South Africa Political parties established in 1935 Political parties with year of disestablishment missing Social class in South Africa Trotskyist organisations in South Africa Working class in South Africa