The Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) was a

Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

ist organisation formed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 protest front. It proposed a 10 Point Programme of radical reforms. It stressed

non-racialism Non-racialism, aracialism or antiracialism is a South African ideology rejecting racism and "racialism" while affirming liberal democratic ideals. History Non-racialism became the official state policy of South Africa after April 1994, and it is ...

, meaning that it rejected race-based organising (and the concept of race itself), unlike the main nationalist groups of the time, was highly critical of the

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded on 12 February 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), and tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by t ...

and the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

, and made a principle of non-collaboration with the

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

regime and its allies The movement developed a substantial influence in the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

, including

Pondoland Pondoland or Mpondoland (Mpondo: ''EmaMpondweni''), is a natural region on the South African shores of the Indian Ocean. It is located in the coastal belt of the Eastern Cape province. Its territory is the former Mpondo Kingdom of the Mpondo peopl ...

, and had some role in the 1950-1961 Pondoland peasant revolt, but split in 1957. The faction around

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 1 ...

formed a new

African Peoples' Democratic Union of Southern Africa The African Peoples' Democratic Union of Southern Africa (APDUSA) is a Trotskyist political group in South Africa. Formed in 1961, it emerged from the Non-European Unity Movement, and was closely associated with I.B. Tabata, a leading Marxist wh ...

(APDUSA) in 1961, and the Unity Movement of South Africa (UMSA) in exile in 1964, and engaged in armed struggle.'Robin Kayser & Mohamed Adhikari, 2004, "Peasant and Proletarian: A History of the African Peoples' Democratic Union of Southern Africa," ''Kleio'', volume 36, number 1, pp. 5-27 The tradition's influence was wider than its membership: for example, notable Marxist

Neville Alexander Neville Edward Alexander OLS (22 October 1936 – 27 August 2012) was a proponent of a multilingual South Africa and a former revolutionary who spent ten years on Robben Island as a fellow prisoner of Nelson Mandela. Early life Alexander was ...

, who helped found the

Yu Chi Chan Club The Yu Chi Chan Club was a minor militant anti-apartheid organisation which operated within South Africa. Founded in July 1962, its members included Neville Alexander, Dulcie September, Elizabeth van der Heyden, Ottilie Abrahams, Kenneth Abraha ...

(YCCC) in 1961, and the National Liberation Front (NLF) in 1962, came from a NEUM / APUDSA background. Until the 1970s, the Unity Movement tradition was arguably the largest Trotskyist current in southern Africa. All of its sectors suffered heavily from 1960s

repression, some ending up on

Robben Island Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch language, Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrika ...

. However, the current survived, both in the form of APDUSA, and the launching of the separate New Unity Movement in 1985. Both wings continue to operate. APDUSA remains active today and publishes the ''APUDUSAN Newsletter'', following in the steps of ''APDUSA Views'' from the 1980s, and ''Unity'' from the 1960s.

References

External links

*APDUSA website and archiv

*APDUSA/ NEUM online repositor

*Baruch Hirson
A Short history of the Non-European Unity – An insider's view
''SA History Online'' *Neville Alexander writings (incomplete

Anti-apartheid organisations National liberation movements in Africa Organizations established in 1943 Trotskyist organisations in South Africa {{poli-org-stub