SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY

SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY Central Committee'* DEATH OF THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN DRYUSUF DADOO

The Central Committee of the South African Communist Party announces with deep regret the death of its national chairman, Dr Yusuf Mohamed Dadoo, on September 19th, in London, at the age of seventy four. He devoted his whole life to the liberation of the oppressed working people of . Born in Krugersdorp, Transvaal, South Africa on September 5th, 1909, he studied medicine in Edinburgh where he qualified as a doctor in 1936. It was here that his political horizons were widened and he became aware of the nature of colonialism and the capitalist system which gave birth to it. He became convinced that the South African Indian Congress could only advance the fight for freedom of the Indian people if they worked in close co-operation with the national organisations of the African and Coloured peoples. In 1936, when he returned to South Africa, the national liberation and working class movements were in need of sincere, courageous revolutionaries who could speak the language the people understood, and who were prepared to make the personal sacrifices demanded by the struggle. Dadoo was one such revolutionary. With Dadoo as the acknowledged leader, he and other progressive Indians formed the nationalist bloc of the Transvaal Indian Congress in order to change the ideological and political positions of the Indian Congresses throughout the country. He went on speaking tours and emerged as a powerful orator. People flocked to his meetings and at this time he became a household name amongst the Indian community in South Africa, many of whom proudly displayed his photograph in their homes. Dadoo was also active in a wider political spectrum. In 1938 he was one of the founders of the Non-European United Front in Johannesburg. He constantly addressed meetings in African townships in which he called for united mass action against living conditions and apartheid. He became popular among the African people and a square in Orlando (part of ) was named Dadoo Square. Dadoo's profound political understanding and wide variety of political activities logically led to his joining the Communist Party of South Africa in 1939. By then the CPSA was under the firm leadership of Moses Kotane, its general secretary. It was in the CPSA that he matured theoretically and this improved his practical work and approach. In 1940 Dadoo was arrested for printing and distributing leaflets of the NonEuropean United Front, which came out against the imperialist war. In 1941 Dadoo was again arrested and imprisoned for four months for 'inciting' African people in Benoni against the imperialist war. In June 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the , the CPSA came to the conclusion that the character of the war had changed, and that it was now a people's war. Dadoo was one of the leaders entrusted with raising support for the anti-fascist struggle. In 1945 at a conference when the National Anti-Pass Council was formed, ANC President Dr AB Xuma, was elected chairman and Dr Dadoo vice chairman. In 1946 he was one of the first to be imprisoned in the Passive Resistance Campaign against Prime Minister Smuts' anti-Indian laws. He was also arrested with other leaders of the Communist Party on a charge of sedition for organising the African mineworkers' strike. In 1947, together with Dr GM Naicker, leader of the Natal Indian Congress, he toured India to win support for the Passive Resistance Campaign. He met Gandhi and Nehru and on his return to South Africa he was once more imprisoned in 1948 for his part in the Passive Resistance Campaign. The Nationalist Party won the all-white election in 1948 and it was then that the national liberation movements and the CPSA laid the basis for common, united mass resistance. The adoption of the 1949 Programme of Action was a clear indication that the ANC was now getting ready to assume its historic role. The Communist Party was declared illegal in 1950 and it was also the year in which Dadoo was elected President of the South African Indian Congress. In 1951 Dadoo assisted the Franchise Action Council in Cape Town to fight against the removal of Coloured voters from the common parliamentary voters' roll. In 1952 Dadoo was a member of the Joint Planning Council set up by the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress to prepare for the Defiance Campaign Against Unjust Laws. Dadoo had no doubt that the Defiance Campaign was one of the great acts of resistance in our revolutionary history. He was imprisoned yet again for defying his banning orders. In 1953 he was a delegate to the first conference of the newly-constituted South African Communist Party held illegally in Johannesburg. Moses Kotane was elected general secretary, and Dadoo a member of the central committee. In 1955 Dadoo was awarded the traditional African decoration IsitwalandweSeaparankoe at the historic Congress of the People which adopted the Freedom Charter. Isitwalandwe, literally translated, means 'the one who wears the plumes of the rare bird' and it was traditionally bestowed only on the bravest warriors of the people, on those who distinguished themselves in the eyes of all the people for exceptional qualities of leadership and heroism. Dadoo characterised the Freedom Charter as the embodiment of the demands of the national liberation movement which, at this stage of the national democratic revolution, can and does unite the most diverse forces. After the Sharpeville massacre and the declaration of a State of Emergency by the South African regime, Dadoo was sent overseas by the Communist Party to organise an external apparatus and take part in organising solidarity work, the fruits of which are recognised to this day. In 1969 Dadoo was elected Vice-Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of the ANC and in 1972, after the death of JB Marks, he was elected National Chairman of the South African Communist Party. Dadoo clearly understood the relationship between the struggle in South Africa and the worldwide struggle against capitalism, colonialism and imperialism, for national liberation, peace, democracy and socialism. Dadoo's political life, like that of so many outstanding revolutionaries throughout the world, proves irrefutably that one can only be a true patriot if one is an internationalist. And this he certainly was. Proletarian internationalism was the cornerstone of his political life. His love for the Soviet people and the CPSU grew steadily stronger over the years, for he saw the Soviet Union as the main bulwark of all those fighting for a new and better life free from capitalism, imperialism, neo-colonialism, racism and fascism. Dadoo led many delegations of the SACP to many different parts of the world and was a firm champion of the international communist movement. This was demonstrated by the awards made to him on the occasion of his 70th birthday when, in honour of tie occasion, he was awarded with the Order of Dimitrov by

Bulgaria, the Order of Karl Marx by the German Democratic Republic, the Order of the Friendship of the Peoples by the Soviet Union, the Gold Medal of the AfroAsian People's Solidarity Organisation, the Scroll of Honour of the World Peace Council, the Decoration of the Hungarian Peace Movement, and the 'Wielki Proletariat' from Poland. Comrade Dadoo, known and loved by millions of South Africans and by progressives all over the world, did not live to see freedom in his lifetime. But the contribution he made towards achieving it will be honoured and remembered by all coming generations of South Africans throughout our history. Just before his death Comrade Dadoo stated: "What can I say but that we must continue the struggle until the bitter end! Victory is ours! The enemy will be crushed!" HAMBA KAHLE, ISITWALANDWE! SEAPARANKOE! AMANDLA NGAWETHU! MAATLA KE A RONA! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY c/o INKULULEKO PUBLICATIONS, 39 GOODGE STREET, LONDON W1