Ruth First is one of the most celebrated figures to have been involved in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. She was a leading member of the ANC and the South African Communist Party who went into exile during the early 1960s. Her husband Joe Slovo was the leader of the ANC’s military wing. Along with her political activism, First left behind an important intellectual legacy as a creative Marxist writer.
Christopher Lee joins Long Reads to discuss the life and work of Ruth First. Christopher has written widely about questions of decolonization and the history of the South African left. He organized the republication this year of Ruth First’s book The Barrel of a Gun: Political Power in Africa and the Coup d'État, which she composed during her years in exile.
Read Christopher’s article for Jacobin, “Ruth First’s Legacy Has Outlived the Regime That Killed Her” here: https://jacobin.com/2026/09/ruth-first-south-africa-anti-apartheid-communism
Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies with music by Knxwledge.