THE CAPE RADICALS, intellectual and political thought of the New Era Fellowship, 1930s-1960s

212pp., illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2019

In 1937 a group of young Capetonians from the Workers’ Party of South Africa and the Non-European Unity Movement embarked on a public education and cultural project called the New Era Fellowship (NEF). The group included Isaac Tabata, Ben Kies, A C Jordan, Phyllis Ntantala, Mda Mda and members of the Gool and Abdurahman families. In the 1950s a second generation of individuals disseminated these ideas in Cape Town's high schools, and further afield. This group included former Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar, academic Hosea Jaffe, educationist Neville Alexander and author Richard Rive.

"This very readable book is an important contribution to discussions about intellectuals and theories of identity in racialised societies." Allison Drew, Honorary Professor, University of Cape Town and Professor Emerita, University of York

"This is a seminal text on seminal thought. It tells of dissidence infused with a rare quality: consistency between what one thinks and the way one lives." Zimitri Erasmus, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand

Educationist and sociologist Crain Soudien is Chief Executive Officer of the Human Sciences Research Council and an Honorary Professor at Nelson Mandela University. He is the author of Realising the Dream: unlearning the logic of race in the South African school.