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FRATERNAL FRIENDS: SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNISTS AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA, 1945–89

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2020

Tom Lodge Open the ORCID record for Tom Lodge [Opens in a new window]  and
Milan Oralek
Tom Lodge
Affiliation:
University of Limerick
Milan Oralek
Affiliation:
Victoria University of Wellington
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Abstract

Czechoslovak ‘people's democracy’ supplied a model for the development of a South African notion of a ‘national democratic’ revolution as well as providing key skills and resources. Czechoslovak support for this project in the 1960s and 1970s was both a source of confidence and fragility for South African Communists, boosting morale but confirming their subordinate status in their partnership with African nationalism. Drawing upon Czech archival materials as well as memoirs and interviews, this paper explores encounters and connections between South African Communists and the Czechs against the backdrop of the broader strategic concerns that shaped Soviet and Eastern European support for South African liberatory politics.

Keywords

South AfricaSouthern AfricadiasporadiplomacyapartheidmilitaryAfrican modernitiescivil wars
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , July 2020 , pp. 219 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The authors presented an earlier draft of this paper at the Czech Association of Social Anthropology's Gellner Seminar, 14 May 2019.

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