Anton Muziwakhe Lembede

Abstract

This essay is an introduction to Freedom in Our Lifetime: The Collected Writings of Anton M. Lembede to be published by Skotaville Press in 1995. On Easter Sunday 1944 a group of young political activists gathered at the Bantu Men's Social Centre in Orlando township to launch the African National Congress Youth League. Motivated by their desire to shake up the "Old Guard" in the African National Congress (ANC) and set the ANC on a militant course, this "Class of '44“ became the nucleus of a remarkable generation of African leaders - Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Jordan Ngubane, Ellen Kuzwayo, Albertina Sisulu, A.P. Mda, Dan Tloome, and David Bopape - many of whom remained at the forefront of the struggle for freedom and equality in South Africa for the next half century. However, in 1944, the figure the Youth Leaguers turned to for their first president is not even listed in this group. He was a Natal-born lawyer, Anton Muziwakhe Lembede. Known to his friends as "Lembs," Lembede was a political neophyte when he moved from the Orange Free State to Johannesburg in 1943 to practice law. However his sharp intellect, fiery personality, and unwavering commitment to the struggle made an immediate impression on his peers, and he was quickly catapulted into prominence in both the Youth League and the parent ANC.Digitised by Rhodes University Library on behalf of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER