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April 29, 2026Open Access

‘We are building a new and better society’: prefigurative strategies for building socialism today – the legacies of Ruth First and Matthew Goniwe

Key Points

To analyze the contributions of Ruth First and Matthew Goniwe to liberation struggles in Mozambique and South Africa between 1980 and 1985.
Examined the intellectual influences of Ruth First and Matthew Goniwe.
Analyzed their strategies and organizational roles within the liberation movements.
Explored the relationship of First and Goniwe to the South African Communist Party.
Identified distinct contributions of First and Goniwe to socialist thought in South Africa.
Highlighted critical pedagogy as an important aspect of their revolutionary practices.
Established connections between First and Goniwe and influential theorists like Paulo Freire.

Abstract

The article examines the distinctive contributions of Ruth First and Matthew Goniwe to liberation struggles in Mozambique and South Africa in the period between 1980 and 1985. The focus is on their intellectual influences, as well as their strategies and organisational roles. Their role in, and critical relationship to, the South African Communist Party (SACP), is examined. The influence of First and Goniwe is linked to that of two socialist intellectuals, Paulo Freire and Antonio Gramsci. It is argued that there were important influences on socialist thought in South Africa that are distinct from, as well as in addition and/or in parallel to, what is understood as the mainstream discourse of the SACP – the Marxist-Leninist theory of national democratic revolution and state power. There were other streams of thought and revolutionary practice related to popular power and critical pedagogy that played an important role in the struggle for socialism in southern Africa.

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