From liberation to reconstruction: Theory & practice in the life of Harold Wolpe

Writings from exile have a long and distinguished pedigree. Trotsky wrote his History of the Russian Revolution while in exile in Turkey and The Revolution Betrayedin Norway; Lenin wrote Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism in Zurich and had to escape to Finland to write State and Revolution; Luxemburg wrote The Accumulation of Capitalin Switzerland, and Gramsci wrote his Prison Notebooksunder the eye of fascist jail guards. Marx wrote his Capital while exiled in London which is also where Harold Wolpe wrote his most important analyses of South Africa. Being in exile gave him the space to develop a new research program for the study of South Africa, its present, its past, and its future. This is a shortened version of The Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, presented in July 2004 in South Africa. Among the ideas on which it reflects are those Wolpe originally published in ROAPE and which this issue revisits. It is not only a tribute to Wolpe's singular contribution to the African liberation struggle but also an acute reflection of the struggles for liberation and reconstruction that lie ahead, the political practice they demand, the uses of state power required for these tasks and the obligations of intellectual responsibility they impose. See, http://www.wolpetrust.org.za/index.htm