Martin Legassick
Encyclopedia
Martin Legassick is an eminent and world renowned South Africa
n historian and a lifelong activist.
Legassick was born in Edinburgh
, Scotland
, in 1940. In 1947 he and his parents emigrated to South Africa. In 1960 he became a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford
. He later completed his PhD at the University of California
.
He then worked at universities in the United Kingdom
and Tanzania
, where he became active in the ANC and the South African Congress of Trade Union (SACTU) in exile. Together with Giovanni Arrighi
, John Saul
and others he developed an influential politico-economic analysis focusing on the contradictions engendered by the proletarianization and dispossession of the Southern African peasantry. According to Arrighi, "Martin Legassick and Harold Wolpe
...maintained that South African Apartheid was primarily because the regime had to become more repressive of the African labour force because it was fully proletarianized, and could no longer subsidize capital accumulation as it had done in the past."
In 1979, Martin Legassick, together with Paula Ensor, Dave Hemson and Rob Petersen, was suspended from the African National Congress
for allegedly forming a faction. They regarded their suspension as undemocratic. They subsequently launched the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC
. The Marxist Workers’ Tendency was affiliated to the Committee for a Workers International, an international organization of Trotskyist parties and the newspaper, The Militant. Legassick was expelled from the ANC in 1985.
In 1981 he left academia in order to become a full time anti-apartheid activist.
After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 he was able to return home to Cape Town
where he returned to academia.
He later became a prominent activist working with the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
, with Abahlali baseMjondolo
, with the Mandela Park Backyarders
and, more recently, the Conference for a Democratic Left
.
In 2007 he was involved in an exchange of open letters with the then National Minister of Housing in South Africa, Lindiwe Sisulu. In May 2009 he was arrested while supporting the Macassar Village Land Occupation
near Cape Town.
A dominant and consistent theme in Legassick's political work is the building of “a mass workers' party”.
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n historian and a lifelong activist.
Legassick was born in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, in 1940. In 1947 he and his parents emigrated to South Africa. In 1960 he became a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
. He later completed his PhD at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
.
He then worked at universities in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Tanzania
Tanzania
The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...
, where he became active in the ANC and the South African Congress of Trade Union (SACTU) in exile. Together with Giovanni Arrighi
Giovanni Arrighi
Giovanni Arrighi was a scholar of political economy and sociology, and as of 1998 a Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. His work has been translated into over fifteen languages....
, John Saul
John Saul
John Saul is an American author of suspense and horror novels. Most of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller List.-Biography:...
and others he developed an influential politico-economic analysis focusing on the contradictions engendered by the proletarianization and dispossession of the Southern African peasantry. According to Arrighi, "Martin Legassick and Harold Wolpe
Harold Wolpe
Harold Wolpe was a South African political economist and writer who was involved in anti-apartheid politics. He was arrested and put in prison in 1963 but escaped and spent 30 years in exile in the United Kingdom. He returned to South Africa in 1990.-Selected bibliography:*“The Problem of the...
...maintained that South African Apartheid was primarily because the regime had to become more repressive of the African labour force because it was fully proletarianized, and could no longer subsidize capital accumulation as it had done in the past."
In 1979, Martin Legassick, together with Paula Ensor, Dave Hemson and Rob Petersen, was suspended from the African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
for allegedly forming a faction. They regarded their suspension as undemocratic. They subsequently launched the Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC
Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC
The Marxist Workers Tendency of the ANC or MWT was a Trotskyist group within the African National Congress which was eventually expelled from the party.-History:...
. The Marxist Workers’ Tendency was affiliated to the Committee for a Workers International, an international organization of Trotskyist parties and the newspaper, The Militant. Legassick was expelled from the ANC in 1985.
In 1981 he left academia in order to become a full time anti-apartheid activist.
After the unbanning of the ANC in 1990 he was able to return home to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
where he returned to academia.
He later became a prominent activist working with the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign
The Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign is a non-racial popular movement made up of poor and oppressed communities in Cape Town, South Africa...
, with Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
, with the Mandela Park Backyarders
Mandela Park Backyarders
The Mandela Park Backyarders or just Backyarders is an unfunded Khayelitsha-based South African social movement made up of poor and marginalised residents of Mandela Park that is working for housing rights and against evictions....
and, more recently, the Conference for a Democratic Left
Conference for a Democratic Left
The Conference for a Democratic Left was a two year process that aimed to united the anti-capitalist left in South Africa into a new and non-authoritarian formation....
.
In 2007 he was involved in an exchange of open letters with the then National Minister of Housing in South Africa, Lindiwe Sisulu. In May 2009 he was arrested while supporting the Macassar Village Land Occupation
Macassar Village Land Occupation
The squatter's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo occupied a piece of vacant state owned land in Macassar Village, near Somerset West outside of Cape Town on 18 May 2009...
near Cape Town.
A dominant and consistent theme in Legassick's political work is the building of “a mass workers' party”.
Books by Martin Legassick
- Towards Socialist Democracy, July 2007
- Armed Struggle and Democracy : The Case of South Africa cover Armed Struggle and Democracy : The Case of South Africa, July 2003, Paperback
- Skeletons in the Cupboard : South African Museums and the Trade in Human Remains, 1907-1917 by South African Museum, Martin Legassick, Alexander McGregor Memorial Museum, Ciraj Rassool January 2000,
- Foreign Investment and the Reproduction of Racial Capitalism in South Africa by Martin Legassick, David Hemson January 1976,
See also
- 'The Past and Present of Marxist Historiography in South Africa' An interview with Martin Legassick by Alexander Lichtenstein, Radical History Review - Issue 82, Winter 2002, pp. 111-130
- The Making of the South African Past, Christopher Saunders, 1988
- A tribute to Martin Legassick by Noor Nieftagodien South African Historical Journal 56, 9-13, Sabinet Online, 2006.
- 'Martin Legassick and History with a Sense of Purpose', Bill Freud, South African Historical Journal, Volume 56, Issue 1 2006, pages 16 - 18
- 'Debating the revival of the workers' movement in the 1970s: the South African democracy education trust and post-apartheid patriotic history', Kronos (Bellville), vol.34 no.1, Cape Town nov. 2008