Eddie, Brian, Jack and Let’s Phone Rusty: Is This the History of the Communist Party of South Africa (1921-1950)?

The history of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) between 1921 and 1950, as based on primary documentary sources, has proved to be quite different from the accepted orthodoxy published to date. This article looks at those publications which established the orthodoxy, namely the works of Eddie Roux (1944, 1970, 1978), Brian Bunting (1975, 1996) and Jack and Ray Simons (1983), together with the propensity which has emerged recently to accept without question the oral evidence of these authors and other old party members, such as Rusty Bernstein. Newly uncovered research has proved that the publications of Roux, Bunting and the Simons were inaccurate, not only because the authors were often unwilling to tell the truth, but also because of the limitations imposed on them by the lack of any other available sources at the time. Note, ref.